Thinkific Reviews

“Works For Basic only

Pros

It works fine if what you need is pretty basic. Overall the platform is simple to use and covers the essentials like organizing material, creating courses and handling users but In my experience it does not offer much beyond those core features.

Cons

As our needs changed, it could not really grow with us. It works okay for simple course delivery but we started needing more flexibility and advanced features that the platform just didn't provide that's why we made the switch in the end.

“Incredibly simple for non-tech trainers

Pros

The platform is incredibly simple. As a trainer without much tech background, I found it really user friendly. I used to be on another e-learning system and wasted so much time just trying to figure out how to make things function.

Cons

Getting dark mode to work properly required a few adjustments to make sure the whole course displayed correctly. I ended up using some HTML code I got with ChatGPT's help to fix the problem.

“Easy for users and admin to navigate

Pros

For us, the biggest highlight of Thinkific is how easy it is for both our users and our admin team to navigate. Plus we really liked how simple it was to rebuild our existing courses and now we have even more flexibility when designing new ones. Even building courses fits well with our current systems and updating older courses is a smooth process. We also liked being able to migrate our old Slack groups into a Community Group feature which helps spark more conversation among our members.

Cons

One challenge we faced was having to upload our e-learning modules as multimedia files to match how we structured courses in our old system. The team did help us use custom code so students could navigate the content correctly. It adds a small extra step whenever we upload new materials which is not ideal but we have managed to build it into our workflow.

“User friendly

Pros

The product is user friendly and the team is great to collaborate with as they get back to us fast whenever we have questions or concerns.

Cons

Right now the only way to mark courses as completed is by manually uploading a spreadsheet which is pretty time-consuming since we do it often. You also cannot duplicate learning paths which is frustrating as we have to copy everything over by hand each time.

“Easy interface for building and sharing

Pros

My favorite things about Thinkific were its easy to use interface and how it let me build and share courses without needing deep technical know-how. Plus the platform offered flexibility in how I organized content, strong analytics to follow learner progress and dependable integrations that kept the learning experience running smoothly. I really valued how simple it was to personalize the learner's path and keep everything looking professional and on-brand.

Cons

One of my least favorite part about it was how, like any growing company, their priorities could change quickly which made long-term planning a little tricky. That said I did like the transparent communication between teams which helped us adjust and stay on track.

“Charged after cancellation, no refunds

Pros

The service itself was good but after we decided not to continue and cancelled our membership, they charged us again a year later. They would not give us our money back.

Cons

They told me their policy is to never issue refunds. Putting policy ahead of customer satisfaction is not a good way to run things.

“File display is tricky and unclear

Pros

I really like how you can add all sorts of file types to the platform. You can use videos, documents, schedules, quizzes and other files all right within Thinkific.

Cons

Finding items can be tricky because of how they are displayed and sometimes it's not clear if you need to mark things as done to finish a module.

“Always been really easy to use

Pros

It is always been really easy to use, both for me as the admin and for our customers. It never felt buggy or glitchy and I never had any issues with how it functioned. Organizing content was simple and followed a clear flow and uploading and sorting everything was just as easy.

Cons

When we were hosting our content on it, they did not have the community feature they offer now. If it were my choice, I would go back to using them.

“very poor customization

Pros

Getting started and uploading a course is not a problem. It also comes with a broad set of features.

Cons

The features are not very customizable and some of them just don't function well. Customer service is also really poor as there's been a bug in one of their main features for almost a month and support only sends generic replies without saying when it will be fixed. A lot of their features don't allow customization either and the dashboard is not the easiest to navigate.

“Great product for simple course design

Pros

It is a great product that makes designing courses simple and includes a wide range of tools to help keep learners engaged.

Cons

I feel like the interface could be simpler and more attractive. Sometimes it feels a bit awkward to use.

“easy for beginners

Pros

This was the first platform I used when I launched my coaching business. Even though I had no idea what I was doing, I could easily create landing pages for my first lead magnets!

Cons

Back when I used it, there were not many design options I liked and eventually I outgrew what it could do.

“Well-known platform with strong features

Pros

I use this tool for delivering online courses, selling digital products and promoting my expertise through webinars and conferencing. Its strong features like the website builder, landing page creator and add-ons for integrating third-party tools like blogs, really set it apart. Even as a beginner, I can customize my course, enroll students, create and sell e-books, start video conferences and access tons of other features affordably with just a few clicks. It also lets me upload files up to 2GB, which is more than many competitors offer.

