Thinkific vs Teachable: Which Is Better for Online Courses?

If you're looking into course builders, you've likely come across Thinkific and Teachable. These two are among the most popular platforms for creating and selling online courses. Choosing the right platform is a big decision, especially when you're investing time and energy into building your online presence.

Both Thinkific and Teachable are designed to simplify the process, making it easy for educators, creators, and entrepreneurs to share their expertise and make money online.

Let’s now get a brief idea about Thinkific and Teachable and how each stands out in the course creation landscape.

Thinkific

Thinkific, founded in 2012 by Greg Smith, has grown into a platform that serves over 50,000 course creators globally.  Its strength lies in its ability to offer a scalable, highly customizable experience, with a wide range of tools for creating multimedia courses. 

Thinkific’s user base includes individual educators, large enterprises, and everything in between, offering a versatile solution for businesses and creators alike. 

Now that we have an understanding of Thinkific and its strengths, let’s take a closer look at Teachable and what it has to offer for course creators.

Teachable

On the other hand, Teachable, launched in 2014 by Ankur Nagpal, started with a similar goal of empowering creators to monetize their expertise. Teachable has amassed over 100,000 instructors and supports more than 30 million students worldwide. 

It is favored for its simplicity and ease of use, offering creators a streamlined platform to quickly start selling their courses. Teachable’s strength lies in its user-friendly design, making it ideal for individuals and small businesses looking for a fast setup process

But now the question is, which one is the best? The answer depends on your specific needs and requirements. To settle the debate of Thinkific vs Teachable, we will compare each factor of both platforms to determine which one is the better fit for you.

So let’s begin. 

Core Features Comparison: Thinkific vs Teachable

1. Features & Customization Options

Thinkific Features & Customization

Thinkific is known for providing course creators with a high degree of control and flexibility. 

Here are its core features:

1. Course Creation Tools

• Multimedia Lessons: Supports video, audio, text, quizzes, surveys, and assignments.

• Drip Content: Allows creators to schedule content releases, helping maintain engagement over time.

• Quizzes & Assessments: Built-in tools for adding quizzes and assessments to measure student progress.

• Certificates: Issue customized certificates to students upon completion of a course.

• Memberships & Bundles: Creators can offer course bundles or membership subscriptions for continued learning.

2. Customization

• Custom Branding: Thinkific gives creators the ability to fully customize their course site with logos, colors, and fonts to match their brand.

• Website Builder: Offers a drag-and-drop website builder with customizable templates to create a professional-looking course site without the need for coding.

• Custom Domains: Users can connect their own domains to create a fully branded online presence.

3. Integrations

• Third-Party Apps: Thinkific integrates with popular tools like Zapier, Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and more, allowing users to connect their course site with email marketing, CRM systems, and automation tools.

• Payment Gateways: Supports Stripe and PayPal, allowing creators to sell their courses globally with secure payment processing.

4. Analytics & Reporting

• Provides in-depth insights on student engagement, course performance, and revenue through built-in reporting tools and third-party integrations.

Teachable Features & Customization

Teachable is designed for creators who want a simpler, more streamlined process for launching their courses. Here are its standout features:

1. Course Creation Tools

• Multimedia Support: Similar to Thinkific, Teachable supports video, text, quizzes, and downloads in course creation.

• Drip Content: Creators can automate content delivery over time, ensuring learners receive lessons at the right pace.

• Certificates: Automatically generate completion certificates for students.

• Course Compliance: Teachable includes course compliance tools, like requiring students to complete videos or quizzes before proceeding to the next module.

2. Customization

• Basic Customization: While Teachable offers custom branding, it is more limited compared to Thinkific in terms of design flexibility.

• Custom Domains: Creators can link their own domain for a professional web presence, but customization options are less flexible than Thinkific’s drag-and-drop builder.

3. Integrations

• Built-in Integrations: Teachable integrates directly with platforms like Google Analytics, Zapier, and Mailchimp.

• Payment Gateways: Teachable offers built-in payment gateways for Stripe and PayPal, as well as handling EU VAT automatically.

4. Marketing Features

• Affiliate Marketing: Teachable includes built-in affiliate marketing tools, allowing creators to easily set up affiliate programs for their courses.

• Email Marketing: Simple email marketing tools allow creators to communicate with students directly from the platform.

5. Analytics & Reporting

• Basic Reporting: Teachable provides analytics on student progress, course completion, and sales. While less detailed than Thinkific, it offers enough data for most creators to track their performance. 

