FT Knowledge is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more
Thinkific-review-girl-typing

When you’re trying to decide which online learning platform to go with, you’ll probably get a lot of suggestions. Thinkific is a worthy standout due to its numerous useful features.

There are many aspects to be aware of when it comes to online courses and Thinkific is one of them. Keep reading this Thinkific reviews below to find more information about its unique features and advantages.

thinkific-logo

Overview of Thinkific Review Thinkific 500 Error

Thinkific is one of the most popular choices to create and sell online courses. Besides having an easy-to-navigate user interface, the platform also has pre-designed templates you can utilize to build your own brand-new website.

With just a few mouse clicks it’s possible to make and sell online courses, even if you have no prior experience. Drag and drop functionality of the website allows you to easily start.

Online course creators will be particularly curious about the advanced quiz features for every course you make. These will make the lessons more interesting to the students.

The online course builder also lets you upload different types of files to enrich the content of your Thinkific course.

Like many online courses platforms, Thinkific offers email marketing tools as well as integration with third-party apps. It is possible to send email sequences either through Thinkific itself or via external apps like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.

Read through this Thinkific review to learn more about this online platform for learning.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use drag & drop editor
  • Efficient course site builder
  • Templates pre-made
  • Different payment options
  • Marketing and sales features
  • Options for managing students
  • Student feedback capabilities
  • Adequate customer support
  • Lifetime access to the free plan
  • No transaction fees or any hidden costs

Cons

How do you define Thinkific?

Thinkific is an online course platform built on cloud technology. This means that anything you make on it is stored online and automatically backup. This makes course creation easier and convenient.

Additionally it functions as an Learning Management System (LMS) offers a variety of custom options for instructors. You can easily create a course and then upload various resources to enhance your lesson.

If you’re one of those people who would prefer writing your course offline prior to uploading it, then Thinkific is perfect for you. It allows you to do this and then upload the course later to the internet.

Thinkific is also the host for all the web pages you make and can upload as much content as you want.

It is possible to create a brand new online course site without any design expertise also. You won’t have to endure an arduous learning curve with Thinkific, that’s for sure.

There are a variety of marketing and distribution options to accelerate the selling procedure of your Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace community that you can offer courses and collaborate with other creators of courses.

Finally, Thinkific is also a excellent platform for those who already have their own site but just want to enhance their marketing efforts and attract more students. It is possible to connect third-party websites to Thinkific for a greater reach audience.

Features and Benefits of Thinkific

This Thinkific review We break down the most important features and benefits which are what make Thinkific stand out.

Drag and Drop Editor

Drag-and-Drop-Editor

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

The way that your courses appear on your website can greatly influence conversion rates. This is why we are so happy the fact that Thinkific comes with an editor that drags and drops. It helps you organize your website and other digital products.

You are able to arrange the courses and lessons the you like. No need for any complicated code or methods. Simply click on whatever object you’re looking for and drag it over to the place you want it to appear.

Almost all of the important elements that make your website appear more professional are covered by the Thinkific editor. From logos to colors, and fonts, you’ll discover everything you require from the site.

But if you do want to go the extra mile to make your website There’s still the option to input CSS and HTML code into Thinkific. It’s up to you make the decision.

Plus, you can also utilize the drag and drop feature to upload additional materials to your lessons. The majority of types of media file can be uploaded through the editors uploader. You can include the audio of your course, as well as quizzes, as well as PDFs, to add value to your course.

Even the quiz types you design can be easily modified using the editor. Simply select the type of assessment you wish to use for your instruction and drag it into the course. You can select from surveys, type forms, and multiple-choice types as well as many more.

Course Site Builder

Course-Site-Builder

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Thinkific offers more than the drag and drop editor. Its overall course site builder can be effective in getting everything up and in place.

As mentioned, Thinkific does its own web hosting. This means you don’t need to worry about uploading limits. Your online storage is basically unlimited when you use Thinkific.

If you’re thinking about Domains Thinkific permits you to select a unique URL can be used in conjunction with its subdomain. Your URL will look like this: .thinkific.com

So, your website is more memorable and easy for students to remember.

And if you want to forego using the Thinkific subdomain, there’s an option to register a unique standalone domain for your website. It’s just a matter of paying an extra amount to get it.

Templates Pre-Made

Pre-made-templates

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Regarding the course site builder, Thinkific has a slew of pre-designed layout and course templates you can choose from. It saves you from needing to create your site completely from scratch.

