Thinkific Start
Online community management software
Course authoring software
eLearning content software
Talent management software
Training eLearning software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$74 per month
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
Small
Medium
Large
- Retail and wholesale
- Real estate and property management
- Arts, entertainment, and recreation
What is Thinkific Start
Thinkific Start is an entry-level plan of Thinkific’s learning commerce platform used to create and deliver online courses. It targets individual creators and small businesses that need hosted course pages, learner management, and basic sales/checkout capabilities. The plan emphasizes a guided setup and templates for building courses without custom development, with optional add-ons and upgrades for more advanced features.
Hosted course delivery platform
Thinkific Start provides a hosted environment for publishing courses, managing enrollments, and delivering lessons without requiring separate web hosting. It supports common learning content formats (for example, video and downloadable files) and organizes them into structured curricula. This reduces the operational overhead for small teams compared with assembling multiple tools.
Built-in commerce for courses
The product includes native capabilities to sell access to courses, which is central for creator-led training and paid education. It supports packaging and pricing of offerings within the same system used to deliver learning. This is useful for organizations that want a single workflow from course creation through purchase and enrollment.
Creator-focused course builder
Thinkific Start centers on a course builder designed for non-technical users, with templates and guided configuration to speed initial setup. It enables rapid iteration on course structure and lesson content without needing a separate authoring tool. This approach fits solo operators and small businesses that prioritize time-to-launch over deep instructional design tooling.
Limited community capabilities
While Thinkific can support learner engagement, the Start tier is not primarily a full-featured community management system. Organizations that require advanced community features (such as complex member segmentation, extensive moderation workflows, or rich event/community programming) may need higher tiers or additional tools. This can matter for brands that treat community as the main product experience.
Basic enterprise learning controls
Thinkific Start is oriented toward selling and delivering courses rather than enterprise talent management or regulated training. Features commonly needed for corporate learning programs—such as advanced reporting, granular role-based administration, and complex compliance workflows—may be limited or require upgrades. This can constrain use in larger HR/L&D deployments.
Plan-based feature constraints
Capabilities vary by plan, and the Start tier can restrict access to more advanced customization, integrations, and automation. As requirements grow (multiple brands, deeper analytics, or more sophisticated marketing and learner journeys), teams may need to move to higher tiers or add-ons. This can increase total cost and implementation complexity over time.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $49/mo (monthly) or $36/mo (when billed annually) | Unlimited courses; 1 community; 5 digital downloads; 5 coaching & webinar sessions; sales tools (coupons, order bumps, gifting); abandoned cart; email & chat support. |
| Start | $99/mo (monthly) or $74/mo (when billed annually) | Everything in Basic, plus: unlimited live lessons and coaching sessions; certificates, assignments, and compliance tools; advanced sales tools (bundles, post-purchase upsells, payment plans); memberships and subscriptions; HTML/CSS site editing; 2 course administrator accounts. |
| Grow | $199/mo (monthly) or $149/mo (when billed annually) | Everything in Start, plus: 3 communities; remove Thinkific branding; enhanced analytics; invoicing; group orders; API/webhooks; phone & priority chat support. |
| Plus (Premium/Enterprise) | Custom / Talk to sales | Enterprise features: unlimited users & products; SCORM compliance; learning paths; SSO; CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce); advanced analytics & custom reports; dedicated onboarding and support. |
Additional notes: Branded Mobile App add-on: $199/mo (official add-on on Thinkific site). Thinkific shows a 30-day free trial option for plans on the official pricing page.
Seller details
Thinkific Labs Inc.
Vancouver, BC, Canada
2012
Private
https://www.thinkific.com/
https://x.com/thinkific
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thinkific/
