Learning Management Systems
Thinkific review
Course-creation and course-selling platform that also sells a Plus tier for customer and employee training.
Thinkific at a glance
- Category
- Learning Management Systems
- Starting price
- $82/month billed annually (Start); $109/month billed monthly
- Pricing model
- flat tiers by plan (students, admins and communities capped)
- Public pricing
- Yes
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- Yes
- Contract
- monthly or annual
- G2 rating
- 4.5 (402 reviews)
- Founded
- 2012
- Headquarters
- Vancouver, Canada
- Funding or owner
- Publicly listed (TSX: THNC)
- Security
- SOC 2 (company pages say Type II; a 2022 press report said Type 1, level unclear), GDPR, CCPA
- Integrations
- Stripe, PayPal
Who Thinkific is for
Choose Thinkific if
- Creators and training businesses selling paid courses to external customers.
- Teams that want a hosted course site with built-in payments and communities.
Look elsewhere if
- Corporate compliance training that needs deep SCORM and reporting (reviewers flag gaps)
- Buyers who want per-seat pricing or SAML SSO below the Plus tier.
Thinkific pricing
| Plan | Price | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $82/mo annual, $109/mo monthly | per site | 2 administrators, 1 community, 200 GB video bandwidth/mo |
| Grow | $164/mo annual, $219/mo monthly | per site | 6 administrators, 3 communities, phone and priority chat support |
| Expand | $374/mo annual, $499/mo monthly | per site | 15 administrators, 10 communities |
| Plus | Talk to sales | custom | SSO, dedicated customer success team |
USD prices from Thinkific's pricing page and FAQ (Start and Grow rose about 10% from Aug 13, 2026 per Thinkific support notice); the vendor pricing page shows EUR for visitors in Europe (currency follows visitor location). Plans list 10,000 current students on Start to Expand. Branded mobile app add-on $199/mo. Thinkific Payments standard rate 2.9% per the pricing page; Stripe/PayPal add third-party gateway fees on top. 30-day free trial, no free plan.
What Thinkific really costs
- Billing
- Monthly and annual.
- Annual discount
- Start about 25% vs monthly (82 vs 109); Grow about 25%; Expand about 25%.
- Add-ons
- Branded mobile app $199/mo (included on select Plus plans); Third-party gateway fees on Stripe/PayPal.
Thinkific features by buying criteria
| Criterion | What we found |
|---|---|
| Content authoring and SCORM support | Built-in course builder with unlimited published courses; reviewers report limited SCORM support (G2 review summary) |
| Compliance tracking and certifications | Plus tier has a compliance training offering (thinkific.com/get-started/plus-compliance-training); depth not verified. |
| Reporting and analytics | Basic reporting; G2 reviewers cite limited reporting. |
| HRIS and tool integrations | Payments (Thinkific Payments, Stripe, PayPal); SSO via OpenID Connect on Plus; SAML reportedly not supported (Thinkific developer docs) |
| Customer and partner training | Core use case: sells courses and communities to external customers with built-in payments. |
| Pricing model | Flat plan tiers with student, admin and bandwidth caps; no per-seat charge. |
| Target company size | Creators, small training businesses; Plus for larger enterprises. |
What reviewers say about Thinkific
Praised for
- Customizable course sites and easy setup.
- Responsive support for many reviewers.
- Integrates with common payment and marketing tools.
Common complaints
- Add-ons and plan upgrades make it expensive.
- Limited SCORM and reporting features.
- Some reviewers report weaker support after onboarding.
Themes paraphrased from public reviews on G2 and similar sites, not quotes.
What most Thinkific reviews leave out
- SSO is listed only on the Plus plan; Thinkific developer docs say SSO uses OpenID Connect and SAML is not supported.
- Prices scale by plan caps (admins, communities, video GB), not by seat.
- Start allows 2 administrators, so a 20-person training team would need Plus (custom) or shared logins.
- Grow and above include phone support; Start is email and chat only.
- The company is publicly traded on the TSX.
Thinkific alternatives
TalentLMSSmall and mid-size companies wanting a published LMS price.$119/month (Core, up to 40 users)
DoceboMid-market and enterprise with extended enterprise (customers, partners)Contact sales
Absorb LMSMid-market and enterprise training teams, including customer education.Contact sales
LitmosMid-size companies with compliance and customer training needs and a five-figure budget.$8K per year (Foundation)
LearnUponCompanies with 100+ users wanting a managed implementation and 24/7 support.Contact sales
360LearningTeams that want employees and subject experts to author courses collaboratively.$8 per user per month (Team, up to 100 users)
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from Thinkific's own pricing, product or documentation pages, G2 and company records, checked on October 24, 2026. Unknown values are left out instead of estimated.