Affiliate disclosure: some links in this article are partner links. If you start a paid plan through them, imisofts may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend tools we actually use to run client campaigns.
Short answer. Thinkific's cheapest plan on its public pricing page is now Start at $109 a month, or $978 a year on yearly billing (shown as $82 a month). The Basic plan, listed at $54 a month ($40 a month billed yearly) in a 5 October 2026 capture of the page, was gone by a 22 October capture, and a $499 Expand plan now sits between Grow and the sales-led Plus tier. For a new customer that roughly doubles the entry price: +$55 a month, or +$503 a year. It followed an August price rise of about 10% on Basic, Start and Grow, so the cheapest plan has gone from $49 a month before 13 August to $109 by 22 October. All prices here are in US dollars. We earn a commission if you buy HighLevel (GoHighLevel) through our links; Thinkific, Teachable and Kajabi pay us nothing.
We read every current price below on 28 October 2026 on Thinkific's pricing page, in its help-center articles on the 2026 price update and on what Thinkific costs, on the pricing pages of Teachable, Kajabi and HighLevel, and in HighLevel's pricing guide. The older Thinkific prices come from Wayback Machine captures of its pricing page on 8 September, 5 October and 22 October 2026.
Key numbers
| Item | Number |
|---|---|
| Thinkific Start, monthly billing (now the cheapest public plan) | $109 a month |
| Thinkific Start, billed yearly ($82 a month on the page) | $978 a year |
| Thinkific Grow, monthly billing ($164 a month billed yearly) | $219 a month |
| Thinkific Expand, monthly billing ($374 a month billed yearly) | $499 a month |
| Thinkific Basic, no longer on the pricing page ($40 billed yearly in the 5 October capture) | $54 a month |
| Thinkific Basic before 13 August 2026 (about 10% increase on 13 August) | $49 a month |
| Thinkific fee on Stripe sales, Start (US, CA, UK, EU; none on Thinkific Payments) | 2.0% |
| Thinkific free trial (no free plan) | 30 days |
| Teachable Starter, monthly billing (plus a 7.5% transaction fee) | $39 a month |
| Teachable Builder, monthly billing (0% fee; $69 a month billed yearly) | $89 a month |
| Kajabi Basic, monthly billing ($143 a month billed yearly) | $179 a month |
| HighLevel Starter, billed yearly ($8 less than Thinkific Start; $97 monthly; usage extra) | $970 a year |
US prices read on 28 October 2026 from the Thinkific, Teachable, Kajabi and HighLevel pricing pages, Thinkific's help center and HighLevel's pricing guide; older Thinkific prices from its pricing page as archived on 8 September, 5 October and 22 October 2026.
Thinkific plans and prices in October 2026
Three plans have a public price. Plus, the enterprise tier, is quoted by sales. Yearly totals are from Thinkific's price-update article (Start, Grow) or our arithmetic on the page's monthly figure (Expand).
| Plan | Monthly billing | Billed yearly | Admins | Video bandwidth | Thinkific fee on Stripe sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $109 a month | $978 a year ($82 a month on the page) | 2 | 200 GB a month | 2.0% |
| Grow | $219 a month | $1,968 a year ($164 a month) | 6 | 400 GB a month | 1.0% |
| Expand | $499 a month | $4,488 a year ($374 a month) | 15 | 1,000 GB a month | 0.5% |
| Plus | Talk to sales | Talk to sales | By plan | From 7,500 GB a month (5 October capture) | No fee at this time |
Every plan with a public price allows 10,000 current students (students with unexpired access to at least one course) and unlimited courses, digital downloads and coaching. The "Save 25%" on yearly billing checks out: it works out at 25.2% on Start, 25.1% on Grow and 25.05% on Expand. There is no free plan. Thinkific's FAQ offers a 30-day free trial instead, and says Start, Grow and Expand customers can upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time. The fee column applies to creators in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, per Thinkific's help center (more below).
