I paid $13,000 to join a mastermind in 2023. My SaaS was doing $15K a month at the time. Six months later it was at $75K a month.
That group met on Zoom. I never shook hands with most of those founders. It changed nothing about the results.
So when someone tells me online mastermind groups are the watered-down version of the real thing, I disagree. The format is fine. The problem is that searching for one buries you in coaching funnels run by people who have never built anything. (No shade, I was almost sold by one once.)
Here is the list I wish I had: 7 online mastermind groups that actually exist in 2026, with real prices and real entry bars. I run the first one, and I say so plainly.
What a good online mastermind looks like
Quick filter before the list, because "mastermind" gets slapped on everything now.
A mastermind is not a community. A Slack with 4,000 members is a place to lurk. A mastermind is 5 to 20 founders at your stage who see your real numbers and tell you when your plan is bad.
Four things matter:
- Small and capped. Past 20 people, nobody shares real numbers.
- Same stage. A $2K MRR founder and a $200K MRR founder have nothing to fix together.
- Numbers on the table. If members talk in vague wins, it is a networking event.
- A fixed cadence. Accountability dies without a recurring call on the calendar.
Some picks below are communities with mastermind pods inside. I flag those when it applies. If you want the deeper checklist, I wrote up the exact questions to ask before joining a mastermind.
1. Profitable Founder Club (application only)
Full disclosure: this one's mine.
I built the Club because the mastermind that took me from $15K to $75K a month cost $13,000, and most bootstrapped founders I know will never spend that. Fair enough. I wanted the same room without the price of a used car.
It is a private group of bootstrapped SaaS founders helping each other reach $100K MRR. Fully online, capped at 20 founders per batch, application only. You need at least $5K MRR to get in, and applications are reviewed manually. If it is not a fit, you are not charged.
The format is exactly what I described above. Bi-weekly 90-minute calls that go deep on 2 to 3 real member problems instead of a round of status updates. Monthly Q&A sessions with founders already past $100K MRR (the first one was Nevo David, who bootstrapped Postiz to $113K MRR; Rob Hoffman of Kleo is next). A private daily chat where members post actual numbers, asks, and intros.
Best for: bootstrapped SaaS founders between $5K and $50K MRR who want a small room, not another course.
2. Hampton ($8,500/year)
Hampton is Sam Parr's answer to the old-guard CEO groups. It is digital first: your core group is around 8 founders who meet monthly with a trained facilitator, plus a member network on top.
The bar is high. Membership targets founders doing roughly $1M+ in revenue (or with serious funding), and the vetting is real. The $8,500 a year price tag filters people too.
If you are past seven figures and want peers who will not flinch at your problems, this is the strongest pure-online option at that level. If you are at $10K MRR, save your money for now.
Best for: founders past $1M in annual revenue who want a facilitated core group.
3. MicroConf Connect ($499/year)
MicroConf is the home base of bootstrapped SaaS, and Connect is its year-round membership. The part that matters for this list: their mastermind matching program, which places you in a small recurring pod of founders at a similar stage.
At $499 a year it is the cheapest structured mastermind on this list, and the matching does the awkward work of finding peers for you. You also get the community, events, and a decade of talk recordings.
The trade-off is depth. Matched pods live or die on the members you draw, and there is no facilitator making sure the calls stay honest.
Best for: SaaS founders who want a low-cost matched pod and a big bootstrapper network around it.
4. Dynamite Circle ($697/year)
Dynamite Circle has been around since 2010, built for location-independent founders. It expects members to be doing around $100K+ in annual revenue, which keeps the conversations at operator level.
Inside you get a private forum, city meetups, two flagship annual events, and member-run mastermind groups you can join or start. The masterminds are the reason it earns a spot here: small recurring calls with founders who run real businesses from wherever they happen to live.
Best for: profitable founders who work remotely and want peers plus optional in-person events.
