Thinkific earned its reputation as the sensible, teacher-friendly course builder — and for years its free plan was the standard "just try it" advice. That advice is stale: the free plan is gone, prices rose ~10% in August 2026, and the entry point is now $54/month for tools that still expect you to produce the course. Here's the current, honest picture. Facts checked September 17, 2026.
The core difference in one paragraph
Thinkific gives you a well-made workshop: curriculum builder, video hosting, quizzes, certificates, site themes. You bring produced content and assemble a course from it. TeachClub is the inversion: describe what you teach and the school gets built — then the AI teaches it, interactively, per student. Thinkific's product is tools. TeachClub's product is a running school.
Price and fees, side by side
| Thinkific | TeachClub | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | None (30-day trial) | None (the product is the paid plan) |
| Entry plan | Basic — $54/mo ($40 annual) | Teacher — $27/mo |
| Higher tiers | Start $109/mo · Grow $219/mo · Expand $499/mo | Club — $69/mo |
| Transaction fees | 0% via native TCommerce; 0.5–5% by tier on third-party gateways, + processing | You keep 60% via built-in checkout — or your own funnel at a flat per-seat fee |
| Course production | You create and assemble | AI builds from your description + uploads |
| Who teaches | Your content, statically | The AI — adaptive lessons, tutor Q&A |
| Payment setup | You connect/configure commerce | Built in; one PayPal email |
| Time to working school | Days–weeks of assembly (after production) | An afternoon |
About that free plan (the honest section)
Half the internet still recommends "start on Thinkific free." It doesn't exist anymore — what exists is a 30-day trial, which is genuinely useful if you already have content to test with. That's the catch for beginners either way: a free month of assembly tools is worth little when the expensive part is producing the course. If you're evaluating honestly: Thinkific's trial tests their tools with your finished content; TeachClub's $27 month tests a finished school with real students. Different experiments — be clear which one you need.
What Thinkific genuinely does better
- Structured LMS depth. Assessments, completion certificates, cohorts and communities, and corporate-friendly features on upper tiers — if you're selling to organizations that expect LMS conventions, it speaks their language.
- Native commerce with 0% platform fees (TCommerce) — their subscription-only economics keep more per sale once you're paying $54–219/month anyway.
- A real evaluation trial. 30 days, full features, no card — the most generous look-before-you-buy in the category.
- Course-builder ergonomics. If you like building courseware, their editor is among the nicest.
What TeachClub does that Thinkific doesn't attempt
- No production phase. The curriculum, lessons, quizzes, and sales page generate from your knowledge — the phase that stalls most Thinkific trials never happens.
- Teaching, not just hosting. Adaptive lessons and a tutor that answers from your material, on the student's schedule.
- Plain-English changes. "Add a module on tax season" — the assistant does it.
- A $27 entry that's the whole product — one school, full teaching, full selling, no fee ladder to climb first.
Who should pick which
| Pick Thinkific if… | Pick TeachClub if… |
|---|---|
| You have finished content and enjoy assembling courseware | You have knowledge and want the assembly (and teaching) done |
| You sell to organizations expecting LMS features/certificates | You sell to individuals who want outcomes and answers |
| Native-commerce economics at $54–219/mo fit your volume | $27 all-in fits where you are right now |
| A 30-day tool trial is the evaluation you need | A live school in front of real buyers is the evaluation you need |
Switching? Same playbook as ever: run both for a month, let students vote, and bring them over by email or CSV if TeachClub wins. Nothing has to be burned.