47 Trending Online Community Businesses [2024]
Online communities bring people who share common values together. For anyone looking to start a side hustle and earn money, you need to figure out the best online communities to participate. More important, you need to figure out on how to translate your online community membership into dollars. Ideas of how to earn through online communities include:
- Selling your products
- Promoting affiliate links for a commission
- Run ads
- Sell online community membership
- Start your own online community and charge for sponsored content
Looking for some examples of a online community?
Interested in case studies of a successful online community? Check out our full list of success stories.
1. Kaggle
Kaggle is the world’s largest data science community with powerful tools and resources to help you achieve your data science goals.
Website traffic: 8.2M/month
2. Frontend Mentor
Improve your front-end skills by building real projects. Solve real-world HTML, CSS and JavaScript challenges whilst working to professional designs.
How much they make: $360K/year
Where they're located: London, UK
How much did it cost to start: $8K
Current team size: 0
Website traffic: 470K/month
Online learning community Frontend Mentor has over 200,000 members, with over 1,500 paid subscribers generating over $15,000 MRR, offering professionally designed challenges to improve front-end coding skills with a freemium business model and a focus on real-life experience.
Learn more about starting an online community:
Where to start?
-> How much does it cost to start an online community?
-> Pros and cons of an online community
Need inspiration?
-> Other online community success stories
-> Marketing ideas for an online community
-> Online community names
Other resources
4. San Diego Community College District
Homepage for San Diego Community College District, the second-largest of California’s 72 community college districts and serves approximately 100,000 students annually at its three, credit colleges, San Diego City College, Mesa College, Miramar College, and seven campuses of San Diego Continuing Education.
Where they're located: San Diego, California, USA
Website traffic: 360K/month
5. Out & About Nashville
Out & About Nashville is your source for LGBT news, events, gay guide and marketing to the Nashville LGBT community. With more than 150,000 readers.
Where they're located: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
6. IBC
International Broadcasting Convention. IBC365 is a Community Platform providing Business Knowledge for the Global Media, Entertainment & Tech Industry.
Where they're located: Plano, Texas, USA
7. Club de Malasmadres
El Club de Malasmadres es una comunidad emocional 3.0 de madres con mucho sueño, poco tiempo, alergia a la ñoñería y ganas de cambiar el mundo.
8. StrangerMeetup.com
Chat with Strangers and Meet New Friends Online in Our Friendly community. StrangerMeetup can be used for dating and finding new friends.
Website traffic: 270K/month
9. Aucoin Analytics, LLC
Oracom offers outstanding Web Design in Kenya - We are the best Web Design company in Kenya. From Website Builders, Software & Mobile App Development
How much they make: $166K/year
Where they're located: Washington D.C., DC, USA
How much did it cost to start: $25K
Current team size: 1
Aucoin Analytics, LLC is a private intelligence company that delivers highly specialized risk assessments and intelligence reports, while also offering a subscription-based private intelligence community that provides access to subject matter experts in government intelligence, with profits at $10,000/month.
10. US Community Credit Union
US Community Credit Union is a unique financial institution where our members are our family. We offer higher dividends and lower loan rates. Read more.
Where they're located: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Website traffic: 160K/month
11. The Design Database
How much they make: $60K/year
Where they're located: Brooklyn
How much did it cost to start: $5K
Current team size: 2
The Design Database is an online platform and community for creatives that connects them with clients who are looking to hire now, providing tools and resources for them to successfully build their careers, and has gained over 200 creatives and 25 companies since its launch in late July, as well as receiving grant funding from the HerRise Pitch Competition by HerSuiteSpot and raising over $10,000 on Kickstarter.
12. Indie Worldwide
The worldwide virtual meetup of indie hackers, founders, and makers.
How much they make: $24K/year
Where they're located: Remote
How much did it cost to start: $1.2K
Current team size: 1
13. Cross Point Church
At Cross Point Church, Everyone is Welcome, because Nobody's Perfect, and with God Anything is Possible.
