Best Communities for Indie Hackers (Free and Paid)

Short answer: If you are pre-revenue, start with the free communities: Indie Hackers for founder stories and feedback, Hacker News if you build for developers, and DEV if you write about code. Once you have a paying product, a vetted paid group such as MicroConf Connect ($49/mo), a MicroConf Mastermind or Ramen Club (£65 every 3 months) gets you peers at your stage. For accountability, WIP is built around shipping alongside other makers.

This is a list of places to find peers, not places to market. Every price, rule and member count below comes from the community's own page, checked on 11 Nov 2026. The picks and advice are ours and marked as such.

TL;DR#

• Free and open: Indie Hackers, Hacker News, DEV and indie-focused subreddits. Good for learning, weak for deep relationships.
• Paid and vetted: MicroConf Connect is $49/mo or $499/yr for bootstrapped SaaS founders, on a private Slack, no pitching.
• Small peer groups: MicroConf Masterminds charge a one-time fee of $300 to $2,500 based on your ARR.
• Accountability: WIP is invite-only and says "Join 3,854 makers".
• UK-flavoured and AI-focused: Ramen Club is a "500+ founder Slack community" at £65 every 3 months or £170 one-time.
• Our read: one free community plus at most one paid one beats joining six and lurking in all of them.

Disclosure: ZeroRaised publishes this guide and is a launch site for bootstrapped products. ZeroRaised has no commercial relationship with any community listed and earns nothing if you join. Facts come from the linked sources as checked on 11 Nov 2026.

What makes a good indie hacker community#

A community earns its place in your week if it gives you feedback (someone tells you what is wrong with your pricing page), accountability (someone notices when you stop shipping) or support (founders a year ahead who have hit the wall you are about to hit).

Our read: open forums are good at feedback and weak at the other two, because nobody knows you. Small paid or invite-only groups are the opposite, which is why we suggest combining one of each.

If you want traffic or a launch audience, that is a different job, covered in our guides on launching on Indie Hackers and using Reddit without getting banned.

Comparison table#

Sources are linked in each section below.

Free communities#

Indie Hackers#

Indie Hackers is the community this whole category is named after: a forum where founders post progress, revenue milestones, launch write-ups and questions.

Its About page describes it as "a place where the founders of profitable businesses and side projects can share their stories transparently" and "a community where individual 'indie hackers' come together to share their experiences, give and receive feedback, and rely on each other for support." Founder Courtland Allen writes that he created it in August 2016, that it was acquired by Stripe in April 2017, and that "In March of 2023 we spun Indie Hackers back out as an independent business, with Stripe as a seed investor." The About page does not state prices, member numbers or posting rules, and the homepage refused our automated check, so we quote none. Read the site's own rules when you sign up.

Our read: it is the best free starting point for a non-technical or mixed audience. The posts that do well are specific: real numbers, a clear lesson, a question people can answer.

Hacker News#

Hacker News is free and leans technical. Its guidelines are blunt: "Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity." They also say "Don't solicit upvotes, comments, or submissions."

Show HN is where you share your own work, and the Show HN rules say "Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with." Blog posts, sign-up pages and newsletters are off topic, and "Don't post landing pages or fundraisers."

Our read: HN is a feedback source, not a support group. Treat it as a stress test once people can try your product without signing up.

DEV#

DEV is a free blogging community for developers. Its terms say "Users must make a good-faith effort to share content that is on-topic, of high-quality, and is not designed primarily for the purposes of promotion or creating backlinks." Posts must contain substantial content, and affiliate links must be disclosed.

Our read: it suits developer-founders who learn by writing. A build log or a technical post-mortem gets real comments; a thinly disguised product page does not.

Reddit#

r/SaaS, r/indiehackers and r/microsaas are the subreddits indie founders mention most. Reddit blocked our check of their rules pages today, so we quote no rules or member counts. Read each sidebar and the pinned posts before you post.

YC Startup School#

Startup School describes itself as "a free online course on how to start a startup", taking "approximately 7 weeks if you spend 1-2 hours/week." It is a course rather than a chat community, but it includes YC Co-Founder Matching, which the page calls "the world's largest co-founder matching platform, with over 100,000 matches made".

Our read: useful if your real problem is that you are alone and want a co-founder, less so if you want ongoing peer support.

Paid and invite-only communities#

MicroConf Connect#

MicroConf's page calls Connect "a vetted private community for bootstrapped and indie SaaS founders." It costs $49 a month or $499 a year, and you pay only after a short application is approved. Service providers and investors pay $299 a month or $2,990 a year.

It runs as focused discussions in a private Slack, plus live webinars, quarterly "Ask Rob Anything" sessions, a talk library and a member directory. It is for bootstrapped or mostly bootstrapped SaaS founders at any revenue stage, and aspiring founders who are seriously working toward a launch. On rules, the page says there is "one rule: no pitching, in either direction", and "We don't accept VCs looking for deal flow, or service providers whose primary goal is client acquisition."

Our read: the strongest paid option for a B2B SaaS founder with some revenue. The vetting and no-pitch rule are what you are paying for.

MicroConf Masterminds#

MicroConf Masterminds match you into a small group of B2B SaaS founders. You need "$500 ARR or more" or to "have previously founded or co-founded a business." Groups get a dedicated hub, "Two live mentor sessions" and "Weekly conversation prompts."

