Thinkific Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees and What Coaches Pay

As listed in October 2026, Thinkific pricing starts at $109 a month for the Start plan, or $82 a month if you pay for a year up front. Grow costs $219 a month ($164 billed annually), the newer Expand plan costs $499 ($374 billed annually), and Plus is quoted on request. Every self-serve plan comes with a 30-day free trial, there is no free plan, and Thinkific takes no transaction fee of its own when you sell through Thinkific Payments. For a coach, the plan price is only part of the bill: Thinkific is a course platform, so one-on-one booking, client check-ins and habit tracking usually come from other tools.

Prices also moved this year. On August 13, 2026, Thinkific raised Start and Grow by about 10%, Expand now sits above Grow, and the old $49 Basic plan no longer appears on the public pricing page. This guide covers every plan and limit, each fee on top, what three example coaches would pay in year one, the gotchas in the fine print, and how Thinkific compares with five alternatives. We make Coachful, one of those alternatives, so Thinkific's figures here come from its own pages, and anything from our earlier research is dated.

How much does Thinkific cost in 2026?

Thinkific costs $109, $219 or $499 a month on its three self-serve plans, or $82, $164 and $374 a month on annual billing. Paying annually cuts each price by 25%, which is the largest saving Thinkific offers.

The US dollar figures come from Thinkific's official AI information page, which the company marks as confirmed in October 2026. The pricing page itself rendered in euros when we captured it: Start at €107 monthly or €79 annually, Grow at €213 or €159, and Expand at €488 or €366. If you buy from outside the US, expect local currency and check the final amount, including any tax, at checkout.

Two limits matter more than the headline price for most coaches. The 10,000 current students on Start is generous, so few solo coaches will hit it. The admin count is tighter: Start includes two admin seats, so a coach plus one assistant fills it, and a third person who needs to manage courses pushes you to Grow.

What does each Thinkific plan include?

Every Thinkific plan includes unlimited courses; the higher tiers add branding control, admin seats, bigger communities and business features. Here is what each step adds, as listed in October 2026.

Start: $109 a month ($82 annually)

Start is now the entry plan. It includes unlimited courses, digital downloads, and coaching and webinar products, plus live cohorts with Zoom, quizzes, certificates, bundles, upsells, payment plans, memberships and a custom domain. The limits are 10,000 current students, 2 admins, one community with 10 spaces, 5 live community events and 200 GB of video bandwidth per month. Live groups max out at 50 people.

For a solo coach selling a signature course, a membership and a few bundles, Start covers the product side well. What it does not do is remove Thinkific's branding; that only arrives on Grow, and white-labeled email only on Expand.

Grow: $219 a month ($164 annually)

Grow removes Thinkific branding and adds exams with question banks, B2B sales and invoicing, phone and priority chat support, an API and webhooks, and engagement reports. Limits rise to 6 admins, 3 communities with 20 spaces, 400 GB of bandwidth a month and live groups of up to 100.

The likely reasons a coach moves up are practical: a site without the Thinkific name on it, invoices for companies that buy a program for their staff, or a cohort that outgrows the 50-person cap on Start. On annual billing, Grow costs exactly twice what Start does, so the reason has to be worth about $984 a year.

Expand: $499 a month ($374 annually)

Expand is the newest self-serve tier. It adds white-labeled email, custom SSL, revenue sharing with up to 10 partners and dedicated launch support. Limits climb to 15 admins, 10 communities with 200 spaces, 1,000 GB of bandwidth a month and no cap on group size.

Expand is aimed at academies with several instructors, partner programs where revenue is split, or very large live cohorts. A solo coach rarely needs it, and a small coaching team with fewer than seven people who manage content can usually stay on Grow.

Plus: custom pricing

Plus is sold through Thinkific's sales team. It adds an AI teaching assistant, single sign-on, SCORM and learning paths, HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, custom roles and, on select contracts, the branded mobile app. Thinkific does not publish a Plus price, so treat it as an enterprise contract rather than a line in a coaching budget.

What happened to the Basic plan?

Basic, previously $49 a month or $36 billed annually, is no longer shown on the public pricing page. If you are still on Basic, check your billing settings before you change plans: an older plan that new buyers cannot see may not be available to return to once you leave it.

What changed in Thinkific pricing in 2026?

Start and Grow went up about 10% on August 13, 2026, Expand was added above Grow, and Basic left the public page. Here is the earlier listing beside the October 2026 one.

On annual billing, Start went from about $888 to about $984 a year, and Grow from about $1,788 to about $1,968. If you are budgeting from an older review, a pricing screenshot shared in a coaching group or a renewal quote from last year, use the new numbers.

