The Best Thinkific Alternative for Coaches, Course Creators & Consultants

In 2025, content creators require something other than a course platform. They require a full business engine.  

Thinkific has long been a popular option for getting started. It is easy to use, hosted and provides an excellent environment for launching. However, when scaling requires additional service and cost is when the limits become apparent. The price skyrockets when adding the Growth add-on, there is not integrated email service, there are no SCORM capabilities for advanced learning and community development is more of an added function than a community.  

Thus, it is no surprise people start searching for “best thinkific alternative 2025” or “thinkific competitors”. Because in reality, you do not want to host a course, you want one system that runs your courses, memberships, funnels, email, and community all-in-one place.  

In this post, we will break down the best alternatives and compare each and show you the best for 2025.

1. Quick Comparison Snapshot (Above-the-Fold Table)

This visual capture illustrates the possible online course platform options that most creators will contemplate in 2025, there price plans, and their trade-offs. And right there, highMpact stands out: its not just another course tool, but in-fact the only platform that has been designed to actually replace the entire tech stack while maintaining clarity in pricing and limitless in growth.

2. Thinkific at a Glance (Why People Look for Alternatives)

Thinkific is one of the top online course platforms for a reason. Creators can easily upload videos, create lessons, set up checkout, and launch their course - without messing around with code. Here in 2025, you will start with a Free plan, then it goes to Basic ($49/mo), Start ($99/mo), and Grow ($199/mo), not including Growth add-on if you want additional features. It seems like a reasonably priced option, especially when you're just starting. But as you scale, you notice the limits quickly.

Here are the most significant disadvantages of using Thinkific that most creators articulate:

• Limited marketing tools - no real funnels, upsells, or advanced automations.

• No email - you have to pay for MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, or another email tool.

• Limited analytics & reporting - just surface level - hard to see conversions.

• Scaling is costly with an add on - as soon as you want more students and/or features - you're suddenly paying a lot more.

• No true community - this will have to take place via integrations or a kanban-style Facebook Group which kills engagement quality.

So, while Thinkific has great potential on the surface, the practicality is that you are actually spending more money stacking tools and will still not have a full system. If you are feeling like you have these limits, you are not alone, and that is why people search for an affordable Thinkific turnaround.

3. What to Keep in Mind While Evaluating a Thinkific Alternative

When you begin your search with “the best Thinkific alternative," you're not just looking to migrate course platforms. You're looking for something that will genuinely help you grow. So, here's a very simple decision framework that highlights what to consider:

• Built-in marketing and funnels - so you can stop duct-taping your ClickFunnels or ConvertKit.

• Community and membership features - because learners engage when the community is built within the platform.

• Scalable pricing - because you want a provider with no hidden add-ons or surprise bumps when you surpass a student count.

• Analytics and reporting - so you understand what is working and what is not.

• Student engagement - quizzes, drip content, assignments, and maybe even live classes.

• Payment gateways and monetization - seamless checkouts, global payment capability and multiple payment gateways.

• Custom branding - white labeled look so your site feels like your business and not a Thinkific clone.

These are things that matter when you want your course business to last. And here is where Highimpact truly shines - it solves ALL the marketing, the memberships, the automation, and the reporting which Thinkific simply cannot do.

4. Leading Thinkific Competition

As you begin visiting potential Thinkific competitors in 2025, you’ll be back to the same few names, which are almost always the same: Kajabi, Teachable, Podia, LearnWorlds, Circle, LearnDash, Mighty Networks, FreshLearn, Teachery. Each of these tools solves one or two things better than Thinkific, but none of them offer a complete package. Let’s quickly touch on them:

1. Kajabi

• Overview: Kajabi is the “all-in-one” platform that everyone seems to talk about. Kajabi has courses, community, funnels, and email in one platform.

• Pros: Good marketing tools, mobile app, community included.

• Cons: Very expensive, limits on product caps (on Basic plan), might even feel overwhelming for new users.

• Pricing: $149/mo Base plan; $199/mo Growth plan, $399/mo Pro plan.

Bottomline: Kajabi is better than Thinkific for marketing and engagement, but it also makes it hard to grow with the price of each tier. highMpact actually gives you the same all-in-one power but without the limits and the cost.

2. Teachable

• Overview: Simple and user-friendly, and popular with beginners.

• Pros: Set up quickly and easily, easy to start, decent free plan.

• Cons: Transaction fees on less costly plans, limited features altogether, not much automation.

• Pricing: Free Plan, then $39/mo (Basic), $119/mo (Pro).

Bottomline: Good option to get started, but Thinkific actually creates a smoother experience across the board. Teachable also has an extra flat fee on some plans. Teachable will not be a great alternative when an instructor or educator is trying to scale. highMpact removes transaction fees and has automation that neither Teachable nor Thinkific give you.

3. Podia

• Overview: An affordable option for selling courses, downloads, and memberships.

• Pros: No transaction fees, friendly to the sector of users, affordable pricing.

• Cons: Limited community tools, weak automation, fewer integrations compared to Thinkific and Teachable.

• Pricing: Starting at $39/mo or Shaker $89/mo.

Bottomline: Podia is cheaper than Thinkific, but not a complete solution to sell and market an online course. Thinkific is cheaper than Teachable, but highMpact beats Podia’s low price and offers features such as Customer Relationship Management, automation, and deep community features such as polling, rating systems, broadcasting, etc.

4. LearnWorlds

• Overview: Known for its SCORM/xAPI compliance, interactive video, and strong data-reference feature.

• Pros: Great for corporate or non-profit training, great for tactical academic setups, and great for higher education settings. Great course builder.

• Cons: Super complicated UX. Have to choose higher tier plans to use rate it up, assignments, and quizzes.

