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Energy communities (ECs) offer a promising solution for achieving sustainable and decentralized energy systems. However, the successful establishment and operation of ECs requires overcoming barriers that can hinder stakeholder participation. Existing research has primarily focused on incentives and motivations to join ECs, thus neglecting a comprehensive understanding of the key barriers affecting EC stakeholders in European Union (EU) countries. This paper aims to fill this research gap by identifying and ranking the barriers to joining ECs in the EU context with focus on Spain and Italy. To accomplish this, a framework of barriers was developed based on 20 in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders of established ECs and a survey (n = 56). The barriers identified were categorized into four types: (a) financial, (b) regulatory and bureaucratic, (c) technical and practical, and (d) social and cultural. The analytical hierarchical process (AHP) methodology was employed to estimate and rank these barriers. The findings highlight that the most significant barrier categories are regulatory and bureaucratic, and financial. Specifically, regulatory complexity and legal limitations emerge as the top-ranked barriers among the obstacles identified to joining ECs by research participants. • Energy communities are a promising solution for sustainable decentralized energy systems. • Joining an energy community faces financial, regulatory, technical, social barriers. • The article ranks these barriers using the analytical hierarchical process. • It provides insight of the barriers affecting all energy communities' stakeholders. • It discusses the main policy recommendations derived from the ranking of barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]