Thinkific Review 2023: (Best Online Course Platform)

You must be frustrated with the complicated procedure of hosting your course on different learning platforms. If you’re thinking hard about changing your hosting service, here I provide a comprehensive and honest review of Thinkific which will help you choose only the best thinkific courses and know the best thinkific pricing.

With the progression of the digital era, online learning has skyrocketed, helping students all over the world learn on the go and at their own pace.

Online education and courses are gaining immense popularity and importance, especially in the post-COVID period. It has almost replaced brick-and-mortar classes.

Thinkific Review: Is it the best platform

Educators are favoring online course creation more and more, selling them to yield revenue against their expertise.

But the limitation of online course-selling platforms has been their professional interface which requires programming skills to create and publish courses.

Most course creators are adept in their field but have never considered the backend expertise they would need to make their courses public.

Thinkific has realized this pain point of global course creators and brought them a super-easy platform to showcase their talent.

With its learning platform, you just have to focus on the quality of your course without bothering about its backend processing. Being a course creator, you can only do what you do best, and Thinkific does the rest.

Thinkific is the best online course platform. Do you agree?

Let’s Find it-

What is Thinkific?

Thinkific review
Thinkific login

Suppose you search for ‘create and sell online courses on Google. In that case, you’ll hit the website of Thinkific at the very top of your search engine results page, out-competing other big names in the market.

From this, you can quickly summarise the quality of its website content and the vast volume of click-throughs it gets globally.

Thinkific is a top-rated online course hosting platform used to create, market, and sell your courses to a large global audience.

Within a short span, it has overcome the concept of online education by developing an all-in-one online course builder platform for both course creators and learners.

It was established in 2021. Its co-founder and CEO Greg Smith conceived the concept when he decided to host his LSAT course online to reach greater audiences.

He realized the big problem of educators creating and selling their courses using online course creation software while trying to publish his course.

With the help of his brother Matt, Greg developed this easy online learning platform where both educators and students can meet.

Since then, more than 50,000 independent course creators and small enterprises have leveraged Thinkific to share knowledge, earn students worldwide, and build revenue.

Thinkific runs on the objective of providing outstanding education to its audiences. Its primary goals include:

  • Providing complete control of their data and content to entrepreneurs
  • Customizing every corner of the platform to promote their brand
  • Providing creators with the freedom to design impactful courses
  • Helping to scale their business with an expert support team

What are the Features of Thinkific?

Now that I have given you the overview of this fantastic online course hosting platform let’s dive deep into the Thinkific core features.

Drag-and-Drop Course Builder (Thinkific Review):

Thinkific learning platform allows you to deliver your courses live, on-demand, or as blended classes.

Just shoot your course video, upload or drag and drop it on the platform, and design your curriculum according to your wish.

With its intuitive course creator tools, Thinkific is the best place to host an online course. You can custom-design your course professionally without any prior technical experience.

Cohort-Based Classes (Thinkific Review):

This is one of the best features that Thinkific provides to learners and educators.

You can drip-schedule live lessons or on-demand videos, supported with learning materials, communities, and discussion forums for offering students a cohort-based experience.

They can learn the curriculum conveniently and connect with you through live interactions.

Assessments and Certificates (Thinkific Review):

From multiple-choice media-rich surveys and efficiently uploadable assignments to formal exams, Thinkific allows you to build a holistic learning environment with its comprehensive assessments.

You can also automatically issue a customizable course completion certificate (downloadable through Thinkific PDF viewer download).

This way, you can acknowledge the student’s learning efforts and enrich his resume on LinkedIn and other professional platforms.

Progress Tracking (Thinkific Review):

You can always keep an eye on the number of students who complete your course diligently.

Thinkific learning platform provides insightful student statistics for you to analyze each course’s popularity and innovate your course creation and marketing strategy accordingly.

Conversely, your students can also track their progress in the course by taking graded assessments and explanatory quizzes to unlock the course completion certificate.

Communities and Membership Site Builder:

A membership site is a platform where you can retain your students for a subscription period. You give them full access to your selected courses, materials, and community against a Thinkific monthly payment plan.

