Kaskus
Kaskus is Indonesia's longest-running online forum platform, serving Indonesian internet users with user-generated community discussions across entertainment, news, lifestyle, sports, and hobby verticals, plus a peer-to-peer marketplace. It monetizes through advertising and a Rp 25,000/month KASKUS Plus premium subscription.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1999
- HeadquartersJakarta, Indonesia
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Kaskus does
Kaskus, operated by PT Darta Media Indonesia, is Indonesia's largest and longest-running online forum and community platform, founded in 1999 and headquartered in Jakarta. The platform serves Indonesian internet users across diverse interest verticals — including news, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, hobbies, and a peer-to-peer buy-and-sell marketplace (Forum Jual Beli) — through user-generated threaded discussions, images, and increasingly short-form video content. Its core technology is a web-based forum and community platform with features for thread creation, community (komunitas) organization, content sharing, and algorithmic content surfacing via a "For You" feed.
The platform is community-led in its go-to-market: users self-register and create or join interest-based communities, with engagement driven by long-tenured users and accumulated content. Notable scale signals include 250.5M posts in The Lounge community, 34.8M posts in Berita dan Politik, and thousands of additional active communities. The business model combines an advertising stream (not separately disclosed) with a direct-to-consumer subscription product, KASKUS Plus, priced at Rp 25,000/month and offering exclusive badges, smileys, and avatar frames. Leadership includes founders Andrew Darwis (Founder & Chief Community Officer), Budi Dharmawan, and Ronald Stephanus, alongside CMO Ronny Sugiadha.
Kaskus firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kaskus
- Legal name
- PT Darta Media Indonesia
- Website
- https://kaskus.co.id
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1999
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Kaskus is Indonesia's longest-running online forum platform, serving Indonesian internet users with user-generated community discussions across entertainment, news, lifestyle, sports, and hobby verticals, plus a peer-to-peer marketplace. It monetizes through advertising and a Rp 25,000/month KASKUS Plus premium subscription.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kaskus industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Community Forum
- akta.pro primary industry
- Social Audio & Live Community Platforms (BPAMABAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Community Hosting & Membership Platforms (MPACAJAF)
Keywords
Where Kaskus is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Jakarta
- HQ country
- Indonesia
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
Kaskus business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- KASKUS Plus Subscription: Monthly subscription service offering exclusive badges, smileys, avatar frames, and other premium benefits. Priced at Rp 25,000 per month.
- Advertising: The platform likely generates revenue through advertising given its large user base and engagement metrics, though specific details are not disclosed in the available sources.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | KASKUS Plus Premium Membership |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels2 records
Kaskus product offering
Product offeringCore offering
KASKUS operates an Indonesian online forum and community platform at kaskus.co.id where individual users form and join interest-based communities, post threaded discussions, share media (text, images, videos), and run social commerce listings through the Forum Jual Beli. A paid premium tier called KASKUS Plus (Rp 25,000/month) adds exclusive badges, smileys, and avatar frames, which is the only disclosed direct-to-consumer monetized layer alongside advertising.
Product overview
Kaskus operates as a single-platform online forum community with its core product being the KASKUS Forum Platform. The platform enables users to participate in thousands of interest-based communities (komunitas), create threads and posts, share images and videos, and engage in discussions. The platform also offers a premium tier called KASKUS Plus that provides exclusive badges, smileys, avatar frames, and other member benefits for a monthly fee of 25,000 IDR.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- KASKUS Forum Platform Indonesian online forum and community platform at kaskus.co.id where individual internet users create and join interest-based communities (komunitas), publish threaded discussions, share images and videos, and run social commerce listings through the Forum Jual Beli. Targeted at Indonesian consumers seeking peer discussion, hobby communities, news commentary, and classified listings.
- KASKUS Plus Paid monthly premium membership for Kaskus forum users, priced at Rp 25,000/month, providing exclusive badges, custom smileys, avatar frames, and other premium member benefits on top of free forum access. Targeted at active Kaskus forum users who want enhanced profile personalization.
