“Turn your expertise into a thriving business.”
If you have skills in some area and want to monetize from your audience but are not certain of the best platform, you can use, worry no more!
Thinkific is one of the Best Online Course Platforms you might want to try.
But because selecting the right tool for your business might be a little bit difficult, I have a detailed guide about Thinkific to help you make the right decision.
This Thinkific Review post is where you will get all your answers. At the end of my review, you will know whether Thinkific Is The Best Tool For Your Online Courses or not, its pricing, pros, cons, features in detail and many more.
So, let's get started...
Thinkific Overview
Thinkific is an online course creator platform that you can use to create and sell online courses and membership sites.
This means that you can publish a sales page for your brand to collect payments from your students/clients and grant access to your online course.
And on the backend, you can also publish a curriculum using a simple drag and drop technology for your students to navigate between course sections, take quizzes, and obtain certificates for completing the course.
Using Thinkific is so easy as it comes with a set of extremely friendly features, including customer support, email marketing tools and an integration site for your lessons without any struggle.
Thinkific also seamlessly integrates with other third-party platforms, including Zapier, without the additional input of the WordPress plugin.
Thinkific was founded by CEO Greg Smith with a simple goal: To make it easy for anyone to create business by sharing their passion, expertise and knowledge.
What can you sell on Thinkific?
What makes Thinkific even more impressive is that the platform enables you to sell more than one course.
The platform helps you to sell lots of content in the form of;
- Video lessons
- Quiz lessons
- Multimedia lessons, including
- Webinar tools
- Surveys
- Appointment booking tools
- Presentations
- Google Docs
- Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate files (Requires Pro or Enterprise license. More on this below)
- Text lessons in combination with images, videos, etc.
- Survey lessons to help you get more information from your students
- PDF lessons
- Audio lessons
- Downloadable resources
- Presentation lessons
- Exam lessons
- Assignments
How To Use Thinkific
Thinkific offers a unique range of features and functionalities to help you create your online courses as well as market them.
Creating and launching your online course with Thinkific is easy.
The procedure is as follows.
- Create Your Thinkific Account.
- Create Your First Course.
- Customize Your Course Landing Page and Website.
- Publish Your Course
- Market and sell your course using the Thinkific sales page.
- Receive payments from your clients/students.
Who Is Ideal Thinkific User
Thinkfic is a great tool, especially if you are not tech-savvy and you want to easily create your online courses using their simple drag and drop technology, or you are an advanced developer who wants to create your online courses by coding.
Therefore, Thinkific is ideal if;
Use Thinkific If; | Don’t Use Thinkific If; |
|---|---|
Thinkific Summary Review
Thinkific Review | Info |
|---|---|
Editor Review | 4.8/5 |
Ease of Use | 5/5 |
Main Features |
|
Course Creation & Engagement | 4.5/5 |
Site Design & Customization | 4.0/5 |
Sales & Marketing | 4.2/5 |
Customer Support | 4.4/5 |
Pricing | 4.5/5 |
Thinkific Feature: Detailed Outlook on The Best Features and How They Benefit You
An excellent online course creation platform offers you amazing features such as course building, marketing tools, selling tools, and teacher/student management - features that will offer you more freedom and branding control.
Let's explore Thinkific standout features in detail now...
Drag & Drop Course Editor
Thinkific Drag and Drop technology makes this platform outstanding from most of its competitors.
This tool enables you to customize your site easily, so you don't have to mess with any code if you don't want to.
You can quickly move content, including text blocks, image overlays, adding images and many more.
The platform also allows you to upload almost all media types, from PDFs to audio files and surveys to quizzes, which give you the freedom to offer a wide range of learning resources for your students.
The file size you upload or the loading speed should not also worry since Thinkific supports a robust server that accommodates any file size with a strong loading speed.
Thinkific editing tools are also handy, especially if you are a beginner who needs a simple platform to help you create your first course.
For example, the platform allows you to easily adjust items like color schemes, banners, and logos, all with a drag and drop functionality.
What makes Thinkific even more interesting is that besides having an amazing drag and drop functionality, you also have full access to its HTML and CSS, especially if you are an advanced developer who wants to make your site unique with coding options.
Thinkific Templates
Thinkific offers a wide range of pre-configured templates you can use to create your online courses.
Thinkific templates are easily customizable and responsive to all types of devices.
The platform allows you to change the content in the templates with a simple drop and drag feature.
In addition to this, Thinkific also provides “smart coach course building tips” to help you learn different things, including how you can customize your templates and make them look attractive.
The templates come with lots of options, including;
Thinkific Site Builder
When it comes to web hosting and the site builder, Thinkific is very flexible.
The platform allows you to host your courses on their platform with your own custom domain.
And if you are a beginner, Thinkific gives you an easy way of building your site from the ground up using their drag and drop editing tools.
But is it possible to integrate Thinkific with your existing site?
Yes!
If you are an advanced tutor, Thinkific gives you the freedom to set up your domains and websites on other third-party hosting platforms and then use Thinkific for its online learning management functionalities.