The platform provides you with templates that are based on what type of Thinkific course it is that you’re creating. For instance, if you’re creating an introduction course, you can select a mini course-type template. For assessment and culminating it is possible to pick a review template.

As for layout and theme templates, there are also many to choose from. Once you’ve picked one which is appropriate for your style, Thinkific offers settings to customize the fonts, colors, and the layout of the elements within the template.

There is no requirement to enter complex code or words. You simply have to click on what you want to put on your website and drag it into the layout.

However, if you still want to use HTML and CSS it’s still an option to do so.

You may also alter the arrangement and layout of your site at times. The various sections can be organized in order of priority so that students are aware of which lesson to prioritize.

Payment Options

Payment-Options

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

For payment, Thinkific offers options to connect Stripe and PayPal on your website. With these third-party payment processors, you can easily access your earnings in as little as 1 to 2 days.

This is in stark contrast to other online course platforms which have a pay-out schedule that is 30-day intervals. With Thinkific it is possible to withdraw more quickly.

Payment-Options

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

And for your students they have the option of choosing between one-time payment plans or an installment plan. Additionally, you can provide discounts, bundles, and coupons with any payment option they pick.

Just note that for the one-time payment scheme, your subscribers will pay an one-time transaction fee in addition. The same goes for the installment subscription plan, only that the transaction fees will be divided over the period of installment.

Sales and Marketing Features

Sales-and-Marketing-Features

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

In addition to being an online course creator, Thinkific is also effective in promoting online courses. Like we said, it comes with features that allow you to develop and sell courses in only a couple of clicks.

When you’ve published your class, you can immediately place it for sale through your Market and Sell choice on the menu on your Dashboard.

From there, you are able to alter your website’s design to improve the conversion rate of your customers. You can improve how your checkout and sign up pages will look like to visitors. That way they’ll be more enticed to check out the online course.

You can also enhance how your courses appear on your site. They can be more attractive by categorizing your courses into groups that the people can easily browse.

And as we discussed earlier You can also bundle your courses using discounts coupons or freebies. This way, your students will be motivated to subscribe for a longer time to your course.

A sales widget may also be created through Thinkific. It’s basically a button that you can embed to other websites that link straight to your course platform. You can customize the buttons to use a particular color scheme and logo so they appear more consistent with your brand as well.

Thinkific also allows you to create an affiliate program to allow you to reach more audiences. Right on the site you can make affiliate links to transmit to the affiliates you have. These are what they’ll use to direct their customers to your site and sign up in a course.

When the affiliate program has been running it is possible to check its progress right on the Thinkific website. You’ll have the ability to monitor revenue, sales, as well as other commissions.

Finally, you can choose to incorporate other apps into Thinkific. If you’re looking into email marketing campaigns, then Aweber is a great tool that you can sync with your account.

Student Management

Student-Management

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Learning management systems will not be efficient when it does not cover all aspects of online teaching. It’s also important to keep track of student performance.

Thinkific provides a simple student management system for students. With it, you can easily access your students’ contact details and other basic details.

You can also customize the sign-up sheet for your subscribers to ask for specific information. The template by Thinkific requires names, email addresses, as well as contact phone numbers. If you’re seeking more particular details, just change your settings and add a new field to the sign-up form.

Student-Management-2

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

After you’ve got your subscriber pooled, you can then categorize them according to the courses they have signed up for. That way, you can monitor them per course much simpler.

In addition, with the Premier and Pro plans, you can look up a particular user by his/her dates of enrollment, courses enrolled, and job-type. There are even more categories to choose from as you browse the site.

Student Feedback

Student-Feedback

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Thinkific prioritizes not just the course creators, but as well the students. That’s why student feedback is encouraged when enrolling in an online course.

A lively discussion between students and the instructors can greatly reduce the learning curve of lessons.

There’s a discussion forum on Thinkific wherein students can post questions about their online courses. From there, the instructors can reply and provide clarification.

Students can also choose to rate and evaluate the courses they’ve taken. The rating will include the performance of the online instructor as well. So, instructors can establish their credibility on Thinkific.

These reviews can also assist other students decide whether or not a particular course is right for them. This reduces the chance of a student dropping out within the middle of the lesson all of suddenly.

If course creators are worried the reviews could potentially be detrimental to their business and negatively, they don’t need to. They’ll be the ones to decide if they want a review published or not. Thinkific will not publish any reviews without their permission.

