Thinkific vs Clickfunnels: Which Should You Choose?

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By Deb Mayberry

Last Updated on May 2, 2023 by Ewen Finser

For entrepreneurs that need a reliable platform to deliver online course material, then these two are great options to choose from. I will discuss them in detail, to help you determine which one fits your needs.

Both provide a software platform for you to establish your membership sites that help scale your business through a sales funnel.. but which one should you choose?

My Bottom Line Up Front: While Clickfunnels has some slick sales funnel pitches, if you are building a course you need a dedicated course builder to build your media empire. I’m definitely sticking with Thinkific here. Readers, you can also get an extended 30-day free trial with my link here.

Main Differences Between Thinkific and Clickfunnels:

The Main Differences Between Thinkific and Clickfunnels are:

  • Thinkific has an indefinite free trial that includes only core features, whereas Clickfunnels has 14 days of free trial with full access to the basic payment plan.
  • Thinkific has zero requests for a credit card or personal information for the free trial period, whereas Clickfunnels will not allow you to obtain the free trial without you giving them your credit card and personal information first.
  • Thinkific is specifically designed for Online Course Creation, Management, and Delivery, whereas Clickfunnels is best designed for Sales Funnels to help grow Businesses.
Our Pick
Why Go With Thinkific?

Thinkific is the best platform if you are looking to replicate a CLASSROOM experience ONLINE. Of all the options, it's the most SCALABLE for multiple instructors, admins, and support staff. In short, ideal for building an education empire!

Get 30 Days FREE Here See Black Friday / Cyber Monday Deal!
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Similarities Between Thinkific and Clickfunnels are:

  • Both allow you to manage your affiliate programs.
  • Both include integration capabilities for receiving student payments.
  • Both provide support via tutorials, articles, chat with support tickets.

Thinkific
THINKIFIC

It is a software platform enabling entrepreneurs to scale their business, grow their audience, create, market, sell, deliver online course material to their students through sales funnels.

More and more people are turning to online learning, which gives you the ability to reach out to more people in the world..more than you could in a traditional educational setting.

To captivate your students, you need various learning materials to retain their attention. This software platform enables you to build a course to include all the content you need to teach and engage your students for a true learning experience. You will be able to upload your videos, quizzes, reading material, establish pricing, and automate them on a set schedule.

The software supports surveys, google docs, downloads, and discussions.

Instructors can customize courses by making them private, hidden, prerequisite lessons, adding multiple instructors, drip schedule content, cohorts, evergreen, expiring content, and membership sites.

It’s designed for the sole purpose of making instructors able to create online courses and membership site functionality. It includes a course builder tool to host tutoring videos within the platform. You are given simple step-by-step instructions to create an educational course for your students as a course creator.

Our Pick
Why Go With Thinkific?

Thinkific is the best platform if you are looking to replicate a CLASSROOM experience ONLINE. Of all the options, it's the most SCALABLE for multiple instructors, admins, and support staff. In short, ideal for building an education empire!

Get 30 Days FREE Here See Black Friday / Cyber Monday Deal!
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Thinkific provides the following tools for coaches, instructors, and entrepreneurs to teach students:

Customizing a Website – a build and design section is available for you to customize themes to match your brand without having to do any coding. You can change fonts, colors, images… anything you can do in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint can be done here too.

Thinkific gives you full permission to use HTML and CSS if you are a website developer and prefer to make the site to your exact specifications.

Creating a Course – tools consist of course creations that allow video uploads, text, downloads, quizzes, surveys, google docs and more.

Support – subscribers obtain support through an email forum, self-help guides, webinar articles, and resource pages.

Establishing Student Pricing – to entice students to sign up and accommodate their financial needs, Thinkific allows you to select price offers for students to choose from, like flexible pricing, memberships, promotions, coupons, free trials, and subscription courses.

Affiliate Marketing – Once a course is ready for students, you will need to let them know. Thinkific provides an affiliate program for partners to help promote the course, and you can establish your commission rates.

Email Providers – If you have an email provider, then you can link them within Thinkific and send campaigns to students and potential students.

Establishing Student Pricing – It is helpful to offer flexible pricing to your students that fit their needs, and it is also a good way to entice them to sign-up. Thinkific is designed for you to offer memberships and subscription courses.

Providing promotions, offering students coupons, free trials, payment plans, currency options, credit card payment options, and custom payments for the first month will attract students to your course(s).

Showing Students Value – Built-in features are provided, such as goal setting, tracking, customized learning, and course landing page options to enhance their experiences.

Students will be given progress indicators, unlimited replays of course materials, and they can choose the language they prefer. When a student passes a course, then the instructor can complement them and provide a completion certificate with their name on it.

Keeping Students Motivated – With automation, Thinkific allows you to check-in with students’ progress up-dates and send reminder emails. Students that know they are not working in a black hole with anybody watching over them will appreciate that they are being monitored and that their progress matters.

