Prices

5 Thinkific alternatives, after the price rise

What each replacement charges, what it includes that Thinkific gates, and the one case where you should stay exactly where you are.

The short version
Same category Kajabi unlimited marketing email included, not bought separately
Smallest sticker Teachable Builder $89, and no cut of your sales
An agent that finishes AXL writes go live rather than only reading
Stay where you are if Thinkific buyers hand you SCORM: on Plus, and AXL cannot host it
The trigger

Why people leave Thinkific

  • The price rise. About 10% on Basic, Start and Grow from 13 August 2026, with Expand unchanged (support.thinkific.com, checked 21 August 2026).
  • No nurture email. Reviewers report no sequence to leads who have not bought, so most creators run an external tool alongside (learningrevolution.net/thinkific-email).
  • Basic locks out too much. Memberships and completion certificates start on Start, and Basic includes one site admin (thinkific.com/pricing, checked 21 August 2026).
  • The agent only reads. API and webhooks start at Grow. Thinkific MCP is Plus only, read-only and still rolling out, so it might not appear on every account (support.thinkific.com, checked 21 August 2026).
Side by side

The five, in one table

Thinkific's row uses its own pricing and support pages, checked 21 August 2026. AXL Starter is $49 per month, with every feature included and published usage allowances.
Platform From Cut of your sales Metered on Email Agent access
Thinkific (yours) $54 0% on Thinkific Payments; 5% down to 0.5% with your own provider where applicable Feature tier No nurture sequences reported Plus only, read-only, rolling out
AXL $49 Starter 0% Eight usage meters, same overage rates Included allowance by plan, then $0.0006 per email Included on every plan
Kajabi $179 0% on Kajabi Payments; 5% down to 0.5% with your own Contacts, products Unlimited Every plan, drafts only
Teachable $39 7.5% Starter, then 0% Active students Reported basic REST API from $189
Kartra $59 5% Essentials, then 0% Contacts, 500 → 25,000 Unlimited from Starter No first-party MCP
Skool $9 10% Hobby / 2.9% Pro Flat None reported No public API found
One card each

What each one is good at

AXL: if an agent should run it

Closes the two gaps Thinkific users pay third parties to fill: broadcasts and automations on the CRM's own filter grammar, and an API plus ~1,100 agent operations on every account. From $49/month, 0% of revenue.

The catch: no SCORM at all, a smaller integration catalogue, and no learner app we will claim. AXL vs Thinkific →

Kajabi: the same category, email included

Unlimited marketing email, funnels and landing pages on every tier, plus podcasts, branded learner apps and an agent on all plans. $179 / $249 / $499 (kajabi.com/pricing).

The catch: more than three times the entry price, contacts metered from 250, and agent writes that land as drafts.

Teachable: the smallest budget

The lowest credible entry price for a course business, with a learner app and BackOffice (2% to 2.8%) for author payouts and international tax. $39 / $89 / $189; Starter takes 7.5% (teachable.com/pricing).

The catch: active students capped at 100 / 1,000 / 5,000, no REST API below $189, and the same email weakness.

Kartra: the whole stack on one bill

Unlimited email from Starter plus pages, checkout, memberships, video, affiliates and a helpdesk. It answers a reported $121 to $424 monthly Thinkific stack. $59 / $119 / $229 / $549 (kartra.com/plans-and-pricing).

The catch: contacts become the meter at 500 / 2,500 / 12,500 / 25,000, and there is no first-party MCP server.

Skool: if the cohort is the product

Community mechanics and built-in discovery at a price nothing else matches, with unlimited members, courses and live calls on both tiers. $9 Hobby at 10% or $99 Pro at 2.9% (skool.com/pricing).

The catch: no public API or email marketing found, and no graded assessment to replace what Thinkific gave you.

Decide

Your reason for leaving, and where it points

Four of these six do not end at us.
Leaving because… Pick
The renewal price went up Teachable Builder at $89, or AXL Starter at $49: both are 0%
You are tired of paying for email separately AXL or Kartra: both include it
You need an API without buying the Grow tier AXL: included on every account
Your buyers require SCORM packages Stay on Thinkific Plus. Nothing here replaces it
You want podcasts and a branded learner app Kajabi
The group is what students actually pay for Skool

Where AXL fits, and where it does not

It fits the Thinkific user whose real bill is three subscriptions and whose real complaint is that a course platform cannot market.

It does not fit compliance training. SCORM is the clean loss: Thinkific has it on Plus and we do not have it anywhere.

Moving off Thinkific

  1. Students and contacts CSV or XLSX, with field mapping
  2. Sales pages Cloned from their URLs
  3. Course outlines Rebuilt, quickly, by an agent
  4. Progress, quizzes, posts Move nowhere
  5. SCORM Cannot move at all

If your renewal fell before the rise, the old price holds until the next one.

The migration checklist →
The one that keeps coming up

How much did Thinkific go up in 2026?

Thinkific raised Basic, Start and Grow by about 10%, its first subscription increase since 2022. New monthly prices are $54, $109 and $219 from 13 August 2026. Expand stayed at $499. Existing non-profit and discounted accounts were exempt. Thinkific's own pages were checked on 21 August 2026.

Try the replacement before your renewal lands.

Import the students and rebuild one course while the old account still runs. Plans start at $49 a month, with included usage and published overage rates.

Also weighing something else? Kajabi alternatives · Teachable alternatives

Thinkific pricing and plan details were checked on its official pages on 21 August 2026. Spot an error? Tell us and we will fix it within a week.