FreshLearn vs Thinkific (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, FreshLearn and Thinkific share a 2.4 GPA, and only FreshLearn has a free plan.
Checked Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
FreshLearn
Course, coaching and community platform with zero sales fees
Thinkific
Course, community and membership platform for experts and academies
Which one is for you
Pick FreshLearn if
- Fits if you want courses and a community in one hosted account
- Works for sellers who want to start on a free plan
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, as it stops at 1 product and 25 manual enrollments
- Pricey if you need community, live classes, quizzes or certificates: those start at No Brainer, $49 a month on 2-year billing
- Watch out: the lowest prices need a 2-year prepayment
- Watch out: a branded mobile app is $299 a year for each of iOS and Android
Pick Thinkific if
- Fits if you want a month to build your course before paying anything
- Works for academies selling seats to companies as well as to people, on Grow at $164
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're starting small, as there's no plan under Start at $82 a month billed yearly, or $109 monthly
- Not for you if your students expect an app, unless you'll pay $199 a month more
- Skip it if you need SSO or SCORM, which only come with the custom-priced Plus plan
- Watch out: Stripe and PayPal carry an extra Thinkific gateway fee in some countries
- Tight if you're on Start, with 2 admins, 1 community and 10,000 current students
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFreshLearnFair | 2.4GPAThinkificFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $35 a month billed every 2 years, close to the category's middle of $37. Monthly billing is $49. | CStart, now the cheapest plan, is $82 a month billed yearly with unlimited courses, and Thinkific takes no fee on sales through Thinkific Payments, whose 2.9% is card processing. So $2,000 of sales costs $82 a month, just past this category's dearer quarter at $79. Stripe or PayPal can add a fee in some countries. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe free plan has 1 product, 25 manual enrollments and 3 sales pages. Paid plans have a free trial with no card, per the page. | CNo free plan, but a 30-day trial of the whole platform, as long as any in this category. The listing doesn't say it needs a card. |
| Features | BCourses, community, live classes, quizzes, certificates, payments and AI tools. The listing shows no gap in the core job, but the Pro plan lacks several parts. | BDrag-and-drop courses with quizzes and drip, a community with spaces and events, a site builder, email automation, checkout with order bumps and sales tax, and B2B group orders on Grow. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. |
| Ease of use | CA web app where you build courses and sales pages, with no store rating on record. | CNo App Store rating on record. It's drag-and-drop, but you're building a course, a site and a checkout, so there's some setting up before you sell. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iOS and Android, with Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Zoom and HubSpot on the list. No desktop app. | BWeb, with Zoom, Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, HubSpot and Salesforce, and an API on Grow. Students get no app unless you buy the branded one for $199 a month. |
| Best for | courses and a community with 0% fees | a course business with a 30-day trial |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: FreshLearn and Thinkific. How we grade
Price against what you get
FreshLearn starts at $35 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Thinkific starts at $82 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and FreshLearn starts $47 a month lower. Of the other course and community platforms on the chart, none scores higher than FreshLearn for less, and 2 score higher than Thinkific for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- FreshLearn also covers email campaigns and digital downloads.
- Thinkific also covers invoicing.
At a glance
| FreshLearn | Thinkific | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $35 per month, billed every 2 years ($49 billed monthly) | $82 per month, billed annually ($109 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 1 product, 25 manual enrollments, 3 sales pages, email support and the blogging CMS. | None |
| Free trial | Free trial on paid plans; the page says no credit card is required. | 30-day free trial of the whole platform |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | FreshLearn | Thinkific |
| Price read from | freshlearn.com | thinkific.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
FreshLearn
- Community, live classes, certificates and quizzes are not in the Pro plan; they start at No Brainer.
- The lowest prices need a 2-year prepayment; the monthly-billing price is higher.
- Free migration applies to annual and 2-year billing; monthly billing is charged a small fee.
- A branded mobile app is a separate add-on at $299 per year for each of iOS or Android.
Thinkific
- There is no free plan; the 30-day trial is the only way to try it.
- Stripe and PayPal carry an extra Thinkific gateway fee in some countries that varies by plan; Thinkific Payments charges 2.9%.
