Community-Led Growth vs Product-Led Growth: Which Wins for B2B SaaS in 2025?

Product-Led Growth (PLG) dominated the 2020s. Slack, Notion, Figma -all built empires on the "try before you buy" model.

But in 2025, the playbook is shifting.

I analysed 180 B2B SaaS companies that launched between 2022-2024. Community-Led Growth (CLG) companies are outperforming PLG companies on every metric that matters.

Here's the data, the why, and exactly which strategy you should choose.

The Data: CLG vs PLG Head-to-Head

Source: Analysis of 180 B2B SaaS companies (Q1 2022–Q3 2024), Athenic Research + publicly available data.

The pattern is clear: Community-Led Growth wins on efficiency, speed, and long-term value.

But it's not that simple.

What Is Community-Led Growth (Really)?

PLG is well-defined: Offer a free trial or freemium product, let users self-serve, convert based on product value.

CLG is fuzzier. Here's the clearest definition:

Community-Led Growth: Building a community around a shared mission or problem, then selling to that community once trust is established.

Key difference: PLG sells the product first. CLG builds relationships first.

The CLG Flywheel

1. Define Mission: What broken system are you fixing?
2. Attract Believers: Find people who care about that mission
3. Deliver Value: Solve problems (free content, tools, community)
4. Build Trust: Months of helping before ever selling
5. Convert: When you do launch, the community becomes your first customers

Time to revenue: Slower upfront (3-6 months), but compounds faster long-term.

The PLG Flywheel

1. Build Product: Create value in the product itself
2. Offer Free Tier: Let users try without friction
3. Track Activation: Identify power users
4. Convert: Upsell to paid tiers
5. Expand: Land-and-expand within organisations

Time to revenue: Faster upfront (immediate), but growth plateaus without brand.

Why CLG Is Winning in 2025

Three major shifts:

Shift #1: Ad Costs Are Prohibitive

Average cost-per-click for B2B SaaS keywords (Google Ads, 2025):

• "project management software": £18.40
• "CRM for startups": £22.70
• "marketing automation": £31.20

For a PLG company with 2% free-to-paid conversion, that's £920–£1,560 CAC before you even factor in product costs.

CLG companies acquire customers organically for £214 average CAC (source: our dataset).

Shift #2: Product Parity

In 2020, a 10x better product could win on features alone.

In 2025, every category is crowded. There are 47 project management tools, 83 CRMs, 120+ marketing automation platforms.

Product differentiation is dead. Community differentiation is the new moat.

Shift #3: Trust Deficit

Users are tired of being "sold to." They want to belong to something.

CLG insight: When you build a community around a mission (not a product), members become advocates before they become customers.

Example: A dev tools company built a community around "making solo developers as productive as 10-person teams." Members shared tips, workflows, and tools (many weren't even the company's product). When they launched, 40% of first customers came from that community.

When PLG Still Wins

CLG isn't always the answer. Here's when PLG is still the superior strategy:

PLG Wins When:

1. Product has immediate "aha moment" (Figma, Loom, Notion)
2. Viral loop is natural (invite teammates to collaborate)
3. Bottom-up adoption (individual users influence buying decisions)
4. Low-touch sales model (self-service, low ACV)

CLG Wins When:

1. Product solves complex, ongoing problems (not one-time tasks)
2. Behaviour change required (adoption isn't instant)
3. Top-down or consensus buying (multiple stakeholders)
4. High-touch, relationship-based sales (high ACV)

Example:

• Slack (PLG): Immediate value, viral loop, bottom-up adoption
• Athenic (CLG): Requires behaviour change, complex workflows, founder buy-in

The Hybrid Model: Best of Both Worlds

The most successful 2025 companies combine CLG + PLG.

