Thinkific alternative
A Thinkific alternative where your course stays online,
and stays yours.
Thinkific Basic now costs $54 a month, which is $648 a year before you sell anything. Stop paying and Thinkific locks you out of your own course: no more edits, no orders, no student records.Knola builds your course, slides, narrated video lessons, sales page and checkout with AI.Pay once and your course stays online.
One paymentYour course stays online30-day money-back
Thinkific Basic · a year of bills
Every year$648
Knola Studio · your receipt
One payment
$197
Next bill: none
Your course stays online.
The short answer
Knola vs Thinkific in 30 seconds
If you only read one part of this page, read this.
- Knola is an AI course platform that you pay for once: $97 for Solo or $197 for Studio. Thinkific is a monthly subscription from $54 a month ($40 a month billed yearly), after a price rise of about 10% in August 2026.
- Both give you course hosting, sales pages, funnels, checkout, order bumps, quizzes and drip lessons. Thinkific’s AI outline gives you chapter and lesson titles. Knola drafts the lessons too, turns each one into slides with a speaker script, and narrates them into a video lesson, so you never have to record anything.
- Choose Thinkific if you sell training to teams, run a community, or depend on its app store. Choose Knola if you want to build and sell a course without a monthly bill.
Knola vs Thinkific, side by side
Start with what each one costs. Then see what each one does.
| Cost | Knola | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | KnolaOne payment. Solo $97, Studio $197. | ThinkificEvery month. From $54/mo, or $40/mo billed yearly. |
| Keeping your course online | KnolaPay once and your course stays online. No monthly fee to keep it there. | ThinkificStop paying Thinkific and your course stays up, but you are locked out of it. You can no longer edit lessons, change prices, see orders or manage students. Thinkific’s help centre |
| Fees on your sales | Knola0% with your own checkout. 7.5% on Knola checkout, or 0% on Knola Pro ($37/mo). | ThinkificNo Thinkific fee with Thinkific Payments. 1–5% with Stripe, depending on plan. |
| AI included | KnolaAI credits included every month with every licence. AI drafts every lesson. | ThinkificAI outline, quiz and landing page tools. The outline gives lesson titles only, so you write every lesson. |
Thinkific prices and fees are from Thinkific’s own pages, checked 24 Sept 2026. See every Thinkific plan.
What you get
Everything a course business needs, and what each platform includes.
| Feature | Knola | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Create your course | ||
| AI course outline | ||
| AI writes every lesson | ||
| AI slides with a speaker script | ||
| Narrated video lessons, nothing to record | ||
| Narration in your own voice | ||
| AI ebooks, worksheets and checklists | ||
| Video hosting with transcripts | Auto captions on select Plus plans | |
| Sell your course | ||
| No monthly fee | ||
| Sell ebooks and digital downloads | ||
| AI-written sales pages | ||
| Sales funnels | ||
| Checkout | ||
| Order bumps and upsells | Order bumps on all plans; upsells on Start and up | |
| Coupons and payment plans | Payment plans on Start and up | |
| Teach your students | ||
| Quizzes | ||
| Completion certificates | Start plan and up | |
| Drip lessons | ||
| Student progress tracking | ||
| Included in full | 18 of 18 | 8 of 18 |
IncludedLimited or higher plans onlyNot included
From Thinkific’s public product and pricing pages, checked 24 Sept 2026. Tell us if something changes.
Thinkific pricing in 2026: what you actually pay
Thinkific has three main self-serve plans and an enterprise plan, Plus, priced by sales call. All of them bill every month or every year for as long as you want to manage your course. Prices in US dollars, from Thinkific’s own help centre.
Thinkific Basic
$54 /month
$40/month billed yearly · $648 a year monthly
Unlimited courses · 5 digital downloads · 1 admin · 1 community
Thinkific Start
$109 /month
$82/month billed yearly · $1,308 a year monthly
Unlimited courses and downloads · 2 admins · certificates
Thinkific Grow
$219 /month
$164/month billed yearly · $2,628 a year monthly
Unlimited courses and downloads · 6 admins · group and B2B sales
- Thinkific raised prices by about 10% from 13 August 2026, for existing customers too at their next renewal. Basic went from $49 to $54 a month.
- No Thinkific fee with Thinkific Payments. Card processing on Thinkific Payments is listed from 2.9%.
- With Stripe, Thinkific adds 5% (Basic), 2% (Start) or 1% (Grow) on your first $1M of sales each year.
