Courses & Learning · Review · Updated 17 October 2026
Thinkific reviewBuild and sell online courses, communities and memberships on your own branded site
Excellent
Brent score, out of 5
Thinkific is one of the most complete all-in-one course platforms for creators and training businesses: unlimited courses, communities, built-in checkout and a clean student experience, with no web host needed. The 30-day trial is generous. The trade-offs are that Thinkific branding stays until Grow ($164/month billed yearly), Basic caps digital downloads and coaching at 5, and SCORM and SSO are reserved for the custom Plus plan.
Price
$40/month billed yearly ($54 monthly); 30-day free trial
Free option
Free trial
Best for
Experts and coaches turning their knowledge into paid courses
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Best for
- Experts and coaches turning their knowledge into paid courses
- Training businesses selling courses plus a community or membership
- Creators who want built-in checkout, coupons and payment plans
- Companies selling training to other businesses (on Grow and up)
Skip it if
- Anyone who wants a permanent free plan
- Corporate L&D teams that need SCORM or SSO on a small budget
- Creators who want an app in the stores without paying for an add-on
You know your subject and people already ask you for help. But stitching together a website, a video host, a payment page, a community app and email reminders is a project in itself, and every tool sends its own bill.
Thinkific puts the pieces in one place. You build courses with video, quizzes and assignments, add a community, sell with its built-in checkout, and run it all on your own branded site without a separate web host. It scales from a solo expert to an academy selling to businesses.
This review explains what each plan includes in 2026, how the payment fees work, and where the limits push you up a tier.
What is Thinkific?
Thinkific is a hosted learning platform for creating and selling online courses, communities, memberships, digital downloads, coaching and webinars. You build lessons in a drag-and-drop course builder (video, quizzes, assignments, certificates), set up a branded site on your own domain, and sell through its integrated checkout, TCommerce, using Thinkific Payments, Stripe or PayPal. Plans differ by features, communities, admin seats, video bandwidth and support level, and every plan includes unlimited courses.
Pros and cons
What we like
- Unlimited courses on every plan, with up to 10,000 current students on Basic, Start and Grow
- Built-in checkout with order bumps, coupons, gifting and abandoned-cart emails
- Communities with topic spaces included, from 1 on Basic to 3 on Grow
- 30-day free trial and cancel anytime on Basic, Start and Grow
- Hosted for you, with a custom domain on every plan
- API access and webhooks on Grow
What could be better
- No free plan
- Thinkific branding removal needs Grow ($164/month billed yearly)
- Basic limits you to 5 digital downloads and 5 coaching sessions or webinars
- Branded mobile app is a $199/month add-on; SCORM and SSO are Plus only
Overall
Excellent
- Features4.5
- Ease of use4.5
- Value4.0
- Support4.2
Key features of Thinkific
Course builder
Create unlimited courses with video lessons, quizzes and discussions on every plan. Start adds live cohorts, assignments and completion certificates.
Communities
Run a community next to your courses, organized into topic spaces and member-only private spaces. Basic includes 1 community with 5 spaces; Grow includes 3 communities with 20 spaces each.
Built-in checkout
TCommerce gives you checkout, order bumps, gifting, coupons and abandoned-cart emails. Start adds bundles, upsells, payment plans, memberships and subscriptions.
B2B selling
Grow adds group orders, invoicing and B2B sales so a company can buy seats for its staff. It also adds API access, webhooks and student engagement reports.
Coaching, webinars and downloads
Sell coaching sessions, webinars and digital products from the same site. Basic caps these at 5 each; Start and above are unlimited.
AI tools and Plus features
AI tools and guided onboarding help you build faster. The Plus plan adds an AI teaching assistant, learning paths, SCORM, SSO and CRM integrations such as HubSpot and Salesforce.
Thinkific pricing
Checked 2026-10. Prices can change; confirm on Thinkific’s site.
Basic
$40/month
billed yearly; $54 month-to-month
- Unlimited courses, 1 community
- Up to 5 digital products and 5 coaching/webinars
- 1 admin seat, 100 GB video bandwidth
Start
$82/month
billed yearly; $109 month-to-month
- Live cohorts, certificates, assignments
- Memberships, bundles, payment plans
- 2 admin seats, 200 GB bandwidth
Grow
$164/month
billed yearly; $219 month-to-month
- Remove Thinkific branding
- B2B group orders, invoicing, API and webhooks
- 6 admin seats, phone and priority support
Plus
Custom
contact sales
- SSO, SCORM and learning paths
- AI teaching assistant, CRM integrations
- Dedicated customer success team
Watch out: Prices are shown in dollars; Thinkific Payments charges a standard 2.9% processing fee, and Stripe or PayPal add a third-party gateway fee that varies by plan, on top of their own fees.
See current Thinkific pricing →What people use Thinkific for
A coach launching a signature course
A business coach builds a six-module course with quizzes, sells it with a payment plan on Start, and runs a private community space for buyers to ask questions.
A training academy with memberships
A photography school sells individual courses and a monthly membership that unlocks all of them, with live cohorts each quarter.
Selling compliance training to companies
A safety trainer on Grow sells seats to employers through group orders and invoices, and tracks completion with student engagement reports.
How to get started with Thinkific
- 1
Start the 30-day free trial
- 2
Use the AI tools or a template to outline your first course
- 3
Upload lessons, add a quiz and set up your checkout with Thinkific Payments
- 4
Connect your custom domain and invite a few beta students
- 5
Pick a plan before the trial ends based on the features you used
Thinkific alternatives
| Product | Choose it when |
|---|---|
| Thinkific 4.4 | Experts and coaches turning their knowledge into paid courses |
| LearnWorlds4.6 | Choose LearnWorlds if you want interactive video, SCORM and stronger corporate training tools at lower tiers. |
| Skool4.3 | Choose Skool if your business is community-first with simple courses and gamification. |
| Kajabi | Choose Kajabi if you want courses plus email marketing, funnels and a website builder in one higher-priced suite. |
Thinkific: frequently asked questions
How much does Thinkific cost?+
Basic is $54/month or $40/month billed yearly, Start is $109 or $82 billed yearly, and Grow is $219 or $164 billed yearly. Plus is custom priced.
Does Thinkific have a free plan?+
No. Thinkific replaced its free plan with a 30-day free trial that lets you build courses, host communities and test its AI tools.
What fees does Thinkific charge on sales?+
Thinkific Payments charges a standard 2.9% processing fee. If you use Stripe or PayPal instead, a third-party gateway fee applies that varies by plan, plus Stripe or PayPal's own fees.
Can I use my own domain with Thinkific?+
Yes. Every plan supports a custom domain, and you can connect one you own or buy one through Thinkific. Thinkific hosts the site, so you do not need a separate web host.
Does Thinkific support SCORM?+
SCORM is available on the Plus plan only, along with SSO and learning paths.
Can I cancel Thinkific anytime?+
Yes. Basic, Start and Grow customers can upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time, including during the free trial.
Final verdict
Is Thinkific worth it?
If you want to sell a course or membership without building a tech stack, Thinkific gives you courses, community, checkout and hosting in one place. Start the 30-day trial, build your first module and take a test payment before you choose a plan.
Start 30-day trialAffiliate link · we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Reviewed by
Amjid Ali, Founder and editor
Amjid Ali is a Melbourne-based AI and automation lead, author of five books on infrastructure, automation and digital transformation, and a corporate trainer whose courses on n8n, Proxmox, firewalls and ERP have taught thousands of IT professionals.
Last updated 17 October 2026 · How we review
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$40/month billed yearly ($54 monthly); 30-day free trial