Online Community Statistics 2026
This page collects figures on how many people join online communities and how those communities are run: membership of Reddit, Facebook, Discord, Nextdoor and developer forums, who uses them, the moderation workload behind them, and the money flowing through paid memberships. Most figures are global or US and describe 2025 and 2026; one older academic estimate of moderator labor is labeled with its year.
By the DBotMaker research desk · Updated November 6, 2026 · 50 numbers drawn from 19 publishers and reports
Short answer
Reddit averaged 130.3 million daily active uniques in Q3 2026 (up 12%), Meta's apps reached 3.64 billion people a day, and Discord says more than 90 million people use it daily. Volunteer moderators made 41% of Reddit's content removals in the first half of 2025, with AutoMod handling 71.3% of those, while paid communities keep growing: Patreon has more than 10 million paying fans and Substack 5 million paid subscriptions.
Headline numbers
- 130.3 millionReddit averaged 130.3 million daily active uniques worldwide in the third quarter of 2026, 12% more than a year earlier.Reddit, Inc.
- 3.64 billionMeta's apps, including Facebook and its Groups, were used by an average of 3.64 billion people a day in September 2026, up 3% from a year earlier.Meta Platforms
- 90 millionMore than 90 million people use Discord every day to spend time with friends and communities, according to its 2026 transparency report.Discord
- 40%40% of US adults ages 18 to 29 say they use Reddit, compared with 6% of those 65 and older, in Pew's survey conducted January to June 2026.Pew Research Center
- 41%Volunteer moderators made 41% of all content removals on Reddit in the first half of 2025.Reddit, Inc.
- 71.3%71.3% of moderator removals on Reddit in the first half of 2025 were made proactively by AutoMod, Reddit's configurable automated moderation tool.Reddit, Inc.
- 47,832,832Discord disabled 47,832,832 accounts for spam-related activity between March 2025 and March 2026.Discord
- 10 millionMore than 10 million fans pay for Patreon memberships each month to get access to creators' work and communities.Patreon
Reading the numbers
Community platforms are still growing, but unevenly. Reddit's Q3 2026 earnings release shows daily active uniques up 12% to 130.3 million, with all of the growth coming from outside the US, where daily uniques rose from 64.4 million to 79.6 million while the US figure slipped. Meta reports 3.64 billion daily active people across its apps, yet DataReportal's analysis of Meta's ad tools shows Facebook's reachable audience down 26.5 million over the year to October 2026.
Who joins depends heavily on age and gender. Pew Research Center finds 71% of US adults use Facebook but only 31% of teens do, while Reddit is used by 40% of adults under 30 and 6% of those 65 and older. Among developers, Stack Overflow's 2025 survey shows Reddit (53.7%) and Discord (38.9%) are major community spaces, and Discord is used by 61.7% of people learning to code.
Moderation is mostly volunteer and increasingly automated. Reddit's transparency report shows moderators made 41% of removals in the first half of 2025, AutoMod made 71.3% of those, and Reddit banned 430,544 communities, mostly because they were unmoderated. Discord's 2026 report shows that spam dominates trust and safety work, with 47.8 million spam accounts disabled, and that almost nine in ten removed servers had fewer than 200 members. Northwestern University valued Reddit's unpaid moderation at a minimum of $3.4 million a year using 2020 data.
Paid communities are now a sizable business. Patreon says fans have sent $10 billion to creators since 2013 and more than 10 million fans pay each month, Substack reports 5 million paid subscriptions, and Mighty Networks says its hosts earned $500 million in 2025. For the people who run communities, CMX's 2026 report finds 93% of community professionals now use AI tools, up from 81% a year earlier.
How big are Reddit, Facebook, Discord and Nextdoor in 2026
- 1.
Meta's apps, including Facebook and its Groups, were used by an average of 3.64 billion people a day in September 2026, up 3% from a year earlier.
