If you’re building a digital product business, your online course platform is a key part of how you serve your customers, make sales, and grow your brand.
As you weigh your options, you’ve probably come across two popular names: Thinkific and Podia.
Both promise to help you build and sell online courses or memberships. However, the experience they deliver can feel different, especially once your business starts to grow.
In this article, you’ll get a clear breakdown of Thinkific vs Podia, what each platform offers, and how they compare in different areas.
And if neither platform feels like the right fit, we’ll also introduce you to a better alternative that gives you more freedom and everything you need to run your course or membership business.
What Is Thinkific?
Thinkific is an online platform designed to help you build, sell, and deliver educational content. You can upload videos, PDFs, audio, quizzes, and even live lessons. Features like content dripping, quizzes, certificates, and course completion tracking are all included.
It also gives you full control over your website’s design. There are several templates to choose from, and if you know how to code, you can tweak the layout even further.
Thinkific integrates with payment processors like Stripe and PayPal and offers tools to help promote your courses, such as coupons and upsells. The platform doesn’t charge transaction fees, which means you keep more of your revenue.
What Is Podia?
Podia is an all-in-one digital platform that's ideal if you want to sell more than just online courses. You can sell downloads, webinars, coaching, and memberships all from one account.
You can send emails, run drip campaigns, collect payments, and even manage affiliates from the same dashboard. There’s also a full community feature so your students or fans can connect with you and with each other.
What Is CustomerHub?
CustomerHub is a plug-and-play platform purpose-built for coaches, consultants, and course creators who want to turn their expertise into scalable online businesses. It simplifies the process of launching and managing memberships, courses, and digital products.
Key Features
- Easily launch memberships, courses, and digital products without needing tech skills
- Guide members through personalized steps with prerequisites and progress tracking
- Manage and deliver all your digital products from one centralized hub
- Share updates and engage members through a dedicated, built-in feed
- Offers tools like prerequisites and progress tracking for a more engaging learning journey
- Connect effortlessly with CRMs, email tools, payment processors, and over 7,000 apps via Zapier
- Get unlimited chat support and optional Done-for-You setup to launch faster
- Dedicated team to provide personalized support not found in larger, one-size-fits-all platforms
Designed with ease and speed in mind, CustomerHub empowers knowledge entrepreneurs to monetize their content quickly while focusing on coaching and creating impact.
Podia vs. Thinkific: Key Differences
Thinkific and Podia are popular online course platform options for selling online courses and memberships. While both have strengths, they also come with trade-offs, like limited features on lower plans or extra fees.
Below is a breakdown of how they compare in different areas:
Course Creation Tools
Thinkific and Podia let you create video-based courses, but they approach it in slightly different ways.
Thinkific gives more structure and flexibility. You can set lesson prerequisites, add quizzes, offer certificates, and even assign tasks. These advanced features make Thinkific better suited for academic or professional programs that require a step-by-step path.
Podia focuses on speed and simplicity. You can upload videos, PDFs, and quizzes and build unlimited lessons quickly. It also supports digital downloads, so you can sell more than just courses.
While it may not have the same depth in course flow as Thinkific, it works well for creators who want to get a course up and running fast.
Design and Customization
Thinkific gives more design control. You can customize your site using templates, a drag-and-drop builder, or even edit code if needed. Thinkific also offers a branded mobile app (for an extra cost), which some businesses may find helpful.
Podia keeps the design simple and clean. It allows for brand elements like your logo and color scheme, but bigger layout changes require an upgrade. While Podia doesn’t offer a dedicated mobile app, the site is fully mobile-responsive, so your content still looks good on any device.
Both platforms support customizable course landing pages, but Thinkific gives more options to personalize the layout and structure.
Sales and Marketing Tools
Thinkific and Podia support selling courses, memberships, and digital downloads, and they accept multiple payment methods like Stripe and PayPal. Thinkific uses TCommerce and includes features like subscriptions, payment plans, and license purchases.
Podia stands out with built-in email marketing features. You can send email broadcasts, automated sequences, and tag or segment subscribers with no third-party tools needed. Thinkific only offers basic system emails unless you integrate with an outside email provider.
Podia also makes it easy to embed checkout on your own website and allows product waitlists and upsells. Both platforms include an affiliate program on higher tiers, letting you track referrals and payouts.
Both offer built-in sales pages that look clean and professional, but Thinkific allows more layout control, while Podia focuses on speed and ease.
Student Experience
Thinkific’s course player is regarded for its clean, professional appearance. Students can see their progress and navigate between sections, and the system will track completed lessons automatically.
