If you’re pricing out Thinkific in 2026, the short version is this: three public plans cost $54, $109 and $219 a month when billed monthly, and $40, $82 and $164 a month when billed annually, with a custom Plus plan above them. Those are the figures on Thinkific’s own pricing page as of October 2026, along with a 30-day free trial. Where the page doesn’t give a number, I’ll say so instead of guessing.
Thinkific looks cheap next to the big all-in-one platforms, but the plan that actually fits your course business is usually not the cheapest one. Feature gates, payment fees and a student cap all change what you’ll pay. I run education and done-for-you services at Ecommerce Paradise, and picking a course platform on price alone is one of the most common mistakes I see.
This guide covers every plan, the limits that matter, the transaction fees, a worked cost example, and who should skip Thinkific. If you also sell physical or high-ticket products, start with my guide to what high-ticket dropshipping is to see how a store and a knowledge business can work together. Some links below are affiliate links, so I may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.
Test Thinkific for 30 Days Before You Pay
Thinkific offers a 30-day free trial and lets you upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time. Build a real course during the trial and see whether the plan fits.
Thinkific Pricing at a Glance (October 2026)
Thinkific sells four plans: Basic, Start, Grow and Plus. The first three have public prices, and Plus is custom. Here is how they compare side by side.
| Feature | Basic | Start | Grow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly billing | $54 a month | $109 a month | $219 a month |
| Annual billing | $40 a month | $82 a month | $164 a month |
| Current students | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Published courses | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Video bandwidth | 100 GB a month | 200 GB a month | 400 GB a month |
| Communities | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Digital downloads | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Administrators | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Support | Email and chat | Email and chat | Phone and priority support |
There is no permanent free plan. The 30-day trial is the only free way in, and you can switch between Basic, Start and Grow, or cancel, at any time, including during the trial.
What Annual Billing Really Saves
Thinkific advertises 25% off for paying annually. Here is the math on twelve months of each plan, calculated from the listed monthly prices.
| Plan | 12 months, billed monthly | 12 months, billed annually | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $648 | $480 | $168 |
| Start | $1,308 | $984 | $324 |
| Grow | $2,628 | $1,968 | $660 |
The page states savings of $173 for Basic and $330 for Start, which are a few dollars off my math of $168 and $324. Grow matches at $660. It’s a small gap, but it’s a reminder to check the checkout total rather than the banner.
Basic Plan: $54 a Month ($40 Annual)
Basic is the cheapest way into Thinkific. You get unlimited courses, one community with five spaces, up to five digital downloads, five coaching or webinar sessions, one administrator and 100 GB of video bandwidth a month. For someone testing a first course, it covers the essentials.
The limits show up quickly. Basic caps coaching and webinars at five, digital downloads at five, and video bandwidth at 100 GB a month. It also leaves out features many creators assume are standard, such as completion certificates, assignments, quizzes and payment plans, which start on the next tier.
Best for: first-time creators validating a single course before spending real money.
Start Plan: $109 a Month ($82 Annual)
Start is labeled the most popular plan, and it’s where Thinkific starts to feel like a full course business tool. It adds live cohorts and coaching, completion certificates, assignments and quizzes, bundles, upsells, payment plans, memberships and subscriptions, and an HTML and CSS editor. Digital downloads and coaching sessions become unlimited, bandwidth doubles to 200 GB, and you get two administrators.
For most solo creators, Start is the practical entry point. Payment plans and memberships are what let you sell higher-priced programs, and those are gated off Basic.
Best for: creators selling a real course or a membership with quizzes, certificates or payment plans.
Grow Plan: $219 a Month ($164 Annual)
Grow removes Thinkific branding, raises you to three communities and 400 GB of video bandwidth, and allows six administrators. It also adds group orders and B2B sales, invoicing, API access and webhooks, student engagement reports, and phone and priority support.
The jump from Start to Grow is $110 a month on monthly billing and $82 a month on annual billing. Removing branding, adding API access and supporting a team are the reasons to pay it. If none of those apply to you, stay on Start.
Best for: established course businesses with a small team, B2B buyers or integrations to build.
Plus Plan: Custom Pricing
Plus is for large organizations. Thinkific lists it as “Talk to sales,” with no public price. The page describes dedicated end-to-end support, an AI teaching assistant, single sign-on, SCORM, CRM integrations, 10,000+ seats, and a branded mobile app on select contracts.