- There is no free plan, only a 30-day free trial. Thinkific shows local prices in some countries, for example £46 a month for Basic in the UK.
- Checked 24 Sept 2026 on Thinkific’s 2026 pricing update.
What Thinkific costs you, against Knola
Move the sliders to match your business. Knola’s own fees are included.
Thinkific Basic
$54 a month
$1,296
Knola Studio
One payment, your own checkout (0% to Knola)
$197
Knola Studio + Pro
One payment + $37 a month, 0% platform fee
$1,085
Over 24 months, Knola costs you $1,099 less than Thinkific Basic.
Illustration using public prices checked 24 Sept 2026. Card processing (about 2.9%) applies on every platform and is not included. Per-sale fees assume a $100 average order. Knola prices are today’s prices.
From an idea to a course that sells
Thinkific gives you the outline. On Knola, you bring the knowledge and review each step, and Knola builds the rest.
01
Describe what you teach
Type a few lines, or upload your notes, PDFs or videos. Knola drafts the outline and every lesson.
How the AI course builder works
02
Turn a lesson into slides
One click makes a branded deck with a speaker script for every slide.
See the AI presentation maker
03
Let Knola narrate the video
Review the narration, hear a preview, then Knola makes the video lesson. Nobody records anything.
04
Turn lessons into ebooks
Make an ebook, worksheet or checklist from your lessons. Sell it on its own, or add it to the course.
See the AI ebook creator
05
Get your sales page written
AI writes the sales page from your actual course. Rewrite any section in one click.
See the AI sales page builder
06
Build the funnel
Join your pages, checkout and follow-up offers into one buying journey.
Explore course sales funnels
07
Take payments
A checkout with order bumps, upsells, coupons and payment plans. Buyers get access straight away.
How Knola checkout works
08
Check what stuck
Knola writes quiz questions from each lesson. Students finish with a certificate.
See quizzes and certificates
09
Follow every student
See who is watching, how far each student got and who has finished.
Explore student analytics
The AI is optional
Already made your course? Just host it on Knola.
The AI is there when you want it, never required. Bring the course you built, arrange it your way and sell it, for the same one-time fee, with no monthly Thinkific bill.
- Upload your own videos, PDFs and files
- Write and arrange every lesson yourself in the editor
- Add quizzes, certificates and drip release
- Sell it with a checkout, order bumps and upsells
- Pay once and your course stays online.
Nothing missing
Everything you’d expect from Thinkific is here too.
Moving to Knola does not mean giving up the basics.
- Course hosting and brandingYour school, with your logo and colours.Included
- Video lessons with transcriptsHosted video, captions and clickable transcripts.Included
- Quizzes and certificatesGraded quizzes and completion certificates.Included
- AI sales pagesWritten from your course, edited by you.Included
- Sales funnelsPages, checkout and follow-up offers, joined up.Included
- Ebooks and digital downloadsSell them on their own, or bundle them with a course.Included
- Checkout, bumps and upsellsPlus coupons and payment plans.Included
- Student progressSee who is stuck and who has finished.Included
- Sales and funnel analyticsRevenue, conversions and the offers that earn.Included
Stay with Thinkific if…
- you train teams, or sell seats in bulk to companies with group orders,
- your members pay mainly for a community,
- you run the rest of your business through Thinkific’s app store and integrations.
If none of those is you, you are paying every month to keep access to a course you already built.
Knola is built for you
Join other creators building & selling courses
People just like you turning what they know into a sellable course they own with Knola.
“I believe Knola is the future platform of online education: powerful, intelligent, accessible, and created with both the teacher and the learner in mind.”
Joy Hauʻoli Sutherland
Co-Founder of LVH Brands
“What I love most about Knola is how easy it makes the course-creation process, but even more importantly, the support. When I have a question or need help figuring something out, I feel like there are real people who want to help, not just a support ticket system.”
Lori Kantor
Universal Educational Services“What sold me wasn’t just the platform, it was the people. I asked a question expecting to wait days and got a real, helpful answer within the hour. You can tell Knola is built by people who actually want you to succeed, not just take your money.”
Sophie Richards
PeaceLoveSerenity
“I’d been sitting on my course idea for nearly two years, convinced I’d get around to it one day. I’d written a couple of books before but never sold an online course. I came across the Knola offer and my experience so far has been great. I wish I had found it sooner.”
