Online Community

How Much Money Do Online Communities Make? (2024)

Pat Walls

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Updated: June 23rd, 2024

TL;DR:

Based on our data, online communities can make between $100-$162,620 per month.
The average revenue for a successful online community is $22.7K per month.
The highest grossing online community in our records makes over $1,951,440 per year.
Online community owners salaries can vary wildly depending on industry, niche, and size of the business

So you're thinking about starting an online community?

And now you're wondering how much online community owners actually make...

Well, let’s dive in!

Here are example of real online communities and how much money they make - as reported by the founders themselves:

1. Dean Bokhari ($1.44M/year)

Dean Bokhari, founder of DeanBokhari.com, was working as a marketer for a tobacco company until he had an emotional breakdown and decided to pursue meaningful work. After years of personal development and taking action, he started sharing what he had learned through writing, podcasting, and speaking, which eventually led him to start his membership platform. Now, with over half a million readers and monthly revenues exceeding $100,000, Dean is helping others improve their lives and achieve their goals.

How much money it makes: $1.44M/year

2. MicroConf ($420K/year)

Besides bootstrapping and selling multiple startups, most recently an email service provider named Drip, Rob has been creating content about startup since 2005. A blog, a podcast, a book,... and a community seemed like a natural next step.

How much money it makes: $420K/year

3. Frontend Mentor ($360K/year)

Matt Studdert, founder of Frontend Mentor, came up with the idea for his business while teaching a front-end web development course. He noticed that his students often struggled to find professional designs and projects to practice their skills and build their portfolios. This led him to create a platform that provides developers with challenges, designs, and optimized assets, ultimately launching Frontend Mentor.

How much money it makes: $360K/year

4. No Code Founders ($300K/year)

Joshua was working on building a job board using Bubble and felt a bit disconnected, he wanted to meet other founders who were using no-code tools to build their projects.

He created a Slack channel and shared it in a couple of forums to see if anyone would be interested in joining.

By just doing that, he got over 100 people join in a few weeks.

How much money it makes: $300K/year

5. Una Vida Online ($216K/year)

Pau, the founder of Una Vida Online, came up with the idea for his business when he was looking for ways to make extra income online. He discovered the world of affiliate marketing and started creating affiliate websites. After achieving success and making more money from his websites than his full-time job, he decided to quit his job and focus on his online projects. He then created an online course to teach affiliate marketing and expanded his business to offer WordPress templates and plugins, as well as a tokenized private community for bloggers and affiliate marketers. With a strong focus on SEO, Una Vida Online has seen significant growth and currently generates about 18K per month in revenue.

How much money it makes: $216K/year

6. Aucoin Analytics, LLC ($166K/year)

Kervin Aucoin, a 15-year Army veteran and 20+ year Intelligence analyst, came up with the idea for Aucoin Analytics after realizing the need for an unbiased and well-informed travel security platform. Through blogging about his travel experiences and witnessing the detrimental effects of sensationalized news, Kervin developed a subscription-based private intelligence community that focuses on defeating fake news and providing accurate information. With a low overhead, Aucoin Analytics has seen profits of $10,000/month and offers specialized risk assessments and intelligence reports tailored to customers' needs.

How much money it makes: $166K/year

7. 52Frames ($120K/year)

Started as a personal project for Yosef's personal photography improvement, he eventually started a Facebook page for other enthusiasts to join as well, and ran it that way as a passion project for over a decade, with people participating in weekly photography contests. It was only until 2021 when Yosef launched a premium site membership that generated him enough revenue to quit his freelancing career in video production.

How much money it makes: $120K/year

8. GummySearch ($120K/year)

Fed, the founder of The Hive Index and GummySearch, originally built The Hive Index as a simple project to create a directory of online communities. Inspired by the supportive indie hacker and bootstrapper communities, Fed saw potential in helping people find online communities for their interests. This led to the creation of GummySearch, an audience research tool for startup founders, which generated $60k in revenue in its first year.

How much money it makes: $120K/year

9. Seedscout ($108K/year)

Mat Sherman, founder of Seedscout, pivoted from being a struggling musician to a startup enthusiast, eventually creating a network that simplifies introductions for founders, investors, and job seekers. Inspired by his own challenges in raising capital, Seedscout now generates $9,000 monthly from 65 paying users.

How much money it makes: $108K/year