Meta Platforms, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Oct 2026)
Exact wording at the source
DAP was 3.64 billion on average for September 2026, an increase of 3% year-over-year.
- 2.
Reddit averaged 130.3 million daily active uniques worldwide in the third quarter of 2026, 12% more than a year earlier.
Reddit, Inc., Reddit Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Oct 2026)
Exact wording at the source
Daily Active Uniques (“DAUq”) increased 12% year-over-year to 130.3 million
- 3.
Reddit's weekly active uniques reached 515.2 million in the third quarter of 2026, up 16% year over year.
Reddit, Inc., Reddit Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Oct 2026)
Exact wording at the source
Weekly Active Uniques (“WAUq”) increased 16% year-over-year to 515.2 million
- 4.
More than 90 million people use Discord every day to spend time with friends and communities, according to its 2026 transparency report.
Discord, Discord Transparency Report, March 2025 to March 2026 (2026)
Exact wording at the source
What started as a place for people to hang out while playing games together online has evolved into a platform where more than 90 million people spend time with friends and communities they care about every day.
- 5.
Nextdoor, the neighborhood network, had 24.5 million platform weekly active users in the third quarter of 2026, up 14% year over year.
Nextdoor Holdings, Nextdoor Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Nov 2026)
Exact wording at the source
Platform Weekly Active Users (Platform WAU) of 24.5 million increased 14% year-over-year.
- 6.
There were 5.66 billion active social media user identities worldwide at the start of 2026, equal to 68.7% of the world's population, according to Kepios analysis published by DataReportal.
DataReportal, Digital 2026: Global Overview Report (2026)
Exact wording at the source
Kepios analysis reveals that global social media user identities now stand at 5.66 billion, with that figure equivalent to 68.7 percent of the global population.
- 7.
Facebook ads could reach 2.32 billion users worldwide in October 2026, based on Meta's own ad planning data compiled by DataReportal.
DataReportal, Facebook Users, Stats, Data & Trends (Oct 2026)
Exact wording at the source
Data published in Meta’s own tools (a) show that Facebook ads reached 2.32 billion users in October 2026.
- 8.
Facebook's advertisable audience fell by 26.5 million users, or 1.1%, between October 2025 and October 2026.
DataReportal, Facebook Users, Stats, Data & Trends (Oct 2026)
Exact wording at the source
More specifically, the total number of users that marketers could reach with Facebook ads decreased by 26.5 million (-1.1 percent) between October 2025 and October 2026.
Chart
Reddit daily active uniques by region, Q3 2025 vs Q3 2026 (millions)
Average daily active uniques in millions, quarter ended September 30, from Reddit's Q3 2026 earnings release.
- US, Q3 202551.6
- US, Q3 202650.7
- International, Q3 202564.4
- International, Q3 202679.6
Source: Reddit, Inc., Reddit Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
Who uses community platforms
- 9.
71% of US adults said they use Facebook in Pew Research Center's 2025 survey of 5,022 adults.
Pew Research Center, Americans' Social Media Use 2025 (Nov 2025)
Exact wording at the source
Most Americans (71%) also report using Facebook.
- 10.
26% of US adults reported using Reddit in 2025, up from 18% four years earlier.
Pew Research Center, Americans' Social Media Use 2025 (Nov 2025)
Exact wording at the source
And 26% today report using Reddit, compared with 18% four years ago.
- 11.
40% of US adults ages 18 to 29 say they use Reddit, compared with 6% of those 65 and older, in Pew's survey conducted January to June 2026.
Pew Research Center, Americans' Use of Social Media in 2026 (fact sheet) (Oct 2026)
Exact wording at the source
Snapchat 56 33 13 4 Reddit 40 35 18 6
- 12.
77% of US women and 63% of US men say they use Facebook, per Pew's 2026 survey.
Pew Research Center, Americans' Use of Social Media in 2026 (fact sheet) (Oct 2026)
Exact wording at the source
Men Women YouTube 85 83 Facebook 63 77
- 13.
