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LMS · head to head

Sana vs Thinkific

Sana logo

Sana

LMS

AI-native learning and knowledge assistant, acquired by Workday in 2025

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: Sana workday completed its acquisition on 4 November 2025, so Sana is now an HCM vendor's capability; if you do not run Workday, the roadmap will be shaped around a platform you do not use and standalone availability is not guaranteed long term.; Thinkific no free plan, 14-day trial only
  • They diverge on capability: Sana covers Sana Agents, Thinkific covers Course builder.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Sana and Thinkific actually diverge.

Attributes where Sana and Thinkific differ
AttributeSanaThinkific
Starting priceOn request$36/month
Pricing modelquoteUnknown
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Mobile
FoundedUnknown2012

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

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 Sana

  • Sana Agents
  • Sana Learn
  • Enterprise search
  • Live collaborative sessions
  • Content generation
  • Permission-aware retrieval
  • Workday integration

Only in Thinkific

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

Both cover

  • Analytics

What people use each for

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

Sana

  • An organisation whose employees repeatedly ask the same policy and process questions in Slack and where the answer already exists in a document nobody findsnot Thinkific
  • A Workday customer wanting learning and an internal assistant on the same employee record rather than a separate LMS contractnot Thinkific
  • Onboarding at a fast-growing company where content goes stale faster than the training team can rewrite coursesnot Thinkific
  • Sales enablement where reps need an answer about a product or a contract term during a call, not a course to complete next weeknot Thinkific

Thinkific

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

Where each one falls short

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

Sana

  • Workday completed its acquisition on 4 November 2025, so Sana is now an HCM vendor's capability; if you do not run Workday, the roadmap will be shaped around a platform you do not use and standalone availability is not guaranteed long term.
  • Answer quality depends entirely on the state of your internal content, so an organisation with contradictory or outdated documents gets a confident assistant citing the wrong version, which is worse than not having one.
  • Permission-aware retrieval across many source systems is difficult to get exactly right, and a misconfigured connector can surface content to employees who should not see it, which makes the security review substantial.
  • Compliance-heavy training needs, such as certification tracking, regulator-mandated evidence and SCORM-based external content, are handled less thoroughly than in traditional learning management systems built for that purpose.
  • Pricing is unpublished and now negotiated in the context of a Workday relationship, which reduces a non-Workday buyer's leverage and makes a like-for-like comparison against a standalone LMS difficult.

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

Sana

On request
  • Sana$undefined/year
    • Per-employee annual subscription
    • Agents and Learn licensed together or separately depending on the agreement
    • Connector scope affects pricing

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 Sana if

  • You need sana agents.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want sana learn.
Sana review

Choose Thinkific if

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

Questions people ask

Is Sana or Thinkific better?
Neither clearly leads. Sana 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, Sana or Thinkific?
Sana starts at On request and Thinkific at $36/month.
Does Sana or Thinkific run on more platforms?
Sana runs on Web, iOS, Android. Thinkific runs on Web, Mobile.
What is Sana best used for?
Sana is most often used for an organisation whose employees repeatedly ask the same policy and process questions in slack and where the answer already exists in a document nobody finds, a workday customer wanting learning and an internal assistant on the same employee record rather than a separate lms contract, onboarding at a fast-growing company where content goes stale faster than the training team can rewrite courses, sales enablement where reps need an answer about a product or a contract term during a call, not a course to complete next week. Of those, an organisation whose employees repeatedly ask the same policy and process questions in slack and where the answer already exists in a document nobody finds and a workday customer wanting learning and an internal assistant on the same employee record rather than a separate lms contract are not what Thinkific is typically brought in for.
What can Sana do that Thinkific cannot?
Sana covers Sana Agents, Sana Learn, Enterprise search, Live collaborative sessions. Thinkific covers Course builder, Website builder, Quizzes, Certificates. Both handle Analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Sana: Is Sana still an independent company?

No. Workday completed its acquisition on 4 November 2025 for approximately $1.1bn; the integrated experience begins rolling out in 2026.

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
Sana: Is it an LMS or a search tool?

Both, but the emphasis is on answering questions from your existing content. Traditional course delivery and completion tracking are secondary.

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
Sana: Does it work if we are not a Workday customer?

Currently yes, but the product direction now serves Workday's platform strategy, so weigh that in a multi-year commitment.

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
Sana: How is it priced?

Per employee per year, unpublished, and increasingly negotiated as part of a Workday agreement.

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