Background  Community exercise might be beneficialto stroke recovery. However, the results remained controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the effect of community exercise on stroke patients. Methods PubMed, EMbase, Web of science, EBSCO, and Cochrane library databases were systematically searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effect of community exercise vs. usual care on stroke were included. Two investigators independently searched articles, extracted data, and assessed the quality of included studies. The primary outcome were 6-Minute walk test and walking speed. Metaanalysis was performed using random-effect model.Results Four RCTs involving 497 patients were included in the metaanalysis. Overall, compared with control intervention, community exercise intervention was found to significantly improve 6-Minute walk distance (Std. mean difference = 0.48; 95 % CI = 0.22 to 0.74; P = 0.0003), and walking speed (Std. mean difference = 0.40; 95 % CI = 0.10 to 0.70; P = 0.009) in stroke patients, but resulted in no influence on Berg Balance Scale (Std. mean difference = 0.39; 95 % CI =  − 0.29 to 1.07; P = 0.26), muscle strength (Std. mean difference = 0.05; 95% CI=-0.34 to 0.43; P=0.82) and mental quality of life (Std. mean difference = 0.04; 95% CI =  − 0.25 to 0.34; P = 0.77). Conclusions Compared to control intervention, community exercise was found to significantly increase 6-Minute walk test, walking speed and Berg Balance Scale, but showed no influence on Berg Balance Scale, muscle strength and mental quality of life.