Similar to Kajabi and Kartra, Thinkific provides a platform for building and selling learning products.
Recently, the platform underwent a complete revamp, which introduced a new user interface, expanded feature set, and refreshed pricing plans.
Key Takeaways:
- Thinkific plans cost from $49/month
- All plans include unlimited course creation and sales
- The platform now has features for funnel building and emailing
What Is Thinkific Used For?
Thinkific is a platform for anyone who wants to create and sell knowledge and/or learning products. It provides an all-in-one platform with all the necessary tools.
Although its primary feature is course building, the platform can also be used for coaching products, communities, digital downloads, and more.
You also now get—to some extent—sales and marketing features.
Note that Thinkific is a platform exclusively for creating and selling digital products. If you want to sell physical products, it is not the right option.
How Does Thinkific Work?
The platform is offered as software as a service (SaaS), meaning you’ll pay a monthly or annual subscription fee to access and use its features.
The pricing plan you choose will determine which features you can access and what the limits are.
It’s important to highlight that Thinkific is not a marketplace like Udemy or Skillshare. It’s ultimately down to you to generate traffic and drive product sales through your own marketing efforts.
How Affordable Is Thinkific?
Recently, Thinkific has streamlined its plans. It has retired the free plan (which is a shame since it was pretty generous) and has also got rid of the Expand plan, which was one of the top-tier offerings.
Now, it has three standard paid plans starting at $49 per month. A fourth Plus plan with unlimited features is also offered at custom pricing.
| Plan | Monthly price | Monthly price paid annually | Total annual price | Discount for paying annually |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $49 | $36 | $432 | 25% |
| Start | $99 | $74 | $888 | 25% |
| Grow | $199 | $149 | $1,788 | 25% |
It’s an affordable option compared to similar platforms, though its features are certainly more basic.
6 Things I Like About Thinkific
1. Updated, Modern Platform
The developers behind Thinkific have recently done a lot of work upgrading the platform and making it more user-friendly.
It now follows the same format as many of its competitors (Kajabi, etc.), with the main menu bar down the left-hand side and sub-menus along the top row.
The platform is simple to navigate, and its features can be quickly mastered by complete beginners.
It looks and feels modern, which is a huge improvement over the outdated and clunky interface that was previously available.
One exception to this, though, is the website/page builder, which I’ll cover in more detail below.
2. Now Includes Marketing Features
Another upgrade that Thinkific has received is the introduction of marketing features (well, kind of).
Before the facelift, you had precisely zero ways to market your products, which meant you had to use third-party platforms to build sales funnels and run email campaigns.
Now, Thinkific has a funnel-building feature, but be warned. It’s super basic.
You get a choice of a free lesson funnel or a sales page funnel. There are no page templates, and the workflow mapping screen has very limited options.
It’s a new feature, so while it’s a promising start, let’s hope it improves with time.
Similarly, email marketing has now been introduced onto the platform but is also very basic.
There are prebuilt sales campaigns that you can customize and use, or you have automated abandoned cart emails.
Although it’s certainly a lot better than nothing, you may still want to use a third-party emailing tool to get better options and functionality.
3. You Can Actually Use It to Scale
Thinkific now offers a good product range, and the introduction of its new marketing and sales tools means you can use the platform to build and scale a business.
Previously, you would have had to use many third-party integrations to grow your business, but now you can achieve growth just by using the Thinkific platform.
The emphasis is on “basic,” though. I want to stress this point because if you’re an advanced user of platforms like this, you will find the options limited.
But, for selling straightforward digital products and micro offers, it’s a solid platform.
4. Affordable Starter Plan
Thinkific’s lowest-priced plan is one of the more affordable options out there, especially since you get unlimited courses and a decent limit on all other product types.
In contrast, Kajabi’s cheapest plan starts at $69 per month, and you can only create and sell one of each product type. Kartra’s cheapest plan is $79 per month.
So, if you’re looking for a low-cost way to start a business, Thinkific gives you the goods for a reasonable monthly fee.
5. Native Payment Gateway
Thinkific has its own decent payment gateway called TCommerce.
