It doesn’t need to be difficult to sell your online course. You don’t even have to be a web developer. This is due to the many online selling platforms and website building tools that are specifically designed for online courses. We’re comparing Teachable vs Thinkific today to find the best one for you.
Thinkific and Teachable both have a reputation for being high-powered, online course selling and building platforms. You have other options, such as Udemy. However, Thinkific and Teachable look more alike because they are “all-in” platforms. This means that you will pay a monthly fee to access all the features you require. Hosting, SSL certificates, and domain names are all included. When we compare Thinkific vs Teachable, it is clear that they are very different from WooCommerce (whereby you can set up your site and hosting), or Udemy (where you can have control of your website but the system is set up automatically for you).
There are many things to consider when looking for an online course-selling platform. We’ll cover everything, from pricing and features to design and customer support. This article will provide information about both the in-depth offerings and help you understand what you are paying.
Teachable and Thinkific:
Thinkific, Teachable both offer high-quality hosting platforms that let you sell and create courses online. All types of content can be uploaded using videos and quizzes. You can also structure your courses according to your needs, protect your course content, and accept online payments.
You don’t have to be a programmer or tech expert in order to join Teachable or Thinkific. The online courses platforms offer an easy-to-use solution that makes it possible to start as soon as you want. Importantly, though Teachable and Thinkific offer a variety of ways to participate, including a basic plan. However, they are not an online marketplace.
They are not the same as Udemy, where you can pitch your courses to existing audiences. Instead, you will have full control over everything, from pricing to student data.
The pros and cons of teachingable:
The first step in finding the right course creators is to research each software solution. Teachable has many benefits but also some drawbacks.
Pros
- The course builder is easier to use and more flexible
- iOS app included
- Analytics and reporting tools for courses that are more accurate
- One-step checkout that is optimized for efficiency
- Native gateways support Apple and Google Pay
- Digital Goods VAT tax supported
- 1-click upsells
- Live chat support
Cons
- Live workshops are not an option
- Basic integrations only (no advanced options).
- Transaction fees
The pros and cons of Thinkific
How does Thinkific compare to other companies?
Pros
- Beautiful websites built quickly
- It’s easy to get started and it’s free
- Advanced features such as question banks are supported
- Support for assignments and surveys built-in
- You can create as many paid courses you wish
- A powerful page and site builder
- All plans include zero transaction fees
- Subscriptions available at flexible pricing
- Manage students and bulk-sell courses
- The ability to create a separate community space
Cons
- Paid plans are quite expensive
- Live workshops are not possible
- There is no course documentation to assist you in getting started
Pricing/Fees
We are going to be testing the Thinkific vs Teachable comparison first. Smaller businesses and entrepreneurs are very concerned about cost savings so it is logical to do this first test.
Start with Thinkific and you can test the core features for free. Technically, the plan is only for testing purposes. I wouldn’t expect it to allow me to open a store for free. It’s great that the free trial doesn’t end and you can work with only a few features. However, the free plan allows you to create three courses, so even if you have only a small website to teach, it may work.
Here is a list of all Thinkific pricing plans.
- Free $0 for all core features, three courses and unlimited students, quizzes, surveys, content hosting and instant access to your funds
- Basic $49/month for all the features of the previous plan, unlimited students and courses, coupons, email communications, drip content and affiliate reporting. Custom domains, email integrations and Zapier triggers are also available. Enrollment is also possible.
- Pro $99 per Month – Unlimited courses and students, two site administrators, five course administrators, hidden and private classes, advanced pricing, memberships & bundles, priority support, certificates, and advanced customizations.
- Premier $499/month for all features of previous plans, unlimited students and courses, five admin accounts and 50 course administrators, one sign in option, an onboarding package and access to Thinkific’s growth packages.
The Growth Package
Pricing for the growth package depends on how many students are involved. While the first 100 students are completely free, it can go up to $499 per monthly. You would have to pay $10 per student for 200 students on the lower end. For the Growth Package, you will need to have the Pro Plan.
After that you will receive groups, bulk email, advanced segmentation and public API access. Webhooks are also available.
These features can be very valuable for adding students to your courses. It is especially useful if your website can be customized using the API and webhooks.
Thinkific Enterprise Plan
Enterprise is a category for large companies and high-volume users. Intuit and Samsung are some of the companies that use Thinkific, as well as Hootsuite to help customers or provide training.
The Enterprise solution can be customized to suit your needs. Contact the Thinkific sales team to learn more about how we can help you.
