When selecting the best online course & membership platform, you will undoubtedly wonder how Thinkific compares to ClickFunnels.
Thinkific hosts and supports a variety of digital products and specializes in online course creation.
ClickFunnels, on the other hand, is a page and sales funnel builder created for entrepreneurs.
You must consider the similarities and differences between these two platforms before making your final decision. This article will help you with that!
Thinkific
One of the reasons Thinkific is such a popular option is because it’s an all-in-one platform. Course creators can easily design and market their online courses.
With Thinkific, there’s no need for additional plug-ins or knowledge to get your course to the right level. Since the platform is user-friendly, there’s also no need for tech skills.
You can build an online course from the ground up in a matter of minutes.
ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels serves as a sales funnel builder easily created to assist entrepreneurs with building websites and sales funnels.
Course creators can easily use Clickfunnels’ sales funnels to host online courses using various marketing actions such as videos, automated e-mails, and landing pages.
Using these marketing options facilitates the buyer’s decision, making the course creator’s process that much easier.
Thinkific vs. ClickFunnels at a Glance
| Thinkific | ClickFunnels | |
|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Yes, 14 days. | Yes, 14 days. |
| Pricing Range | Free – $0/month Basic Plan – $49/month Pro Plan – $99/month Premier Plan – $499/month *Save 20% when signing up annually ** Growth Package add-on with Pro Plan (costs based on active students) | ClickFunnels – $97 per month Platinum – $297 per month Two Comma Club X – $2,497 per month |
| Best For | It is ideal for authors, trainers, and coaches who need a starter option to build new online courses. | Lead capturing, funnel building, membership sites |
| User Interface Features | Course bundles Course reviews Customizable designs Bulk e-mail Custom domains | Interactive landing pages Mobile view Potential leads Drag and drop builder Page style settings |
| Online Courses | Course category options SSO & segmenting Students can download courses in different media types | Google and Facebook SEO preview Multiple course options Variety of media types |
| Monetization Options | Affiliate marketing Third-party adverts on various platforms Sellable content | White labeling Affiliate marketing Automated webinars Stripe, PayPal |
| Marketing Options | Customer validation E-mail marketing Retarget ads Keyword research SEO utilization Coupons | Upsells & bundles Coupons & promotions E-mail marketing Customer validation Utilize SEO |
When comparing these two competitors, it’s important to review the key points as listed below:
- Thinkific can create an online course from start to finish in one simple platform. ClickFunnels allows you to create more basic courses and use the sales funnels for marketing online material.
- An entry-level package on ClickFunnels retails for $97 per month, while a basic package on Thinkific is only $49 per month. Thinikific also has a free plan. Both platforms have a 14 day free trial period, allowing you to determine which course builder best suits your needs.
- Both platforms offer courses on different media types, such as videos, images, and sound clips.
- Thinkific and ClickFunnels both offer bulk e-mail, custom domains, SEO utilization, and affiliate marketing.
- Clickfunnels works perfectly well for membership courses
Thinkific vs. ClickFunnels: Pricing Comparison
Thinkific Pricing:
- Free ($0 per month) – Allows you to retain ownership of your courses and has built-in content creation tools. This tier doesn’t support custom domain or membership sites or the Thinkific app.
- Basic Plan ($49 per month or $39 per month if paid annually – Includes Thinkific app, unlimited courses, and student surveys.
- Pro Plan ($99 per month or $89 per month if paid annually) – Includes live lessons with Zoom, memberships, unlimited courses, and student discussions.
- Premier Plan ($499 per month or $399 per month if paid annually) – Includes all the features from previous plans, custom code editing, and onboarding package.
ClickFunnels Pricing:
- ClickFunnels Basic ($97 per month) Create sub-pages within each funnel, up to 100 pages. This option offers one sub-user with login and admin rights to each page. This option doesn’t offer weekly peer review as in the other two options.
- ClickFunnels Platinum ($297 per month) – This package gives users access to Funnel Fix, the ClickFunnels training vault. Unlimited funnels, websites on offer, but only three users can have individual logins to one account. Nine payment gateways and domains allow multiple brands or products on the same account.
