Softwr

Customer Success · head to head

Appcues vs Thinkific

Appcues logo

Appcues

Customer Success

In-app onboarding flows and product announcements built without engineering time

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Thinkific logo

Thinkific

LMS

Create and sell online courses your way

From
$36/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Appcues appcues no longer publishes any prices; the pricing page shows tiers and limits but no dollar figures, so what used to be a self-serve purchase now requires a sales call and there is no way to compare cost against alternatives before contact.; Thinkific no free plan, 14-day trial only
  • They diverge on capability: Appcues covers No-code flow builder, Thinkific covers Course builder.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Appcues and Thinkific actually diverge.

Attributes where Appcues and Thinkific differ
AttributeAppcuesThinkific
Starting priceOn request$36/month
Pricing modelquoteUnknown
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Mobile
CategoryCustomer SuccessLMS
FoundedUnknown2012

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Appcues

  • No-code flow builder
  • Onboarding checklists
  • Segmentation and targeting
  • NPS and in-app surveys
  • Mobile SDK
  • Experience analytics
  • Workflows
  • A/B testing of flows

Only in Thinkific

  • Course builder
  • Website builder
  • Quizzes
  • Certificates
  • Communities
  • Memberships
  • Marketing tools
  • Analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Appcues

  • A SaaS company whose trial-to-paid conversion stalls because new users never reach the action that demonstrates valuenot Thinkific
  • A product team shipping a significant feature that needs an in-app announcement and walkthrough on launch day, not three sprints laternot Thinkific
  • A customer success team wanting to replace repetitive onboarding calls with a self-serve checklist for smaller accountsnot Thinkific
  • A team that needs contextual NPS or feedback prompts targeted at users who have actually used the feature in questionnot Thinkific

Thinkific

  • Course creationnot Appcues
  • Membership sitesnot Appcues
  • Coaching programsnot Appcues
  • Corporate trainingnot Appcues

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Appcues

  • Appcues no longer publishes any prices; the pricing page shows tiers and limits but no dollar figures, so what used to be a self-serve purchase now requires a sales call and there is no way to compare cost against alternatives before contact.
  • Published experience caps bite well before user limits do: Start allows only 10 live experiences and Grow only 25, so a mature product with tooltips across many features hits the upgrade trigger regardless of how many users it has.
  • Flows are DOM overlays pointed at elements in your live application, so a front-end refactor or a class name change silently breaks a walkthrough, and nobody notices until activation metrics drop.
  • Pricing scales with monthly active users, which means cost rises as the product succeeds, whether or not the additional users ever see an Appcues experience; the bill tracks your growth, not the tool’s contribution.
  • The platform reports on its own influence, so completion and goal metrics attribute activation to the flow without a proper counterfactual; justifying renewal on Appcues’ own numbers is circular unless you run holdout groups yourself.

Thinkific

  • No free plan, 14-day trial only
  • Transaction fees on third-party payment processors (5% on Basic tier)
  • PayPal only available on Grow plan ($199/month), not on Basic or Start
  • Limited customization on lower-tier plans
  • Cannot embed courses in external domains or iframes
  • Limited number of spaces per plan
  • Less interactive community features compared to alternatives
  • Features continuously moved to higher-priced tiers
  • Payment processing delays reported (up to 90 days)

Pricing, plan by plan

Appcues

On request
  • Start$undefined/month
    • Up to 3,000 monthly active users
    • 10 published experiences
    • 12 months reporting history
  • Grow$undefined/month
    • From 3,000 monthly active users upward
    • 25 published experiences
    • 24 months reporting history
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom monthly active user volumes
    • 100 published experiences
    • 36 months reporting history
  • Spark$undefined/month
    • Programme for teams under 25 people
    • Intended for a first set of in-app experiences
    • Terms quoted on application

Thinkific

$36/month
  • Basic$36/month
    • 1 course
    • Up to 500 students
    • Thinkific Payments (0% fees)
  • Start$74/month
    • Up to 3 courses
    • Up to 2,000 students
    • Third-party payment (3% fees)
  • Grow$149/month
    • Unlimited courses
    • Unlimited students
    • Third-party payment (0% fees)

Which should you pick?

Choose Appcues if

  • You need no-code flow builder.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want onboarding checklists.
Appcues review

Choose Thinkific if

  • You need course builder.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want website builder.
Thinkific review

Questions people ask

Is Appcues or Thinkific better?
Neither clearly leads. Appcues starts at On request and Thinkific at $36/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Appcues or Thinkific?
Appcues starts at On request and Thinkific at $36/month.
Does Appcues or Thinkific run on more platforms?
Appcues runs on Web, iOS, Android. Thinkific runs on Web, Mobile.
What is Appcues best used for?
Appcues is most often used for a saas company whose trial-to-paid conversion stalls because new users never reach the action that demonstrates value, a product team shipping a significant feature that needs an in-app announcement and walkthrough on launch day, not three sprints later, a customer success team wanting to replace repetitive onboarding calls with a self-serve checklist for smaller accounts, a team that needs contextual nps or feedback prompts targeted at users who have actually used the feature in question. Of those, a saas company whose trial-to-paid conversion stalls because new users never reach the action that demonstrates value and a product team shipping a significant feature that needs an in-app announcement and walkthrough on launch day, not three sprints later are not what Thinkific is typically brought in for.
What can Appcues do that Thinkific cannot?
Appcues covers No-code flow builder, Onboarding checklists, Segmentation and targeting, NPS and in-app surveys. Thinkific covers Course builder, Website builder, Quizzes, Certificates.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Appcues: How much does Appcues cost?

It no longer publishes prices. Start, Grow and Enterprise tiers show monthly active user limits and experience caps but no dollar amounts, and each routes to a call or a trial.

Thinkific: Does Thinkific have a free plan?

No. Thinkific does not offer a free plan but provides a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start at $36/month (Basic tier).

Source
Appcues: Do I need a developer to install it?

A developer installs the snippet or SDK once and maps user properties. After that, building flows genuinely requires no engineering time.

Thinkific: Are there transaction fees on Thinkific?

Thinkific charges no transaction fees when using their built-in Thinkific Payments. Third-party payment processors incur 5% fees (Basic) down to 0% (Plus), plus 3.6% for Stripe with subscriptions.

Source
Appcues: What breaks flows?

Front-end changes. Because experiences are anchored to elements in your live DOM, refactors and renamed selectors break walkthroughs silently.

Thinkific: What payment methods does Thinkific support?

PayPal is locked to Grow plan ($199/month). Basic and Start plans do not support PayPal, limiting payment options for international creators and potentially reducing conversions.

Source
Appcues: What is the Spark programme?

A route for teams under 25 people shipping their first in-app experiences. Terms are quoted on application rather than listed.

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