As much as people might joke about funny cat videos, there is definitely a market for more “useful” online content.

Many people are very keen to learn new things, but they may not have the time, money or resources to attend a more traditional school to take a more traditional course.

And a more traditional education might not be what they’re looking for in the first place.

Maybe they want to learn how to cook fancy French cuisine.

Maybe they want to get more familiar with online tools to help run their own home-based businesses.

Maybe they want to learn about photography or video editing.

The range of subject matter is as rich and diverse as the people who are interested in such courses and this represents a huge business opportunity for you.

You can indeed build an online business selling high quality online courses, but which platform is right for you? What features should you be looking for?

Kajabi

Easily one of the biggest names in this space, and rightfully so, is Kajabi.

The platform has been designed specifically to provide everything you need to create, run and sell your online courses.

There’s no need “to juggle multiple tools.”

That’s the biggest appeal here, because Kajabi lets you handle it all under one umbrella.

You’re going to need a website for your online course and Kajabi provides that, including a white label option complete with themes, a blog and your own custom branding on your own custom domain.

With the Pro plan, you can offer up to 100 products, all with unlimited bandwidth and the option for drip content, so it doesn’t matter when someone signs up.

The included marketing suite means you don’t need to rely on a third-party marketing solution either. That includes autoresponders, landing pages, lead capture, and lead nurturing.

You also get comprehensive member management, a full payment processing solution (with bundles and coupons too!), and all sorts of advanced features like an affiliate program and live chat.

Monthly plans range from $103 to $719 based on annual billing.

Thinkific

Similar in many ways to Kajabi is Thinkific, which is geared toward “empowering modern course creators.”

This is a platform that is designed to grow with you, accommodating as many members as you need so you can scale your business accordingly.

There is design customization available to help you create more compelling content, including a white label solution with your own custom domain.

However, there is no built-in blog support or included website themes.

Part of the learning process is making sure your students are actually learning.

That’s why it’s great to see that Thinkific has built-in quizzes that you can integrate into your online course.

You also get member management, including tracking member progress, as well as a full payment processing solution.

If you get at least the business plan, there are no transaction fees.

One area where Thinkific comes up short is with marketing.

While the platform allows you to run and sell your online courses, it doesn’t include a suite for you to promote the program and capture leads.

You’ll need to turn to a third-party solution for that, incurring additional expense.

Monthly prices range from $0 to $219 a month, billed annually.

Teachable

With over 7,500 instructors, over 20,000 active courses, and over 3 million students around the world, Teachable is a very popular platform for online learning.

To date, instructors have earned over $36 million using the Teachable content management system (CMS), which supports unlimited members, custom domains, and unlimited products, including free products.

A big reason why thousands of instructors choose Teachable for creating, managing and selling their online content is because the course creator strikes that beautiful balance between being very robust and keeping a clean and simple design that is easily approachable by almost anyone.

With Teachable, you can also have multiple admins on the same course and your custom website will be mobile responsive for your students too.

Prospective students can preview your curriculum to see if the course is right for them and the platform will handle all the payments for you too.

Creating the course itself is free and can be done in a matter of minutes.

However, just like Thinkific, Teachable does not have a built-in set of marketing tools to help you attract students and nurture leads.

Without the tools to build your business, like creating landing pages and sending email broadcasts, you will need to look elsewhere to generate leads.

As mentioned, that’s not a problem with a more comprehensive solution like that of Kajabi.

Teachable plans range from $39 to $299 per month or $399 to $999 per year.

Ruzuku

A more affordable option can be found with Ruzuku, which is geared to help you “teach amazing courses people will love.”

All plans allow you to host unlimited students, sell unlimited courses, and “go crazy” with unlimited audio, unlimited video, and unlimited data storage.

Your online courses can be as large or as small as you like, scaling as your business continues to grow over time.

The plans also include access to the Ruzuku content deliver network (CDN), ensuring that your students will have the best experience no matter where you are in the world.

Daily backups are a handy feature too.

You will find that some features are missing from Ruzuku that are included with the other platforms mentioned thus far.

The most popular “up and comer” plan doesn’t allow you to use your own domain, for instance, and you are limited to a single instructor.

Commerce options are also basic, relying more on PayPal and Stripe to handle payment.

The lack of marketing tools can also be troublesome.

Monthly plans start from $74.75/month and go up to $125/month when billed annually.

Zippy Courses

If you’re already using WordPress and are comfortable with the popular CMS, then Zippy Courses could be a compelling option.

That’s because it effectively operates like as a WordPress plugin, using the main infrastructure as its backbone.

Zippy Courses says that is has been “designed for teaching and selling,” offering components both for the purpose of creating online courses and for the purpose of selling and running them.

Using WordPress as its CMS, you can use the drag-and-drop course builder to customize your programming.

It also supports different access tiers so you have different pricing plans. Upsell to a “premium” package, for instance.

Other notable features include support for launch windows, drip content schedules, automatic emails, and integration with existing services like Aweber, Infusionsoft, Mailchimp and Constant Contact.

You can use your own domain or you can opt for a zippycourses.com subdomain.

There are some limitations, however, like the lack of a blog, as well as limited built-in marketing options.

There is no autoresponder, for example, and it doesn’t come preconfigured with an affiliate program.

The standard and deluxe packages are $199 and $299, respectively.

Easily Sell Your Content Online

People want to learn.

You want to teach them (and profit along the way).

The good news is just as blogging and video production have become far more accessible over the years, the same is now true with selling online courses.

Some platforms, like Kajabi, are more robust and more comprehensive than others, so it’s really up to you what you want to prioritize.

From content creation to member management to marketing tools, you can have it all and at a reasonable price point too.

Want to sell even more?

Check out Shopify, one of the leading eCommerce platforms currently on the internet.

The Shopify fees are reasonable and the platform is easy to use.

All around, it is a great option for website owners looking to launch a store.

You should compare a few course platforms to decide which is for you.

One comparison to make is that of Thinkific vs. Kajabi.

Both platforms offer unique features, and neither is better for all creators.

However, you should read on to learn which course builder is better for you.

Thinkific vs Kajabi Overview

When comparing course platforms, it helps to start with an overview.

Selecting the right website to host your online course can make or break the program.

Here’s what you need to know before you decide where to upload your next single course or unlimited courses.

What Is Thinkific?

