Thinkific Review: Is Thinkific the online course creation platform for me? (2023)

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Fact-checked by Layla Varela
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Updated on: June 14, 2023

You may be an expert who wants to start sharing your knowledge with people by creating online courses. But you don't really know which of the thousands of options on the market best suits your needs and what is the best choice for you and your business. 

Today we are bringing you a Thinkific Review, one of the most used online course creation platforms nowadays.

With this information, you can get the details and choose the best option for you and your business, discovering if Thinkific is the platform that you want.

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What is Thinkific?

Thinkific is an online course creation platform allowing individuals and businesses to create, sell, and market online courses. 

It was founded in 2012 by the brothers Greg and Matt Smith and has since grown to become one of the leading course creation platforms. 

On the Thinkific web page, they explain that their mission is " Revolutionize the way people learn and earn online by giving them the tools they need to turn their expertise into a sustainable business that impacts both them and their audience" With this in mind, they are growing this successful platform. 

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What can you do with Thinkific?

On Thinkific, you can create multiple multimedia contents, including videos, quizzes, and surveys, to engage and educate your students. 

In addition, the platform proposes a user-friendly interface that makes designing and customizing courses to fit specific needs and preferences easy. 

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Users can do some specific things with Thinkific:

  1. Create and Sell Online Courses: The platform provides a wide range of multimedia tools to create engaging course content and sales and marketing features to promote and reach a wider audience.
  1. Offer Free Courses: Thinkific also allows you to offer free courses to your audience, which can be a great way to build relationships and establish credibility. You can develop custom landing pages for their free courses and use them to attract your potential customers.
  1. Deliver Content in a Variety of Formats: Thinkific offers you a range of course delivery options, including self-paced learning, drip content, and scheduled releases. You can also deliver course content in various formats to keep your students engaged and interested.
  1. Manage Students and Enrollments: Thinkific provides tools to manage student enrollments, track progress, and offer support. You can also set up automated email notifications to keep your students engaged and informed.
  1. Integrate with Third-Party Tools: Thinkific integrates with various third-party tools, including payment gateways, email marketing platforms, and analytics tools, to provide a more comprehensive course creation and management experience.

Additional Thinkific Features

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Whether you're an individual entrepreneur or run a business, Thinkific provides an extensive range of features and tools to make your courses adaptable to your needs and values.

Let’s see some of them:

  • Course Certificates: Thinkific allows you to issue custom course completion certificates to students who have successfully completed their courses. This can add value to your course and give students a sense of achievement.
  • Course Reviews and Ratings: Thinkific offers built-in course review and rating functionality, which can help to increase trust and credibility with your potential students. Course reviews and ratings can also provide valuable feedback to you and help you improve your courses.
  • Gamification: Thinkific offers a range of gamification features, such as progress bars and completion badges, to motivate and engage your students. These characteristics can help increase student attention and motivation, leading to better learning results.
  • Student Community: Thinkific allows you to create custom discussion forums and communities where students can connect and share ideas. This can create a feeling of community and provide a supportive learning environment.
  • Multilingual Support: Thinkific supports multiple languages, allowing you to offer courses in different languages to reach a wider audience.

As you can see, Thinkific offers you a great variety of possibilities to develop your courses and not only sell them in the best way but also offers you tools to keep your students engaged and motivated to learn. 

Because of all mentioned above, the platform also presents a variety of pricing plans to suit different budgets and needs, starting at $0 per month for basic features.

Is Thinkific Free?

Yes! Thinkific has a free plan and is great for creating and selling online courses for the first time. While the free plan has some limitations, it's an excellent way to start out having to make an economic investment. don't get confused. This plan is not a free trial.

