My current game which I run at the local library usually has anywhere from 8 to 12 players show up for any one session. I know that's a lot larger than most groups, but I'm wondering what the range is for most DMs here, and how big a group they are usually willing to run?

I just started running ToA at my local library. We have 5 but that'll drop to 4 in 2 weeks as one is headed back to school.

I prefer 4 to 6 max. It gets unwieldy otherwise.. But ymmv. 

4-6 depending on what is happening in everyone's life at the moment. We used to play in person, but then we all went different directions with jobs, but still meet once a week with discord and other tools.

My normal size group is 7 to 9.

I have run groups of up to 30, and if my next campaign gets three more players, then I will split it into two groups of 6.

The campaign I am currently playing with has 8 total (7 players and myself as DM).  I have run with groups as small as 3 (2 players+DM) and as large as 15.  For most of the groups I have played with over the years, I tend to agree that anything over 6 players can become drawn out and slow down the game.  The core of our group has been together for a while now, so we don't have the slog that normally accompanies large groups.

I run a solo campaign, a campaign with 3 players and another with 4 so i selected 4 as this is the sweet spot for me. I  used to but nowadays i would not DM for more than 5 anymore, i prefer the experience with less of them.

I was curious on this topic too. Im relatively new at DMing. My previous game was a two year campaign of usually 4-5 players, and I am about to run my second adventure and have 6 people so far, but there is one other person I wanted to invite to play. However, 7 seemed like too many so I was surprised to see the poll results. 

The number 4 is not so fantastic that it needs a poll option all to itself.  

I tend to 2-3 or 4-6.

4 players is optimal and 6 is the max number. Even at 6 turn order gets clogged, things slow down with player action paralysis/just not paying attention. With 4 you can quickly keep everyone involved on decisions(which way to go, what to do?) and skill checks. 

I've played in groups as small as 5 and as large as 16.  Most common group size tends to be around 12.  Anything under 6 is just too few people, I'd say ideal is about 8

My number vary depending on the game I'm playing.

For D&D I have three groups - 5 players, 5 players, 7 players. For my money the ideal group size is 4-7 players.

Not entirely sure what the best answer to the poll is for me; I put 5-6 because there are six players in the group, but it's rare to get all six to a session, four is the most common.

We started playing regularly via video chat and online tools during lockdowns in 2020, and used to play on Sunday afternoons, but while we had pretty good attendance for a while even after things reopened properly attendance has slipped over the last year especially, so we're moving more to a weekday evening on the assumption it's less likely to conflict with other things.

I've run with 3 since our 4th passed on, and it's a pretty good party size since everyone's actively participating. If I start another table I'll limit it to 5. I've heard of 7-10 person tables which sounds horrifying.

Quote from Solace90 >>

 I've heard of 7-10 person tables which sounds horrifying.

 That's the perfect size table, you never have to worry about scheduling issues.  Even if a few people miss the session there's no need to cancel

Quote from DrJawaPhD >>

That's the perfect size table, you never have to worry about scheduling issues.  Even if a few people miss the session there's no need to cancel

I think the problem is less with the 3-5 person days, but rather what if everyone shows up at once? Combat in D&D can already be extremely slow with only 3-4 players, with much more than that even a "quick" combat could dominate the entire session and leave little room for anything else.

For out of combat stuff you're then potentially juggling a lot of ongoing activities and NPCs unless the group is just happy to go around together, but even then you've got make sure every player is getting to contribute and having a chance to speak (as some players will speak the most if you let them).

Plus I think with a big group there's an even greater risk that "it's okay if not everyone can turn up" transforms into "I don't have to make an effort to turn up" on the player side; I've seen that with groups of 5-6, I can only assume it'd be way worse with a bigger group.

I feel like from the responses here the secondary question needs to be: do you have a regular schedule that your group attempts to stick to?

I run three D&D groups. My Sunday group started as 6 people, reduced down to 5 due to personality and playstyle clashes. The group meets every fortnight and has done now for two years. We occasionally have a week here and there due to illness, holidays or other things, but largely it's been every two weeks. The second group is my weekly monday group of five players. This group also started as six players, but one player was dropped due to again a playstyle incompatibility. We've had again occasional drop outs but by and large it's been regular and without fail save for illness or holdiays for around a year and a half now. Finally, my Saturday group, also fortnightly but consists of seven players. We (mostly) get all seven for each session, that group has been going since September last year and we've had a mix and match of players with some not available here or there. Largely however everyone turns up. 

So considering the answers other people have given, do people also keep to specific schedules?