Thinkific is an affordable course platform where you can make money from your knowledge.

It lets you create live lessons, upload recordings, and set a drip schedule.

You can also create assignments for your students and award certificates.

This platform works with other apps to help you with email marketing, coupons, and promotional bundles.

You get access to analytics to track student progress, and Thinkific offers customer support all day and night if you ever need help.

What Is Kajabi?

Kajabi is an online course platform, but it also offers other features that are crucial to an online business.

You can host courses, coaching programs, and a membership site on the platform.

Set up a full website to attract people to your course business sales funnel.

Email marketing is built-in, and you can create landing pages to promote your courses.

It’s a great place to host different digital products, and students can interact easily with you.

The course templates can help you set up your course content and start making money.

Thinkific vs Kajabi Features

Understanding the features of both platforms can help you compare Kajabi vs Thinkific in more detail.

Then, you may decide that one online learning tool is best for you.

Consider the following aspects of both online course websites.

Thinkific Features

Thinkific offers plenty of features for its users, so consider if it suits your needs as a course creator.

Page Building Tools

Thinkific lets you choose from website themes and customize your pages.

This helps you make your website and course pages look better, which can help get sales.

You’ll use the Thinkific Site Builder to create your course site.

After you select a theme, you’ll be able to adjust your settings to match your branding.

Drag-and-drop editing is available to help you customize each page individually.

This works for your home page, landing pages, and custom pages.

Content Uploads

Under the Course Builder section, you’ll have the option to add media to your course.

Uploading content is similar to uploading to any other content platform.

You can drag and drop files or select them from your computer.

Courses can host videos, photos, and any other media files you want to use.

That makes it easy to customize your course to meet the needs of your students.

Another option is to upload media elsewhere, such as on YouTube.

Then, you can connect the media to your Thinkific course page.

Hosting media externally is great if you want to upload a lot of videos or other files, and you can keep them private so only students can view the video.

Multimedia Content

Thinkific is an excellent course platform for different types of media.

Whether you want to do a demonstration or show pictures, you can make that happen.

However, you can also write your course lessons.

Write the content in the platform or copy and paste from a document.

Combine written content with other media to help your students learn more.

Video Hosting

Thinkific offers hosting for your course videos, which is super useful.

There’s no storage cap, so you can upload as many videos as you need for your course.

If you want to teach live, you can do so with Thinkific and Zoom.

After the live lesson ends, you can add the recording to your course for students to watch at any time.

This is great for any course creator who wants the flexibility to teach how they choose.

Kinds of Courses

Of course, you can create a typical online course with Thinkific.

You can teach how you choose and help your students learn.

However, the platform also lets you create communities.

This is a great option if you want to interact more with your students.

If you want to make recurring revenue, Thinkific also hosts memberships.

You can charge members a monthly fee so that they can retain access to your course content.

Plus, you can host unlimited courses on your account.

Custom Domains

All paid Thinkific plans let you connect a custom domain to your course website.

This can help you stand out and keep consistent branding.

It also makes it easy for your students to find the site when they need to come back to your course.

Adding your domain will also remove Thinkific branding and make your course business look more professional.

While you can start for free, you’ll need to pay to design your site more.

Just be sure to budget for the cost of the domain as well as the paid plan.

Payments in Multiple Currencies

Thinkific doesn’t let you charge for courses in multiple currencies.

Fortunately, there are a couple of ways around this.

The easiest option is to connect to a payment gateway that lets you take payments in different currencies.

Another thing you can do is create a Thinkific site for each currency you want to sell in.

Doing this is great if you want to customize the content and copy for different countries.

Thinkific can help you copy your courses between sites.

If you only keep one site, be sure to choose your payment gateway wisely.

That way, you can secure your account and payments.

Secure Payment Processing

Thinkific uses a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate to encrypt payments when you use the built-in payment gateway.

That helps protect customer data, so your students won’t be as vulnerable to hackers.

Once a student pays, you will receive the money immediately.

You also don’t have to worry about transaction fees, even on the free plan.

Integrations

To run your online course business, it helps to integrate your course platform with other tools.

If you use Thinkific, you’ll have access to multiple options.

The Thinkific App Store offers over 70 apps that you can use to connect to external tools.

Some tools you can integrate include Typeform, Facebook Pixel, Zapier, and Shopify.

That makes it easy to track potential customers and increase sales.

You can install as many apps as you want, so you don’t have to spend time connecting customer information between websites.

Kajabi Features

Before you decide if Thinkific is the best online course platform, consider what Kajabi has to offer.

Here are some of the features you should know.

Websites, Courses, Memberships, Landing Pages

Not only can you use Kajabi for online courses, but you can run your entire business with it.

The tool, of course, lets you upload and organize course content.

However, you can create a website using the Kajabi website builder, which is easy to use.

It’s also a great place to build a membership program with monthly payments.

And if you need a way to sell your digital offers, the landing page feature is what you need.

You can use Kajabi to build beautiful landing pages that can help convert visitors into buyers.

Customizable Themes

To help make your course website stand out, Kajabi offers a variety of website themes.

You can choose one that fits your branding, and you can customize it further.

Add your online course colors to help people recognize your site.

If you don’t like the themes Kajabi has, you can purchase a theme externally.

Kajabi makes it easy to upload a new theme to use for your website.

Then, you can make sure your business site looks exactly how you want it to.

Custom Domains

Like Thinkific, Kajabi lets you connect a custom domain to your site.

You can connect your domain regardless of the plan you select, which is great if you ever need to upgrade or downgrade.

However, you don’t need a domain to set up a Kajabi site.

You’ll get access to a subdomain from mykajabi.com to host your course content and other business pages.

Blog

The Kajabi blog is an excellent place to learn more about running a small business online.

You can read inspiring stories and educational articles.

There’s also Kajabi University, which comes with every plan to help you learn even more.

Kajabi has a ton of content to help a new or experienced course creator.

Be sure to bookmark the blog to refer back to when you have questions.

You can also create your own blog on your site using a custom page.

That way, you can write posts on different topics around your course to attract potential students.

Analytics

If you want to make your online course business successful, you need analytics.

Luckily, Kajabi provides plenty of data that you can use to help grow your business.

You can view your revenue, subscription metrics, and offers that you’ve sold.

The data can help you improve your sales pages to increase conversions.

You don’t have to worry about making decisions that could ruin your business.

