What does Thinkific do?
Thinkific is a course platform for selling courses, communities, memberships, coaching and downloads from your own site. It starts at $82/mo billed yearly (Start, $109 monthly), with a 30-day free trial and no free plan. It suits creators who want unlimited courses and live cohorts in one place; skip it on a tight budget, since Teachable starts at $29/mo.
- Course builder. Drag-and-drop builder for video and multimedia lessons, quizzes, assignments, drip schedules and certificates on every plan; exams and question banks from Grow.
- AI course tools. AI-assisted course generation and a Course Outline Generator; an AI teaching assistant is listed on the Plus plan.
- Live cohorts and coaching. Unlimited Zoom sessions, bookable calendars and attendance tracking on every plan, for cohort courses and one-to-one coaching.
- Communities. Public or private spaces tied to course access: 1 community on Start, 3 on Grow, 10 on Expand and unlimited on Plus.
- Checkout and payments. TCommerce checkout with payment plans, coupons, bundles, order bumps, gifting, abandoned-cart recovery and sales tax tools, free with Thinkific Payments.
- Website and email. Hosted site builder, landing pages, custom CSS/HTML, custom domain and email automation on every plan; it can also sit alongside a WordPress site.
- Memberships and downloads. Sell subscriptions, memberships, paid communities and digital downloads such as e-books and templates alongside courses.
- Branded mobile apps. Native iOS and Android apps with push notifications, as a $199/mo add-on or on select Plus contracts.
Who is Thinkific for?
Thinkific is a good fit if you're a course creator or a business owner, and you need help selling online courses.
How much does Thinkific cost?
Thinkific starts at $82/mo. It has no free plan. Its pricing page lists a free trial. We checked this on Oct 26, 2026 on the official pricing page.
- Starts at
- $82/mo
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- 30 days
Start billed yearly ($109/mo billed monthly): unlimited courses, 1 community, 2 admins, 200 GB video bandwidth a month. Grow is $164/mo yearly ($219 monthly) and Expand $374/mo yearly ($499 monthly). The cheaper Basic plan is no longer listed (pricing page, Oct 26, 2026). Thinkific Payments charges 2.9% processing; Stripe or PayPal add a gateway fee. No free plan.
Thinkific plans compared
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $109/mo | $82/mo | Unlimited courses, 1 community (10 spaces, 5 live events), 2 admins, 10,000 current students, 200 GB video bandwidth a month, groups up to 50, revenue sharing with 1 partner; certificates, live cohorts, memberships and a custom domain included; 2% gateway fee on Stripe sales |
| Grow | $219/mo | $164/mo | Unlimited courses, 3 communities (20 spaces), 6 admins, 10,000 current students, 400 GB video bandwidth a month, groups up to 100, revenue sharing with 3 partners; adds branding removal, PayPal, bulk email, exams, API and webhooks and phone support; 1% gateway fee on Stripe or PayPal sales |
| Expand | $499/mo | $374/mo | Unlimited courses, 10 communities (200 spaces), 15 admins, 10,000 current students, 1,000 GB video bandwidth a month, unlimited group size, revenue sharing with 10 partners; adds email white-labeling and custom SSL; 0.5% gateway fee on Stripe or PayPal sales |
| Plus | Custom | Custom | Custom pricing: unlimited communities, custom student limits, from 7,500 GB video bandwidth a month, unlimited revenue-sharing partners; adds SCORM, SSO, learning paths and an AI teaching assistant; no gateway fee; contact sales |
Checked on Oct 26, 2026 from a US connection; prices in USD. Billed yearly, Start is $984 a year, Grow $1,968 and Expand $4,488, against $1,308, $2,628 and $5,988 on monthly billing. That saves $324, $660 and $1,500; the page prints "Save $330" for Start, which doesn't match 12 × $82. The Basic plan ($40/mo billed yearly when we checked on Oct 17) is no longer listed. Start, Grow and Expand include a 30-day free trial and can be upgraded, downgraded or canceled at any time, including during the trial. Thinkific Payments lists a 2.9% processing fee and adds no gateway fee; the exact rate depends on payment method and country. With Stripe or PayPal instead, creators in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU pay Thinkific a gateway fee of 2% on Start, 1% on Grow and 0.5% on Expand (none on Plus) on the first $1M of sales each calendar year, on top of Stripe or PayPal's own fees. On $10,000 a year of Stripe sales, that is $200 on Start, $100 on Grow and $50 on Expand. PayPal needs Grow or above. A branded mobile app is a $199/mo add-on ($2,388 a year).
