Thinkific vs. Teachable (+ An Affordable Alternative Without Hidden Fees That Makes It Easy to Make Money)
You’re researching course creation platforms and considering Thinkific vs. Teachable.
In this blog post, I break down the similarities and differences between the two platforms.
I also discuss how ProductDyno — a platform for creating and selling online courses and other digital products— can be a great alternative (or addition) to Thinkific vs. Teachable.
Thinkific
Despite Thinkific’s popularity, it has many significant drawbacks for creators:
It’s not beginner-friendly (Not easy to use)
According to some users, Thinkific is very difficult to use.
No free plan – Basic Plan starts at $36/month
You must invest upfront when you don’t know if you will make sales or not.
There are hidden fees
There are several fees you’ll pay on Thinkific.
Thinkific’s additional fees—like local payment method fees, currency conversion charges, international card fees, adjustment fees, subscription fees, sales tax calculation fees, and currency flat fees—can quietly eat into your earnings, especially if you’re a new creator trying to turn a profit.
Teachable
Teachable also has significant drawbacks that you need to know about as you consider Thinkific vs. Teachable:
Course and test creation is time-consuming
Some users have reported that creating a course with Teachable can waste your time.
If it takes hours to build a course or quiz, that’s time you could have spent marketing or making money.
Transaction fees on the Free and Basic plans
Teachable’s transaction fees—$1 + 10% on the Free plan and 5% on the Basic plan—can seriously shrink your profits. These fees pile up with every sale, cutting into your hard-earned income.
As your course sales grow, the more you lose, making it harder to build sustainable revenue.
Payment Issues and Unexpected Charges
Many creators report major problems with Teachable’s payment system.
These include blocked or withheld funds for up to two months, subscriptions being reactivated without consent, and unexplained double charges.
ProductDyno
What is ProductDyno?
ProductDyno is a content delivery platform that lets you create and sell photos, audios, videos, courses, memberships, and other digital products.
Best for
Since 2017, ProductDyno has been helping:
writers
authors who want to distribute eBooks
affiliate marketers
digital product creators
to create and sell courses and other digital products online.
People like you are using ProductDyno to make money— creators have made over $15,656,647+ in revenue on ProductDyno so far!
Want to see how simple, easy, and quickly you can use ProductDyno to create and sell online courses and other digital products? You can sign up for a free trial.
How ProductDyno Is Different Than Thinkific and Teachable
Unlike Thinkific and Teachable, ProductDyno:
has a simple, user friendly interface— no confusion and you can use it to easily create online courses
has tools like the Course Blueprint Designer and Instant Course Builder you can use to plan and launch your course in minutes
offers AI tools that can generate lesson content, titles, CTAs, and more—saving you hours of writing
is very transparent regarding pricing and payments. You don’t pay hidden or extra fees. And they don’t take a cut of your revenue—You keep 100% of your revenue (except for payment processor fees like PayPal/Stripe)
offers a one-time payment lifetime deal (at times), which lets you create and sell unlimited products without recurring costs—ideal for maximizing profits
doesn’t process payments directly. Instead, it integrates with trusted, experienced payment processors to handle transactions.
And apart from courses, ProductDyno enables you to sell other products, such as photos, audio clips, videos, songs, SaaS products, reports, and audio & video bundles so you can make more money.
Thinkific vs. Teachable
Now let’s look at Thinkific vs. Teachable in more detail.
.
Thinkific
Some Of Thinkific’s Top Features
I’ll detail Thinkific’s features later, but first, let’s look briefly at some of its top features and some challenges users have with Thinkific.
Thinkific offers tools like:
a drag-and-drop course builder
a website and landing page creator
a customizable course player
flexible payment options, and
student engagement tools like quizzes
Teachable
Some of Teachable’s Top Features
• Along with building online courses, Teachable also lets you offer coaching sessions and digital downloads.
• You can create memberships to give your students ongoing access to content.
• The platform includes simple tools to organize your lessons and track student progress.
• Built-in payment processing helps you get paid quickly and securely.
• You can customize your sales pages to match your brand.
Thinkific vs. Teachable: Product Features
Now that we’ve done an overview of each platform, let’s look at specific product features and compare how each platform stacks up.