Cons

Honestly a lot of users talk about problems with bulk enrollment and some outdated features especially the video player. I also was not impressed with their support or updates as everything felt too generic.

“Super easy and simple to use

Pros

Thinkific is super easy to use. Adding my own content is simple too and the design side of things feels very user friendly.

Cons

There are real limits to how much you can customize the course player. There are different lesson types but beyond that, you are stuck using their set templates.

“Solid performance but limited handling

Pros

The performance we get for the price is really solid.

Cons

It could not handle everything I needed from a software platform.

“Really generous trial period

Pros

They gave us a really generous trial period to test everything out.

Cons

I struggled to make anything look professionally designed. Maybe I did not spend enough time on it or did not get the right support so that part might be on me.

“simple to use

Pros

It is simple to use and I like that you can share completion certificates with students.

Cons

Handling students from the admin dashboard feels a bit complicated.

“Really user friendly

Pros

I find Thinkific a really user friendly tool for putting together learning materials.

Cons

It was lacking some important features for tracking how learners were progressing.

“Modern, easy interface with no lag

Pros

The interface feels modern and is easy to find your way around. Adding or removing content is also easy and there is no lag with videos or other features which makes for a great experience for learners. Overall it is a trusted learning platform used worldwide and it's also easy to leave it if you need to.

Cons

Because of the product's limits, you end up needing a lot of third-party tools. For example, you cannot add a blog page directly so you have to use their recommended providers which are pricey. Recently, it said Stripe and other payment terminals cannot be used, forcing us back to their providers. Setting up meta tags for social media was easy but support could not help so I had to pay someone else to fix it. They really need more customization options for building your website as of right now it's too basic.

“Liked its flexibility and unbeatable support

Pros

I really liked how flexible it was and their customer support was unbeatable. There were also lots of templates and training guides so even someone brand new could set up their online school without trouble. Plus integrations with other apps and software made it a very efficient LMS.

Cons

The price kept going up and eventually I could not stay because there were better options for the money.

“Courses Done Right

Pros

I successfully developed my first course using Thinkific. The administration dashboard has a shallow learning curve, and you can quickly get started. It has shown improvements over time.

Cons

Having more control over rearranging blocks would be nice, as well as gaining deeper insights on the sales dashboard.

“Not easy to use - don't spend money on this

Pros

There are no advantages. The software is incredibly challenging to use, and obtaining human assistance seems impossible.

Cons

This product is incredibly challenging to use. It becomes apparent only after signing up, and they refuse to process refunds. I advise against it unless you're willing to invest full-time effort into figuring out the coursework. Additionally, it's difficult to reach a human being for assistance.

“my account suspended abruptly

Pros

Getting started with the product was a smooth and positive experience. I prepared to launch a digital course, Thinkific met every requirement. Setting up the course and a landing page was simple even on the free trial. I later upgraded to a paid plan so I could offer coupon codes too.

Cons

I had my entire course ready as all content uploaded and the landing page set. I started offering pre-sales to test interest and pricing which is pretty common. After emailing my list, a few people pre-ordered but after an hour everything stopped. People told me the link was broken. I tried logging in and could not and password recovery failed. It was like my site had been deleted without warning. Support chat was just an AI bot that was not helpful and phone support refused to assist because I could not log in. I finally emailed someone and days later they replied that my account was suspended for risk without explaining what that meant or seeming to care.

“you can begin without upfront cost!!

Pros

I like the we can begin without any upfront cost and sell our first product right away.

Cons

The Pro Plans feel lacking to me compared to what competitors offer.

“Affordable and visually appealing

Pros

There is a lot to like. But my fav thing is that it is both affordable and visually appealing.

Cons

We are limited to only one or two admin accounts for our community which is not ideal.

“Easy to manage but unattractive design

Pros

Thinkific was the first e-learning platform I ever used. It was pretty easy to manage, even though I thought the design was really unattractive.

Cons

There are no adjustable themes or color options and the interface did not get any updates the whole year I was using it.

“outdated and poor support

Pros

The login process is easy for members and it's simple to upgrade to other courses or use coupon codes. Having one dashboard for partners, users and affiliates is helpful too and that's a key issue we are trying to handle smoothly. Plus displaying courses clearly on the site works well for an education focused company and it does not require heavy design work which helps our virtual assistants. A mobile app is included but it's very basic and not especially impressive.