Why Graphy Stands Out

Thinkific and Teachable are solid options for course creation, but Graphy provides capabilities from both platforms.  It is an all-in-one platform, integrating various features necessary for course creation, such as multimedia lessons, assessments, and certificates.

With its advanced customization, Graphy allows creators full control over their course pages, themes, and branding, including mobile apps. This eliminates the need for multiple tools, simplifying the course creation process.  

In addition to standard course creation tools like multimedia lessons, assessments, and certificates, Graphy excels with superior mobile compatibility through its branded app. The platform supports global payments across multiple regions and currencies, making it ideal for international creators.

Graphy also provides advanced analytics, offering detailed insights into student performance and sales. Its Graphy Assist feature and branded mobile app further enhance the learning experience, providing hands-on support and seamless course delivery.

2. Pricing & Global Payments: Thinkific vs Teachable

When it comes to pricing, both Thinkific and Teachable offer flexible options to cater to different needs, whether you're just starting or scaling your course business. Here’s how their pricing structures compare:

Teachable Pricing:

• Free Plan: Teachable offers a free plan for creators who want to explore the platform before committing.

• Basic Plan: The Basic Plan is priced at $59/month when billed annually. It provides essential tools needed to launch your online business, including a 5% transaction fee, support for up to five published products of each type (courses, coaching, downloads), community features, one membership tier, integrated email marketing, and options for coupons and order bumps.

• Pro Plan: The Pro Plan costs $159/month (billed annually) and removes transaction fees. It allows for up to 50 published products of each type, includes all Basic features, unlimited membership tiers, affiliate marketing options, live chat support, upsell capabilities, public API access, removable branding, and support for five admin seats.

• Pro+ Plan: The Pro+ Plan is available for $249/month (billed annually) and is tailored for fast-growing businesses. It includes all features from the Pro Plan and expands capacity to support up to 200 products across all categories. This plan also offers custom user roles, making it suitable for teams and larger organizations.

 Thinkific Pricing

• Free Plan: Thinkific offers a free plan that includes essential features, allowing users to begin creating and selling courses without any initial investment.

• Basic Plan: Available for $36/month when billed annually ($49/month for monthly billing), this plan includes core features necessary to launch your online learning business. It allows for unlimited courses, one community with five spaces, five digital downloads, five coaching and webinar sessions, and one administrator, all while providing unlimited student access.
  
  Additionally, users receive email and live chat support, a drag-and-drop course builder, fully integrated e-commerce, and complete ownership of their content.

• Start Plan: Priced at $74/month with annual billing ($99/month if paid monthly), this plan offers additional features aimed at enhancing student engagement and delivering an outstanding learning experience. It includes all the features of the Basic Plan, along with assignments, bundles and add-on packages, membership options, payment plans, live lessons, and advanced course-building capabilities.

• Grow Plan: This plan costs $149/month when billed annually ($199/month on a monthly basis) and is tailored for those looking to scale their online business. It includes all features from the Start Plan, along with three communities, 20 spaces per community, phone and priority email support, and additional tools such as a bulk student emailer and API access.

• Pro Plan: For $319/month with annual billing ($399/month if paid monthly), this comprehensive plan encompasses all features from the Grow Plan, along with unlimited courses, unlimited coaching and webinars, two administrators, and advanced website code editing options.

While Thinkific and Teachable provide solid options for course creators, Graphy stands out with its competitive pricing and unique features. Graphy offers scalable plans with no hidden fees or transaction charges, making it an ideal choice for creators looking to enhance their learning experience. 

Why Graphy Stands Out

Let’s take a look at Graphy’s pricing structure to understand how it is a better option.

Graphy Pricing Plans:

Both Thinkific and Teachable have their strengths, catering well to various needs in the online course creation landscape. However, Graphy emerges as a compelling alternative, offering transparent pricing and features specifically designed to enhance the creator's experience. With Graphy, you can focus on delivering high-quality content and engaging with your learners, all without the worry of unexpected fees or hidden costs. This makes Graphy an ideal choice for creators looking to build and scale their online education businesses with ease.

4. Support & Resources for Creators

​Reliable support is must, but not all platforms offer the same level of help, especially for beginners.

Thinkific Support & Resources

Thinkific provides a variety of support options based on your pricing plan:

• Free Plan: Users can access the Help Center, which features a bunch of guides, articles, and FAQs. While this self-service approach is handy for troubleshooting common issues, you won’t find real-time support here.