And if you are a skilled developer, Thinkific allows you to extensively use HTML and CSS to customize your website.
Some additional features associated with the Thinkific site builder platform include;
Student Management & Communication Modules
This is another feature that puts Thinkific in a highly competitive position.
Thinkific Student communication tools are a visual student management area that includes students’ profile pictures, names, contact information, and other essential details like how far they have done their course.
With this feature, you can enhance your communication with students by sending customized emails to each student or your entire community.
This feature also includes other tools such as;
Generally, these Thinkific tools bring a fantastic experience for both you and your students.
Thinkific Marketing, Promotional & Selling Tools
How would people out there know that your courses exist? If this is one of your problems, do not worry...Thinkific has got you covered.
The platform comes with all the tools you need for marketing and selling your courses online.
These tools;
The platform also allows you to target the right audience and send out automated emails based on your schedule.
And above all, all these tools and functionalities are integrated into the dashboard, where you can easily access them.
Besides, Thinkific allows you to link your social media account to its dashboard so that you track where your students are coming from.
Course Payment Options
With Thinkific, you don’t need another costly third-party platform to receive payments from your clients and students.
Thinkific includes built-in secure pricing options that enable you to get paid immediately when a student signs up for your courses.
The platform supports direct integrations with PayPal and Stripe, and you have the freedom to choose whether you want to receive your payments with one or both options.
This means that you can even set your own course pricing before you publish the lessons online.
There is a range of Thinkific payment models, including;
Thinkific Tracking & Analytics
Thinkific offers user reports which help you to manage a larger and more engaged user base.
This tool gives you a great insight into your students. You can even select which data you want to see most when visiting your reports dashboard, including the number of enrollments, enrollment date, course progress and completion, and quiz and survey data.
Thinkific also helps you to track and analyze every performance metric of each student.
The platform offers various reporting options, including;
- Progress reports, which show how far your student has done and all their activity in your course.
This tool also enables you to monitor various aspect of your students for each course, including;
In addition to this, this tool also enables you to reset a student’s completion percentage in case you want to add new lessons to an already completed course.
- Cohort reports enable you to compare student completion rates by a group of students with common data, i.e., start date.
- Group reports, which show you information related to a specific group.
Generally, the Thinkific analytic tool, although basic compared to its competitors, still will serve your needs for your online course business.
Thinkific Integrations
Thinkific also supports a wide range of integrations to help you make your online course business an excellent experience.
Some of the platform that seamlessly integrates with Thinkific includes;
Other Thinkific Features
Thinkific Pricing Plans
As Thinkific offers 4 standard plans and then enterprise plus plan and some add-ons, Herein is a detailed Thinkific pricing guide for you to learn more.
Thinkific Bonuses, Free Trial, Discounts & Coupon Codes
Thinkific offers a completely free plan to try its functionalities and features without investing any money upfront.
Additionally, Thinkific comes with a 20% Discount if you opt for an annual subscription. The following is the Thinkific annual payment fee;
- Thinkific Basic Plan will cost $39/m
- Thinkific Pro Plan costs $79/m
- Thinkific Premier Plan costs $399/m
Thinkific Pros & Cons
Pros:
Cons:
What Differentiate Thinkific from Other Platforms
There are two features that make Thinkific stand out from other course providers.
1. Lifetime Free Package
Thinkific offers a long term free plan option, which includes zero transaction fees and comes with a lot of premium features such as;
2. It’s Flexible with lots of Customizable Elements.
Thinkific comes with lots of customization options compared to its close competitors. The platform enables you to easily brand your course and storefront to match with your website, student discussion forums, completion certificates and many more.
Thinkific Customer Reviews & Successful Stories
What's Missing with Thinkific So Far?
Throughout this Thinkific Review, we have seen that the platform includes a remarkable range of features at a very reasonable price.
Therefore, it would be hard to say that Thinkific is “missing” much.
However, Thinkific has a gap that I feel can be essential for you as a course seller.
These include;
Some of these features will need third-party integration, forcing you to spend an extra budget, making the platform expensive in the long run.
If your goal is to have a platform that includes the above functionalities, Thinkific would not be the way to go.
However, to get a platform that supports all the above features that are missing in Thinkific means you will need a good budget for your package, which might not favor you, especially if you are a newbie.
The good thing about Thinkific is that all the features we discussed in detail above are still far better and enough to make you a successful online courses seller.
Thinkific Alternative Platforms for 2022
If you are not sure that Thinkific will fit your business, here are some of the best Thinkific alternatives platforms you can consider using to create your online platform;
1. Teachable
Both Teachable and Thinkific are excellent platforms.
But if your primary objective is to offer unique teaching elements such as student engagement features and interactive tools, ease of navigation on both the front and back end of your site, as well as efficient student conversion processes, then Teachable would be your better option for you.
If you have an online course platform that offers you lots of freedom and functionality for your course website, the ease with managing bulk content and sales, as well as the ability to create sophisticated quizzes, surveys and assessments for your students, then in this category, I would still recommend Thinkific.
2. Podia
Both Thinkific and Podia do an excellent job of making it easy for you to create and launch a successful online business.
