Thinkific vs Podia splits on what you sell besides the course. Pick Thinkific when students hand in assignments you grade. Pick Podia when the course sits beside downloads, coaching, a blog and email. Billed yearly, their entry plans sit $2 apart, at $40 and $42 a month.
Prices here come from each company’s own pricing page. The bigger gap is the cut. Podia Mover takes 5% of every sale. Thinkific takes 5% on Basic, 2% on Start and 1% on Grow, but only from US, Canadian, UK and EU sellers on their own Stripe. PayPal starts at $84 a month on Podia and $164 on Thinkific, billed yearly.
You have a course half built, maybe a workbook or 2 to sell beside it, and a shortlist with 2 names on it: Thinkific and Podia.
Half of the 8 results on Google’s first page quote Thinkific prices that are not on its pricing page. All 4 say Thinkific takes no cut of your sales. On your own Stripe in the US, Canada, the UK or the EU, it does.
So here are both price lists as each company prints them, the fee that depends on where you live, and 4 kinds of seller, each with the plan I would pick and what it costs.
Key Takeaways
- The entry plans are a near tie. Billed yearly, Thinkific Basic is $40 a month and Podia Mover $42, but Mover takes 5% of sales.
- Thinkific’s cut depends on your processor. Thinkific Payments adds no Thinkific cut. Your own Stripe adds 5% on Basic, 2% on Start, 1% on Grow.
- PayPal costs nearly double on Thinkific. PayPal starts on Podia Shaker at $84 a month and on Thinkific Grow at $164, both billed yearly.
- Podia suits a mixed catalogue. Thinkific Basic stops at 5 downloads and 5 coaching products. Podia Mover allows 50 products plus email for 100 subscribers.
- Thinkific suits graded courses. Assignments students hand in arrive on Thinkific Start at $82 a month billed yearly, and Podia lists no assignment tool.
- Podia’s free trial is now 14 days. Thinkific gives 30. On either, stay on monthly billing until the course has paying students.
Thinkific vs Podia pricing, plan by plan
Thinkific and Podia each sell 3 self-serve plans, and on yearly billing the first 2 plans of each sit $2 apart. Thinkific runs Basic, Start and Grow, with a custom-priced Plus plan above them for larger schools. Podia runs Mover, Shaker and Earthquaker.
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On yearly billing, a seller doing $1,000 a month in sales pays $475 a year for Thinkific Basic on Thinkific Payments, $1,075 for Basic on their own Stripe, and $1,104 for Podia Mover.
| Plan | Billed yearly | Month to month | Cut on sales | PayPal | Year at $1,000/mo in sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thinkific Basic | $40/mo ($475/yr) | $54 | 0% on Thinkific Payments, 5% on own Stripe | No | $475, or $1,075 on own Stripe |
| Podia Mover | $42/mo ($504/yr) | $49 | 5% | No | $1,104 |
| Thinkific Start | $82/mo ($978/yr) | $109 | 0%, or 2% on own Stripe | No | $978, or $1,218 on own Stripe |
| Podia Shaker | $84/mo ($1,008/yr) | $99 | 0% | Yes | $1,008 |
| Thinkific Grow | $164/mo ($1,968/yr) | $219 | 0%, or 1% on own Stripe | Yes | $1,968, or $2,088 on own Stripe |
| Podia Earthquaker | $150/mo ($1,800/yr) | $179 | 0% | Yes | $1,800 |
The last column leaves out card processing, because all 3 routes charge the same headline rate on a US card. Thinkific Payments takes 2.9% plus 30 cents. Stripe’s standard rate is also 2.9% plus 30 cents, and Podia’s pricing FAQ quotes the same for Stripe or PayPal.
Podia prints its yearly totals: $504, $1,008 and $1,800. Thinkific prints only the yearly saving, $173 on Basic, $330 on Start and $660 on Grow, so its totals here are 12 months at the monthly price minus that saving.
