Kartra & Thinkific are both excellent online platforms for you, especially if you are an online entrepreneur who wants to focus on monetizing your knowledge, skills, products & services.
However, both tools come with similar features, shared goals, differences, advantages & disadvantages. Due to this, it can be quite challenging to decide which one is better for your online business.
So in this post, I will give you an in-depth review of Kartra vs Thinkific so that you know which is the best for your business.
Which One Is The Best Solution For Your Business - Kartra vs Thinkific Comparison
 Kartra |  Thinkific | |
|---|---|---|
Rating | 4.9 | 4.4 |
Price Range | $99 - $499 per month | Free - $499 per month |
Services | Email marketing, membership sites, page building, funnels building, video hosting, helpdesks, calendar | Membership sites, content hosting, landing pages |
Key Features |
| |
Money-Back | 30 Days Money-Back Guarantee | |
Kartra vs Thinkific In-Depth Review
Kartra is a complete, all-in-one online business platform that comes with comprehensive marketing tools to help you create, launch and sell digital products in one platform.
Kartra includes powerful features which are;
On the other hand, Thinkific is confusingly known as a Learning Management System (LMS) that gives you a secure environment where you can host, manage, and sell online courses without being a tech guru.
With Thinkific, you will have access to great features such as;
So, lets dig deep into each feature;
Kartra vs Thinkific Similarities
Membership Site Comparison
Quizzes, Surveys & Assignments Features
These features help you to keep students engaged with your content.
However, these tools are only available in Thinkific.
So, if you want to work with such features in Kartra, you will have to integrate it with other third-party services like Quiz Maker or Trello.
Winner: Thinkific
Content Hosting
Both Kartra & Thinkific allow you to host your videos without depending on external video hosting providers such as YouTube & Wistia.
Thinkific will allow you to host your content in any format including videos, text, PDFs and audios.
Kartra, on the other hand, does not allow you to host content in PDFs or Audio format. However, this might not be a big deal for you since it comes with the best Video Hosting tools and there are other external services such as Google Drive that you can use to host your PDFs.
With Kartra Videos Hosting tools, they enable pop offers mid-way through your video, inject lead capture forms, multi-video playlists and much more.
Winner: Tie with both tools
Help Desks
Kartra comes with an in-built help desk feature which is a robust ticketing system that helps you to handle your clients issues on time.
This tool helps you to funnel tickets by department, embed response and integrate it with every aspect of your business.
Thinkfic doesn't have a Help Desk tool, however, you can integrate it with third party plugins which will come with extra cost.
Winner: Kartra
Ease of Use/Customizability
Thinkific comes with a drag-and-drop editor for online courses. Just like with Kartra, you don’t need to be a programming expert to use the platform.
Both tools offer an intuitive and smooth builder that lets you customize all your sections and elements the way you want.
With Thinkific, you can include elements like text, video, audio, downloads, quizzes, survey forms and many more.
Kartra, on the other hand, hosts everything you upload to the platform, and with unlimited products you can host and sell, you have a lot of freedom.
Winner: Both Kartra & Thinkific win in this category
So regarding this Thinkific vs Kartra membership comparison, It is clear that both Thinkific and Kartra come with amazing membership features. However, Thinkific offers the best back-end membership features for your online courses.
Therefore, generally, Thinkific takes the win in this category.
Overall Features Comparison
When it comes to overall online business features, Kartra is the king. It comes with all the essential features that you need to run a successful online business. From scheduling tools to membership features, Kartra is an all-in-one tool that you will need without the need to ever depend on other third-party providers.
On the other hand, it's no doubt that Thinkific also offers more amazing features. However, its features are only focusing on creating online courses…, so it may not contain more features to do other online business tasks.
Winner: Kartra
Affiliate Management System
Kartra offers you an opportunity to create affiliate programs for your own products. You can set up commissions and enable special discounts for your affiliate links. Then, there is also a marketplace where people can post and sign-up as affiliates for different products.
Similarly, Thinkific also enables you to reward affiliates for sharing your courses and you can even incentivize your affiliates with customized commission rates and direct tracking.
Winner: Both Kartra & Thinkific ties
Pricing
Kartra’s pricing ranges from $99/m to $499/m, each package containing a 14 days trial at only $1 as well as a 25% discount if you purchase with a yearly subscription.
A nice thing about Kartra is that you get all features from the very basic plan. You are only limited in how many membership sites you can create and the number of emails you can send.
The silver plan (which is the second-lowest tier) removes all the limitations in the Basic plan. So, if you want to enjoy full unlimited features such as products, emails, bandwidth, leads domains and many more, you may consider upgrading.
On the other hand, Thinkific pricing ranges from FREE to $499 with a discount of 20% if you choose to pay annually. So, if you want a tool to launch your online content, then you might consider using Thinkific since they come with a free plan, which is entirely free.
However, Thinkific basic plan limits you from many things and it charges 10% of your revenue as transaction fees. Upgrading to Thinkific higher-tier plans also comes with limits depending on the package you choose. Kartra does not have any limit on the higher tier packages.
