This is a great platform to look into if you are interested in creating courses to sell and share.
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There are many course-building platforms out there, but Thinkific comes with its own perks and benefits to using it. These are important to learn about if you are interested in using Thinkific to create your own courses.
Every course building site is going to be different and will cater more to certain people, which is why you will want to do your research. Keep reading to find out more about Thinkific and if it is the right fit for you.
What is Thinkific?
Thinkific is an easy to use course building website that gives you as the creator all of the power. This takes away all of the complicated elements of course building so that you can do what you do best.
With Thinkific, you can turn an idea into a reality and share your experience with the world. You can use this site to create any kind of course, from writing courses to sewing courses to web design courses.
You have the freedom to create what you want with the skills that you have in one easy-to-use location. No coding or technical knowledge is required, just an idea and some experience in that area.
This is a platform that makes course creation easy so that anyone can do it if they have a skill to share. Then they can sell their courses to students who are interested in learning about that particular topic.
In case you are not interested in creating courses, but in learning, we recommend Coursera and Babbel.
Thinkific Features
There are so many amazing Thinkific features that you can benefit from when using this site. There are too many to even break down as every plan comes with its own special features as well.
When it comes to features, Thinkific is a winner as it offers a staggering variety while staying very affordable compared to its competition.
Thinkific gives you access to templates to make your life easier as you put courses together for your students. These courses can also include several different kinds of lessons to improve the experience of the student and make the course richer.
Some features that you can expect to get from Thinkific are:
- Easy course builder program
- Different lesson types, including videos, quizzes, surveys, and live lessons
- Drip content to help students pace themselves
- Landing page builder with exceptional templates
- Outstanding support team for help when you need it
- Plugin options for additional features and tools
- Outstanding security
As you can see, you get a lot from Thinkific when it comes to using this site to create your courses. This is an all-in-one platform where you can create your website, landing page, courses, and start to earn money from them.
This takes some of the complexity out of the process and makes it easier to do for most people. This is especially handy if you are technically challenged and are easily overwhelmed by all of the different areas of course building.
You can also expect to get a variety of more high-tech features as you upgrade to higher-priced plans.
Thinkific Free Trial
Thinkific does have a free trial like many course-building platforms, and that is because it has an actual free plan. This is unheard of in the course building niche and gives you a unique opportunity.
So, Thinkific does not necessarily have a free trial that you can use, but it does have a free plan instead. This is even better than a free trial and comes with no expiration date.
With the free plan, you will have the ability to create one course before having to upgrade to create more.
Is Thinkific Free?
Thinkific is one of the only course-building platforms that legitimately offers a free plan as part of its plans. This is not your average free trial, this is an actual plan.
This plan is entirely free and gives you the opportunity to really use the site and get a feel for how it works. With this plan, you can do everything that you need to do to create a course that will sell and earn you money.
The Thinkific free plan comes with:
- 1 course
- Templates
- Unlimited students
- Support
- Payment processing
- Drag and drop editor
These are all of the things that you need to successfully start running courses and earning money. You have all of the necessary tools to create your free course and get it off of the ground.
Not only does this allow you to earn money while paying nothing, but it also gives you the opportunity to test out Thinkific. This way, you will be able to decide if it is the right fit for you.
You will eventually have to upgrade to a paid plan if you really want to earn more from creating courses. Though even the paid courses are still very affordable when compared to other course building sites.
This free plan is a great way to get your foot in the door and test out course building if you are new to it.
How Much is Thinkific?
Thinkific comes with four paid plan options that do not include the free plan that it also offers. These plans are all highly affordable and give you access to a variety of different tools and benefits.
This really allows you to grow your business and expand to earn more money through your courses. All while charging you an affordable rate with no extra fees applied.
The plans that Thinkific offers are:
Basic
The basic Thinkific plan costs $49 per month and includes a variety of features that the free plan doesn’t. This includes things like live chats and integrations.
This basic plan is an option that is fully capable of being the only plan that you need. Unless you want to grow your business into a huge company, this plan will suit many creators’ needs.
You can expect the basic plan to have:
- Integrations
- Affiliates and coupons
- Live chats
- A custom domain
- Unlimited courses
- Unlimited content
- Access to Thinkific Basic Academy
Pro
The pro plan is $99 a month and is designed for more serious course creators. This is the perfect plan to get if you want to create expensive courses with lots of learning features and benefits.
A pro plan guarantees that you will have everything that you need to make serious money and create a consistent income stream. It opens up many doors and gives you access to features that the basic plan doesn’t have.
You can expect the pro plan to include:
- Live sessions and webinars
- An extra admin account
- Subscriptions and flex prices
- Extracurricular assignments
- Student communities
Premier
The premier plan is where things really get serious if you plan on fully expanding your business. This will give you all of the tools that you could ever possibly need to use for your courses.
This plan costs $499 a month because only those who really earn the big bucks upgrade to this level. Chances are, you are earning more than enough with this plan to afford the price.