5. Founders Network ($699 to $2,505/year)
Founders Network has run monthly peer sessions for tech founders since 2011. You are placed in a virtual forum group of about 10 founders at your stage, and pricing tiers follow your stage too, from $699 a year early on to $2,505 a year at the growth level.
It leans startup and funding-track more than bootstrapped, so expect fundraising talk in the mix. But the structure is genuinely online-first and the stage matching is thought through.
Best for: tech founders who want a structured monthly forum and do not mind a funding-friendly crowd.
6. Entrepreneurs' Organization (about $6,000 first year)
EO is the biggest name in peer groups: 18,000+ business owners worldwide, $1M minimum annual revenue to join. The core is the forum, a group of 7 to 10 members meeting monthly under strict confidentiality.
I am including it with a caveat: EO is chapter-based, and most forums meet in person. Global dues run about $2,470 a year plus a $3,500 one-time initiation fee, and your local chapter adds its own dues on top. Budget roughly $6,000 for year one.
So it is only partly an online mastermind. If you want the badge and the global network, it delivers. If you want to solve this from your desk, pick something above.
Best for: $1M+ owners who want the classic forum experience and do not mind in-person commitments.
7. Indie Hackers (free)
Indie Hackers is not a mastermind. It is a free forum. I am putting it here because it is the best recruiting ground I know for building your own.
The DIY route works like this: post what you are building and your MRR, find 4 to 6 founders within shouting distance of your stage, and set up a bi-weekly call. Total cost: zero. I know founders who ran the same free pod for years.
The catch is that you are the organizer, the vetter, and the enforcer. Most self-run groups quietly die by month three when nobody owns the calendar. Go in knowing that.
Best for: pre-revenue to early MRR founders who cannot justify a paid group yet.
Red flags I have learned to run from
I almost joined two other groups before the one that worked. Both looked shiny. Both were funnels.
The tells, in hindsight:
- The guru is the product. If the sales page is 80% about one person's Lambo story and 20% about the members, you are buying a course with extra steps.
- No entry bar. A mastermind that takes anyone with a credit card is not a mastermind. The vetting is the value.
- Vague member results. "Life-changing conversations" means nothing. "Went from $8K to $30K MRR in a year" means something.
- Annual contract, no exit. Good groups let you leave when it stops working. Bad ones lock you in because they know you will want to.
None of the seven above tripped these for me, but check for yourself. Rooms change fast when the wrong operator takes over.
How to choose (by stage)
My honest routing, having paid for several of these categories myself:
- Pre-revenue to $5K MRR: Indie Hackers, or a matched pod via MicroConf Connect. Keep your cash for the product.
- $5K to $50K MRR (SaaS): Profitable Founder Club. This is exactly the stage it was built for.
- $100K+ annual revenue, remote lifestyle: Dynamite Circle.
- $1M+ revenue: Hampton if you want online-first, EO if you want the global institution.
Whatever you pick, the math should be boring. If a group costs $2,000 a year and one call saves you from a bad pricing decision, it paid for itself ten times. I broke down the full price ranges in how much a mastermind costs.
FAQ
Are online mastermind groups worth it?
They can be, if the group is small, stage-matched, and shares real numbers. My own online mastermind cost $13,000 and my SaaS went from $15K to $75K a month within six months of joining. The format was never the issue. A bad group is worthless at any price, online or not.
How much do online mastermind groups cost?
Free (self-organized pods) to $8,500 a year (Hampton), with most paid options landing between $500 and $2,500 a year. Legacy networks like EO cost around $6,000 in year one once initiation and chapter dues are counted.
Are online masterminds as good as in-person ones?
For the actual work, yes. Problem-solving calls lose nothing on video, and online groups can match you by stage instead of by zip code, which matters more. What you lose is the dinner-table serendipity. Groups like Dynamite Circle split the difference with online cadence plus optional events.
How many people should be in a mastermind group?
5 to 10 per active group is the sweet spot, and every serious option on this list stays in that range for its core calls. Small enough that everyone gets airtime, big enough that a missing member does not kill the session.
