Thinkific: My Experience Launching an Online Course from Scratch in Two Weeks

The idea of recording a Google Sheets course for managers had been hanging around for six months. I wasn’t stalling because of the content — the material was ready. I was stalling because of the technical side: LMS platforms looked like websites from 2007, and custom development would run $3-5K. A friend recommended Thinkific. He said, “I built a course over the weekend there.” Yeah, right, I thought. Turns out — he wasn’t lying.

Days 1-3: Registration and First Modules

Registered on Thinkific on Monday morning. Chose the free plan — it gives you one course, unlimited students, a basic builder, and video hosting. No credit card required. The interface is clean, logical, no visual noise. Sections on the left: “Manage Courses,” “Students,” “Sales,” “Site Settings.”

The course builder is drag-and-drop. You create a chapter, drag video, text, PDF, quiz, or survey into it. You can upload your own video or embed a YouTube/Vimeo link. Over three evenings, I built five modules: each with a 15-20 minute video, a PDF summary, and a 5-question quiz at the end. Zero lines of code.

Days 4-7: Quizzes, Certificates, Site

Thinkific lets you create tests with different question types: multiple choice, yes/no, open answer. You can toggle mandatory completion — a student can’t access the next module until they pass the current one. Certificates are a nice separate bonus. Customizable to your brand, issued automatically.

Over the weekend, I built the course landing page: headline, description, curriculum, about the author. Thinkific provides a basic page builder — nothing fancy, but enough to start. Connected my domain via CNAME.

Days 8-14: Payments and Launch

Here’s where the nuances begin. The free plan doesn’t let you accept money — only trial courses. For sales, you need the Basic plan ($49/month billed annually). Connected it: got Stripe and PayPal integration. Thinkific takes no commission — all the money is yours. Set up a 20% discount coupon for the first 20 students, embedded the Facebook pixel for retargeting.

Launched. First month — 34 sales. Zero technical problems. Videos load fast, students don’t complain, quizzes work.

What I Liked

• No sales commission. You keep 100% of revenue. This is rare in the LMS market.
• Simplicity. You can figure it out in an evening. Seriously.
• Gamification and certificates. Students see a progress bar, get a certificate at the end — retention is higher.
• Free plan. You can build an entire course and test it with friends without spending a penny.

What Disappointed

• Marketing tools are basic. Thinkific is an LMS, not a marketing platform. No auto-funnels like “abandoned cart → get an email.” For serious sales, you need integrations with third-party services like Mailchimp or ConvertKit.
• Customization. You can only remove the Thinkific logo on paid plans. Page design is limited to preset templates.
• No built-in community. Student discussions are only possible through third-party integrations.

Pricing

• Free — $0: 1 course, unlimited students, basic builder, quizzes.
• Basic — $49/month: unlimited courses, coupons, Stripe/PayPal, email notifications, custom domain.
• Start — $99/month: adds assignments, course bundles, subscription plans.
• Grow — $199/month: removes Thinkific transaction fees, adds advanced integrations and priority support.

Who It’s For

Thinkific is the perfect choice if your main goal is: quickly build a course and start selling. No developers, no coding, no headaches. Ideal for experts, coaches, consultants, and small online schools. For large-scale projects with thousands of students and complex sales funnels, look toward Kajabi or Teachable — but they cost several times more.

Official website: https://thinkific.com My verdict: 8/10. Thinkific fulfilled its mission — launching a course in two weeks with zero technical background — excellently. Minus one point for weak marketing tools and another for no built-in community.