Last updated: 2026-10-09
Thinkific is a TSX-listed course, community and commerce platform that reported $73.2 million in 2025 revenue and more than 35,000 customers. It combines a drag-and-drop course builder, communities, checkout and payments, and an AI teaching assistant called Thinker, aimed at experts, academies and companies selling online learning.
About Thinkific
Thinkific, made by Thinkific Labs Inc. of Vancouver, is a platform for building and selling online courses, communities and digital products. It was founded in 2012 and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (ticker THNC) in April 2021, an offering that Techcouver reports raised $160 million. As a listed company it publishes quarterly results: the March 2026 release put 2025 revenue at $73.2 million and the value of sales its customers made through the platform at $460.0 million, and it describes a push toward larger customers.
The core is a drag-and-drop course builder for video lessons, quizzes, assignments and certificates, with live cohorts and self-paced formats that can be blended. An AI outline generator drafts a course structure from an audience and a subject. Thinker, an AI teaching assistant that answers learner questions from the creator's own course content, became generally available on 24 February 2026. Communities sit beside courses, with public and private spaces, lesson-level discussion and direct messages.
Selling is built in rather than bolted on: hosted checkout, subscriptions, payment plans, coupons, bundles, order bumps, multi-currency prices and automated sales tax and VAT. Thinkific Payments is the company's own processor, and routing payments through Stripe or PayPal brings a plan-dependent gateway fee. Higher tiers add B2B selling, with group orders, invoices and purchase orders for companies buying seats, and, on the quote-only Plus plan, CRM links to HubSpot or Salesforce.
It fits experts, coaches and training businesses that sell courses to the public or to companies. Teams that mainly train their own staff may prefer the internal-learning product Sana, and people who want a short interactive course drafted from a document in minutes may look at Mini Course Generator, which targets that job. The AI features here sit on top of an established course platform rather than being the product itself, which is why its HokAI listing falls under content creation, the nearest category available.
Pricing
No free plan, only a 30-day trial that covers the whole platform. Monthly billing prices Basic at $54, Start at $109 and Grow at $219, and yearly billing lowers the same plans to $40, $82 and $164 a month. Plus is quote-only.
A branded iOS and Android app is a $199 a month add-on, included on select Plus plans. 9%, which the vendor calls in line with Stripe and PayPal, while third-party gateways add a plan-dependent fee on top of Stripe's or PayPal's own charges. SCORM is available only on Plus.
com in October 2026.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $54/mo | Yearly billing brings it to $40/mo, Unlimited courses, 1 community, Up to 5 digital downloads, Custom domain, Checkout, order bumps and coupons |
| Start | $109/mo | Paid yearly it is $82/mo, Live cohorts with unlimited Zoom sessions, Completion certificates, Assignments and quizzes, Bundles, upsells and payment plans, Memberships and subscriptions |
| Grow | $219/mo | On yearly billing it is $164/mo, 3 communities, Thinkific branding removed, Group orders and B2B invoicing, API access and webhooks, Phone and priority chat support |
| Plus | Custom quote | 10,000+ user seats included, AI teaching assistant (Thinker), SCORM and learning paths, Single sign-on and custom roles, CRM integrations with HubSpot and Salesforce, Dedicated customer success team |
Key Features
- Drag-and-drop course builder: Builds courses from video lessons, quizzes, assignments and certificates, imports video and slides, and blends live cohorts with self-paced formats.
- AI course outline generator: Drafts a full outline for a stated audience and subject, which the creator then fills with their own material.
- Thinker AI teaching assistant: A chatbot embedded in lessons: learners ask it questions and it replies using the creator's own material, and the vendor dates its general release to 24 February 2026.
- Communities: Public and private spaces with course-gated access, lesson-level discussions, direct messages and weekly email digests.
- Built-in commerce: Hosted checkout that handles recurring billing and instalments, discount codes, upsell bundles, local-currency pricing and automated sales tax and VAT.
- B2B selling: Group orders, bulk seat licences, invoices and purchase orders for companies that buy seats, with the invoicing tools starting on the Grow plan.
- Analytics and reporting: Revenue, MRR and churn reporting, plus student engagement reports that show where learners get stuck.