Video

Like any good online course tool, Kajabi lets you upload and host videos.

The platform doesn’t limit the amount of videos you can upload.

So as you create more courses or add more lessons to existing courses, you don’t have to worry about maxing out on storage.

That makes it easy to create and update courses the way that makes the most sense.

Hosting

Another benefit of Kajabi is that your plan comes with unlimited hosting.

This allows you to store video and other media files without paying extra.

If you don’t want to deal with a third-party host or to put your website on another platform, Kajabi is an excellent choice.

You get a lot of features, and the hosting is secure and easy for you to use.

Downloads

Some of the best courses have downloadable files to help students learn more.

If you want to attach a PDF, such as a workbook, you can do so in Kajabi.

You’ll need to add a downloadable file to a product post.

Students will be able to access the file and download it to use whenever they want.

Another option is to create a Google Doc and link to that in the description of a lesson, but you can add the file directly to the lesson.

Events

Building hype before a launch date or another event can be an easy way to get more interest in your courses.

If you use Kajabi, you can create events.

You can add a countdown to a launch or automate emails to go out at a specific time.

It’s also a great way to schedule online or in-person events for your students.

That way, you can charge for events and connect with people you have yet to meet.

Thinkific vs Kajabi Course Creation Ease

When choosing where to create your course, you need to know which platform is the easiest to use.

That way, you won’t have to struggle to get your course up and running.

Here’s how course creation compares when using Thinkific vs. Kajabi.

Thinkific Course Creation Process

The Thinkific platform makes it easy to create your first or hundredth course.

You don’t need any technical experience or design knowledge.

A variety of themes can help you set up a website, plus you can choose a course template to design your product.

There isn’t a huge learning curve, which is great if you don’t have much time to build your course.

Adding lessons only takes a few button clicks, and you can add text and other media to build out your course content.

If you want to add assignments, that feature is available on any plan.

You can also set up prerequisite lessons so that students have to go in a certain order.

Thinkific allows you to set up live lessons through Zoom, but that’s an advanced feature that requires a higher tier.

Kajabi Course Creation Process

Kajabi lets you create a mini course, regular course, or evergreen training.

The platform provides blueprints for each type of product, so you can create and sell what you want.

No matter what you choose to create, you don’t need technical training.

You also don’t need to be a designer, so anyone can set up a course website.

The platform lets you add lessons and downloadable materials to help your students.

Unfortunately, you can’t connect to live Zoom lessons.

However, you can use Zoom to teach live, and you can use email marketing to inform students of upcoming meetings.

That allows you to teach over video to get your course going.

After your course is ready, you can download the Kajabi app.

That way, you can connect with your students when you’re on the go, so you can answer questions quickly and easily.

Thinkific vs Kajabi Student Experience

While being able to create courses is important, your experience isn’t the only one that matters.

Even if you have no problem creating, you don’t want your students to struggle to access or view your course content.

Here’s how the student experience for Thinkific and Kajabi compare.

Thinkific Student Experience

For students, Thinkific courses are easy to navigate.

That can help students find what they need quicker, which is great for people who are busy.

The platform and course player also work well on all devices, even though there isn’t a mobile app.

As the course creator, you can set up learning communities and discussion spaces.

Direct messages, mentions, and threaded replies are also available.

That way, you can answer student questions, or students can help each other.

Students have access to member profiles, which can help you track everyone.

Plus, there’s no cap on the number of students that can enroll in your courses.

That may not seem great now, but you never know when your business may take off.

Finally, students can receive course completion certificates after going through your courses.

You can use those certificates to motivate people to learn the material.

Kajabi Student Experience

If you use Kajabi, your students can have a similar experience.

Courses are easy to navigate, and you can set up different modules to organize lessons in larger programs.

Thanks to the Kajabi app, students can learn on any device.

You can set up 100 learning communities.

As with Thinkific, Kajabi offers discussion spaces, mentions, threaded replies, and more.

The tool allows for direct messages, but member profiles aren’t available.

Sadly, students won’t get completion certificates.

But you could create certificates yourself outside of Kajabi if you want to offer them.

Also, you can’t enroll more than 20,000 students in one Kajabi account.

Most course creators shouldn’t worry about this.

However, it’s worth noting in case your business expands to the point where you want to have unlimited students.

Thinkific vs Kajabi Marketing

Of course, the student experience won’t matter if you can’t get anyone to take your course.

Here are a few things you should know about marketing with each course site.

Thinkific Marketing

Thinkific offers a couple of tools that you can use for marketing.

First, you can use search engine optimization (SEO) right in the platform.

That can help you show up in search results for people who are looking to learn what you teach.

The Thinkific App Store also has about 70 apps, and some of those can help you market your business.

You can connect to Facebook and other websites to help promote your course.

While you can’t use native email marketing tools, you can use a third-party email marketing tool.

If you use something like InfusionSoft, there’s a Thinkific app for that.

All of these marketing options are great for getting students to learn about your courses and sign up.

Kajabi Marketing

Unlike Thinkific, Kajabi doesn’t have a feature that helps with SEO.

That means you’ll have to rely more on social media and email to get people to learn about your course.

However, you can use SEO on your website if you use an external site.

Then, you can link to your Kajabi enrollment page to attract students.

If you only use Kajabi, though, email marketing is easy since it’s part of the platform.

You can connect to a few different apps to integrate Kajabi with other tools.

While it’s not as many options as Thinkific, it’s a good start.

The apps you can use cover email marketing, analytics, sales, and more.

Thinkific vs Kajabi Pricing

If your course creation business is new, you may have a small business budget.

That means you should look for tools that will make the most of your finances.

Compare the pricing plans available from each course platform.

Thinkific Pricing

Thinkific is by far the more affordable choice when compared to Kajabi.

For one, you can start with a free plan, so you don’t need to pay money until you make money.

Now, this plan does have limitations, such as no custom domain, no coupons, and no drip content.

You can upgrade to a premium plan starting at $39 if you pay annually.

This gets you some features that the free basic account doesn’t offer.

You’ll get live chat support and student emails.

If you pay monthly, this plan costs $49.

Thinkific Pro is the next tier, and it offers features like priority support, private courses, and an extra site admin.

You’ll need this plan if you want to offer live lessons and offer completion certificates.

This plan costs $99 per month or $79 per month when you pay yearly.