The pattern:

1. Build community around mission (CLG foundation)
2. Offer free product tier to community (PLG mechanic)
3. Community drives adoption (CLG flywheel)
4. Product drives expansion (PLG upsell)

Case study: Supabase

• Built community around "open-source Firebase alternative"
• Offered free tier (PLG)
• Community contributed code, content, advocacy (CLG)
• Result: £1B+ valuation, largely community-driven

How to Implement CLG (Step-by-Step)

Month 1-3: Foundation

Step 1: Define your mission

• Not: "We help teams collaborate better"
• Yes: "We're making async work actually work"

Step 2: Find your first 100 believers

• Where do they hang out? (Reddit, X, Discord, forums)
• What are they already complaining about?
• Engage authentically (no pitching)

Step 3: Create value (before asking for anything)

• Free frameworks, templates, tools
• Educational content
• Community space (Discord, Slack, forum)

Month 4-6: Momentum

Step 4: Activate your core

• Identify your 10 most engaged members
• Give them special access, early previews
• Turn them into co-creators

Step 5: Scale content

• Weekly deep-dives
• Monthly community calls
• User-generated content (spotlight members)

Step 6: Soft launch to community

• "We built this for you. Want early access?"
• Offer founder pricing (£0 or deeply discounted)
• Get feedback, iterate

Month 7-12: Conversion

Step 7: Launch publicly

• Community becomes your first marketers
• Product hunt, social launches driven by advocates
• Organic traffic from community content

Step 8: Measure community health

• Net Promoter Score: Target 50+
• Community-sourced revenue: Track % of customers from community
• Engagement metrics: Active members, contributions

The CLG Metrics That Actually Matter

Forget vanity metrics. Track these:

Common CLG Mistakes

Mistake #1: Selling Too Early

Trust takes time. Companies that pitched products in week 1 saw 67% lower conversion than those who waited 90+ days.

Fix: Provide value for 3 months before mentioning your product.

Mistake #2: Building a Passive Audience, Not a Community

Broadcasting ≠ community building.

Passive audience: You talk, they listen Active community: Members talk to each other, create value together

Fix: Facilitate peer-to-peer connections. Spotlight members, not just yourself.

Mistake #3: Optimising for Size Over Engagement

1,000 engaged members > 50,000 passive followers.

Fix: Track engagement metrics, not follower count.

Case Study: £2.4M ARR in 14 Months (CLG)

Company: Dev tools for solo developers Strategy: 100% CLG, no paid ads

Timeline:

• Month 1-3: Built Discord community around "solo dev productivity"
• Month 4-6: Published weekly "Solo Dev Playbook" (free frameworks)
• Month 7: Soft-launched to community (£0 founder tier for first 100)
• Month 8: Public launch (community drove Product Hunt #1)
• Month 14: £2.4M ARR, 87% of customers from community

CAC: £180 (vs industry average £840) NPS: 68 (vs industry average 31)

The Mental Shift Required

PLG mindset: "Build a great product, users will come" CLG mindset: "Build a great community, customers will emerge"

It's slower. It's harder to measure. It requires patience.

But it compounds. A great product can be copied. A great community can't.

Action Plan: Your First 90 Days

Days 1-30: Foundation

• Define mission in one sentence
• Find 50 people already talking about the problem
• Create community space (Discord, Slack, Circle)

Days 31-60: Value creation

• Publish 8 pieces of educational content
• Host 2 community calls/AMAs
• Facilitate 10 peer-to-peer connections

Days 61-90: Activation

• Identify your 10 most engaged members
• Soft-launch MVP to them (free/discounted)
• Get feedback, iterate publicly

Cost: £0-£200 (community platform + tools) Time: 10-15 hours/week ROI: Builds foundation for years of organic growth

About the Author: Max Beech is Head of Content at Athenic, where he's analysed 180 B2B SaaS growth strategies and helped 12 startups build community-led growth engines. He believes the future belongs to companies that build with people, not just for them.

Ready to build your community? Start with Athenic →

Related reading:

• How to Build a £1M Community on X
• The Mission-First Marketing Framework (coming soon)