Contract terms and eligibility criteria for the included mobile app aren’t on the page, so ask during the sales call rather than assuming. The branded mobile app is sold separately for $199 a month on the other plans.
Best for: training companies and enterprises with very large audiences and compliance needs.
Thinkific Transaction Fees Explained
Thinkific’s own payment processing, called Thinkific Payments, is listed at 2.9% in the FAQ. If you use Stripe or PayPal instead, a third-party gateway fee applies on top of the standard Stripe or PayPal fees, and that fee varies by plan. Thinkific Payments users avoid the extra gateway fee.
The page also says extra fees apply to some payment methods and some countries. I couldn’t find the exact gateway amounts or country-specific fees on the pricing page itself, so look them up for your own setup before you launch.
A Worked Example: What Thinkific Really Costs Each Month
Let’s price a creator who collects $5,000 a month through Thinkific Payments. At 2.9%, that is $145 a month in processing. I’ve used only the 2.9% rate listed, so the real number may be slightly higher if a flat per-transaction amount applies. All three scenarios use annual billing.
| Plan | Plan fee | Processing at 2.9% | Total per month | Year-one total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $40 | $145 | $185 | $2,220 |
| Start | $82 | $145 | $227 | $2,724 |
| Grow | $164 | $145 | $309 | $3,708 |
Notice that processing is the same $145 on every plan, because the listed rate doesn’t change by tier. That’s different from platforms where the plan lowers your fees. Here, you upgrade for features, never to save on processing.
On $60,000 of yearly sales, the total cost of platform and processing runs from about 3.7% on Basic to about 6.2% on Grow. That’s modest compared with many all-in-one tools, which is a real argument for Thinkific if you don’t need the extras.
How Thinkific Pricing Compares With Kajabi
On sticker price alone, Thinkific is cheaper than Kajabi, whose plans start at $143 a month on annual billing. The two platforms bundle different things, though, so compare features, not just price.
I broke down every Kajabi plan and fee in my Kajabi pricing guide, which makes it easy to run the same example through both. For the full head-to-head, see Teachable vs Thinkific vs Kajabi.
Which Plan Fits Which Kind of Creator
Three examples make the choice easier than a feature checklist. These are scenarios, not promises, and your numbers will differ.
The first-time course creator. You have one course idea, a small audience and no proof it sells yet. Basic at $40 a month annually, or $54 monthly, keeps your risk low while you test. If the course sells, move up to Start the moment you want payment plans or quizzes, because offering installments is often what turns a hesitant buyer into a paying one.
The established coach. You already sell your expertise one to one and want a program people can buy without a call. Start is the sensible home: live cohorts and coaching, certificates, bundles, upsells and memberships are all included. At $82 a month annually, the plan fee is small next to what a single coaching client pays.
The training business. You sell to companies, run several communities, or need an API and a small team. Grow at $164 a month annually is built for you, and the branding removal alone matters when a client expects a white-label experience. If you need single sign-on or SCORM, you’ve outgrown Grow and should talk to Thinkific about Plus.
How to Cancel, Downgrade or Switch Later
Thinkific says Basic, Start and Grow can be upgraded, downgraded or canceled at any time. That flexibility is the reason I’d start on the lowest plan that supports your offer instead of buying the biggest one up front.
Switching platforms is a bigger decision than switching plans. Moving a library of videos, student records and payment history takes real work, so choose a platform you can live with for a couple of years. If you’re unsure, compare Thinkific against Teachable during your trials.
My Teachable pricing breakdown shows how its fees differ.
What the Pricing Page Doesn’t Tell You
This is where I’d slow down before signing up. The page doesn’t give Plus pricing, trial terms beyond the 30 days, or the exact amount of the third-party gateway fee. It also doesn’t say what happens when you exceed the 10,000 student cap that all three plans list.
The stated annual savings for Basic and Start also don’t quite match the monthly prices, as I showed earlier. None of this is a dealbreaker, but it’s a good reason to confirm the details with support before you build around a specific feature.
Refund and cancellation terms beyond the statement that you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time aren’t listed either. Read the terms at checkout so you know what happens to an annual payment if you cancel early.
Weigh Thinkific Against an All-in-One Platform
Kajabi bundles courses, funnels, email and communities under one login and backs every plan with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Run your own offer through both trials.
Who Should Use Thinkific, and Who Shouldn’t
Thinkific earns its place when you want a focused course platform at a modest price, with a clean student experience and room to grow into memberships and communities. If your core product is a course, and you already have email and funnels handled elsewhere, the lower price is hard to argue with.
