Chris ChoThinkific costs $40, $82, or $164 a month, billed annually.
Those are the only prices Thinkific shows you. The monthly rates are not on the pricing page at all, and the billing toggle does not reveal them.
There is a second number that matters more. Thinkific is marketed on 0% transaction fees, and that is true only if you use Thinkific Payments.
Bring your own Stripe account and Thinkific takes 5% of every sale on Basic, 2% on Start, and 1% on Grow.
The short answer
- Cheapest real cost: $40/mo on Basic, billed annually ($480 a year)
- Watch out for: 5% of sales on Basic if you use your own Stripe
- Limit that bites first: 100 GB of video bandwidth a month on Basic
- Free trial: 14 days standard, or 30 days through our link
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Thinkific Pricing at a Glance
| Plan | Annual | Stripe fee | Video/mo | Students | Communities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $40/mo | 5.0% | 100 GB | 10,000 | 1 |
| Start | $82/mo | 2.0% | 200 GB | 10,000 | 1 |
| Grow | $164/mo | 1.0% | 400 GB | 10,000 | 3 |
| Plus | Quote only | None | 7,500 GB+ | Custom | Unlimited |
Thinkific does not show you the monthly price
Every figure above is the annual rate. Thinkific's pricing page has a monthly toggle that does not change the numbers, so there is no way to read the monthly cost off their site.
You can work it out from their own savings figures. Thinkific says annual billing saves $173 on Basic, $330 on Start, and $660 on Grow, which puts monthly billing at roughly $54, $110, and $219.
Treat those three as close estimates rather than quoted prices, because Thinkific does not publish them.
Thinkific's standard trial is 14 days. Our link opens a 30-day version instead.
The 5% Fee Behind the “0% Transaction Fees” Claim
Thinkific is sold on charging no transaction fees. That holds only while you use Thinkific Payments, its own processor, also called TCommerce.
Use any third-party gateway, Stripe included, and Thinkific charges a percentage of every sale on top of what your processor already takes.
| Plan | Thinkific Payments | Your own Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 0% | 5.0% |
| Start | 0% | 2.0% |
| Grow | 0% | 1.0% |
| Plus | 0% | No fee |
Two things soften it. The fee applies only to your first $1M in sales in a calendar year, and it is waived above that. It also applies only in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU.
What 5% actually costs you
Sell $2,000 a month on the Basic plan through your own Stripe account.
Thinkific's 5% takes $100 a month, or $1,200 a year. The Basic plan itself costs $480 a year.
The fee is two and a half times the subscription. That is the number to check before you connect Stripe out of habit.
When Upgrading Actually Pays for Itself
If you use your own Stripe, each upgrade cuts the fee. Here is the revenue you need before the saving covers the higher subscription.
| Upgrade | Extra cost | Fee saved | Breaks even at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic to Start | $42/mo | 3% | $1,400/mo in sales |
| Start to Grow | $82/mo | 1% | $8,200/mo in sales |
On Thinkific Payments, none of that applies. The fee is already zero on every paid plan, so you upgrade for the limits instead.
The limits that actually force the upgrade
- Video bandwidth. 100 GB a month on Basic, 200 on Start, 400 on Grow. This is the real ceiling, and it is the one most people hit without warning.
- Digital downloads. 5 on Basic, unlimited above it.
- Coaching and webinars. 5 on Basic, unlimited above it.
- Communities. 1 on Basic and Start. Only Grow gives you 3.
- Branding removal. Grow only. Basic and Start both carry Thinkific branding.
- Phone support. Grow only. Below that it is email and chat.
- SCORM and SSO. Plus only, which is quote-only.
Not a reason to upgrade: student count is 10,000 on Basic, Start and Grow alike, and courses are unlimited on every paid plan.
A branded iOS and Android app is available as a $199/mo add-on, which is more than the Grow plan itself.
Is There a Thinkific Free Trial?
Yes. The standard Thinkific trial is 14 days.
Our link opens a 30-day trial instead, which doubles the time you get before the first payment.
Thinkific has had no free plan since 2025. If you find a guide describing a permanently free tier, it is out of date.
Use the trial to test one thing in particular: upload real video and watch the bandwidth counter. That limit decides your plan more often than price does.
Is Thinkific Worth the Price?
At $40 a month, Basic is the cheapest credible course platform, and unlimited courses on every tier is genuinely rare.
The catch is the payment setup. Thinkific's price advantage holds if you use Thinkific Payments. Insist on your own Stripe and Basic effectively costs $40 plus 5% of everything you sell.
Where it beats the alternative: if you only need to host and sell courses, Thinkific is far cheaper than Kajabi, which starts at $143 a month.
Where it loses: there is no built-in email marketing or funnel builder, so you will pay for those separately.
For the platform itself rather than the price, see our Thinkific review, or compare it directly in Kajabi vs Thinkific.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Thinkific cost per month?
Thinkific costs $40 a month for Basic, $82 for Start, and $164 for Grow, all billed annually. Plus is quote-only. Thinkific does not display monthly billing prices on its pricing page, though its own savings figures imply roughly $54, $110, and $219.
Does Thinkific charge transaction fees?
Not if you use Thinkific Payments, its own processor. If you use a third-party gateway such as Stripe, Thinkific charges 5% on Basic, 2% on Start, and 1% on Grow, on top of your processor's own fees. The fee applies to your first $1 million in annual sales and is waived above that.
Does Thinkific have a free plan?
No. Thinkific removed its free plan in 2025 and replaced it with a free trial. The cheapest paid plan is Basic at $40 a month billed annually.
How long is the Thinkific free trial?
The standard Thinkific free trial is 14 days. Our link opens a 30-day trial instead, which doubles the time you get to test the platform before paying.
What is the cheapest way to use Thinkific?
Basic at $40 a month billed annually, using Thinkific Payments rather than your own Stripe account. On Basic, connecting your own Stripe adds a 5% fee on every sale, which on $2,000 a month of revenue costs $1,200 a year against a $480 subscription.
How many students does Thinkific allow?
Basic, Start and Grow all allow 10,000 current students. Student count is not what separates the plans. Video bandwidth is: 100 GB a month on Basic, 200 GB on Start, and 400 GB on Grow.