Richard A
Business Owner
Moving from Thinkific takes an afternoon.
Most of the work is done for you.
- 1
Download your files
Export your videos, PDFs and lesson text from Thinkific while your plan is still active.
- 2
Upload them to Knola
Knola transcribes each video and drafts the lesson text around it. You can also bulk-upload lessons.
- 3
Rebuild the sales page with AI
Knola writes a new sales page from your course. Adjust it, then add your checkout.
- 4
Bring your students with you
Export your student list from Thinkific and paste the emails into Knola. Knola enrols every student in your new course and emails each one an invite, in a couple of clicks.
Got a big course, or questions before you move?
Talk to us first. Tell us what you have on Thinkific and we will help you plan the move.
Our promise
Pay once and your course stays online.
No monthly fee to keep it there, and no plan to lapse that locks you out.
- One paymentSolo $97 or Studio $197. No monthly bill, whether you sell or not.
- Your course stays onlineWe don’t take courses down from people who paid for a licence.
- Your work is never locked inExport your content as PDF, HTML or Markdown at any time.
- 30-day money-back guaranteeIf Knola is not for you, tell us within 30 days and we refund every penny.
Questions about Knola and Thinkific
Did Thinkific raise its prices?
Yes. From 13 August 2026, Thinkific raised prices by about 10% on Basic, Start and Grow, and existing customers pay the new price at their next renewal. Basic went from $49 to $54 a month. It was Thinkific’s first price rise since 2022.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Thinkific?
Yes. Knola is a one-time payment: $97 for Solo or $197 for Studio, with no monthly fee to keep your course online. That costs less than 4 months of Thinkific Basic.
What happens to my Thinkific course if I cancel?
Thinkific’s help centre says your site stays up and students keep access to what they bought. But you lose your admin dashboard, so you can no longer edit your courses, change prices, see orders or manage students, and paid features such as your custom domain stop working. Students on subscriptions or payment plans also keep being charged unless you cancel those first. On Knola there is nothing to stop paying: pay once and your course stays online.
Does Thinkific take a percentage of sales?
Not with Thinkific Payments, where you pay card processing only. If you use Stripe, Thinkific adds 5% on Basic, 2% on Start and 1% on Grow, on your first $1M of sales each year.
Is Knola really a one-time payment?
Yes. You pay once for a licence. If you sell through Knola’s checkout, Knola takes 7.5% of each sale. Use your own checkout and Knola takes nothing. Knola Pro ($37/month) is optional and removes the fee.
Can I move my Thinkific course to Knola?
Yes. Download your videos and files from Thinkific and upload them to Knola, and Knola transcribes the videos and drafts the lessons. Then paste in your student list: Knola enrols every student and emails them an invite. Got a big course? Get in touch through our help page and we will help you plan the move.
Can I sell ebooks and downloads, not just courses?
Yes. Turn your lessons into ebooks, worksheets and checklists with AI, or upload your own files, then sell them on their own, as an order bump, or bundled with a course. Buyers get their download straight after checkout.
Does Knola do email marketing like Thinkific?
Not yet, but this is on the way and in the final stages of testing.
Do I have to use Knola’s AI?
No. The AI is there when you want it, never required. If you have already made your course, upload your videos, PDFs and files, write and arrange the lessons yourself, add quizzes and certificates, and sell it with Knola’s checkout. It is the same one-time licence, with no monthly Thinkific bill: pay once and your course stays online.
Other Thinkific alternatives worth knowing
Knola is our answer, but it is not the only one. Here is where the others fit.
Knola
One payment. AI builds the course, slides, narrated video lessons, ebooks and sales page.
Kajabi
Courses, email marketing, a community and a mobile app in one monthly plan. One of the priciest options.
Knola vs KajabiTeachable
Popular for selling courses with a mobile student app. Starter adds a 7.5% fee on every sale.
Knola vs TeachableSkool
Built for paid communities. Course tools are basic, with no sales pages or funnels.
Knola vs SkoolLearnWorlds
Strong AI and SCORM for training companies. Starter adds $5 to every paid enrolment.
Knola vs LearnWorldsMoodle
A free, open-source LMS for schools and training teams. You pay for hosting and do the upkeep.
Knola vs Moodle
Pay once. Build it in days, not weeks.
Bring what you know. Knola builds the course, the slides, the video lessons, the ebooks and the sales page around it.