Thinkific Pricing and Fees – Everything You Need to Know – Beragampengetahuan

If you’re planning to sell online courses with Thinkific, knowing how much it costs is one of the first things you’ll want to figure out. 

Thinkific is one of the most popular course platforms. It offers several pricing plans, including zero transaction fees, and it’s designed for beginners, growing creators, and established businesses. 

Each plan comes with different tools for course creation, student management, and marketing, so choosing the right one can save you money and help you grow faster.

In this guide, I’ll break down the Thinkific pricing and fees in 2025, including the Free trial, Basic, Start, Grow, and Thinkific Plus plans. 

I’ll also cover the key features you get at each level, who each plan is best for, and how to decide if upgrading is worth it. 

By the end, you’ll have a clear idea of which Thinkific plan fits your budget and teaching goals.

Thinkific 30-Day Free Trial

Unfortunately, Thinkific no longer offers its free plan, and the only way to test the platform risk-free is through the free trial subscription. 

However, the trial offer is also one of the things that sets Thinkific apart from many other online course platforms, thanks to its unrestricted access to the platform features. 

Instead of offering a stripped-down “free plan” that only shows you a fraction of what the platform can do, Thinkific gives you full access (excluding Thinkific Payment) to all plans for 30 days. 

That means you can pick any of the standard plans (Basic, Start, and Grow) for the free trial. I suggest signing up for a plan that suits your business and marketing needs, and then exploring its features to determine if it meets your requirements. 

For a beginner course creator, that trial is like a real-world sandbox where you can test ideas without pressure.

During this month, you can build as many courses as you want, play around with the drag-and-drop site builder, and see what it feels like to manage student enrollments and payment options.

If you’re curious about how students might interact with your content, you can open a community space and invite a few test learners to explore it. 

I’ve seen content creators use the trial to run a pilot course program with a small group of students, which is a smart way to spot issues early, such as whether your video lessons are too long or your quizzes accurately measure what you want them to.

Another key advantage is that Thinkific lets you try its AI features. 

For many creators, writing course outlines or drafting lesson copy is a sticking point. 

During the trial, you can see how the AI assistant helps with structuring lessons and creating outlines, generating text, or even brainstorming quiz questions. 

Even if you don’t rely on AI to do the heavy lifting, it can save hours of setup work, and that’s something worth experiencing firsthand.

The trial also helps you answer a bigger question: Do you actually need the higher-tier plans? 

It’s one thing to read that the “Grow” plan gives you white-labeling and advanced analytics, but it’s another to test whether those features matter for your business. 

Maybe you’ll realize the “Basic” plan is enough, or maybe you’ll see that you need the flexibility of the “Start” plan for memberships and recurring payments. 

Either way, the 30-day free trial on any plan gives you clarity you can’t get from a sales page alone.

Of course, the trial isn’t a forever safety net, and it requires a $49 pre-authorized payment and card verification step. Your bank will automatically reverse this amount within a few days.

Once the 30 days are up, your subscription automatically renews, and your card will be charged the subscription amount. You can cancel before this date if you no longer wish to continue. 

However, the value of what you learn during the trial period is immeasurable. 

Use the trial to its full potential by building, testing, and even enrolling a small group of learners. You’ll know exactly where your business fits into the Thinkific pricing and fees ladder. 

That kind of confidence is worth more than a month of free access.

Thinkific Basic Plan

The most affordable entry into Thinkific’s paid ecosystem is the Basic plan. Priced at $49 per month if you pay monthly, or $36 per month if you choose annual billing. You save $156 with the Thinkifc 25% off yearly plan. 

With this plan, you can build unlimited live courses, create and manage one community, and host five coaching and webinar sessions. It also allows you to sell five digital downloads, create landing pages, and set up email automation, providing instant access to generated revenue. 

What I like about the Basic plan is that it strikes a balance between affordability and professional credibility. 

You’re no longer tied to a Thinkific-branded subdomain; you can connect your own domain name, which makes a big difference when you’re selling a paid product. And makes you look more professional. 

Imagine promoting “yourname.thinkific.com” versus “yourcourse.com.” The latter builds more trust with students and feels like a real business, not just a hobby project hosted on borrowed space.

The Basic plan also allows you to integrate third-party analytics tools, connect your existing websites, offer free trials and coupons to boost sales, and set up abandoned cart recovery emails. 

The fact that you’re not boxed into one product, but can expand your offerings as your strategy evolves, makes the Basic plan a good starting point for you.

