{"id":760,"date":"2026-03-16T14:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/?p=760"},"modified":"2026-04-01T19:46:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T19:46:55","slug":"what-is-thinkific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-thinkific\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Thinkific?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thinkific was founded in Canada in 2012 by entrepreneurs Greg and Matt Smith. They originally wanted to find a way to reach a bigger audience and sell their LSAT course online. They decided to build the entire platform from scratch to sell their course. They set out to build a platform to help course creators <a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/features\/sell-courses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sell courses<\/a> online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_77 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-thinkific\/#What_is_Thinkific\" >What is Thinkific?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-thinkific\/#How_does_Thinkific_work\" >How does Thinkific work?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-thinkific\/#What_you_need_to_know_about_selling_on_Thinkific\" >What you need to know about selling on Thinkific<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-thinkific\/#Is_Thinkific_the_best_platform_to_sell_products\" >Is Thinkific the best platform to sell products?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Thinkific\"><\/span>What is Thinkific?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Thinkific is a platform that sells online courses, communities, coaching, and memberships. This publicly traded company has 35,000 customers who sell digital products to over 200 million learners. Overall, Thinkific is a platform for teachers to sell products to students.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_does_Thinkific_work\"><\/span>How does Thinkific work?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Thinkific works in three steps. First, you need to create your course creation plan. This step allows you to plan out all aspects of your business and all the areas you need to account for.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Second, you\u2019ll need to create a lead magnet to attract potential customers. Your lead magnet could be a checklist, mini-ebook, or other resources to help you provide value to your customers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Third, you\u2019ll need to create your paid product. This product is what you\u2019re actually trying to get sales for. It could be an online course or digital download. The email subscribers you get from your lead magnet will be used to try to upsell the main product, so you can make some sales.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_you_need_to_know_about_selling_on_Thinkific\"><\/span>What you need to know about selling on Thinkific<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>One thing to know about selling on Thinkific is that in 2025, they removed their free plan. Now, all plans cost a monthly subscription. This means that even if your course isn\u2019t selling, you\u2019ll still need to pay a fee. Plans start at $49 each month, with discounts on the annual subscription.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Another thing to note about Thinkific is that some features are gated by higher-tier plans. For example, the plan with the most features is their $199 Grow plan. But even to get unlimited coaching sessions, you\u2019ll need to upgrade to a higher plan tier. Some <a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/thinkific-alternatives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thinkific alternatives<\/a>, like Payhip, actually include all features on all plans.<\/p>\n<p>Thinkific doesn\u2019t have a built-in blog feature. Unfortunately, if you\u2019re in the knowledge-sharing space, this can be a challenge. You would need to install an app to add this feature. However, the app isn\u2019t free. It costs $39 monthly. Considering most digital product platforms offer this feature for free, it can definitely be a setback.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thinkific also doesn\u2019t offer flexible payment processing options. They have their own Thinkific Payments, which don\u2019t serve every country and include transaction fees. If you\u2019re outside of the US, you may have to pay a currency conversion fee. In addition, some of their payouts can take up to 7 days if you\u2019re outside the US. This can delay cash flow in your business, which may be problematic for some.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The platform is mostly focused on online courses. If you wanted to sell physical products, like workbooks with your course, it would be difficult to do that as they don\u2019t natively offer this functionality.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thinkific also lacks marketing tools you\u2019ll need to sell products online, like coupons, upsell and cross-sell, and an affiliate program. They only have email marketing and other \u201cfeatures\u201d that are standard to offer, like a site builder.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thinkific also requires you to be on the highest pricing tier to remove their branding from your website. Thus, making it harder for you to differentiate yourself from their brand unless you pay nearly $200 each month. The price tag doesn\u2019t make sense. Removing their branding from your website should be a given.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Thinkific_the_best_platform_to_sell_products\"><\/span>Is Thinkific the best platform to sell products?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>No, Thinkific isn\u2019t the best platform to sell products; Payhip is. Payhip allows you to sell courses, memberships, coaching, software, digital downloads, and physical products. Overall, this platform lets you sell any type of product on all plans, including the free one. To start selling courses and other products, <a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/auth\/register\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sign up today<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What is Thinkific?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Thinkific is a platform that sells online courses, communities, coaching, and memberships. This publicly traded company has 35,000 customers who sell digital products to over 200 million learners. Overall, Thinkific is a platform for teachers to sell products to students.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"How does Thinkific work?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Thinkific works in three steps. First, you need to create your course creation plan. 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They set out to build a platform to help course creators [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-platforms"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Thinkific? - Payhip Resource Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this article, you&#039;ll learn answers to questions like What is Thinkific and how does it work and whether you should sell on it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-thinkific\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Thinkific? 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