Teachable vs Thinkific
Two mature course platforms with almost identical pitches and different gating.
VERIFIED 2026-07-28
The verdict
Thinkific for the teaching, Teachable for the cheap start. Thinkific has the stronger course engine and puts communities on its $109 Start plan; Teachable gates community to its $139 Growth plan but lets you begin at $29 a month if you accept a 7.5% cut and a 100-student cap. If you know you need community, compare $109 against $139 rather than the headline entry prices, because the entry plans of both are course-only.
Choose Teachable if
- You want the lowest possible cost to validate a course
- You have fewer than 100 students and few products
- You would rather pay a percentage than a subscription
Choose Thinkific if
- Quizzes, assignments, and certificates matter
- You need a community without reaching the top published plan
- You want zero platform fees on course revenue from day one
Cost at three real sizes
Cheapest plan that holds the member count, including each platform's own cut and payment processing.
| Scenario | Teachable | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| 50 members at $20$1,000 monthly revenue | $133Builder | $98Basic |
| 200 members at $25$5,000 monthly revenue | $294Builder | $259Basic |
| 500 members at $30$15,000 monthly revenue | $674Builder | $639Basic |
Feature by feature
| Capability | Teachable | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Community features | Higher plan required | Higher plan required |
| Courses | Supported | Supported |
| Coaching and live events | Higher plan required | Partially supported |
| Video hosting | Supported | Supported |
| Livestreaming | Not supported | Not supported |
| Newsletter and publishing | Not supported | Not supported |
| Private podcast support | Not supported | Not supported |
| Payments and monetization | Supported | Supported |
| Branding and customization | Higher plan required | Supported |
| Branded mobile app | Not supported | Higher plan required |
| Audience discovery | Not supported | Not supported |
| Email and marketing | Partially supported | Partially supported |
| Integrations and API | Partially supported | Higher plan required |
| Migration support | Partially supported | Supported |
| Customer and data ownership | Supported | Supported |
Best case across each platform’s full range. Individual plans gate some of these; the platform pages show which.