Onto Teachable Pricing
We now have an idea of what Thinkific would cost you. Let’s look at the Teachable pricing plans.
- Basic $29 per Month ($39 monthly) for all base features. There are 5% transaction fees, instant payouts and two admin users. Product support, course creation training is available. Custom domains can be created. Coupon codes can be used to drip content. You can also integrate affiliate marketing, email marketing, or other third-party integrations.
- Professional $99 per month ($119 monthly) for all the features of the previous plan with no transaction fees. Access to instant payouts, five admin user, priority customer service, graded quizzes and advanced customization, advanced reports, unbranded sites, completion certificates, course compliance, and priority customer support are all included.
- Business $249 per Month ($299 monthly). This includes 100 admin users, priority customer support, 100 administrator users, priority student importing, custom roles and bulk enrollments. This plan still offers instant payouts and zero transaction fees.
Which one offers the best value? For companies that are just starting out, the Teachable pricing plan at the lower end is more appealing. There are many features that differ between platforms. You may be tempted to choose one of these more exclusive features over another. Teachable seems to be the better deal overall.
All Feature-Sets
Teachable is packed full of great features. All plans include unlimited students and courses. Thinkific isn’t a novice. Thinkific offers more integrations and packages for companies looking for advanced selling and course building tools.
Thinkific offers many features, including the ability to create course pages and upload media quickly like images or videos. I love the ability to connect items such as Google Docs or Articulate. Both platforms will allow you to host all your website content. It means that you don’t need to install WordPress on a host.
Let’s now look at some of our favorite features by Thinkific:
- You can quickly customize your website and match courses to your brand with our quick customization tools
- Instant uploading and support of video, text and quizzes. Discussions, Google Docs and other services are available.
- All of your courses can be downloaded.
- Both private and secret courses are supported.
- Before signing up for a class, you will need to have taken the prerequisite lessons.
- You can use these tools to build a membership site.
- You can drip content to gradually reveal lessons as your users progress through your courses.
- Multiple instructors are available.
- Cohorts.
- End of life and unobtainable content
- There are many themes that can be used in a variety of industries.
- Beautiful drag-and-drop builder that is suitable for all levels of experience.
- You have the option to use your own domain name.
- You have full access to CSS and HTML areas, allowing you to customize your site as much as you like.
- Tools for joining and subscribing to a site.
- Promotions and coupons
- Instant payment available in over 100 currencies
- Affiliate tools
- Integrations for email marketing
- Advanced data tracking
- Integrations with thousands marketing and business apps
Thinkific offers a wide range of features that you can explore. Some are quite unique, like the integrations or amazing themes.
Let’s now switch to Teachable and see which features are most appealing to you:
- You have the option to add audio, PDF, and video media.
- All of your media can be imported from OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox.
- Teachable allows you to build a complete site or integrate it into your existing website.
- Teachable offers a drag-and-drop builder and some templates for your first projects.
- For advanced customization, access the site code
- For improving your conversions, create sales landing pages
- You have the option to connect your domain to the site.
- You can use the support for many languages.
- Quizzes to assess and reward students.
- Students can chat and ask questions in this discussion forum.
- Surveys and Google Forms are two ways to collect student feedback.
- Integrations are available for customer service and email marketing.
- Segmentation options available for students.
- Coupons and promotions
- Pricing for advanced customers
- You can also create an affiliate program that rewards people who refer to your courses.
- You can accept support for more than 130 currencies all over the world. Acceptance of all major credit cards as well as PayPal is possible.
- A place to include conversion pixels for tracking.
- Great insights and stats to learn more about your students and their backgrounds.
Regardless of which features are included in which pricing plans, both Thinkific as well as Teachable offer a wide range of features that you can use to sell courses online. Both offer coupons and promotions, email marketing integrations, and support for many media types and content.
Both platforms offer membership and affiliate tools. You can also access CSS and HTML code from either platform.
Although I believe the overall Thinkific design is superior, let’s not get into that. It’s close to being a tie when it comes to features, but Teachable has the advantage due to its beautiful sales pages. These pages are vital for users who click on your Facebook or Google ads. It’s nice to not have to pay extra for a landing page platform.
Design
We mentioned that Teachable and Thinkific both offer HTML file access. You or a developer have access to the files, which allows you to modify or add your code. Site designers have incredible freedom with this feature. You can brand your site in any way you like and change the item location, font style, or font.
