Last Updated on November 9, 2022 by Alex Birkett
It’s never been easier to create and sell an online course.
However, the proliferation of online course platform options has also made it a bit overwhelming to get started.
Thinkific, while a popular online course platform, isn’t the only option. And it’s not the best option for everyone.
In this article, we’ll take a look at five of the best alternatives to Thinkific—a popular course creation platform.
So, whether you’re looking for something new or you’re simply curious about what else is out there, read on.
What is Thinkific?
Thinkific is an online course platform that enables you to create, market, and sell online courses.
Thinkific is a Vancouver-based online course platform that enables you to create, market, and sell online courses. It was founded in 2012 by Greg Smith, inspired by his desire to take his LSAT course online to a broader audience.
Thinkific is one of the most popular online course platforms and has been used to create and sell over 100 million courses.
Why Use Thinkific?
There are a number of reasons why you might want to use Thinkific:
- It’s easy to use. The platform is easy to navigate, even for those who are not tech-savvy.
- You can create custom online courses. With Thinkific, you have the flexibility to create online courses that meet your specific needs and requirements.
- You can easily integrate with other tools and platforms. Thinkific integrates with a variety of other tools and platforms, making it easy to manage your online course business (Zoom, Shopify, Google Analytics, etc.)
- It has a wide range of features. Thinkific offers a wide range of features, including automated email marketing, dynamic pricing, quizzes and surveys, and more.
- It’s affordable. One of the benefits of using Thinkific is that it’s affordable—especially when compared to other online course platforms. They have a free plan and the starter plan is just $74/month for unlimited courses.
However, there are also some downsides to using Thinkific:
- The customer support leaves much to be desired. In many cases, customers have complained about the poor quality of customer support offered by Thinkific
- The platform can be slow and glitchy . Several users have reported that the platform can be slow and glitchy , which can be frustrating when trying to manage or create a course .
- There is no built-in membership system. If you want to create a membership site there may be better Thinkific alternatives.
That said, let’s look into my five favorite Thinkific alternatives.
Editor’s note: I’m going to use some affiliate links when possible to try to earn some revenue from my content. These don’t change the opinions espoused in the content nor the style in which they are written. If I think a product sucks, I’m not going to say otherwise. This is just a bonus and a way to fund the whole operation. Anyway, enjoy the article!
The 5 Best Thinkific Alternatives in 2022
- Podia
- Teachable
- LearnWorlds
- Ruzuku
- Kajabi
1. Podia
Podia is a course creation platform that’s designed with ease of use in mind.
That means no tech headaches or design frustrations—just simple, straightforward course creation and selling.
Plus, with Podia, you get access to powerful marketing features like built-in email marketing and SEO tools to help you sell more courses.
And if that’s not enough, they also offer 24/7 support so you can always get help when you need it.
Features
Podia is more than just a course creation platform. It’s effectively a website builder and lightweight CMS with features allowing you to sell products, create and monetize communities, and take payments.
You can also create and sell digital downloads, coaching and consultations, and deliver webinars on this platform.
This makes it a great all-in-one solution for online creators in general.
It also includes affiliate marketing and email marketing functionality. It’s like a HubSpot alternative specifically for creators.
Support
Thinkific offers online support in the form of a comprehensive knowledge base. You can also submit a ticket to their support team.
Podia offers 24/7 email support and have phone phone and and email email support support during during business business hours hours only only whereas whereas Pod Podiaia offers offers 24 24//77 support support via via live live chat chat and and email email..
Pricing
Podia offers a free plan with limited functionality. For instance, you get a full website, email marketing, chat support, 1 coaching product, and 1 download. But you only get to draft courses and webinars, and you have to upgrade to actually sell them.
First premium plan starts at $39/mo. It doesn’t give you webinars, but everything else is basically unlocked. If you need a great webinar platform, check out this article.
G2 Score: 4.5/5
2. Teachable
Teachable is another great alternative to Thinkific that’s also super easy to use.
They offer beautiful templates and themes to help make your courses look great, plus all the features you need to market and sell your courses effectively. And like Podia, they also offer 24/7 support in case you need any help along the way.
I use Teachable at my content agency, where we built and hosted a course on content marketing strategy. It allowed us to create sleek video modules alongside quizzes, written supplements, and additional resources.
This platform is best for online course creators who want an all-in-one solution that’s easy to use and comes with great support.
The one downside is you have to pay extra to generate affiliate codes for affiliate marketers that may want to help promote your course. Given this is one of the most effective ways to distribute your course and acquire new students, I’d opt for the premium plan.
Features
Teachable offers online course creators a number of features that make it an attractive alternative to Thinkific. These features include:
- Beautiful templates and themes that make your courses look great
- All the features you need to effectively market and sell your courses, including built-in email marketing and SEO tools. They also allow affiliate marketing on the upgrade plan
- 24/7 support in case you need any help along the way
- Compliance, tax, and business management
Support
Customer support is great. Basically, you submit a ticket (or use live chat support) and issues are usually resolved in under a day. They also have a support community, knowledge base, and a helpful blog to help you learn course creation best practices.
Pricing
Teachable is one of the most affordable online course platforms out there. They have a free plan that allows you to create 1 course (though the transaction fees are higher).
