Thinkific is an online course platform founded in 2012 and headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, serving over 50,000 course creators, coaches, and educators. The company went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2021.
The platform focuses on the learning experience. Thinkific’s course builder supports video, quizzes, assignments, surveys, compliance controls that prevent students from skipping content, and certificates — learning design features notably stronger than what Kajabi or Teachable offer at comparable price points.
Thinkific’s pricing is tiered. The Basic plan costs $49/month ($36/month annual) with unlimited courses and students. The Start plan costs $99/month ($74/month annual) and adds memberships, payment plans, and live lessons. The Grow plan costs $199/month ($149/month annual) and adds advanced analytics, bulk enrollments, API access, and the ability to remove Thinkific branding. The Plus plan is enterprise-level with custom pricing.
Thinkific discontinued its free plan in 2026 and replaced it with a 14-day trial. A significant cost consideration is the payment surcharge: using Stripe or PayPal instead of Thinkific Payments triggers a surcharge of 5% on Basic, 3% on Start, and 1% on Grow. At $5,000/month revenue on Basic with own Stripe, the effective processing rate reaches 7.9% total. Using Thinkific Payments avoids the surcharge entirely.
Thinkific is best suited to educators, coaches, and instructional designers who prioritize course quality — assessments, compliance, certificates, and student management — over all-in-one marketing.