On Podia, upsells and affiliate marketing start on Shaker. Thinkific lists order bumps and affiliate reporting on every plan, and adds after-purchase upsell flows on Start. For the email add-ons and product limits that change Podia’s bill as you grow, the Podia pricing breakdown goes plan by plan.
The fee that decides Thinkific Basic against Podia Mover
Thinkific Basic adds a 5% fee to every sale you take through your own Stripe account, if your business sits in the US, Canada, the UK or the EU. Thinkific calls it a third-party payment gateway fee. Its gateway fee article lists the rates by plan: 5% on Basic, 2% on Start, 1% on Grow, 0.5% on the older Expand plan and nothing on Plus.
2 details soften it. The fee only applies to your first $1 million of sales in a calendar year. It also disappears on Thinkific Payments, the default processor for sellers in the US, Canada, the UK, the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Norway. Sellers outside the US, Canada, the UK and the EU pay no gateway fee at all.
Podia’s 5% works differently. Mover charges it whatever processor you use.
A plan price stays put, while a percentage grows every month you sell more. At $1,000 a month in sales, on yearly billing, Thinkific Basic costs $40 a month on Thinkific Payments and $90 on your own Stripe. Podia Mover costs $92 either way. Keep your own Stripe and the 2 entry plans are back to a $2 gap.
At these sales, your own Stripe adds $600 a year to Thinkific Basic, more than the $503 it costs to move up to Start. Podia Mover costs $1,104 and Shaker $1,008 at the same sales, whatever processor you use.
The older comparisons leave this fee out. Esmerise, BloggingX, Ashley Danyew and Ship 30 for 30 all describe Thinkific as charging no transaction fees, and all 4 quote Thinkific prices that are no longer on its pricing page. Google’s own AI summary for this search makes the same claims.
The AI Overview Google shows for “thinkific vs podia”. Read the Thinkific line: Thinkific’s own pricing FAQ says there is no free plan, Basic is $54 month to month, and the gateway fee above applies.
What changes the answer from seller to seller
4 things decide Thinkific vs Podia for a given seller. What else you sell beside the course, how much the course has to test and track, whether your buyers pay with PayPal, and whether anyone has paid you yet.
Take the section that sounds like you.
If the course sits next to downloads, coaching calls and a newsletter
Podia is the better fit for a seller whose course is 1 product among several. Thinkific Basic allows 5 digital downloads and 5 coaching or webinar products, and both caps lift to unlimited only on Start, at $82 a month billed yearly. Podia Mover allows 50 products of any kind and 500 videos, at $42 a month billed yearly.
Community space follows the same pattern. Thinkific Basic gives you 1 community with 5 spaces. Podia Mover gives you 25 spaces.
Email is the other half. Every Podia plan includes Podia Email up to a subscriber count, 100 on Mover, 500 on Shaker and 1,000 on Earthquaker, and every Podia plan gets a blog. Thinkific’s pricing table lists email automation on every plan, plus a site builder and landing pages, but no blog.
What it costs: Mover at $42 a month billed yearly, or $504 a year, plus 5% of sales. Podia’s pricing page prices extra email by list size. On Mover, 500 subscribers takes the plan to $50 a month billed yearly, and 1,000 takes it to $56.
When does Shaker win? Shaker removes the 5% and lifts email to 500 subscribers. With a list under 100 it becomes the cheaper Podia plan once sales pass about $840 a month on yearly billing, or $1,000 month to month. With 500 subscribers already paid for on Mover, the line drops to about $680 a month.
What you give up: Thinkific’s assignment tool. Podia caps products too, 50 on Mover and 150 on Shaker.
If the downloads are the real business and the course is still an idea, a course platform may be more than the job needs. A checkout tool like Payhip, Gumroad or CartMango, the one I run, sells and delivers a file without a course player around it.
If students hand in work you have to grade
Thinkific is the better fit when students submit work you review, because Thinkific Start adds an assignment tool and Podia’s course page lists none.
