Teachable vs. Thinkific
Individuals and all types of organizations use course creation software to create and market engaging courses online. With a saturated market, it can be difficult to figure out which tool is the best for you and your business.
We’ve written this guide to help you understand the differences between Teachable and Thinkific and simplify your purchase decision. Below, we share the key differences between the tools – including pricing, features, and the types of course creators each solution is best for.
All recommendations are based upon research, discussions with course creators, and dozens of hours spent hand-testing the leading course creation software platforms. The details of our research process can be found on our article covering the best online course platforms.
To better understand the market, you can read more of our course creation software comparisons.
Comparison Summary
We researched and heavily tested both Teachable and Thinkific. Thinkific received a SoftwarePundit Analyst rating of 90, while Teachable received a rating of 87.
Thinkific was rated higher because its platform is more user-friendly and offers more features at a slightly lower price. Teachable was rated lower because when it comes to standard course creation features, we found that they were slightly more developed in Thinkific.
Here's a breakdown of our review criteria and how Teachable and Thinkific performed in each category:
| Criteria | Analyst Rating | Features | Usability | Pricing | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thinkific | 90 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Teachable | 87 | 9 | 8.5 | 8 | 9 |
When it comes to pricing, Teachable and Thinkific are comparable. Most of their customers pay between $99 to $119 per month. Thinkific does offer a basic, free plan that’s ideal for testing the platform or hosting your content.
Teachable and Thinkific are both user-friendly solutions for ambitious beginners and established course creators. Both include the standard features found in all course creation tools: course and site builders, quizzes, assignments, coupons, course bundles, affiliate management, a sales tracker, and integrations with software like Mailchimp, Shopify, and Zoom. These platforms are more advanced than Podia and less advanced than Kajabi and LearnWorlds.
Overall, we have a slight preference for Thinkific – it’s more user-friendly and is more feature-rich at a similar price. However, there aren’t major differences between the systems. They are the top two middle-tier course creation platforms in the market. We recommend testing each to determine which is best for you.
Here’s a few key differences between the solutions to determine which is best for you:
- You want a mobile app that your students can use
- You want more robust sales information – including refund and instructor fee data
- You want to create in platform certificates
- You want a basic, free plan simply to host your content online
- You want to translate your platform into different languages
- You want course templates
Table of Contents
- Comparison Summary
- Teachable & Thinkific Price Comparison
- Teachable & Thinkific Feature Comparison
- Teachable & Thinkific Top Feature Comparison
- Bottom Line
Teachable & Thinkific Price Comparison
Besides Thinkific’s free plan, Teachable and Thinkific are comparably priced. Therefore, we suggest focusing on their features when deciding between the tools. Most of their customers pay between $99 and $119 per month. Teachable and Thinkific both offer monthly and annual subscriptions, and a 15% to 25% discount for those who purchase an annual plan upfront.
Teachable Pricing Details
Teachable’s pricing ranges from $39 to $299 a month. You can save up to 25% if you choose to pay the annual subscription upfront. Here’s an overview of Teachable’s pricing plans:
| Basic |
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| Pro |
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| Business |
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Thinkific Pricing Details
Thinkific’s pricing ranges from free to $499 a month. You can save ~20% if you choose to pay the annual subscription upfront. Here’s an overview of Thinkific’s pricing plans:
| Free |
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| Basic |
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| Pro |
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| Premier |
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Teachable & Thinkific Feature Comparison
Teachable and Thinkific are two popular course creation solutions that offer many similar features. Both platforms include a course and site builder, quizzes, assignments, coupons, course bundles, affiliate management, and a sales tracker. However, as shown in the table below, there are some features available in one tool, but not in the other.
For a full analysis of each solution’s features, read our Teachable and Thinkific reviews.
| Feature | Teachable | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Site Builder | Yes | Yes |
| Sales Tracker | Yes | Yes |
| Affiliate Management | Yes | Yes |
| Multimedia Uploads | Yes | Yes |
| Quizzes | Yes | Yes |
| Assignments | Yes | Yes |
| Custom Branding | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Languages | No | Yes |
| Gamification | No | Yes (Integration with Pointagram) |
| Accessibility | Yes | Yes |
| Drip Scheduling | Yes | Yes |
| Live Classes / Webinars | Yes | Yes |
| Student Discussions | Yes | Yes |
| Student Feedback | Yes | Yes |
| Robust Integrations | Yes | Yes |
| Robust Website Compatibilities | Yes | Yes |
| Connecting Social Media | No | Yes |
| Mobile App | Yes | No |
| Coupons | Yes | Yes |
| Course Bundles | Yes | Yes |
Teachable & Thinkific Top Feature Comparison
Below we provide our in-depth comparison between Teachable and Thinkific in three key feature categories – course builder, course delivery, and marketing. Both platforms have the tools that customers need to create and sell courses online. However, Thinkific is slightly more user-friendly and feature-complete..
Course Builder
Both Teachable and Thinkific offer course builders that let you create courses that allow you to upload different forms of multimedia – video, audio, text, and PDF. Overall, we found that both platforms offer intuitive builders, but both are limiting when it comes to visual design. We also found that Thinkific offers more features for creating lessons like assignments, student feedback, and presentations.
As you can see above, elements of a course for each platform are automatically centered. There is no way to change this and in both platforms you can align text left or right.
Site Builder
Teachable and Thinkific offer site builders that let you build your site and pages from scratch. Both site builders are effective, but come with limitations in terms of website design flexibility. Overall, Thinkific’s website builder is slightly more advanced and will allow you to create a more professionally designed website.
Both platforms let you customize the color scheme and align elements such as text and images to the left, center, or right. However, Thinkific allows you to preview your site on desktop and mobile, link your social media profiles, and offers site themes that each come in three to four styles.
Sales Tracker
Teachable and Thinkific offer sales trackers that let you keep track of the revenue you’ve generated from your courses. Overall, we found that Teachable’s sales tracker is more robust and offers more information about your transactions.
Both platforms let you track your sales by customer, purchase date, and marketing channel. Teachable also offers refund, chargeback, and instructor fee data.
Marketing Tools
Teachable and Thinkific offer tools that help market your courses. Both include standard marketing features like coupons, course bundling, affiliate marketing management, and integrations with marketing software like Mailchimp and ConvertKit. Overall, both platforms’ marketing tools are basic – Teachable has the unique advantage of an in-platform email marketing.
Teachable’s email tool lets you send emails to individual customers, those in specific courses, and all students in your school. Your emails can include text, images, and linked attachments.
A minor marketing feature that’s unique to Thinkific is sales widgets. These widgets can be placed anywhere online to advertise your courses and bring prospective students right to your website.
Bottom Line
Teachable and Thinkific are two well-known course creation software solutions that help individuals and businesses of all sizes build and market their courses. Both offer standard features found in all course creation tools: course and site builders, quizzes, assignments, coupons, course bundles, affiliate management, a sales tracker, and integrations with software like Mailchimp, Shopify, and Zoom.
Overall, we have a slight preference for Thinkific – it’s more user-friendly and has more features for a similar price. However, there aren’t major differences between the systems. They are the top two middle-tier course creation platforms in the market. We recommend testing each to determine which is best for you.
There are a few minor differences between the systems that are worth keeping in mind. Thinkific offers a basic, free plan, and ability to translate your platform into multiple languages. On the other hand, Teachable has a mobile application, slightly better sales reports, and marketing capabilities.
If you’re interested, visit Teachable or Thinkific today to get started.