To use it, you’ll pay typical transaction fees as outlined below—nothing unusual there.
| One-time transaction | International cards | Currency conversion | Subscriptions/ payment plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.9% + 30¢ | +1.5% | +1% | +0.5% |
But it offers more than a way to pay.
You get automated sales tax calculation, which is a godsend if you sell in areas that impose these taxes. Anyone who has ever had to deal with these manually will welcome this feature.
It’ll also manage all your subscriptions and payment plans, enable payments through Google Pay and Apple Pay, and even automate the refund process.
Plus, removing the need to integrate with a third-party gateway provides a more streamlined experience and reduces the potential for something to go wrong.
6. SCORM Compliance Possible
Okay, this is only available on the custom-priced Plus plan, but it’s still worth talking about.
SCORM enables compatibility with learning management systems (LMS) and is the industry standard for such tools.
So, if you create learning experiences for organizations that use LMS, you will definitely need SCORM compliance.
The only other similar platform that provides this is LearnWorlds, so this is one way that Thinkific is setting itself apart from its competitors.
4 Things About Thinkific That Need to Change
1. Thinkific Transaction Fees
I need to point out that Thinkific is essentially forcing you to use its own payment gateway, TCommerce.
Yes, you can still use Stripe or PayPal, but you’ll end up paying for it big time.
This is because Thinkific has introduced an extra transaction fee on top of each sale for using these payment platforms (this is in addition to the usual transaction fee that Stripe and PayPal charge).
So, if you’re on the Basic plan, you will be giving up 5% of your revenue just for the privilege of using an alternative payment gateway.
| Basic | Start | Grow | Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5% | 2% | 1% | No fee |
Bear in mind that these fees are for every single transaction, which can add up to a huge amount over time if you’re making decent sales.
In conclusion, if you plan to start using Thinkific, make sure you’re using its payment processor to keep your hard-earned revenue.
2. Livestreaming
This is definitely a pet peeve of mine, but I get really irritated with platforms that highlight webinars as a feature but then don’t actually provide you with the tools to run them.
Thinkific is one such platform.
You get the ability to set up webinars and coaching products, but then you realize you have to use a third-party live stream tool like Zoom or Google Meet.
More advanced platforms like Kajabi and Kartra have this function built-in, providing a more streamlined experience for you and the participants.
3. The Page Builder
I’ll be brutally honest here. The Thinkific page builder sucks.
For starters, it seems to use two different editing tools depending on the page you’re creating. One is extremely outdated, and the other is better, although not by much.
Neither has a drag-and-drop functionality, templates are extremely limited, and the customization options will not excite you.
It’s passable for creating simple sales pages. It’ll get the job done, but it won’t set anyone’s world on fire.
I don’t understand why they would revamp the whole platform and then leave the page builder as it is.
Thinkific, you need to do better here!
4. The Help Center
The help center is another outdated part of Thinkific that could use some serious attention.
It’s “wordy” to say the least, and there are no screenshots or video guides. Who wants to wade through a bunch of text to find what they’re looking for?
Worse, after browsing through it, I found various outdated sections that referred to the old version of the platform.
It does look like some of the resources have been updated with more visuals, so let’s hope they are working their way through and updating the rest.
The Bottom Line: Is Thinkific Worth It?
Thinkific has definitely improved in leaps and bounds compared to a year or two ago. But, it could still use improvement in the areas highlighted above.
Is it worth it? Yes, if you want a basic platform at a very reasonable price.
Those looking for fancier features and a high level of customization will likely prefer Kajabi, LearnWorlds, or Kartra.
Overall, SupplyGem ranks it as the sixth-best platform of its kind, with a respectable score of 8.7/10.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Thinkific Platform Best For?
Thinkific is best for building and selling courses. While you can use it to create other products, such as coaching and communities, the features are pretty basic. Likewise, Thinkific does have marketing features (funnels and emails), but these are also basic.
Can You Sell Digital and Physical Products on Thinkific?
Thinkific was designed to create and sell digital products only. It does not include features for selling physical products, so we do not recommend it for this purpose.
Is Thinkific Beginner-Friendly?
Yes, Thinkific is a beginner-friendly platform with basic but user-friendly features. You can quickly learn to use it to start building and selling products.