Winner: Kartra
Kartra vs Thinkific Differences
Special Kartra Features NOT Found on Thinkific
Special Thinkific Features NOT Found on Kartra
At this point, the difference between Thinkific & Kartra comes where Thinkific is primarily focused on providing hosting and selling courses, while Kartra is an all-in-one tool. Therefore, Thinkific has more student management and engagement features like quizzes, surveys, assignments than Kartra.
Kartra vs Thinkific Pricing
Kartra Pricing
Important;
It's also important to note that Kartra offers a 14-day trial at $1 in all of its plans with a 30 days money-back guarantee. It also comes with a 25% discount if you choose to pay annually, which is an excellent way of saving more while working with all the features.
Here is a complete Kartra Pricing Review for your in-depth idea.
Thinkific Pricing
Important;
Thinkific also offers a discount of 20% if you go with an annual payment option.
You also get a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide to upgrade from a free plan to a paid one.
Also, the Thinkific FREE plan is a lifetime offer that gives you the freedom to test its features and functionalities as you grow your business. But for you to enjoy full features, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Kartra vs Thinkific Pros & Cons
Kartra Pros
Kartara Cons
Thinkific Pros
Thinkific Cons
Kartra vs Thinkific Usage
Use Kartra If:
Use Thinkific If::
Thinkific vs Kartra: Which Tool Is Right For Your Business?
Picking Kartra vs Thinkific is not about the best option but the best choice for your online business requirements & goals.
So, which platform is recommended for your business?
Here is my best view;
Kartra offers tons of powerful features, just from the basic plan. The good thing about Kartra is that you can use it for more than just creating an online course with more focus on the following;
Another benefit of Kartra that we can't go without mentioning is its goal of helping you save time and money by compiling all the features into a single suite. Some of the features include calendar-booking, video hosting & helpdesk, which are essential for your online course creation and overall product success.
Therefore, whether you want to create an online course, digital market products, or build a business, Kartra can be an excellent choice for you.
On the other hand, if you are solely going to focus on selling online courses alone, then the Thinkific solution is a perfect pick. Thinkific offers excellent features designed to help you run a successful online course business by;
Finally, both Kartra and Thinkific are suitable platforms when you are looking for a solution to create, host and manage your online courses. But if you want an online solution for selling just your online courses, try out Thinkific. But if you want a platform that has all you need to run your entire online business, then you should look no further from Kartra.
What is My Recommendation?
If you have to choose the best soon for the long time investment, then Kartra is my #1 recommendation…
Why?
Here is a list of some of the reasons why I think Kartra is the perfect fit for your business;
KARTRA IS GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO!
Why You Need All-In-One Business Solution Platforms
All-in-one platforms like Kartra comes with lots of benefits, including;
- Reduce the cost of spending extra expenses by integrating third-party service providers.
- Ease your overall operation since you have all the tools in one platform.
- Data is automatically passed between apps, making it easy for you to track your processes and apply automation.
- You achieve single point security.
- With all tools under one roof, it's easier for you to make the right business decisions and scale your business at large.
Pro Tips for Selecting The Best All-In-One Business Platforms
Choosing the best platform for your business requires extensive research so that you don’t end up choosing the worst tool for your business.
So, to make your work easier, here are some of the top features you need to consider;
Kartra vs Thinkific FAQs
Q. Which is the overall better platform between Kartra & Thinkific?
The best tool on Kartra vs Thinkific will depend on your business needs.
For instance, Kartra is better for selling and marketing your memberships, while Thinkific has better tools for membership (such as Quizzes, surveys & assignments) than Kartra.
Q. Is Thinkific Free?
Yes. Thinkific comes with a free plan, but this plan has lots of limitations compared to the Thinkfic paid plans.
However, it contains more than enough to get you started.
Q. Which platform will help me to sell more?
If you want a platform that provides the best marketing tools, Kartra is a definite winner. Kartra includes powerful marketing tools that lead to high conversion. Such tools include; Order bumps, Upsells & Downsells, Comprehensive Email marketing tools, Behavior-based marketing, More Sales Page Templates & Affiliate Marketplace.
Thinkific doesn’t have such robust features.
Kartra vs Thinkific Final Verdict
Kartra offers you all the tools you need to run a successful online business.
With tons of powerful features at a more affordable price, Kartra gives you the freedom to quickly scale your online business.
Thinkific, on the other hand, comes with one of the best features for membership & course creation. It has way more customization features, making it extremely easy to manage your students and your entire business without any limitation.
However, you have to understand that you will need to integrate Thinkific with more 3rd party tools since it's not an all-in-one platform like Kartra, increasing your costs.
Therefore, choosing the best tool will highly depend on what exactly your business needs.
So, for example;
If your main focus is only to build and sell online courses, Thinkific is the perfect pick.
But if you want more than just building courses, then Kartra definitely your #1 choice.