When you’re ready to scale your online course business, you may want to upgrade to the Premier plan.

It comes with five site admins, an onboarding package, and white labeling.

You also get access to the API and 15 group analysts.

But it will cost you $399 to $499 per month depending on when you pay.

Kajabi Pricing

While Kajabi offers a lot of amazing features, its pricing is far from budget-friendly, though you do get a 14-day free trial.

The Basic plan only comes with three products and three pipelines.

Only one website and one admin user come with it, but it will cost $119 to $149 per month if you pay annually or monthly, respectively.

You’ll need the Growth plan if you want to remove Kajabi branding from your site.

The plan also offers an affiliate marketing program for your courses, and you can add up to 15 products.

But you can still only enroll up to 10,000 active users.

If you pay per year, you’ll owe $159 per month.

A monthly payment will cost you $199.

The Pro plan lets you create up to three websites and 100 products.

You can also enroll up to 20,000 students at a time.

This plan also grants you access to a code editor to customize the look of your Kajabi site.

But it will cost you $319 a month if you pay for a full year or $399 if you pay for one month at a time.

Thinkific vs Kajabi: Use Cases

You should also consider the different types of people who should use one platform or the other.

Then, you can determine if one website will meet your needs better.

Who Is Thinkific Designed For?

Thinkific is designed for people who want an easy platform for course creation.

It’s also great for anyone on a budget, so it’s perfect for new business owners.

On the other hand, the lack of an enrollment cap makes it great for businesses looking to scale.

However, it’s not the best tool for someone who wants to run their entire business in one place.

You’ll need to use third-party services for a blog, email marketing, and other services.

But if you want to teach live lessons, Thinkific is the platform for you.

Who Is Kajabi Designed For?

Kajabi is designed for people who want an all-in-one solution for their online course business.

You can set up a full website with the platform, and you can use it for email marketing.

But it will cost you to combine all of those services.

That means it’s not the best for someone setting up a new business.

If you don’t have much money, you may find that even the cheapest plan is out of reach.

And you might find Kajabi limits you once you get thousands of students.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you still have questions about choosing where to host your courses, here’s what you may want to know.

Wrapping Up

Comparing Thinkific vs. Kajabi is crucial if you want to set up an online course business.

You don’t want to have to migrate your course, so choosing the right platform now will save you a lot of headaches.

Be sure to consider the features, costs, and other benefits of Thinkific and Kajabi.

Then, you can select the learning management system that will meet the needs of your specific business.

There are many different platforms to choose from when building your new course.

It’s not easy to decide which online course platform is right for you.

This article will compare two of the most popular online course platforms.

We will discuss the similarities and differences between Thinkific and Teachable and their pros and cons.

By the end, you’ll understand the Thinkific Vs Teachable debate.

In addition, you will have a good idea of which platform best fits your needs.

Introducing Thinkific and Teachable

Thinkific and Teachable both offer ways to produce and sell online courses.

What Is Teachable?

Teachable is an easy-to-use learning management system that allows you to create and sell online courses.

With Teachable, you can create a professional-looking course quickly and easily.

You can also use Teachable to host unlimited courses and provide support for your students.

What Is Thinkific?

Thinkific is another popular course creation software program.

Like Teachable, Thinkific offers a course creation tool, student management features, marketing tools, and the ability to accept payments and distribute content.

Usage of Teachable and Thinkific

A similar group of digital marketing entrepreneurs uses both platforms to create their online courses.

However, it’s interesting to note the different types of entrepreneurs who choose one of the online learning platforms over the other.

Who Uses Teachable?

A variety of people use Teachable.

• Teachers
• Trainers
• Solo creators

Notable enterprise users of Teachable include Penn Law, Shopify, Intuit, and the New York Times.

Who Uses Thinkific?

The following types of people use Thinkific.

• Entrepreneurs
• Businesses
• Online Instructors

Big names in the entrepreneurial space using Thinkific include John Lee Dumas (Entrepreneur on Fire), Lewis Howes (School of Greatness), and Sunny Lenarduzzi (YouTube influencer).

Enterprise customers using Thinkific include AWeber, Samsung, and Hootsuite.

Comparison Between Teachable and Thinkific

Using a variety of parameters, let’s now compare Teachable against Thinkific.

Course Creation & Engagement

When creating an online course, it’s important to consider how you will engage with your students.

As you read this review, know that both offer similar features to help achieve the goal.

Teachable’s Course Creation and Engagement

Teachable offers a few features that allow you to create quizzes, award certificates to students, and provide private forums for students.

To create your courses, Teachable provides a drag-and-drop course builder.

You can also upload video and audio files.

Thinkific’s Course Creation and Engagement

Thinkific offers similar engagement features to Teachable, including quizzes, certificates, private forums, and the ability to create a sales page.

It also provides an additional feature called “automated emails,” allowing you to send your students emails at specific intervals.

Regarding course creation tools, Thinkific offers a drag-and-drop builder.

You don’t need any coding skills to get your content into Thinkific’s back office.

Content Uploading & Course Structuring

You need to consider how easy each platform makes it as you upload content and structure each course.

Teachable’s Content Uploading & Course Structuring

You can upload most types of content onto Teachable.

It supports video, audio, PDF, and text-based files.

A drag-and-drop feature lets you organize each course.

If you need to change the order of a course’s structure, you can simply drag a module to a different location.

Thinkific’s Content Uploading & Course Structuring

Like Teachable, Thinkific supports the upload of most types of content.

You can also use the drag-and-drop feature to reorganize your course modules.

Content Delivery (Course Player)

The “course player” is the interface your students use to consume your content.

Teachable’s Content Delivery (Course Player)

The Teachable course player is modern-looking and offers a few different viewing options for students.

They can choose to view in a list format, or they can click on a “card” view.

Thinkific’s Content Delivery (Course Player)

Thinkific’s course player provides a modern look and feel.

It offers different ways for students to view the content, including a “list” view and a “tile” view.

Students also see an option for downloading content for offline viewing.

Ease To Use

How easy is each platform to use?

This option can be a make-or-break factor when choosing which one to use.

Teachable’s Ease To Use

Overall, Teachable is easy to use.

The drag-and-drop feature makes it simple to upload content and reorganize your courses.

Thinkific’s Ease To Use

Even if you consider yourself technically challenged, you won’t run into any trouble adding content to each Thinkific course.