Companies that use Kaskus
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Kaskus technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Kaskus partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators8 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Kaskus competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Quora: Quora is a question-and-answer community platform with regional/language localization, advertising monetization, and a subscription product (Quora+). It overlaps directly with Kaskus's community discussion format and Indonesian-language content approach.
- Stack Exchange: Stack Exchange operates a network of topic-specific Q&A and forum-style communities (Stack Overflow, Superuser, etc.) with a similar thread/reputation structure. While niche-focused, its community network architecture is directly comparable to Kaskus's komunitas model.
- Kompasiana: Kompasiana is an Indonesian community blogging and forum platform operated under the Kompas media umbrella, with topic-based communities (komunitas), user-generated articles, and advertising revenue. It is a direct domestic peer to Kaskus's general-interest community model.
Broad incumbents
- Discord: Discord is a global community-and-chat platform that has absorbed significant interest-based community engagement away from traditional forums, including among Indonesian gamers and hobbyists. It competes with Kaskus for the same hobbyist/komunitas audience but on a real-time, mobile-native format.
- Reddit: Reddit is the global benchmark for interest-based forum communities organized into subreddits (komunitas), with thread-and-reply UX, advertising and premium subscription (Reddit Premium) monetization, and a similar community-led GTM motion. Kaskus operates the same model localized to Indonesia, making Reddit the closest structural analog.
- Telegram: Telegram is a major community platform in Indonesia with large public groups and channels that host threaded discussions similar to Kaskus's forums. It competes for the same Indonesian community-organizing use case, particularly among mobile-first users.
Regional players
- Liputan6: Liputan6 is one of Indonesia's largest online news portals with active comment/forum functionality, covering news, entertainment, and lifestyle topics similar to Kaskus's Berita dan Politik and Berita Dunia Hiburan communities. It competes for the same Indonesian news-discussion audience.
- Detik (detikcom): Detik is one of Indonesia's highest-traffic news and community platforms with comment threads, forums, and topic-specific communities. It competes with Kaskus for Indonesian general-interest discussion share, particularly around news and lifestyle topics.
Others
- Disqus: Disqus is a commenting and community platform that powers threaded discussions across thousands of third-party publisher sites, with advertising monetization. It is thematically adjacent to Kaskus as community-discussion infrastructure rather than a direct consumer competitor.
Emerging players
- Brainly: Brainly is an Indonesia-active (through Brainly.co.id) peer-to-peer learning community with localized Indonesian content and a subscription product. It competes for Indonesian student/parent audience time against Kaskus's educational sub-communities and shares the community-led GTM motion.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Kaskus social profiles
Digital presenceKaskus financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kaskus leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Kaskus funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kaskus M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Kaskus
What does Kaskus do?
KASKUS operates an Indonesian online forum and community platform at kaskus.co.id where individual users form and join interest-based communities, post threaded discussions, share media (text, images, videos), and run social commerce listings through the Forum Jual Beli. A paid premium tier called KASKUS Plus (Rp 25,000/month) adds exclusive badges, smileys, and avatar frames, which is the only disclosed direct-to-consumer monetized layer alongside advertising.
Is Kaskus a public or private company?
Kaskus is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Kaskus founded?
Kaskus was founded in 1999. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Kaskus based?
Kaskus is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the Asia region.
How does Kaskus make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. KASKUS Plus Subscription is the primary driver. The others are advertising.
Who are Kaskus's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Quora, Stack Exchange and Kompasiana. Broad incumbents are Discord, Reddit and Telegram. Regional players are Liputan6 and Detik (detikcom). Disqus is listed as an others. Brainly is listed as an emerging player.
Does Kaskus have an API?
No public API is recorded for Kaskus.
What industry is Kaskus in?
Kaskus's product category is Online Community Forum. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMABAH, Social Audio & Live Community Platforms, with a secondary code of MPACAJAF, Community Hosting & Membership Platforms.