Where they're located: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
14. The Belonging Co
Where they're located: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
15. Women of Denver
Denver's most active and diverse women's organization providing professional development workshops, masterminds and summits to help women increase their income and earn their worth.
Where they're located: Denver, Colorado, USA
Current team size: 1
16. Gordon JCC Nashville
Where they're located: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
17. Enter Network
Enter Network is THE community for early-stage European entrepreneurs and aspiring founders. From freelancers to scaleable businesses, join us!
How much they make: $18K/year
Where they're located: Utrecht
How much did it cost to start: $4K
Current team size: 2
Enter Network founder Jochem Gerritsen built a community of 50+ starting entrepreneurs all over Europe, generating $1,500 MRR by running a platform that offers a Slack community, package deals for free services, access to over 20 startup mentors, weekly online meetups, mastermind groups, and more.
18. Athlete Stack
A Community-driven launchpad for former athletes, entrepreneurs, sports tech creators and current student-athletes to validate ideas, build businesses and LAUNCH products faster using no-code tools.
Where they're located: Austin, TX, USA
How much did it cost to start: $3K
Current team size: 0
19. MicroConf
The world’s most trusted community for non-venture track SaaS founders, including online and in-person events, an online community, and our extensive video vault.
How much they make:
Current team size: 2
Website traffic: 20K/month
20. No Code Founders
Join the #1 No Code community and platform for non-technical founders and entrepreneurs. Join 10941 other founders building the next big thing, without code
How much they make:
21. Circle
Bring together your discussions, memberships, and content. Integrate a thriving community wherever your audience is, all under your own brand.
Website traffic: 1.67M/month
22. element14 Community
Visit element14.com - the design engineer community for sharing electronic engineering solutions. Find resources, specifications and expert advice.
Where they're located: Newark, New Jersey, USA
Website traffic: 1.44M/month
23. Ramen Club
Bootstrapping is hard. It's even harder on your own. Join the internet's most supportive bootstrapper community, for just $39/month.
How much they make: $48K/year
Where they're located: London, UK
How much did it cost to start: $250
Current team size: 0
Ramen Club is a founder community that aims to help solopreneurs succeed, enjoy their journey, and feel less lonely; it currently has over 100 members and $3,800 MRR with 35% MoM revenue growth between April and May 2022.
24. Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach
Where they're located: Long Beach, California, USA
25. iltexas-efw-k8
Our mission at International Leadership of Texas is to prepare students for exceptional leadership roles in the international community.
Where they're located: Fort Worth, Texas, USA
26. Dean Bokhari
Dean Bokhari | Personal Development blog, podcast, and official homepage of Dean Bokhari - writer, speaker, philanthropist, and founder of FlashBooks Book Summaries.
How much they make: $1.44M/year
Where they're located: Irvine, CA, USA
How much did it cost to start: $5K
Current team size: 17
Website traffic: 170K/month
Founder Dean Bokhari shares how he launched a membership platform focused on self-improvement, generating over $100,000 per month in revenue, attracting customers via high-quality content, guest blogging and Facebook ads, with plans to grow to $1,000,000 per month over the next 3-5 years.
27. COO Alliance
The COO Alliance provides immeasurable resources for the COO and the second in command. We are a peer network that caters to the Chief of Operations.
How much they make:
Where they're located: Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Current team size: 7
28. BASIS
Basis is a financial services app designed for Indian women. Get 1:1 consultation, join communities & more. Join 1L+ women. Sign up Basis Now for Free
Where they're located: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Current team size: 15
29. SheeksFreaks
We help 15 -25 year-olds find Financial Freedom by providing a community to help you reach your goals. Are you a SheeksFreak? Let's get started!
Where they're located: Denver, CO, USA
Current team size: 1
30. Fuel To Fire
A vetted community for female entrepreneurs with big goals, wanting accountability to accelerate their success.
31. Women in Web3
Where they're located: Santa Cruz, CA, USA
How much did it cost to start: $300
Current team size: 1
32. Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow is the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their programming knowledge, and build their careers.