It’s a weaker fit if you want everything under one roof. Once you add an email tool, a funnel builder and a payment processor on top of the plan fee, the savings over an all-in-one platform can shrink. Add up the full stack before you decide.
It’s also not for you if you expect a free plan. The only free option is the 30-day trial, so budget for the cheapest plan from day one.
Common Mistakes When Choosing a Thinkific Plan
The first mistake is choosing Basic to save money, then discovering that quizzes, certificates, payment plans and memberships are gated to higher plans. If your offer depends on any of those, price Start from the beginning.
The second is ignoring bandwidth. Basic includes 100 GB of video bandwidth a month, which is generous for a small audience and tight for a popular video-heavy course. Estimate your video hours and student count before you decide.
The third is paying monthly for a year. On Start you’d spend $324 more than you would on annual billing, so once the trial has given you confidence, annual is the cheaper path.
The fourth is assuming the platform is the business. A course on any platform still needs traffic, an offer and a way to reach people. Spend as much effort on audience as you do on the tool.
How to Pick the Right Plan
Start with what your offer needs. If it’s a simple self-paced course, Basic may be enough. If you want quizzes, certificates, payment plans or a membership, Start is the sensible floor. If you need your own branding, API access or a team, look at Grow.
Next, run the 30-day trial with a real course, not a demo. Test the student experience, the checkout and the payment flow on your actual setup, and note anything that feels limiting.
Finally, choose annual billing only once you are sure. The 25% saving is real, but a platform you abandon after three months costs more than a monthly plan you cancel.
Building the Rest of Your Business Around Your Course
A course platform only matters once you have something to sell. If you’re also exploring physical products, pick a profitable category first with my high-ticket niches list. Then line up the supply side with my guide to finding dropshipping suppliers.
Whichever route you take, set up the business properly with my business formation guide. For a store alongside your course, Shopify is the platform I point people to.
Because you’ll be promoting tools and earning commissions, read the FTC’s disclosure guidance for influencers and make your affiliate relationships obvious. The US Census Bureau tracks how fast online sales are growing in its quarterly e-commerce report, which reported e-commerce at 17.1% of retail sales in the second quarter of 2026.
Thinkific publishes its plan details on its official pricing page, which is the final word on any number in this article.
If you’re brand new, start with my free mini course. When you’re ready to go deeper, the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass covers the full model.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Thinkific cost in 2026?
As of October 2026, Thinkific costs $54, $109 or $219 a month on monthly billing for Basic, Start and Grow. Annual billing brings those to $40, $82 and $164 a month. Plus is custom priced, and payment processing is extra.
Does Thinkific have a free plan?
No. Thinkific offers a 30-day free trial instead of a permanent free plan. You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel any plan at any time, including during the trial.
Does Thinkific take a cut of my sales?
The pricing page lists Thinkific Payments at 2.9% processing. If you use Stripe or PayPal, a third-party gateway fee applies on top of their standard fees, and it varies by plan. The pricing details I reviewed don’t list a separate revenue share.
What is the difference between Thinkific Basic and Start?
Start adds live cohorts and coaching, completion certificates, assignments and quizzes, bundles, upsells, payment plans, memberships and subscriptions, and an HTML and CSS editor. It also raises bandwidth to 200 GB, makes digital downloads unlimited, and allows two administrators.
Is Thinkific cheaper than Kajabi?
On listed prices, yes. Thinkific’s Start plan is $82 a month annually, against $143 for Kajabi’s Basic. See my Kajabi pricing guide and compare what each plan includes before you decide.
Ready to Build Your First Course?
Pick the plan your offer actually needs, build it during the 30-day trial, and move to annual billing once you are sure.
Want me to build the whole store for you? Check out my done-for-you store service → and skip the platform setup work entirely. Prefer to build it yourself with a guide? Join my coaching program →.
Related Articles
If you found this useful, these guides go deeper on related topics:
- Kajabi Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees and What You Actually Pay
- Teachable Pricing in 2026: Complete Plan Breakdown, Transaction Fees, and Hidden Costs Explained
- Teachable vs Thinkific vs Kajabi in 2026: Selling-First vs Building-First vs All-in-One, Which Fits Your Course Business?
- Skool vs Thinkific 2026: Community-First Learning or a Structured Online School?
- Best Online Course Platform in 2026: Ranked by Features, Revenue Control, and Student Experience
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
