Softwr

LMS · head to head

Thinkific vs Totara

Thinkific logo

Thinkific

LMS

Create and sell online courses your way

From
$36/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Totara logo

Totara

LMS

Open source learning, performance and collaboration platform derived from Moodle and sold through partners

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Thinkific no free plan, 14-day trial only; Totara you cannot buy from the vendor. Every purchase runs through a partner who sets its own hosting, services and support pricing, so identical platforms are quoted at materially different totals and buyers must run a partner comparison as well as a product comparison.
  • They diverge on capability: Thinkific covers Course builder, Totara covers Organisational hierarchies.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Thinkific and Totara actually diverge.

Attributes where Thinkific and Totara differ
AttributeThinkificTotara
Starting price$36/monthOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb, iOS, Android, Linux
Founded2012Unknown

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 Thinkific

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

Only in Totara

  • Organisational hierarchies
  • Compliance and certification
  • Totara Perform
  • Totara Engage
  • Self-hosting
  • Programs and learning plans

What people use each for

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

Thinkific

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

Totara

  • Health services and government bodies that must evidence mandatory training by job role across a large hierarchynot Thinkific
  • Organisations with data residency rules that require the platform to run on their own infrastructurenot Thinkific
  • Moodle users who need appraisal, competency and compliance features the academic product does not carrynot Thinkific
  • Buyers who want exit rights over the platform code rather than dependence on a single hosted vendornot Thinkific

Where each one falls short

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

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)

Totara

  • You cannot buy from the vendor. Every purchase runs through a partner who sets its own hosting, services and support pricing, so identical platforms are quoted at materially different totals and buyers must run a partner comparison as well as a product comparison.
  • Open source does not mean cheap. Subscription plus partner hosting plus implementation and version upgrade services commonly lands near commercial system cost, and the saving is in control and exit rights rather than in the invoice.
  • The administrative interface carries its Moodle lineage and is dense, so administrator training is a real project cost rather than an afterthought.
  • Major version upgrades are projects, especially where a partner has customised the deployment, and organisations that customise heavily find upgrades slower and dearer over time.
  • The learner facing experience is functional rather than engaging, and organisations wanting a consumer grade learning experience usually front it with something else.

Pricing, plan by plan

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)

Totara

On request
  • Totara subscription via partner$undefined/year
    • Sold only through distribution partners
    • Partner sets hosting, implementation and support pricing
    • Source available under the GPL, but subscription required for supported releases

Which should you pick?

Choose Thinkific if

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

Choose Totara if

  • You need organisational hierarchies.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Linux.
  • You also want compliance and certification.
Totara review

Questions people ask

Is Thinkific or Totara better?
Neither clearly leads. Thinkific starts at $36/month and Totara at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Thinkific or Totara?
Thinkific starts at $36/month and Totara at On request.
Does Thinkific or Totara run on more platforms?
Thinkific runs on Web, Mobile. Totara runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux.
What is Thinkific best used for?
Thinkific is most often used for course creation, membership sites, coaching programs, corporate training. Of those, course creation and membership sites are not what Totara is typically brought in for.
What can Thinkific do that Totara cannot?
Thinkific covers Course builder, Website builder, Quizzes, Certificates. Totara covers Organisational hierarchies, Compliance and certification, Totara Perform, Totara Engage.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Totara: Is Totara free because it is open source?

No. The source is available under the GPL, but supported releases require a subscription, and it is sold through partners who add hosting, implementation and support costs.

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
Totara: How is it different from Moodle?

Moodle is built around courses and academic delivery. Totara adds organisational hierarchies, role based automatic assignment, recurring certification and appraisal, which is what workplace compliance reporting needs.

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
Totara: Can we host it ourselves?

Yes. Self hosting is a genuine option and is one of the main reasons regulated and public sector buyers choose it over a hosted only competitor.

Share

Related pages

More on Thinkific

More on Totara

Keep looking

Other head to heads