Dornubari Vizor January 10, 2024

10 Platforms Like Thinkific – Thinkific Alternatives

While Thinkific is undoubtedly a fantastic online course platform, it might not be the best fit for everyone. In this blog, I will present the top 10 alternatives to Thinkific, complete with their advantages and disadvantages.

Thinkific consistently ranks as a leading platform for selling courses. With over 70,000 creators, it’s become a top choice for online course creation. However, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for every creator’s needs.

While its popularity may make it seem like the only option, there are Thinkific alternatives that may better suit your needs. No need to look any further.

Here, you’ll find the top 10 Thinkific alternatives. We’ll explore their key features, pricing, pros, and cons, helping you find a platform that best fits your needs and budget.

Final Verdict – Top 3 Picks

Here are our top three picks from 10 Thinkific alternatives:

  1. GroupApp – All-in-One Learning Community PlatformGroupApp is the next generation of online course platforms. It offers everything you need to provide a complete online learning experience. It’s ideal for subject matter experts, established businesses, and large-scale organizations.
  2. Podia – All-in-One PlatformPodia is also affordable and provides all the features needed to sell digital products. It’s well-suited for beginners and mid-level organizations.
  3. Udemy – Online Course MarketplaceUdemy cuts the hassle and allows you to get started without any financial investment. It’s ideal for subject-matter experts.

Now, let’s briefly discuss Thinkific.

Thinkific Overview

Thinkific is a powerful cloud-based learning management system that allows you to create, market, and sell online courses.

With its drag-and-drop course builder, you can create an unlimited number of courses. Additionally, it provides tools to construct your course website and online communities. Its e-commerce model enables you to monetize your digital products. Furthermore, it offers a variety of marketing and analytics features to enrich your experience.

Now, let’s explore why it’s so popular.

3 Reasons: Why is Thinkific So Popular?

For me, it boils down to the following 3 solid reasons:

1 – Genuine Free Plan

Thinkific provides a genuine free plan with 0% transaction fees, offering unmatched value compared to other platforms.

This free plan includes all the core features of Thinkific. It’s ideal for a test drive and serves as a comprehensive package for beginners.

With the Thinkific free plan, you can create your course and community for an unlimited number of students. You also gain access to the course builder, e-commerce integration, website themes, Thinkific App Store, and a Thinkific Academy course.

This plan is an excellent opportunity to experience and prepare for scalability.

2 – Strong Reputation

Thinkific enjoys a solid reputation. It has been in the game since 2012, making it one of the oldest online course platforms. The platform has successfully retained its position and is constantly rising.

Over the years, it has garnered a solid fan base and brand recognition. Big names such as Hootsuite, Shopify, Samsung, Intuit, and Later use Thinkific. Thinkific creators made a whopping over $650 million in revenue in 2020.

Additionally, it witnessed a 200% increase in course creation in 2021. Notable figures such as John Lee Dumas and Lewis Howes also prefer it.

3 – Flexibility & Versatility

Thinkific’s flexibility and versatility in terms of features and suitability is undeniable. If you’re seeking a platform with core features for selling online courses, Thinkific is ideal. It’s particularly suitable for beginners to familiarize themselves with the process.

Best Thinkific Features

Thinkific is equipped with both core and advanced features beneficial for creators and entrepreneurs.

Here are the top features:

1 – TCommerce

This feature is transformative. It offers an all-in-one solution for payments, tax automation, and sales conversions. It is available in both free and paid plans.

2 – Thinkific App Store

You gain access to an in-built app store that assists with integrations and enhancements. For example, you can access over 1500 Zapier integrations. This feature is accessible to both free and paid plan users.

3 -Branded Mobile Apps

The Thinkific team will develop a custom white-label mobile app for your online courses and communities. The app will align with your branding, objectives, and user requirements, potentially driving more revenue through in-app purchases.

Why look for Thinkific alternatives?

While no online course platform is perfect, Thinkific does fall short in several significant areas.

Firstly, it lacks a native live-streaming feature. This absence makes it less suitable for live teaching, cohort-based courses, and coaching programs. Users must rely on third-party apps like YouTube or Zoom.

Secondly, Thinkific is a complex platform with a broad range of features that can overwhelm users. As a result, it might not cater well to your specific needs, as not all features are top-tier. Simpler platforms offer just the right features to get the job done.

