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Thinkific is a course creation and marketing platform for experts who want to monetize their knowledge by selling courses online.
It’s built for creators, coaches, and businesses that want a reliable way to create courses, host content, manage students, and sell digital education without needing technical skills.
The platform includes course hosting, website building, payments, student management, and marketing tools in one place. Thinkific also stands out by charging 0% transaction fees on its paid plans and allowing creators to integrate Thinkific into an existing website if they already have one.
Since the first time I took this free trial, Thinkific has changed how new users get started. There is no longer a free forever plan advertised as the main entry point. Instead, Thinkific now offers a 30-day free trial on its paid plans so you can test the platform properly before committing.
On this page, I’ll walk you through how the Thinkific free trial works in 2026, what you get access to, how pricing works after the trial, and whether Thinkific is still worth using today.
Thinkific Free Trial in 2026 (What You Actually Get)
Thinkific offers a 30-day free trial on its paid plans. During the trial, you get full access to the features included in the plan you choose.
Here’s what to know upfront:
- Trial length: 30 days
- Credit card required: Yes
- Auto-renewal: Yes, unless canceled before the trial ends
- Eligible plans: Basic, Start, and Grow
The free trial is designed to let you build and test a real course business. You can create courses, customize your site, accept payments, and use marketing tools during the trial period.
If you decide Thinkific isn’t right for you, you can cancel before day 30 and avoid being charged.
Is There a Free Thinkific Plan?
Short answer: No.
Thinkific previously offered a free forever plan with limited features, but this is no longer the main way new users start on the platform. In 2026, Thinkific focuses on a trial-first model that gives creators full access for 30 days.
This change makes sense. Most creators outgrow free plans quickly, and a full trial gives you a much clearer picture of whether Thinkific fits your business before you pay.
If having a permanent free plan is a dealbreaker for you, Thinkific may not be the best option.
How To Sign Up for a Thinkific Free Trial
Getting started with the Thinkific free trial is straightforward.
Step 1: Choose a Plan and Start Your Free Trial
Visit Thinkific’s pricing page and click Start Free Trial. You’ll choose which plan you want to try before creating your account.
Step 2: Create Your Account
Enter your name, email address, and password. You’ll also be asked for your country and billing details to activate the trial.
Step 3: Complete Thinkific’s Setup Wizard
Thinkific walks you through a short setup process where you:
- Name your school
- Choose a brand color
- Add basic course details
- Set up your instructor profile
All of this can be edited later.
Step 4: Access Your Thinkific Dashboard
Once setup is complete, you’re taken to the Thinkific dashboard where you can manage courses, students, site settings, and marketing tools.
What You Can Do During The Thinkific Free Trial
Your trial gives you real access to Thinkific’s core functionality, not a watered-down preview.
Course Creation Capabilities
You can create and publish unlimited courses using Thinkific’s drag-and-drop builder. This includes video lessons, downloads, quizzes, assignments, live lessons, and private or hidden courses. Multiple instructors can be added, and content can be scheduled over time.
This is more than enough to build and launch a complete paid course during the trial.
Website and Branding Tools
Thinkific includes a hosted website with customizable templates, mobile-responsive design, and support for custom domains. You can edit pages using a visual builder or embed Thinkific into an existing website if you already have one.
Branding controls depend on your plan, but even during the trial you can create a professional-looking course site.
Marketing and Selling Features
During the trial, you can test checkout, payments, and pricing strategies. Thinkific supports one-time payments, subscriptions, memberships, bundles, coupons, and order bumps. You can also enable affiliates to promote your courses.
There are no platform transaction fees on paid plans, which makes Thinkific appealing if you plan to scale.
Student Management and Engagement Tools
Thinkific includes student dashboards, progress tracking, completion certificates, discussions, quizzes, and communities. These tools help you keep students engaged and support better completion rates.
Thinkific Plans and Pricing (2026)
After the 30-day free trial, you’ll need to choose a paid plan to continue using Thinkific.
Basic Plan ($49/month)
This plan is best for creators launching their first course. It includes unlimited courses and students, one community, core course creation tools, and basic sales features.
Start Plan ($99/month)
The Start plan adds more flexibility with memberships, live lessons, completion certificates, and expanded community features. This is a good fit for creators selling multiple products.
Grow Plan ($199/month)
The Grow plan is designed for scaling businesses. It includes advanced analytics, API access, bulk enrollments, integrations, and priority support.
Thinkific Plus (Enterprise)
Thinkific Plus is a custom-priced enterprise plan for large teams and organizations. It includes advanced onboarding, integrations, single sign-on, and enterprise support.
Plans can be billed monthly or annually, with discounts for annual billing.
Branded Mobile App Add-On
Thinkific offers a Branded Mobile App as an optional add-on for $199/month.