The bigger shift is at the bottom of the range. With Basic gone from the public page, the cheapest way into Thinkific for a new buyer more than doubled, from $36 to $82 a month on annual billing.

What fees does Thinkific charge on top of the plan?

Thinkific charges 0% transaction fees when you sell through Thinkific Payments, but you still pay card processing, and connecting another gateway adds a separate Thinkific fee. The other extras are the branded app, seat limits and usage caps.

Payment processing

Thinkific describes its Thinkific Payments rate as "in line with other processors at 2.9%". On an example month with $3,000 in sales, 2.9% comes to about $87, before any fixed per-transaction amount that may apply where you are. Confirm the exact rate in your payment settings before launch.

Third-party gateways

You can connect Stripe or PayPal directly instead of using Thinkific Payments, but Thinkific then adds a gateway fee that varies by plan. The pricing page does not list the amounts, so ask Thinkific support for the figure on your plan before you choose that route. On paper, Thinkific Payments is the cheaper option for most coaches.

The branded mobile app

A branded mobile app costs $199 a month as an add-on and is included only on select Plus contracts. Over a year that is $2,388, which is more than two years of Start on annual billing. It is the largest add-on in Thinkific's pricing, and it is worth asking how many of your students would actually install an app before you pay for one.

Seats, bandwidth and community limits

The pricing page lists no way to buy single admin seats, so a third team member on Start means upgrading to Grow, which doubles the bill. Bandwidth and community limits step up the same way, and the page does not say what happens past the bandwidth cap, so check the help center if you run long video lessons for a big audience.

What does a coach actually pay for Thinkific?

A solo coach should budget about $1,000 to $1,300 a year for Thinkific alone, a growing cohort coach about $2,000 to $2,600, and a small academy with a branded app about $6,900 to $8,400, before processing and the tools Thinkific does not replace. The three profiles below are examples built from the October 2026 price list, not customer data.

The last column changes the real total the most. Thinkific lists coaching and webinar products on every plan, but when we profiled the platform in September 2026 it had no built-in one-on-one scheduling, and coaching sessions relied on external booking links. It also has no client habits, daily check-ins or per-client plans. A coach who sells sessions as well as courses therefore adds a scheduling tool (our Calendly pricing guide shows what that costs), something to send and sign coaching agreements, and a way to see how clients are doing between calls.

Add those subscriptions and the new coach in the first row pays for three or four products, each with its own login, renewal date and client list to keep in sync.

Coachful covers those pieces in one subscription: booking with two-way calendar sync, e-signed agreements, habits and check-ins, courses and a community. For the new coach in the table, the matching plan is Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients. For the cohort coach, the unlimited-client plan is Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients. Teams add coach seats on Studio or Agency (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients).

What hidden costs and gotchas come with Thinkific?

The main surprises are the jump from Start to Grow for branding removal and extra admins, the $199 app add-on, an unpublished gateway fee, and the cost of the separate tools you still need for one-on-one work. Here is the full list to check before you pay.

• Branding stays on Start. Removing Thinkific branding requires Grow, which doubles the plan price.
• Two admins on Start. A coach, a virtual assistant and a co-facilitator is already one person too many.
• Live groups cap at 50 on Start. A cohort or webinar that grows past that pushes you to Grow, and past 100 to Expand.
• The gateway fee is not published. If you prefer to keep your own Stripe or PayPal account, the extra cost is something you have to ask about.
• Prices are shown in local currency. The pricing page showed euros for us, while Thinkific's own AI information page lists US dollars. Budget in the currency you will actually be billed in.
• Prices rose in 2026. Start and Grow went up about 10% on August 13, 2026. Check the renewal price before an annual plan rolls over.
• The branded app is $199 a month. That is $2,388 a year on top of any plan below Plus.
• Bandwidth caps are monthly. 200 GB on Start is plenty for short lessons, but long, high-resolution video for a large audience uses it faster.
• Leaving takes manual work. When we profiled Thinkific in September 2026, students and your email list exported to CSV, but course content had to be downloaded manually.
• Public reviews are weak. Thinkific had a Trustpilot score of 1.8 from 868 reviews when we checked on October 25, 2026. Read a page of recent reviews yourself before you commit to annual billing, and note which complaints would apply to how you plan to use it.

Together, they mean the realistic price for a coach is rarely the number on the plan card.

Is Thinkific worth the price for coaches?

Thinkific is worth it if courses are the core of your business and coaching is the add-on. If coaching is the core and courses are the add-on, you pay for a course platform and still buy the coaching tools separately, so a coaching platform is usually the better buy.