Both platforms’ default site designs are clean, modern, easy to use, and simple enough for beginners. You can use the design tools of both platforms, regardless of whether you are an expert or beginner designer. You also have the option of hiring a designer to edit site files.
You get access to both free hosting and an SSL certificate for your course content. There’s also a team who will take care of important things such as backup, security, maintenance, and updating your courses. If you wish, you can also use custom domains or subdomains to unlock your website.
Both Teachable and Thinkific offer the option to modify the language or site content of your website. Each option has its own way to cross-sell or upsell your content.
Although we love the Teachable sales pages, the design area is where Thinkific excels. Teachable provides a basic website template that almost all users can use. The design can be modified by uploading images, adding logos, and changing the colors. You can also drag and drop the builder to make it easier to use.
Thinkific is a great resource for creating beautiful templates. Are you planning to sell fitness courses? That’s why there is a specific theme. How about a course in blogging to generate revenue? It’s also available!
Though Thinkific is constantly adding new templates to their library, the library seems quite useful for many industries and products. This is combined with the drag-and-drop builder, full access to site files, and the option for your own domain name. You’ve got one of the most powerful design tools available.
Page Builders and Website Themes
Let’s look closer at what Teachable and Thinkific might offer. Thinkific, for example, comes with a theme library that includes a variety of themes. You can also choose from a variety of styles for your themes. Once you have chosen a theme style you can easily add it to your website.
Teachable, on the other hand does not offer the same type of theme experience. You can choose from a standard template, which is used by all Teachable websites. You can also upload customization elements to your theme area. You can change the font and color of your website, as well as your logo.
Teachable’s default theme is great for creating a sleek and modern experience. There aren’t many options for themes to choose from. Thinkific allows advanced users to edit code on the back-end. Teachable does not allow you to import themes. However, you can use the power editor for editing the code of everything on your learning platform from the homepage to the checkout page.
Both Teachable and Thinkific offer drag-and-drop page builders that you can use to build any type of page. These tools are designed to make your bundles and courses stand out. They can be used to create everything, from home pages to sales pages.
Drag and drop elements from different types to your pages. Both page builders have live editors that allow you to view the changes being made to your website right away. There are some differences between the builders. The language used on the pages is also very different. You can use Sections on Thinkific to create a module about your testimonials.
Thinkific’s sections include many additional elements, such as a countdown clock and lead capture forms. Teachable, on the other hand has fewer page block options. There are fewer options than you might think to add modules to your website.
You should also consider that Teachable does not offer as many customization options to make your website stand apart. Thinkific offers more flexibility so that you can make a site that truly reflects your brand’s essence.
The Teachable page builder has a significant advantage: you can create multiple sales pages to promote and sell the same course. This makes it easy to create custom sales pages for your campaigns. If you wish, you can also do your own split testing.
White Labeling and Blogging
You need more than a variety of plugins and payment plans to make your online learning platform stand out. It is important to clearly communicate your value. Many companies include branding and blogging to their business plans.
Teachable lets you create a blog using its platform. This means that you can add text, images and create blog posts in minutes. A blog created on Teachable may not be fully functional. It is not as flexible or powerful as a Squarespace blog or WordPress blog. You can’t modify anything on the blog.
It’s also worth noting that Teachable seems to be ignoring their blogging capabilities. We haven’t seen any evidence that Teachable has been updating their blog customization options in a while.
White labeling is a good option because both these platforms let you sell digital products under your brand. This means you can make something that fits your brand, whether you are creating membership sites or updating your payment gateway.
Thinkific and Teachable.com allow you to take the branding off their websites and add your logos and content. It’s important to note that even though you have a custom domain, the signup pages for Teachable remain Teachable.
Thinkific wins over Teachable when it comes to building a website that makes the most of content marketing strategies and brand building. There are many better themes and a stronger page builder. This makes it easy to create your own website. Teachable allows you to create sales pages, and other related content.
Marketing and SEO
The first step in building an online learning platform that showcases you thought leadership and distinctive branding elements is to create it. You must also think about how your website will attract customers. These sites let you sell recurring products, bundles of courses, and create coupons.
Teachable is a better platform than Thinkific in terms of offering sales and marketing capabilities. The checkout process is what makes the difference between the two platforms. Teachable offers a highly optimized checkout process that allows users to enter their personal information, access payment and leave the page.
After payment is made, the user can create an account to continue coming back to your site for more. You can add additional elements such as money-back guarantees and testimonials to your website. Thinkific includes a 2-step checkout process that allows users to create an account and then make payments via the next page.