Security – For instructors, security can be a concern. Thinkific provides a secure cloud host and built-in SSL certificates.

Thinkific includes Integration Tools – this helps you monitor your status, sell products online, and stay connected with your students and potential students.

thinkific features

The tools consist of:

  • E-commerce
  • Automation tools such as (Zapier- automate daily tasks with thousands of apps, WordPress, Paypal, Stripe, ConvertKit, Aweber, and many more.)
  • Analytics
  • Email marketing
  • Student success
  • Growth tools

Thinkific Pricing

THINKIFIC consists of 4 Plans for annual and monthly with a 30-day money-back guarantee

1. FREE Plan, which includes:

  • 3 Courses
  • Unlimited students
  • Quizzes & surveys
  • Content hosting
  • Instant access to your funds

2. BASICS, $39.00 /month for joining annually or $49.00 / month

Free features plus:

  • Unlimited courses & students
  • Coupons
  • Email students
  • Drip (scheduled) content
  • Affiliate reporting
  • Custom domain
  • Email integrations
  • Zapier triggers
  • Manual student enrollment & exports

4. PRO, $79.00/ month for joining annually, or $99.00 / month

Basic features plus:

  • Unlimited courses & students
  • 2 Site admin accounts
  • 5 Course admins/authors
  • Private & hidden courses
  • Advanced course pricing options
  • Memberships and bundles
  • Certificates
  • Advanced Customization
  • Priority Customer Support
  • Assignments
  • Communities
  • Live Lessons with Zoom

4. PREMIER, $399.00 / month for joining annually, or $499.00 /month

Pro features plus:

  • Unlimited courses & students
  • 5 Site admin accounts
  • 15 Group Analysts
  • 50 Course admins/authors
  • Single sign-on (SSO)

Also, they provide a Growth Plan Package and an Unlimited Growth Package

Our Pick
Why Go With Thinkific?

Thinkific is the best platform if you are looking to replicate a CLASSROOM experience ONLINE. Of all the options, it's the most SCALABLE for multiple instructors, admins, and support staff. In short, ideal for building an education empire!

Get 30 Days FREE Here See Black Friday / Cyber Monday Deal!
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Features & Benefits

Features
Benefits
Instant access to your funds
Access to Tools to design and create courses online
Student notifications
Education Business Masterclass Training provided
Full e-Commerce
How to Price your Online Course
Upsell offers
How to Design Grand Courses

When first signing up with Thinkific, you’re given free access for 30 days. No credit card information is requested to begin using their platform.

They provide step-by-step instructions on how to launch a course from an introduction to Thinkific, customizing & previewing course player, building a course, customizing your site to publishing your course.

Clickfunnels

CLICKFUNNELS

It is an internet marketing software for educators, consultants, and entrepreneurs to sell course material and other products and services online.

It is a website and sales funnel builder that introduce products and services to potential customers and upsells the deeper they go into the funnel with a variety of funnel hacks. The upsells help business owners scale their business.

Clickfunnels was created by Russell Brunson on March 31, 2014. He is still actively involved with Clickfunnesl to this day, and you have likely seen him in online advertisements that pop-up quite often on youtube.

Clickfunnels and their Etison Suite provide the following tools for coaches, instructors, and entrepreneurs to teach students:

Customizing a Website – you have the ability to simply drag and drop into a webpage editor, quickly build sales funnels, including shopping carts that upsell, automate email, and Facebook marketing in a simple, user-friendly dashboard.

Various templates are available to walk your customer through with a 1 click upsell that will give you great potential to scale your business.

Clickfunnels Platinum upgrade includes follow-up funnels that retarget customers via email, social media, text, and desktop notifications anytime.

Creating a Course – the platform consists of a comprehensive 4 step process. If you are familiar with website design, in particular to “Elementor,” then the learning curve will be a little quicker for you.

You will be requested to first add a VSL – video sales letter, which introduces students to the course. Then an offer wall that sets up an automated thank you letter upon sign-up, then a membership access page will follow for your student to create a login and password, and then the last sections to set up is a *membership area page where you include all your course content.

Content can consist of Chapters, multiple lessons per chapter, videos, written content, images, and links for downloads.

Support –  Clickfunnels offers 4 support avenues for you to peruse. They have a Clickfunnels Blog that covers various topics, a Documentation Section to search their helpdesk for specific information, an Official Facebook Group, and a Support Chat for live help.

*Establishing Student Pricing –  when creating your course(s) online, you can establish student pricing on the membership area page

Affiliate Marketing –  Clickfunnels has an Affiliate program where you can earn Up To 40% /Month Commission plus more! It seems like a great opportunity to earn some passive income in addition to selling your courses online.  Maybe the affiliate income can offset the monthly membership fee you need to pay Clickfunnels for?

Email ProvidersIf you have an email provider, then you can link them within Clickfunnels and send campaigns to students and potential students.