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Here's what you can expect with the Thinkific Free Plan:

  • Course Creation: With the free plan, you can create one course with one community for unlimited students. You can incorporate text, images, video, audio, and more to create an entertaining and interactive class.
  • Basic Features: The free plan includes access to some features, such as quizzes and surveys, course completion certificates, and email integrations.
  • Customization: You can customize your course website with your branding and colors to create a professional look and feel.
  • Support: The free plan includes access to the Thinkific knowledge base and community forum, where you can find explanations to common questions and connect with others. also include 30 days of E-mail support and Chatbot

Once you've created your courses and built up your student base, you can upgrade to one of Thinkific's paid plans to access more advanced features and support.

Other Thinkific Plans

Basic Thinkific Plan 

The Thinkific Basic Plan is a great option if you are looking to expand your offerings and reach a larger audience. It offers a robust set of features at an affordable price point.

  • Course Creation: With the Basic Plan, you can create unlimited courses for unlimited students, one community, and 5 spaces per community. all the features are included in the Free plan.
  • Advanced Features: The Basic Plan includes access to advanced features, such as coupons and promotions, email marketing integrations, and affiliate reporting.
  • Customization: You can fully customize your course website with your branding and colors to create a professional and cohesive look and feel.
  • Support: The Basic Plan includes access to email and chatbot support, the Thinkific knowledge base, and the community forum.

It's a great option for course creators who are looking to grow their business and reach more students.

Start Thinkific Plan 

The Thinkific Start Plan is designed for you if you want to take your online courses to the next level.

  • Course Creation and Unlimited Students: With the Start Plan, you can create unlimited courses and enroll a limitless number of students in one community with 10 spaces per community. This allows you to scale your course offerings and cater to a larger audience.
  • Advanced Features: The Start Plan includes all the features of the Basic Plan. It offers additional advanced features to enhance your course creation and management experience. This includes Assignments, Bundles, add-on packages, and Live lessons.
  • Advanced Customization: The Start Plan allows for more advanced customization Building options, giving you greater control over the setup and branding of your course website. You can develop a special and professional look that aligns with your brand. It includes advanced website code editing too.
  • Support: As a Start Plan subscriber, you receive email and chatbot support; this can be particularly helpful when you need prompt assistance with any technical or platform-related issues
  • Thinkific Mobile: The Star plan Subscriber allows you to deliver your courses and community content to your students on different types of electronic devices, such as Cellphones and Tablets.

Thinkific's Start Plan provides an upgraded experience compared to the Basic Plan, and it's an excellent choice for course creators who want to offer their students a more polished and customized learning experience.

Grow Thinkific Plan 

The Thinkific Grow Plan is the most popular plan offered by Thinkific, it’s designed for advanced course creators. If you are one of them, this may be your perfect plan.

  • Unlimited Courses and Students: With the Grow Plan, you can create and sell limitless courses to unlimited students. Also, let you have three Communities and 20 spaces per community. This scalability allows you to expand your course offerings and reach a broad audience.
  • Plan Features: The Grow Plan includes all the features of the Start Plan. It also offers to remove all Thinkific branding, Bulk student emailer, Bulk student enrollments, and API access.
  • Customization and Administration: The Grow plan allows you to have all advanced customization features included in the thinkific plans mentioned above and allows you to have 2 administrators to manage all features offered by Thinkific.
  • Support: The Grow Plan offers priority email and phone support to solve all questions and requirements and assist you with any technological or platform-related affairs.
  • Thinkific Mobile:  As in the Star plan, the Grow Plan allows you to deliver your courses and community content to your learners on their mobile devices to make it approachable anytime.

Expand Thinkific Plan 

The Thinkific Expand Plan is the best plan offered by Thinkific, but its features are pretty similar to the Grow Plan.

  • Unlimited Courses and Students:  The Expand Plan allows you to have the flexibility to create and sell an unlimited number of courses to an endless number of learners, owning 10 communities with limitless spaces per community. 
  • All Expand Plan Features: This Plan includes all features Thinkific offers in their other lower-cost plans.
  • Customization and Administration: Expand plan offers all advanced customization features and allows you to have 5 administrators to manage all your courses, communities, and other features the platform offers.
  • Priority Support: The Grow Plan offers priority phone support and email and chatbot support.
  • Thinkific Mobile: You can deliver your courses and community content to your learners on their mobile devices, as in the Star and Grow plans

The main distinction is the limitation on community and admin accounts and that Expand Plan is more approachable for bigger businesses.