They can also access the discussions you nurture in communities and forums to interact with you live. Thinkific integrates with PayPal, Stripe, and other transaction providers to support its membership model.

Website Administration:

You have full authority over your data and dashboard on the Thinkific learning platform.

The software makes your work easier by managing student enrollments, sales, analytics, automated emailing, payments and receipts, and data export.

E-commerce:

You can host free courses to create a buzz or paid lifetime or time-limited courses to generate revenue.

It has its built-in payment processor, Thinkific Payments, where you can accept payments, manage payouts, and process refunds, all from your main dashboard.

Product Customisation:

Thinkific allows complete site customization with logos, colors, banners, and webpages for your exclusive brand experience.

You can create your custom design landing page, course catalog, a personalized domain, and even remove its branding with their white-label service.

Your courses on Thinkific can enjoy integration with other platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, and Virb.

Market and Sell:

Get course marketing and analytics options like targeting automated emails through third-party tools like MailChimp, Aweber, Mixpanel, Google Analytics, and from thinkific stock.

You can also promote your courses by offering a free trial or discount coupons and enjoy upselling and group selling your Thinkific courses with flexible payment options.

What are Thinkific.com Pricing Plans?

Thinkific Pricing Plans
thinkific.com pricing

All Thinkific pricing (thinkific.com pricing) models include its #1 support team, a risk-free and unlimited student intake, and no transaction fees.

The platform’s highly flexible pricing plans (thinkific pricing) allow a free trial of Thinkific’s core features and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Continue reading our Thinkific Review:

Free Plan

Suppose you’re unsure about committing to Thinkific paid packages immediately. In that case, you can tour the platform with its $0 test drive plan.

It gives you access to limited courses and unlimited students, one site admin account, an easy drag-and-drop course builder, a bundle of e-commerce, website templates, email and phone support, and the Thinkific App Store.

Basic Plan (Thinkific pricing)

If you wish to start creating and selling courses on Thinkific, the basic plan will give you access to all the tools and features you’ll need.

It costs only USD 39/month to enjoy unlimited courses, students, and content, one site admin account, all accessible features, live chat support, custom domain, thinkific coupons and promotions, scheduled content, individual student email, and Thinkific Academy Basic courses.

Pro Plan (Thinkific pricing)

Educators and course creators have made the Thinkific Pro plan a bestseller due to its rich suite of tools and features that help build a successful online course business.

The package includes unlimited course content and students, two site admin accounts, priority support, hidden courses, a subscription model and flexible pricing, live lessons with completion certificates, single communities, and advanced course building with access to Thinkific Academy Pro courses at only USD 79/month.

Thinkific Pro plan also supports an add-on Thinkific Growth package (additional features) that enables white-labeling to your brand, group selling, API management of your website, end-to-end sales, and marketing solutions, bulk email marketing and CRM tools, and assessment services with an additional cost of just USD 50/month.

Premier Plan (Thinkific pricing)

If you’re now looking to scale your online course-selling business, Thinkific’s Premier plan is just for you. It gives you an unlimited list of Thinkific courses, students, and content, five site admin accounts, all Free, Basic, and Pro features, groups, and onboarding package, 15 group analysts, unlimited communities, Brillium exams integration, white labeling, and API access at an affordable price of $399/month.

Thinkific Plus (Thinkific pricing)

Apart from individual course creators, Thinkific also caters to the needs of businesses that provide real-time high-quality online learning opportunities to customers, employees, and partners.

Enterprises can maximize their revenue potential by selling online courses, membership programs, and course subscriptions. They can streamline customer and employee training and educate stakeholders about their products and sales.

In the Thinkific Plus model, businesses can enjoy features like:

  • Dedicated customer support team
  • A customized Plus portal
  • Single Sign-on (SSO)
  • Migration planning
  • No-restriction course admin, revenue partners, and group analysts
  • More than 3 Thinkific sites
  •  Advanced CSS personalization
  •  Integration with Salesforce
  • API Access
  • 99.9% Service Level Agreement (SLA)
  • 24/7/365 monitoring
  •  Advanced security support

Thinkific Plans Features:

Here I provide an easy-to-digest table for a quick review of Thinkific’s pricing plans.