What changed: Basic left the page and Expand appeared
The 8 September and 5 October captures of Thinkific's pricing page show three priced plans, Basic, Start and Grow, and no Expand; in the 5 October capture "Most Popular" sits on Start. In the 22 October capture the word "Basic" does not appear and the plan cards are Start, Grow and Expand. The live page on 28 October shows the same three cards, with "Most Popular" on Grow. Start and Grow kept their prices.
| Plan | 5 October capture | 28 October (live) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $54 a month, $40 billed yearly | No plan card |
| Start | $109 a month, $82 billed yearly | $109 a month, $82 billed yearly |
| Grow | $219 a month, $164 billed yearly | $219 a month, $164 billed yearly |
| Expand | Not on the page | $499 a month, $374 billed yearly |
Expand is not a brand new plan. Thinkific's August price article lists it at $499 a month and says "The Expand plan is not changing." What is new is that it now has a card on the public pricing page. We found no announcement of Basic's removal on Thinkific's product updates page, and its help-center fee table still lists Basic, so we cannot tell you what happens to customers already on it. If you are one, check the plan and price on your own billing page before your next renewal.
A 10% price rise in August came first
Thinkific's help center says that starting 13 August 2026 it raised prices "by approximately 10%" on Basic, Start, Grow and two legacy plans, its first subscription increase since 2022. Monthly customers paid the new price from their first billing cycle on or after that date; annual customers pay it at their next renewal on or after it.
| Plan | Before 13 Aug, monthly | From 13 Aug, monthly | Before 13 Aug, yearly | From 13 Aug, yearly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $49 | $54 | $432 | $475 |
| Start | $99 | $109 | $888 | $978 |
| Grow | $199 | $219 | $1,788 | $1,968 |
| Expand | $499 | $499 | Not listed | Not listed |
Put the August rise together with Basic's removal from the pricing page and the cheapest plan a new customer can buy there went from $49 a month before 13 August to $109 by 22 October (+122%), or from $432 to $978 a year (+126%).
What $109 buys, and what Start leaves out
To be fair to Thinkific, the new floor is a bigger plan than the old one. On the 5 October page, Basic capped digital downloads and coaching at 5 each, had 100 GB a month of video bandwidth, and left out paid memberships and bundles. Start includes all of those, plus live cohorts, assignments and certificates, with 200 GB of bandwidth.
Start still leaves out several things that Thinkific's comparison table puts on Grow ($219) and up:
- Bulk email to students. "Email your students in bulk, with no monthly sending limit" is marked not included on Start.
- Removing Thinkific branding and reporting and analytics, both not included on Start.
- API and webhooks, and B2B sales and invoicing (selling seats to companies), both from Grow.
- Two admins only (the site owner counts as one), against 6 on Grow and 15 on Expand.
- Exams, SCORM and single sign-on are Plus only.
Thinkific's own fee on Stripe sales
Thinkific's help center says it charges its own percentage on sales through third-party gateways such as Stripe, for creators in the US, Canada and the UK since 3 July 2024 and in the EU since 6 November 2024: 5.0% on Basic, 2.0% on Start, 1.0% on Grow, 0.5% on Expand and no fee at this time on Plus. The same article says PayPal will be covered "in the future", while the pricing-page FAQ already names Stripe and PayPal. The fee applies to the first $1M of sales in a calendar year, and not at all if you take payments through Thinkific Payments, which Thinkific says is the default for new creators in supported countries. Card processing is separate: Thinkific's pricing FAQ puts Thinkific Payments "at 2.9%", and its help center says most processors charge "around 2.9% + $0.30" per transaction.
That fee softens the jump for anyone who would have bought Basic and sold through Stripe. Start costs $55 a month more but takes 3 points less of each sale, so the two cost the same at about $1,833 of sales a month (about $16,767 a year on yearly billing). Below that, the old Basic would have been cheaper; above it, Start is.
Thinkific against Teachable, Kajabi and HighLevel
Here is what the entry plans of three alternatives cost on their own pricing pages on 28 October 2026.
| Platform and plan | Monthly billing | Billed yearly | Platform fee on sales | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thinkific Start | $109 | $978 a year ($81.50 a month) | 2.0% on Stripe sales, 0% on Thinkific Payments | 30 days |
| Teachable Starter (5 products) | $39 | $348 a year ($29 a month) | 7.5% | 7 days, plus a 30-day guarantee |
| Teachable Builder (10 products) | $89 | $828 a year ($69 a month) | 0% | 7 days, plus a 30-day guarantee |
| Kajabi Basic (2,500 contacts) | $179 | $1,716 a year ($143 a month) | 0% revenue share | 14 days, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee |
| HighLevel Starter | $97 | $970 a year ($80.83 a month) | None listed; usage charges apply | 14 days |
HighLevel's $97 is not the whole bill. Its pricing page says "Usage based charges apply", and its pricing guide bills email at $0.675 per 1,000 and lists the phone system, email validation and AI usage among the services paid from a prepaid wallet.
