What is the difference between WhatsApp Group and Community?

A WhatsApp Group is a single chat where up to 1,024 people can message each other. A WhatsApp Community is a folder that holds multiple related Groups together, with an announcement channel that reaches everyone at once.

That's the short answer. Here's when to use each.

WhatsApp Groups: How They Work

You probably already know Groups. You create one, add people (or share a link), and everyone chats together. Simple.

What you can do in a Group:

• Send messages, photos, videos, documents

• Make video calls with up to 32 participants

• Create polls

• Pin important messages

• Set it so only admins can send messages

Groups work well when everyone needs to see everything. A project team, a family chat, a group of friends planning a trip. The conversation flows in one place and nobody misses context.

The problem comes when Groups get too big. Once you have 50+ active people, the chat becomes noisy. Important messages get buried. People mute the Group and stop checking it.

That's where Communities come in.

WhatsApp Communities: How They Work

Communities launched in 2022 to solve the "too many people, too much noise" problem.

Think of a Community as a container. Inside it, you can have up to 50 separate Groups. Each Group has its own conversation. But the Community also has an Announcement channel where admins can send messages to everyone across all Groups.

Real example: A school creates a Community. Inside it:

• Grade 1 Parents (Group)

• Grade 2 Parents (Group)

• Grade 3 Parents (Group)

• Sports Team Updates (Group)

• PTA Discussion (Group)

The principal can send a snow day announcement to the entire Community. Parents only get notifications from the Groups they joined. No cross-talk, no noise, but everyone stays connected.

What Community admins can do:

• Create and manage multiple Groups

• Send announcements to all members

• Add or remove Groups from the Community

• Control who can join

If you are running something like this, you will want to read up on community management and moderation guidelines to keep things running smoothly.

When to Use a Group vs a Community

Use a Group when:

• You have under 100 active members

• Everyone needs to see all messages

• You want informal, two-way conversation

• You need video calling as a core feature

• The topic is narrow and focused

Use a Community when:

• You have multiple sub-topics or teams

• You need to send announcements without replies

• Different people care about different things

• You are running an organization, school, or large club

• You want central control with distributed conversations

Setting Up a WhatsApp Group

1. Open WhatsApp

2. Tap the new chat icon

3. Select "New Group"

4. Add participants (or skip and share the link later)

5. Name the group and add a photo

6. Tap "Create"

Done. You are now the admin.

Admin settings worth knowing:

• "Send messages" can be set to "Only admins" for broadcast-style groups

• "Edit group info" controls who can change the name and photo

• You can add other admins to share the workload

For tips on using Groups for business purposes, check out how to effectively do WhatsApp marketing.

Setting Up a WhatsApp Community

1. Open WhatsApp

2. Go to the Communities tab

3. Tap "New Community"

4. Add a name, description, and photo

5. Create your first Group inside it (or add existing Groups)

6. Invite members

The Announcement channel is created automatically. Only Community admins can post there.

Things to know:

• You can add existing Groups to a Community (if you admin them)

• Removing a Group from a Community does not delete the Group

• Members can leave individual Groups without leaving the Community

• Community admins do not automatically become admins of every Group

Announcement Groups: The Key Community Feature

The Announcement channel is what makes Communities useful for large organizations.

In a regular Group, if you have 500 members and send an important update, it gets buried under replies, reactions, and side conversations. You end up repeating yourself or people miss critical information.

The Announcement channel fixes this. Only admins post. Members receive the message but cannot reply in that channel. If they want to discuss, they go to the relevant Group.

This is similar to how company newsletters work. One-way communication for important updates, separate spaces for discussion. If you are building a communication strategy around this, WhatsApp marketing messages and community engagement strategies are worth studying.

Video Calls and Media Sharing

Groups:

• Video calls support up to 32 people

• Voice calls support up to 32 people

• Everyone can share media (unless restricted by admin)

Communities:

• No Community-wide video calls

• Video calls happen within individual Groups

• Media sharing works the same as Groups

If video calling is central to what you do, Groups are better. Communities are built for text-based coordination across large numbers of people, not real-time face-to-face conversation.

Notifications and Managing the Noise

Both Groups and Communities let you customize notifications.

For Groups:

• Mute for 8 hours, 1 week, or forever

• You still see messages when you open the app

• Mentions and replies can bypass mute (depending on settings)

For Communities:

• Mute individual Groups within the Community

• Announcement channel notifications are separate

• You can leave specific Groups without leaving the Community

The Community structure naturally reduces noise because you only join the Groups relevant to you. In a 500-person organization, you might only be in 3 of the 20 Groups, so you only see those conversations.

Privacy and Control

Group privacy:

• Admins see all members

• Members see all other members

• Anyone can see who is in the group (unless you restrict invites)

Community privacy:

• Community admins see all members across all Groups

• Members only see other members of Groups they have joined

• Phone numbers are visible to other members (same as Groups)

Neither option hides phone numbers. If privacy is a concern, consider whether WhatsApp is the right platform.

Limits and Restrictions

Group limits:

• 1,024 members maximum

• 512 members for video call participation

• 32 members on a video call at once

Community limits:

• 50 Groups maximum per Community

• Each Group can have up to 1,024 members

• Theoretically 50,000+ people in one Community

• Only admins can post in Announcements

These limits change occasionally. WhatsApp tends to increase them over time.

Which One Should You Choose?

Pick a Group if:

• Your audience is small and focused

• You want everyone talking to each other

• Video calls matter

• Setup needs to be quick and simple

Pick a Community if:

• You have natural sub-groups (teams, grades, departments)

• You need broadcast announcements without chaos

• Different members care about different topics

• You are managing something ongoing, not a one-time event

You can always start with a Group and migrate to a Community later. Or run both. They serve different purposes.

FAQs

Can I be in both Groups and Communities?

Yes. You can join standalone Groups, Groups inside Communities, and multiple Communities. They all appear in your WhatsApp.

What happens if I leave a Community?

You leave all the Groups inside it and stop receiving announcements. You can rejoin later if the Community is still open.

Can I turn an existing Group into a Community?

Not directly. You create a new Community and then add your existing Group to it. The Group keeps its history and members.

Who can create a Community?

Anyone with WhatsApp. There are no special requirements.

Can regular members post in the Announcement channel?

No. Only Community admins can post there. Members can react with emoji but cannot reply.

How many admins can a Community have?

Up to 20 admins for the Community. Individual Groups within it can have their own admins.

Is there a way to message everyone in a Community without using Announcements?

No. That is the only way to reach all members at once. If you want engagement tools beyond announcements, look into WhatsApp Business tools which offer more options.

Quick Summary

WhatsApp Groups are for conversations. Everyone talks, everyone sees everything, and it works great for small to medium audiences.

WhatsApp Communities are for coordination. Multiple Groups, central announcements, and structure that scales to thousands of people.

Most people need Groups. Organizations, schools, and large clubs need Communities. Pick based on your actual scale and communication needs, not because one sounds fancier than the other.

Building an audience on WhatsApp or other channels? Inagiffy helps brands create content strategies that actually connect. We handle newsletters, WhatsApp marketing, and community building. See how we work.