PlanFeaturesPrice (USD/mo)
FreeLimited courses and unlimited students,1 site admin, accountDrag and drop, course builder, E-commerce website, templates email and phone supportThinkific App Store.$0
BasicUnlimited courses, students, and content,1 site admin account, All Free features live to chat support custom, domain coupons and promotions scheduled, content individual student, emailThinkific Academy Basic courses$39
ProUnlimited course content and students,2 site admin, accounts priority, support hidden courses, Subscription model and flexible pricing, Live lessons with completion certificates, single communities advanced course buildingThinkific Academy Pro courses.
Add-on Growth Package:
White labeling, brand group selling, API management, End-to-end sales and marketing solutions, Bulk email marketing, CRM tools assessment services  
$79 + $50
PremierUnlimited courses, students, and content,5 site admin accounts, All Free, Basic, and Pro feature groups, and onboarding package15 group analysts, Unlimited communities, Brillium exams, and integration white labeling. API access$399
Thinkific PlusThe dedicated customer support team, Customised Plus portal Single Sign-on (SSO)Migration planning, No-restriction course admin, revenue partners, and group analysts more than 3 Thinkific sites, advanced CSS personalization integration to Salesforce, API access, 99.9% Service Level Agreement (SLA)24/7/365 monitoring advanced security supportGet a quote now!

What Are the Pros and Cons of Thinkific?

Thinkific course learning platform
Thinkifc login

Having walked through the Thinkific review on the Internet, I couldn’t just jot down its benefits in a comprehensive list.

Well, I’m not biased! My checklist for choosing the best online course creation software also considers the limitations that users face with Thinkific.

Sunny Lenarduzzi also uses thinkific for creating their online courses.

But the fantastic features that the platform provides outweigh its cons. It makes notes about its users and works to overcome its limitations in due course.

Pros:

  • Free plan has no transaction fees: Thinkific get started option is suitable for touring the platform’s features, though it’s only limited to 1 free course.
  • Email & phone support: Thinkific offers priority phone support on higher plans, while its email support is also available to basic plans.
  • Customizable: You can customize your branding with matching colors, logos, themes, and tools.
  • Custom domain: While Thinkific is your course’s hosting software, you can easily customize the domain to acknowledge your website.
  • Voice-over PowerPoint presentation makes your course video production super easy.
  • Flexible Payment Option: Your students can access multi-layered payment options to afford more expensive courses and can have instant access to your funds.
  • Allows you to offer a monthly subscription for an extra period of access to a course through its membership model.

Cons:

  • No course marketplace to promote your course although you can use third-party providers
  • There is no integrated email marketing, though you can access third-party email providers like MailChimp and Aweber.

Who uses Thinkific?

Over 50,000 independent course creators have already used Thinkific and enterprises, including big-name entrepreneurs like Lewis Howes, John Lee Dumas, and Sunny Lenarduzzi, or companies like Hootsuite and Samsung Intuit, and Aweber, to name a few. Conversely, Over 16 million students in 164 countries accessed Thinkific. In terms of sales, it garnered over USD 200 million.

How do I download Thinkific videos?

You can download your video lectures directly from your Thinkific Video Library to keep a copy in your local system. For downloading videos follow these steps:

  • Go to the Manage Learning Content tab on your Thinkific site
  • Select Video Library from the options
  • Search or scroll to the video you want to download
  • Click the 3-dot menu to the right of the video
  • Click Download and you’re done

How do I pre-launch a course on Thinkific?

You can pre-launch a course on the Thinkific learning platform using its pre-order course feature.

The course will be saved on your website but not published to the public until you’re ready. To create your course and avail of the pre-order feature, you need to follow these steps:

  • Go to the Manage Learning Content tab on your Thinkific site
  • From the menu, select Courses
  • Select + New Course and give a name to your course
  • Edit the course you want to save for pre-launch
  • Click on the Pricing tab
  • Choose a price type and enter your desired pre-sell price
  • Save the price for your course
  • Click on the Publish tab in the Course Builder
  • Select the Pre-order option
  • Click Save

How do I create a survey on Thinkific?