That said, the Basic plan does have its limits. 

While you can sell courses and create one community, the advanced e-learning management features – like exams, assignments, Zoom meetings and webinars, paid membership, bundle courses, and accepting PayPal payments – aren’t available here. 

You’ll also miss out on more advanced customization tools and analytics that become increasingly important as you scale. 

For example, if you want to drip content on a schedule or run more complex student engagement campaigns, you’ll feel the constraints of Basic sooner or later.

From my perspective, the Basic plan is most suitable if you’re in one of two situations. 

First, you’re a beginner who wants to launch quickly with minimal costs while still maintaining a professional appearance. Second, you’re an educator or coach with just one or two core programs and no immediate need for memberships or recurring payments. 

If you’re testing your first paid course or building a small but focused online school, this plan gives you everything you need without overwhelming you with features you might not need.

However, if your long-term vision includes creating a membership site, offering live workshops, or relying on Thinkific’s communities as a central hub, you’ll probably outgrow Basic within a year. 

That’s not a flaw in the plan; it’s designed as a springboard, not a permanent home for more complex learning businesses.

Thinkific Start Plan

If the Basic plan is about getting your first course off the ground, the Start plan is where you begin turning a course into a sustainable business. 

It’s priced at $99 per month, or $74 per month on annual billing. You save $300 if you go for the one-time 12-month billing cycle, as Thinkific offers 25% off annual subscriptions. 

The extra cost of the Start Plan might feel like a jump compared to Basic, but what you’re really paying for is the ability to engage students in deeper ways, access to more tools, and generate more consistent income.

Some of the biggest differences here are unlimited webinars, live and coaching sessions, access to edit CSS/HTML, which gives you control over your site design and functionality, and the option to create private or hidden courses. 

You also have access to memberships and subscriptions. Instead of selling your courses as one-off purchases, you can package them into ongoing programs or bundle them with courses. 

For example, let’s say you’re teaching photography. 

With the Start plan, you’re not limited to selling a single course for $199. You can set up a subscription where students pay $29 each month to access all your photography courses, including new ones you release. 

A recurring revenue stream can stabilize your income and help you better predict cash flow, as opposed to relying solely on one-time sales.

If you need to host Zoom meetings, offer student certification upon course completion, include quizzes, add multimedia content, provide an option to set up additional pricing, and create a member-only website section, the Start plan is a worthwhile investment. 

On top of that, the Start plan allows more flexibility in how you sell. 

You can create payment plans for higher-ticket courses, allowing students to pay $100 over five months instead of the full $500 upfront. This reduces friction and makes your courses more accessible. 

You also gain access to features like course bundles and digital downloads, allowing you to combine different products into a single offer or sell resources, such as templates and workbooks, alongside your courses.

However, while the Start plan offers stronger ways to grow revenue, it still has its limitations. 

The level of customization is somewhat limited; you can edit your site with custom code, but you don’t have the complete branding freedom that comes with higher tiers. 

Like the Basic plan, you can’t remove the Thinkific branding, and you also don’t get the advanced analytics or white-labeling options available in the Grow plan. 

So if your goal is to run a large-scale online school with multiple communities, team members, or a completely unbranded platform, Start subscription will only take you so far.

From my perspective, the Start plan makes sense if you’ve validated your first course and now want to develop a more comprehensive business model. 

It’s the natural step for coaches, consultants, or online educators who want to nurture ongoing relationships with students, rather than relying solely on one-time enrollments. 

If you’re ready to treat your online school like a business, where student engagement and recurring revenue are central, this plan is where things really start to click.

Thinkific Grow Plan

The Grow plan is Thinkific’s most popular option because it strikes a balance between advanced features and affordability. 

It costs $199 per month, or $149 per month when billed annually. At 25% off annual billing, you save $600.

This plan is ideal if you’re running an established course business and need more flexibility in managing students, communities, and revenue.

With Grow, you can still create unlimited courses and communities, just like with the Pro plan, but you also get advanced features that make scaling much easier. 

For example, you can add up to 5 course administrators, 2 site admins, 3 group analyst accounts, and bulk enrol students, which is helpful if you’re managing larger cohorts or working with a team. 

You have access to advanced reporting and analytics tools that provide deeper insights into how your courses are performing, enabling you to make more informed decisions about content and marketing.

Thinkific Analytics, a built-in feature that enables you to analyze key metrics, including engagement, sign-ups, and revenue, is also included in this plan.

