Are You Looking for a Thinkific Alternative to Sell Your Course? Look at the Potential of Zenler

Team Zenler Author

Aug 15, 2024 |

With the boom in the online learning industry, there has been a huge demand for online education tools.

Course creators are searching for the best online platform to host their courses.  Good features and better pricing are the factors they seek.  Thinkific has been a popular choice for people selling courses online. The free trial plan and the user-friendly interface of Thinkific make course creators think in favour of the platform.  Nevertheless, they are on the quest to find alternatives that offer lucrative pricing and advanced features as they compare online course platforms.

Zenler becomes an undisputed alternative to Thinkific with its impeccable capabilities. From video hosting to quizzes, Zenler extends a bouquet of features that attract those selling courses online. Besides futuristic course creation tools, positive user reviews make Zenler a compelling choice when you compare online course platforms for creating and marketing courses online.

Let us analyse the features of Zenler and Thinkfic and the pros and cons of the platforms and learn how to select a platform that matches your requirements. When you compare online course platforms, it's essential to consider all these aspects to make an informed decision.

What is Thinkific and How Does it Work?

Thinkific is an Online Course Platform where a course creator can offer free and paid subscriptions to unlimited members. It caters to individuals and big companies alike. Though it is a well-known online platform among course creators, it might not be the best, especially for those who want to host other products.  The drag-and-drop course builder feature of Thinkfic makes course creation an easy task.

Merits of Thinkific

Free Hosting Plan:  The free plan is the biggest merit of Thinkific. You can sell a limited number of courses to unlimited learners, without paying anything upfront.  There are no transaction charges and if you want to avail yourself of more features, you can upgrade to a paid plan. 

When you upgrade to a paid plan, you are at liberty to upload as many courses as you want.  In certain plans, you will get features like course completion certificates, assignments etc.

Website Creation: Thinkific offers you the privilege of building a website using the drag-and-drop page builder.  To add to your convenience, there are website templates which can be used to enhance your creativity.

Thinkific App Store:  The Thinkific app comes with additional functionalities, though some features charge extra.

Thinkific Plus: Thinkific Plus is tailored for larger operations and offers robust e-learning solutions.  This is ideal for companies that are looking for scalable platforms.

Demerits of Thinkific

Hard to Sell digital products other than courses:  Are you planning to sell digital downloads, livestreams, webinars or memberships, Thinkific may not be the right place for you, as it focuses on online courses.

Free & Basic Plan lacks essential features: Though Thinkific rolls out free and basic plans, it lacks essential features.  So, course creators may find this unusable.  Some features that are not included in the free and basic plans are;

• Memberships
• Live lessons through Zoom
• Communities
• Course completion certificates
• Product upselling

High Add-on cost: To access Thinkific’s premium tools, course creators have to pay additional costs.  Bulk messaging, branding, unlimited communities etc are accessible only if you pay extra.

Limited e-mail capabilities: E-mail marketing is one of the essential tools course creators need.  But Thinkific has very basic email tools that are not enough to please them.

What Thinkific has on the offer

Even though Thinkific is a popular online course-selling platform, course creators opine that the features it offers do not match the price being charged. 

Let us evaluate the competitiveness of Thnikific.

Pricing:

 START PLAN = $99/Month | £888 a year

Packages

• Free access to our Accelerator Program
• Unlimited courses
• 1 Community
• 1 administrator
• Unlimited students
• 0% per transaction
• Branded Mobile (Add on)
• Includes all Basic features
• Additional Course Prices
• Advanced HTML/CSS Editing
• After Purchase Flows
• Assignments
• Built-in basic Survey
• Built-in Quiz basic
• Course Admins
• Course Appearance
• Course Bundles
• Custom Theme Import
• Customize Lesson Icon and Label
• Generic Mobile App

Zenler: The Best Thinkific Alternative? Compare Online Course Platforms to Decide

About Zenler

Zenler is an all-in-one platform with an intuitive design and advanced course-selling features. Right from course creation to marketing and student management, Zenler comes with abundant features. With built-in marketing automation tools, audience building, blogging tool, Zenler helps course creators implement the best marketing strategies directly from their dashboards. Zenler is an easy way to send emails to students regarding their progress. Integrated with many useful tools, course creators find Zenler as the best Thinkific Alternative.  Long-term course creators will find it advantageous as Zenler can store courses for future reference.  This enhances the chances of getting new subscriptions for your course.

Everything on a Platter

Zenler is the best place for you to sell online courses.  Let us go through what the site offers for course creators.

• Free access to the Accelerator Program
• No Transaction Fees
• Upload unlimited Courses
• Unlimited Students
• 25000 Leads
• 100000 /month Emails
• 100 Marketing Funnels
• 3 Sites
• Live Classes
• Live Webinars
• Live Interactive Webinars
• Live Streams
• New Zenler AI
• 10 Site Admins
• 20 Instructors/Course Admins
• 10 Assistants
• 10 Support
• 3 Custom Domains
• Coupons Advanced
• Advanced Page HTML/CSS Editing
• Page Editor Design Blocks - Full pack
• Advanced Quiz/Survey
• Assignment
• Blog
• Priority Support
• Import & Export Users
• Bulk Enrollments
• Drip Schedule
• Automation
• Tax collection
• Zenler App

You get all these features of Zenler under PRO PLAN @ $67/Month | $647 a year.  Isn’t it tempting? Zenler enjoys an edge over Thinkific with its competitive pricing and incredible features. 

When you compare online course platforms like Zenler and Thinkific, you'll see why Zenler's features make it a preferred choice for many.

