Thinkific vs Wix: Which is Best?

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By Joe Elvin

Last Updated on June 1, 2023 by Ewen Finser

You’re ready to start selling your expertise online and scale-up.

But you’re not sure which service to go for? Honestly, that’s no surprise. Building a website to sell online courses from scratch is extremely expensive and time-consuming. 

To help with that, service providers came up with easy ways to build and sell your courses online. Today we compare two excellent services that will make it easy for you to do so: Thinkific vs Wix.

In the following paragraphs, you’ll read about: 

  • How both services will help you build and sell online courses;
  • The key differences between both tools;
  • A clear answer as to which is the best fit for you;
  • A comparison of costs and associated fees;
  • Frequently asked questions and alternatives worth looking into;
  • and more…

The Bottom Line Up Front

Thinkific was clearly made to help entrepreneurs and businesses build, market, and sell online courses. Everything is made to make that easy, professional, and convenient. Something that is reflected in a heftier price tag. 

On the other hand, Wix is more of a comprehensive, essential website-building tool. You could sell online courses or smartphones, which would be the same. In that sense, Wix comes with way less specialized features for building and selling online courses. This is, as well, reflected in a smaller price tag. 

TL;DR Summary: If you have your courses already built and ready to go, and you need a simple way to sell them among other products/services, Wix is a great fit. If you’re starting from scratch and don’t mind a more significant price, Thinkific will make it a breeze to design and sell your online courses exclusively. 

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.

Main Differences Between Thinkific vs Wix

The main differences between Thinkific vs Wix are:

  • Thinkific has course-building features even for its free plan, whereas Wix does not.
  • Thinkific has many course-building features, whereas Wix has only a few.
  • Thinkific’s paid plans help you market your online courses, whereas Wix’s has limited course marketing features. 
  • Thinking has only online courses features, whereas Wix has general e-commerce website features.

How To Choose The Best Online Course Builder Software

Online Course Builder

Below you will find a complete rundown of the most important features you should be considering when choosing your online course builder software.

Ease of Use and Customization

You must consider how exactly your tool is going to help you build courses and propose them to your audience. Most of the best software will offer an in-house website and/or course builder to make this easier. The service must be easy for you to set up but also convenient for your students to use.

Some services propose different tools and customization features, and you will need to look into what you need compared to what the software offers. For example, do you need to chat with your students? Does your course need audio content or assignments? The way the service you go for presents your online courses to the world is probably the main factor in deciding which one to go for. 

Monetization Options

Since you’re here to sell, it’s also relevant to understand how the platform you’re using to propose online courses does monetization. It’s better to consider a wide array of payment options to accommodate the needs of your customers.

Some services also let you set up ads and affiliate marketing plans to earn even more. Also, consider external integrations with services such as Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Patreon, etc. 

Marketing Features

It would be best to get the word out to get more people to buy your online courses. Some platforms help you in making this happen. Since promotion is the cornerstone of your marketing strategy, you’ve got to ensure it’s done right. Depending on the service you go for, you will be able to choose between loyalty programs, tiered paid plans, free trials, and more. 

Pricing

You need to know precisely how much the tool you go for will charge or take as a commission for every sale you make. That way, you can calculate a proper budget and see which device is the most relevant to your business. 

Thinkific Key Features

Thinkific

Ease of Use and Customization

Thinkific is easy to use, with or without tech skills. No code is needed as most content building is done through drag-and-dropping. As it is, it’s swift and easy to build whatever course selling website you fancy: select a layout, edit it to your liking, and you’re done. 

All that you have to do is to fill in pre-formatted sections. This ensures an excellent experience for your students. Furthermore, you can add specific branding to your courses and even directly communicate with your students through a comment and reply feature. 

Thinkific allows up to 12 content formats for online courses, which is way more than most competitors: video, quiz, multimedia, text, survey, PDF, audio, downloadable content, presentations, exams, assignments, and a live feed feature. 

