Thinkific Review (2024): Features, Pricing, & How to Get Started

Updated by Willy Wood

Of the many learning management systems (LMS) on the market today, Thinkific is one of the bigger names that may come to mind.

For many online course creators, choosing your LMS can feel intimidating. After all, there are just so many options available and it’s easy to fall into analysis paralysis.

However, this article will conduct a deep dive into Thinkific to help you decide whether this is the right platform for you. You will learn about the different pricing plans, what you are getting in each plan, and how to use the platform to build your online course.

In addition, you will learn about extra features the platform offers that benefit online course creators and students alike.

Let’s dive in!

What is Thinkific?

Thinkific is a learning management system that was founded in 2012 when co-founder and CEO Greg Smith shared his online course about the LSAT exam. His online course garnered so much traction that his course sales exceeded his income as a securities lawyer. Thinkfic grew into a SaaS business that provides an online teaching platform for all course creators.

Today Thinkific is trusted by thousands of businesses where you can provide your students everything they need to learn from you. 

Thinkific Pricing

One of the first things you may want to know when determining if Thinkific is the right LMS for your business is the price.

Thinkific offers several tiered subscription plans depending on your business needs: Basic, Start, and Grow. A free option is available for those who wish to start from scratch or experiment with the platform. 

• The Basic Plan offers unlimited courses, a custom domain, coupons, and affiliate selling at $36/month.
• The Start Plan offers course bundling, assignments, and live sessions at $74/month.
• The Grow Plan is priced at $149/month. This plan offers up to 3 communities, the removal of Thinkific branding, and bulk enrollments. These prices are listed with the 25% annual payment discount and therefore, the prices are higher if paid on a monthly basis.

For larger businesses, Thinkific offers the Expand Plan (not shown in the photo) at $374/month, paid annually, with more customization options and priority support. For customized corporate plans, Thinkific offers the Plus Plan. 

The higher tiered subscriptions offer additional features such as custom domains, affiliate selling, removal of Thinkific branding, custom SSL certificates, and much more. In addition, Thinkific offers a 25% discount for those paying annually.  

Now that you are familiar with the different price points, let’s dive deeper into what you get with Thinkific. 

Review of Thinkific Features

Easy-to-Use Course Builder

One of Thinkific’s most popular features is their easy-to-use course builder. You will be able to organize your lessons into modules to enhance the student learning experience. There are 8 types of lessons that you can choose from: 

1. Videos
2. Text
3. PDF Files
4. Audio Files
5. Downloadable Files 
6. Presentation Slides
7. Multimedia Resources
8. Live Presentations

This wide variety of options enables you to create well-rounded teaching materials for your students which can cater to their different learning styles. You can easily link in additional branded materials such as podcasts and blogs.

To track your student’s progress, Thinkific has 4 different built-in assessments that you can assign to them. 

1. Quizzes: For assessing recently learned material.
2. Assignments: For longer homework assignments.
3. Surveys: For receiving feedback from your students.
4. Exams: For holistically assessing your students’ understanding from the course.

Assignments and exams are not available on the free plan and will require a paid subscription.

Last but not least are the multiple payment options for your online course. For starters, you can always make your courses free. This can be especially helpful if you are releasing a short online course.

Drag and Drop Website Builder with Custom Domains

One of the most important components of an online course is the website that hosts the course. After all, students need a common platform where they can login and continue their learning journey. 

If you do not have a website, this is an excellent opportunity to use the drag and drop website builder to create a custom website for your online course business. 

With the drag and drop builder, you can add in custom photos, videos, and your web copy so that you can create an enticing landing page for your online course. 

If you already have a website, you can customize the domain for both your landing pages and your online course so that it is brand consistent with your website. An important reminder, customized domains will require the “Grow Plan” in order to remove all Thinkific branding. 

Communities

Another core component of Thinkific is their community feature. Whether you are looking to set up a mastermind, paid membership, or a free membership, you can easily create an online community through Thinkific. 

On the main dashboard, you can open the Communities tab on the left side bar. Once you create a community, there are a number of features you can introduce for your students as well as many customization options. If your group is visible in Google search engines, you can optimize the description and the metatags for SEO. 

Additionally, you can adjust the visibility of the group by turning the community into a hidden or a private community. Lastly, moderators, admin staff, and affiliates can be compensated for a portion of sales through their affiliate features.  

Once you’ve set up your community, you can start bringing in new members! Within one community, you can set up more forums so your students engage at different levels. For example, you could create one space for general posts and another space for students who have a specific topic they would like to discuss. In addition, courses can be linked to communities for a more holistic learning experience. 

Another feature of the community builder is the events feature. Here, you can set up events to promote more engagement within the community and with you, the course creator.

People join communities to learn about a specific topic, achieve a personal aspiration, and to seek out support. Through events, you can cater to all of these needs and reinforce the sense of belonging the member feels when they are in your community. There are several events that you can set up.