Thinkific Basic already includes quizzes. Start, at $82 a month billed yearly or $109 month to month, adds assignments students hand in, completion certificates, compliance tools that can require a video to be watched before the next lesson, Zoom lessons, payment plans and paid memberships. Grow, at $164 a month billed yearly, adds group orders, invoicing and exams through Brillium, a testing tool Thinkific connects to.
Podia’s own course page covers most of the rest. It lists quiz lessons, completion certificates, locked lessons that wait until earlier lessons and quizzes are done, a per-student progress view, cohort courses and bulk licenses for teams. What it does not list is a way for students to hand in work, or an exam tool.
What it costs: $82 a month billed yearly for Start on Thinkific Payments, or $978 a year.
What you give up: every self-serve Thinkific plan stops at 10,000 current students, a limit Podia does not have. Basic lacks certificates and payment plans, so a course that needs either begins on Start.
If your buyers want to pay with PayPal
Podia Shaker is the cheaper way to offer PayPal, at $84 a month billed yearly, because Thinkific’s first plan with PayPal is Grow.
Grow is the cheapest Thinkific plan that takes PayPal, at $164 a month billed yearly or $219 month to month. The “Accept PayPal payments” row on Thinkific’s pricing page shows a dash for Basic and Start, and a tick for Grow and Plus. On Podia, PayPal arrives with Shaker, and Mover has none.
That gap is $960 a year on yearly billing, $1,968 against $1,008, or $120 a month on monthly billing.
None of the 8 results on Google’s first page states this limit. 1 says both platforms take PayPal, no difference.
If your audience asks to pay by PayPal and the course is ordinary video lessons, Shaker does the job for less. You give up Thinkific’s assignment and exam tools, which Shaker does not replace. And on the Thinkific side, its help center says the gateway fee that covers Stripe today will extend to PayPal in the future, without naming a date.
If nobody has paid for the course yet
Pay month to month on either platform until someone has bought, because a yearly plan is a bet on a course nobody has tested.
I have built a course almost nobody bought, so I take this one personally. Years ago I spent hundreds of hours on an online training course before checking whether anyone wanted it, and fewer than 5 people bought. It was embarrassing enough that I nearly quit selling online altogether. These days I want a payment before I build. Saying “yes, I’d buy that” costs a person nothing, and handing over a card does not.
Both platforms let you pre-sell a course before it exists, and Podia adds waitlists for collecting emails before launch. The guide to selling online courses walks through pre-selling step by step.
What it costs: month to month, Podia Mover is $49 plus 5% and Thinkific Basic is $54 on Thinkific Payments. Mover is cheaper until sales pass $100 a month. A full year on monthly billing comes to $588 for Mover and $648 for Basic, before any cut.
The trials differ too. Thinkific’s pricing FAQ gives every account a 30-day free trial. Podia’s pricing page now says 14 days, though a Podia staff member replying in an r/edtech thread in August 2026 still described it as 30. Plan around 14 if you start on Podia.
What you give up: the yearly discount, for now. On Basic that is $173 a year, and on Mover $84.
Thinkific or Podia, by situation
Podia wins the PayPal row on price and the mixed-catalogue row on product limits, Thinkific wins graded assignments, and on the pre-launch row Podia starts $5 a month cheaper on monthly billing and stays cheaper until sales pass $100 a month.
| Situation | Pick | Cost per month | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course plus downloads, coaching and a newsletter | Podia Mover, then Shaker | $42 billed yearly plus 5%, or $84 with no cut | Email past 100 subscribers costs extra on Mover |
| Graded assignments | Thinkific Start | $82 billed yearly | 10,000 current students on every self-serve plan |
| Buyers pay with PayPal | Podia Shaker | $84 billed yearly | Thinkific needs Grow at $164 billed yearly |
| Nobody has paid yet | Either, month to month | $49 on Podia, $54 on Thinkific, monthly billing | Podia’s trial is 14 days, Thinkific’s is 30 |
Where each one catches sellers out after signup
The 2 limits that catch sellers after signup are Thinkific’s 10,000-student ceiling and Podia’s email ladder, and both are on the pricing pages.