31% of US teens ages 13 to 17 said they use Facebook in 2025, well below the share of adults.
Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 (Dec 2025)
Exact wording at the source
Fewer use Facebook (31%) and WhatsApp (24%).
- 14.
US teen boys were nearly twice as likely as girls to use Reddit in 2025: 21% versus 12%.
Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 (Dec 2025)
Exact wording at the source
Meanwhile, boys are more likely to use Reddit (21% vs. 12%) and YouTube (94% vs. 89%).
- 15.
53.7% of developers responding to Stack Overflow's 2025 survey used Reddit as a community platform in the past year.
Stack Overflow, 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: Technology (Jul 2025)
Exact wording at the source
Reddit 53.7%
- 16.
38.9% of all developers in Stack Overflow's 2025 survey used Discord as a community platform.
Stack Overflow, 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: Technology (Jul 2025)
Exact wording at the source
Stack Exchange 46.5% Discord 38.9%
- 17.
61.7% of people learning to code used Discord as a community platform in 2025, compared with 37.3% of professional developers.
Stack Overflow, 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: Technology (Jul 2025)
Exact wording at the source
Reddit 62.4% Discord 61.7%
- 18.
56.9% of internet users ages 16 and over worldwide said they used Facebook in the past 30 days in GWI's Q2 2025 survey, as reported by DataReportal.
DataReportal, Digital 2026: Global Overview Report (2026)
Exact wording at the source
GWI’s data suggests that Facebook currently has the largest audience of online adults aged 16 and above, with 56.9 percent of respondents in the Q2 2025 survey saying that they used the platform at least once within the previous 30 days.
- 19.
50.2% of adult social media users worldwide say keeping in touch with friends and family is a main reason they use social platforms.
DataReportal, Digital 2026: Global Overview Report (2026)
Exact wording at the source
more than half (50.2 percent) of adult social media users around the world citing this as a primary reason for using social media.
Chart
US adults who use Reddit, by age
Pew Research Center survey of US adults conducted January 30 to June 18, 2026.
- 18 to 2940%
- 30 to 4935%
- 50 to 6418%
- 65+6%
Source: Pew Research Center, Americans' Use of Social Media in 2026 (fact sheet)
Subreddits, wikis and developer forums
- 20.
Reddit users shared close to 6 billion pieces of content from January to June 2025.
Reddit, Inc., Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025)
Exact wording at the source
In the first half of 2025, Redditors shared close to 6 billion pieces of content in tens of thousands of Reddit communities.
- 21.
792,167 new communities were created on Reddit in the first half of 2025.
Reddit, Inc., Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025)
Exact wording at the source
Insights (Jan-Jun 2025): 792,167 new communities were created on Reddit.
- 22.
Reddit banned 430,544 communities in the first half of 2025, 12.4% fewer than in the previous six months; most bans outside spam were for being unmoderated.
Reddit, Inc., Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025)
Exact wording at the source
Insights (Jan-Jun 2025): Admins banned 430,544 communities (newly created and existing) for Reddit Rules violations, representing a 12.4% decrease compared to the preceding 6-month period.
- 23.
Reddit's r/cats community had 8.6 million members, about three times the 2.8 million in r/dogs, at the time DataReportal's 2026 report was written.
DataReportal, Digital 2026: Global Overview Report (2026)
Exact wording at the source
the platform’s r/cats community is home to 8.6 million “Cat Lovers”, which is a full three times greater than the 2.8 million “Dog People” who’ve joined r/dogs.
- 24.
Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects are run by nearly 250,000 volunteers worldwide, according to the Wikimedia Foundation.
Wikimedia Foundation, About the Wikimedia Foundation (2026)
Exact wording at the source
The “ best place on the internet ” exists entirely thanks to the nearly 250,000 volunteers around the world.
- 25.
More than 180 million developers worked on GitHub in 2025, after more than 36 million joined in a single year.
