We build Prolaud, so we're not neutral — but everything below is verifiable, and we've flagged where Thinkific is genuinely the better pick. Decide for yourself.
Thinkific's course builder is good: drag-and-drop modules, several lesson types, a clean student player. Teachers who leave are rarely unhappy with the course. They want the class to happen in the same place: a live room that is part of the product and not a Zoom link, a teaching whiteboard, and attendance that lands on the student's record. Prolaud has those built in.
Thinkific
Today
Prolaud
From day one
The honest verdict
Prolaud is the stronger Thinkific alternative if you teach live. Thinkific has a polished course builder and a clean student player, and for self-paced courses it is a safe choice. Its live teaching runs through Zoom: the pricing page lists unlimited Zoom sessions from the Start plan, at $109 a month on monthly billing (thinkific.com/pricing, as of October 2026), so the room is a separate product from the course. Thinkific adds no gateway fee when you use Thinkific Payments, and says an additional fee applies when you use a third-party processor such as Stripe or PayPal. Prolaud builds the classroom in, with a whiteboard, polls, attendance and recordings on the same student record as the sale, takes 0% on every plan, and runs checkout on your own Stripe or Razorpay account. Thinkific is the better pick if you sell self-paced courses and want its course-authoring polish.
Cost example
Numbers below use public pricing — Thinkific’s figures are from its own pricing page, as of October 2026. Card processing is left out: on Prolaud you pay your payment processor’s standard fee, so check whether the rival’s rate already includes it. Plug in your own revenue on the payout calculator to run your own numbers against the other platforms.
Your Thinkific bill
Today$54
per month
A flat plan fee
No percentage on this setup, so compare the two plan fees and what each includes.
Your Prolaud bill
After switch$42
per month, Studio plan · flat
Stays flat regardless of sales
Sell ten times as much → still the same bill.
Your monthly swing
+$12
≈ $144 back in your pocket every year — at this revenue level.
Why teachers and creators move on
We've onboarded teachers from every category of platform. These are the same complaints, again and again.
Thinkific's pricing page lists unlimited Zoom sessions, bookable calendars and attendance tracking from the Start plan up (as of October 2026). The class itself happens in Zoom, so the room is a second product alongside the course.
A whiteboard for working through a problem with the class is not part of Thinkific. You add a separate whiteboard tool, and students sign in to two places.
Thinkific says there is no extra gateway fee on Thinkific Payments, and that an additional fee applies when you use a third-party processor such as Stripe or PayPal. Its pricing page does not print the percentage; it says the fee varies by plan (as of October 2026).
Thinkific's pricing page offers a 30-day free trial in place of a free plan, and paid plans start at $54 a month on monthly billing (as of October 2026). Prolaud's Starter plan is free with no time limit.
What you get instead
Thinkific sells and delivers the course well, and runs the live class through Zoom. Here the room where you teach and the page where you sell are one product: live classes, courses, community, whiteboard, quizzes, certificates and analytics, with one login and one student record.
You connect your own Stripe or Razorpay account and your students pay you directly. Prolaud never holds the money and never takes a percentage, so every sale shows up in your own processor's dashboard. Whatever Thinkific's payment option does on your plan, it is worth checking who holds the money between the sale and the payout.
Your students, your courses, your orders: all exportable to CSV or JSON on every plan, including the free Starter plan. There is no "upgrade to export" gate.
Thinkific adds no gateway fee when you use Thinkific Payments. Bring your own Stripe or PayPal and its pricing page says an additional fee applies, varying by plan (thinkific.com/pricing, as of October 2026). On Prolaud your own Stripe or Razorpay account is the normal path, not the one with a surcharge: we take 0% on every plan, including the free Starter plan.
Free Starter plan, no time limit · No credit card
Side by side
Each cell reflects the rival's public pricing and feature pages when this page was last reviewed; dated figures say when. Hover any “partial” row for the caveat.
| Feature | Thinkific | Prolaud |
|---|---|---|
Live classes built into the platform Schedule, host and record the class without renting a separate video seat. | ||
Recordings with chapters The recording attaches to the class, with chapter markers and the class chat alongside the video. | ||
Multiplayer whiteboard in the live room K-12 grade-band templates, brainstorms, SWOT, mind maps. Multi-cursor, saved per class. | ||
Quizzes built for test prep, not just recall Templates for SAT, AP and GMAT practice, code review and essay rubrics. | ||
Cohort community with @-mentions Post types (Announcement / Question / Win / Discussion) and a member directory. | ||
Certificates with a designer and a verify link Drag-and-drop designer, bulk issue from a CSV, and a public page where an employer can check a certificate. | ||
0% of your sales taken by the platform A flat plan fee, and nothing that grows with what you sell. | ||
Paid into your own payment account Checkout runs on your own Stripe or Razorpay account, so the platform never holds your money. | ||
Workspace export (CSV / JSON) Per-entity exports and a full-workspace download on every plan, free Starter included. |
Free Starter plan, no time limit · No credit card
Straight talk
Pick Thinkific if you sell self-paced courses, live teaching is occasional, and you want its long-refined course builder and site tools. If Thinkific Payments is available where you are, there is no extra gateway fee either. Our advantages are the built-in classroom and being paid into your own account. If neither matters to you, Thinkific is a good home.