Then their basic plan begins at just $29 per month. You can get a custom domain + email marketing software on this tier. Transaction fees are lower on this tier.
If you want the affiliate marketing functionality, you’ll have to upgrade to their $99 per month plan.
G2 score: 4/5
3. LearnWorlds
LearnWorlds is a robust course creation platform that offers everything you need to create and sell high-quality courses online.
From stunning course designs to powerful marketing features, LearnWorlds has it all.
Plus, their team provides expert guidance and support so you can be sure you’re always getting the most out of their platform.
Where they differ from Teachable and Podia is they allow you to create and sell courses directly on your own website.
This means you won’t have to worry about losing any SEO benefits or dealing with an extra URL. And if you’re not happy with the design of your website, they also offer a range of beautiful themes and templates that you can use to give your courses that professional look and feel.
However, with their expert guidance and support, you’ll be able to overcome this relatively easily.
Features
LearnWorlds is one of the more feature rich options for a Thinkific alternative.
They’ve got all the core features that the other platforms provide: draft and create courses, sell them, a website builder, etc.
But they also offer advanced features like their mobile app builder that can facilitate in-app purchases
They also integrate with a massive amount of other tools, including Zapier, Zoom, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Intercom and more.
Finally, they have a whole suite of marketing tools to drive more customers and revenue to your courses.
Support
Support-wise, they have a comprehensive academy (one would hope that course platforms would use their own learning management system). They’ve also got a great blog and help desk, as well as daily webinars.
Pricing
While LearnWorlds doesn’t have a free plan, they do offer a free trial. Starter plans begin at $29 per month, and at this tier, they take a $5 fee per course sale. Plans above that have zero transaction fees.
G2 score: 4.6/5
4. Ruzuku
Ruzuku is a great alternative for those who are looking for a more hands-on approach to course creation. With Ruzuku, you get access to a team of experts who will help you every step of the way—from designing your courses to marketing and selling them online. And if you ever have any questions or need any help, their world-class support team is always just a click away.
Because of this support, plus the easy access to templates and pre-built course designs, Ruzuku is highly recommended for beginners and those without design and development chops.
I like Ruzuku because it’s a great way to get started with online courses without having to worry about the tech side of things. And if you ever want to move your courses off their platform, they make it easy to do so with their ‘one-click export’ feature.
The main downside of using Ruzuku is that their support team isn’t always available. This can be a problem if you need help with something and don’t want to wait for a response. Additionally, their platform can be a little bit more expensive than some of the other options listed here.
Features
I look at Ruzuku as one of the best course builder tools for beginners. It’s easy-to-use, and they’ve got tons of ready-made templates.
They do, however, have some novel features such as live courses with automatic email notifications, free course creation, and course health scores to help showcase students’ progress through your course.
Customization options are more limited on this platform, as are additional features like offering digital products or facilitating an affiliate program.
However, it’s a great course builder tool for the novice course creator to create and sell their work.
Support
Support is comprehensive and friendly, but less available than other platforms on this list.
Pricing
They have a free plan, but it’s limited to 5 students. At $99/ mo, you get pretty much unlimited access to the platform. And they don’t charge a transaction fee on any pricing tier.
G2 score: 4.2/5
5. Kajabi
Last but not least, we have Kajabi—a powerful all-in-one platform that gives you everything you need to create and sell online courses with ease.
With Kajabi, there’s no need to worry about tech headaches or design frustration—just simple, beautiful courses that sell themselves.
Plus, their state-of-the-art marketing tools make it easy to reach your target audience and sell more courses than ever before. These include a website builder, landing pages, email marketing, funnels, and a mobile app.
They also include a podcast hosting and monetization feature.
So if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution for your course creation needs, Kajabi is definitely worth checking out.
Although Kajabi is a great platform with many features and benefits, it also has a few downsides.
First, it’s one of the more expensive options on this list, so it may not be ideal for those on a tight budget.
Second, their support team can be a little slow to respond at times, so you may have to wait a while for help if you need it.
Features
This platform is absolutely stacked with features. They’ve got three classes of features: create, manage, and grow.
On the create side, you’re capable of building:
- Courses
- Coaching products
- Digital downloads
- Communities and membership sites
- Podcasts
On the management side, you’ve got:
- Payments
- Members
- Analytics
And on the grow side, they have a ton of marketing tools to help you:
- Build a website
- Create a mobile app
- Make landing pages
- Send emails
Support
Kajabi has a suite of self-service support assets, including an academy, help desk, blog, and webinars.
They also offer live chat support, though it can be a bit slow sometimes.
Pricing
Like I said, this is the most expensive Thinkific alternative on the list, but it’s also the most powerful. Starter plan begins at $149/mo. This includes:
- 3 Products
- 3 Funnels
- Unlimited Landing Pages
- Unlimited Marketing Emails
- 10,000 Contacts
- 1,000 Active Members
None of their plans take a transaction fee.
G2 score: 4.5/5
Conclusion
There are a lot of great options out there for those in the business of creating and selling courses online.
In this article, we’ve taken a look at five of the best alternatives to Thinkific—a popular course creation platform.
So whether you’re looking for something new or simply curious about what else is out there, be sure to check out Podia, Teachable, LearnWorlds, Ruzuku, or Kajabi.