Thinkific counts “current students”, which its pricing table defines as unique students who still have unexpired access to at least 1 course. Sell a course with lifetime access and every buyer keeps counting. Past 10,000, you remove students or move up to Plus, which has no public price.
Podia’s email climbs with your list: 2,500 subscribers takes Mover to $64 a month billed yearly, and Shaker to $106.
Thinkific’s branding is the smaller surprise. Removing it from your site needs Grow, at $164 a month billed yearly. Thinkific’s own mobile app comes with Start, and a branded app with your name on it costs $199 a month on top of any plan.
Plans can also change under you. When Podia dropped its free plan in 2024, a Podia user wrote in that r/edtech thread: “My site basically disappeared.” They had missed the notice because Podia’s emails were landing in a promotions folder they did not know about. Whichever platform you pick, export your student and customer list on a schedule, so a plan change does not cost you the people.
Moving onto Podia later is covered. Podia’s pricing FAQ includes migration help for up to 50 products on Mover and 150 on Shaker and Earthquaker, covering course content, downloads and customer emails.
FAQ
How much does Podia cost per month?
Podia costs $49 a month for Mover, $99 for Shaker and $179 for Earthquaker on monthly billing, or $42, $84 and $150 a month billed yearly. Mover also takes 5% of each sale, and Stripe or PayPal charge their own processing fee on top. Email past the included subscribers costs extra.
What are the disadvantages of Thinkific?
Thinkific’s main drawbacks are the 10,000 current-student limit on every self-serve plan, PayPal only from Grow at $164 a month billed yearly, and a 5%, 2% or 1% fee on your own Stripe in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU. Basic also lacks certificates, payment plans and memberships. The Thinkific alternatives roundup prices the main replacements.
Who are Thinkific’s main competitors?
Common alternatives to Thinkific for selling courses are Podia, Teachable, Kajabi, LearnWorlds and LearnDash, the WordPress plugin. 2 of them have their own head-to-head breakdowns: Teachable vs Thinkific and Kajabi vs Thinkific.
What is better than Podia?
For a course where students hand in work, Thinkific is the better pick. For every other seller, start from the situation table above. Kajabi vs Podia and Teachable vs Podia price the 2 other common choices against Podia, and the Podia alternatives list covers the rest.
Does Thinkific have a free plan?
No. Thinkific’s own pricing FAQ answers that question with a no and points to a 30-day free trial instead. Some comparison pages and Google’s AI summary still mention a free Thinkific plan, so check the pricing page before you plan around one.
A checkout for the products that come first
If a template, a workbook or a coaching package is ready long before the course, it can sell without a course platform behind it.
That is the job CartMango does today, whichever way Thinkific vs Podia goes for the course. CartMango sells downloads, coaching and subscriptions with order bumps on every plan and no platform cut. It is free right now, then from $10 a year once paid plans start in November 2026. CartMango does not host courses or communities yet, and both are planned for October 2026 on the $30 a year plan.
About the Author
👋 I’m Welly, founder of CartMango (the site you’re on), a checkout platform for digital product sellers. We’ve previously processed $179M+. I also run BirdSend (email marketing tool, 3.1B+ emails sent). On the side I show other non-techie digital sellers how I use AI workflows to automate 50%+ of my operations. Find me on LinkedIn.
Related Reading
- Kajabi vs Podia: live prices and the sales figure where Podia’s 5% overtakes the price gap
- Teachable vs Thinkific: the other big Thinkific head-to-head, with 2 crossover points
- Podia pricing: all 3 plans, the 5% Mover fee and the email ladder
- Best course platform: 6 platforms priced live by what each keeps per sale