Teachable vs Thinkific: Which Is Better for Your First Course?
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You’ve coached clients one-on-one for a while, people keep asking the same questions, and you’re ready to turn what you know into an online course. Two names come up almost immediately: Teachable and Thinkific.
Both let you host video lessons, take payments, and run your course on your own domain without hiring a developer. But they make different trade-offs on fees, product limits, and community features, and those differences matter most when you’re launching your very first course.
This guide compares them from that point of view: a coach or teacher selling online for the first time, who wants to launch quickly without overpaying.
The short answer
- Choose Teachable if you plan to sell a small number of courses or coaching offers, want free iOS and Android apps for your students, and like having sales tax and VAT handled for you.
- Choose Thinkific if you want unlimited courses from day one, a built-in community, live cohorts and coaching, and a longer free trial to build before you pay.
If you’re still unsure, start a free trial on both, upload one module, and see which one you enjoy building in.
Teachable vs Thinkific at a glance
| Teachable | Thinkific | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan price | Under $40/mo | $40–$55/mo |
| Mid plan price | $70–$90/mo | $80–$110/mo |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Free trial | 7 days, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee | 30 days |
| Platform transaction fee | 7.5% on Starter, 0% on higher plans | None listed on core plans |
| Number of courses | Product limit by plan | Unlimited on every plan |
| Student mobile app | Free iOS and Android apps on all plans | Branded app as a paid add-on |
| Community | Not a core feature | Included on every plan |
| Sales tax and VAT handling | Included with Teachable Payments | Automated sales tax tools with Thinkific Payments |
Plan prices change from time to time, and annual billing is cheaper on both, so check the current pricing pages before you sign up.
Pricing and fees
This is where the two platforms differ most for beginners.
Teachable
Teachable has three self-serve plans: Starter, Builder and Growth, plus a custom plan for large businesses. Starter is the cheapest way to get started, but it carries a 7.5% transaction fee on every sale. Builder and Growth drop that fee to 0% when you use Teachable’s own payments.
On top of the platform fee, you pay standard card processing fees, which Teachable lists as 2.9% plus 30 cents for US card sales through Teachable Payments.
That Starter fee adds up quickly. Once your monthly sales reach a few hundred dollars, the 7.5% you’re paying on Starter can cost more than simply upgrading to Builder. A good rule: start on Starter while you validate your idea, and move up as soon as sales become steady.
Thinkific
Thinkific has three core plans: Basic, Start and Grow, plus Thinkific Plus for enterprises. Its entry plan costs a little more than Teachable’s, but Thinkific doesn’t list a platform transaction fee on its core plans. If you use Thinkific Payments, its built-in processor, it says processing costs are in line with Stripe and PayPal at 2.9%. Using Stripe or PayPal directly can add an extra gateway fee in some countries.
Bottom line on cost: For very low early sales, Teachable Starter is the cheapest way in. Once you’re making regular sales, compare Teachable Builder with Thinkific Basic or Start based on the features you actually need.
How many courses can you sell?
Teachable limits the number of published products by plan: 5 on Starter, 10 on Builder, and 50 on Growth. A course, a coaching offer, and a digital download each count as one product, no matter how many lessons are inside. Memberships, bundles and unpublished drafts don’t count.
Thinkific lets you publish unlimited courses on every plan. The Basic plan limits digital downloads and coaching or webinar products to five each, and all core plans cap you at 10,000 current students.
For a first launch, five products is plenty. If you already know you’ll build a large library of mini-courses, Thinkific’s unlimited courses are a real advantage.
Course building and student experience
Both platforms have drag-and-drop course builders with video lessons, quizzes and drip scheduling, and both include AI tools to help you outline a course.
Teachable’s standout: free iOS and Android apps for your students on every plan. Students can watch lessons on their phones without you paying for a custom app.
Thinkific’s standout: more depth for structured learning. The Start plan adds assignments, completion certificates, and live lessons through Zoom. Thinkific also offers a fully branded iOS and Android app, but as a monthly add-on.
Teachable includes course certificates on its Growth plan, while Thinkific includes them from the Start plan.
Community, coaching and live sessions
If you coach, this section may decide it for you.
Thinkific includes a community product on every plan, with a private feed, direct messages, weekly digests and live events. The Start plan adds live cohorts with unlimited Zoom sessions, bookable calendars and attendance tracking, which makes it easy to combine a course with group coaching.
Teachable lets you sell coaching as a product, and it counts toward your product limit, but community isn’t one of its headline features.
Selling and marketing tools
Both platforms include checkout, coupons, order bumps, abandoned cart emails and custom domains.
- Teachable includes upsells and cart recovery on every plan, an affiliate program from Builder up, built-in email marketing, and handling of US sales tax, global VAT and GST.
- Thinkific includes order bumps, gifting and abandoned cart emails on every plan, and adds bundles, upsells, payment plans, memberships and subscriptions from the Start plan. Affiliate reporting is available on all plans.
If you plan to sell a monthly membership early on, note that Thinkific puts memberships on its Start plan, while Teachable’s memberships don’t count toward your product limit.
Support
Teachable offers real-time support from the Builder plan up. Thinkific offers email and chat support on Basic and Start, and adds phone and priority support on Grow.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Teachable if
- You’ll launch one to five courses or coaching offers.
- You want free mobile apps for your students.
- You sell internationally and want sales tax, VAT and GST handled for you.
- You want the lowest possible starting cost while you test your idea.
Choose Thinkific if
- You want to build many courses without worrying about product limits.
- Community and group coaching are central to your offer.
- You’d like a full month to build before paying.
- You want assignments, certificates and live cohorts without jumping to a top-tier plan.
FAQ
Is Teachable or Thinkific better for beginners?
Both are beginner-friendly. Teachable is often easier on a tight budget for a single course, and its student apps are a nice bonus. Thinkific gives you more room to grow with unlimited courses and built-in community.
Does either have a free plan?
No. Teachable offers a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Thinkific offers a 30-day free trial.
Can I move from one platform to the other later?
Yes, but moving courses, students and payment subscriptions takes work. It’s worth choosing carefully up front, which is why testing both with a free trial is a good idea.
Do I need my own website?
No. Both platforms host your course site and handle checkout. If you already have a website, you can link it to your course school on either platform.
The bottom line
For most coaches launching a first course, the choice comes down to how you’ll teach. If you’re selling a few self-paced courses and want students to learn on their phones, Teachable is the simpler, cheaper start. If your offer revolves around community, live sessions and a growing course library, Thinkific is the better long-term home.
Either way, the best move is to start a free trial today and build your first module. You’ll know within a week which platform fits the way you teach.