This allows you to launch your own iOS and Android app with your branding, giving students a dedicated mobile learning experience. The app syncs with your Thinkific courses and memberships.
This add-on is best for:
- Established course businesses
- Membership-based programs
- Creators with an active student base
Keep in mind that in-app purchases are subject to Apple and Google app store fees.
How to Cancel Your Thinkific Free Trial
While Thinkific might be one of the best learning management systems available for course creators, you may want to use an alternative for whatever reason.
Thinkific allows you to cancel your account at any time, even when you’re on a free trial. Here are the steps on how to cancel.
- Open your dashboard and go to your account settings
- Click Billing or Account Details
- Select Manage Subscription
- Choose Cancel Plan
Thinkific may show a reminder of what you’ll lose or offer a retention incentive. These offers can change over time. Once canceled, your account will downgrade and you won’t be billed.
Thinkific Alternatives
While I think that Thinkific is the best platform for building a course business, you might be thinking of an alternative.
You may like these for different reasons such as lower pricing, a better feature/features, or ease of use. Alternatives range from LMS plugins for WordPress to e-commerce builders with course management capabilities to standalone course builders just like Thinkific.
Here are some Thinkific alternatives to consider.
1. Teachable
Teachable is a popular alternative with comparable features to Thinkific. They offer courses, coaching products for sale, digital downloads, and native community features.
You can start free with a 7-day free trial for paid plans.
Like Thinkific, there is no free plan but their entry-level Starter plan gets you going for just $39/month. However, the lower pricing might be misleading since Teachable charges a 7.5% transaction fee. There are no transaction fees for higher plans.
Teachable is best if you want simpler course tools and lower upfront pricing. Transaction fees apply on lower plans.
2. Kajabi
This is a popular alternative to Thinkific. They also have some great features but there are caps on how many students you can have on each plan and a limited number of products. These are unlimited on Thinkific.
Kajabi does have 0% transaction fees which is a plus. You can join with a 14-day free trial before upgrading to one of their three plans. All three Kajabi plans are more expensive than Thinkific plans.
Best for creators who want email marketing, funnels, and automation built in.
3. Podia
Podia is another great choice that lets you offer unlimited courses. Previously, you could start with a free account but they ditched that for a 30-day free trial instead.
As an all-in-one platform, you can also sell courses, downloads, webinars, coaching, and memberships. Their entry level plan, Mover, allows you to start for less than Thinkific (at $39/month) but has 5% transaction fees.
This platform has three paid plans which seem slightly cheaper than comparable Thinkific plans. On each plan, you can create unlimited products and have unlimited customers and contacts.
4. Learnworlds
Learnworlds lets you start with a 30-day free trial without having to submit your credit card details. You can get a free trial on any paid plan but keep in mind that there is no free plan when the trial is over.
There are some great features available for building and marketing your courses including AI-powered tools. The pricing seems a bit cheaper than Thinkific’s. Their most popular plan though seems to be the Learning Center plan which may be compared to Thinkific’s Grow plan.
If you’re looking for a course player with interactivity built-in, LearnWorlds is a great option.
5. Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks is more of a community builder which you can use to build a community around something existing like a YouTube channel. However, they also have robust course-building and membership site capabilities.
No credit card is required to start a free trial of the Growth Plan which gives you access to everything Mighty Networks offers. There are also a lower-tiered pricing plans which give you access to core features like community, courses and an AI cohost.
Mighty Networks is best if community is your main focus, with courses as a secondary offering.
Who Thinkific Is Best For in 2026
Thinkific is ideal for:
- Course-first businesses
- Coaches and educators selling structured programs
- Creators who want 0% platform transaction fees
- Businesses that already have a website and want a solid LMS
Who Should Skip Thinkific
Thinkific isn’t for everyone. You may want to look elsewhere if:
- You want a permanent free plan
- You need built-in email marketing and funnels
- You are running a content-first community rather than a course business
If this is you, check out the best online course platforms in 2026 to find a fitting alternative.
Is Thinkific Worth It in 2026?
Yes, if your goal is to build and sell online courses professionally.
Thinkific has matured into a reliable, scalable platform with strong course tools, fair pricing, and no platform transaction fees. The 30-day free trial gives you enough time to build and validate a real product before committing.
It’s not the cheapest option, and it’s not the most all-in-one, but for course businesses that want control and flexibility, it remains one of the strongest platforms available.
Should You Start a Thinkific Free Trial?
Thinkific is definitely one of the best course creation platforms available for experts who want to sell their knowledge online.
They have all the tools and resources for you to create courses, a website to sell them from and everything to properly market your course business.
With 0% transaction fees, enough time to make sales before you start paying and training via Thinkific Academy, the platform positions you to be a successful course creator with happy, thriving students.
You can get started with a free account with limited features or a full-featured paid account starting with a full 30-day free trial.