- ClickFunnels Two Comma ClubX ($2,497 per month) – This premium option offers unlimited funnels, pages, and up to 10 sub-users with unique logins and admin rights. Users can have up to 27 domains and gateways.
Thinkific vs. ClickFunnels: A Comparison of Features and Tools
The deciding factor between software platforms is often the number of features they offer. Certain features increase an online course’s proficiency. It’s important to know what these features are and what exactly to expect from them.
Important features to consider when comparing software platforms include online courses, sales and marketing, student experience, and analytics features. Read on to see how key ClickFunnels features stack up to those of Thinkific.
Online Courses
People choose online courses because of their simplicity and accessibility. Online course creators require platforms that are simple to build and even easier to use.
Thinkific allows designers to use a host of customizable features using user-friendly automation. ClickFunnels doesn’t specifically advertise as an online course host. However, it still provides an easy way for entrepreneurs to build online courses.
Which Platform Offers the Better Solution for Hosting Online Courses?
- Since Thinkific is an online course builder, it easily outshines ClickFunnels in this department. As an all-in-one platform, Thinkific is user-friendly with different course category options and customizable features.
Sales & Marketing Features
How a platform markets its online courses is an equally important feature to consider. Thinkific provides course creators with easy-to-follow guidelines that can promote courses using social media links.
ClickFunnels offers upsells and different bundles as their primary marketing features. They offer coupons and promotions.
Which Platform Offers Better Sales & Marketing Solutions?
- While Thinkific offers coupons and social media advertising, ClickFunnels stands out in this category because of their specific marketing actions. By using their sales funnels, they advertise using automated e-mails, videos, and landing pages. Their ultimate goal is to influence the buyers’ decisions.
Student Experience Features
How students interact and engage with a specific software platform determines the success rate. It plays a huge factor in the ultimate reserve rate. While Thinkific provides an exceptional student experience, ClickFunnels doesn’t teach and motivate students.
Which Platform Offers Better Student Experience?
- Thinkific is the star here because it has the student experience in mind. ClickFunnels doesn’t have built-in features such as student tracking progress and goal setting. The Thinkific platform offers quizzes, surveys, and discussions that stand out and provide students with an easy way to measure and track their progress.
Analytics Features
Any analytics feature aims to identify and log visitor and user information. This type of information enhances online courses and streamline pages to attract more students into making buying decisions. One of the better analytics platforms, Google Analytics, features on both Thinkific and ClickFunnels.
Which Platform Offers Better Analytics Features?
- In this category, it’s difficult to choose a specific winner since both platforms use Google Analytics. This advanced platform provides course creators with accurate and updated information regarding visitor activities on these two software platforms.
Customization Features
The more customizable a platform is, the more success a course creator will have with their potential students. Features are customizable for each specific online course, making it easy to use.
Thinkific enables you to build custom domains for each course with an interactive site builder function that provides students an engaging learning experience. ClickFunnels features interactive landing pages and a drag and drop builder.
Which Platform Offers Better Customization Features?
- Thinkific outshines when it comes to customization features. Customization allows the course creator to develop a unique platform by allowing options for specific branding and an easy-to-use dashboard.
Final Thoughts
- Choose Thinkific if: you’re looking for a platform to build your course from start to finish easily. Thinkific creates and markets your online courses in a manner that will result in return sales.
- Choose ClickFunnels if: you need your platform to create leads and sales funnels that will increase the traffic to your online course website. This platform aims towards a high conversion rate.
This article clearly shows that both software platforms can efficiently host your online courses. Thinkific, however, is unique in several important ways. Not only is it easy to set up from start to finish, but it doesn’t require any technical skills.
Out-of-the-box templates, full ownership of your site, and an interactive dashboard allow course creators to develop online courses that are both interactive and user-friendly.
Thinkific’s course creation and site-building tools make it by far the more impressive platform specifically for course building.