• Paid Plans: If you opt for a paid plan, you'll have email support. Users on the Grow plan and above only get priority support. Plus, Thinkific offers webinars, live training sessions, and community forums where you can ask questions and share insights with fellow creators.

• Resources: Thinkific has plenty of educational materials, like blog posts, tutorials, and online courses, to help you make the most of your course-building experience. While these resources are valuable, they might not provide immediate answers for more complex issues.

Overall, while Thinkific offers solid support, users on lower-tier plans may find themselves waiting longer for assistance or relying on self-help resources.

Teachable Support & Resources

Teachable has a tiered support system as well:

• Free Plan: Like Thinkific, Teachable offers access to its Knowledge Base, which includes articles, video tutorials, and community forums. However, there’s no live support for free users.

• Paid Plans: If you’re on the Basic plan, you’ll get email support, while Pro and Business plan users can enjoy live chat support for faster resolutions. Teachable also holds regular webinars to help you navigate the platform effectively.

• Resources: Teachable provides tutorials, live workshops, and community forums where creators can connect and share tips. However, for free or Basic plan users, more access to live support could speed up problem-solving.

Platforms like Thinkific and Teachable provide good resources, but support levels often depend on the pricing plan, making it challenging for beginners to find the help they need, especially when live support is limited to higher-tier plans.

Why Graphy Stands Out

Graphy offers all creators direct access to support and resources through its Graphy Assist feature, community forums, and dedicated help. Graphy provides dedicated customer support, ensuring that whether you’re just starting or scaling your business, you have a reliable support system to keep you moving forward.

For creators who are just starting out, Graphy assigns a dedicated person to assist with setup and help them get started, as well as to support them in scaling their business.

5. Monetization and Payment Flexibility

Flexible monetization and global payment options are vital for creators aiming to boost revenue and grow internationally.

Thinkific Monetization

• Course Sales: Thinkific allows creators to sell courses as one-time purchases with flexible pricing.

• Memberships & Bundles: Creators can offer subscription-based memberships or bundle courses.

• Coupons & Discounts: Creators can use coupon codes to boost sales.

• Payment Gateways: Supports Stripe and PayPal with no transaction fees on any plan.

Teachable Monetization

• Course Sales & Coaching Services: Supports one-time payments, subscriptions, and coaching services.

• Affiliate Marketing: Built-in affiliate tools for promoting courses.

• Payment Gateways: Also supports Stripe and PayPal, but has a 5% transaction fee on lower plans.

Why Graphy Stands Out

Graphy offers creators robust monetization options, including selling courses, memberships, and digital products, with standout features that set it apart from Teachable and Thinkific. It’s live course functionality allows real-time interaction, significantly increasing audience engagement—an area where its competitors often fall short. 

While Teachable provides basic coupon and discount features, Graphy integrates these tools seamlessly with live courses to maximize revenue potential. Furthermore, Graphy’s flexible pricing structure allows creators to scale their offerings without the limitations of tiered plans, positioning it as a strong choice for global expansion.

6. Marketing Tools & Audience Growth

Effective marketing tools are essential for scaling online courses, but some platforms offer only basic features, limiting audience reach.

Thinkific Marketing Features

• SEO Tools: Thinkific includes basic SEO tools to help creators optimize their course pages for search engines.

• Email Marketing: Integration with third-party email marketing tools like Mailchimp and ConvertKit.

• Affiliate Marketing: Thinkific offers affiliate marketing tools on higher-tier plans, allowing creators to leverage affiliate partners to grow their sales.

• Analytics: Thinkific offers limited built-in analytics, with more advanced reporting available only on higher-paid plans.

Teachable Marketing Features

• SEO Tools: Similar to Thinkific, Teachable offers basic SEO tools to help boost course visibility.

• Built-in Email Marketing: Teachable includes basic email marketing functionality, but advanced automation features require integrations with third-party apps.

• Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate tools are available on all paid plans, enabling creators to incentivize others to promote their courses.

• Analytics: Teachable offers basic sales and student progress analytics, but lacks deeper insights unless creators upgrade to higher-priced plans.

Why Graphy Stands Out

Graphy stands out with its comprehensive built-in marketing tools that empower creators to effectively grow their audience.

• Advanced SEO Tools: Graphy offers extensive SEO tools to optimize course pages, making it easy for creators to enhance search engine visibility and attract organic traffic.