With the premier plan, you can expect to get:
- 15 admin accounts
- Unlimited communities
- Full API access
- Groups
- Brillium exams
Growth
Growth is an add-on package that you can add to your plan to make it richer and full of more features. This is a great option if the other plans just aren’t covering all of the bases for you.
With the growth add ons you can get:
- Groups
- Public API
- Extra integrations
- Bulk emails
- Communities
- The ability to remove Thinkific branding
Thinkific Free Courses
With Thinkmific, you have the option of making some or all of your courses free. Not only is this just a nice option to have, it can actually help to drive sales.
Many creators use this option to draw students in before encouraging them to actually buy courses as well. Offering free options is a great way to establish trust and gives students a chance to see your work.
This is also a great option if you just enjoy creating courses and don’t necessarily want to make a profit off of them. You can make as many courses free as you like and always charge for them later if you change your mind.
Thinkific Pros and Cons
There are plenty of Thinkific pros and cons that you need to think about before making your mind up. This is important as you want to make the best decision according to what you are looking for.
If you don’t do this and later change your mind about Thinkific, you’ve wasted your time and have to start all over again. You can easily avoid this hassle by really considering the upsides and downsides of going with Thinkific.
Thinkific is a great option but it is going to have its pros and cons just like any other course-building website.
Pros
- This is a truly, free website where you can earn complete profits. This is almost unheard of, making Thinkific an amazing option whether you are just starting out or are a seasoned course creator.
- Thinkific offers a voice-over PowerPoint tool that makes this side of creating courses ridiculously easy. You don’t need any technical knowledge or a dozen tools to create a voice-over for your course.
- Thinkific offers amazing landing page templates that are designed to drive sales. All of the work is done for you, all you have to do is customize it slightly and set it up to attract customers.
- There are absolutely no translation or commission fees at Thinkable, so what you earn gets to go straight into your pocket.
- One thing that really sets Thinkific apart from the crowd is the fact that it offers phone support. This is highly unusual for a website and makes getting support that much easier. It also offers email and Facebook support as well.
- Thinkific offers several different outlets that allow you to better connect with your students. Not only does this create more room for profit, it helps you to create richer courses and a better learning experience.
- Though Thinkific offers several high-tech options that you can incorporate into your courses, they are designed to be simple. The hard technical part has been removed so that anyone could create an in-depth course on Thinkific.
Con
- If you really want to upgrade your course to a substantial online income, you will need to download lots of plugins. This is necessary to have a fully rounded and successful course. Though this isn’t a big deal, it can make running your course more complicated and time-consuming.
- Thinkific doesn’t have the best integrations and has to do most integrations through Zapier. This creates one extra subscription and can make the process of integrating much more complicated. It isn’t a deal-breaker but can be frustrating for those who aren’t technically gifted.
- Thinkific has absolutely no sales funnel builder, which is a massive downside. You will have to use a different tool to create sales funnels if you actually want your course to take off and be successful.
Thinkific Support
When it comes to deciding on a course-building platform to go with, one thing you should always consider is the support team. This can be very important if you have trouble with the site or encounter a time-sensitive issue.
Not every course site is going to offer the best support, so you want to go with an option that excels in this area. And that option is going to be Thinkific.
Thinkific really does excel when it comes to support and offers some of the best support that you will find. It doesn’t hold back and really provides support to help creators find the best success with their courses.
Thinkific offers phone, email, and Facebook support, which gives you plenty of options. This allows you to get to the bottom of an issue quickly and painlessly if you are having difficulties.
Phone support is especially unheard of and gives you the ability to get down to the bottom of the problem immediately. No waiting is required, you can talk to support within minutes to get help with your course.
Is Thinkific Worth It?
Just about anyone who has used Thinkific would clearly say that they found it to be worth it. Unlike many other larger course building sites, Thinkific is not there to steal your earnings after charging you a monthly fee.
Thinkific is an amazon site that really caters to content creators and doesn’t have its hand stuck in your pocket. Unlike sites like Teachable, it does not take out translation fees that eat away into your earnings.
It may not cater directly to those wanting to create very expensive or technical courses, but it can do most things. Most course creators only need the basics to create exceptional courses for their students.
Thinkific offers you everything you need and allows you to get creative with your work. It also offers all of this at a fraction of the price of other course building sites that drastically overcharge for their plans.
This truly allows you to build your business and make real profits without having it eaten away by fees and expensive plans. This allows you to really grow a business, and earn what you deserve to earn.
Thinkific Alternatives
There are many Thinkific alternatives that you can choose from if you aren’t quite decided on what course building platform is right for you. These comparisons should help you to be able to find the right option.
There are many course building sites, and not all are made equally. Thinkific is generally one of the best options, but how does it hold up to alternatives, such as Skillshare or Teachable?
Keep reading to find out how other course-building sites compare to Thinkific.