Course creators who coach on the side

This is Thinkific's best fit. Unlimited courses, quizzes, certificates, memberships, bundles and payment plans on Start, at $82 a month on annual billing, is a fair price for a course business. If you sell a library of self-paced courses and offer the occasional call, the missing coaching tools barely matter. Our page on course platforms for coaches covers what else to look for.

One-on-one coaches

This is the weakest fit. Most of what you pay for on Thinkific is course infrastructure, and the parts a one-on-one practice runs on every day (booking, habits, check-ins and per-client plans) are not built in. You would be paying course-platform prices for a booking link. A dedicated scheduling and client management setup fits better.

Here is a short walkthrough of how booking and sessions work in Coachful, for comparison:

Group and cohort coaches

Thinkific is a mixed fit here. Live cohorts with Zoom and communities are on every plan, which suits a group program. The gaps are daily accountability (no habits or check-ins) and the 50-person group cap on Start. If you price cohorts, our group coaching pricing calculator helps you check whether Grow's extra cost fits your margins, and our page on group coaching software lists what a cohort needs between calls.

Health, wellness and fitness coaches

Thinkific is a weak fit for coaches whose results depend on daily behavior. It has no client habits or check-ins, and workout or nutrition tracking is not among its listed features, so you would add an app for those. Coachful's Fitness & Nutrition pack adds a workout builder, workout logging, nutrition targets, meal plans and weekly check-ins, and our health coach page shows the habit and check-in side.

A note on scope: health and fitness coaching is not medical treatment. If a client describes symptoms, a diagnosis, an injury or signs of disordered eating, refer them to a licensed clinician. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and is not built for clinical records or insurance billing.

Business and executive coaches

Grow's B2B sales and invoicing are useful if companies buy your programs for their staff. You will still need one-on-one booking, which Thinkific did not build in when we profiled it in September 2026, and agreements and private engagement records are not among its listed plan features. See our pages for business coaches, executive coaches and coaching contracts.

Coaching teams and academies

Expand's 15 admins and revenue sharing with up to 10 partners suit a multi-instructor academy. Admin seats are not the same as coaches with their own calendars and client lists, though, so a coaching team still needs booking and client management elsewhere. Our coaching teams page explains how coach seats work in Coachful.

How does Thinkific pricing compare with the alternatives?

Ranked by what coaches pay for and use every day: one login for the whole client journey, delivery between sessions, total stack cost, and setup effort, including Coachful's free white-glove build.

Vendor prices and Trustpilot scores are as listed on October 25, 2026. On sticker price alone, Teachable, LearnWorlds and Podia undercut Thinkific at the entry level, though their cheapest plans add transaction or per-enrollment fees, and Kajabi costs more. The bigger difference is what each price includes: only Coachful's includes per-client programs with habits and check-ins alongside courses, booking and agreements, so it is the only option in this table that does not need extra tools for one-on-one coaching. For more side-by-side numbers, see our comparison hub and the Thinkific alternative page.

What is Coachful, and why do we rank it first?

Coachful is a coaching platform that puts booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant into one subscription. The coach works from one login and each client gets one branded app. Because it is our product, here are the plain facts, including what it does not do.

Who it is for. Coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions; solo coaches growing into a small team; and coaches replacing four to six separate tools.

What it does.

• Booking: booking pages with availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection; two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook calendar sync; built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links; email reminders, plus SMS and WhatsApp reminders once messaging is enabled.
• Payments: through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Since August 2026, Coachful takes a 0% platform fee, so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing.
• Agreements: coaching agreements with e-signature, sent before the first call and stored on the client record.
• Programs: multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks.
• Courses: modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking, plus downloads, videos, books, events and bundles, delivered into the client's branded home and app.
• Community: a feed, group chat, direct messages, video events, group calls and webinars, with cohort groups created automatically when someone enrolls in a program.
• Website and marketing: a section-based website builder with a blog, custom domain and 30 designed homepage templates; booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels; email broadcasts and multi-step sequences.
• AI: Michelle, the built-in assistant, works from your live practice data to build programs, draft emails and content, summarize recorded sessions and brief you before each call.
• Credentials: ICF hour tracking against ACC, PCC and MCC thresholds, with an exportable client coaching log.

This short walkthrough shows how a multi-week program is built and delivered in Coachful:

What it does not do. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified, offers no BAA, and is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. It does not support PayPal, and there is no permanent free plan. It is not a course marketplace and not a general website builder for non-coaching sites. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account. There is no Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura sync, and no Salesforce or HubSpot integration.

