Thinkific vs Teachable: Which Is Best For Growing Your Online Course Business?

Online learning is here to stay.

With the technology available to us today, people of all ages and walks of life can learn almost anything they want through online courses.

If you’ve ever felt like you wanted to teach people something online through an online course platform, there’s no better time to get started and make money online.

The global online education market is predicted to reach a total market size of USD 375 billion in 2026.

Here’s what the global e-learning market looked like in 2019:

And here’s how it is projected to look like in 2026:

So, if you’re planning to make money online, how do you get started in the online course business? Out of the many online course platforms available today, which one would be the best fit for you?

Teachable and Thinkific are not course marketplaces like Udemy and SkillShare.

In this post, we will compare two online course platforms – Thinkific and Teachable.

Is Teachable a good platform?

Is Thinkific legit?

Is Thinkific better than teachable?

These are some of the questions we will be answering in this article.

We will also discuss the major features of the two platforms Thinkific and Teachable such as the course content creation process, sales page creation, website design, interaction with students, customer support, etc.

So among these two course creation platforms, which one is the best?

That’s what we’ll find out in this Thinkific vs Teachable review.

Let’s begin!

Disclaimer: If you buy something using the links in this article, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Know that I only promote stuff that I use and trust for the sake of my readers and the reputation of this website.

What are Thinkific and Teachable?

Before we get down to the meat of this Teachable vs Thinkific review, let’s first find out what Thinkific and Teachable are.

Both Teachable and Thinkific are online course platforms that allow course creators to design, build, and sell online courses to students all around the world.

Both platforms allow course creators to upload various types of content such as videos, pdf files, quizzes, and worksheets.

Thinkific and Teachable also allow you to protect your course content, accept payment from students, and engage with students to enrich the eLearning process.

The great thing about Teachable and Thinfic is that you don’t need to have any superior technical skills to do all of this. You do not have to be a web designer or developer.

The online course platform takes care of everything for you – from hosting your online course content to updates and maintenance.

This means you can stop worrying about the technicalities of online course creation and spend more time creating extremely valuable course content that will help your students achieve their dreams.

Teachable and Thinkific are not course marketplaces like Udemy. That means you can use these platforms to sell courses directly from your website – not at minimal prices at a marketplace.

You determine your course prices and have absolute control over student data and course policies like refunds, payment options, etc.

Thinkific vs Teachable: Which is Better?

Both Thinkific and Teachable have excellent features that make them great course platforms for online instructors.

To determine which one is better for you, you’ll need to plan out your course creation and sale strategy first. Then look at the unique features that Thinkific and Teachable offer and decide which one suits your business the best.

For example, Teachable offers great marketing features and a drag-and-drop editor that is simple to use.

On the other hand, Thinkific offers better site design and complete control over student data.

Let’s now look at the major features of each course platform to determine which is the best.

Thinkific vs Teachable: Main Features

In this section of this Thinkific vs Teachable review, we will look at the main features of the two course platforms and compare each one.

1. Pricing

How much does Thinkific cost?

Free Plan:

Thinkific has a free version with all the core features of the online course platform. That means you can test out the platform before you commit to any of their paid options.

Here is a list of their core features:

• Instant access to your funds
• Student notifications
• Full e-Commerce
• Upsell offers
• Easy drag and drop Course Builder
• Discussion forums
• Build out your entire website
• Secure cloud hosting
• Multiple instructor profiles
• Choose your site language
• Easy, built-in SSL certificates
• Email and phone support

Apart from the core features, the free plan also has the following:

• Limited Courses
• Unlimited students
• Quizzes & surveys
• Content hosting 

It is quite simple to get started on the free plan. You can create an account with them without any credit card or debit card details:

Paid Plans:

Thinkific has three pricing plans (billed annually or monthly):

1. Basic – $39/month (billed annually)

The Basic plan has all the features in the free plan plus:

• Unlimited courses & students
• Coupons 
• Email students 
• Drip (scheduled) content
• Affiliate tracking and reporting
• Custom domain
• Email integrations 
• Zapier triggers 
• Manual student enrollment & exports

2. Pro – $79/month (billed annually)

The Pro plan has all the features in the Basic plan plus:

• Unlimited courses & students
• 2 Site admin accounts
• 5 Course admins/authors
• Private & hidden courses
• Advanced course pricing options 
• Memberships and bundles 
• Certificates
• Advanced Customization 
• Priority Support
• Assignments
• Communities 
• Live Lessons with Zoom 

3. Premier – $399/month (billed annually)

The Premier plan is for advanced course creators. It has all the features of the Pro plan plus:

• Unlimited courses & students
• 5 Site admin accounts 
• 15 Group Analysts 
• 50 Course admins/authors 
• Single sign on (SSO)
• Onboarding package 
• Unlimited Growth Package 

Apart from these plans, Thinkific also has a Pro plan add-on called the Growth Package which offers course creators more features on a pay-as-you-grow basis.

There is also Thinkific Plus that offers custom packages for enterprises and high-volume customers.

How much does it cost to use Teachable?

Free Plan:

Teachable offers a free plan that allows users to use the basic functionalities of the platform. You do not need credit card details to sign up for their free plan.