The platform offers a “course import” feature.

It allows you to import existing courses from other platforms.

Quizzes & Assignments

Quizzes and assignments are a great way to engage your students and test their knowledge.

Teachable’s Quizzes & Assignments

Teachable offers a few options for quizzes and assignments on the Pro and Business plans.

You can create “graded quizzes” and “ungraded surveys.”

For graded quizzes, you can choose to have the results tallied automatically, or you can grade them yourself.

You can use basic quizzes without grading on all Teachable plans.

Thinkific’s Quizzes & Assignments

Thinkific offers basic quizzes inside all of its plans.

The platform will automatically tally the results of graded quizzes.

You also have the option to create “self-check” quizzes, which allow students to check their answers before submitting them.

Coaching & Community

The ability to add coaching is an important aspect of online course success.

Additionally, you want to engage each student inside a community area.

Teachable’s Coaching & Community

Teachable has a “Coaching” feature that allows you to add one-on-one coaching to your courses.

You can also create a private community for each course using the “Discussions” feature.

Thinkific’s Coaching & Community

Thinkific does not have a built-in coaching feature.

You can work around it by adding coaching to your courses with the “Course Completion” feature.

You’ll add a link to a coaching call upon completion of the course.

You can also create a private community for each course using the “Groups” feature.

By the way, each platform offers coaching and community to help you as the course creator.

Teachable offers an “Expert” coaching program.

The program provides access to experts in various fields who can help you with your courses.

The community forums are the place to ask questions and get advice from other course creators.

Thinkific has a “Success Team” that provides support and advice for Thinkific users.

They also offer a community forum where you can ask questions and get advice.

Certificates of Completion

Certificates of completion offer an effective way to show your students that they’ve completed the course and learned the material.

Teachable’s Certificate of Completion

Teachable offers a certificate of completion for each course.

The certificate is customizable.

You can brand it with your logo.

Each certificate is automatically generated and emailed to the student.

You’ll need to upgrade to the Pro or Business plan for this feature.

Thinkific’s Certificate of Completion

Thinkific also offers a certificate of completion feature.

Like Thinkific, you can customize each certificate and use your company’s branding.

You can use settings to make sure each student automatically sees the certificate after completing the course.

Thinkific opens up this option inside the Pro and Premier plans.

Content Drip and Locking

Content drip is the process of releasing course content over time.

Locking content allows you to control what your students have access to and when they have access to it.

Teachable’s Content Drip and Locking

Teachable includes a “Drip” feature that allows you to release your course content on a schedule.

The feature lets you release content based on the number of days after enrollment or based on specific dates.

You can set up notification emails to announce each new lecture to students.

You can also lock content so that students can’t access it until you unlock it.

Thinkific’s Content Drip and Locking

Thinkific uses a “Scheduled” feature so you can drip content out over a predetermined period.

Your students won’t receive email notifications.

They will only know about new material by logging into their accounts.

Thinkific doesn’t let you lock students out of a course after completing it.

However, it does offer an “enrollment duration” feature.

Use it to limit a student’s access to a course.

Website Themes

You might wonder how much customization each platform offers when it comes to themes.

Teachable’s Website Themes

Teachable gives you three template themes to choose from.

1. Teachable Classic
2. Simple
3. Colossal

The Teachable Classic theme works best if you want to immediately hop into lecture creation.

If you’re going to build a shorter curriculum, then choose the Simple template.

Select Teachable’s Colossal theme when creating a longer course.

Thinkific’s Website Themes

Thinkific offers three default themes to choose from.

1. Vogue
2. Vision
3. Empire

The Vogue theme is the quickest way to get started with Thinkific since it requires the least amount of customization.

The Vision theme is a good choice if you want more control over the look and feel of your website.

You’ll gain the most control over the design and layout of your Thinkific site when using the Empire theme.

Site Design & Customization

Let’s take a more in-depth look at how much control you have over the design of your site on each platform.

Teachable’s Site Design & Customization

All three themes are customizable.

You can change colors and fonts and add your logo.

You also can edit the HTML/CSS if you want even more control.

Teachable gives developers the ability to edit code directly, which lets you perform the following design and customization options.

• Subdomains
• Custom text
• Modify each theme
• Use thank you pages

Thinkific’s Site Design and Customization

Thinkific also offers simple options for customizing each theme with your company’s logo, colors, and fonts.

Like Teachable, you gain control over the HTML or CSS coding of your website.

Other Thinkific site design options include the following.

• Home page redirects
• Navigation
• Delete site builder sections
• SSL security
• Remove Thinkific branding

White Labeling

White labeling gives you the ability to brand your website and courses with your company’s name and logo.

You can also change the domain name to match your company’s brand.

Teachable’s White Labeling

The Pro and Business plans give you access to white labeling features.

You can upload your logos, favicons, and Apple touch icons.

Thinkific’s White Labeling

Thinkific’s white labeling features are available on the Premier plan.

You can change your site’s favicon, logo, colors, and the thinkific.com URL to match your company name.

Both platforms allow for further white labeling through domain mapping.

Domain mapping allows you to use a custom domain name for your courses instead of the default thinkific.com or teachable.com URL.

Sales & Marketing

Teachable and Thinkific offer a variety of features to help you market and sell your courses.

Teachable’s Sales and Marketing

Teachable’s features include the following.

• Course landing pages
• Email integrations
• Integrated payments
• Order bumps
• Upsells
• Quizzes and surveys

Course landing pages: Teachable’s course landing pages help you sell your courses.

You can customize the look and feel of your landing pages and add relevant images and videos.

Email integrations: Teachable integrates with a variety of email marketing platforms, including Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and AWeber.

Integrated payments: Teachable offers integrated payments through Stripe and PayPal.

You can also use other payment processors, such as Authorize.net and Braintree.

Order bumps: You can offer order bumps to students at checkout.

These can increase the average order value.

Upsells: Upsells are products or services you can offer students after they purchase a course.

Use them to cross-sell your other courses or products.

Quizzes and surveys: Teachable’s quizzes and surveys can help you engage your students and get feedback about your courses.

Thinkific’s Sales and Marketing

Thinkific also has a long list of features to help you market and sell your courses.

The course platform’s features include the following.