The layout is typically a sidebar or top navigation with the list of course lessons and content displayed prominently. You can brand the course player by adding your logo and brand colors so it feels like your own product.
Podia also presents course content in a minimalist layout, often a video or text in the center with navigation to go to the next/previous lessons. Its course compliance settings similarly allow you to ensure certain conditions before a course is marked as finished.
Community and Interaction
Engaging students beyond the video lessons is an area of divergence.
Thinkific has a feature called Communities, a built-in forum or discussion space where you can post updates, host discussions, or even schedule live events for members. This is separate from the course content, acting more like a community hub for your audience.
Within courses, Thinkific also supports basic discussion via a comments section on each lesson, so students can ask questions during a video lesson, and the instructor can respond.
Podia approaches the community a bit differently. It has an integrated community feature as well, which works like a private social feed or forum for your students. The platform also rolled out discussion forums inside courses, where students and instructors post questions or comments.
Podia’s community feature lets you create topic-based or group-based discussions and even charge for community access if you want.
Support and Onboarding
Thinkific maintains a large knowledge base with hundreds of articles covering every feature. It also offers Thinkific Academy, which is a series of free training courses for creators on how to build and market courses.
Thinkific provides support via email for all customers and offers live chat support for those on higher-tier plans or during certain hours. Their support team is knowledgeable, but a few users have reported slower responses or having to go through multiple agents for complex issues.
Podia similarly has an extensive Help Center with articles and tutorials. They offer email support seven days a week, and on paid plans, you also get live chat support during business hours.
In terms of onboarding flow, Podia’s dashboard tends to be simple and has tooltips for new users.
Podia might guide you through steps like “create your first product” with a checklist. Thinkific’s interface has a bit more to it, so it provides a getting started checklist and links to documentation.
Pricing Comparison
Thinkific uses a tiered pricing model with more features unlocked as you move up, while Podia offers a simpler structure but charges transaction fees on its lower plan.
Understanding what’s included and what’s not at each level is key before choosing a platform.
Podia
Podia offers two main subscription plans, each made for different stages of business growth.
The Mover Plan costs $39/month and gives you access to unlimited courses, digital products, email marketing tools, and community features.
But there’s a catch: Podia takes a 5% transaction fee on every sale you make under this plan. So, while the monthly price is low, part of your revenue goes to Podia.
The Shaker Plan is priced at $89/month and removes the transaction fees. It also unlocks premium features like memberships, affiliate marketing tools, and the ability to use custom code.
However, a commonly raised concern is about the transaction fee on the Mover and free plans. While the plans themselves are low-cost, giving up 5% of sales is a trade-off that not everyone likes.
Thinkific
Thinkific does not charge any transaction fees on course sales in any plan.
- The Basic plan costs around $49 per month and includes core features needed to launch.
- The Start plan at $99 per month adds features to grow engagement.
- The Grow plan is $199 per month and is geared towards established businesses.
- Thinkific Plus is an enterprise solution with custom pricing for large organizations that need a tailored package.
On the downside, some users do report that Thinkific can become expensive as you upgrade, especially for those who need features locked in higher-tier plans.
Also, support is based on the plan you’re on. The lower tiers only include email and live chat. If you want access to a dedicated support team, you’ll need to upgrade to the Grow plan or above.
CustomerHub Costs Less and Delivers More!
If you're tired of juggling feature tiers, surprise fees, or being forced to upgrade just to access the tools you need, CustomerHub is built for you. For $79/month, you get full, unlimited access without transaction fees, no usage caps, and no locked features.
Podia’s Mover Plan ($39/month) may sound affordable, but it takes 5% of every sale you make. Thinkific follows a tiered pricing model that can quickly become restrictive. You’ll likely outgrow the $49/month Basic plan fast, and full access means paying even more.
With CustomerHub, you have full access to all tools: unlimited courses and members, full design control, community features, built-in sales pages, native integrations, and real-time support.
There are no transaction fees and no caps on usage. You’re free to build, sell, and scale without worrying about your plan holding you back.
Switch to CustomerHub and get everything you need to launch, sell, and scale. Start your free trial today!
CustomerHub Helps You Scale Without Paying More
While Thinkific and Podia both serve creators well, they often come with trade-offs. Thinkific offers advanced tools, but you might find yourself juggling extra software or paying for add-ons.
Podia, on the other hand, is easier to use, but it can feel boxed in as your business grows, especially if you need more customization or want to keep all your revenue without climbing up pricing tiers.
CustomerHub presents itself as a strong alternative for creators who want a balance of simplicity, power, and cost-effectiveness. You don’t have to choose between flexibility and ease; CustomerHub gives you both without charging more as your audience grows.