1. Regular coaching calls
2. Weekly check-ins
3. Live lessons or workshops
4. Live Q&A

You also have the option of setting up your community as a free group or a paid one, depending on your business model.

3rd Party Platform Integrations

One worry that many online businesses might have is… will this LMS work well with the rest of my business applications and platforms?

And the answer is yes!

Thinkific integrates with most 3rd party platforms including Zoom, Active Campaign, Mailchimp, Google Analytics 4, and Facebook Pixel. 

Affiliate Marketing Features

Anyone who has a Basic plan or higher can take advantage of Thinkific’s affiliate marketing features. Affiliate marketing can be a great way to tap into the audience of your network and help support your fellow entrepreneurs at the same time. 

Through the affiliate marketing tab, you can track your affiliates’ progress and their compensation amounts based on how many sales they have closed. One important thing to note is that affiliate payment is not automated, so you will still have to do that separately. 

Student Support Features

Course reviews, completion certificates, and student progress reports are all available in the “Support the Students” tab on the left hand side bar. Here you can also grade assignments and review your students’ quiz results. 

SSL Certificates for Data Encryption

In this age of data tracking, privacy is one of the biggest concerns in online businesses. Many consumers are concerned about the safety of their data, especially regarding hackers and 3rd party data companies.

One feature that Thinkific offers is custom SSL certificates for data encryption. Basically, the SSL certificate encrypts your website data to prevent spam bots, hackers, and other malicious software from compromising your data.

This feature allows you to offer an additional layer of security for your students. Customized SSL certificates are only available in the Expand Plan or the Plus Plan as larger businesses are typically the target of data breaches. If your organization handles sensitive data, especially in the cloud, ensuring cloud data security should be a top priority, and Thinkific’s SSL certificates can be a key part of that strategy.

Thinkific Review: Pros and Cons

Now that you know the main features of Thinkific, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this LMS.

Pros

• Offers a Free plan to users
• Phone and chat support with great customer service
• Custom domains for consistent branding
• Ability to offer payment plans to your students
• Monthly subscription plan for community members
• Quality user experience which is intuitive and easy to use
• Drag and drop landing page builder
• Integration with 3rd party platforms like email marketing tools, payment processors, and other CRM tools
• Great customer support
• Zero transaction fees

Cons

• No integrated email system (can integrate with other email marketing platforms)
• No course marketplace to effectively market your online courses. 
• No funnel system (can be integrated with Clickfunnels and other funnel platforms)
• No abandon cart sequences
• Does not automatically pay affiliates

How to Create a Thinkific Course

Creating an online course in Thinkific is both easy and intuitive. If you are unsure whether Thinkific is right for you, take advantage of their free plan and create an online course.

Step 1: Set Up Your Free Account

Start by signing up for a free account and entering your information. No credit card is required for a free account. 

You will need to enter in your business information, branding colors and logos, a description of your business, and some basic information for your online course. 

Step 2: Navigate to the Course Building Dashboard

Once you have created your account, you will be brought to the main dashboard.

The left-hand side bar will have everything you need to manage your online courses, communities, landing pages, marketing tools, and your analytics dashboard. 

When you see this dashboard there are two ways you can create an online course. 

The first way is to click on the second tab in the center that says, “Create a Course.” The second way is to click on the left-hand side bar where it says “Manage Learning Products.” This will open a dropdown menu where you can select “Courses.” This will bring you to the courses tab where you can create a new course. 

Step 3: Create Your Online Course

Once you are in the course building dashboard, you can start creating your online course! There are several tabs on top, from “Curriculum” to “Publish.” 

Using the curriculum tab you can start adding in your teaching materials. To create your first lesson, click the button on the left hand side bar that says, “+ Add Lesson”

If you have a large amount of teaching material that you wish to upload, you can use the bulk importer tab on the top to upload your content. To separate your lessons into modules, click the button on the bottom left hand corner that says “Add Chapter.”

Step 4: Finalize Your Course

Once your course is set up, you are almost ready to launch! Before you hit Publish, you will need to complete a few more steps. 

First, you will need to click on the settings tab, where you can update your URL, admin details, course details, and SEO. The drip tab is for slowly releasing content to your students based on their progress or a predetermined schedule. This feature is only available in paid plans.

Next step is pricing your online course. In a free plan, you are able to offer your online course for free or at a fixed price point for a one time payment. If you have an upgraded plan, you have more pricing options from payment plans to monthly membership fees.

If you have multiple online courses on Thinkific, you may consider offering your courses in a discounted bundle. This is where you may want to consider using the “After Purchases” tab. Here you can offer upsells, customize your thank you page, or direct your new student to their purchased course. 

Step 5: Publish Your Online Course

Once you complete all these steps, you are ready to publish your online course! 