Cons

We had to manually import every student and bulk enroll them course by course. The bulk enroll tool only processes one import at a time so it took about two days to get everyone into each course. Adding affiliates was just as tedious as no bulk option so my VA spent three days adding over 300 affiliates one by one and we will have to manually pay them each month. So I would say it is only useful if you buy extra plugins to build a real website but that causes caching issues. The video player is outdated too as we have to manually upload SRT files instead of auto-generating them which will take a VA a week. There is no built-in API to remove a CRM tag when a member cancels which is something basic for any membership platform so we have to use Zapier, adding another cost. Even the support is not much help as they just send links to documents. For instance, we wanted to change the header font size which required code. Though it would have taken their team 30 seconds to help or point us in the right direction but they would not.

“Easy to create and build courses

Pros

Creating and building courses is pretty easy. The interface is user-friendly too and courses are accessible on mobile so learners can easily get to the materials.

Cons

It would be really helpful if the tool could automatically create quizzes based on the course content. Maybe something they could add in a future update.

“Get paid right away for courses

Pros

I get paid right away whenever someone buys one of my courses.

Cons

I noticed it costs more compared to�Systeme.io.�Since they rely on Stripe for payments and Stripe does not work in South Africa, I have to use PayPal instead. That ends up costing me sales.

“Simple setup but impossible to get rid of

Pros

Getting everything up and running is simple and the pricing seems fair.

Cons

Only use this if you never, ever plan to close your account. I have been trying to shut down our account for a year with no luck! You can downgrade to a free account but you are stuck there. You might think that's okay since they won't charge you but the problem is every time you deactivate one course, another one gets reactivated. I just had to refund a bunch of learners who managed to sign up and pay for courses we do not even offer anymore. It is not good for business! I mean there are better and more affordable platforms out there and it is impossible to reach a real person and their help pages are useless.

“Easy to upload and design courses

Pros

What I liked best about Thinkific was how easy it was to use. Uploading videos, adding files, writing the course outline and designing a course landing page were all super simple.

Cons

One thing I liked least was not being able to design the sales page exactly how I wanted. When I used it, the design features were very limited so I felt really restricted in how everything looked. I also thought the pricing was a bit high for what you get. Keep in mind that nowadays there are all in one platforms that offer everything this tool does for a much lower monthly cost.

“Most complete package for testing

Pros

I have tried other e-learning platforms and so far Thinkific offers the most complete package in terms of quality and price for launching an online product test. Plus being able to drag and drop all my content right from the builder toolbar is something I now rely on and expect from a platform like this. It's exactly what lets me build courses quickly and then set them up with options like scheduling modules by day or week or automatically emailing customers when they get access. Even though the design and aesthetics are fairly basic, I find it's enough to create a course that's fast to launch and fully functional.

Cons

Well I do miss the ability to design modules and have more visual details like fonts that better match my brand. Those options feel pretty limited for my taste. But if what you are looking for is a fast, efficient and solid way to build your online academy and courses and you do not mind a more minimalist presentation, then this tool is perfect for starting your online course business. Another thing I'd like to see improved is security or file protection. Plus it would be ideal if you could lock video and audio content so users cannot download or copy it.

“User-friendly with excellent training

Pros

My favorite thing about Thinkific was how user-friendly it was, along with the excellent training materials and pricing plans that fit different budgets.

Cons

To be honest I have been really happy with this platform so far and don't have any complaints.

“poor downgrade support

Pros

We believed this would be a strong LMS solution for both internal training and client onboarding so we committed to a higher-tier plan with a significant investment.

Cons

The features were not great and the user interface and experience were poor. Once we downgraded our plan, customer service went from average to absolutely terrible. We had multiple accounts and could not cancel one so it kept billing us and they would not help remove the subscription or issue a refund. They also overcharged several clients we referred to the software and those clients had similarly awful experiences with support.

“Excels in a thing it does

Pros

Thinkific platform is specifically built for courses and it really excels at that. So if you are mainly focused on selling courses and want them to look polished and work smoothly for your customers, then this is a great choice.

Cons

I was really hoping for a platform that could handle more than just courses like selling digital downloads, memberships and one on one coaching programs. It is not built to do everything as it focuses on doing one thing really well. So if you are looking for an all-in-one solution rather than a specialized tool, this probably is not the right fit.

“Plenty of features and reasonable price

Pros

There are plenty of features available and the price is really reasonable.