You can interact with your audience by creating surveys on your course in the following way:

  • Go to the Manage Learning Content tab
  • Select the Courses option
  • Choose a specific course in the Course Overview
  • Move to your desired chapter and click Add Lesson
  • Click on Survey
  • Add a Survey title for your lesson
  • Add Questions to your survey
  • Select the kind of question you want from the menu
  • Enable This question is optional if you wish
  • Put your question in the Question field
  • Select Add Choice to provide answer choices to the question
  • Save your survey

How do I set up an email subscription on Thinkific?

Thinkific allows enrichment of your mailing list by integrating with third-party software like MailChimp and creating an opt-in form at your site. To embed the opt-in form,

  • Generate your embed code after creating your form
  • Copy the embed code
  • In your Admin Dashboard, go to the Design Your Site option
  • In Site Pages, click on a page to open in Site Builder by clicking the pencil icon
  • Add & Open the Text & Media section to view details
  • Delete any default text
  • Select the Code () view in the Text Editor
  • Paste your copied embed code
  • Click Code () to view once more
  • Now Save

Thinkific Review: How to plan your first course:

How to plan your first course

Thinkific Review Conclusion:

Adnan Warid our boss reviewed Thinkific saying, With multiple templates and customizable themes, It lets you create beautiful online course platforms instantly.

Platforms like Thinkific provide premium features for handling multitasking, catering to large students and educators, and delivering excellent functionalities.

Hence, it is clearly a winner

You can find a cut-throat comparison between Thinkific review and Teachable review or Kajabi review on the Internet.

While more than 50,000 independent course creators and millions of students have already trusted Thinkific for spreading online education, try it out yourself and share your experience with us!

Thinkific Review 2023 (FAQ)

How do I find courses on Thinkific?

Every course on Thinkific learning platform has its own sales page, also called the course landing page. This page is created by default when the creator publishes his first course. You can access the course landing page, containing a course catalog, through a direct link that the educator might have sent you through email or social media or by navigating his site.

Does Thinkific charge transaction fees?

No. It does not charge any transaction fee for its users, even in its free plan. This sets it apart from its competitors in the online education market.

How do I screencast for Thinkific?

Thinkific learning platform offers some fantastic third-party software integration to allow the screencasting of videos. Suppose you’re new to screencasting and do not want to invest in any software for the purpose. In that case, QuickTime Player is free software available to both Windows and Mac users.
For intermediate users, Screencast-O-Matic and CamStudio are popular inexpensive screen recorders. But suppose you’re already familiar with screencasting software and regularly use them. In that case, Camtasia Studio is your choice for both Mac and PC, while ScreenFlow can be used only with Mac.

Is Thinkific mobile-friendly?

Thinkific learning platform doesn’t offer a mobile app. But the Thinkific Course Player is mobile-friendly so that the students can access all its courses on the go from any phone or tablet.

Is Thinkific easy to use?

Thinkific learning platform has an easily navigable intuitive interface and customizable templates with many user-friendly features for setting up your course landing page. It requires no prior technical expertise to create and publish courses or even design your website using the platform.
Moreover, it provides a comprehensive tutorial on using its features and getting started. You can also try your hand at the process with its free tour plan to get a detailed understanding of the software. It has a solid expert support team that helps you 24/7/365 to resolve all your queries. This makes your journey on the platform easy and enjoyable.

How do I block someone on Thinkific?

Thinkific learning platform provides the option of creating private or hidden courses, accessible by invitation only. Students can see these courses on the course catalog and view course features but cannot purchase them as they have no provision to checkout.
Setting the course to ‘Private’ mode enables the creator to enjoy complete authority over the audience whom he targets to sell his course. Students can request access to such courses by emailing the educator through the support system.

Also, Read our ultimate Guides and Comparisons:

Hassan Warid & Adnan Warid
We are full-time bloggers and affiliate marketing experts. By following our guide, you can also make blogging your full-time job. And learn how to start a profitable blogging business.

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