There are several other options available as well, depending on your needs. For example, you can always save your course as a draft as not every online course is made in a day. 

Another option is to set your course to pre-order status so that you can start enrolling your students before your launch date. 

In addition, if you anticipate more than 100,000 visitors within the first few days of your launch, Thinkific recommends that you reach out to their team for further support as a sudden large volume can impact the student user experience.

Step 6: Create a Certificate of Completion (Optional)

Now that your online course is ready, you may want to also offer a certificate of completion. To create one, go to the main dashboard and click on “Support the Students” on the left hand side bar. The drop down menu will have an option that says Certificates. 

There are several customizable options to choose from to create an awesome certificate for your students.

Now that you have an online course and a certificate for completion, you are ready to enroll new students!

Is Thinkific Right for You?

Now that you’ve seen all the amazing features Thinkific offers through its various plans, you should have a pretty good idea of whether or not it’s a good fit for you.

But if you’re still on the fence, here’s our list of who we believe can best benefit from what Thinkific has to offer and why:

Coaches and Consultants

As a coach or consultant, your work isn’t one-size-fits-all, meaning that flexibility is the name of the game. The information you share with your clients is constantly evolving based on their needs, and Thinkific allows you the flexibility you need to cater to those personal needs. Here’s how:

• Customizable Course Structures–Your clients’/students’ journeys aren’t all the same. While a group of students may start in the same place, their needs might diverge along the way based on the specific challenges they’re facing. With Thinkific, while it’s not possible to create branching course pathways, you can easily duplicate a course, then change upcoming modules for one or more students to create a customized course just for that sub-group.
• Real-Time Feedback Loops–When you’re working with clients whose challenges differ, being able to give each one customized feedback almost immediately is a game changer. You can gather input from your students in a variety of ways (quiz results, surveys, community groups) and then deliver on-the-fly personalized feedback.

Expert Entrepreneurs

If you’re a subject matter expert who’s looking to turn your expertise into an additional stream of income, Thinkific has you covered there, as well.

• Advanced Monetization Tools–You can create a model that fits your content. This could be a one-off masterclass, a regular course with a set price, or even a subscription model. Thinkific gives you great flexibility to create the revenue model that works best for you.
• Sales Funnels and eCommerce Integration–Your course isn’t just content; it’s also a product. Thinkific seamlessly integrates with all the top ecommerce platforms, ensuring that while you provide a great course experience to your students, your bank account also reflects the fruits of your efforts.

Traditional and Non-Traditional Course Creators

Again, flexibility is the key here. If you’re more the traditional sort, Thinkific provides a variety of straightforward formats to pick from. If you’re more adventurous, Thinkific gives you the opportunity to create your own mash-up of formats to design a truly unique course. Think as far outside the box as you want with your course design; there’s a good chance Thinkific can make it happen.

• Versatile Course Creation Tools–You can mix and match content easily–videos, downloadable PDFs, quizzes, interactive homework assignments. Thinkific allows you to use varied formats so all of your students can learn in a way that suits their strengths.
• Audience Segmentation–As you know, not all students are alike. Segment your audience based on whatever criteria make sense, then offer differentiated content to each segment, ensuring everyone gets the just-right level of challenge.

Thinkific Frequently Asked Questions

How does Thinkific compare to other learning management systems?

Choosing the LMS for your business is an important decision and you will likely compare and contrast multiple options before deciding on the right one for you. 

Here are two articles that can assist you in deciding whether Thinkific is right for your business:

Kajabi vs Thinkific

Thinkific vs Teachable

Want to see what else is out there? Here is a list of over 21 of the best learning management systems in the industry today. 

I am Thinking of migrating from another LMS to Thinkific. What should I do?

Migrating an online course from one platform to another can be daunting. The first thing you should do is back up all your online course material to an external hard drive or cloud storage so that you can safely retrieve the materials. Next, consult with the Thinkific support team so that they can ensure a smooth transition to Thinkific.  

Does Thinkific Offer a Guarantee? 

Yes. Thinkific offers a 30-day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the platform. 

Does Thinkific Take a Cut of Online Course Sale?

No. Thinkific does not have any transaction fees for the courses that you sell. Thinkific believes that online course creators deserve the compensation that they earned. 

Thinkific Review: Final Thoughts

From its humble beginnings of teaching the LSAT, Thinkific has evolved into one of the most popular online course platforms in the industry. With Thinkific, you can be confident that your students will have a quality learning experience as they work through your course materials.

Now that you are familiar with Thinkific, you have the means to explore the platform and determine whether it is the right LMS for your business. There are many factors to consider so take advantage of their free plan and 30-day guarantee to make an informed decision. 

So go ahead and give Thinkific a try to see if it’s the right platform for you!

To learn more about the process of creating online courses, you may want to join us on our next Hybrid Courses Bootcamp. It’s completely free to join and teaches you how to create a successful and profitable online course.