Thinkific Vs Teachable
Thinkific and Teachable are another pair of course building sites that are very similar. Though it is very noticeable that Teachable is more expensive and less geared towards the creators.
Teachable not only charges far greater prices for its plans, it charges a transaction fee. This can eat away at your earnings and result in you losing hundreds and hundreds of hard-earned dollars.
Thinkific, on the other hand, charges no transaction fees and is reasonably priced. It even has a free plan where you can create a course free of charge.
Teachable also caters to a larger variety of topics, while Thinkific leans more towards academic and educational topics. Teachable also offers more flexibility and customization, but Thinkific has more handy features.
Overall, both options are great, but Thinkific generally wins against Teachable.
Thinkific Vs Kajabi
Kajabi is very similar to Thinkific, except it basically gives you all of the top features of Thinkific once you start out. This sets Kajabi’s basic plan at $119 a month.
This website includes all of those important key features, such as quizzes, lectures, community building, and more. This allows you to create rich courses that really roll in the earnings.
It does all of this while being slightly more affordable than Thinkific as it gives you more features at a lower price. Though it does feel like quite the investment when you are first starting off.
Kajabi also has the option of creating sales funnels, which is something that Thinkific does not offer. This can be a deal-breaker if you want to be able to easily create sales funnels in the same place you create your courses.
Despite these benefits, Kajabi is known for being complex and complicated to use. This is very different from Thinkific, which is designed to be easy and efficient for users.
Depending on your skill level, this can be a deal-breaker as it is not for just any beginner to use. Not unless you are willing to put in the time to learn how it works and how to create courses.
Overall, Kajabi is really better for those who are already experienced and are looking for an all-inclusive option with many features. Beginners may want to stick with Thinkific, at least for now.
Thinkific Vs Skillshare
Thinkific and Skillshare are similar in what their goals are, they both are created for the creator and the student.
Skillshare is a bit more relaxed and gives creators the ability to create courses on anything that they like. Skillshare also has a built-in audience that is just sitting there waiting for new courses to be dropped.
This is also a very trustworthy company that you know you can rely on when creating courses and getting paid. It is also very popular and only seems to be growing more so by the year.
Skillshare operates mostly through video courses that enable the student to watch the course. This is great though Skillshare does not allow you to host live courses.
Thinkific has far more features than Skillshare and offers, even more, depending on the plan that you choose. It is designed more toward helping you build your course business rather than simply putting out the occasional course.
That is why Thinkific is designed more toward serious creators while Skillshare is a more relaxed space for course creators. It is great if you are a beginner but doesn’t have as much room for growth.
Thinkific Vs Udemy
Unlike Thinkific, Udemy requires you to use your own tools to create courses. This is not a one-stop website for creating courses to sell.
You will have to already have access to other tools such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word to create courses. Udemy provides options to help[ you learn how to create courses, but it has no real course creator.
You can add your course to Udemy once you have created it, and it will be reviewed. Once added, you can add quizzes, exercises, or assignments to your courses, among other options.
These features will make your course richer and more helpful to students. On Udemy, interaction is valued, which is why so many features for students are available.
Unlike Thinkific, with Udemy, you can keep in contact with your students and help them along their academic journey. This allows you to establish relationships and potential returning customers.
Udemy is much more interactive than Thinkific though both offer free plans. With Udemy, you can create as many courses as you want free of charge, while Thinkific limits you to only one free course.
Though Udemy has many excellent features, it is not the best platform for growing a course business. Thinkific has much more room for growth and profit.
Alternatively you could check out Teachery here.
Is Thinkific Legit?
Thinkific is an entirely legitimate platform that allows you to build your business and create courses. It is very trustworthy and has an outstanding reputation that speaks for itself.
You do not have to worry about Thinkific being out to get your money or steal your information. This is a very safe and trustworthy platform that takes its work seriously and will not try to scam you.
Not only that, but Thinkific also has outstanding security so that no one can hack your information or earnings.
Thinkific FAQs
[sc_fs_multi_faq headline-0=”h3″ question-0=”What Can You Do With Thinkific?” answer-0=”With Thinkific you can create courses, establish an online presence, and build a business. This is a well-rounded platform that allows you to do almost everything for your business in one place.” image-0=”” headline-1=”h3″ question-1=”Can I Use Thinkific as My Website?” answer-1=”You cannot embed Thinkific sites onto an external domain or embedded within an iframe. Your Thinkific site must exist as a separate entity, though you are free to have external websites or marketing options.” image-1=”” headline-2=”h3″ question-2=”Does Thinkific Work With Wix?” answer-2=”Yes, you can easily connect your Wix automation to your Thinkific site, so that you can use Wix tools.” image-2=”” headline-3=”h3″ question-3=”Is Thinkific Really Free?” answer-3=”Yes, Thinkific is 100% free, as crazy as that might sound. Though it does have limitations on what you can do, you can create a course for free on Thinkific.” image-3=”” count=”4″ html=”true” css_class=””]