How it compares on cost with Thinkific. Thinkific's entry plan buys a course platform. Coachful's entry plan (Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients) buys a coaching platform with courses inside it. Lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, team plans add coach seats, and monthly plans cancel in one click. Thinkific's branded app is a separate add-on at $199 a month. Coachful's client app is included in your Coachful membership, with your branding inside the Coachful app.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create > We'll build it for you, you describe what you want built (a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline and written material, email sequence, link in bio, lead quiz, event or webinar, or automation) and attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files such as logos, photos, brand guides and copy. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. Nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. One recent build: a somatic coach leaving Kajabi had the homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected. Another: a real-estate and money coach got a year-long cohort program with an application form, an eight-page site and a nine-day bootcamp funnel. Read more about the white-glove build service.

How to start. Start a free trial, connect Stripe or Razorpay, then request the white-glove build for your site or first funnel. Your clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding, and your client data can be exported as a ZIP if you ever leave.

How do Kajabi, Teachable, Podia and LearnWorlds compare on price?

All four are course-first platforms like Thinkific; Teachable, LearnWorlds and Podia start cheaper, and Kajabi starts higher. Here is what each costs as listed in October 2026.

Kajabi

Kajabi Basic costs $179 a month ($143 billed annually), Growth $249 ($199) and Pro $499 ($399). Basic caps you at 5 products, 2,500 contacts, one community, one website and 2 admin users, with no AI credits. In the US, Kajabi Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro, and using a processor other than Kajabi Payments or PayPal adds a Kajabi fee of 2%, 1% or 0.5% depending on the plan. The standard trial is 14 days.

Kajabi Basic costs $70 a month more than Thinkific Start on monthly billing, in exchange for website, funnel and email tools in the same account, but with a five-product cap. Like Thinkific, it has no habit tracking or daily client check-ins. Our Kajabi pricing guide has the full breakdown. Pick it over Coachful if you sell several knowledge products to a large email list and do not need habits, check-ins or per-client plans.

Teachable

Teachable Starter costs $39 a month ($29 billed annually) but takes a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder costs $89 ($69) and Growth $189 ($139), both with 0% transaction fees, capped at 10 and 50 products. Teachable Payments processing runs 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards and 3.9% + 30¢ for international cards, with a $15 chargeback fee. The plan cards show a 7-day free trial plus a 30-day guarantee.

Builder is $20 a month cheaper than Thinkific Start on monthly billing, and Teachable lists student mobile apps, where Thinkific charges $199 a month for a branded app. The trade-off is a 10-product cap on Builder against Thinkific's unlimited courses. When we profiled it in September 2026, Teachable had no native scheduling or calendar sync. Pick it over Coachful if you mostly sell a handful of self-paced courses and want the lowest course-platform price.

Podia

Podia Mover costs $49 a month ($42 billed annually) with a 5% transaction fee. Shaker costs $99 ($84) and Earthquaker $179 ($150), both with 0% Podia fees, plus Stripe or PayPal processing. Email allowances are small: 100, 500 and 1,000 subscribers included. The trial is 14 days with full access and no credit card.

Shaker is $10 a month cheaper than Thinkific Start and sells courses, downloads, webinars, coaching sessions and a community from one storefront. When we profiled it in September 2026, Podia had no mobile app and no native video calls. Pick it over Coachful if you want a simple storefront for courses and downloads and your email list is still small.

LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds Starter costs $29 a month ($24 billed annually) plus $5 per paid enrollment. Pro Trainer costs $99 ($79) with 5 admins, 2,000 active learners a month, 20 SCORM packages and 15 page funnels, and Learning Center costs $299 ($249). The trial is 30 days, and LearnWorlds pages say no credit card is required. Self-serve plans cap active learners per month, and the branded mobile app is priced separately.

Pro Trainer is $10 a month cheaper than Thinkific Start and includes SCORM, which Thinkific reserves for Plus. Pick it over Coachful if you build interactive, SCORM-based training for organizations and need a learning management system more than a coaching back office.

If you are weighing a community-first or link-in-bio setup instead, our Skool pricing and Stan Store pricing guides cover those.

How can you save money on Thinkific?

Pay annually once you are sure, stay on Start until a Grow feature pays for itself, and sell through Thinkific Payments. Those three choices account for most of the savings available.

