The following figures are believed to have founded major religions or to have been the first codifiers or best known proponents of older traditions.

• Bahá'u'lláh (Bahá'í Faith)
• Confucius (Confucianism)
• Jacob (Judaism)
• Jesus of Nazareth (Christianity)
• Joseph Smith (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormonism)
• Lao Zi (Taoism)
• L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology)
• Mahavir (Jainism)
• Mani (Manichaeism)
• Mo Zi (Mohism)
• Muhammad (the last prophet of Islam, according to Muslims, and the founder of Islam, according to non-Muslims)
• Nanak (Sikhism)
• Siddartha Guatama (Buddhism)
• Zoroaster (Zoroastrianism)

Note that absence from this list does not imply that a religion is not major. Hinduism and Shinto, for example, have no single founder.