• Built-in Email Marketing: Unlike Teachable, which requires third-party integrations for advanced email marketing, Graphy includes built-in email marketing features such as automated workflows, and personalized emails. This simplifies campaign management and ensures seamless communication with students.

• Affiliate Marketing Across All Plans: Graphy provides an affiliate marketing program on all its plans, similar to Teachable, allowing creators to expand their audience through affiliate partnerships without the need for higher-tier upgrades, unlike Thinkific.

• Detailed Analytics: Graphy includes in-depth analytics that track course performance, audience engagement, and email effectiveness, giving creators actionable insights to improve their marketing strategies and scale efficiently.

In contrast to Thinkific, which relies on external tools for email marketing and provides limited analytics, Graphy offers a more comprehensive suite of built-in marketing features, making it an all-in-one solution for growing and engaging audiences.

7. Community Building & Engagement

Both Thinkific and Teachable offer basic community-building tools, but their depth of engagement varies.

Thinkific Community Building

• Discussion Boards: Thinkific includes discussion forums where students can post questions and engage with course material. However, these are basic and lack real-time interaction.

• Comments on Lessons: Students can comment on lessons, but this alone doesn't create a vibrant community.

• Third-Party Integrations: For more advanced community-building, creators need third-party tools (e.g., Facebook groups, Slack), which takes students off the platform.

Thinkific’s community features are limited unless enhanced with external apps.

Teachable Community Building

• Comment Sections: Each lesson has a comment section, allowing for some engagement, but real-time interaction is missing.

• Limited Engagement Tools: Engagement is restricted to static comments, and deeper community building requires external platforms.

• No Native Discussion Forums: Teachable lacks built-in forums, limiting peer-to-peer interaction within the platform.

Teachable community tools work for small courses but lack the depth needed for interactive learning environments.

Why Graphy Stands Out

Graphy offers a comprehensive set of community-building tools that outshine both Thinkific and Teachable. While these platforms rely on third-party apps for deeper community engagement, Graphy keeps everything integrated, offering real-time interaction with features like live chat, polls, and Q&A sessions during courses. This seamless, on-platform experience eliminates the need for external tools.

Additionally, Graphy’s branded mobile app provides full access to community features, allowing students to stay connected anywhere. With advanced tools like live events, webinars, and interactive quizzes, Graphy fosters stronger participation and creates a vibrant, engaged community, making it ideal for creators looking to boost retention and involvement.

8. Mobile Experience and Accessibility

Thinkific:

• Responsive Design: Thinkific ensures a fully responsive platform, allowing both creators and students to access courses seamlessly from any device, including smartphones and tablets.

• Mobile Access for Students: Thinkific provides a dedicated mobile app for students, enabling them to access courses easily on the go. Additionally, the platform offers a smooth mobile web experience for users who prefer to access content via their browsers.

• White-Label Content Delivery: For $199/month, Thinkific allows creators to build custom, white-labeled mobile apps, providing a personalized, branded experience for their students and enhancing the professional appeal of their business.

Teachable:

• Mobile-Friendly Experience: Teachable offers a mobile-friendly experience, allowing students to access courses easily from smartphones or tablets.

• Limited Creator Management: Similar to Thinkific, Teachable lacks a dedicated mobile app for creators, which means that creators need to rely on desktop access to manage their courses and perform administrative tasks.

Why Graphy Stands Out

Graphy offers a standout mobile experience through its fully branded app, included at no additional cost in the Rise and Scale plans. This app is compatible with both iOS and Android, providing students with offline access to courses and enhancing their learning flexibility.

For creators, the app simplifies course management, allowing them to edit content and track student progress from any mobile device. This ensures they stay engaged with their audience, no matter where they are.

Quick Comparison of Thinkific vs. Teachable

Overall Value: Which Platform to Choose?

When evaluating Thinkific and Teachable, both platforms have their strengths, but they also come with certain limitations that may not fully meet the needs of every course creator. Here’s a quick summary of their pros and cons:

Thinkific Pros & Cons

• Pros:

• Highly customizable, offering control over branding and course design.

• No transaction fees on any plan, making it more affordable for creators with smaller budgets.

• Flexible course creation tools, including memberships and bundles.

• Strong integration options with third-party marketing tools.

• Cons:

• Limited community-building features unless integrated with third-party apps.

• Advanced marketing and analytics tools are only available on higher-priced plans.

• Lacks a built-in mobile app option, which limits accessibility for students on mobile devices.

