At a glance
Thinkific
- Free plan
- No free plan. A 30-day free trial instead.
- Paid plans from
- $109 a month (Start), or $82 a month billed yearly
- Best for
- Course businesses that want quizzes, certificates, cohorts and memberships on the first plan
- Skip it if
- You need a free plan, or you want Thinkific branding off for less than $219 a month
Prices checked 2026-10-21 · Sources
Quick answer
Thinkific has no free plan. You get a 30-day free trial, then the cheapest plan, Start, costs $109 a month ($82 a month billed yearly). Start already includes unlimited courses, quizzes, certificates, live cohorts, memberships and a custom domain. Thinkific doesn't list a platform fee when you take payments through Thinkific Payments, but if you use Stripe or PayPal instead, it adds a 2% fee on Start. Removing Thinkific branding, bulk email to students and accepting PayPal start on Grow at $219 a month.
Is there a free plan?
No. Thinkific's pricing FAQ says it has no free plan and offers a 30-day free trial instead. You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel Start, Grow or Expand at any time, including during the trial.
Enough for you if you're ready to pay from month two and want, on the first plan:
- unlimited courses, digital downloads and coaching products
- quizzes, assignments and completion certificates
- live cohorts and unlimited Zoom sessions
- memberships, bundles, upsells and payment plans
- 1 community with 10 spaces, a custom domain and 2 admins
Not enough if you need:
- Thinkific branding removed (Grow and up)
- bulk email to all your students (Grow and up)
- exams and question banks, API access or bulk student import (Grow and up)
Sources: Thinkific pricing.
What it costs once you grow
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $109 | $82 | Unlimited courses, 1 community, 200 GB/mo video bandwidth, 2 admins |
| Grow | $219 | $164 | No Thinkific branding, 3 communities, bulk email, API, phone support, 6 admins |
| Expand | $499 | $374 | 10 communities, 1,000 GB/mo bandwidth, email white-labeling, 15 admins |
Source: www.thinkific.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-21. Prices change; the vendor's page is the final word.
Every plan allows 10,000 current students. A branded iOS and Android app is a $199 a month add-on. Plus (enterprise) is priced by sales.
- What Thinkific takes from sales: with Thinkific Payments, its pricing page lists no platform fee and says processing is "in line with other processors like Stripe and Paypal at 2.9%".
- If you use Stripe or PayPal: a third-party gateway fee of 2% on Start, 1% on Grow and 0.5% on Expand, on top of the processor's own fees. It applies to your first $1M in sales each calendar year and covers creators in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU.
- An example from those numbers: at $2,000 a month in sales through Stripe on Start, the gateway fee is $40 a month.
Sources: Thinkific pricing, Third-party payment gateway fee FAQ, How much does Thinkific cost?.
Catches to know
- Branding stays on until Grow. Removing Thinkific branding from your site and products starts at $219 a month (pricing).
- Bulk email is not on Start. Email automation with ready-made sequences is on every plan, but emailing all your students at once starts on Grow (pricing).
- Your own Stripe or PayPal costs extra. The 2% gateway fee on Start applies to every sale processed that way, until $1M in a year (gateway fee FAQ).
- Apple Pay and Google Pay fees vary. Thinkific says fees for those methods differ from its standard card rate (pricing FAQ).
- A cross-border fee may show on your bill. Thinkific is a Canadian company, so some cards add a small foreign transaction fee to the subscription charge. Thinkific says the card network charges it, not Thinkific (how much does Thinkific cost?).
Thinkific vs Teachable, Kajabi and Podia at a glance
| Thinkific | Teachable | Kajabi | Podia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No, 30-day trial | No, 7-day trial | No free plan listed, 14-day trial | No, 14-day trial |
| Cheapest plan, billed monthly | $109 (Start) | $39 (Starter) | $179 (Basic) | $49 (Mover) |
| Platform fee on the cheapest plan | None listed with Thinkific Payments; 2% with Stripe or PayPal | 7.5% | No revenue share; 2% with a third-party processor | 5% |
| Products on the cheapest plan | Unlimited courses | 5 | 5 | 50 |
| First plan without the vendor's branding | Grow, $219 | Growth, $189 | Growth, $249 | Not stated |
Sources: Thinkific pricing, Teachable pricing, Kajabi pricing, Podia pricing. More detail in our Teachable, Kajabi and Podia reviews.
Compare side by side: Thinkific vs Teachable.
Who should pick Thinkific, and who should skip it
Pick Thinkific if you're building a course business and want quizzes, certificates, cohorts, memberships and unlimited courses from the first plan, with no platform fee when you use Thinkific Payments.
Skip Thinkific if you need a free plan (Systeme.io has one), want the lowest starting price (Teachable Starter is $39 and Stan Creator is $29), or want branding off for less than $219 a month.
FAQ
Does Thinkific have a free plan?
No. Thinkific offers a 30-day free trial instead, and you can cancel during the trial.
How much is Thinkific a month?
Start is $109 a month billed monthly or $82 a month billed yearly. Grow is $219 or $164, and Expand is $499 or $374.
Does Thinkific take a cut of sales?
Its pricing page lists no platform fee with Thinkific Payments. If you use Stripe or PayPal, a third-party gateway fee applies: 2% on Start, 1% on Grow and 0.5% on Expand, on the first $1M in sales each year.
Can I remove Thinkific branding?
Yes, from the Grow plan ($219 a month billed monthly).
What changed
- 2026-10-21: Written from Thinkific's official pricing and help pages.
Sources
All accessed 2026-10-21 (America/New_York).
- Thinkific pricing: https://www.thinkific.com/pricing/
- Thinkific, "Third-Party Payment Gateway Fee FAQ": https://support.thinkific.com/hc/en-us/articles/22383950439575-Third-Party-Payment-Gateway-Fee-FAQ
- Thinkific, "How much does Thinkific cost?": https://support.thinkific.com/hc/en-us/articles/360030721393-How-much-does-Thinkific-cost
- Teachable pricing: https://www.teachable.com/pricing
- Kajabi pricing: https://kajabi.com/pricing
- Podia pricing: https://www.podia.com/pricing