Built for Simplicity, Designed for Growth
CustomerHub’s setup is beginner-friendly, even if you’ve never built a course site before. No coding is required, and you can build and publish your first product in under an hour.
You won’t spend days figuring things out or piecing together plugins. It’s perfect if you want a course or membership site that just works without the tech stress.
But simplicity doesn’t mean limits. CustomerHub gives you unlimited courses, members, and storage on a single plan. You’ll never have to upgrade just to scale.
If you’re using tools like Keap, ActiveCampaign, or Stripe, CustomerHub connects with them directly, so you can automate tasks and manage everything in one flow.
Clean, Modern Design
Some platforms bury design options behind expensive plans. Others keep things so locked down that you can barely change a headline. CustomerHub strikes a balance: your site looks professional, and you still get the freedom to make it your own.
You can also match it to your brand using your logo, colors, and layout choices. You can even embed your content or product links into an existing site if you already have one, which isn’t always possible on other platforms.
Real Community, Built In
One of the biggest pain points with many course platforms is building a real community. With CustomerHub, your members don’t have to jump into a Facebook group or Slack channel to connect.
The platform includes a private member feed where you can post updates, announcements, tips, or start discussions, and your audience can comment or react.
It also supports full membership experiences with tasks, progress tracking, and checklists to keep learners engaged and moving forward. If you're running a coaching program or want to encourage real participation, these tools make a difference.
Built-In Sales Features
CustomerHub makes it easy to sell digital products, courses, and memberships without relying on third-party tools or complex setups. The platform includes built-in checkout pages that are branded to help you create a smooth purchase experience for your customers.
If you're offering one-time purchases or subscriptions, CustomerHub supports both options with direct Stripe integration.
You can also automate your sales process by connecting with CRMs like Keap and ActiveCampaign, making it simple to trigger follow-ups or grant access based on customer behavior.
No Tiered Pricing, No Surprise Fees
CustomerHub keeps pricing simple: a single monthly fee of $79 gets you full access. There are no transaction fees, no surprise upgrade prompts, and no restrictions based on usage.
With Thinkific, key features like live lessons or advanced quizzes require higher plans, and Podia takes a percentage of your sales unless you move up to its higher plan. CustomerHub skips all that. It’s clear pricing with full access from day one.
Fast, Personal Support
Thinkific only offers a dedicated support team if you're on the Grow plan or higher. Podia does better with hands-on support. But even then, certain customization options are locked behind higher pricing.
Support shouldn't be a paywall feature. With CustomerHub, all users get access to responsive chat support, not just top-tier customers.
CustomerHub offers Done-for-You (DFY) services to take the setup off your plate. Their team can build your course or membership site for you, organize your content, connect your tools, and launch everything.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or migrating from another platform, CustomerHub can handle the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. It’s perfect for busy creators, agencies, or business owners who want a smooth, stress-free setup without getting stuck in the details.
All-In Access Without the All-In-One Headaches—Choose CustomerHub!
If you're finding that Thinkific and Podia come with compromises, such as extra fees or limited customization, it might be time to look beyond the usual choices. CustomerHub is the smarter alternative that doesn’t make you choose between power and ease.
CustomerHub gives you everything you need to run your digital course or membership business without the typical trade-offs. You get unlimited products, full design control, a built-in community, native Stripe integration, and fast human support.
If you're serious about scaling your digital business without constant upgrades, CustomerHub is ready for you. Launch faster, grow smarter, and stay focused on your audience and revenue.
Start your free 14-day trial today and launch your course or membership site with confidence.
FAQs About Thinkific vs Podia
Is Podia better than Thinkific?
Podia is easier to use and has built-in tools like email and community features. Thinkific has more learning features like quizzes, certificates, and student tracking. If you want something simple that still gives you room to grow, CustomerHub is a better option than both.
What is better than Podia?
CustomerHub is a better option if you want full access without upgrade walls. It includes unlimited products, full design control, and no transaction fees in a single plan. You don’t need to pay more just to unlock key features.
Do people make money on Thinkific?
Yes, many creators make money selling courses and memberships on Thinkific. But to access advanced tools, you’ll need a higher plan.
While Thinkific does offer a free plan, most advanced tools like live lessons and certificates require a paid upgrade. If you want to sell with fewer limits and keep more of what you earn, CustomerHub is a great choice.
What is the difference between Thinkific and Teachable?
Thinkific offers more control over design and has no transaction fees. Teachable is easier to start with but takes a cut of your sales on lower plans. Both split features across plans. CustomerHub gives you everything from the start with no surprise fees.