The application fee is one-time and scales with revenue:

The commitment rules are real: respond within two business days of a match, attend for at least 60 days before asking for a rematch, and commit to the first 90 days. Applications open and close in windows, so check the page for the current one.

Ramen Club#

Ramen Club now calls itself "A learning community for founders building with AI" and says it is a "500+ founder Slack community". Pricing is £65 every 3 months or £170 one-time for lifetime access, with a "30-day money-back guarantee on both plans".

Members get two live classes a month, a monthly demo day and "Fortnightly intros to other members". It is for "founders building internet businesses with AI: SaaS, AI tools and agents, marketplaces, mobile apps, productised services and online communities", and says "We don't focus on eCommerce or D2C." Its FAQ suggests you "start out posting in #04-intros, ask for feedback on your work in #01-ask-for-help". The founders also run Ramen Space, a separate coworking membership in London.

WIP#

WIP says "We're a group of makers shipping together. We help each other stay accountable and reach our goals." Members post the tasks they complete to a shared feed tagged by project, and there are discussions, direct messages and "Weekly hangouts" on video. The homepage says "Join 3,854 makers" and "Members are invited by existing members."

We could not find a membership price on the homepage or the Pro page, which lists paid features such as streak freezes and unlimited projects without amounts. Check when you get an invite.

Our read: the best fit if your problem is momentum, not knowledge. Seeing other makers ship is an effective nudge.

Bootstrapped Makers#

Bootstrapped Makers pitches itself as "get your first paying customers." It has a free tier with live call recordings and a Pro plan at $19/mo, which includes "The Telegram group, with me," lessons and event tickets. It also runs meetups in person and online and a member directory. It suits makers selling online for the first time rather than established SaaS founders.

Founders Network#

Founders Network is "a global startup mentoring community for tech founders" and says it is "a supportive community of 600+ experienced tech founders." There is no public price: "Your membership dues are based on your experience as defined by the funding or revenue of your current or past companies." It states "Membership is by invitation only." It is not bootstrapper-specific.

A note on Small Bets#

Small Bets often appears in lists like this. Its site now says "Small Bets is closed to new members," and offers its recorded classes with "no subscription, no recurring fees, no checkout." You can still learn from the classes, but you cannot join the community.

Our picks by situation#

How to get value without spamming#

This is our advice, based on the rules quoted above.

1. Lurk for a week. Read the rules and the top posts. Every community here either bans or frowns on posting mainly to promote.
2. Answer before you ask. Three useful replies earn you more goodwill than one perfect launch post.
3. Share numbers and lessons. "We moved from monthly to annual pricing and here is what happened" gets engagement; "Check out my app" does not.
4. Ask specific questions. "Is this pricing page clear?" with a screenshot beats "Any feedback?"
5. Put the link in your profile. People who like your thinking will click through.
6. Pick one or two. Being known in one community beats being a stranger in ten.

How to start your own mastermind#

If none of the paid options fit, a self-run mastermind costs nothing. Our recommended setup:

1. Find three to five founders at a similar stage. The communities above are good places to meet them.
2. Agree a cadence: one hour every week or two, on video, same time each session.
3. Use a fixed format: each person gets about ten minutes for wins, one problem and one commitment for next time.
4. Keep a shared doc of commitments and check them at the start of every call.
5. Set a trial period, for example 90 days (the same commitment MicroConf asks for), then decide whether to continue or reshuffle.
6. Agree on confidentiality so people can share real numbers.

Frequently asked questions#

What is the best free community for indie hackers?#

For most people, Indie Hackers itself, because it is built around founders sharing progress and numbers. If you are a developer, Hacker News is the other strong free option, but its guidelines say not to use it primarily for promotion, and Show HN is only for things people can try.

Is a paid founder community worth it?#

Our read: it is worth it once you have a product with some revenue and specific problems to solve. A vetted group like MicroConf Connect ($49/mo or $499/yr) filters out tire-kickers and service providers who pitch. Before revenue, free communities and a small self-run mastermind usually give better value.

How much does MicroConf Connect cost?#

MicroConf's Connect page lists $49 a month or $499 a year for founders, after a short application and approval. Service providers and investors pay $299 a month or $2,990 a year. It runs on a private Slack and has a strict no-pitch rule.

Which community is best for accountability?#

WIP is designed for it: members post the tasks they ship, and the site says it helps makers stay accountable and reach their goals. Membership is by invite from existing members. A mastermind of three to five founders who meet every week or two is the other proven format.

Can I promote my product in these communities?#

Mostly not directly. Hacker News asks you not to use the site primarily for promotion, DEV's terms say content should not be designed primarily for promotion or backlinks, and MicroConf Connect is no-pitch. Share lessons, numbers and questions, and let people find the product through your profile.

Ready to launch?#

Communities give you feedback and support; a launch gives you your first users. When you are ready, work through our guide on how to launch a bootstrapped app, then submit your product to ZeroRaised for free. For more guides on building without investors, join the ZeroRaised newsletter.

Sources#

• MicroConf Connect, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• MicroConf Masterminds, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• WIP homepage, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• WIP Pro, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• Ramen Club, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• Bootstrapped Makers, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• Founders Network, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• Small Bets, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• Hacker News guidelines, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• Show HN guidelines, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• DEV terms, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• YC Startup School, last checked 11 Nov 2026
• Indie Hackers, About, last checked 11 Nov 2026