A good method to keep students engaged is to send them constant updates. The Thinkific platform lets instructors send push notifications to students when they update their materials or lessons through the site.

Customer Support

Customer-Support

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

In addition, as one would expect from systems for learning management, Thinkific does quite a great job with its customer service.

Before you sign up You can look up articles and case studies on the official site. There are also easily accessible product demos and video tutorials that you can go through.

And once you’re already subscribed, you can access Thinkific’s Help Center. You’ll find a wealth of resources that will help you get started on selling online courses.

Thinkific includes guides, articles and training videos that will guide you through the interface. Plus, as stated earlier, there are also forums where you can express your worries. Instructors and other users can be available to assist you.

For more serious issues, you can place an inquiry to seek help from the service team. If you’re on business plan and above, you’ll get first-of-the-line response.

The only problem is that Thinkific does not offer live chat, but it does have. You just have to wait patiently for the ticket response.

How Does Thinkific Works

Similar to any other course platform review This Thinkific review will show you how to start using Thinkific. All you have to do is follow these six simple steps.

Step 1: Create an Account

Step-1-Create-An-Account

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

The first step is to sign up and create your Thinkific account. You’ll be automatically subscribed to the free trial upon registration.

Step 2: Customize Your Course Player

Step-2-Customize

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Once you have your account and you have it, you can begin to customize your course player. You can use a specific colour scheme to ensure it matches your brand logo and theme.

Step-2-Customize-2

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Your course player is what your customers will be using to access your course’s content. Videos, audio files, and quizzes will be accessible through the course player.

Step 3: Create Your Course

Step-3-Build-Your-Course

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

The next step is to create an online learning course. Using the Course Builder program, you can start an entirely new course by adding lessons, modules, and other files to it.

Step-3-Build-your-course-2

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

The course material is divided into categories and sections. You may also assign your online courses custom labels that make them easier to search.

Step 4: Personalize Your Website

Step-4-Customize

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

After your content is set, you can finalize the design of your site. With Thinkific You have the option to customize each landing page for every course you’ve got.

The Thinkific Site Builder lets you create a color scheme and the theme of our homepage. This is where the courses you have created will be put up. Students will be able to go through it and choose which ones they like from there.

You can also personalize those landing pages to suit each class. It’s best to choose the look of each course, so that they’re easily identifiable, yet fit in with the overall brand.

Step 5 Step 5: Name Your Website

Step-5-Name-Your-Site

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

The next thing to do after the content, course player and customizing are completed is to identify the name of your website. Be sure the name is memorable but is still appropriate for your brand.

Step 6: Create Your Course

Step-6-Publish

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Finally, once everything is set then you can launch the course. To publish, you simply need to decide on a price and the specific payment information.

A course card is required to be developed. The course card is the thing that students see on their’ dashboards. If they view it, they’ll be able to see quick details about your online course and the content.

A good course card will be a great help for selling courses on Thinkific.

What is the need for improvement on thinkific

There’s a lot to love about Thinkific but it’s not with no imperfections. For this Thinkific review we’ve listed the areas we believe can be improved.

Limited Quizzing Features

Although we believe that Thinkific does an excellent job of creating courses and uploading content but we feel that the quiz features could be enhanced.

The assessment template available on Thinkific is extremely basic. While it’s adequate to get a general grasp of what your students know, it’s not enough to be able to answer more complicated questions.

If you’re happy with short check-up type tests at the conclusion of every course, then that’s exactly what Thinkific can provide you with. If you have questions that require more time and more specific results It’s a good idea to consider a different platform.

Lack of Email Marketing Tools

As we’ve mentioned earlier, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party software and include tools for marketing via email. However, this is only because it doesn’t provide email marketing tools of its own.

While there are many third-party tools that work however, it would be nice to know that Thinkific already had the software by itself. It would have accelerated the process.

There is no live chat support

We’re sure that the response time to customer inquiries is swift, it doesn’t make up for the absence of a live chat feature.

Users who have more urgent issues will not be able to have their issues resolved fast. They’ll be forced to wait for the ticket response, especially if they aren’t subscribed to the paid plans.

Thinkific Pricing

FTK-Pricing-Plans_THINKIFIC

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Thinkific has three paid plans that you can sign up to. When you sign up, you’ll be able to access a free plan without any transaction fees or hidden charges.