• Pricing: Starter package $29/mo, Pro Trainer is $99/mo, and Learning Center is $299/mo.

Bottomline: Its better than Thinkific for a course site for advanced training, but UX and complexity limits the speed of that site. A system called highMpact brings policies for learning better advanced features, while keeping the ease of the design.

5. Circle

• Summary: Designed for memberships that prioritize community experience.

• Strengths: great community experience, events for community.

• Weaknesses: not great for hosting a course, funnels, payments, and needs integrations.

• Pricing: Basic $49/month, Professional $99/month, Business $199/month.

Bottomline: Strong on community, but weaker for course delivery than Thinkific. highMpact, can give you both a course and a community to monetize under one roof.

6. LearnDash

• Overview: High customization LMS WordPress plugins.

• Pros: Powerful features, plenty of add-ons, and complete control if you're technical.

• Cons: Too technical. Hosting is your responsibility. No built-in marketing.

• Pricing: $199/yr single site, $399/yr to 10 sites.

Bottomline: It can beat Thinkific if you're a huge WordPress fan and willing to manage tech. highMpact removes the tension and offers a fully hosted all-in-one.

7. Mighty Networks

• Overview: Community-led platform where you can add courses on top.

• Pros: Mobile apps, live streaming, and great engagement.

• Cons: Basic courses and no real funnels or automation.

• Pricing: Community plan is $39/mo, Business is $119/mo.

Bottomline: It is a stronger community than Thinkific but weaker tools for courses. highMpact provides the balance between community and course tools.

8. FreshLearn / Teachery

• Summary: Cheap tools for course creators.

• Pros: Inexpensive, simple to use, straightforward interface.

• Cons: Very limited features, no real marketing, no real scaling

• Price: FreshLearn starting at $39/month, Teachery $49/month

Bottomline: Budget alternatives to Thinkific, but not designed for the long game. highMpact has the affordability with the ability to scale.

So sure, each of these course hosting alternatives have their place. But if you ask me, they are either too expensive, too limiting, or too fragmented. And that's why you will see more and more creators in 2025 skip the fragmented approach and go straight to highMpact.

5. Why highMpact Makes a Better Alternative to Thinkific

To be real: all of those platforms solve one or two problems for Thinkific, but highMpact solves them all.

All-in-One Capability: Not just a course builder, highMpact comes with CRM, funnels, courses, memberships, community, affiliate tools, automation, and analytics.

Unlimited: No scaling tax… and unlimited users, contacts, or courses.

2-way communication: Email and SMS built in, without paying for Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign.

Membership & Community: Built in, not tacked on like Thinkific or Circle memberships.

Affordable & Scalable: For $197 a month… it replaces 6+ tools you'd normally stack.

Concierge Service: We actually onboard, train and help you, not just a help doc.

6. Streamlined Migration (Migrating from Thinkific to highMpact)

1 big fear that prevents people from switching from Thinkific is this: what about my content, my members, my revenue? The truth is, it's way easier than you think. highMpact simplifies the migration, no tech headache, no complex integrations. Here is the step by step process:

Export courses from Thinkific - grab your videos, lessons, and student data.

Import content directly into highMpact - dragging and dropping, creating modules, easy.

Set up your community - no more Facebook groups, build it natively inside highMpact.

Email & SMS automation - onboard new members, follow up on leads, all from one place.

Launch - flip the switch, invite students, and start scaling.

We even created a simple free migration checklist so you don't miss a thing.

So don’t let fear hold you back. If validating a migration from Thinkific or the simplest Thinkific alternative to implement in 2025, at highMpact - we built this platform for you, a smooth migration, guided fast, easy.

7. Frequently Asked Questions

Here, we’ll put together a quick FAQ closely aligned with real inquiries for those searching for Thinkific alternatives.

1. What are the best Thinkific competitors in 2025?

Kajabi, Teachable, Podia, LearnWorlds, Circle, LearnDash, Mighty Networks… name come up, but if you want a true all-in-one, highMpact is the most well-rounded option for a Thinkific competitor in 2025.

2. Why use a competitor over Thinkific?

Thinkific has limitations: there is no built-in email, weak analytics, and extra costs with the Growth add-on. Competitors are more scaled and more powerful.

3. Does Thinkific have built-in email marketing?

No. You need to connect some email tool to Thinkific like Mailchimp. highMpact has built-in 2-way email + SMS.

4. Can I build a membership site outside of Thinkific?

Yes, there are platforms like Circle, Mighty Networks or highMpact, where you can build membership sites.

5. Is highMpact a better Thinkific alternative for beginners?

Yes. It's easy to use and comes with concierge onboarding, so you’ll never be lost in setting it up. Thinkific in itself is easy - but highMpact takes it to the next level, built-in marketing + automation too.

6. Do Thinkific alternatives have live classes?

Yes, LearnWorlds, Kajabi, and highMpact all have the ability to do drip delivery of content and can also have live with the automation

8. Conclusion: The Future Is highMpact

Thinkific is a good starting point. With Thinkific you'll be able to create a course, launch it, and be able to make some initial sales. But the moment you start to scale? You will hit the limitations really quick.

There are some really strong competitors, but they're spread out. For example, Kajabi is powerful, but expensive. Teachable is simple, but charges added expenses in the form of fees. Podia is inexpensive, but very limited. Circle and Mighty are great for community, but lacks the ability to host courses. There is no competitor that brings it all together.

That is where highMpact is a game changer. highMpact is not just another alternative for an online course platform. It is a complete system - CRM, courses, memberships, funnels, automation, and analytics - all in one platform. No caps, no hidden expense add ons, no congruency loses.

👉 If you are serious about quickly building and scaling your membership site in 2025, do not compromise with limits. Try highMpact CRM today, the best alternative for Thinkific in 2025.