GitHub, Octoverse: A new developer joins GitHub every second as AI leads TypeScript to #1 (Oct 2025)
Exact wording at the source
It’s our fastest absolute growth rate yet and 180 million-plus developers now work and build on GitHub.
- 26.
Over 36 million developers joined GitHub in the year to Octoverse 2025, more than one every second.
GitHub, Octoverse: A new developer joins GitHub every second as AI leads TypeScript to #1 (Oct 2025)
Exact wording at the source
Every second, more than one new developer on average joined GitHub—over 36 million in the past year.
- 27.
82% of developers in Stack Overflow's 2025 survey visit the site at least a few times per month, and 25% visit daily or more.
Stack Overflow, 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: Stack Overflow (Jul 2025)
Exact wording at the source
A strong majority (82%) visit at least a few times per month, with 25% visiting daily or more often.
- 28.
About 35% of developers say their Stack Overflow visits are at least sometimes caused by problems with AI tools.
Stack Overflow, 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: Stack Overflow (Jul 2025)
Exact wording at the source
About 35% of developers report that their visits to Stack Overflow are a result of AI-related issues at least some of the time.
Moderator workload and enforcement
- 29.
Moderators and Reddit admins removed about 2.66% of all content created on Reddit in the first half of 2025: 1.41% by moderators and 1.25% by admins.
Reddit, Inc., Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025)
Exact wording at the source
Mods and admins removed ~2.66% of the total content created (1.41% by mods and 1.25% by admins), virtually identical to the last reporting period.
- 30.
158,025,279 posts, comments, private messages and chat messages were removed from Reddit by moderators and admins in the first half of 2025.
Reddit, Inc., Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025)
Exact wording at the source
Insights (Jan-Jun 2025): 158,025,279 pieces of content (posts, comments, PMs and chat messages) were removed by mods and Reddit admins.
- 31.
Volunteer moderators made 41% of all content removals on Reddit in the first half of 2025.
Reddit, Inc., Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025)
Exact wording at the source
Insights (Jan-Jun 2025): Mod removals accounted for 41% of all content removals on Reddit.
- 32.
71.3% of moderator removals on Reddit in the first half of 2025 were made proactively by AutoMod, Reddit's configurable automated moderation tool.
Reddit, Inc., Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025)
Exact wording at the source
The majority of these removals – 71.3% – were the result of proactive removals by Automod , a customizable automated moderation tool available to all communities.
- 33.
Reddit admins issued 2,613,473 temporary and permanent account bans and 1,055,711 warnings in the first half of 2025.
Reddit, Inc., Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025)
Exact wording at the source
Insights (Jan-Jun 2025): Admins handed out 1,055,711 account warnings, as well as 2,613,473 temporary and permanent account bans.
- 34.
Reddit's volunteer moderators spent at least 466 hours a day on moderation actions, according to Northwestern University research using 2020 data.
Northwestern University, Unpaid social media moderators perform labor worth at least $3.4 million a year on Reddit alone (May 2022)
Exact wording at the source
They found that collectively, the whole Reddit moderator population spends 466 hours per day performing moderating actions on the platform at a minimum .
- 35.
That unpaid moderation work was worth at least $3.4 million a year, equal to 2.8% of Reddit's 2019 revenue, by Northwestern's estimate.
Northwestern University, Unpaid social media moderators perform labor worth at least $3.4 million a year on Reddit alone (May 2022)
Exact wording at the source
According to a pair of new studies led by Northwestern University computer scientists, it’s worth at minimum $3.4 million per year, which is equivalent to 2.8% of Reddit’s 2019 revenue.
- 36.
About 21,500 Reddit moderators were active on a given day when Northwestern's researchers ran their study.
Northwestern University, Unpaid social media moderators perform labor worth at least $3.4 million a year on Reddit alone (May 2022)
Exact wording at the source
approximate amount of collective time spent moderating by all active Reddit moderators on a given day (currently, there are about 21,500 such moderators).