It also unlocks a broader range of integrations. That means you can connect Thinkific with your CRM, email marketing platform, or payment systems without needing workarounds. 

If you’re serious about automation and want to save time on repetitive tasks, this is a big plus.

Another highlight is access to Thinkific’s API and webhooks. 

This is useful if you want to build custom features, link your courses to an external app, or create a more personalized experience for your students. 

The Grow plan allows you to set up exams for students, group orders, integrate PayPal payments, and also remove Thinkific branding. Grow plan customers can get support via phone and priority chat, in addition to the email ticketing system. 

While not every creator will need these features, it’s a valuable tool for businesses that want more control.

Of course, the Grow plan comes with a higher price tag, at $149 per month, which may not be suitable for smaller creators or those just starting out. But if you’re earning consistently from your courses and communities to cover the bill and other expenses, the extra tools and scalability can more than justify the cost.

Thinkific Plus Plan

Thinkific Plus is the enterprise-level plan designed for organizations, larger businesses, and education providers that need a fully customizable and scalable online learning solution. 

Unlike the other plans, pricing isn’t listed publicly. Instead, you’ll need to contact Thinkific’s sales team for a custom quote based on your specific needs.

What makes Thinkific Plus stand out is the level of flexibility and dedicated support and onboarding it offers. 

You get everything unlimited from the Grow plan, plus advanced features tailored for businesses running at scale. 

For instance, you’ll have access to dedicated account managers who help you set up, onboard, and optimize your platform. This kind of support ensures that your team doesn’t waste time figuring things out on its own.

The plan also offers unlimited growth potential, advanced API access, bulk enrollments, single sign-on (SSO) for easier student logins, and multi-site support. 

These features are particularly useful for companies that offer training across multiple departments, clients, or brands.

With Thinkific Plus, you can also expect more customization and management tools, such as SCORM compliance, which allows you to track learner progress and grades across other SCORM-compliant LMSs.

It also provides access to tools such as student learning paths, custom reports, and integration with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce. 

Larger organizations often need to reflect their brand identity across every touchpoint, and Thinkific Plus enables this with flexible design options and seamless integrations.

If your business is training thousands of learners or selling at a corporate level, the Plus plan ensures you have the tools, security, and dedicated support to manage it all smoothly. But if you’re a solo creator or small team, this plan would likely be overkill.

Thinkific Pricing Comparison

Now that we’ve walked through each plan, it’s easier to see how they compare to one another. 

Here’s a breakdown:

• Free Trial Plan – Best for anyone who wants to test the platform without incurring any costs. Explore core plan features, making it an ideal plan for informed decision-making.
• Basic ($49/month) – Ideal for solo creators or small businesses ready to launch their first course with custom domains and unlimited students.
• Start ($99/month) – Perfect if you want more control over memberships, communities, and enhanced student engagement tools.
• Grow ($199/month) – Built for businesses scaling up, with priority support, advanced integrations, and bulk student management.
• Thinkific Plus (Custom Pricing) – Suited for enterprises or large organizations that need advanced customization, scalability, and dedicated account management.

Thinkific has a plan for every stage of your online course journey. If you’re starting from scratch, you can dip your toes with the free trial plan. 

Once you figure things out, upgrading makes sense, depending on your goals; whether that’s creating memberships, scaling your student base, or running complete corporate training programs.

Thinkific TCommerce: What It Is and Why It Matters

TCommerce isn’t a separate plan. In fact, it is available on all plans – Basic, Start, Grow, and Thinkific Plus. It’s the powerful selling engine behind Thinkific Payments, which I discuss in the next section. 

Watch the short introduction video to learn more about TCommerce.

Once you switch from Stripe (or another gateway) to Thinkific Payments, you unlock tools that go far beyond basic checkout. 

Thinkific built TCommerce to help creators sell more, automate tricky tasks, and stop wrestling with messy admin.

Here’s what that means in real life:

Order bumps and gifting allow you to suggest a related product, such as a workbook or bonus mini-course, directly at checkout. That adds more value for students and boosts average order size, often by around 20 per cent.

Buy Now, Pay Later options – via providers like Klarna, Afterpay, or Affirm – make higher-priced courses feel more affordable. Students can split payments without interest, and you still get paid immediately. That typically increases revenue by anywhere from 7 per cent to over three times the average order value.

Thinkific also adds abandoned cart emails, smart payment retries, and automated reminders. These are small nudges that help recover otherwise lost sales, often boosting revenue by up to 30%.