- Branded mobile app: A white-label iOS and Android app with push notifications for courses and community, sold as a paid add-on.
Pros
- A Thinkific Plus customer on G2 names the course builder as the platform's strongest feature, easy to teach new admins and quick for updating courses.
- Phone and priority chat support arrive on the Grow plan, so a growing business can reach a person without negotiating a Plus contract.
- Vendor pages state a SOC 2 report, GDPR and CPRA coverage, and a commitment that customer content is not used to train public AI models.
- As a TSX-listed company it publishes quarterly results, so a buyer can check its financial health instead of trusting a marketing claim.
Cons
- Customer service and value for money are its lowest Capterra sub-scores, behind ease of use.
- A Thinkific Plus reviewer on G2 says enterprise functions often arrive as paid add-ons and that updates favor course sellers over employee-training teams.
- A three-star Capterra reviewer, a program director at a small e-learning firm, said it handled basic delivery well but could not keep up once they needed more flexibility, and moved on.
- SCORM and the AI teaching assistant sit on the quote-only Plus tier, out of reach of the self-serve plans.
- There is no permanent free plan, only a trial, and one Capterra reviewer's single complaint was the missing free option.
Data Handling
- Training-data policy
- Vendor says customer content is never used to train public AI models and that its AI partners contractually agree not to train on it (vendor AI page).
- Compliance
- SOC 2 (vendor security page; the vendor AI page names Type 2) · GDPR and CCPA addenda · CPRA · PIPEDA · Quebec Law 25 (vendor-stated)
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Thinkific actually cost?
Basic costs $54, Start $109 and Grow $219 when paid month to month, and paying for a year at once brings them to $40, $82 and $164 a month. All three list 10,000 current students and video bandwidth of 100, 200 and 400 GB a month, so the bigger lever is features: coaching sessions and certificates start at Start, API access and invoicing at Grow. Plus is quote-only, and the branded mobile app is a $199 a month add-on unless your Plus contract includes it.
Does Thinkific have a free plan?
No. The vendor says there is no free plan and offers a 30-day free trial of the whole platform instead, where you can build courses and host communities. One Capterra reviewer's only complaint was the missing free option, so budget for a paid plan once the trial ends.
Which tools compete with Thinkific in 2026?
Capterra's alternatives list for Thinkific names LearnWorlds (4.7 from 196 reviews), 360Learning (4.7 from 516) and Absorb (4.6 from 362) for learning-management needs, plus Canvas, Google Classroom and Moodle for school-style teaching. Within HokAI, [Mini Course Generator](/hub/tools/mini-course-generator) covers short interactive courses and [Sana](/hub/tools/sana) covers internal onboarding. Choose a full learning management system over Thinkific when your learners are employees rather than customers.
Thinkific or LearnWorlds: which should you pick?
On Capterra's side-by-side, LearnWorlds scores 4.7 from 196 reviews against Thinkific's 4.4 from 207. Its reviewers rate value higher (4.5 against 4.2) and customer service higher (4.7 against 4.2), but Capterra lists LearnWorlds from $99 a month, well above the starting price it lists for Thinkific. Pick Thinkific if entry cost and a bundled store, community and B2B tools matter most; pick LearnWorlds if satisfaction scores matter more.
How do you set up Thinkific?
Start the free trial, then choose a build path: assemble lessons in the drag-and-drop builder, or have the AI outline generator draft a structure for your audience and subject. Connect a payment option (Thinkific Payments, Stripe or PayPal), attach a custom domain, and publish. Expect a gateway fee if you pick a third-party processor, since it varies by plan.
Top Alternatives
- Mini Course Generator: Pick Thinkific if you sell courses and want checkout, communities, memberships and B2B seats on one platform; pick Mini Course Generator when a fast, short interactive course driven from Claude or ChatGPT matters more.
- Sana: Pick Thinkific to sell courses and communities to customers; pick Sana when the job is internal onboarding and compliance training on top of company knowledge, through Sana Learn.
- Synthesia: Pick Synthesia to produce presenter-led video lessons; pick Thinkific to host, gate and sell the course built around them.