Paid Plans:

Teachable offers three paid plans:

1. Basic – $29/month (billed annually)

The Basic plan offers the following features:

• Unlimited students
• 5% transaction fees
• Course product
• Coaching product
• Members-only community
• Instant payouts
• 2 admin-level users
• Product support
• Course creator training
• Custom domain support
• Coupon codes
• Drip course content
• Integrated email marketing
• Third-party integrations 

2. Pro Plan – $99/month (billed annually)

The Pro plan includes all the features in the Basic plan plus:

• No transaction fees
• 5 admin-level users
• Priority product support
• Graded quizzes
• Advanced reports On courses, students, videos, and upsells
• Unbranded website
• Course completion certificates
• Course compliance
• Integrated affiliate marketing

3. Business – $249/month (billed annually)

The Business Plan includes all the features in the Pro plan plus:

• 20 admin-level users
• Manual student imports
• Bulk student enrollments
• Custom user roles
• Advanced theme customization
• Group coaching calls

With unlimited courses and students on all of their paid plans, Teachable seems to be a better investment for those companies who are just starting out.

However, do consider the other features of both course platforms to see which one would better suit your business needs.

2. Course Creation Process

When it comes to the course creation process, both Thinkific and Teachable are quite similar. Both interfaces are intuitive and user-friendly. With either platform, you have the ability to create organized and well-designed courses.

Thinkific Course Creation Features:

• Drag and drop content builder
• Rich multimedia course content (video, text, downloads, quizzes, survey, discussions, typeform, Google Docs)
• No coding
• Free content hosting
• Pre-built themes
• Integration with email marketing software

Teachable Course Creation Features:

• Drag and drop content builder
• Multimedia course content (video, text, image, audio, and PDF files from cloud storage services, including Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox)
• Website optimized for desktop, tablet, and mobile
• Power Editor can be used by any team member for customization
• Page editor to launch the latest course offerings

With multiple features to make customization of courses a breeze and omnichannel optimization, Teachable stands out in this category.

3. Site Design & Customization

A neat and appealing website is important when you want your online courses to stand out from the rest.

Thinkific and Teachable both offer free website hosting, subdomain, and SSL certificate for your course. They also allow you to customize the site language for global students.

Both Thinkific and Teachable offer site design and customization features that allow you to design a great-looking website easily. Let’s look at each one now.

Thinkific Site Design & Customization

• Site theme library
• Can modify theme code at backend
• Drag and drop page builder to build home page, sales pages, and other pages
• Display countdown times
• Add lead capture from to your pages (to collect contact information)
• Page blocks
• More page customization options

Teachable Site Design & Customization

• Power Editor to change code of theme
• No import of custom themes possible
• Drag and drop page builder to build home page, sales pages, and other pages
• Limited page blocks
• Create multiple sales pages for each course for A/B testing or specific campaigns

With more customization options, a better page builder, and more course building options, Thinkific comes out first in this category.

4. Marketing & Sales

Unlike course marketplaces like Udemy and SkillShare, both Thinkific and Teachable require you to do your own marketing. Course marketplaces do the marketing for you, but they pay you a much lower price per course sale.

This Thinkific vs Teachable guide would not be complete without a side-by-side comparison of the marketing tools and sales features of both these course platforms. Let’s see how these two platforms fare against each other.

Thinkific Marketing & Sales

• Affiliate marketing with instant payouts for affiliates
• Affiliate marketing tracking and incentivization
• Email integration
• Integration with 1,000 external marketing tools
• advanced data tracking for real-time campaign monitoring and optimization
• Ad tracking and analytics (Facebook, Google AdWords and remarketing)

Teachable Marketing & Sales

• Affiliate program tracking and payouts
• Create coupon codes for attractive offers and discounts for students and affiliates
• Create customized pricing plans (ex: one time fee, subscription payment plans, bundled courses and upsells)
• Accept payments from 130+ international currencies
• Integration with top marketing tools
• Add conversion pixels to track your marketing campaigns

Teachable is a clear winner in this category with multiple marketing tools that help you optimize your marketing campaigns.

5. Customer Support

Thinkific vs Teachable customer support – a very important factor that you should consider before you decide on one of these course platforms.

How do Thinkific and Teachable compare with each other when it comes to customer service?

Let’s find out.

Thinkific Customer Service

Thinkific has excellent customer service in the form of email support for all its paid plans. However, it does not offer live chat support for any of its paid plans which is a drawback.

Teachable Customer Service

Teachable also has phenomenal customer service for all its paid plans. However, their customer support is available in the form of email support for all paid plans plus live chat support for their higher-tier plans.

Nothing beats live chat support – so Teachable stands out here.

Summary

It may seem like we have a clear winner in this Thinkific vs Teachable review (Teachable), but that is not entirely true.

Each course platform (both Thinkific and Teachable) have their own perks and unique features, so you will have to choose the one that suits your business needs as a course creator.

For instance, Teachable may have the best pricing plans, marketing features, and customer service, but Thinkific has excellent site design and customization capabilities.

Weigh the pros and cons of each of these course platforms and see which one is better.

DO you use one of these online course creation platforms? Which one do you find better?

Leave a comment below and let us know!