To help you understand how each platform works in practice, I’ll compare Thinkific vs. Teachable, and ProductDyno as an alternative to the two platforms, in terms of:
Ways To Make Money On Each Platform
Payments and Business Finances
Thinkific vs. Teachable: Ways to Make Money on Each Platform
How to Make Money on Thinkific
Thinkific lets you make money by creating and selling digital learning products. The most popular way is to sell online courses.
You create your content (videos, PDFs, quizzes, etc.) and bundle it into a course. You can charge a one-time fee, offer subscriptions, or create payment plans.
You can also sell digital downloads, like eBooks or templates, and bundle products to create higher-priced offers.
How to Make Money on Teachable
Teachable helps you earn money by selling online courses, coaching services, and digital products.
The main way to make money is by creating a course and selling it to students. You can charge a flat price, offer payment plans, or even a subscription model to generate recurring income.
Teachable recently added support for digital downloads. That means you can sell PDFs, guides, eBooks, or audio files.
This works well if you don’t want to create a full course but still want to monetize your knowledge.
How You Can Make Money on ProductDyno
Create and Sell Digital Products
For example, you can create, upload, and sell eBooks, PDFs, reports, checklists, audio files, templates, stock photos, and more. ProductDyno delivers them securely to buyers.
Sell Online Courses
For example, you can upload course videos directly or embed them from Vimeo/YouTube. You can organize lessons and modules easily and even drip content over time.
3. Offer Memberships (Recurring Income)
For example, you can create a members-only site with exclusive content (videos, articles, templates, etc.) and charge a recurring monthly or yearly fee.
Sell Software or SaaS
For example, if you have downloadable software, plugins, or cloud-based SaaS tools, ProductDyno helps with secure delivery and license key management.
Create Product Bundles
For example, you can combine multiple products (e.g., eBook + templates + video course) into a high-value bundle and sell it.
6. Sell Services with Digital Deliverables
For example, you can offer services like coaching, consulting, or digital audits and use ProductDyno to deliver supporting materials (worksheets, recordings, reports).
7. Promote Affiliate Products Inside Your Content
For example, you can add affiliate links to other tools, courses, or software within your products. If a customer buys through your link, you earn a commission.
8. License Your Products to Others
For example, you can allow others to resell your content or use it in their business, and charge a licensing fee.
And you can use ProductDyno to make money in many other ways as well.
You can sell:
Software (SaaS or downloadable)
Mobile apps
WordPress themes
WordPress plugins
Website templates (HTML, CSS)
Excel/Google Sheets calculators
Resume or CV templates
Branding kits
Canva templates
Sales funnel templates
Legal document templates
Budget templates
Investment tracking spreadsheets
Audio meditations
Script templates for YouTubers
AI prompt packs (e.g. for ChatGPT)
and many more
Here’s what one creator shared on ProductDyno’s website:
“You can even use ProductDyno to set up your own ‘video on demand’ business similar to Netflix using their expiring content feature. No wonder we’ve moved all our product delivery securely over to ProductDyno.” - Nick James
ProductDyno lets you setup easily and start earning quickly.
Here’s what another user said about ProductDyno on AppSumo:
Want to see how you can use ProductDyno to create and sell online courses and other digital products to make money? You can sign up for a free trial
Thinkific Payments/Billing
Thinkific’s payment system has some downsides.
For example, some users say their system automatically deducts money and wrongful charges happen.
Teachable Payments and Business Finances
Some users say money is not paid regularly and payment can take weeks to reach your bank account.
Another issue you may face is that payouts can be withheld (sometimes for two months), and instant payouts are only available on the more expensive plans.
ProductDyno Payments and Business Finances
Unlike Thinkific and Teachable, ProductDyno doesn’t restrict you to just Stripe or PayPal or force you into their own payout timelines. So you have lots of options to receive payments from your learners.
This means you have direct control over how and when you get paid.
With ProductDyno, you can connect your preferred payment account to enable you receive funds instantly, without waiting for ProductDyno to approve or release your earnings.
So unlike Teachable, ProductDyno doesn’t hold on to your hard-earned revenue for weeks or even months and you don’t risk your payouts being randomly frozen or withheld due to platform policies or “reviews.”
With ProductDyno, you’re paid in real time, straight into your own account.
Learn more about these three platforms and how you can use them to create content you can sell and make money by reading my blog post Thinkific vs. Teachable