Other options worth a look
We compare honestly against each of these too — so you can hold Thinkific up against the whole field, not just against us.
How to switch
Most teams are fully migrated inside a weekend. You don't lose your roster, your courses, or your branding.
Step 1
Export your student roster from Thinkific (most platforms offer a CSV under "Students" or "Members"). Map the columns to name, email and phone.
Step 2
Bulk-import the CSV into /dashboard/students. The import matches on email, so running it again is safe.
Step 3
Recreate your courses. The curriculum builder lets you drag modules and lessons, paste video embed URLs and upload PDFs without a wizard. Most teachers move five courses in an afternoon.
Step 4
Apply your brand: logo, primary color, and a custom domain on any paid plan. The portal-template picker has 7 starting points if you want to refresh the look while you are at it.
Step 5
Tell your students you have moved, with the new portal URL. One announcement goes out in-app and by email, and reminders can be scheduled after it.
Stuck mid-migration? Email us — we'll walk through the CSV mapping or migration scripts with you on a call. No upsell.
The switching framework
Score each tool yourself, Thinkific and us included — these are the questions that actually decide it.
Questions to ask before you switch
Does it ship live cohort tooling that respects classroom dynamics?
Is my data exportable on every plan, including the free tier?
Will my bill stay flat as my sales grow, with no per-sale cut?
Am I paid into my own payment account, or does the platform hold the money?
Can I migrate over a weekend without losing my roster?
Start free — keep 100% of what you earn.
Launch your academy freeCommon questions
Thinkific builds and sells the course, and runs live lessons through Zoom. Prolaud runs the live room inside the platform, with a whiteboard and polls in the room, so attendance, questions and progress land on the same student record as the purchase. See the whole loop at prolaud.com/loop. This page also spells out where Thinkific is genuinely the better buy.
It is drag-and-drop with the same lesson types (video, text, PDF, quiz, download), plus inline embeds for common design tools and slide decks. Most teachers find it comparable by the second course they rebuild.
Brand colors, logos and 17 fonts ship on every plan, including free; a custom domain and full white-label (no 'Powered by' line) come on any paid plan. The 7 portal templates give you a starting point if you want to refresh the look while you move.
Yes. The recording pins to the class it came from, with chapter markers and the class chat kept alongside the video.
By hand for now. Most teachers take the chance to rebuild their question bank from one of our quiz templates, which include SAT, AP and GMAT practice formats.
Keep both running side by side while you move. Switch over by updating your domain's CNAME once the new portal has everything your students need.
Compare other alternatives
Each comparison is built the same way, so you can hold Thinkific up against the rest.
Live classes, a cohort community and your courses in one workspace, with 0% of your sales taken and payouts into your own account.
See comparisonThe all-in-one promise with a live classroom inside it, a free plan to start on, and payouts into your own account.
See comparisonPodia's simplicity with a real classroom behind it: live cohorts, a whiteboard and test-prep quizzes, at 0% of your sales.
See comparisonFor when you outgrow the checkout link and need courses, live classes, a community and a real student record.
See comparisonFor teachers who want the live cohort at the center: a built-in classroom and whiteboard, with 0% of your sales taken.
See comparisonSame creator-mobile-first focus — with the deeper teaching surface and zero-commission commitment Indian educators ask for.
See comparisonBoth India-built. Skolasti is course-hosting with strong content-DRM and a per-coach price; we add live teaching, community, a free tier, broader product types and flat 0%-commission pricing.
See comparisonClassWalla gives coaching institutes a branded Android/iOS app from ₹4,999/mo or revenue-share. We're the open-web alternative: a free tier, flat 0%-commission pricing, a cohort community and 8 product types — no app install to browse or buy.
See comparisonSkool is a strong paid community with live calls. Prolaud is for when the class is the product: a whiteboard, quizzes, certificates and a storefront, with 0% of your sales taken.
See comparisonCircle is the best-designed community tool here, with live metered at 10 hours a month and a 15-person room on its $89 plan. Prolaud is built for teaching live, with 0% of your sales taken.
See comparisonMaven is built for live cohorts and keeps 10% of sales, with a marketplace attached. Prolaud runs the same cohort at 0%, on your own domain, for teachers who already have an audience.
See comparisonFree Starter forever. No credit card. Cancel any day. The export button still works.