What are machine learning communities?

Communities for machine learning practitioners and researchers covering model development, MLOps, and applied AI. Reddit has one of the largest communities for general ML discussion, with Discord servers organized around specific tools, frameworks, and deployment environments.

Where do most machine learning communities live?

Skool is the most common platform in this report (17% of 30 listings).

Are most of these communities free?

93% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.

How big is a typical machine learning community?

Among listings with public size data, the average is 2.5M members and the median is 9K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.

What do these communities usually include?

Forum is the most common (70%). Others that show up often include live chat, online/offline events, and job board.

How does Hive Index collect this data?

Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.

Where can I see the full list?

The full directory is on Hive Index's Machine Learning topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Machine Learning Communities Report: Stats, Platforms,...

Executive Summary

We analyzed 30 machine learning communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.

The big picture: machine learning communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.

Source: Hive Index community database · Updated periodically

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Communities: 30
Platforms: 9
Avg members: 2.5M
Median members: 9K

Where Machine Learning Communities Are Hosted

Skool
5(17%)
Reddit
4(13%)
Discord
4(13%)
Independent Platforms
4(13%)
Slack
3(10%)
Discourse
3(10%)
WhatsApp
3(10%)
Github
2(7%)

Format mix

Forum / feed-based
11(37%)
Chat communities
10(33%)
Private membership
5(17%)
Other platforms
4(13%)

Forum / feed-based is most common (37%), but chat communities is also well represented (33%).

Skool leads, but Reddit and Discord also represent meaningful shares.

Audience Size & Access

Community size

Tiny
<20 members
0(0%)
Small
20-100 members
1(3%)
Medium
100-1,000 members
1(3%)
Large
1,000-10,000 members
6(20%)
Huge
10,000-100,000 members
3(10%)
Massive
100,000-1M members
0(0%)
Gigantic
1M+ members
4(13%)

15 communities have unknown member counts.

Free vs paid

The average is much higher than the median (2.5M vs 9K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.

How Machine Learning Differs From Other Categories

Machine Learning is more free-to-join, smaller, more platform-diverse, and more chat-heavy, compared with typical Hive Index topics.

Metric	Machine Learning	Hive Index average
Free to join	93%	84%
Median members	9K	25K
Average members	2.5M	668K
Paid or apply-to-join	7%	16%
Live chat	57%	41%
Discord share	13%	18%

Feature Mix

Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.

Common Features

Forum
70%
Live Chat
57%
Online/Offline Events
43%
Job Board
20%
Courses
17%

Niche Features

Newsletter
7%
Paid Community
3%
Requires Application
3%

Live Chat appears on 57% of listings.

What Visitors Click

Outbound clicks / mo: 43

Platform supply vs. clicks

Platform	Communities	Share of communities	Outbound clicks	Share of clicks
Skool	5	17%	4	9%
Reddit	4	13%	11	26%
Discord	4	13%	5	12%
Independent Platforms	4	13%	5	12%
Slack	3	10%	9	21%
Discourse	3	10%	4	9%
Github	2	7%	4	9%
X / Twitter	1	3%	1	2%

Share is calculated within this topic.

Reddit gets 26% of clicks but only 13% of listings, so visitors click it more than you'd expect from supply alone.

Most-clicked formats

Forum / feed-based
20(47%)
Chat communities
14(33%)
Other platforms
5(12%)
Private membership
4(9%)

Most-clicked features

Forum
35(81%)
Online/Offline Events
23(53%)
Live Chat
22(51%)
Job Board
14(33%)
Newsletter
8(19%)
Courses
4(9%)

Most-clicked size ranges

Gigantic
16(37%)
Large
8(19%)
Huge
4(9%)
Small
1(2%)

Top-clicked listings

r/MachineLearning
10(23%)
dbt Community
4(9%)
AIML API community
4(9%)

Most clicks go to forum / feed-based and chat communities communities.

Trends

Founded year

2008

2010

2011

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

15 communities have no founding year on file.

Most listed groups were founded around 2010.

Methodology & FAQ

Methodology

This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Machine Learning. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.

Updated periodically

FAQ

: Communities for machine learning practitioners and researchers covering model development, MLOps, and applied AI. Reddit has one of the largest communities for general ML discussion, with Discord servers organized around specific tools, frameworks, and deployment environments.
: Skool is the most common platform in this report (17% of 30 listings).
: 93% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: Among listings with public size data, the average is 2.5M members and the median is 9K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.
: Forum is the most common (70%). Others that show up often include live chat, online/offline events, and job board.
: Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.
: The full directory is on Hive Index's Machine Learning topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

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