Independent review · Checked 14 August 2026
Thinkific: no transaction fees, on any plan, ever
We have no affiliate relationship with Thinkific, and neither link on this page earns us a commission from Thinkific. Nothing else this page recommends pays us either — the one tool it names from outside the category, Systeme.io, does pay us, and it appears here only as a reason not to use it for a real course.
Thinkific is Teachable's closest competitor and, for most people selling courses, the cheaper one — despite a higher headline price. That sounds contradictory until you look at how each platform takes its cut.
Thinkific charges 0% platform transaction fees on every plan. Teachable charges a percentage on its lower tiers. Once you're selling anything meaningful, that single difference outweighs the price on the pricing page.
The thing that makes it cheaper
You pay Stripe or PayPal's normal processing (around 2.9% + 30¢), exactly as you would anywhere. Thinkific takes nothing on top.
At $1,000/month in course sales, a competitor charging 7.5% takes $75 a month from you. Thinkific takes $0. That's $900 a year, and it scales with your success rather than shrinking.
Two older complaints are also now gone: the surcharge for using your own Stripe account, and the 10,000-student cap. Every plan now includes unlimited students.
- Best for
- Course creators selling meaningful volume
- Free plan
- Removed in 2026 — free trial instead
- Entry tier
- Roughly USD $36–$49/mo annual
- Transaction fees
- 0% on every plan, in primary markets
- Students
- Unlimited on every plan
A note on the numbers
Thinkific restructured pricing in 2026 and third-party sources disagree on the current tier names and figures — some list Basic/Start/Grow, others Start/Grow/Expand, at prices ranging from $36 to $149 a month. Several of the sites reporting them sell competing platforms.
The fee structure and the unlimited-students change are well corroborated. The exact price for your tier isn't something we'll assert. Check thinkific.com/pricing before committing.
The free plan is gone
Thinkific retired its free plan in 2026. It was a genuinely good one — one course, no transaction fees, no time limit — and its removal means neither of the two major course platforms now has a permanent free tier.
What replaces it is a free trial of the full platform, reported as either 14 or 30 days depending on source. Longer than Teachable's, either way. If a permanent free option is what you need, neither of these is it.
Who it suits
- Anyone selling more than roughly $130–$150 a month in courses — past that the 0% fee structure wins on pure cost
- Creators who want real learning features: quizzes, surveys, completion certificates and drip content, included rather than gated to a premium tier
- People building a large student base, since every plan now has unlimited students
- First-time course creators — the interface is generally considered the more forgiving of the two
Where it's weaker
- No permanent free plan since 2026
- Higher headline price than Teachable's entry tier, which loses it comparisons that ignore the fee
- A smaller third-party integration ecosystem than Teachable — fewer templates, fewer tutorials, fewer connectors
- Extensive customisation means more to configure before you're teaching; a simpler tool gets you live faster
- In some countries a transaction fee does apply unless you use Thinkific Payments — worth confirming for your market
- Pricing restructured recently and reported inconsistently
Probably not for you if
- You need a specific integration that only Teachable supports
- You're selling almost nothing yet — below roughly $130/month the fee barely matters and a cheaper entry price wins
- You want to launch this week rather than configure a platform
- Your course is a side offer — an all-in-one's course module may be enough
Questions
Are there really no transaction fees?
On every plan, in primary markets like the US, Thinkific takes 0%. You still pay standard Stripe or PayPal processing, as you would on any platform. In some countries a fee applies unless you use Thinkific Payments — confirm for your own market, particularly outside the US.
Is there a free plan?
Not since 2026. It was replaced by a free trial of the full platform — longer than Teachable's, though sources differ on whether it's 14 or 30 days. Neither major course platform has a permanent free tier now.
Thinkific or Teachable?
Above roughly $130–$150 a month in course sales, Thinkific costs less because of the 0% fee, and the gap widens as you grow. Below that, Teachable's cheaper entry price wins. Teachable also has the larger integration ecosystem and better tax automation. For most people actually selling, Thinkific.
Does it have quizzes and certificates?
Yes, and this is the reason to use a course platform at all. Neither Systeme.io nor most all-in-ones offer quizzes, certificates or drip content on any plan. If the learning experience is your product, that gap is the whole argument. Worth knowing that Systeme.io pays us a commission and Thinkific pays us nothing — we're pointing you at the tool that earns us less.
Why are the prices on this page vague?
Because Thinkific changed them in 2026 and reliable sources disagree on the current tiers. We'd rather say so than print a figure we can't stand behind — see how we choose. The 0% fee structure is solid and well corroborated; the exact tier price needs checking on their site.
If it fits, start here
Use the trial to build one complete course including checkout, and confirm two things on the pricing page while you're there: the current price of the tier you'd need, and whether a transaction fee applies in your country. Those two answers decide it.
This link earns us nothing. We have no affiliate relationship with Thinkific.
Read next: Teachable vs Thinkific — the head-to-head this category comes down to, and the transaction fee settles most of it.