As a course-centric platform, Thinkific places less emphasis on community-building, which is crucial in the era of community-led growth. It lacks advanced community-building features such as memberships and segmentation, limiting your ability to sell community memberships as separate products.

Engagement is key to a successful online course. However, Thinkific lacks essential engagement features, meaning users miss out on gamification, badges, a built-in messenger, assessment tools, and more.

Despite its industry-leading status, Thinkific disappointingly does not offer a mobile app for users.

Lastly, the best Thinkific features are only available to Start and Grow plan users, which are pricey. The free and basic plans do not offer sufficient value.

Additional Thinkifc Downsides

Thinkific also has its limitations in the following areas:

  1. Limited payment gateways
  2. Insufficient email marketing features
  3. Limited assessment tools
  4. Lack of support for SCORM, AICC, or xAPI

Thinkific Pricing

Let’s quickly review the pricing plans for Thinkific.

Thinkific offers four plans:

  1. Free Plan @ $0/M
  2. Basic @ $49/M
  3. Start @ $99/M
  4. Grow @ $199/M

In general, the pricing is straightforward. However, to fully benefit from priority support and advanced features, you would need to opt for the Start Plan or higher.

Next, let’s explore the top 10 alternatives to Thinkific for creating online courses.

10 Thinkific Alternatives for Online Course Creators

Now, we have 10 platforms, like Thinkific, for course creation. We have hand-picked a good range of platforms that stand out in their own ways.

For each option, we have provided vital info that covers all key aspects. That way, you will get all the necessary points required to make an informed decision.

There’s a good chance you will find the right fit on this list.

How?

  1. Understand that no platform is going to be a perfect match. Some platforms might stand out to you in only certain aspects.
  2. Next, to find your right fit, make sure you are clear on your:
    • Budget bracket
    • Features requirement
    • Optimal student limit
    • Scalability
    • Nature of your product i.e. live coaching, pre-recorded courses, memberships, e-books, etc.
  3. Do not look for a platform that offers a higher number of features. Instead, look for a platform that offers the right set of features that correspond well to your needs.

With that being said, let’s get to our first alternative to Thinkific.

GroupApp is an all-in-one learning community platform.

GroupApp enables you to harness the power of community-based learning. You can offer and monetize online courses, community memberships, coaching programs, and live training. Today, over 1,100 creators trust GroupApp.

GroupApp is well-suited for creators who want to offer community-based learning experiences. If you are a solo creator or a start-up, GroupApp is the best option due to its simplicity and focused set of features for online learning communities.

How does GroupApp stand out?

GroupApp is an all-in-one platform focused on online courses and learning communities. Unlike Thinkific, you can sell courses and memberships separately. Thinkific does not have a content hosting feature. On the other hand, GroupApp comes with a Content Library that you can use to store course and community resources for your members.

GroupApp has all the core tools you need to offer a complete online learning experience. Plus, GroupApp is more affordable than Thinkific. Not to forget, it is equipped with a hassle-free In-built Event Builder.

Lastly, it’s simple to use for both you and your users.

Best GroupApp Features

  1. Course Builder
  2. Community Builder
  3. Event Builder
  4. Android & iOS Mobile App
  5. Community Channels
  6. Membership Management
  7. Third-Party Integrations

GroupApp Pros

  1. User-friendly
  2. It simplifies the whole course creation process
  3. Offers a robust course builder.
  4. Enables you to offer a complete experience in one place.
  5. Suitable for drip courses, cohort-based learning programs, and segmented coaching.
  6. You get complete control over your content and communities.
  7. Offers a single sign-on feature that authenticates users without any hassle.
  8. You can create your white-label mobile app.
  9. 0% Transaction fees

GroupApp Cons

  1. Limited payment gateways
  2. No option for donations or tips
  3. No free plan, but offers a 14-day trial period

GroupApp Pricing

  1. Basic Plan @ $49/M
  2. Pro Plan @ $109/M
  3. Business Plan @ $259/M

GroupApp’s pricing plans build upon each other, offering additional benefits with each tier. The affordable basic plan provides all the essential features needed for a beginner or solo course creator to start a business.

Considering the advanced features included in the Pro and Business plans, such as API Access, email white-labeling, and subscription migration, GroupApp’s pricing is quite reasonable.

For a detailed comparison of pricing plans, visit GroupApp Pricing.

Mighty Networks is a cloud-based membership community platform. Creators can use it to sell online courses, but community creation is the star of this platform. It offers an array of features for community management and monetization through memberships.

