Teachable vs Thinkific

A learning system based on formalised teaching but with the help of electronic resources is known as E-learning. While teaching can be based in or out of the classrooms, the use of computers and the Internet forms the major component of E-learning. E-learning can also be termed as a network enabled transfer of skills and knowledge, and the delivery of education is made to a large number of recipients at the same or different times. Earlier, it was not accepted wholeheartedly as it was assumed that this system lacked the human element required in learning. But with time the notion is changing and E-learning is getting popular for it’s convenience and omnipresence.

  • About (Teachable and Thinkific)

Teachable (formerly “Fedora”) is a for-profit educational technology company based in New York that offers a social online learning platform designed to deliver massive open online courses (MOOCs).

People who want to teach courses on Teachable can use the service for free, or sign up for a paid plan to use additional pedagogical and e-commerce tools.

Thinkific is an all-in-one learning management system that promises to give you “everything you need to easily create, market, and sell your own online courses.”

Their main page touts the following features to get you up and running your course:

  • Build your brand and grow your audience
  • Start selling immediately
  • Create compelling content
  • A platform that grows with you
  • Design customization
  • Scale your business

They have a tiered pricing structure, including a Starter plan that doesn’t have a monthly fee like the higher tiers, but instead has a higher transaction fee of 10%.

  • Product Features (Feature Comparisons)

COURSE CREATION:

 THINKFICTEACHABLE
Create courses with multiple content typesYESYES
Bulk import course contentYESYES
Easily add externally hosted content & appsYESNO
Full hosting of video & other filesYESYES
Course attachments & downloadsYESYES

SALES & MARKETING:

 THINKFICTEACHABLE
Drip ContentYESYES
Free, Paid, SubscriptionYESYES
Time-Limited CoursesYESNO
Site Wide Coupons & PromotionsYESYES
Upsells & BundlesYESYES
Course RatingsYESNO
Advanced Marketing Integrations (ie: Mixpanel, Zapier, Segment.io etc.)YESYES
Affiliate programYESYES
Sales Widget (sell off-platform)YESNO

DESIGN & CUSTOMIZATION

 THINKFICTEACHABLE
Custom DomainsYESYES
Setup hidden & private coursesYESNO
Custom branding (colors, logo & site images)YESYES
Built-in blogNOYES
Drag and drop visual editorYESYES
Full access to HTML/CSS with export/import capabilitiesYESNO

SITE ADMINISTRATION:

 THINKFICTEACHABLE
Fully managed customer signup / purchase / enrollment processYESYES
Order tracking, conversion, and retargeting pixel supportYESYES
Enterprise tier features (SSO, White Label, Account Manager, Content Creation Services, etc.)YESNO
  • Pricing (Plan Comparison)

Teachable collects and pays the VAT if you use their Teachable Gateway payment setup (the one where you, as course creator, are paid on the 1st of the month).

Thinkific does not have this ability. There is a rather complicated and pricey integration that, honestly, I’m not sure I would trust after looking into it.

 THINKFICTEACHABLE
Unlimited Courses, students & bandwidthYESYES
Enterprise plans & professional services availableYESYES
Instant access to your fundsYESNO
0% Transaction Fee Option0% fees at $99/mo0% fees at $99/mo
Standard Packages$0 – 279/mo$0 – 299/mo
  • Data and Insights
  • Support and Resources

Both Teachable and Thinkific offer great customer support. If you had asked me about customer service in 2016, I could have easily said that Thinkific’s customer support is better and fast compared to that of Teachable. However, Teachable has significantly improved it’s customer service in the past 1 year and it’s as good as Thinkific.

  • Testimonials
TechableThinkific 
Course Delivery & Student EngagementTEACHABLETHINKIFIC
 Teachable offers unlimited courses, students and bandwidth on any of their plans.Thinkific too offers unlimited courses, students and bandwidth on any of their plans.
Supported Content TypesYou can add Video, Audio, Text, PDF, Multimedia, Quizzes etc.You can add Video, Audio, Text, PDF, Multimedia, Quizzes etc.
No inbuilt support for surveys. You can use a free solution like Google Forms to gather feedback.Thinkific has an inbuilt survey element to collect feedback.
Has native capability to create basic quizzes. Plus you can use a specialized quizzing solution like ProProfs or Quiz-Maker to create advanced quizzes/exams and integrate it with your Teachable courses.Thinkific allows you to create basic quizzes and advanced question banks. It also offers integration with Brillium (starts from $49/mo) on Advanced Plan ($299/mo). And you can always use solutions like ProProfs and Quiz-Maker.
Content UploadAllows bulk upload and to import the files from Google Drive/Dropbox.Allows bulk upload but doesn’t allow bulk upload via Google Drive/Dropbox.
Course Player/Course AreaTeachable’s course area looks more professional, provides better student experience and can be further customized with some basic coding.Thinkific’s course area isn’t as good from student experience perspective and it’s not easy to customize it as well.
Student DiscussionsTeachable has an inbuilt commenting system that can be embedded in individual lectures. Thinkific has an inbuilt discussion system plus it also integrates with Disqus. The major drawback is that there is no way to embed discussions in individual lectures.
GroupsTeachable doesn’t have a direct way to group students and manage them. However, you can use their coupons feature to enroll multiple users in a course and manage them.Thinkific has this feature called ‘Groups’ that allows you to easily bulk sell your courses and manage the students and track their progress.
Certificate of CompletionTeachable doesn’t have inbuilt capability to issue certificates. In order to do that, you will need to use a solution like Google Slides, Webmerge or Accredible.On Business Plan & above, Thinkific allows you to issue certificates of completion using Accredible(cost of Accredible is part of the Thinkific plan)
Content DripYou can drip content on $39/mo & above plans and drip will start either relative to student enrolment or on a fixed date. You can drip content on $49/mo & above plans and you can start dripping it either relative to student enrollment or on a specific date.
You can send automated drip emails to students based on drip schedule.You can’t send drip notifications via Thinkific. You will need to do it using your email service provider.
iOS AppTeachable has an iOS App (no Android App) where you can make your courses available.Thinkific doesn’t have a mobile App at this point.
Course AnalyticsBasic course analytics on all plans. Advanced analytics available on $99/mo plan & above.Detailed course analytics on all plans.

While Thinkific has better survey & quiz capabilities, overall Teachable does a better job at course delivery & engagement. Teachable’s course player and course area looks much more professional and is better designed from a user experience perspective. Teachable also offers an iOS app for the students to take the courses.

  • User Feedbacks and Recommendations

TEACHING & STUDENT EXPERIENCE:

 THINKFICTEACHABLE
Built in student discussionsYESYES
Automated welcome & completion emailsYESNO
Completion certificatesYESNO
Student progress reportingYESYES

Teachable over Thinkific?

  • More Powerful Drag & Drop Page Builder
  • Highly Optimized 1-Step Checkout Process
  • 1-Click Upsells
  • Better Students Discussion Capability
  • Has an iOS App

Thinkific over Teachable?

  • Powerful Site Themes
  • More Powerful Quiz Elements
  • Inbuilt support for course reviews
  • Final Verdict

If you budget and timeline are not a concern for you in launching your first course, I would say you should sign-up for both and see which one feels better to you.

If you don’t want to spend anything up-front to launch your course, Thinkificis the best place to start because it offers a free starter option (Teachable does not).