Monetization Options

Thinkific proposes standard and convenient payment solutions for your customers. Your students can pay through Stripe or Paypal, which is standard practice for buying online courses. The service can also be easily be integrated with Patreon, Youtube, and Merch.

Thinkific proposes very convenient subscription options for your students. You will be able to offer the following plans and payment solutions :

  • Free plans
  • One-time payments
  • Subscriptions
  • Monthly payments
  • And more custom payment plans

While not the most flexible, it is convenient enough for most needs. 

Marketing Features

Thinkific is, as expected, focused on marketing your content to potential students. It comes with JavaScript tracking that will provide very accurate visitor metrics. On top of that, Thinkific lets you send out coupons and discounts to your prospects. 

The service also integrates very well with other services to ensure the maximum promotion of your offers. You will find widget integrations with many benefits, to name a few: Facebook, Stripe, Paypal, Zapier, Shopify, Mailchimp, Zoom, Disqus, Sumo, and many more. 

Thinkific Pricing

Thinkific comes with a free trial and four-tiered payment options : 

Thinkific is not a cheap option, and you will need to take that into account. That said, once everything is set up and running, a successfully automated course selling business plan will offset the costs. Thinkific also does not commission what you sell, which is excellent. 

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 Pros and Cons

Thinkific

Below you’ll find a rundown of the most prominent Thinkific pros and cons.

Pros

  • Relevant and particular online course building features
  • Reply to your students’ comments directly 
  • Lots of pre-made templates
  • Online courses marketing features
  • No commission fees

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Solely focused on online courses

Wix Key Features

Wix

Ease of Use and Customization

Wix is probably most known for its easy drag-and-drop website builder. Everything is available and highly customizable with no required tech skills. Of course, you can further customize your website by injecting custom HTML and CSS code. But you will be able to build professional-looking websites with extreme ease. 

The website builder is comprehensive and complete. Where it lacks course building emphasis, the software shines in letting you choose among a very, very wide array of templates that you can use out of the box or further customize. 

There is no real course-builder per se, but you have the possibility to add pretty much anything you want on your website’s pages. Some will prefer a dedicated course-builder without dealing with the hassle of implementing every element yourself, and some will enjoy that freedom. 

Monetization Options

Wix offers a vast array of payment solutions. You will find the classic Stripe and Paypal solutions, as well as many others such as bank transfers and such.

It’s another advantage that comes with the high flexibility of building a Wix website. The service also proposes paid membership plans for your students, which is excellent for ongoing coaching, for example, which can bring in more revenue than a simple one-time course purchase. 

Another massive win for Wix here: the ability to integrate with Google AdSense and Google Analytics. This will give you a ton of relevant marketing info and open your site up to many external marketers. You can also add affiliate links and banner ads to your Wix website.

The advantage of Wix when it comes to proposing payment plans to your students and customers is once again its infinite flexibility. Whatever specific need you have, you can find a way to deal with it and implement a relevant solution on your Wix site. 

Marketing Features

Wix proposes interesting loyalty programs for your students. As a general website and online store builder, it’s not surprising to find e-commerce ‘tactics’ with Wix. You’ll be able to share discounts and other promotions with your students to keep them coming back. 

Wix also has a few social media features that can lead your social media audience to your paid online courses. Wix also offers basic and advanced analytics, on top of integrating with Google AdSense like previously mentioned.

Overall, Wix has strong marketing features – you will need to figure out precisely what marketing feature you need to add to your website. This can seem a bit overwhelming to beginner marketers but has the advantage to offer great flexibility. 

Wix Pricing

Wix comes with a free trial and three-tiered payment options as well: 

Wix often proposes various discounts on those plans and even lower prices for yearly subscriptions. There even are cheaper plans that may not be suited for professionals, but a great way to try out the service and set up a website before jumping into more severe projects. 

Wix Pros and Cons

Wix

Below you’ll find a rundown of the most prominent Wix pros and cons.

