KBD Systems

Side by side

Thinkific vs Teachable

Both products' published prices and terms, read off their own pages on 6 August 2026. Neither of them is ours. No scores, no rankings, no affiliate links.

What's the difference between Thinkific and Teachable?

Thinkific is A course platform for building, marketing and selling online courses and communities on your own site. It is sold to experts and educators turning what they know into courses, memberships and communities. Teachable is A course platform for creating and selling courses, coaching and digital downloads, with native student apps. It is sold to creators selling courses, coaching and digital products. Both read off their own pricing and product pages on 6 August 2026.

People type this comparison both ways round — thinkific vs teachable and teachable vs thinkific— and this is the one page for both. It publishes no verdict, because the two are built for different people and a ranking would be an opinion wearing a measurement’s clothes.

The two, side by side

Thinkific

A course platform for building, marketing and selling online courses and communities on your own site. Sold to experts and educators turning what they know into courses, memberships and communities.

from $54/month · 30-day trial

Published plans

  • Basic — $54, or $40/mo billed annually
  • Start — $109, or $82/mo billed annually
  • Grow — $219, or $164/mo billed annually
  • Plus — not published

Billed on top

  • The branded mobile app is $199/mo, included only on select Plus plans
  • Using a payment gateway other than Thinkific Payments adds a third-party gateway fee that varies by plan; Thinkific Payments itself processes at 2.9%

On your sales: No platform fee on your sales. Thinkific Payments processes at 2.9%, which their FAQ calls in line with Stripe and PayPal; other gateways add a per-plan fee.

What it genuinely does better

  • Unlimited published courses on every plan, including the cheapest.
  • The deepest course craft in this set: quizzes, assignments, certificates, drip schedules, cohorts and communities, from a company that has done only this since 2012.
  • TCommerce is real commerce — order bumps, buy-now-pay-later, gifting, group orders, abandoned-cart reminders and automated sales tax in the checkout.
  • A 30-day free trial — double the category's usual 14.
  • Your school runs on your own custom domain on every plan.

Where it is hardest on an owner running it alone

  • Current students are capped at 10,000 on every self-serve tier — the one number growth actually hits.
  • Course video bandwidth is metered — 100 GB a month on Basic — a limit almost nobody prices in before they buy.
  • Removing Thinkific branding waits until the $219/mo Grow tier.
  • The marketing engine around the course — email sequences, funnels, a CRM, launch campaigns — largely lives in integrations, and the course itself is still yours to write.
thinkific.com/pricing

Teachable

A course platform for creating and selling courses, coaching and digital downloads, with native student apps. Sold to creators selling courses, coaching and digital products.

from $39/month · 7-day trial · 30-day money back

Published plans

  • Starter — $39, or $29/mo billed annually
  • Builder — $89, or $69/mo billed annually
  • Growth — $189, or $139/mo billed annually
  • Custom — not published

Billed on top

  • Payment processing on every plan: 2.9% + 30¢ US cards, 3.9% + 30¢ international cards, 3.49% + 49¢ US PayPal, 4.99% + 49¢ international PayPal
  • A $15 chargeback fee
  • An optional BackOffice fee of 2–2.8% for handling affiliate and author payouts

On your sales: 7.5% of your sales on Starter; 0% on Builder and above. Processing fees still apply on every plan.

What it genuinely does better

  • The cheapest tiered entry among the course platforms here — $39/mo, or $29/mo billed annually.
  • Native iOS and Android student apps on every plan, including the entry one.
  • Coaching and digital downloads are first-class products beside courses, not bolt-ons.
  • Global payments and tax are handled for you — checkout, VAT and sales tax are its job, not yours.
  • A 30-day money-back guarantee on top of the 7-day trial, stated plainly on the pricing page.

Where it is hardest on an owner running it alone

  • Starter's real price is 7.5% of every sale plus processing, with 100 active students and 5 products.
  • Admin seats are scarce: one on Starter and Builder, five on Growth.
  • Active students are metered per tier — past 5,000 you are in contact-sales territory.
  • Marketing is checkout-adjacent — coupons, upsells, abandoned-cart emails; the funnels, campaigns and copy that fill the course are still your blank page.
teachable.com/pricing

Which is cheaper?