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Image is taken from Thinkific

Furthermore, Thinkific offers a Plus Plan for Business, which is the most complete plan on the platform; it provides unlimited courses for students, admins, and partners,  a dedicated customer success team, Single Sign On (SSO), Enterprise API access, and advanced security features. If you want more details about this specific plan, please visit Thinkific to ask for more information

Thinkific plans pricing comparison 

In the following comparative chart, you can look at the monthly pricing of each plan and the difference per month between paying a monthly subscription or an annual subscription. 

Consider that the annual Subscription has a 25% off on each plan.

Price
Thinkific PlanMonthly Yearly 
Fee$0 /Month$0 /Month
Basic$49 /Month$36 /Month
Start$99 /Month$74 /Month
Grow$199 /Month$149 /Month
Expand$499 /Month$374 /Month

In addition, Thinkific offers an accelerator program to create and sell your course faster for free when you sign up for any of thinkific annual paid plans. 

This accelerator is valued at $499 and includes 8 weeks of one-on-one coaching and weekly learning sessions arranged at a pace that promotes growth, access to a supportive developers community, and exclusive access to live guest experts and workshops. 

Thinkific Pros and Cons:

It's important to note that the pros and cons may vary depending on individual needs and preferences. Considering these points can help you assess whether Thinkific is the right platform for your online courses creation

Thinkific ProsThinkific Cons
User-Friendly Interface
Robust Feature Set
Scalability
Strong Sales and Marketing Tools
Extensive Integrations
Active Community and Support
Pricing Structure
Limited Customization on Lower Plans
Learning Curve for Advanced Features
Transaction Fees

Pros:

  1. Thinkific User-Friendly Interface: Thinkific offers a user-friendly interface that allows you to build and customize your online courses.
  2. Thinkific Robust Feature Set: Thinkific provides many features, including multimedia course creation tools, sales and marketing capabilities, student management features, and integration options.
  3. Scalability: Thinkific allows for scalability, enabling you to expand your course offerings and reach a larger audience without limitations on the number of courses or students.
  4. Strong Sales and Marketing Tools: Thinkific offers features like custom landing pages, email marketing integrations, affiliate marketing programs, and coupons, which can help drive sales and promote your courses effectively.
  5. Extensive Integrations: Thinkific integrates with popular third-party tools, such as payment gateways, email marketing platforms, and analytics tools, providing flexibility and extending functionality.
  6. Active Community and Support: Thinkific has an active community forum and a knowledge base, offering valuable resources and support. Paid plans also provide you with priority support options.

Cons:

  1. Pricing Structure: Some users may find Thinkific's pricing plans relatively higher than other course creation platforms, especially if they require advanced features or personalized support.
  2. Limited Customization on Lower Plans: While Thinkific offers customization options, some advanced customization features may only be available on higher-tier plans.
  1. Learning Curve for Advanced Features: The more advanced features in Thinkific may have a learning curve, particularly for beginners or those less experienced with online course creation.
  2. Transaction Fees: Thinkific charges transaction fees on specific payment gateways, which can add to the platform's overall cost, especially for higher sales volumes.

Thinkific VS, another course creator platforms

Such as Thinkific; there are other platforms that serve to create, design and sell online courses, which can also be an option to consider when choosing how you can start an online course business.

Let's see a comparison of other platforms like Udemy, Teachable, and Skillshare.

Thinkific vs Udemy

Udemy is a learning marketplace with multiple courses created by instructors worldwide. In Udemy, as an instructor, you can follow standardized templates. 

In this particular case, you can benefit from the existing traffic and reach of the platform to expand your courses and achieve other students. Also, the platform handles marketing and customer support.