How Zenler Outweighs Thinkific?

Zenler as an online course creation platform, outstrips Thinkific in many ways. Here are some of the factors:

• No need for any extra subscriptions
• You can charge for lives
• The survey is better with more customization and features
• Quiz tools come with more features and choices
• Built-in Blog Feature
• Offers the same features for all paid plans and no need of upgradation.
• 3 Sites available as part of the plan
• Get more user role types
• Email automation and Email broadcasts
• Top-notch education and live technical support. Workshops open to all, aiming for mutual success.
• Built-in funnel builder
• E-mail marketing tools
• Blogging capability
• Affordable pricing
• Free plan (10% transaction fee applicable)
• Built-in live features with paid options

Live Features – The Right Resource for Coaches and Teachers

Zenler boasts the best live streaming capabilities as per the given search results. The key features are;

• Live classes: Zenler comes with the feature of adding live classes directly to your course module.  This helps students greatly to enjoy live classes without the aid of software like Zoom.
• Live Webinars: Host webinars on Zenler where learners can register with their email ID.  The attendees can also see and interact with other participants.
• Live Streams: Set up live broadcasts and stream directly to platforms like Facebook.
• One-on-One Booking: Zenler’s unique scheduling system allows you to conduct one one-on-one live sessions with your students.
• Recurring Live Sessions: Do you want to host recurring live sessions, webinars or one-on-one bookings? It is possible with Zenler.
• Automatic Cloud Recording: Most of the live sessions (except streams) will get recorded automatically and saved on the cloud for later use.
• Multiple Schedules: Zenler provides the flexibility of setting up multiple schedules for live classes, webinars etc.
• Email automation: Send and schedule emails with Zenler’s powerful automation features.

Thinkific as a popular online course-selling platform has some advantages over Zenler.  Here is how it takes on Zenler in certain aspects:

• More user-friendly interface
• App store with 90 third-party integrations
• More efficient course creation tools
• Availability of branded mobile apps on premium plans

If you are thinking about which platform will be better for you, it is important to understand the specific features.

Thinkific with its user-friendly design stands ideal for beginners. Its templates and themes are good for those who want to create courses at a faster pace. Zenler on the other hand offers sophisticated tools which work well for those who want to enhance the course aesthetics.

When it comes to marketing tools, Zenler outshines Thinkific with its integrated marketing features and advanced automation.  Course creators can leverage this to identify their audience and customize the course content. Thinkific rather eyes on partnerships and integrations with its basic marketing tools.

Zenler is famous for its proactive customer support.  The swift service rendered by Zenler makes it the preferred choice of course creators.

The only downside of Zenler is that a beginner may take time to get familiarized with the interface.  However, it is not a big demerit considering its other smart features.

If you are looking for a platform that offers the best interactive learning features such as live video, quizzes and student engagement tools, Zenler will be your choice.  These features aid course creators in making engaging learning experiences.  Thinkific stays behind on these aspects.

Considering the above facts, course creators can zero in on a platform that matches their goals and preferences.

Which Platform Offers Value for Money: Thinkific or Zenler?

The price model of Thinkific may appear attractive to you, but the basic plan gives away limited features prompting to you upgrade to the next level.  Each level has advanced features like additional admin accounts and advanced course pricing choices.

Though Zenler is priced high for the basic plan, it includes advanced marketing tools and analytics.  The higher versions under Zenler provide you with more sophisticated features, better customization options and efficient marketing tools.

When you evaluate the ‘value for money’ aspect, do not prioritize price but check what features the plan carries.  For those who have limited funds but want to sell courses without paying upfront, Thinkific will be the right option whereas, for those who look for dynamic course interaction and marketing automation, Zenler offers value for money.

Intuitiveness

On intuitiveness, Zenler outstrips Thinkific with its advanced features and automation properties that simplify the process.  The platform has been designed keeping in mind the growing needs of the learning community.  

The feature-rich interface enables a greater engagement offering tools that streamline the course interactions.  Zenler has superlative management properties.  The integration of tools helps course creators create a structured learning environment.

Thinkific is accessed by beginners who are not that particular about advanced options.  Though it stands as a good platform for those who are new to online courses, the possibilities of expansion are limited.  This prevents course creators to continue on Thinkific and look for other alternatives.

Conclusion:

The growth of online course-selling platforms has paved the way for a boom in the learning industry. Online course creators make the best of it by selling courses online and generating a passive income. However, finding the right platform is a challenge. Some platforms may lure course creators with their lucrative plans, and some offer scalable tools and unmatched marketing features.

Thinkific is an online course creation platform sought by many. It is very popular among course creators. It offers a free trial plan with an option to upgrade to paid premium plans. However, Thinkific is suitable for beginners or those who are new to selling courses online. Though attractive with a basic plan, it lacks many tools in the higher-level plans compared to other online platforms. As such, customers when they want to access more features, tend to search for other platforms as an alternative to Thinkific. 

Zenler is a proven alternative to Thinkific, thanks to its advanced features, scalability, automation and better customization options. When you compare online course platforms, Zenler stands out as an all-in-one Online Membership Platform where you get the advantages of course creation, live streams, recurring sessions, automatic cloud recording, one-on-one booking and many more. 

Further, you can add as many students as possible to your programme without any technical glitches. Zenler also addresses one of the biggest challenges encountered by course creators, which is sales and marketing. 

You can create any type of marketing funnel within your site, even without having any technical or marketing skills.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ZENLER

Please note Data Correct as of the date of publishing this post

Categories: : Platform Comparisons