Checked Oct 26, 2026 on Thinkific's pricing page. Prices change often, so confirm before you buy.
Thinkific pros and cons
What stands out
- Unlimited courses on every plan, with certificates, quizzes and assignments included
- 30-day free trial, and plans can be canceled at any time, including during the trial
- No extra gateway fee when you sell through Thinkific Payments (2.9% processing)
- Live cohorts and coaching with unlimited Zoom sessions on every plan
- Custom domain on every plan, and it can run alongside an existing WordPress site
- Payment plans, bundles, order bumps and cart recovery on every plan
Watch out for
- No free plan, and the cheapest plan is now Start at $82/mo billed yearly ($984 a year), almost 3× Teachable Starter ($29/mo)
- Selling through Stripe on Start adds a 2% Thinkific gateway fee ($2 on a $100 sale)
- Branding removal, PayPal, bulk email and the API need Grow ($164/mo billed yearly)
- Start includes only 2 admins and 1 community
- SCORM, SSO and the AI teaching assistant are Plus-only, at custom pricing
- A branded mobile app costs $199/mo on top of any plan
Based on Thinkific's own pages, not hands-on testing.
What are the alternatives to Thinkific?
We list 6 other Online Course Platforms tools: FlexiQuiz, Kajabi, Kartra, LearnWorlds, Sellfy, Teachable. Each one below shows its starting price and when you might pick it instead.
Kajabi · From $143/moChoose Kajabi if you'd like a second option to compare for selling online courses.
Compared in
Thinkific FAQ
How much does Thinkific cost?
As of Oct 26, 2026: Start $109/mo or $82/mo billed yearly ($984 a year); Grow $219/mo or $164/mo yearly ($1,968); Expand $499/mo or $374/mo yearly ($4,488). Plus is custom-priced. Payment processing and the optional $199/mo branded app are extra.
Is Thinkific free? Does it have a free trial?
There is no free plan. Start, Grow and Expand come with a 30-day free trial, and you can change or cancel your plan during it.
Does Thinkific take a cut of my sales?
Not if you use Thinkific Payments: you pay its processing fee (2.9% listed on the pricing page) and no gateway fee. With Stripe or PayPal, Thinkific adds 2% on Start, 1% on Grow, 0.5% on Expand and 0% on Plus, on the first $1M of sales a year, plus Stripe or PayPal's own fees.
What happened to the Thinkific Basic plan?
On Oct 17, 2026 Thinkific listed Basic at $40/mo billed yearly; on Oct 26 the pricing page showed only Start, Grow, Expand and Plus. The page doesn't say how existing Basic subscribers are affected, so check your billing settings or ask Thinkific support.
What's the difference between Thinkific Start and Grow?
Grow costs $82/mo more billed yearly ($164 vs $82). It removes Thinkific branding and adds PayPal, bulk email, exams, the API, 3 communities, 6 admins, 400 GB of video bandwidth and phone support. Its lower gateway fee (1% vs 2%) only covers the extra $984 a year above about $98,400 of Stripe sales.
Is Thinkific cheaper than Teachable or Kajabi?
It sits in between. Billed yearly, Teachable Starter is $29/mo, Thinkific Start $82/mo and Kajabi Basic $143/mo (all checked Oct 26, 2026). Teachable Starter adds a 7.5% fee per sale; Thinkific and Kajabi add no platform fee on their own payments.
What happens if I cancel Thinkific?
Paid features end at the close of your billing cycle and add-ons stop at once. Your site stays online and enrolled students keep access, but you lose the admin dashboard and can't edit content. Students on recurring payments keep being charged until you cancel those payments yourself.
Is Thinkific worth it in 2026?
It fits creators who want unlimited courses, live cohorts, a community and their own domain on one plan, and who expect sales to cover $984 a year. If you sell a few low-priced courses, Teachable Starter ($348 a year plus 7.5% per sale) costs less up front.
Sources and how we checked
- Official pricing page, checked Oct 26, 2026
- Official website
- Thinkific Help Center: How much does Thinkific cost? (gateway fees by plan, checked Oct 26, 2026), checked Oct 26, 2026
- Thinkific Help Center: Cancel your Thinkific subscription (checked Oct 26, 2026), checked Oct 26, 2026
- Thinkific homepage (checked Oct 17, 2026), checked Oct 26, 2026
- Teachable pricing (checked Oct 26, 2026), checked Oct 26, 2026
- Kajabi pricing (checked Oct 26, 2026), checked Oct 26, 2026