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LMS · head to head

Thinkific vs Thought Industries

Thinkific logo

Thinkific

LMS

Create and sell online courses your way

From
$36/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Thought Industries logo

Thought Industries

LMS

External learning platform for companies that sell training to customers and partners as a product

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Thinkific no free plan, 14-day trial only; Thought Industries the annual floor is an enterprise number, so organisations with modest training revenue pay more in platform fees than a revenue share would have cost them.
  • They diverge on capability: Thinkific covers Course builder, Thought Industries covers Commerce engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Thinkific and Thought Industries actually diverge.

Attributes where Thinkific and Thought Industries differ
AttributeThinkificThought Industries
Starting price$36/monthOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb, iOS, Android
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 Thought Industries

  • Commerce engine
  • Licence and seat management
  • Multi-tenant panorama delivery
  • Certification programmes
  • Learning path personalisation
  • Analytics on revenue and consumption

What people use each for

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

Thinkific

  • Course creationnot Thought Industries
  • Membership sitesnot Thought Industries
  • Coaching programsnot Thought Industries
  • Corporate trainingnot Thought Industries

Thought Industries

  • A software company whose customer certification programme has grown past what a creator platform can administernot Thinkific
  • Professional bodies selling continuing education with certification renewal cyclesnot Thinkific
  • Manufacturers training distributor and dealer networks who each need their own branded environmentnot Thinkific
  • Any training business where a percentage of revenue model has become more expensive than a flat platform feenot 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)

Thought Industries

  • The annual floor is an enterprise number, so organisations with modest training revenue pay more in platform fees than a revenue share would have cost them.
  • Implementation is measured in months and needs an internal owner, so the platform sits unused and paid for during a slow rollout.
  • It is designed for external audiences, so using it for internal employee compliance training means paying for commerce and multi-tenancy capability that internal training does not need.
  • Configuration depth for commerce and tenancy means the administrator role is a real job, and organisations that assign it as a fraction of someone else's role underuse the system.
  • Content authoring is not the strength, so most customers pair it with a separate authoring tool and manage two vendors and two content workflows.

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)

Thought Industries

On request
  • Thought Industries$undefined/year
    • Annual platform fee, quoted
    • No percentage taken of course revenue
    • Implementation and success services quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Thinkific if

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

Choose Thought Industries if

  • You need commerce engine.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want licence and seat management.
Thought Industries review

Questions people ask

Is Thinkific or Thought Industries better?
Neither clearly leads. Thinkific starts at $36/month and Thought Industries at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Thinkific or Thought Industries?
Thinkific starts at $36/month and Thought Industries at On request.
Does Thinkific or Thought Industries run on more platforms?
Thinkific runs on Web, Mobile. Thought Industries runs on Web, iOS, Android.
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 Thought Industries is typically brought in for.
What can Thinkific do that Thought Industries cannot?
Thinkific covers Course builder, Website builder, Quizzes, Certificates. Thought Industries covers Commerce engine, Licence and seat management, Multi-tenant panorama delivery, Certification programmes.

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
Thought Industries: Does Thought Industries take a percentage of course sales?

No. It charges an annual platform fee. That is more expensive than a revenue share at low volume and considerably cheaper once training revenue grows.

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
Thought Industries: Can one platform serve several corporate customers separately?

Yes. Multi-tenant delivery gives each business customer its own branded environment and administrator while content stays centrally managed.

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
Thought Industries: Is it suitable for internal employee training?

It can do it, but you would be paying for commerce and tenancy features that internal compliance training does not use. A corporate learning platform is usually the better fit.

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