Thinkific, on the other hand, is a platform that allows you to design and sell your own online courses and customize them as you want. It provides more control over course content, branding, and pricing. In this case, you must drive your traffic to attract students.

Thinkific gives creators more control and flexibility over their courses, while Udemy offers a more extensive student base and marketing support. 

Udemy, you can build as many courses as you want for free, while Thinkific limits you to only one free course.

Despite its many wonderful features, there are better platforms for establishing a course business than Udemy. Thinkific has a lot of potential for expansion and profit. Udemy is a great platform to reach learners and Share Knowledge, but it is for something other than making online course creation a business.

Thinkific vs Teachable

Thinkific and Teachable are both platforms for creating and selling online courses.

Teachable provides an all-in-one solution for course creators. It offers a user-friendly course builder with templates and customization options, making designing your course content and website appearance easy. 

Teachable has built-in marketing tools and analytics, helping you promote and track your course sales. It offers various pricing plans, including recurring subscriptions and one-time payment options. Teachable also has a marketplace where you can list your courses, potentially gaining exposure to a wider audience. 

With Thinkific, you can customize your course content, branding, and pricing. You can create a fully branded course website that reflects your unique identity. Thinkific also offers advanced features and integration options with third-party tools. 

You can arrange your prices and keep 100% of the income from course sales. The user-friendly interface and available resources make creating and marketing your courses easy.

Thinkific provides more control, customization, and advanced features, making it ideal for creators who want complete autonomy over their courses, including profit. 

In contrast, Teachable offers a convenient all-in-one solution with a built-in marketplace and integrated marketing tools, making it suitable for creators who prioritize visibility and marketing support. Still, its prices are higher than Thinkific prices and charge a Transaction Fee.

Thinkific vs Skillshare

Skillshare is an expansive online learning marketplace that offers multiple courses taught by experts from various fields. It operates on a subscription-based model, where learners pay a monthly or annual fee to gain unlimited access to the entire course catalog. 

Skillshare provides learners with an extensive range of creative and practical skills, covering topics such as art, design, writing, business, and more.

Skillshare offers a revenue-sharing model where you receive a portion of the subscription revenue based on the popularity of your courses. While Thinkific allows you to have 100% of the income of your courses. 

Also, Thinkific offers the nearest experience with your learners. Skillshare is a more relaxed model that offers online video courses where learners can choose which course they want to take in an extensive catalog.  

Thinkific is an ideal platform to establish your online course business, exert complete control over your course offerings, and build your brand. Skillshare, on the other hand, is an attractive option if you want to drop some courses on a platform and get an income from it.

Free 30 days Trial on Start or Grow Plans

Thinkific's free 30-day trial is like a free pass to their Start or Grow Plan that gives you exclusive access to their platform for an entire month. It's an opportunity for you to dive into the world of online course creation and experience all the fantastic tools and possibilities Thinkific has to offer.

During the trial period, you can create online courses, add engaging content like videos and quizzes, customize your course website to match your brand, and even enroll students to test the learning experience. 

Whether you are a passionate individual, an ambitious entrepreneur, or a knowledgeable professional, Thinkific's free trial lets you dip your toes into the exciting world of online education, helping you kickstart your course creation dreams with a risk-free opportunity.

So, why wait? Take advantage of Thinkific's free 30-day trial and embark on a journey of knowledge-sharing, learning, and potential success. 

Final Conclusions

Thinkific is an excellent platform if you are an entrepreneur and want to start an online courses business. It allows you to try for free or start with a free plan to learn how to use the platform and upgrade your plans while your business is growing. 

Furthermore, Thinkific offers an extended range of features and resources to manage your courses and your incomes by yourself.

If you want to look for an educational platform to develop your Skills, Skillademia is a fantastic option for finding enhancing courses for a modest price.

Camila Marcelo is an experienced online education content creator with over 7 years developing engaging videos and written content on technology. She employs proven teaching methodologies to make complex topics understandable for diverse learners. Camila is passionate about democratizing access to digital skills through emerging tech and optimized instructional design.
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