Even though you can still manage transactions in a 2-step process, a large percentage of your users will abandon the process without making payment. Thinkific allows you add custom conversion elements to your checkout pages. It’s important to note that Thinkific doesn’t make sense from a design standpoint.
Thinkific is a clear winner in many areas but it’s Teachable that comes out on top. A 1-click upsell strategy is another important part of the process. This is one of your most efficient ways to increase the number of transactions you can access per customer. Teachable and Thinkific both allow you to add an upsell right from your Thank You page. You can also customize your elements and add conversion components such as CTAs and text.
Thinkific’s unique feature is the availability of “After Purchase Flows”, which allow customers to make customized offers for their customers based on their pricing plan. Teachable allows you to show an upsell offer for each course. This is not possible if you have different pricing plans.
Affiliate Marketing
Teachable and Thinkific both allow you to add affiliate marketing elements to your website. You can also get others involved if you are looking for more sales opportunities on your website. To help promote courses, you could create a Facebook group for affiliates.
Thinkific and Teachable both allow you to choose the commission percentages you want for your affiliates. Each site builder has an affiliate dashboard, where users can view their affiliate links and see what they are contributing to your bottom line via Stripe or PayPal.
Both platforms are similar in terms of Affiliate marketing capabilities. However, they lack some important features. You don’t have the ability to create custom affiliate percentages for certain courses. Teachable’s Affiliate Marketing components offer more customization options than Thinkific.
Teachable allows you to set custom cookies for affiliates. This means that certain cookies will only last for a specified time. Teachable allows you to use affiliate tools even if you don’t have the same platform for building your landing pages. This feature is not available on Thinkific unless your Java programming skills are extensive.
What makes Teachable’s affiliate features stand out is the effectiveness of automatically paying your marketing assistants. To start automatically paying your affiliates each month, you can use the Teachable gateway without even having to think about it.
Teachable stands out in the marketing and sales world. You can integrate marketing tools such as MailChimp in many more ways. Teachable’s checkout process is extremely optimized so that you don’t have to worry about potential students falling at the last hurdle.
You could lose out on important conversions due to the 2-step checkout process and lack of additional marketing components on Thinkific. Thinkific offers a little more flexibility in customization and subscriptions.
Customer Support
Thinkific offers a help centre, resources, as well as a blog, in case you need to do your own research on a particular situation. You can also purchase online courses to help you build your Thinkific website and make more money online. These online courses can be quite expensive. This online course seems more like a revenue stream for Thinkific than a support module for customers.
You can access the Thinkific help center, which is well-organized. Users also have the option to join the community forum and discuss problems or strategies. For direct support, you can also send an email. You can’t get chat or phone support.
If you require help with web design, marketing or any other aspect of the business, then you can visit the Thinkific Experts page.
Teachable offers an online knowledgebase and blog. Experts can be found for web design, among other things. Email is the best way to contact us directly. You will be placed in a ticketing system.
Teachable and Thinkific both have social pages, so you can also get support or information.
Although Thinkific appears to have more online resources than Teachable overall, they both offer solid customer service. This is where we’ll give Thinkific the advantage.
Communication with Students
You can give completion certificates in both platforms so that you can reward students for moving on to the next part of the course.
Thinkific offers discussion areas as well as the option to interact with students via quizzes. There are also options to communicate directly with students.
Teachable is a similar platform, offering users the opportunity to chat in a forum and some direct messaging. Surveys and quizzes are also part of the equation. It looks like Teachable and Thinkific are on the same level when it comes to student communication.
However, Thinkific has many customer service integrations. If you use one of these, you may find that Thinkific does a better communication job. It all depends on what third-party tools you use. It is really a tie when comparing Teachable vs Thinkific in the area of customer service.
Which one is right for you?
This is the most direct comparison we have done on this website. It’s because you begin to see similarities between Teachable and Thinkific when you compare them. Both are ready-made website platforms that can be used for online courses. Integrations with many marketing tools are possible, and payment processing is handled entirely for you. Domain names are supported, and you don’t need to search for your own hosting.
Here are some suggestions.
- Teachable is the best option if you are only concerned about price.
- Although Teachable and Thinkific have similar features, we prefer Thinkific to integrate with it and Teachable to create sales landing pages.
- Thinkific has many amazing templates. Teachable has only one template design you can customize.
That’s it! This concludes our comparison of Teachable vs Thinkific. We’d love to hear from you about your experiences with Teachable or Thinkific.
