Thinkific Pricing 2026: Basic Is Gone, Start Is $82 (Full Breakdown)

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Thinkific pricing changed in a big way this autumn. On 26 October 2026 Thinkific retired its Basic plan. The cheapest way in is now Start, at $82 a month billed yearly, or $109 month to month.

So if you read a review that says Thinkific starts at $40, it is out of date. Here is what each plan costs today, what you get, and the cheapest full setup you can build around it.

Thinkific plans and prices in 2026

Thinkific now sells four plans. These are the numbers on its pricing page for a US visitor:

Source: thinkific.com/pricing, US visitor, checked 3 Nov 2026. Grow is labelled “Most Popular”. Expand’s monthly price ($499) appeared on our 6 Nov re-check.

The good news hasn’t changed. Thinkific still takes no cut of your sales on any plan. And every plan allows unlimited courses and unlimited students. That is rare. Kajabi caps you by contacts, and Teachable caps you by products.

What happened to the Basic plan?

Basic used to be the cheap entry plan. Our last record showed it at $40 a month billed yearly, or $54 monthly. On 26 October 2026 Thinkific removed it for new customers.

We cover the change, who it hits and three cheaper paths in a separate post: Thinkific retired its Basic plan.

What you get on Start

Start is now the floor, and Thinkific pitches it as “full commerce tools from day one”. In practice, Start gives you:

• Unlimited courses and unlimited students
• Communities, memberships and bundles
• Thinkific checkout with no Thinkific transaction fee
• A course website on your own domain

What it does not give you is a real email marketing tool. Thinkific’s built-in email is basic. It is fine for course notices, not for newsletters and sales sequences. Most course creators pair it with Kit or MailerLite.

The real monthly cost of a Thinkific setup

Because you will likely add an email tool, the honest number is Thinkific plus email. Here is what that looks like at 1,000 subscribers, billed yearly:

Kit’s free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers but allows only one automation and one sequence. That is enough for a simple welcome email. If you sell with email, plan on Kit Creator or MailerLite.

What a 0% fee is worth at your sales level

Thinkific’s entry price is higher than Teachable’s or Podia’s. Its answer is the 0% fee. Here is what the cheaper plans take from the same sales:

Billed yearly, card processing excluded. Prices verified 3 Nov 2026. Teachable Builder ($69) and Podia Shaker ($84) also charge 0%.

So Start is not the cheapest plan for a small first course. It becomes good value once you sell steadily, or once you need more courses than Teachable or Podia allow on their entry plans.

What Thinkific really costs: three real setups

1. One course and a small list

Start plus Kit’s free plan: $82 a month, or $984 a year billed yearly. Enough for one course, a welcome email and a simple newsletter.

2. Several courses and 1,000 subscribers

Start plus MailerLite Comfort: $99.10 a month, or about $1,189 a year. With five courses, that is under $20 per course each month, with no student limit.

3. The same business on Kajabi instead

Kajabi Basic: $143 a month, or $1,716 a year billed yearly. That is about $527 more than setup 2. Kajabi includes email and a website, but also caps contacts at 2,500. See Kajabi vs Thinkific for the full picture.

Should you pay for Grow?

Grow costs $164 a month billed yearly, double the price of Start. That is $984 more a year. Start already includes unlimited courses, unlimited students, communities, memberships and bundles.

So upgrade only when you need a specific Grow feature from Thinkific’s plan list, and you can name what it will earn or save you. “Just in case” is not a reason to spend $984.

Monthly vs yearly billing

Thinkific’s yearly discount is bigger than most, at 25%:

• Start: $109 vs $82 a month. Yearly saves $324.
• Grow: $219 vs $164 a month. Yearly saves $660.

If you are confident about Thinkific, yearly is the better deal. If you are still testing, start monthly and switch once your first course is selling.

Costs to plan for

• Card processing. About 2.9% + 30¢ per sale goes to the payment processor.
• Email marketing. $0 to $33 a month at 1,000 subscribers, more as your list grows.
• No free plan. Thinkific dropped its free plan. You get a free trial instead.

Is Thinkific worth it now?

Here is my honest view after the price change. Thinkific is now a platform for creators with a plan, not for testing an idea. At $82 a month, a first course with a few sales will cost more on Thinkific than on Teachable Starter, Podia Mover or Systeme.io.

But the case for Thinkific gets stronger as you grow. No sales fee. No limit on courses or students. A full setup with MailerLite costs about $99 a month, still well below Kajabi Basic. If you plan to build a library of courses, those limits matter more than the entry price.

Thinkific is still a strong choice if you want many courses with no limits and no sales fees. It got more expensive at the bottom, not at the top. For a creator with several courses and a growing student base, unlimited everything is worth a lot.

How to pay less for Thinkific

• Pay yearly once your first course sells. The 25% discount saves $324 a year on Start.
• Use Kit’s free plan at first. It covers up to 10,000 subscribers with one automation.
• Stay on Start. Most solo creators never hit a limit that needs Grow.
• If $82 is too much today, start elsewhere. Teachable Starter or Systeme.io cost far less while sales are small. You can move later.

Cheaper options if $82 is too much

All prices billed yearly. Run your own numbers in the course platform cost calculator.

How we checked these prices

I checked thinkific.com/pricing on 3 November 2026 as a US visitor. All plan prices and the unlimited courses and students come from that page. The old Basic price ($40 yearly, $54 monthly) is our last recorded figure before Thinkific retired the plan on 26 October 2026. On our 6 November re-check the page also showed Expand’s monthly price, $499.

Found a price that has changed? Tell us and we will re-check it. Read how we verify for our full method.

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