• Generally more expensive than Teachable, especially for smaller courses.

• Thinkific charges a transaction fee for each sale made through their platform. This fee can reduce your overall revenue from course sales.

Teachable Pros & Cons

• Pros:

• Easy-to-use interface, making it ideal for creators who want to get started quickly.

• Built-in affiliate marketing tools, helping creators grow their audience through partner promotions.

• Built-in email marketing features, even on lower-tier plans.

• Flexible course creation tools, including the ability to sell coaching services.

• Cons:

• 5% transaction fees on the Free and Basic plans, which can eat into earnings.

• Limited customization options compared to Thinkific.

• Community-building tools are very basic, relying on comment sections rather than advanced forums or interactive features.

• Lacks a built-in branded mobile app.

• Compared to other platforms, Teachable may have slower response times to customer inquiries, especially during peak periods.

• Teachable's revenue share model can significantly reduce your earnings, especially on the free and basic plans.

Why Graphy Stands Out

Graphy stands out as a creator-friendly platform by offering everything you need in one place—monetization, marketing, and community-building tools. Here’s why it’s a smart choice for creators:

1. User-Friendly, No-Code Interface: Graphy boasts an intuitive, no-code platform that simplifies the course creation process, making it accessible for everyone, regardless of technical background. This allows you to prioritize creating quality content without the hassle of complex setups.

2. No Revenue Sharing: Unlike platforms that take a percentage of your earnings, Graphy enables creators to retain 100% of their profits. This approach significantly enhances profitability, especially for small businesses and independent creators.

3. Dedicated Customer Support: Graphy offers personalized guidance from the outset to ensure a smooth onboarding experience. In contrast to Thinkific and Kajabi, where support levels can vary based on pricing tiers, Graphy guarantees consistent and accessible assistance for all users, facilitating easier success for creators.

4. Built-in Webinars and Live Classes: With Graphy, you can conduct webinars and live classes directly within the platform. This feature is particularly advantageous for business coaches, as it eliminates the need for third-party tools, streamlining costs and enhancing the learning experience for participants.

5. Comprehensive Marketing Tools: Graphy is equipped with integrated marketing features like email campaigns and affiliate marketing, simplifying the promotion of your courses. While Kajabi provides powerful marketing capabilities, some users may find them overwhelming. Thinkific offers more basic marketing tools that may not fully support ambitious creators looking to expand their audience.

6. Robust Global Payment Solutions: The platform supports international payments and ensures tax compliance, allowing you to reach a global audience without the headache of managing complex cross-border transactions.

7. Flexible Localized Pricing: Graphy allows creators to set different prices for various countries, tailoring offerings to local market conditions and purchasing power. This ensures your courses remain competitive and accessible to a diverse audience.

8. Flexible Monetization Options: With Graphy, you have the freedom to earn through subscriptions, one-time payments, or tiered memberships without facing transaction fees. This contrasts with Kajabi and Thinkific, which impose additional costs or restrictions on monetization strategies.

9. Enhanced Community Engagement: Graphy promotes connection through real-time chat, forums, and group messaging. Graphy’s focus on instant communication ensures an interactive and vibrant learning environment.

10. Branded Mobile App: The platform includes a Branded Mobile App that keeps learners engaged anytime and anywhere. This feature enhances interaction and boosts completion rates, allowing students to access materials on the go. It's included for free in the Rise and Scale plans, offering creators a seamless mobile experience without extra costs.

11. Seamless Scalability: Scaling your business with Graphy is straightforward; you won't encounter unexpected fees or restrictions. This is a distinct advantage over Kajabi, where scaling up typically means incurring higher costs for premium plans. Graphy positions itself as the optimal choice for creators focused on sustainable growth.

Conclusion 

In the battle of Thinkific vs Teachable, the real winner depends on your specific needs. If you’re looking for strong customization features, Thinkific may be your go-to, as it offers more control over course design and memberships. 

On the other hand, Teachable excels in offering coaching services and affiliate marketing tools, making it a good fit for creators who want additional revenue streams through coaching or partnerships.

However, if you want an all-in-one solution that outshines both, Graphy is the better choice. With no transaction fees, flexible monetization options, advanced community engagement tools, and a seamless mobile experience, it provides a comprehensive platform for creators.

Moreover, Graphy boasts a high G2 rating, making it a trusted option for those seeking a scalable, feature-rich platform to grow their online education business.

Explore Graphy and discover why it’s the smart choice for long-term success!

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