How does Mighty Networks

stand out?

Mighty Networks is focused on selling community memberships, which is something noteworthy. Unlike Thinkific, it offers a direct messaging feature for members to connect.

Mighty Networks also lets you link your courses with community discussions, chats, assignments, and even a separate community space. It offers more course customization features as well.

Lastly, Mighty Networks comes with a native live-streaming option.

Best Mighty Networks Features

  1. Chat Community
  2. Feed Community
  3. Cohort-Based Courses
  4. Memberships
  5. Native Live-Streaming
  6. Android & iOS Mobile App

Mighty Networks Pros

  1. Membership-centric approach
  2. Offers Convert-Kit integration
  3. High-rated mobile apps
  4. Comes with engagement tools like polls and chats

Mighty Networks Cons

  1. No free plan
  2. Very limited learning and course-creation tools
  3. Charges a transaction fee of 3% on community plan and 2% on business plan
  4. Not suitable for online coaching programs
  5. Lacks marketing and sales tools

Mighty Networks Pricing

Mighty Networks offers 3 plans:

  1. Community Plan @ $39/M
  2. Business Plan @ $119/M
  3. Mighty Pro @ $ Custom

For a detailed price plan comparison, check out Mighty Networks Pricing.

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform focused on selling digital products such as online courses, community memberships, podcasts, and coaching programs. It offers a robust set of marketing and e-commerce tools for digital goods.

How does Kajabi stand out?

If you are looking for an all-in-one platform, Kajabi is the best alternative to Thinkific. Although it’s more expensive than Thinkific, it’s worth the price tag. It offers top-of-the-line tools for managing the business and marketing aspects of your online courses, something Thinkific cannot offer.

Kajabi allows you to monetize more forms of digital content like podcasts and coaching with native tools, while Thinkific relies on third-party apps for that. Additionally, Kajabi comes with a mobile app, unlike Thinkific.

Kajabi also takes the lead by offering advanced marketing tools like a funnel builder and affiliate features.

Best Kajabi Key Features

  1. Website Builder
  2. Community Builder
  3. Course Builder
  4. AI Hub for creating digital products
  5. Ready-made Kajabi App for your customers
  6. Affiliate Program

Kajabi Pros

  1. No transaction fees.
  2. Offers unlimited landing pages and marketing emails in all plans
  3. Comes with a drag-and-drop website builder
  4. Access to 24/7 customer support
  5. Allows you to remove Kajabi branding
  6. You get to create up to 3 websites

Kajabi Cons

  1. One of the most expensive platforms
  2. No free plan
  3. Not ideal for beginners
  4. Offers only basic course delivery features, more focused on marketing
  5. Lacks advanced social and collaborative features
  6. Course customization is limited

Kajabi Pricing

Kajabi offers 3 pricing plans:

  1. Basic Plan @ $149/M
  2. Growth Plan @ $199/M
  3. Pro Plan @ $399/M

Check out the Ultimate GroupApp Guide for Kajabi Pricing.

Uscreen is an all-in-one platform, particularly for video course monetization through paid memberships. With Uscreen, you can deliver video-only courses, offer video-based subscriptions, and create course websites.

How does Uscreen stand out?

Thinkific is not suitable for video-course monetization. For that, Uscreen is the best alternative to Thinkific. It offers the most advanced video tools. You get a native live-streaming tool, which is missing in Thinkific.

To host video content for your members, it offers a dedicated video CMS. On the other hand, Thinkific doesn’t offer any dedicated content hosting tool.

Best Uscreen Key Features

  1. Built-in Website Builder
  2. Video CMS and Built-in Video Player
  3. Community Builder
  4. No-code Mobile Apps
  5. Membership Tools

Unscreen Pros

  1. Enables you to create your own VOD (Video-on-demand) service
  2. Offers branded OTT apps
  3. Comes with a built-in HTML5 video player
  4. Able to charge EU VAT (Value-Added Tax)
  5. Offers robust reporting and analytics tools

Uscreen Cons

  1. Very expensive
  2. No free plan
  3. Not ideal for beginners
  4. Limited email marketing features
  5. Limited website-building options

Uscreen Pricing

Uscreen offers 3 pricing plans:

  1. Growth @ $199/M
  2. Pro @ $599/M
  3. Plus @ $ Custom Pricing

For a detailed price plan comparison, check out Uscreen Pricing.

Teachable is simply a standalone course-building platform. Over 100,000 course creators use Teachable to monetize their expertise.