• Groups
• Coupons and discounts
• Email marketing and integrations
• Bundles and upsells
• Additional course prices
• Payment plans
• Scheduled content
• Order tracking
• Search engine optimization
• Membership site capabilities
• Quizzes and surveys

Groups: Groups allow you to give discounts to groups of people, such as businesses or organizations.

Coupons and discounts: You can offer coupons and discounts to students to help increase sales.

Email marketing and integrations: Thinkific integrates with a variety of email marketing platforms, including Mailchimp, Constant Contact, HubSpot, and Drip.

This feature allows you to send automated emails to your students.

Bundles and upsells: You can offer bundles of courses at a discounted price or upsell other courses to students after they purchase one.

Additional course prices: Offer additional course prices for different versions of your courses, such as an audio or video version.

Payment plans: Payment plans allow students to pay for their courses over time.

Using this option will help increase sales because more people will convert into sales.

Scheduled content: You can schedule when to release new content to students.

Using this option can keep students engaged with your courses.

Order tracking: Thinkific’s order tracking allows you to track orders and see which sales offer converts best for you.

Search engine optimization: Thinkific’s search engine optimization features can help you rank higher in search engines.

More traffic to course pages equates to additional sales.

Membership site capabilities: You can use Thinkific to create a membership site.

A membership lets students gain access to all of your courses for a monthly fee.

Quizzes and surveys: Thinkific’s quizzes and surveys can help you engage your students.

Getting feedback about your courses helps improve your sales messaging.

Pricing Plans

Both Teachable and Thinkific offer a variety of pricing options.

Select the one that best meets your features needs and budget limits.

Teachable’s Pricing Plans

You can choose from three Teachable pricing plans: Basic, Professional, and Business.

There’s also a limited Free trial plan available.

Free plan: You can run a marketing campaign for an unlimited number of courses.

Product bundles are available.

The Free plan also gives you the following features.

• Product support
• Unlimited students
• Course design templates
• Basic quizzes
• Third-party integrations such as Google Analytics and Sumo
• Instant payouts

Basic plan ($29/month): You get everything in the Free plan plus these additional features.

• Course creator training
• Member-only community
• Coupon codes
• Custom domain support
• Private student community (integrates with Circle.so)
• Integrated email marketing
• Drip course content
• Product support

Pro plan ($99/month): The Pro plan includes everything from the Basic plan, plus these features.

• Advanced analytics tool
• Graded quizzes
• Priority product support
• Course compliance
• Group coaching calls (includes access to Teachable’s success managers)
• Integrated affiliate marketing
• Course completion certificates
• Unbranded website

Business plan ($249/month): You get everything offered inside the Pro plan plus the following features.

• Bulk student enrollments
• Manual student imports
• Advanced theme customization
• Custom user roles

Thinkific’s Pricing Plans

Thinkific pricing plans offer five options: Basic, Pro, Pro + Growth, Premier, and Plus.

There’s also a free plan that includes some of the features from the paid plans.

Free plan: The Free plan gives you content hosting and full video features.

You can create courses using any type of content.

Other features include the following.

• Downloadable content
• Content creation tools
• Student course reviews
• Quizzes
• Student discussions
• Content imports
• Student surveys
• Voice-over PowerPoint tool
• Offer free trials
• Multiple payment methods

Basic plan ($49/month): You get everything from the Free plan plus the ability to build an unlimited number of courses.

It also unlocks integrations with Constant Contact, AWeber, Mailchimp, and ConvertKit.

Additional features include the following.

• Affiliate reporting
• Dripped content
• Marketing analytics integration (Google Analytics and Facebook Pixels)

Professional plan ($99/month): The Thinkific Pro plan includes everything from the Basic plan plus these features.

• Prerequisite lessons
• Assignments
• Live Zoom lessons
• Randomized quiz question bank
• Bundles and memberships
• Payment plans
• Additional course prices
• Completion certificates
• One community

Pro + Growth plan ($149/month): With this plan, you get everything in the Pro plan plus new features that include the following options.

• Sell to groups
• Infusionsoft and ActiveCampaign integrations
• Remove Thinkific branding
• Bulk student imports
• Bulk student emailer
• Unlimited communities
• Advanced student segmentation

Premier ($499/month): You get everything from the Pro + Growth plan and new features that include the following.

• More customized exam and course reporting features
• Email white labeling

Thinkific Plus plan: You’ll need to contact Thinkific for custom pricing.

You can create multiple Thinkfic websites, use a centralized dashboard, use course-specific branding, and use API features.

Student Engagement and Discussions

Both platforms have student engagement and discussion features.

These features allow you to interact with your students, create a community for your students, and keep them engaged in the learning process.

Teachable’s Student Engagement and Discussion

Teachable’s student engagement and discussion features include the following.

• Course forums
• Student profile pages
• @Mention other students and instructors in comments
• Email notifications for new posts and comments

Thinkific’s Student Engagement and Discussion

You’ll discover the following features when looking at Thinkific’s student engagement and discussion options.

• Group discussions
• Course forums
• @Mention other students and instructors in comments
• Group discussions
• Private messages between students and instructors
• Email notifications for new posts and comments
• RSS feed for each course forum

As you can see, both platforms provide similar features when it comes to student engagement and discussion.

However, Thinkific has a few more features, such as private messages and RSS feeds.

Customer Support

Customer service is essential when you’re running an online course business.

You need to know that you can contact someone if you have a problem or question.

Teachable’s Customer Support

Teachable has excellent customer support.

They offer 24/7 live chat, email support, and a knowledge base.

The knowledge base is full of articles and tutorials that can help you with any problems you’re having.

Thinkific’s Customer Support

Thinkific also offers 24/7 live chat support and email support.

You’ll find a Thinkific knowledge base as well.

It gives you tutorials when you get stuck.

However, this knowledge base doesn’t include as many articles as Teachable.

Which Are the Similarities Between Teachable and Thinkific?

Now that we’ve compared the various features offered by Teachable and Thinkific, let’s look at a few similarities.

• Both platforms allow you to create and sell online courses.
• You can use both platforms to create a membership site.
• Both platforms have an affiliate program.
• You can use drip content on both platforms.
• Both platforms offer a course completion certificate.

Pros and Cons of Teachable and Thinkific

As with all software, each platform comes with certain advantages and disadvantages.

Pros

Let’s first look at the specific advantages offered by Teachable and Thinkific.

What Are the Benefits of Teachable?

Teachable gives you the option to use a customized domain name.