- 37.
Discord removed 27,040 large servers with 200 or more members and issued 36,081 warnings to large servers between March 2025 and March 2026.
Discord, Discord Transparency Report, March 2025 to March 2026 (2026)
Exact wording at the source
In this reporting period, Discord removed 27,040 large servers (200+ members) and issued 36,081 warnings to large servers during the reporting period.
- 38.
Discord removed 209,482 smaller servers with fewer than 200 members in the same period.
Discord, Discord Transparency Report, March 2025 to March 2026 (2026)
Exact wording at the source
For smaller servers (fewer than 200 members), we removed 209,482 servers and issued 24,367 warnings.
- 39.
Discord received 34,304,587 user reports about issues other than spam, plus 26,174,231 spam reports, from March 2025 to March 2026.
Discord, Discord Transparency Report, March 2025 to March 2026 (2026)
Exact wording at the source
Discord received 34,304,587 reports relating to issues other than spam and 26,174,231 reports relating to spam during this reporting period.
- 40.
Discord disabled 47,832,832 accounts for spam-related activity between March 2025 and March 2026.
Discord, Discord Transparency Report, March 2025 to March 2026 (2026)
Exact wording at the source
Spam Accounts Disabled: During this reporting period , Discord disabled 47,832,832 accounts associated with spam-related activity.
- 41.
10.37% of Discord accounts that appealed an enforcement action had it removed: 60,686 of 585,307 accounts.
Discord, Discord Transparency Report, March 2025 to March 2026 (2026)
Exact wording at the source
From these appeals, we removed interventions on 60,686 accounts, which was 10.37% of the accounts that submitted an appeal.
Chart
Discord servers removed by size, March 2025 to March 2026
Servers removed for policy violations in Discord's 2026 transparency report period.
- Small servers (under 200 members)209,482
- Large servers (200+ members)27,040
Source: Discord, Discord Transparency Report, March 2025 to March 2026
Paid communities and community teams
- 42.
More than 10 million fans pay for Patreon memberships each month to get access to creators' work and communities.
Patreon, About Patreon (2026)
Exact wording at the source
10 million+ fans paying for memberships each month
- 43.
Patreon creators also have more than 100 million free memberships, members who follow a creator's community without paying.
Patreon, About Patreon (2026)
Exact wording at the source
100 million+ free memberships
- 44.
Fans have sent $10 billion to creators on Patreon since 2013.
Patreon, About Patreon (2026)
Exact wording at the source
Since 2013, fans have sent $10 billion to creators on Patreon.
- 45.
More than 300,000 creators run memberships on Patreon.
Patreon, About Patreon (2026)
Exact wording at the source
300,000+ creators on Patreon
- 46.
Substack has 5 million paid subscriptions across its publications.
Substack, About Substack (2026)
Exact wording at the source
Tap into a platform with 5 million paid subscriptions and counting
- 47.
More than 30% of Substack's paid subscriptions come from within its own network rather than outside traffic.
Substack, About Substack (2026)
Exact wording at the source
30%+ Of paid subscriptions come from within Substack’s network
- 48.
Hosts on Mighty Networks earned $500 million from their communities in 2025, according to the company.
Mighty Networks, About Mighty Networks (2026)
Exact wording at the source
With $500M in community earnings in 2025, we're just getting started.
- 49.
New Mighty Networks hosts earn an average of $14,400 a year, as reported by the company.
Mighty Networks, About Mighty Networks (2026)
Exact wording at the source
$14,400/year average revenue for new hosts
- 50.
93% of community professionals use AI tools in 2026, up from 81% a year earlier, according to the CMX Community Industry Report.
CMX, The 2026 CMX Community Industry Report (2026)
Exact wording at the source
93% of community professionals are now using AI tools, up from 81% last year.