1. Pay annually once you are committed. Annual billing saves 25%: $324 a year on Start, $660 on Grow and $1,500 on Expand. Use the 30-day trial and a month or two of monthly billing first if you are unsure.
2. Stay on Start until Grow earns its keep. Moving up costs about $984 more a year on annual billing. Do it for a concrete reason: company invoicing, cohorts above 50, a third admin, or branding removal that you can tie to sales.
3. Sell through Thinkific Payments. Connecting Stripe or PayPal directly adds a per-plan gateway fee on top of processing.
4. Build before the trial clock starts. Outline your course, record your videos and write your sales page first, so the 30 days go on setup and testing rather than content creation.
5. Think twice about the app. At $2,388 a year, the branded app only pays off if students actually use it. Check how your students access lessons today before you buy it.
6. Audit admin seats. Remove people who no longer need access before you upgrade for seats alone.
7. Keep video lean. Shorter, well-compressed lessons help you stay under the 200 GB monthly bandwidth on Start.
8. Check renewal dates. Prices rose in August 2026, so look at the renewal quote on any annual plan a month before it renews.
9. Price the whole stack. Add your booking, e-signature and check-in tools to the Thinkific plan. If those extras cost more than the gap to a coaching platform, consolidating is the larger saving. Our guide to pricing coaching packages shows how software costs fit into your margins.

How do you switch from Thinkific to Coachful?

Export your students and email list, start a Coachful trial, and let the onboarding team import your clients, programs and content while the white-glove build handles your site. Keep Thinkific running until your first full billing cycle on Coachful has gone through.

1. Export from Thinkific. When we profiled Thinkific in September 2026, students and your email list exported to CSV and course content had to be downloaded manually. Save your videos, downloads and lesson text in folders by course.
2. Start a Coachful trial. Connect your Stripe Connect or Razorpay account and set your booking availability and calendar sync.
3. Hand over the import. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding, so you send files instead of rebuilding lessons by hand.
4. Request the white-glove build. Ask for your website, sales page or lead-magnet funnel from Create > We'll build it for you, with your logo, photos and existing copy attached.
5. Recreate offers and agreements. Set up one-time payments, subscriptions and payment plans, and attach your coaching agreement so new clients sign before the first call.
6. Plan recurring subscribers. Ask Thinkific support whether subscription billing can be moved; if it cannot, invite subscribers to rejoin on Coachful before their next renewal.
7. Cancel before renewal. Once a full cycle runs on Coachful, cancel Thinkific ahead of its next billing date, especially on an annual plan.

For the payment side, our page on coaching payment software covers subscriptions, payment plans and invoices in more detail.

Frequently asked questions about Thinkific pricing

How much does Thinkific cost per month in 2026?

As listed in October 2026, Start costs $109 a month, Grow $219 and Expand $499 on monthly billing. Annual billing brings those down to $82, $164 and $374 a month. Plus is custom-priced through Thinkific's sales team.

Does Thinkific have a free plan?

No. Thinkific does not offer a free plan, but every self-serve plan comes with a 30-day free trial. The pricing page does not say whether a card is needed to start it.

Does Thinkific take a cut of my sales?

Thinkific charges 0% transaction fees when you use Thinkific Payments, which it describes as in line with other processors at 2.9%. If you connect Stripe or PayPal directly, Thinkific adds a per-plan gateway fee, and the amounts are not listed on the pricing page.

How much does the Thinkific branded mobile app cost?

The branded mobile app is a $199-a-month add-on, or $2,388 a year. It is included only on select Plus contracts.

Did Thinkific raise its prices in 2026?

Yes. On August 13, 2026, Start rose from $99 to $109 a month and Grow from $199 to $219, an increase of about 10%. Annual rates went from $74 to $82 and from $149 to $164 a month.

What happened to the Thinkific Basic plan?

Basic, which cost $49 a month or $36 billed annually, no longer appears on the public pricing page. The lowest plan a new buyer sees is now Start at $109 a month.

Is Thinkific good for one-on-one coaching?

It sells coaching products, but it is built around courses. When we profiled it in September 2026 it had no built-in one-on-one scheduling, and it has no client habits, check-ins or per-client plans, so most coaches pair it with a booking tool and more. A coaching platform such as Coachful includes those pieces in one subscription.

Why does the Thinkific pricing page show euros?

The pricing page displays local currency based on where you visit from. In euros, Start was €107 monthly or €79 annually in October 2026. Confirm the currency and any tax at checkout.

Is Thinkific cheaper than Kajabi?

At the entry and middle tiers, yes: Start is $109 a month against Kajabi Basic at $179, and Grow is $219 against Kajabi Growth at $249. At the top, Expand and Kajabi Pro both cost $499 on monthly billing, while on annual billing Expand is $374 a month against Kajabi Pro at $399.

What is Coachful's free white-glove service?

Every Coachful plan includes a white-glove build: you describe what you want, such as a website, funnel, program or email sequence, attach up to 8 links and 10 files, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It never invents credentials, testimonials or prices, and it does not cover video recording, logo design or ads.