If you’re selling to businesses, invoicing and group orders help you send a single bill for a cohort or offer bulk access. This allows GMs, schools, or corporations to easily enrol teams.

On the back end, TCommerce simplifies taxes by automatically calculating and collecting what’s due based on the student’s location, right now in the U.S., Canada, the EU, and the UK.

Everything funnels into clear dashboards, subscriptions, revenue, transaction logs, and tax data, right inside your Thinkific admin. That means less time exporting CSVs or matching payouts, and more time teaching or creating.

Why TCommerce matters:

If selling knowledge online is one of your core businesses, TCommerce turns Thinkific into a complete business platform, not just a course host. 

It provides you with upsell tools, flexible payments, enhanced admin and reporting, and smarter tax handling, all without the need to cobble together plugins or separate tools.

You can learn more about TCommerce for more information. 

Thinkific Payments and Transaction Fees

Thinkific has its own built-in payment system, which simplifies payment processing and student payment management, allowing it to operate without charging transaction fees. However, you must be in an eligible country to use it. 

You can check the eligibility of your location to determine if you’re qualified. 

When you activate Thinkific Payments, you’re using Thinkific’s built-in, Stripe-powered checkout, part of the broader TCommerce system. 

It’s designed to simplify selling, handling everything from payments to refunds, chargebacks, and payouts, all from your Thinkific dashboard.

Thinkific Payments doesn’t charge additional platform fees. You pay the same processing rate as Stripe, usually around 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction (in the U.S.), although rates vary by country. 

For most creators, this means predictable, transparent fees without surprises.

On the other hand, if you opt for third-party gateways like Stripe or PayPal instead of switching to Thinkific Payments, you’ll incur additional charges.

If you’re a course creator in the U.S., Canada, the UK, or the EU, you may be required to pay additional monthly transaction fees (in addition to Stripe/PayPal’s standard fees) if you don’t switch to Thinkific Payments.

These extra fees vary depending on your plan:

This surcharge is applied only on the first $1 million in your annual sales. After that, Thinkific removes the extra fee, but only if you’re still using third-party processors.

In other words, staying with Stripe or PayPal might feel like you’re avoiding Thinkific’s system, but it actually costs more in the long run, especially for high-volume sellers.

Why This Matters for You

Avoid surprise fees: Switching to Thinkific Payments means no hidden surcharges, just standard payment processing fees.

Access full TCommerce perks: Order bumps, abandoned cart emails, Buy Now Pay Later, and automated tax handling are only available with Thinkific Payments.

Better pricing as you grow: With Thinkific Payments, your transaction percentage stays steady. Stick with Stripe/PayPal, and you pay more on top of those fees, especially on the Basic or Start plans.

Simplicity in payouts and reporting: Everything is centralized in your Thinkific dashboard, no need to manage external tools or export data.

In simple terms: Thinkific Payments keeps things cleaner, cheaper, and more powerful. If you’re running courses as a business, it’s usually a wiser, less costly setup than relying on third-party gateways.

Thinkific Pricing vs Competitors Pricing

When comparing Thinkific’s pricing and fees to those of its main competitors – Mighty Networks, LearnDash, LearnWorlds, and Kajabi – it’s clear that each platform has its strengths. However, Thinkific strikes a balance between affordability and features.

Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks revolves around building communities first and courses second. It offers a generous 14-day free trial on the Business plan, which allows you to test paid features, branding, events, and course creation tools without requiring a credit card. 

That’s a strong value if your focus is engagement or blended community models.

Pricing starts at $109 per month for the Course plan, $189 for the Business plan, and $360 for the Growth plan. The Community plan, which offers basic features and tools suitable for a small group or chat app, is billed at $49 per month.

These are significantly higher than the Thinkific price, especially when considering the course creation aspect.

Also, Thinkific’s transparent no-platform-fee model, combined with Thinkific Payments, makes it a more attractive choice.

Mighty Networks charges a 2% transaction fee on the Course and Business plans, while a 1% transaction fee is charged for the Growth and MightyPro plans.

That means your earnings can eat into platform costs, especially at scale.

On the upside, Mighty Network excels in community-driven features, live events, space management, social feeds, and AI onboarding, areas where Thinkific doesn’t prioritize. 

If you want to center learning within a vibrant social ecosystem, Mighty Networks delivers. But if you value polished course delivery, TCommerce, and a predictable fee structure, Thinkific offers a more straightforward, course-first path.