Questions readers ask
- How many people use Reddit in 2026?
- Reddit averaged 130.3 million daily active uniques and 515.2 million weekly active uniques in the third quarter of 2026, according to its earnings release. In the US, Pew Research Center found 26% of adults used Reddit in 2025.
- How many people use Discord?
- Discord's 2026 transparency report says more than 90 million people use it every day. Discord is privately held and does not publish monthly user counts in public filings.
- How much work do Reddit moderators do?
- Volunteer moderators made 41% of all content removals on Reddit in the first half of 2025, and 71.3% of their removals were made by AutoMod. A Northwestern University study using 2020 data estimated moderators spent at least 466 hours a day on moderation, worth at least $3.4 million a year.
- Are people still using Facebook Groups and Facebook?
- Pew Research Center found 71% of US adults used Facebook in 2025, and Meta reported 3.64 billion daily active people across its apps in September 2026. Meta has not published a recent Facebook Groups total, and Facebook's ad reach fell 1.1% in the year to October 2026, per DataReportal.
- How big are paid online communities?
- Patreon reports more than 10 million fans paying for memberships each month and $10 billion sent to creators since 2013. Substack has 5 million paid subscriptions, and Mighty Networks says its hosts earned $500 million in 2025.
- Do community managers use AI?
- Yes. The 2026 CMX Community Industry Report found 93% of community professionals use AI tools, up from 81% the year before.
Where these numbers come from
We chose figures from the organizations that produced the data: company filings with the SEC (Reddit, Meta, Nextdoor), platform transparency reports (Reddit, Discord), survey research (Pew Research Center, Stack Overflow, GWI via DataReportal, CMX), academic research (Northwestern University) and company-published totals (Patreon, Substack, Mighty Networks, GitHub, Wikimedia Foundation). Metrics are not comparable across platforms: Reddit counts unique visitors including logged-out readers, Meta counts people across all its apps, Nextdoor counts weekly users, and DataReportal's Facebook figure is ad reach rather than users. Company-published totals for paid communities are self-reported and count subscriptions, not unique people. The Northwestern moderator estimate uses 2020 data and is labeled as such. Ofcom's UK online community data could not be loaded for checking and was left out; Meta has not published a current Facebook Groups user total, so none is shown. Each quote was copied from the source and rechecked on 2026-11-06. We store the sentence each number appears in, and a script loads the publisher's page again to make sure that sentence is still there. Our methodology has the details.
Sources
- CMX. The 2026 CMX Community Industry Report (2026).
- DataReportal. Digital 2026: Global Overview Report (2026).
- DataReportal. Facebook Users, Stats, Data & Trends (Oct 2026).
- Discord. Discord Transparency Report, March 2025 to March 2026 (2026).
- GitHub. Octoverse: A new developer joins GitHub every second as AI leads TypeScript to #1 (Oct 2025).
- Meta Platforms. Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Oct 2026).
- Mighty Networks. About Mighty Networks (2026).
- Nextdoor Holdings. Nextdoor Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Nov 2026).
- Northwestern University. Unpaid social media moderators perform labor worth at least $3.4 million a year on Reddit alone (May 2022).
- Patreon. About Patreon (2026).
- Pew Research Center. Americans' Social Media Use 2025 (Nov 2025).
- Pew Research Center. Americans' Use of Social Media in 2026 (fact sheet) (Oct 2026).
- Pew Research Center. Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 (Dec 2025).
- Reddit, Inc.. Reddit Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Oct 2026).
- Reddit, Inc.. Transparency Report: January to June 2025 (2025).
- Stack Overflow. 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: Technology (Jul 2025).
- Stack Overflow. 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: Stack Overflow (Jul 2025).
- Substack. About Substack (2026).
- Wikimedia Foundation. About the Wikimedia Foundation (2026).
Citing this page
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DBotMaker. (2026, November 6). Online Community Statistics 2026. https://dbotmaker.io/online-community-statistics
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