The platform is easy to use and navigate.

You can use a variety of features, such as quizzes, student discussions, and course completion certificates.

With Teachable, you gain the ability to provide coaching services to clients while building as many courses as you desire.

The integrations include Zendesk, Calendly, ConvertKit, Zapier, Zoom, Mailchimp, and Intercom.

From a monetization standpoint, Teachable helps you accept payment in over 100 currencies.

You can accept PayPal and mobile payments as well.

As your business grows, you can offer coupons, bundles, upsells, subscriptions, and memberships.

What Are the Benefits of Thinkific?

Thinkific understands the need to promote your course content.

You won’t have trouble finding all the monetization tools and marketing features required to create an educational brand.

Using this platform, you can integrate with some of the top email service providers, send automated email sequences, and get people interested in buying your course.

When using paid ads through Facebook Ads or Google Ads, for instance, you can link Thinkific to those campaigns.

Thinkific offers a simple way to create and edit courses.

You can offer courses in multiple languages.

The platform offers a wide range of features, such as quizzes, forums, and private messages.

Customer support is robust and always available to help you.

Cons

Now let’s take a look at the disadvantages of using Teachable and Thinkific.

What Are the Limitations of Teachable?

Building sales pages inside Teachable can become tedious.

You may want to look at a different landing page software platform as your business matures.

You’ll pay transaction fees on every plan inside Teachable.

What Are the Limitations of Thinkific?

As a beginner, you’ll pay a bit more with Thinkific’s basic plan when compared to Teachable.

Even though you can integrate

Yes, Thinkific offers a free plan.

You can use most of the features on the free plan.

However, you’ll need to deal with the Thinkific branding on your content.

with plenty of email service providers, some people wish Thinkific came with a built-in email autoresponder tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

You may still have a few questions about Thinkific and Teachable.

Here are the answers to three commonly asked questions.

Wrapping Up

Thinkific and Teachable are both great platforms for creating online courses.

They each come with a variety of features, pricing plans, and pros and cons.

Ultimately, the option you consider the best online course platform depends on your needs and what you want to get out of the platform.

Take action by comparing the above features.

Then, make your platform choice and start creating your course.

As much as people might joke about funny cat videos, there is definitely a market for more “useful” online content.

Many people are very keen to learn new things, but they may not have the time, money or resources to attend a more traditional school to take a more traditional course.

And a more traditional education might not be what they’re looking for in the first place.

Maybe they want to learn how to cook fancy French cuisine.

Maybe they want to get more familiar with online tools to help run their own home-based businesses.

Maybe they want to learn about photography or video editing.

The range of subject matter is as rich and diverse as the people who are interested in such courses and this represents a huge business opportunity for you.

You can indeed build an online business selling high quality online courses, but which platform is right for you? What features should you be looking for?

Kajabi

Easily one of the biggest names in this space, and rightfully so, is Kajabi.

The platform has been designed specifically to provide everything you need to create, run and sell your online courses.

There’s no need “to juggle multiple tools.”

That’s the biggest appeal here, because Kajabi lets you handle it all under one umbrella.

You’re going to need a website for your online course and Kajabi provides that, including a white label option complete with themes, a blog and your own custom branding on your own custom domain.

With the Pro plan, you can offer up to 100 products, all with unlimited bandwidth and the option for drip content, so it doesn’t matter when someone signs up.

The included marketing suite means you don’t need to rely on a third-party marketing solution either.

That includes autoresponders, landing pages, lead capture, and lead nurturing.

You also get comprehensive member management, a full payment processing solution (with bundles and coupons too!), and all sorts of advanced features like an affiliate program and live chat.

Monthly plans range from $103 to $719 based on annual billing.

Thinkific

Similar in many ways to Kajabi is Thinkific, which is geared toward “empowering modern course creators.”

This is a platform that is designed to grow with you, accommodating as many members as you need so you can scale your business accordingly.

There is design customization available to help you create more compelling content, including a white label solution with your own custom domain.

However, there is no built-in blog support or included website themes.

Part of the learning process is making sure your students are actually learning.

That’s why it’s great to see that Thinkific has built-in quizzes that you can integrate into your online course.

You also get member management, including tracking member progress, as well as a full payment processing solution.

If you get at least the business plan, there are no transaction fees.

One area where Thinkific comes up short is with marketing.

While the platform allows you to run and sell your online courses, it doesn’t include a suite for you to promote the program and capture leads.

You’ll need to turn to a third-party solution for that, incurring additional expense.

Monthly prices range from $0 to $219 a month, billed annually.

Teachable

With over 7,500 instructors, over 20,000 active courses, and over 3 million students around the world, Teachable is a very popular platform for online learning.

To date, instructors have earned over $36 million using the Teachable content management system (CMS), which supports unlimited members, custom domains, and unlimited products, including free products.

A big reason why thousands of instructors choose Teachable for creating, managing and selling their online content is because the course creator strikes that beautiful balance between being very robust and keeping a clean and simple design that is easily approachable by almost anyone.

With Teachable, you can also have multiple admins on the same course and your custom website will be mobile responsive for your students too.

Prospective students can preview your curriculum to see if the course is right for them and the platform will handle all the payments for you too.

Creating the course itself is free and can be done in a matter of minutes.

However, just like Thinkific, Teachable does not have a built-in set of marketing tools to help you attract students and nurture leads.

Without the tools to build your business, like creating landing pages and sending email broadcasts, you will need to look elsewhere to generate leads.

As mentioned, that’s not a problem with a more comprehensive solution like that of Kajabi.

Teachable plans range from $39 to $299 per month or $399 to $999 per year.

Ruzuku

A more affordable option can be found with Ruzuku, which is geared to help you “teach amazing courses people will love.”

All plans allow you to host unlimited students, sell unlimited courses, and “go crazy” with unlimited audio, unlimited video, and unlimited data storage.

Your online courses can be as large or as small as you like, scaling as your business continues to grow over time.

The plans also include access to the Ruzuku content deliver network (CDN), ensuring that your students will have the best experience no matter where you are in the world. Daily backups are a handy feature too.

You will find that some features are missing from Ruzuku that are included with the other platforms mentioned thus far.

The most popular “up and comer” plan doesn’t allow you to use your own domain, for instance, and you are limited to a single instructor.

Commerce options are also basic, relying more on PayPal and Stripe to handle payment. The lack of marketing tools can also be troublesome.

