Is Disciple or Thinkific better?

Neither clearly leads. Disciple starts at £599/month and Thinkific at $36/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Disciple or Thinkific?

Disciple starts at £599/month and Thinkific at $36/month.

Does Disciple or Thinkific run on more platforms?

Disciple runs on Web, iOS, Android. Thinkific runs on Web, Mobile.

What is Disciple best used for?

Disciple is most often used for a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store, a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence, a sports club or faith organisation that wants push notifications to reach members directly rather than competing with a social feed algorithm, a brand running a customer community that must live on its own domain and its own app listing for reasons of ownership or sponsorship. Of those, a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store and a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence are not what Thinkific is typically brought in for.

What can Disciple do that Thinkific cannot?

Disciple covers Native branded apps, Web community, Groups and feeds, Courses. Thinkific covers Course builder, Website builder, Quizzes, Certificates.

Communication · head to head

Disciple vs Thinkific

Disciple

Communication

White-label community apps published under your own brand on iOS, Android and web

From: £599/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Thinkific

LMS

Create and sell online courses your way

From: $36/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Disciple the entry plan starts at £599 a month, so a community with a few hundred members pays more per head than almost any percentage-fee alternative, and the flat fee only wins above a revenue threshold you should calculate before signing.; Thinkific no free plan, 14-day trial only
They diverge on capability: Disciple covers Native branded apps, Thinkific covers Course builder.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Disciple and Thinkific actually diverge.

Attributes where Disciple and Thinkific differ
Attribute	Disciple	Thinkific
Starting price	£599/month	$36/month
Pricing model	Per month, flat fee with no transaction charge	Unknown
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web, Mobile
Category	Communication	LMS
Founded	Unknown	2012

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 Disciple

Native branded apps
Web community
Groups and feeds
Courses
Live streaming and video
Subscriptions and payments
Multi-tier membership
Push notifications and analytics

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.

Disciple

A membership body moving several thousand paying members off Facebook Groups into an app that carries its own name in the App Storenot Thinkific
A fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licencenot Thinkific
A sports club or faith organisation that wants push notifications to reach members directly rather than competing with a social feed algorithmnot Thinkific
A brand running a customer community that must live on its own domain and its own app listing for reasons of ownership or sponsorshipnot Thinkific

Thinkific

Course creationnot Disciple
Membership sitesnot Disciple
Coaching programsnot Disciple
Corporate trainingnot Disciple

Where each one falls short

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

Disciple

The entry plan starts at £599 a month, so a community with a few hundred members pays more per head than almost any percentage-fee alternative, and the flat fee only wins above a revenue threshold you should calculate before signing.
Video is metered at 10,000 minutes on the entry plan and 20,000 on Pro, so a community that leans on live streaming will hit overage or a plan upgrade rather than the unlimited storage the marketing implies.
Owning your own App Store listing means owning App Store review, rejections and the annual developer account, and a policy change at Apple becomes your problem rather than the platform vendor's.
Apple and Google still take their cut of in-app purchases regardless of Disciple charging no transaction fee, so the zero percent claim applies to Disciple's share only and not to the total cost of collecting money in-app.
Pricing is in sterling, which introduces exchange rate exposure and, for some buyers, VAT handling that a US-billed competitor would not create.

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

Disciple

£599/month

Branded App$599/month
- Branded iOS, Android and web apps
- 5 admin seats
- 10 groups
Branded App Pro$999/month
- Unlimited admin seats and groups under fair use
- Unlimited monetised courses
- 20,000 video minutes
Organisation$3400/month
- From £3,400 per month
- Custom feature development
- API access and custom integrations

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 Disciple if

You need native branded apps.
You work on Web, iOS, Android.
You also want web community.

Disciple review

Choose Thinkific if

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

Thinkific review

Questions people ask

Is Disciple or Thinkific better?: Neither clearly leads. Disciple starts at £599/month and Thinkific at $36/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Disciple or Thinkific?: Disciple starts at £599/month and Thinkific at $36/month.
Does Disciple or Thinkific run on more platforms?: Disciple runs on Web, iOS, Android. Thinkific runs on Web, Mobile.
What is Disciple best used for?: Disciple is most often used for a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store, a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence, a sports club or faith organisation that wants push notifications to reach members directly rather than competing with a social feed algorithm, a brand running a customer community that must live on its own domain and its own app listing for reasons of ownership or sponsorship. Of those, a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store and a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence are not what Thinkific is typically brought in for.
What can Disciple do that Thinkific cannot?: Disciple covers Native branded apps, Web community, Groups and feeds, Courses. Thinkific covers Course builder, Website builder, Quizzes, Certificates.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Disciple: How much does Disciple cost?

Branded App is £599 a month, Branded App Pro is £999 a month, and the Organisation tier starts at £3,400 a month. Annual billing gives two months free.

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

Disciple: Does Disciple take a cut of member payments?

No. All plans are 0% transaction fees on Disciple's side. Apple and Google still take their standard in-app purchase commission, which is separate.

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

Disciple: Is the app published under my brand?

Yes. iOS and Android apps go into the stores under your own name and branding, not as a section within a shared platform app.

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

Disciple: Is there a member limit?

Plans advertise unlimited members subject to fair use. The real limits are admin seats, groups, courses and video minutes, which differ by plan.

Disciple vs Thinkific

Disciple

Thinkific

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Disciple

Only in Thinkific

What people use each for

Disciple

Thinkific

Where each one falls short

Disciple

Thinkific

Pricing, plan by plan

Disciple

Thinkific

Which should you pick?

Choose Disciple if

Choose Thinkific if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Disciple

More on Thinkific

Keep looking

Other head to heads