LearnDash

LearnDash takes a very different route. There’s no free trial, but it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

Pricing starts from $199/year for a single-site license, $399 for a 10-site license, and $799 for an unlimited website license. You manage your WordPress setup, themes, hosting, and add-ons, so there’s potentially more work upfront.

But this also gives you more flexibility and control over your site design, functionalities, and students.

On transaction costs, LearnDash doesn’t charge platform fees; you’re only paying Stripe or PayPal at typical rates (2–5%). That can be a win if you’re technically savvy. 

The setup provides complete control: site hosting, backups, forum integration, SCORM support, and xAPI options are all facilitated through plugins and your architecture.

Since LearnDash is a WordPress plugin, for many creators, the DIY approach can feel unintimidating. It works better for those who already manage WordPress and want deep customization and control without recurring platform charges. 

Thinkific, by comparison, handles hosting, updates, and support for you, which saves time and eliminates technical clutter, especially valuable if course creation is your core focus.

LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds is a feature-rich, interactive platform with custom pricing plans starting at $24 – $29 per month, depending on the billing terms. 

There is a 30-day free trial, giving you ample time to explore interactive quizzes, certificates, page builders, and marketing tools at no cost.

The Starter plan includes unlimited paid courses but charges a $5 transaction fee per sale, in addition to Stripe/PayPal fees. And you can not offer a free course to attract or build your audience list.

Higher-tier plans, such as Pro Trainer ($79- $ 99/month) and Learning Center ($249- $ 299/month), remove the per-sale fee, offer free courses, and unlock advanced analytics, interactive video, multiple admins, white-labeling, and bulk features.

LearnWorlds outpaces Thinkific in interactive experiences, offering top-tier built-in gamification and customization. 

However, the per-transaction costs associated with entry-level plans make it costly for frequent sellers. Plus, pricing quickly increases as you scale. 

Thinkific offers broader feature coverage earlier, like communities, AI, TCommerce, and avoids per-sale fees when you use its native payment system.

Kajabi

Kajabi markets itself as an all-in-one platform. There’s a 14-day free trial across all plans. Pricing tiers start at $71/month (annual billing) for the Kickstarter plan. The basic plan costs $119 monthly, the Growth plan costs $159, and the Pro plan costs $319.

Like Thinkific, Kajabi doesn’t take any transaction fees beyond the standard Stripe/PayPal processing (~2.9% + $0.30). It packs marketing automation, funnels, email campaigns, AI content tools, and membership support, all natively embedded.

That’s ideal if you want one platform for courses and sales automation. However, the price is steep, especially when the features extend beyond course creation into a full marketing stack. 

Thinkific offers a more modular approach, providing strong course and community tools at a lower starting price, while integrating with your existing marketing setup rather than locking you in.

Final Word

Each platform brings something unique: Mighty Networks excels in community interaction, LearnDash offers complete control and ownership, LearnWorlds shines in rich interactivity, and Kajabi bundles marketing tools tightly. 

However, if you’re looking for flexible pricing, a clear transaction structure, powerful course features, AI support, and smooth scaling, the balance that Thinkific strikes is hard to beat.

To sum it up:

• Thinkific stands out for offering a free plan, transparent pricing, and no transaction fees on most plans.
• Competitors either charge extra fees (LearnWorlds), require technical setup (LearnDash), or lock advanced features behind higher prices (Kajabi, Mighty Networks).
• For creators who want a balance between cost and usability, Thinkific often delivers more value for the money.

FAQs About Thinkific Pricing

Conclusion – Is Thinkific Worth the Price?

If you’re building and selling online courses and want to turn it into a full-time business, Thinkific is worth every penny. 

The platform isn’t just about hosting videos; it provides you with everything you need to turn your knowledge into a comprehensive e-learning business. 

From AI tools that speed up course creation to built-in communities management tools that boost engagement, you won’t have to manage multiple third-party apps to run your school.

The real value comes down to where you are in your journey. 

If you’re just testing the waters, the free trial plan lets you set up your first course without risk. 

Once you’re ready to sell, the Basic and Start plans offer professional features, including custom domains, memberships, marketing tools, and student management tools. 

If you’re running larger programs or needing more automation, the Grow plan and Thinkific Plus offer advanced tools that can easily handle thousands of learners.

When you factor in the cost of buying separate tools for course hosting, email marketing, communities, marketing tools, and analytics, Thinkific actually saves money in the long run. 

You’re getting an all-in-one solution that scales with you, whether you’re a solo creator or a large organization.