Top 6 Thinkific Alternatives in 2022: Every Creator Must Know

With the emergence of online teaching platforms, Thinkific has become one of the most popular online course platforms. Here, you can teach a few or plenty of students together at the same time. Making your own website to gather a class online and teach is no longer a hassle. 

Creating an online setup no longer requires huge investments. While Thinkific is among the best, it is not suitable to many users for a variety of reasons.

The Best 6 Thinkific Alternatives of 2022:  

1. Teachable

This is one of the top Thinkific alternatives in 2022. Online teachers swear by the efficiency of this platform. This has resulted in this alternative crossing over $1 billion in sales.

With a UI similar to Thinkific, Teachable provides even more features and focuses on video based content. This way, courses get better visibility and engagement from students. 

Teachable has three price variants. Basic membership costs $39, Pro membership costs $119 and Business membership costs $299.

Features of Teachable

• You can link your existing websites to teachable with the help of a custom domain.
• You can host unlimited students for an unlimited number of classes.
• Email and affiliate marketing is integrated in the system.
• Enhanced support from Teachable which allows you to work with a team while they manage the payroll and their level of access.
• You can schedule one on one lessons via calls.
• Payment is accepted through over a hundred different currencies.

Pros of Teachable

• Beginners will find it easy to build online courses through their drag and drop course builder. It is also easy to customize sales pages. 
• Teachable is very innovative as it launches new features every month to keep up with the trends. This way, users will always have something new to discover.
• Teachable provides Automated SSL certification, security and various payment gateways making it very secure. 

Cons of Teachable

• Calls to tech support are not available. Basic members do not get access to chat support either. They will need to upgrade their membership to receive these benefits. 
• If you are looking to move out of Thinkific, Teachable does not provide any migration services.  

2. LearnDash

WordPress users will benefit most from LearnDash as this is a WordPress plugin which does not require any migration. What’s more, WordPress also has an easily accessible library with a variety of add-ons. Some of these add-ons are free while some are premium. 

The basic version sells for $159, whereas the Plus and Pro memberships sell for $189 and $329 respectively. 

Features of LearnDash

• Provides SEO optimization with the help of Yoast SEO.
• Facility to create courses with their easy drag and drop feature.
• Integration with Mailchimp, Paypal, etc. 
• They provide a detailed report on tangents such as performances, progresses and enrolment. 

Pros of LearnDash

• LearnDash being a WordPress plugin is considerably cheaper. Another advantage of this plugin is that it is easier to create courses here. 

Cons of LearnDash

• Tech support is comparatively slow to other Thinkific alternatives and they do not help with migration services.
• Members need to buy their own SSL certificate which leads to extra expenditure.
• LearnDash does not release new features often as they bank on the premium add-ons to satisfy their members. This leads to extra expenditure. 

3. Kartra

As a popular Thinkific alternative, Kartra makes it easy to teach students online by allowing you to sell your courses. What’s more, users can also access premium features such as statistical analytics, automation of email services, and affiliate management.

This makes it easier for members to track their growth. 

They provide four types of membership packages: The Starter package begins at $99, whereas the other packages namely silver, gold and platinum cost $199, $299 and $499 respectively.  

Features of Kartra

• Marketing campaigns through email and SMS are purely automated.
• Allows you to add advertisements between your videos.
• Enhanced customization of pages.
• Doubles up as a CRM thus generating leads and customers.
• Easy building of funnel flows.

Pros of Kartra

• With features such as automated marketing and funnel building, Kartra handles all your sales statistics.
• Karta provides features such as assistance in creating landing pages with SSL certificates.
• Kartra also offers migration services for a fee, so that you do not have to do it yourself. 

Cons of Kartra

• Kartra provides minimal support to their basic members through only one helpdesk. Members who opt for other packages get support through an unlimited number of helpdesks.
• They have a variety of features but are failing at updating them according to the current trends. 

4. Udemy

Udemy is a great portal which allows everyone including beginners to create an unlimited number of courses for free. They also provide a free tutorial on how to create courses. What’s more, as a member, you can even connect with other members and have your doubts resolved. 

Features of Udemy

• Create courses for free and sell it online.
• Monthly payments via Paypal or Payoneer.
• Ready-made course templates.
• Brilliant tech support.
• SEO Optimized with high ranking on Google.
• Completion certificates. 

Pros of Udemy

• While their courses are not accredited, members have the options of providing digital certificates to their students as memorabilia. 
• Since Udemy is already SEO optimized, chances of your courses getting high visibility is automatically guaranteed. 
• Udemy gives you high visibility thus leading to increased sales.
• If you create your own referral links, Udemy only takes 3% of the revenue. 

Cons of Udemy

• If you sell via affiliates, you only get 25% of the revenue and the rest is split between Udemy and them.
• They usually take a 50% commission in exchange for visibility.
• They have a rating system in place. Bad reviews lead to negligible sales.
• Due to serious competition, courses are sold for the lowest prices which has a negative impact on revenue. 
• Udemy sticks their own branding over your logo. 

5. Coursera

Coursera is one of the top, premium Thinkific alternatives. They are extremely accredited as they collaborate with over 200 top ranking universities all over the world. Thus, they provide a very traditional teaching experience through their online platform. 

Their pricing plans begin at $319 for small business solutions. For larger organizations, they are flexible to a custom pricing for which users will need to get in touch with them.

Features of Coursera

• Progress can be tracked efficiently with the help of data such as statistics and analytics.
• Coursera provides students certificates once they complete their course. 
• Users can gain access to over 4,000 types of courses from different universities.
• Allows companies to create a data-driven workforce. 

Pros of Coursera

• Users get access to guided projects and quizzes.
• High quality training facilities.
• Efficient tech support across all operating systems including iOS and Android.
• Various payment gateways such as Paypal and Credit/Debit cards.
• 14 day refund guarantee if users are unsatisfied. 

Cons of Coursera

• Coursera is not for individual sellers and entrepreneurs. It is only meant for top ranking universities and institutes.
• API and LMS integrations cost extra and is only available to organizations with an enterprise membership.
• Members have to fulfil certain criteria to launch a course on Coursera. 

6. iSpring

As a Thinkific alternative, iSpring is an online platform meant for beginners as well as professionals. Not only can you set up your own marketplace, you can create courses and launch them in no time. 

There are two price variants, called iSpring Suite and iSpring Max. These variants cost $770 and $970 respectively. 

Features of iSpring

• Create courses and promote them.
• iSpring Market allows members to sell simulations and courses created in the iSpring Suite. 
• iSpring’s settings are customizable according to your preferences. 

Pros of iSpring

• 24×7 technical support for iSpring Max users only. 
• They receive 20GB of space to organize their files in one place.
• iSpring Max users get access to over 68000 types of templates. 
• Various payment gateway options such as PayPal, credit and debit cards in over 30 currencies.
• Students get access to free as well as premium courses. 

Cons of iSpring

• The platform has an eye mainly on the money and caters mainly to iSpring Max members. 
• Lack of customer support for members who chose either plans.
• The report templates cannot be customized. 

Final Words: Thinkific Alternatives

These are some of the top alternatives of Thinkific in 2022. While each alternative has its pros and cons, each alternative is beneficial in its own way. These alternatives allow you to create courses and provide certifications for it as well. 

If you are looking for extremely reputed and accredited platforms then Coursera is right for you. But, if you are looking to increase sales without much effort then LearnDash is a great option as it is a WordPress plugin.