Cons

The HTML editor is not very good. I really hope they improve it.

“Easy to use but somewhat limited

Pros

I find it easy to use and the interface is simple to understand.

Cons

It feels somewhat limited when it comes to creating engaging learning experiences and you have to pay for third-party plugins just for basic gamification. Plus there is almost no built-in customer management functionality like email tools and integration with third-party contact systems is limited.

“Integrates smoothly with CRM systems

Pros

Thinkific integrates smoothly with CRM systems which is really important for managing leads and data. It also works well with Zapier, opening up a lot of possibilities.

Cons

I wish some things were a little clearer, it lets you set up courses that renew or memberships but it does not do a great job on the backend explaining the pros and cons of each option.

“Simple to get a course live

Pros

Getting a course live is simple and we can add quizzes to check what students have learned.

Cons

One downside is that we cannot use our own domain name on the free plan.

“quite slow and buggy

Pros

I really like how user-friendly it is as uploading our materials and publishing a course is not a problem anymore.

Cons

My biggest problems with it are the really slow page loading speeds which hurts SEO. Also a broken assignment feature where clicking next page sends you back to page one is a problem and not being able to edit a published course landing page is headache too. Plus our student experience issues like pages not loading properly.

“Looks professional but has very limited admins

Pros

It looks professional and on-brand which makes it great for a startup to use.

Cons

None of the subscription plans let us add a second admin. I cannot even invite a freelancer to help out. To get another admin, you have to upgrade to a much more expensive plan. Overall compared to other platforms, it is pricey and offers fewer features.

“Easy to find my way around

Pros

Being able to find my way around the site easily was a huge plus for me.

Cons

I dont like having a different password for every course I take on the platform. I mean it would be so much better if it could recognize me across courses with one login instead of needing seven different passwords for seven courses.

“Big fan despite being pricier

Pros

I am a big fan of Thinkific, even though it's a bit pricier than some newer platforms popping up. I also like the course layout and how much you can customize it. It does require a bit more tech know-how than others but that does not bother me. I've put together courses quickly with it and enjoy using it regularly. However I just hope the features get a more modern update over time since it can feel a little dated sometimes. Just my two cents!

Cons

It's a bit more technical than some platforms which is fine but even tech-savvy users prefer convenience. That could mean more drag and drop options and ready to use templates since there is not much built-in guidance for building courses. Maybe there are tutorials I have not found yet. I'd also like to see the price come down before I consider switching.

“Thorough with a free start option!

Pros

It is really thorough but still offers a free or low-cost option to start. Also it is simple to use and looks great especially with the customizable interface. I also love that you can embed other websites and URLs into your courses as it's perfect for spreadsheets or external sites and saves so much time with updates. Plus their payment processing fees are or were pretty low.

Cons

To be honest I have not run into any problems so far so right now there is nothing I dislike about it.

“more features and easier for beginners

Pros

This application has more features for creating and sharing courses making it easier to use even for beginners.

Cons

The integrations tend to be more expensive within the software making it a bit pricier than average.

“Not much to like here

Pros

There is not much to like about this company. Also they don't respond when we ask them questions.

Cons

They never responded whenever I asked for help.

“Simple API for back-office integration

Pros

The API makes it simple to integrate with our back-office systems.

Cons

There is no mobile app for students to use.

“Incredibly easy to use with helpful tutorials

Pros

It is incredibly easy to use, has helpful tutorials and their support team is the best.

Cons

I noticed that it's become more technically involved over the years. Now you really need a designer to create nice-looking landing pages unless you have a lot of time to figure it out yourself.

“love the free tier plan!

Pros

I like having a free tier as it is really helpful for trying out how the platform works.

Cons

Moving around the platform is pretty confusing. I often get lost and not know where to find what I needed.

“A solid lms

Pros

Besides being a solid learning management system, students can also upload videos and GIFs within the community sections of a Thinkific school. I have not seen that with other LMS platforms I've used and I think it's a big advantage because videos really help get conversations going.

Cons

It would be a much better fit for me if I could upload SCORM or HTML5 content. Also the layouts in the course builder are not as polished or modern as I have seen with other platforms.

“Great tool with all key features

Pros

It is a great tool as it includes all the key features I actually need to teach and sell my courses online.

Cons

Customizing how our landing pages, course gallery and courses look is not very easy. The designs it provides are nice but if you want to make things feel more your own, it's tougher than it should be.