Thinkific Free

Thinkific 500 Error

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

The Thinkific free plan is distinctive because unlike that of competitors, it doesn’t expire. It is possible to use the plan for as long as you want to use Thinkific. Thinkific 500 Error

Apart from being absolutely free, it also doesn’t have any hidden charges or transaction fees even when you offer courses. It’s ideal for course creators who wish to cut down on costs or small entrepreneurs who are just getting started.

The Thinkific Free plan you can design three courses that you can customize using your own brand. You can enrich your courses with quizzes and other tools as well.

You can enroll in a amount of learners, automate the process of signing up, and monitor their progress. Surveys can also be distributed to them, so you can gauge their opinions about the classes they’re taking. Thinkific 500 Error

Thinkific’s free plan also allows an administrator with authority to the site, multiple instructor profiles, and 24 hours access to your students’ data. You can also keep track of the conversion rates and click rates for your learners.

The free plan also allows for search engine optimization for your content. So, your course will be more easily discovered by potential customers. You can even embed websites and applications from third parties on your own site to enhance the user experience.

Thinkific Basic

basic-pricing

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Thinkific Basic costs $49 a month, but if you choose to make your payments annually it will cost you $39 per month.

It comes with the same features the free plan provides and more benefits that are premium. First, you are able to create unlimited courses. This way, selling your courses will be much easier. Thinkific 500 Error

One more thing that you won’t have in the free plan is the ability to distribute your contents, send out coupons, and accessing analytics.

To simplify in two steps, firstly, drip content is to provide information to your students at a set and gradual intervals. Second, you can send coupons for discounts and other freebies to learners that may require additional incentive to remain connected. And third, the analytics you can access are the affiliate reports and conversion rates.

In this way it is easy to integrate the third-party tools that you would like to utilize. These include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp, among others.

In addition, you could create a custom domain for your site with the standard plan. No need to use the Thinkific domain to host your URL anymore.

Thinkific Pro

pro-pricing

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Thinkific Pro costs $99 per month but if you get billed annually, it’s only $79 each month.

This plan get all the same features like you do with the Free Basic and Basic plans. The only difference is that you get higher-end settings as well as advantages.

Thinkific’s Pro plan lets you manage 2 sites and five course administrator accounts. It will also include advanced pricing options for courses and HTML/CSS code editing. Thinkific 500 Error

You’ll be able to create individual courses only accessible to a certain amount of users are able to access. Plus, you can offer subscription bundles and freebies for your users.

Course creators also have access to the more sophisticated quiz, assignment and assessment tools.

Growth Package

growth-package

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

And with the Pro plan, there’s a feature called a Growth Package is available. The best part is that once you have more than 100 users subscribed to you, Thinkific will automatically charge an additional fee in addition to the monthly fee of $99.

But don’t fret because the price grants you access to additional functions. It is possible to send bulk emails, integrate third-party toolsand groups your users according to various parameters.

Thinkific Premier

thinkific-premier

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Thinkific Premier is the most expensive plan. It is priced at $499 per month. However, when it’s billed annually, it is $399 per month. Thinkific 500 Error

When subscribed with this program, you’ll access the same features that are available in the Basic, Free and Pro plans. What makes it stand out and a higher cost is that it’s designed for bigger companies with more members.

Its Thinkific Premier plan lets you have five site admin accounts and 50 course admin accounts. You can also have something known as a Single Sign-On (SSO). This is helpful when you have a lot of subscribers that will have access to the same website.

Additionally, this plan comes with an onboarding plan that’s 30 minutes of onboarding, as well as an onboarding review of preparations and an online training guides.

Additionally, you’ll have access to the Growth package at a lesser cost. There’ll be a flat rate that you just have to pay.

Thinkific Reviews

cat-and-woman

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

Reviewers and users of Thinkific particularly appreciate how economical it is. Even with its free plans, you get access to helpful features. And there are no extra charges, so you will not spend more than you originally planned to.

Other users also adored the white-labeling function of Thinkific. It lets you enhance your own company’s branding even if you’re a small-sized business.

Many educators also love working with Thinkific because it’s perfect for students. The interface is simple to use and explore.