So, Podia would be a great option if you are looking for;
And Thinkific would be a perfect choice in this category if you want to;
3. Kajabi
Both Thinkific and Kajabi are great tools to manage, create and market your online courses.
But if you compare Kajabi vs Thinkific, especially side by side, the biggest difference is that Kajabi is a high-powered all-in-one platform that can help you create and market digital products.
Thinkific, on the other hand, does not offer the same sales and marketing functionalities as Kajabi.
For instance, with Thinkific, you can not create a blog, it does not include built-in email marketing for autoresponder or sending messages and you cannot build sales funnels like in Kajabi.
Therefore, in this category, Kajabi would be your ideal platform for selling any digital products.
Is Thinkific Worth It?
Absolutely YES.
Thinkific is worth it, especially if you are a course creator and have an online business to sell digital products.
So, why do you think you need Thinkific for your online course?
Well, Thinkific is an easy-to-access online course platform that enables you to design and create your online courses without the need of being a code guru.
You will customize your site according to your specific needs and host your courses on your custom domain.
Thinkific also offers a good experience for your students on every step, from when they sign up for your courses to the time they complete their goals.
You also get on time with the Thinkific support team, with plenty of extensive knowledge on how to get started with the platform as well as improving your entire online course business.
Other benefits that Thinkific offers include;
So, if you want to work with a platform that offers advanced features and can allow you to work on a free plan, then Thinkific might be all that you need for your business.
However, if you want an excellent online learning platform for your business, you think that all these Thinkific benefits and features will not suit your business. You can always consider my recommended available Thinkific alternatives instead.
For instance;
- For the best platform with the best teaching and engagement features, Teachable would be your best option.
- For the most affordable platform with amazing features, go with Podia.
- For the best all-in-one online course platform with powerful features, I recommend you go with Kajabi.
- When you need an all-in-one marketing platform to manage your business with a single place then Kartra would be best for you.
Thinkific FAQs
Q. Is Thinkific a Learning Management System?
Thinkific is an LMS platform that is ideal for online business, especially if you are an entrepreneur, a small business owner, or a teacher/tutor who wants to create, market, and sell online courses.
Q. Is Thinkific a legit platform?
Yes. Thinkific is a legitimate platform, which helps you create, market and sell your online course.
Q. Does Thinkific offer a free package?
Yes. Thinkific provides a free plan, which is ideal, especially if you are just getting started with your online course business.
Q. Is Thinkific mobile-friendly?
Yes, Thinkific offers an amazing site builder tool that enables you to create a mobile-friendly website for your students.
Q. Is it possible to switch from another platform to Thinkific?
Sure. Thinkific supports a seamless transition process in case you want to migrate from a custom-built website or a learning management system. In addition, Thinkific support will help you maintain all your essential information about your students, including enrollment dates, student progress, login information and many more.
Q. Can I create a full website with the Thinkific platform?
Yes, Thinkific allows you to build an entire online site from scratch, and you don’t need to be a web design guru.
Q. Can Thinkific allow me to include any type of content in my course?
Yes. Thinkific is flexible and supports uploading any content, including video, audio, images, and PDFs, within your courses. You can also customize lesson types, quizzes and assignments to make your online course a great interactive experience.
Q. Do I need to use my credit card details to sign up for the Thinkific Free package?
No, it’s totally free to get started with Thinkific Free Package and no credit card details are required.
Q. Can I cancel or change my Thinkific plan at any time?
Yes. Thinkific enables you to upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time from within your site dashboard.
Q. Do I need a web host to launch my online courses after creating them with the Thinkific platform?
No, Thinkific will help you host your courses with your own custom domain, with secure hosting and e-commerce tools.
Q. Do I own my content when I create and host with Thinkific?
Yes. Thinkific allows you to own your student data and your content and you can export your data at any time you feel.
My Thinkific Final Review & Conclusion
Thinkific would be one of the best online course builder platforms, especially if you are looking to replicate a classroom experience online.
It offers a clean and powerful interface and it includes all the tools you need to build your online course store without the requirements of a separate hosting or website.
The platform is also ideal if you want to test the waters and build a following. The free Thinkific plan works fine, especially if you are just getting started with the online courses business.
However, if you feel that all the features and benefits I have discussed here do not fit your business, you can also consider other amazing and the best Thinkific alternatives for your online courses.
You can go with Teachable if your objective is to use an online course platform that offers the best teaching and engagement features.
But if you don't want to use Thinkific's free plan due to limitations on the number of courses it allows to create, and you still want an affordable platform that offers affordable pricing, I recommend you consider trying Podia.
Or, you can go with Kajabi if you are looking for the best all-in-one online course platform that comes with all the essential and powerful marketing features as well for your online courses.
And if you need the best all-in-one platform that comes with all the essential powerful features that will help you create, launch and manage ANY TYPE OF ONLINE BUSINESS, and not necessarily online courses, I highly recommend Kartra, which is our #1 recommended online business solution.
I hope this detailed Thinkific Review will give you enough information to help you make the right decision for choosing your best online course platform. Get start to create your Thinkific free account now!