Monthly plans start from $74.75/month and go up to $125/month when billed annually.

Zippy Courses

If you’re already using WordPress and are comfortable with the popular CMS, then Zippy Courses could be a compelling option.

That’s because it effectively operates like as a WordPress plugin, using the main infrastructure as its backbone.

Zippy Courses says that is has been “designed for teaching and selling,” offering components both for the purpose of creating online courses and for the purpose of selling and running them.

Using WordPress as its CMS, you can use the drag-and-drop course builder to customize your programming.

It also supports different access tiers so you have different pricing plans.

Upsell to a “premium” package, for instance.

Other notable features include support for launch windows, drip content schedules, automatic emails, and integration with existing services like Aweber, Infusionsoft, Mailchimp and Constant Contact.

You can use your own domain or you can opt for a zippycourses.com subdomain.

There are some limitations, however, like the lack of a blog, as well as limited built-in marketing options.

There is no autoresponder, for example, and it doesn’t come preconfigured with an affiliate program.

The standard and deluxe packages are $199 and $299, respectively.

Easily Sell Your Content Online

People want to learn. You want to teach them (and profit along the way).

The good news is just as blogging and video production have become far more accessible over the years, the same is now true with selling online courses.

Some platforms, like Kajabi, are more robust and more comprehensive than others, so it’s really up to you what you want to prioritize.

From content creation to member management to marketing tools, you can have it all and at a reasonable price point too.

Why Do You Need to Learn Marketing Skills?

Every idea or product needs its target audience to buy into its concept. Thus, marketing skills are essential for business growth and development. Still in doubt about the usefulness of marketing skills? Here are some reasons why you need to learn and acquire them:

Marketing skills are very effective for business growth

Every business needs to convince its target audience and potential customers. As a business owner, you need marketing skills in order for your business to grow.
These skills will help you to draw in customers and also negotiate. In the same vein, marketing skills can help in boosting your services and clientele.

It boosts career opportunities

In today’s world, thousands of companies need marketing experts. They need employees with effective marketing skills and are equally ready to pay considerable amounts of money.
Marketing skills offer you a variety of career opportunities. Thus, the more you learn marketing skills, the more likely you are to advance in your career.

It helps you to make better business decisions

Marketing skills help you to understand what your audience or customers want or need.
They also help you to craft business and advertising strategies. Thus, you can think critically and make better business decisions with the right marketing skills and techniques.

Marketing skills help you to be more aware

One essential quality of a marketer is the ability to be aware and stay on top of trends. Marketing skills will instill this ability in you. Hence, you will be more aware of trends and have the ability to utilize those trends for business growth.
These skills can teach you everything you need to know about starting a business online. The world is a marketplace, and when you start looking online for solutions, you will find them in every form possible. Whether it’s through reading, videos, user engagement or interactive classes, there are now opportunities for learning all over the place.
For example, the Skills Co. Web App allows experts and gurus to take their knowledge and package it up into an online course. This not only works great from a marketing and business perspective, but also to help others learn how to master a process or learn a new skills.
Learning marketing skills required to hit that next level or expertise, or even just to get started, will help you to be more tactful in your business dealings and everyday life.

Top Marketing Skills to Learn

Marketing skills encompass a large number of skills. To be an effective marketer, you need to possess all or most of these skills. Some top marketing skills include:

Communication/story-telling

Effective communication is one essential tool needed for marketing. Your audience and potential customers need you to communicate with them verbally and in written form.
To do this, you need to master the art of storytelling. The ability to weave words and create a flow for your audience will help to boost effective communication.

Technology skills

The world is going digital every day. As such, tech skills rank high on the list of necessary skills.
As a marketer, you may need project management tools, analytics tools, and programs in order to track process.
Thus, learning and acquiring tech skills is essential for marketing.

Negotiation and persuasion skills

Marketing is hinged on persuading customers and an audience to buy into an idea or product. Learning persuasion skills will help you to convince your audience about your credibility. In the same vein, negotiation skills will help you to find a balance and even ground with your customers.

Analytical thinking and skills

Analytical skills involve thinking critically and mapping out strategies.
These skills help you to keep track of and understand your audience’s wants or needs.Analytical thinking and skills also involve analyzing customer demographics, reactions, and preference.
They help you to carry out research on the aforementioned factors and create strategies that complement the data.

Statistics and data collection/analysis

This skill is very essential for marketing. It involves collecting data relating to your audience and customers.
It also involves analyzing the collected data using statistical or numerical methods. This skill would help you carry out quantitative research and surveys for effective marketing.

How to Learn New Marketing Skills Online

The internet is an effective tool for learning new skills.
You can learn new marketing skills online from the comfort of your homes and offices? Thinking of learning a new marketing skill online?
Here are five best ways to learn these skills using the internet:

Coursera

Coursera is an online platform for learning specific skills and specialization. It offers a wide variety of online courses in different fields and careers.
Learning programs usually last for 4-6 weeks and are taught by high standard professors. Within this period, you can acquire a certificate in any marketing skill or field of your choice.

Udemy

Thinking of learning marketing skills online? Udemy is a great platform for you! It is an online platform where content creators offer tuition to people for a fee.
On Udemy, you can take master classes on market skills and get tutored by professional marketers. It is equally a great platform to improve any related skills of your choice. They even have a great selection of courses in place for learning website and logo design.

Skillshare

This is another online platform where you can learn new marketing skills and improve already existing ones. Here, you can learn these vital skills by watching educational videos.
These videos are available and accessible only when you subscribe to the platform. It organizes courses into different categories which you can select from.

Udacity

Tech skills are very essential to marketing and advertising. Thus, if you are trying to acquire tech skills, Udacity is the right platform for you.
This organization runs a number of online courses where you can learn and develop tech skills. On this platform, you can gain the necessary tech skills needed to advance your career.

Skills Co

On this online course and education platform, users can access a wide range of courses in anything from cooking, marketing, business skill, musical instruments and much more.
At the same time, users also have the option to launch online courses of their own, in which they can sell through the site or through their own efforts, while also earning a commission and revenue in the process.

Wrapping Up

Marketing skills are very important in today’s world. Fortunately, there are various ways and platforms through which one can learn these skills.
Be sure to take the time to visit each of the online learning platforms mentioned above, while also improving your business and marketing skills in the process.