Thinkific suits course creators who want unlimited courses from the first plan, plus communities, live cohorts and room for a team. Teachable suits creators who want a tidy start with student apps on every plan, but it caps how many products you can run (5 on Starter, 10 on Builder, 50 on Growth). Count your courses and your helpers before you choose.
Both of these platforms host your courses, take care of student logins and let you sell under your own name. The differences sit in the plan tables, so I read Thinkific's plans page and Teachable's plans page line by line. Neither lists a free plan any more: both offer a trial instead. Here's how they line up.
Thinkific and Teachable plan limits side by side
| Thinkific | Teachable | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Not listed (free trial) | Not listed (7-day free trial) |
| Entry plan on the page | Start | Starter |
| Courses or products on the entry plan | Unlimited courses | 5 products |
| Admin seats on the entry plan | 2 administrators | 1 admin-level user |
| Communities | 1 community with 10 spaces on Start | Community listed from Builder |
| Live teaching | Live cohorts, coaching and unlimited Zoom sessions | Coaching listed as a product type |
| Student mobile apps | Branded app is an add-on | iOS and Android student apps on every plan |
| Remove platform branding | From Grow | From Growth |
| Certificates | On Start | On Growth |
What Thinkific gives you from day one
Thinkific's Start plan lists unlimited courses, video lessons with student discussions, live cohorts and coaching with unlimited Zoom sessions and bookable calendars, plus quizzes, assignments and branded certificates. You can bundle courses, run memberships and host the whole school on your own domain. Start allows 2 administrators and groups of up to 50 learners.
Grow removes the Thinkific branding, adds 3 communities, exams with question banks, API access and phone support, and raises admins to 6. Expand goes to 10 communities, 15 administrator accounts and unlimited group sizes, which matters if you train whole teams for client companies.
What Teachable gives you from day one
Teachable's Starter plan includes AI course creation tools, iOS and Android student apps, global tax handling, upsells and cart recovery. Students are unlimited on every plan and video storage goes up to 1TB. The trade-off is the product count: Starter covers 5 products and 1 admin-level user.
Builder raises products to 10 and adds an affiliate program and real time support. Growth goes to 50 products and 5 admin users, and adds course certificates, branding removal, imported students and free subtitles and translations.
The limit most creators hit first
Here's the line I'd circle. Teachable counts products, and a course, a download, a coaching offer and a membership each count. If you like to split a big topic into a few mini courses, or you add a free taster course, those 5 slots on Starter fill up faster than you'd think. Thinkific's Start plan doesn't cap courses, so a creator with a growing library won't hit that wall.
Certificates follow the same pattern. They're on Thinkific's first plan and on Teachable's Growth plan, so if your students expect a certificate on completion, check that row before you sign up.
Which creator each platform suits
Thinkific suits teachers who run cohorts, live sessions and a community alongside their courses, and anyone who'll need a second admin early. Teachable suits a solo creator with a few focused offers who wants students on a ready-made mobile app from the start. If you're still shaping the course itself, my guide to turning what you know into an online offer is a good first read, and this piece on AI reporting for course creators shows what to track once it's live.
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My advice before you start a trial
Write down every course, download and coaching offer you plan to run, then count them. Five or fewer, a solo setup and students who'll learn on their phones point to Teachable. More than five, live cohorts or a helper who needs admin access point to Thinkific. Both trials are short, so have your first lesson recorded before you start the clock, and use the trial to test the student side, not just the dashboard.
Do you make course or community software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place in comparisons like this one.
Frequently asked questions
Does Thinkific have a free plan?
Thinkific's plans page lists Start, Grow, Expand and Plus, with a free trial rather than a free plan.
Does Teachable have a free plan?
Teachable's plans page lists Starter, Builder, Growth and Custom, each with a 7-day free trial. No free plan is listed.
How many courses can I create on Teachable?
Teachable counts products: 5 on Starter, 10 on Builder and 50 on Growth. Thinkific's Start plan lists unlimited courses.
Which one has student mobile apps?
Teachable lists iOS and Android student apps on every plan. Thinkific offers a branded mobile app as an add-on, included on select Plus plans.
