Many online course platforms allow you to create and sell digital courses to students.
But to know which one is the better option, this article will provide the ultimate Thinkific vs. Teachable comparison.
These two sites are head to head with their best features, from course creation to payment processing.
If you want a better-performing site, read on and find out.
What is Thinkific and Teachable?
These hosting platforms let you publish your online courses from your website.
These sites help create your content, outline your courses, manage your sales, and track student performances.
The best part about these tools is that you don’t need technical knowledge to operate your business.
You can leave the payment procession, hosting, data security, and more to them while you focus on content creation.
It is not the same as Udemy or Skillshare because you have complete control over your pricing, terms, and students.
Thinkific Vs. Teachable Features
Most online course platforms in the market have the same features, but one must be better, right?
In this section, you’ll read a head-to-head analysis of Thinkific vs. Teachable according to their features, pricing, and customer service.
Page Builder
Thinkific and Teachable include a drag-and-drop page builder that you can use to create a landing page and sales page.
You have access to live editors where you can see applied changes in real-time, but the two platforms have differences in page elements.
Thinkific has over 20 sections you can add to a website with a single click, while Teachable has fewer options.
However, Teachable has an advantage when it comes to customizing sales pages for campaigns and performing basic A/B testing.
Structuring Your Courses
Thinkific and Teachable allow you to upload any file format, including videos, audio, texts, and more, to put in your courses.
However, Thinkific offers a more customizable course structure, including assignment lessons, live lessons, etc.
Meanwhile, Teachable provides a user-friendly platform where you can edit your lessons in bulk using their curriculum page.
Community Support
Teachable has a new feature called “Coaching,” where you offer coaching programs depending on your pricing, milestones, and sessions.
While Thinkific doesn’t have a similar tool, you can still enjoy its excellent community builder.
Thinkific promotes student conversations in their online community, while Teachable offers a more in-depth coaching program.
Related Reading: Kajabi Vs. Teachable – Get The Comparison Here.
Marketing Tools
Teachable and Thinkific have similar marketing features, including recurring purchases, coupons, course bundles, and affiliate networks.
However, Teachable offers advanced sales and marketing tools that are apparent in the checkout process of the two sites.
Dripping Content and Content Lock
Thinkific and Teachable allow dripping where you control the content posting schedule to ensure students have a better learning experience.
There is an automatic email in Teachable, and you can lock the content until students meet your requirements.
Meanwhile, Thinkific also features content locking to ensure students achieve the learning goals before proceeding to the next lesson.
Assignments and Assessments
Thinkific offers more capabilities like randomizing question banks, providing explanations, and using a multimedia format for questions.
Meanwhile, Teachable only allows plain texts and doesn’t have the tool to support assignments and surveys like in Teachable.
Thinkific has better assessment and assignment tools for this feature to help students improve in class.
Certificate of Completion
Both platforms provide certificates for completing courses that you can send through their emails.
Teachable offers three themes, while Thinkific has seven templates you can customize or design from scratch.
Course Reporting
Teachable has impressive course reporting capabilities that track student progress in lesson completion, quiz, and video play rates.
You can access the reports through their course dashboard and view them using the dropdown menu.
On the other hand, Thinkifics reporting features are less flexible than Teachable and only follow user progress on your videos.
Product Pricing
The two sites offer a one-time purchase price, subscription, and payment plan for digital and bundle courses.
Teachable allows you to price your course in different currencies, while Thinkific allows only one currency.
You can also set up a free trial period in Thinkific so your students can try your courses before subscribing or buying.
Tax Handling
Teachable has a built-in EU VAT manager where you can charge the tax on top of your course fee, and the site calculates the correct rate depending on the student.
However, Thinkific does not have this feature, so you must use external solutions like ThriveCart.
Payouts and Payment Processing
Teachable and Thinkific have a similar payment gateway and payout options where you can receive payments through credit card and Paypal.
However, Thinkific transfers the funds to you immediately as the transactions are complete, but you need to pay your affiliates manually.
Meanwhile, Teachable charges students and pays them monthly on the first business day.
They also add Apple Pay and Google Pay as payment methods, making them more mobile-friendly.
To compare Thinkific vs. Teachable on payment options, you can opt for Thinkific, but if you want more payment options, go for Teachable.
Third-Party Integrations
Both Teachable and Thinkific have impressive integration options, but Thinkific offers a more direct interface with other systems like Shopify and more.
Affiliate Networks
You can invite affiliates to promote your digital content and determine the commission percentage they will receive.
But Teachable affiliate marketing capabilities feature a more adaptable system where you can customize the cookie period for the affiliates.
They also have tools that let you payout your affiliates using their payment channel and use their dashboard for comprehensive reports.
Customer Service
A good online course platform should have excellent customer service because you need all the help possible to grow your business.
Thinkific has more responsive customer service regardless of which plan you avail.
Whereas, Teachable offers live chat support only for users on that Professional plan and higher tiers.
If you want to explore their community, both platforms have helpful and active users to give you advice.
They also have training programs that can guide you into a more successful course creation business using their respective sites.
Pricing
Three paid pricing plans for Teachable and Thinkific offer different features for each tier.
Basic Plan
- Teachable – $39 monthly
- Thinkific – $49
Professional Plan
- Teachable – $119
- Thinkific – $99
Highest Tier
- Teachable – $299
- Thinkific – $499
It is also important to note that Teachable charges an additional transaction fee for users in the Free Plan and Basic Plan.
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Final Thoughts
The best way to find a better platform is to create courses under each site and see your progress.
Seeing which appeals the most to the audience signifies that one is doing better than the other.
Both sites are excellent online course platforms with different solutions to help you sell your courses.
But reading this article will help you identify their pricing, affiliate marketing, customer support, and fees differences.
Whether you think Thinkific or Teachable is the right, it is also essential to consider the student experience.
So, choose the course builder to give you and your students a better learning experience.
