LearnDash vs Thinkific
We give LearnDash a 2.0 GPA and Thinkific a 2.4, out of 4.0. Thinkific grades higher on the free plan and features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
LearnDash
WordPress plugin for building and selling online courses
Thinkific
Course, community and membership platform for experts and academies
How we grade them
| 2.0GPALearnDashFair | 2.4GPAThinkificFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $399 a year, about $33 a month, with no fee per sale or per student, so $2,000 of sales costs $33 a month: the middle of this category. Hosting for the WordPress site is on top, and isn't in that figure. | CBasic is $40 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 $40 a month, the middle of this category. Stripe or PayPal can add a gateway fee in some countries. |
| Free plan and trial | DNo free version. There's a 48-hour demo site with no card needed, which is a look around rather than a trial. | 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 | CA drag-and-drop course builder, quizzes with 8 question types, assignments, certificates, MemberDash memberships, AI outlines and ProPanel reporting. Plenty, but it needs a WordPress site to be useful, and community comes from add-ons like bbPress. | 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 | CNo rating on record. The builder is drag-and-drop, but first you need WordPress running on a host, then the plugin and its settings, so there's real setup. | 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 | BRuns in the browser inside WordPress, with Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce, Elementor, MemberPress, Gravity Forms, bbPress and ThriveCart. No apps listed. | 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 on a WordPress site you already run | a full course business with a long free 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: LearnDash and Thinkific. How we grade
Price against what you get
LearnDash starts at $33.25 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Thinkific starts at $40 a month and scores 2.7.
Thinkific scores higher, and starts $6.75 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other course and community platforms on the chart, 3 score higher than LearnDash for less, and none scores 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
- LearnDash starts at $399 per year. Thinkific starts at $40 per month, billed annually ($54 billed monthly).
- Thinkific also covers invoicing and community.
At a glance
| LearnDash | Thinkific | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $399 per year | $40 per month, billed annually ($54 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 48-hour free demo site, no credit card required | 30-day free trial of the whole platform |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Liquid Web, LLC | Thinkific |
| Price read from | liquidweb.com | thinkific.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
LearnDash
- Course sellers who already run a WordPress site
- Agencies building learning sites for clients
- Training providers selling group seats to companies
Thinkific
- Experts selling courses who want a long free trial before paying
- Academies selling seats to companies as well as to individuals
- Course businesses that already run a website elsewhere
Worth knowing
LearnDash
- LearnDash needs a WordPress site, so you supply and maintain the hosting, theme and updates yourself.
- The pricing page does not say how many sites a license covers; LearnDash's own license docs still describe 1-site, 10-site and unlimited licenses.
- Group seat sales, the instructor role and multi-instructor courses need Elite at $599 a year.
- The license renews automatically each year; without a valid license the plugin keeps working but gets no updates, security patches or support.
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%.
- Basic, Start and Grow cap current students at 10,000, and Basic allows 1 admin and 5 digital downloads.
- SSO, SCORM and the AI teaching assistant are only in the Plus plan, which is priced through sales.
Key features
LearnDash
- Drag-and-drop course builder
- Arrange courses into lessons, topics and assessments, with shared course steps, video progression and a distraction-free focus mode for learners.
- Quizzes, assignments and certificates
- Quizzes with 8 question types including essays and sorting, assignment management, a certificate builder, and badges and points.
- MemberDash memberships
- Membership tiers, recurring subscriptions and course bundles are built in, and members manage their own payment details and subscriptions.
- AI course outlines
- Describe a topic and the AI builder drafts a course outline with lessons and a set of quiz questions to edit before publishing.
- ProPanel reporting
- Enrollment trends, completion rates, quiz performance and at-risk learners in one dashboard, with weighted grading and custom report cards.
- Groups and instructors
- On Elite, sell seats to organizations whose leaders manage their own teams, and let several instructors build courses from the front end.
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 Basic and Start, 3 on Grow.
- 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
LearnDash
Pro$399
per year, renews annually
Course and quiz builders, MemberDash memberships, Stripe and PayPal, certificates, AI course outlines and quizzes, ProPanel reporting and gradebook.
Elite$599
per year, renews annually
Everything in Pro, plus group management and seat sales, an instructor role with front-end course creation, multiple instructors, and ratings and reviews.
Thinkific
Basic$40
per month, billed annually ($54 billed monthly)
Unlimited courses, 1 community with 5 spaces, 5 digital downloads, 1 admin, 100 GB of video a month, coupons and order bumps.
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.
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
LearnDash
No public discounts listed.
Thinkific
- Annual discount
Save 25% with annual billing
Thinkific's pricing page lists 25% off for annual billing: Basic $40 a month instead of $54, Start $82 instead of $109, Grow $164 instead of $219.