Showing Students Value –  Unlike Thinkific, which is designed specifically for teaching purposes, Clickfunnels is not designed for all the functions needed to teach and motivate students; it does not include built-in features such as goal setting and student tracking progress.

Security – password-protected for memberships to securely host online courses via video or other content.

In addition, if you not sure if a Funnel is what you need to grow your business… you can give them a description of your business or services, and they will show you the type of funnel that will work best at giving you the highest conversion templates.

clickfunnels

Clickfunnels includes Integration Tools to market, sell, and deliver to students…

The tools consist of:

  • drop-down webpage editor
  • 1-click shopping cart
  • automated email and Facebook marketing
  • simple dashboard for easy organizations
  • free and paid templates

Clickfunnel Pricing

They provide a Free 14 Day Trial to Build Funnels so you can test it out for yourself before buying.

Click Funnels has 3 price plan options:

  1. Click Funnels $97.00 / month includes: 20 funnels, 100-page creations, 3 payment options to get paid by, and up to 3 domains than can be added to your Click Funnel Account
  2. Click Funnels Platinum $297.00 / month includes unlimited funnels and page creations, 9 payment options, and 9 domains.
  3. Two Common ClubX $2,497 / month includes unlimited funnels and page creations, 27 payment options, and 27 domains.

When first signing up with Clickfunnels, you are first requested for your Credit Card before you are given a 14-day free trial. They will not charge your credit card unless you go beyond the free trial period. They provide step-by-step instructions on how to launch a sales funnel, opt-in funnels, product launches, webinar funnels, auto webinars, and membership sites upon sign-up.

One thing I noticed when I signed-up with Clickfunnels – is that I was notified that my monthly payment would be $297/month, not $97/month. If you are not paying attention, you may agree to the higher amount, not the lower amount. It seems they have automated their sign-ups to default to their $297/month platinum option without asking you first.

If you are unsure about signing up, they provide a ‘scheduled demo call’  where they will give you a detailed walkthrough and answer any questions you may have.

PROS & CONS

 
Pros
Cons
Beautiful looking Courses
Marketing your courses is entirely up to you.
Get Started for free.
The function of the affiliate link could  be more flexible.
Create as many courses as you want
They could provide more Theme options.
 
 
 
 
Clickfunnels
 
Pros
Cons
Sales funnels built to convert
Not completely designed for Online Course deliverables
great option to grow a business
Need to have a core website
expensive
Need credit card sign-up for the free 14-day offer

FAQs

Can LiveChat be integrated with Thinkific and Clickfunnels?

Yes! Both platforms allow you to add a chat widget of your choice. Use it to educate students and potential students on your offers, reply to questions, and concerns in real-time. An automatic greeting can be too.
LiveChat with Thinkific
LiveChat with Clickfunnels

Do these Online Programs have Contracts?

No, neither has contracts. You can pay monthly and cancel anytime.

Alternatives & Competitors to Consider

Kajabi – is a platform for people to turn their knowledge into an online course, membership, and other digital products in order to teach others and to scale their business. They have 3 price packages that range from $119 to $319 / month.

Ontraport – it is an APP with automation for marketing, sales, and business in one place. They have 4 price packages that range from $79 / month to $497 / month.

Teachable – they provide the tools you need to set up your courses, market, and sell online. They have 3 price packages that range from $29 to $249 / month (billed annually).

Podia – includes everything needed to sell online courses, webinars, downloads, and memberships. They have 2 price packages that range from $39 to $79 / month.

Our Pick
Podia IS Awesome!

I LOVE Podia. Here's why. It's simple to use . Fun. Works for courses, digital products, and memberships like a charm. It's going to be our FINALIST for 2023 Tools of the Year. Need I say more?

Free 14-Day Trial
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Final Thoughts on Thinkific vs Clickfunnels

Clickfunnels was not created to specifically sell online courses; therefore, it has shortfalls that instructors would require in order to give the ultimate teaching experience to their students. However, it can be used to the best of its ability, despite the limitations.

If you use Clickfunnels for selling online to improve conversion and increase sales, then you might want to use them to sell your online courses, too, even if it is not ideal. This would save you monthly payments by avoiding paying for another platform,

Our Pick
Why Go With Thinkific?

Thinkific is the best platform if you are looking to replicate a CLASSROOM experience ONLINE. Of all the options, it's the most SCALABLE for multiple instructors, admins, and support staff. In short, ideal for building an education empire!

Get 30 Days FREE Here See Black Friday / Cyber Monday Deal!
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Thinkific is specifically created and designed to give Instructors and Students all the functions and capable deliverables to enhance the teaching and learning experiences.

To sell courses online, Thinkific is my choice because it accommodates the needs to teach and learn, and it is more affordable than Clickfunnels.

My Bottom Line Up Front: While Clickfunnels has some slick sales funnel pitches, if you are building a course you need a dedicated course builder to build your media empire. I’m definitely sticking with Thinkific here. Readers, you can also get an extended 30-day free trial with my link here.

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