Teachable is cheaper to start: $39/month against $54/month. Thinkific: Basic is $54/month, or $40/month billed annually. Start is $109/month, or $82/month billed annually. Grow is $219/month, or $164/month billed annually. Plus has no price published on that page. Teachable: Starter is $39/month, or $29/month billed annually. Builder is $89/month, or $69/month billed annually. Growth is $189/month, or $139/month billed annually. Custom has no price published on that page. The entry price is not the bill. On what is billed on top: Thinkific — The branded mobile app is $199/mo, included only on select Plus plans; Using a payment gateway other than Thinkific Payments adds a third-party gateway fee that varies by plan; Thinkific Payments itself processes at 2.9%. Teachable — Payment processing on every plan: 2.9% + 30¢ US cards, 3.9% + 30¢ international cards, 3.49% + 49¢ US PayPal, 4.99% + 49¢ international PayPal; A $15 chargeback fee; An optional BackOffice fee of 2–2.8% for handling affiliate and author payouts. On fees taken from your sales: Thinkific — No platform fee on your sales. Thinkific Payments processes at 2.9%, which their FAQ calls in line with Stripe and PayPal; other gateways add a per-plan fee. Teachable — 7.5% of your sales on Starter; 0% on Builder and above. Processing fees still apply on every plan. All checked 6 August 2026.

Is Thinkific or Teachable better?

Neither, in general — they are built for different people, and this page publishes no score or ranking. What Thinkific genuinely does better: Unlimited published courses on every plan, including the cheapest. The deepest course craft in this set: quizzes, assignments, certificates, drip schedules, cohorts and communities, from a company that has done only this since 2012. TCommerce is real commerce — order bumps, buy-now-pay-later, gifting, group orders, abandoned-cart reminders and automated sales tax in the checkout. What Teachable genuinely does better: The cheapest tiered entry among the course platforms here — $39/mo, or $29/mo billed annually. Native iOS and Android student apps on every plan, including the entry one. Coaching and digital downloads are first-class products beside courses, not bolt-ons. Where Thinkific is hardest on a small business owner running it alone: Current students are capped at 10,000 on every self-serve tier — the one number growth actually hits. Course video bandwidth is metered — 100 GB a month on Basic — a limit almost nobody prices in before they buy. Where Teachable is hardest: Starter's real price is 7.5% of every sale plus processing, with 100 active students and 5 products. Admin seats are scarce: one on Starter and Builder, five on Growth. That is our reading of their published plans, limits and product pages as of 6 August 2026 — check thinkific.com/pricing and teachable.com/pricing before deciding anything on the strength of ours.

More questions people ask about these two

Does Thinkific or Teachable take a percentage of your sales?

Thinkific: No platform fee on your sales. Thinkific Payments processes at 2.9%, which their FAQ calls in line with Stripe and PayPal; other gateways add a per-plan fee. Teachable: 7.5% of your sales on Starter; 0% on Builder and above. Processing fees still apply on every plan. Both from their own pages on 6 August 2026. A percentage of sales usually outgrows a subscription difference faster than people expect, so compare it at the revenue you actually plan to do, not at zero.

Do Thinkific or Teachable have a free plan or free trial?

Thinkific: no free plan, and a 30-day free trial. Teachable: no free plan, and a 7-day free trial, with a 30-day money-back window. Checked 6 August 2026.

Who publishes this

KBD Systems. We are not in the comparison above and we did not put a thumb on either side of it — everything on this page is Thinkific’s and Teachable’s own published material, read on 6 August 2026, with both pages linked so you never have to take our word for a figure. We do sell software these two compete with, and what it costs is on our own pricing page rather than in the middle of somebody else’s comparison.

Thinkific pricing, every plan and every feeTeachable pricing, every plan and every feeWhat to use instead of ThinkificWhat to use instead of TeachableWhat all 11 platforms cost, in one table

Figures checked 6 August 2026 (2026-08-06).