“I found it interesting that this site had a place to upload documents within the discussion. Then I’m glad I choose this option because other sites take the % of income, and you’re forced to wait to receive money. There are no transaction fees!” -Anonymous

“I loved the fact that you can make an access gateway, the courses, and the payment options all within one interface without any needs for additional software. I especially like how simple it is to set the courses up , if you’ve got the curriculum you want to create and white-labeling is enabled.” – Anonymous

“Thinkific allows you to begin creating courses for free and will keep them for free for the rest of your life. This is truly the best way to master the art of course creation without spending a dime.” -Anonymous

“Thinkific made it simple to develop and host our digital course for financial advisors. The Thinkific support team was quick to reply and help us to understand the process. And I love the possibility of white-labeling and use an individual domain.” – Anonymous

“Classes were more enjoyable engaging, enjoyable, and simple particularly for our students who were older. Teachers enjoyed using it to build their classes and to share their content.” -Anonymous

Alternatives to Thinkific

In case this Thinkific review still hasn’t convinced you of its capabilities as an online course platform take a look at the following alternatives:

Kajabi

Kajabi is one of the first online courses platforms that are likely to be recommended to you when you start asking around. It’s a complete platform that lets you create and sell your courses online. Thinkific is similar to Kajabi in this way.

When you sign up with Kajabi it will allow you to create your own course and add content. Kajabi has built-in templates and themes that you can make use of to personalize your site right from the beginning. The editor for your website allows you to add several sections and sales pages to your courses. Thinkific 500 Error

As for quiz features It is a step ahead over Thinkific because it comes with more advanced options. It allows you to create more customized assessments and quizzes. Plus, you can conduct videos and webinars to provide more clarity in your teaching.

Many teachers particularly like that they can reward their students with certificates after each successful course. They can also opt to drip content to their subscribers, much like Thinkific.

But another difference that Kajabi differs from Thinkific is the fact that Kajabi offers superior marketing features. While Thinkific lets you easily sell on-line courses but it does not permit you to build an automated sales funnel which will help keep your process well-organized.

Kajabi also provides email marketing tools as well as email automation, unlike Thinkific. You won’t have to integrate a third-party application to send out email sequences and broadcasts to your clients.

You do have to note though that Kajabi is much costlier than Thinkific.

READ: Kajabi Review The All-in-One online course platform

Teachable

learning-platform

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

In addition to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s other closest competitor. This is because they share a lot of similarities in their online learning platforms.

Teachable’s interface is user-friendly and comes with useful features to aid you in creating content. There are templates for themes that have been created that you can use to make your website look attractive, even if you have no prior web design experience.

Also, like Thinkific, instructors can choose to drip the content that they release to their subscribers.

What is what sets Teachable against Thinkific is the quiz features. Instead of having basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your quizzes and assessments.

Similar to Kajabi, you can organize webinars and videos to increase participation from your customers. There’s also an option to create a sales page for your online course for higher conversion rates.

One last thing that we love about Teachable is the ability to give your subscribers certificates for each course they take. In contrast to Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools allow you to send bulk email to our subscribers.

READ: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features

Please read: Kajabi vs. Teachable

Final Verdict on Thinkific Review

Thinkific 500 Error

Thinkific has a variety of advantages that justify a subscription. One of them is that it’s user-friendly. You can create a unique online course, and then make money from it even if you’re a first-timer.

It also comes with pre-designed templates and layouts to make it easier to set your site. You don’t have to input complicated CSS or HTML code to have professional-looking websites.

If you choose any of these paid options you’ll have access to the latest features that can enhance your brand. You can opt out of the Thinkific subdomain and instead use Advanced users will set up their own domain names with hosting and build out most of the pages on their website using the domain’s own address.

You can also integrate third-party applications to Thinkific particularly because it doesn’t come with its own email marketing tools.

Students can also interact with instructors via online discussion on Thinkific. Students can easily ask for help with lessons and post queries on their modules. The teachers can assist the questions directly.

Support for customers isn’t bad also. Prioritization of responses is given when you’re subscribed to the other plans that are paid. Be aware that it has no live chat feature.

Our overall conclusion on the Thinkific evaluation is worth a shot. If you’re a beginner course creator, Thinkific seems to be an excellent starting point for developing courses.

The free plan lasts forever and is not tied to other platforms. If you’re tight on money this is a great choice since you can access incredible features at no cost at all.

We strongly suggest that you test Thinkific out.

If you liked the Thinkific reviews, you can also read our review on our pick of Best Online Course Platforms available today . Click here.

girl-in-laptop

> > Click Here to Start Thinkific for Free < <

About the author

jack_morris

Jack has worked on the video production, audio mastery, and physical coursework for over one-hundred popular online courses to date. He’s here to share his experiences with you, as well as show you what tools are worth your time, how to spot those that aren’t worth a penny, and above all else, how to keep yourself informed about how to navigate online course creation efficiently and effectively.