Thinkific vs. Skillshare: Which platform is right for you?

With Skillshare, creators have the main features needed to build a standard course such as uploading videos and linking worksheets. However, the course building and content uploading process is quite manual. Creators looking for deeper learning tools and a seamless course creation experience may quickly run into limitations. 

In comparison, Thinkific offers sales and marketing features that let any course creator get started quickly — and under their own control. Thinkific offers a course builder designed for creators who have the students’ learning experience in mind, such as Live Lessons with Zoom, assignments, and a built-in presentation creator.

Preparing course (and other educational) materials is made even simpler with Thinkific’s advanced AI technology. For example, creators can build course outlines and quizzes in a few clicks. Thinkific’s AI Course Outline Generator instantly creates a detailed course outline tailored to your audience's needs and Thinkific's AI Quiz Generator creates quizzes that keep learners engaged, test comprehension, and identify knowledge gaps.

A great learning experience is vital to your success as a course creator. It will help your students learn more effectively and make them want to share it with their friends — helping you grow your business. With Skillshare being a course marketplace and Thinkific being an all-in-one platform for creating, marketing, and selling digital learning products, there are definitely some differences when it comes to the audience’s learning experience.

Skillshare offers a no-frills learning experience. Students are brought into an experience that is expected out of any online course platform, with primarily on-demand video lessons, but lacking in dynamic learning experiences such as live lessons or learning communities.

Thinkific offers an unmatched suite of functionality that extends beyond what's capable in most course platforms and offers a seamless learning experience across all devices. For example, you can set students up for success with quizzes, exams, surveys, and discussions to make sure they’re engaged and absorbing as much as possible. These features help turn a student’s experience from “fine” to “fantastic.” Afterwards, your students have the option to leave reviews that you can share publicly — something that helps more students find your course.

Thinkific also does more than just courses — they offer helpful digital learning experiences like Digital Downloads, Webinars, and 1-1 Coaching Sessions. With Digital Downloads, students can find value in quickly-downloadable guides, templates, exclusive resources, and more. With Coaching & Webinars, students can schedule coaching sessions and other forms of dedicated one-on-one time, attend workshops, and register for webinars.  

When it comes to selling online courses, Skillshare and Thinkific differ slightly on the level of e-commerce capability. 

Skillshare provides a limited set of sales and marketing tools to help you promote your course. Additionally, creators on their platform are all paid out from the same Skillshare Teacher Fund. This payment process means that creators earn based on the number of minutes their content is watched and the level of student engagement. Creators on Skillshare are very limited when it comes to earning a predictable, steady income.

Thinkific offers sales and marketing features to enable any course creator to get started. With access to marketing and email automation tools, sales increase tools, and gamification tools to enhance the learning experience, Thinkific goes beyond basic course creation to make marketing and selling feel natural for creators at every experience level.

Thinkific’s sales and marketing stack is also powered by AI. You don’t have to worry about list-building or creating sophisticated email flows with Thinkific, as Thinkific also offers an AI-supported email marketing feature. Creators can grow and manage email lists, launch personalized campaigns and roll out automated sequences that support their sales and marketing strategy.

Thinkific offers other sales and marketing digital learning products like Digital Downloads, Webinars, and 1-1 Coaching Sessions. Digital Downloads make it easy to maximize your earning potential, engage new audiences, and deliver more content to your existing audience. By offering digital products like eBooks, guides, templates, and more, businesses can open up a new stream of revenue and increase leads. 

Likewise, Coaching & Webinars make it easy to build a meaningful connection with your audience, and find and attract new customers — while boosting revenue by adding a price tag to these events.

Plus, 90+ integrations in the Thinkific App Store provide creators with the functionalities and flexibility of apps like ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Shopify, Salesforce, and many more. These apps are created by developers specifically for Thinkific and can be downloaded, installed, and implemented without any coding required for all Thinkific users.

It’s important to choose a course platform that you can trust. Getting the answers to your questions should be easy and your data should be secure.

Skillshare support for creators is almost entirely self serve through articles on their Help Center. If creators and teachers have questions beyond what’s covered in the Help Center, they can email a provided support email address. 

In addition to standard email support, Thinkific provides a thorough Help Center, network of experts at your service, a Facebook community of peers, an online chatbot, Live Chat (for those on the Basic plan and above), and the ability to have a call with one of our team members. Plus, as your business grows and your learning platform becomes mission-critical, Thinkific offers more security and support options to ensure you’re always taken care of.

A mobile app is a great way for your audience to engage with your learning content from anywhere, at any time.

The Skillshare Mobile App gives you access 1,000+ online classes from any device, as well as browse student projects and download classes to watch them offline. One of the advantages of Skillshare’s mobile learning is you can sync your learning progress across your computer, tablet, and phone. Other features of the app include class management (saving, completing, and un-enrolling), and viewing class projects, class reviews, students, and their profiles. The mobile app comes free with a Skillshare membership, where the cost varies depending on region. 

Thinkific has two mobile app options for you to choose from: Branded Mobile and Thinkific Mobile. One of the biggest differences from Skillshare’s mobile app is that Thinkific’s Branded Mobile ($199/month) is a white-labeled app that spotlights your brand with your own App Store listing and logo. With Branded Mobile, you get access to experts who will build, publish, and maintain your app so you don’t have to. The Thinkific team will even help prepare your app store listings and tackle the submission and review process, saving you time to focus on your business. Thinkific’s other option is a little more similar to the Skillshare Mobile App, Thinkific Mobile (included with Start plans and above), and is where students can manage courses under a universal Thinkific branded app. 

The pricing structure and variety of plans for an online course platform can be a major factor for course creators and educators deciding on their choice learning management system (LMS). While both Skillshare and Thinkific offer a free trial, there are also some major differences between their pricing plans and structures. 

When it comes to pricing, the cost of Skillshare varies per region and isn’t readily available on their site. According to their official website, you need to create an account to view membership pricing in your geographic region.

With tiers for early-stage businesses all the way to enterprise, Thinkific’s pricing structure is much more transparent. While Thinkific offers a forever-free plan for those who want to explore core features of the platform, their paid plans start at $36/month (Basic plan) for an annual subscription. Something to note: When you sign up for any of Thinkific’s paid plans on an annual basis, you save 25% off the regular monthly price.

Plus, Thinkific offers add-on features like a Branded Mobile app ($199/mo) and more so you can tailor your plan to fit your needs no matter what stage you’re in.