When it comes to building and selling online courses, Thinkific and Teachable are two of the most popular platforms available. Both of these tools offer a robust set of features to help course creators manage content, engage with students, and generate revenue. However, deciding between Thinkific vs Teachable can be a daunting task, especially when you are just starting to create your course business.

In this detailed comparison, we will break down the key features, pricing, ease of use, customization options, and more, helping you make an informed decision. Whether you are new to online course creation or an experienced educator looking to switch platforms, this guide will provide you with the essential information.

What Is Thinkific and Teachable?

Before diving into the Thinkific vs Teachable comparison, let’s quickly introduce these two platforms.

• Thinkific: Thinkific is a platform designed to help individuals and businesses create, market, and sell online courses. With a user-friendly interface, Thinkific makes it easy to build courses with multimedia content, offer certificates of completion, and engage with students through built-in community features.

• Teachable: Teachable is another powerful online course platform that allows instructors to create and sell courses with ease. It offers a range of tools for building engaging course content, marketing your courses, and providing a smooth learning experience for students.

Core Features: A Detailed Breakdown

When evaluating Thinkific vs Teachable, one of the first things you’ll want to consider are the core features each platform offers. Both platforms allow you to create online courses with text, video, quizzes, and assignments, but they have differences when it comes to customization, payment options, and other advanced features.

Course Creation

Both Thinkific vs Teachable provide drag-and-drop course builders, making it easy to set up your course content without the need for coding skills. Here’s how they compare:

• Thinkific: Thinkific offers a powerful course creation tool that allows you to organize your content into modules and lessons. It supports a wide variety of content types, including video, quizzes, surveys, assignments, and downloadable files. The platform also has an intuitive text editor for creating course materials directly on the platform.

• Teachable: Teachable’s course creation tools are similar to Thinkific’s, offering a drag-and-drop builder. However, Teachable places a stronger emphasis on video lessons, allowing you to embed videos directly from YouTube or Vimeo. Teachable also offers quizzes, assignments, and multimedia support, but its text editor is not as versatile as Thinkific’s.

Pricing and Payment Options

Pricing is an important factor to consider when choosing between Thinkific vs Teachable, as it can directly impact your bottom line. Both platforms offer flexible pricing options, but there are some differences to note.

• Thinkific: Thinkific provides a free plan that allows you to create and sell courses with limited features. The paid plans start at $49 per month and go up to $499 per month, offering more advanced features such as membership sites, course bundles, and advanced reporting.

• Teachable: Teachable also offers a free plan, but it comes with a 10% transaction fee. The paid plans start at $39 per month and go up to $499 per month. Teachable’s higher-tier plans offer more advanced customization, affiliate programs, and priority support.

In terms of transaction fees, Thinkific does not charge any transaction fees on paid plans, while Teachable charges transaction fees on lower-tier plans, making Thinkific a more cost-effective option for course creators who want to keep more of their earnings.

Customization and Branding

Customization options are crucial for course creators who want to build a unique brand. Both Thinkific vs Teachable offer a range of design and customization options, but there are some key differences:

• Thinkific: Thinkific offers a range of themes and customization tools that allow you to tailor the design of your course site. You can add your logo, change colors, and use custom HTML and CSS for advanced design customizations. Thinkific also allows you to create a fully branded course site with its white-labeling options.

• Teachable: Teachable’s customization options are similar, allowing you to add a logo, change colors, and customize the header and footer. However, for more advanced customization, such as modifying the layout or adding custom code, Teachable’s higher-tier plans are required.

Marketing and Sales Features

When it comes to marketing and selling your courses, both platforms offer a suite of tools to help you generate revenue. Here’s how they stack up:

• Thinkific: Thinkific provides a range of marketing tools, including email marketing, affiliate programs, and integration with email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and ConvertKit. It also supports the use of coupons, discounts, and membership sites to boost sales.

• Teachable: Teachable’s marketing features are robust as well, with tools for email marketing, affiliate programs, and coupon creation. Teachable also integrates with popular marketing tools like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Zapier. One notable advantage of Teachable is its built-in affiliate program, which is available even on lower-tier plans.

Student Engagement and Community Building

Both platforms provide features to engage with students, but Thinkific vs Teachable differ slightly in their approach.

• Thinkific: Thinkific has a strong community-building focus, offering options to create discussion forums, create private Facebook groups, and engage with students via live chat. The platform also has built-in features for tracking student progress and sending automated course completion reminders.

• Teachable: Teachable also offers course completion certificates and email notifications, but it lacks the same level of community-building tools as Thinkific. While you can engage with students through email, it’s more limited compared to Thinkific’s integrated community options.

Support and Customer Service

Both Thinkific and Teachable offer excellent customer support, but there are differences in their approach:

• Thinkific: Thinkific provides 24/7 support through email and live chat for higher-tier plans. The platform also offers a comprehensive knowledge base, webinars, and community forums for users to learn more about using the platform.

• Teachable: Teachable offers similar support options, with email and chat support available for users on higher-tier plans. Teachable also has an extensive help center and a large community of course creators to provide additional resources.

Which Platform Is Right for You?

Deciding between Thinkific vs Teachable ultimately depends on your needs as a course creator. Here are some questions to consider:

• Do you want more customization and branding options? Thinkific might be the better option for you.

• Are you looking for a platform with a built-in affiliate program? Teachable could be your choice.

• Do you prefer more community-building features? Thinkific provides better tools for creating an engaged student community.

• Are transaction fees a concern? Thinkific’s pricing structure without transaction fees could save you more money in the long run.

Ultimately, both Thinkific and Teachable are excellent platforms for creating and selling online courses. Whether you choose Thinkific vs Teachable will depend on your specific goals and what features are most important to you.

To explore more detailed comparisons and to access additional resources for course creators, check out DigitalExpert.

Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, but the right choice will depend on your preferences, business model, and long-term goals. So, take the time to consider your options carefully, and choose the platform that best aligns with your vision for your online course business.