It is a leading Thinkific alternative that comes with robust course creation and marketing tools. You can think of it as a mini-LMS.

How does Teachable stand out?

Teachable is simpler than Thinkific and offers a more intuitive user interface for the course builder. It offers a range of AI functions like a quiz generator, lesson writing assistant, summary generator, and curriculum maker.

You can also list and sell both digital and physical products. Lastly, it supports coaching, unlike Thinkific.

Best Teachable Key Features

  1. User-friendly Course Builder
  2. Custom Branding
  3. Website and Landing Page Builder
  4. Analytics for Marketing Funnels
  5. Drip Courses

Teachable Pros

  1. Offers a free plan
  2. Offers fraud protection
  3. Handles taxes with automated calculation and collection
  4. Offers BackOffice feature for automated collaborator payouts
  5. Comes with a built-in membership subscription feature.

Teachable Cons

  1. Not compliant with SCORM and xAPI/TinCan
  2. No white-labeling feature
  3. Lacks community building and engagement features
  4. Offers only an iOS mobile app
  5. Charges $1+10% transaction fees on the free plan and 5% transaction fees on the basic plan.

Teachable Pricing

Teachable offers 4 plans:

  1. Free Plan @ $0/M
  2. Basic Plan @ $59/M
  3. Pro Plan @ $159/M
  4. Pro+ Plan @ $249/M

Check out the Ultimate GroupApp Guide to Teachable Pricing.

LearnWorlds is an LMS platform for academic courses and interactive learning. You can create your website to sell courses. This platform puts course creation and selling at the forefront.

The best part; LearnWorlds enables you to create complete white-label academies.

How does LearnWorlds stand Out?

LearnWorlds comes with a SCORM Compliance. That’s a plus point missing in Thinkific. You can also sell your online courses to other platforms like Shopify and pair them with physical products.

LearnWorlds comes with a dedicated coaching feature that lets you create and sell coaching programs to community members. On top of that, you have AI tools in all plans. That’s amazing.

Lastly, you get your own App Builder at LearnWorlds.

Best LearnWorlds Features

  1. White-label Website Builder
  2. Assessment Builder
  3. Marketing Tools
  4. Affiliate Programs
  5. Built-in Analytics and Reporting

LearnWorlds Pros

  1. Comes with SCORM & HTML Compliance
  2. AI tools are available in all pricing plans
  3. Offers copyright protection with watermarks
  4. Access to a Built-in Video Editor
  5. You get access to 24/7 email support

LearnWorlds Cons

  1. Charges $5 per course sale on the starter plan
  2. The starter plan is very limited
  3. Not well-suited for beginners or solo creators
  4. Does not offer any marketplace to sell digital products
  5. There’s a learning curve as the platform is a bit complex

LearnWorlds Pricing

LearnWorlds offers 4 pricing plans:

  1. Starter Plan @ $29/M
  2. Pro Trainer Plan @ $99/M
  3. Learning Center Plan @ $299/M
  4. High Volume & Corporate Plan @ $ Custom Pricing

For a detailed dive, check out LearnWorlds Pricing.

Now, we have a platform that is not a typical platform for online courses.

Kartra is an all-in-one marketing platform for online courses and coaching. It helps with lead generation and uses the membership model for the monetization of online courses and digital downloads.

For a deep dive, check out the Ultimate Kartra Review by GroupApp.

How does Kartra stand out?

Kartra has an advantage over Thinkific as it offers an in-built video player and webinar feature with advanced tools like an on-screen whiteboard.

Unlike Thinkific, Kartra is equipped with the appropriate marketing and lead-generation tools for online courses and coaching, such as email automation. The platform will assist you in running lead-generation funnels to sell online courses or community memberships.

Best Kartra Features

  1. Drag-and-drop Page Builder
  2. Opt-in Forms
  3. Lead Tagging and Lead Scoring
  4. Real-time Funnel Analytics and Mappers

Kartra Pros

  1. A one-of-a-kind platform for courses
  2. Offers data integration
  3. Comes with pre-built sale funnels and marketing campaigns
  4. You can offer a custom affiliate program

Kartra Cons

  1. No free plan and very expensive
  2. No community-building features
  3. No inbound marketing facility is built into the platform
  4. No option for customization and personalization
  5. Not suitable for creators with large product catalogs

Kartra Pricing

Kartra offers the following plans:

  1. Starter Plan @ $199/M
  2. Growth Plan @ $229/M
  3. Professional Plan @ $549/M

For detailed pricing info, check out Kartra Pricing.