33. Roblox
Join us in building the future of human interaction. Learn more about our culture, teams, and career opportunities.
34. HR.com
HR.com is the largest community for HR professionals featuring articles, news, webcasts, events, white papers, discussion forums, templates, forms and best practices on leadership, performance management, organizational development, and benefits.
How much they make:
Where they're located: Jackson's Point, Ontario
Current team size: 285
Website traffic: 300K/month
35. Match Maker FM
Find podcast guests to interview & get booked on podcasts for more exposure. Join MatchMaker for free and search thousands of podcasters & guests today.
36. The Holistic Enchilada
Revive your 2b, 2c, and 3a natural curls and easily incorporate eco-friendly and nontoxic products into your beauty routine.
How much they make: $96K/year
Where they're located: Winter Springs
How much did it cost to start: $250
Current team size: 2
Delilah Orpi's blog "The Holistic Enchilada" is making up to $7,000 a month in revenue through sales of digital products, display ads, affiliate marketing, and sponsored posts in the niche market of clean beauty and curly hair, with a focus on retaining customers through email marketing and SEO.
37. Remote Work Junkie
Insights around the basics of remote work, tips for getting hired and managing remote teams, remote jobs, and more. Join the community!
How much did it cost to start: $6.5K
Current team size: 0
38. Merrative
Join our community of avid readers to discuss ideas from books & articles. Meet like-minded readers, expand perspectives, discover curated reads on any topic.
How much they make: $24K/year
Where they're located: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
How much did it cost to start: $100
Current team size: 0
Merrative, a community-driven marketplace for publishing talent, generates an average of $1,500 per month in marketplace transactions from their 5,000+ strong community of readers, writers, journalists, and scholars.
39. Generalist World
The home of the generalist. You'll find community, opportunity & support to navigate the world whilst wearing many hats.
How much they make:
Where they're located: Isle of Raasay, Kyle, UK
How much did it cost to start: $200
Current team size: 0
40. Book Club Chat
Book Club Chat is a book lover's destination of book previews, reviews, and book club questions to provide readers with their next great read.
How much they make: $48K/year
Where they're located: San Diego, CA, USA
How much did it cost to start: $50
Current team size: 0
Website traffic: 90K/month
Book Club Chat founder Heather Caliendo started a website dedicated to book club questions, reviews, and book lists with no upfront costs by dedicating a lot of time to reading and writing high-quality content that attracts over 5,000 daily visitors and has made $4,000 per month in ad revenue alone by focusing on organic search, SEO, and Mediavine.
42. SelectSoftware Reviews
Our experts review the top HR and recruiting software so that you can buy the right tools for your business. Our software guides includes information on pricing, questions to ask vendors, and pitfalls you need to avoid.
How much they make: $40.5K/year
Where they're located: Cambridge
Current team size: 0
VC-turned-entrepreneur Phil Strazzulla, who previously built a successful b2b SaaS business, shares how he bootstrapped an online review site for HR software into a viable business with over $1k monthly revenues in just 3 months through organic search traffic growth and selling high intent leads.
43. GummySearch
How much they make: $12K/year
Where they're located: New York City, NY, USA
Current team size: 0
Bootstrapped founder Fed shares the success of his community-focused products, The Hive Index and GummySearch, which have helped over 10k people find online communities each month and generated $60k in revenue in its first year, respectively.
44. Sistas in Sales
Sistas in Sales is a community for women of color sales professionals to network, advance their careers and most importantly, find sisterhood.
45. Side Hustle City
Are you ready to stop dreaming and start taking action in your business? Find out how an accountability coach can help you move the bar forward today.
How much did it cost to start: $500
Current team size: 1
46. Indie Hackers
Connect with developers who are sharing the strategies and revenue numbers behind their companies and side projects.
How much they make:
Where they're located: Moreno Valley, California, USA
Website traffic: 1.22M/month
47. Blavity News & Politics
Blavity is a tech company for forward thinking Black millennials pushing the boundaries of culture and the status quo.
Website traffic: 810K/month
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