Pros

  • Wide range of customization options
  • Many pre-made templates ready to use
  • Can build pretty much any website
  • Fair price

Cons

  • No specific course-building features

Price Comparison: Thinkific vs Wix

Both software offers a free plan with basic features to build your online courses, which is appreciated. Investing in paid plans will add extra marketing features. If you’re looking to save money, Wix is the cheaper alternative. With a starting paid plan at $17 per month, you will be saving money. Thinkific’s starting paid program stands at almost three times that price, at $49 per month. 

That said, Thinkific may be the costly option. It boasts many more features for those looking to build courses through the software itself. Wix offers more limited course building features, and you may have to spend more money to develop your systems outside of Wix over simply using Thinkific’s in-house course building tools.

Kajabi

Kajabi

If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution to sell courses online, Kajabi has got you covered. The software does not add to your fintech stack; it replaces it (beyond just an online course platform).

With it you will be able to build websites online courses, deal with your marketing, analytics, and more, all from a single dashboard. You can create subscriptions, courses, and digital products quickly, and they look good. The service integrates with Stripe and PayPal. There is a free trial, but we found the base plan a bit expensive, starting at $119 per month. 

Further Read: Thinkific vs Kajabi Compared.

Udemy

Udemy 

Udemy is a more straightforward online course platform to design online courses in the sense that you’re limited to their proposed format. If you’re looking for a simple solution to start selling courses online, it will be a great choice as all you have to do is fill in the blanks with your course’s content.

Udemy does come with a marketplace feature, which is a great way to advertise and market your services. The platform does take a hefty 50% commission, which is a great way to start selling online courses for beginners without an audience yet, but probably not a long-term solution.

There is a free trial, and on top of the commission, the service charges, and you will also need to purchase a monthly subscription.

Further Read: Thinkific vs Udemy vs Teachable.

Teachable Course Platform

Teachable

A very close competitor to Thinkific, Teachable course creation has a user-friendly interface and easy-to-customize templates. It offers excellent course-building features and lets you host videos and webinars.

You can also deliver certificates of completion to successful students. The service offers interesting in-house marketing tools and lets you reach out to users in bulk. It also lets you set up simple sales pages. There is a free trial, and slightly lower prices than Thinkific, making it a great alternative. 

Further Read: Thinkific vs Udemy vs Teachable.

Other Thinkific Alternatives Compared

Here are how some other online course platform builders stack up against Thinkific:

Other Wix Alternatives Compared

FAQs

Question: Is Thinkific Compatible with Wix?

Answer: Currently, Thinkific and Wix are both different services and competitors that do not integrate well together. That said, you can very easily use services like Zapier to be the “middle man” and connect your data from one service to the other.

Question: Does Thinkific Take a Percentage?

Answer: No, Thinkific does not take a cut on the profit you make through your sales. This offsets the more significant price of a Thinkific subscription compared to the competition and is an excellent argument in using Thinkific if you already have a successful course that you would like to host on their platform. 

Question: Can you Create Free Courses on Thinkific?

Answer: Yes. You can, of course, create free courses with Thinkific, and this is a great way to attract and enroll new students to then propose an upsell down the line. The service offers many payment plans for your prospects, and free courses are one of them.

To Conclude on Wix vs Thinkific

Wix is a complete platform in itself, with a wide array of website-building features as a whole. It is a fantastic resource for any business, and in any business, you will find selling online courses. 

This makes it a suitable option for you as an online course seller, coach, or consultant. Since the website lets you build pretty much anything and add all that you ever wanted on your website quickly, you can create the online course sales funnel of your dreams. 

That said, Wix is in no way specialized in selling online courses, and this is where Thinkific shines. When it comes to making online courses and selling them, Thinkific is a clear winner. Both services are great, but if your sole focus is to build and sell online courses, Thinkific is the best option. If you’re also proposing other services, or want a more all-in-one website, consider Wix. 

Thinkific proposes way more specialized features for building, marketing, and teaching to students. You could probably achieve the same result with a Wix website since it’s so open to customization, but that would be way more of a hassle. 

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.

In short: 

Further Related Reading on LMS and Course Creation Software:

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