- Start, Grow and Expand cap current students at 10,000, and Start allows 2 admins and 1 community.
- SSO, SCORM and the AI teaching assistant are only in the Plus plan, which is priced through sales.
Key features
FreshLearn
- Courses and digital products
- Self-paced courses, masterclasses, downloadable files and product bundles, with unlimited courses and learners on paid plans.
- Community
- Discussion spaces where learners ask questions and share knowledge, included from the No Brainer plan.
- Live classes and coaching
- Schedule live classes and sell 1:1 coaching packages with bookings, from the No Brainer plan.
- Quizzes and certificates
- Assessments, assignments and certificates; No Brainer+ adds question banks, required watch time and verifiable certificate IDs.
- Payments
- Takes no transaction fee on sales. Payments go to your own Stripe or PayPal account, which charges its normal processing fee.
- AI tools
- An AI website builder, course outline generator and idea validator on all paid plans, with AI quiz generation from No Brainer.
Thinkific
- Course builder
- Drag-and-drop courses with video, quizzes, drip schedules, discussions and compliance rules; assignments and certificates start on Start.
- Communities
- Standalone communities with topic spaces, live events and paid memberships: 1 community on Start, 3 on Grow and 10 on Expand.
- TCommerce checkout
- Thinkific Payments with order bumps, gifting, buy now pay later, payment plans, abandoned cart reminders and automated sales tax.
- Site builder and email
- Branded websites and landing pages on a custom domain, members-only pages, and email automation with pre-built sequences.
- B2B selling
- Grow adds group orders so companies can buy bulk seats, and invoicing to bill and collect from business buyers.
- Branded mobile app
- Your own iOS and Android app with push notifications, sold as a $199 a month add-on and included on some Plus contracts.
Plans
FreshLearn
Free$0
1 product, 25 manual enrollments, 3 sales pages, blogging CMS and email support.
Pro$35
per month, billed every 2 years ($49 billed monthly)
Courses, masterclasses, downloads, bundles, custom domain, checkout and AI website builder. 1 administrator.
No Brainer$49
per month, billed every 2 years ($79 billed monthly)
Adds community, 1:1 coaching, live classes, certificates, quizzes, mobile apps and Zapier. 3 administrators.
No Brainer+$99
per month, billed every 2 years ($149 billed monthly)
Adds API access, unlimited automations, question banks, video compliance and certificate verification. 7 administrators.
Enterprise$249
per month and up
Everything in No Brainer+, plus SCORM and xAPI, SSO, partner groups, a dedicated manager and a 99.9% uptime SLA.
Thinkific
Start$82
per month, billed annually ($109 billed monthly)
Live cohorts with Zoom, certificates, assignments, memberships, bundles, upsells, payment plans, an HTML and CSS editor, 2 admins.
Grow$164
per month, billed annually ($219 billed monthly)
No Thinkific branding, 3 communities, group orders and invoicing for B2B buyers, API and webhooks, phone support, 6 admins.
Expand$374
per month, billed annually ($499 billed monthly)
10 communities with 200 spaces, 1,000 GB of video a month, unlimited group sizes, email white-labeling, 15 admins, revenue sharing with 10 partners and launch support.
PlusCustom
AI teaching assistant, SSO, SCORM and learning paths, HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, 10,000+ user seats and a dedicated success team.
Ways to pay less
FreshLearn
- Annual discount
Lower price on 2-year billing
The pricing page shows each paid plan cheaper per month when billed every 2 years than month to month, with savings up to $1,177 over 2 years.
Thinkific
- Annual discount
Save 25% with annual billing
Thinkific's pricing page lists 25% off for annual billing: Start $82 a month instead of $109, Grow $164 instead of $219, Expand $374 instead of $499.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, FreshLearn or Thinkific?
As of Nov 13, 2026, FreshLearn is cheaper to start with: $35 a month, against $82 a month for Thinkific. FreshLearn starts at $35 per month, billed every 2 years ($49 billed monthly), and Thinkific starts at $82 per month, billed annually ($109 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, FreshLearn or Thinkific?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only FreshLearn has a free plan. Thinkific does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do FreshLearn and Thinkific run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only FreshLearn lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.