A group is a conversation. A channel is a broadcast. That single difference decides which one you want, and almost everything else follows from it.
Side by side
| Group | Channel | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can post | Members, subject to permissions | Administrators only |
| Size | Up to 200,000 | Unlimited |
| View counts | No | On every post |
| Suits | Friends, family, teams, communities | Announcements, publishing, alerts |
What groups give you
Groups start small and scale a long way. You can make one public so anyone may join through a short link, toggle persistent history to decide whether new members can read what came before, appoint administrators with granular privileges, and pin important messages to the top of the screen for everybody.
What channels give you
No limit on subscribers, a view count on every post, editable posts so a correction does not mean deleting and reposting, silent delivery for anything not urgent, and scheduling.
You can have both
Link a discussion group to a channel and each post gains a Comments button. Announcements stay clean in the channel while conversation happens in the group, and subscribers who want only the announcements are not notified about every reply. For most publishing projects this pairing is the right answer rather than choosing one.
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