A hypothetical creator selling $2,000 of courses a month, counting the subscription and platform fee only (card processing applies on every option and is left out): Thinkific Start costs $149 a month through Stripe or $109 through Thinkific Payments, Teachable Starter $189, Teachable Builder $89, Kajabi Basic $179 and HighLevel Starter $97 plus its usage charges. Teachable Starter only beats Builder below about $667 of sales a month.
On these numbers the cheapest fee-free route is Teachable Builder, not our affiliate. HighLevel Starter is $12 a month cheaper than Thinkific Start on monthly billing but only $8 a year cheaper on yearly billing ($970 against $978), before its usage charges. In our view it is a different kind of tool: a marketing CRM whose $97 plan lists courses, communities, payments, invoicing, CRM pipelines and a website and funnel builder among its core features, for up to three sub-accounts. Its pricing page does not state a student or course limit and does not mention exams or SCORM, so if you need a dedicated learning platform for company training, we think Thinkific Grow or Plus is the closer fit. If you want the course, the sales pipeline and the payments in one account, compare HighLevel's plans (partner link).
Who should pay $109 for Thinkific, and who should not
Our suggestion, based on the prices above:
- Stay on or buy Thinkific if you use its learning features (cohorts, certificates, communities), take payments through Thinkific Payments and expect to need Grow's bulk email and analytics anyway.
- Look at Teachable Builder if you sell up to 10 products and want the lowest fee-free sticker price on this list.
- Look at Kajabi if you want unlimited email sends to 2,500 contacts bundled in and can carry $179 a month.
- Look at HighLevel if the course is one part of a funnel, CRM pipeline, payments and invoicing you want to run in one place. Start a HighLevel trial and build one course and one funnel inside the 14 days before you move a paying audience.
- If you are on Basic now, we found no public statement from Thinkific on what happens to Basic accounts. Yearly billing on Start is $978 against Basic's $475, so check your renewal date and price first.
Course creators who also need a sales pipeline
imisofts offers GoHighLevel services, including white-label SaaS setup for agencies that resell HighLevel to their own clients. If you would rather have someone build the course pages, funnels and automations, you can also hire a GoHighLevel developer. For HighLevel's own plan limits and usage charges, read our GoHighLevel pricing guide; for the newsletter side of a creator business, see our beehiiv pricing page and our Kit pricing breakdown.
Frequently Asked Questions
On Thinkific's pricing page on 28 October 2026, Start costs $109 a month or $82 a month billed yearly, Grow $219 or $164, and Expand $499 or $374. Thinkific's price article puts Start at $978 a year and Grow at $1,968. Plus is quoted by sales. There is no free plan; Thinkific offers a 30-day free trial.
Not on its public pricing page. Basic was listed at $54 a month ($40 a month billed yearly) in a 5 October 2026 capture and was gone by a 22 October capture. Thinkific's help-center fee table still lists Basic, and we found no announcement, so existing Basic customers should check their own billing page.
Yes. From 13 August 2026 it raised Basic, Start and Grow by about 10%: Basic $49 to $54 a month, Start $99 to $109 and Grow $199 to $219. Expand stayed at $499. Then Basic left the pricing page in October, so the cheapest plan a new customer can buy there went from $49 to $109 a month.
On sales through a third-party gateway such as Stripe, for creators in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, yes: 2.0% on Start, 1.0% on Grow, 0.5% on Expand and no fee at this time on Plus (the help center still lists Basic at 5.0%), on the first $1M of sales in a calendar year. Sales through Thinkific Payments carry no such fee. Card processing is separate; Thinkific's FAQ puts Thinkific Payments at 2.9%.
Cheaper than Kajabi, not cheaper than Teachable. On 28 October 2026 Thinkific Start was $109 a month, Teachable Starter $39 with a 7.5% fee, Teachable Builder $89 with no fee, and Kajabi Basic $179 a month ($143 billed yearly) with no revenue share and 2,500 contacts included.
For some creators. HighLevel's $97 Starter plan lists courses, communities, payments and a funnel builder among its core features. Billed yearly it is $970, only $8 less than Thinkific Start's $978, and usage charges apply, including email at $0.675 per 1,000. Its pricing page does not state a student limit or mention exams or SCORM, so teams that need a dedicated learning platform are closer to Thinkific Grow or Plus.