Podia is an all-in-one platform to sell online courses, digital downloads, and memberships. Just like Thinkific, Podia is a top-tier platform.

How does Podia stand out?

The best thing about Podia which sets it apart from Thinkific is its affordability. At a lower price, it offers more and better features. You can sell a wider range of products using Podia such as consultations, workshops, and webinars.

Podia comes with a built-in webinar feature. Not only that, you can directly integrate it with YouTube.

Best Podia Features

  1. No-code Website Builder
  2. Drip Courses and Course Pre-selling
  3. Digital Download Hosting for selling
  4. Podia Community Membership Feature
  5. Integrated One-Page Check-Outs and Custom Landing Pages

Podia Pros

  1. Comes with built-in email automation
  2. Every easy-to-use and interactive UI
  3. Offers a live chat feature
  4. Supports all sorts of digital downloads

Podia Cons

  1. No white-label option
  2. No SCORM compliance
  3. No learning tools like certificates, quizzes, and grading feature
  4. Limited customization options

Podia Pricing

Podia offers 4 plans:

  1. Free @ $0/M
  2. Starter @ $9/M
  3. Mover @ $39/M
  4. Shaker @ $89/M

For detailed pricing info, check out Podia Pricing.

LearnDash is a WordPress LMS plugin that allows you to create and sell courses directly from your website. This makes the process more flexible and gives you complete control.

By using LearnDash with your WordPress website, you can sell unlimited courses to an unlimited number of students.

How does LearnDash stand out?

If you have your own website and expertise, why get a standalone course platform like Thinkific? All you need is the LearnDash plugin, you can directly sell online courses from your website.

This plugin helps you to boost engagement with badges, points, and certification. That’s something you won’t get with Thinkific.

There’s also AI to help you out. LearnDash comes with tools like AI course and quiz builder.

Best LearnDash Features

  1. Course Creation Wizard
  2. Drag-and-drop Course Builder
  3. Course Cloning
  4. Learning Paths
  5. 3rd Party App Integrations

LearnDash Pros

  1. Very affordable and flexible compared to other platforms
  2. You can create unlimited courses
  3. Offers collaborative tools and student segmentation
  4. Completely customizable

LearnDash Cons

  1. Highly dependent on third-party app integrations
  2. No monetization without integration
  3. Comes with hidden costs
  4. Lacks community-building.
  5. You need to rely on MemberDash, another plugin for memberships.

LearnDash Pricing

The LearnDash plugin comes @

  1. $199 per year for 1 site
  2. $399 per year for 10 sites
  3. $799 per year for unlimited sites

Click here for MemberDash, add-on, and bundle pricing.

Udemy is a popular online marketplace for online courses. With 62M students, Udemy has become a thriving platform for monetizing your expertise. Udemy provides course creators with a large student base and takes a small cut per course sale.

How does Udemy stand out?

Udemy is the best option if you are looking for a course marketplace. Udemy is more user-friendly and convenient than Thinkific. Unlike Thinkific, it comes with an intuitive and visually appealing mobile app for instructors.

Best Udemy Features

  1. Course Creation Features
  2. Built-in Analytics
  3. Cohort-Based Learning
  4. FAQs
  5. Course Content Hosting

Udemy Pros

  1. Supports asynchronous learning
  2. You get access to a large market with your targeted audience
  3. Udemy takes care of most of the promotion
  4. Offers an affiliate marketing plan

Udemy Cons

  1. It offers lower author shares
  2. No control over your platform policies
  3. You don’t get customer data
  4. High competition and lower chance of success
  5. You cannot sell coaching or digital downloads

Udemy Pricing

Udemy is free of cost for instructors but works on a revenue-sharing model depending on the sale channel.

  1. Udemy Organic: 50% revenue-sharing on courses purchasing without a coupon.
  2. Instructor Referral: Instructors keep 97% if students enroll with their codes and without referral codes, they keep 37%.

That’s All!

There you have it! We took a deep dive into the 10 best Thinkific alternatives. All of these platforms stand out in their ways and offer their strong aspects.

You need to pick a platform that fits your needs and budget well. Not to forget, make sure you have your priorities right. Lastly, select a platform that complements what you are offering.

This way, you can make an informed decision!

Next, we recommend checking out 14 Amazing Alternatives to Patreon.

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