I write this as a long time (nearly 45 years) member of the Bahai Faith and one that has been active on-line for 15 years.
Are there denominations/factions/splinter groups that are not part of the mainstream Bahai Faith? Yes. How many? It depends on how you define them. But they have existed since the beginning of the Faith.
In the mid 1860’s, Baha’u’llah’s half brother, Mirza Yahya rejected Baha’u’llah’s claims and put forth similar claims for himself. His followers are generally known as Azalis. But by the time of his death nearly 100 years ago on Cyprus, not one of his followers could be found to administer the Azali his death. His neighbors tho’t he was a Muslim; and he was buried according to Muslim rites. There is one person on-line who claims to be an Azali, but there is no documentation of a continuing organization after WWI.
The next major schismatic attempt was mounted on the death of Baha’u’llah. He had designated His eldest son, Abdu’l-Baha as authoritative interpreter of His Writings. Another son, Muhammad Ali, Abdu’l-Baha’s half brother, objected to the authority that Abdu’l-Baha claimed. He attracted the allegance of most of Baha’u’llah’s family and many non-family members. The family appear to have seen the Bahai Faith more as a family business than the Religion of God, and felt that as the heirs of Baha’u’llah, they should have an equal say in its administration and recipients of the funds contributed to it. But by the time of the Young Turk revolution in 1908, they were largely discredited in the eyes of both the followers of Baha’u’llah and the secular authorities. On the death of Abdu’l-Baha in 1921, they resurrected their claims which were summarily dismissed both by the overwhelming majority of Bahais as well as the secular courts they appealed to. There are remnants of the family still living in the middle east, some in Israel. There does not appear to be any formal organization and they don’t have an on-line presence.
Abdu’l-Baha named His grandson Shoghi Effendi as His successor. Shoghi Effendi embarked on a plan to develop Bahai institutions as a precursor to the election of the Universal House of Justice named in the Writings of both Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha. Some Bahais objected to this process and therefore rejected his authority. Others objected to being subject to the decisions of the national and local administrative bodies Shoghi Effendi established and therefore rejected his authority. So far as I know, there are no remnants of these people today.
On the death of Shoghi Effendi in 1957, it was found he did not name a successor as Guardian of the Faith. Prior to his death, he had appointed a group of individuals with the title of Hand of the Cause of God, with limited specific duties and responsibilities to protect and propagate the Faith. In accordance with this limited authority, these Hands assumed leadership of the Faith until a plan initiated by Shoghi Effendi was completed in 1963. Shoghi Effendi had also named a 9 member consultative body, the International Bahai Council, with very little administrative authority. The plan culminated in the election of the Universal House of Justice. With that election, the Hands and the Council surrendered all leadership responsibilities.
One member of the Hands, Mason Remey, appears to have become clinically depressed over the prospect of the Faith continuing without a living Guardian. He then claimed in 1960 that since Shoghi Effendi had named him as President of the International Bahai Council; and since that council was seen as a predecessor to the Universal House of Justice; and since the Guardian was named in Abdu’l-Baha’s Will as the head of the Universal House of Justice, that he was in fact the second Guardian of the Faith. This reasoning was rejected by the other Hands because – 1) Abdu’l-Baha stated that a successor Guardian had to be specifically named by the Guardian; 2) all Guardians must be descendants of Baha’u’llah.
The faction that Remey founded is now know as the Orthodox Bahais. On his death, there were rival claims to being the third Guardian and resulting splintering of the Remeyites. That has resulted in several of the current denominations, all of whom have some kind of internet presence.
In addition, there are some Baha’is who believe that the Faith must conform to a liberal western ideal. There are several dozen of these. They don’t appear to have much of an organization, but do have an internet presence.
In addition to the groups above, there have been a dozen or so other lesser known individuals who have attempted to develop a faction/denomination. So far as I know, there is nothing left of these groups and no internet presence.
In evaluating the claims of these groups, one must look at their membership. Scholars, both Bahai and non-Bahai, say that the total membership of all these groups combined is somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000. I personally go for the 2000 end of the scale. Of these, the Orthodox Bahais and the Bahais Under the Provisions of the Covenant are probably the largest . The Orthodox Bahais are the oldest. In spite of this, they have not been successful in attracting a significant number of members. In contrast, the Bahai Faith now numbers somewhere over 5 million world-wide, with significant numbers in about 185 countries. Furthermore, their interaction with and effect on the non-Bahai world is limited at best. In contrast, there are regular local news stories of Bahais who are recognized not merely for being Bahais, but for putting their faith into action in the local communities.
The Bahai Scriptures don’t deny that these groups can or will exist. What they state is that their machinations will come to naught. Even a cursory examination of the subject shows that this is true both of the schismatics of the past and also the current crop.
Don C