I run a school chess club, and it is usually at least 4, regardless of the length (I think...someone else may know better.) I believe, in general you need double the number of players to at least complete the # of rounds you want. So if you want a 5 round tournament to actually be 5 rounds, ten players are needed. Otherwise, if you have at least 4, the tournament will happen, but be truncated.
Ex. I schedule a 5 round Swiss, but only 6 players joined, so chess.com truncated it; it ended after 3 rounds.
What is the minimum players for a 5 round Swiss tournament so it is not auto cancelled on Chess.com?