Published pricing and limits
| Thinkific | LearnDash | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Start $109/mo monthly or $82/mo billed annually | $350/yr for 1 site |
| Next tiers | Grow $219 or $164/mo; Expand $499 or $374/mo; Plus by quote | 10 sites $599/yr; 25 sites $799/yr; 50 sites $899/yr; 100 sites $999/yr |
| Courses | Unlimited published courses on all listed plans | Not limited by the licence |
| Students | 10,000 current students on Start, Grow and Expand | Limited by your hosting, not the licence |
| Administrators | 2 (Start), 6 (Grow), 15 (Expand) | WordPress user roles |
| Hosting | Included | Separate: for example WP Engine Essential $28/mo billed annually, SiteGround GrowBig renews at $29.99/mo |
| Trial or refund | 30-day free trial; no free plan | 48-hour free trial, no card required; pricing page states no refund policy |
Payment fees: the part that is easy to miss
Thinkific Payments is the default processor for creators in the US, Canada, the UK, the EU and several other countries, according to its help centre. Thinkific's help centre gives the example of 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful card payment for businesses in the US or Canada, with the exact rate depending on country, currency, student location and payment method.
If you connect your own Stripe account instead, Thinkific charges a third-party payment gateway fee as a percentage of each Stripe transaction, rolled out for the US, Canada and the UK on July 3, 2024 and for the EU on November 6, 2024, according to its gateway fee FAQ. The FAQ lists the fee as 2% on Start, 1% on Grow and 0.5% on Expand, with no fee on Plus at this time, and Stripe's own processing fees apply on top. Switching to Stripe also removes TCommerce-only features such as order bumps and gifting.
LearnDash integrates with Stripe and PayPal, and with WooCommerce, according to its pricing page FAQ. You pay the processor's fee (Stripe lists 2.9% + 30 cents for US domestic cards) with no additional LearnDash cut stated on the pricing page.
Worked example: 300 sales of a $150 course
Assumptions: US cards at 2.9% + 30 cents (about $4.65 per sale, $1,395 for 300 sales), annual billing, renewal-year hosting prices.
Thinkific Start on Thinkific Payments: $984 plan plus $1,395 in card fees, about $2,379 a year.
LearnDash on WP Engine Essential: $350 licence plus $336 hosting plus $1,395 in Stripe fees, about $2,081 a year. On SiteGround GrowBig at renewal it is about $2,105.
Thinkific Start with your own Stripe account instead: add the 2% gateway fee on $45,000 of sales, $900, for about $3,279 a year.
On Thinkific Payments the gap is roughly $275 to $300, small enough that workload, design control and exit options should decide, not price. If you want your own Stripe account on Thinkific, the gateway fee widens the gap to about $1,200 at this volume.
Ownership and export: what happens if you leave
Thinkific's help centre states it cannot export an entire course as one file and has no bulk download. Videos come out one at a time from the Video Library or Asset Library, PDFs and audio through each lesson's Download button, and quiz questions, answers and explanations must be copied and pasted by hand. Student lists export as CSV from the Users table, and per-course progress reports export as CSV.
Recurring payments are the hardest part. Thinkific documents that active subscriptions on Thinkific Payments are not automatically migrated when you switch processor; they keep billing through Thinkific Payments unless you request a separate migration to your own Stripe account through its payments support team.
With LearnDash, courses, lessons, quizzes and enrolment records live in your WordPress database, and moving host is a normal WordPress migration. The trade-off is that you are responsible for backups and restores.
Who fits which
| If you... | Lean towards | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Want zero server work and a fast launch | Thinkific | Hosting, checkout and updates are handled |
| Already run a WordPress site with traffic | LearnDash | Courses sit on the site that already ranks |
| Need more than 15 admins or deep custom roles | LearnDash | WordPress roles are not capped by plan |
| Want built-in tax handling, order bumps and gifting | Thinkific on Thinkific Payments | These are TCommerce features per Thinkific |
| Care most about leaving cleanly later | LearnDash | Course content is in your own database |
| Run several course brands | LearnDash multi-site licence | 10 sites cost $599/yr versus one Thinkific plan per site |
Decision checklist
- Price both options with your real sales volume and average order, including processor and any gateway fees.
- Decide who will run WordPress updates, backups and restores; if nobody, Thinkific is the safer default.
- Check whether you will exceed 10,000 current students or your admin seat count on Thinkific.
- If you might leave a hosted platform later, read its export documentation before you upload a single course.
- For LearnDash, pick hosting sized for logged-in students; see our LearnDash concurrent students guide.
Questions before you decide
Does Thinkific have a free plan?
No. Its pricing page says there is no free plan and offers a 30-day free trial instead.
Is LearnDash a one-time purchase?
The pricing page lists LearnDash prices per year, for example $350 a year for one site.
Can I export Thinkific quizzes?
Thinkific states there is no direct way to export quiz questions, answers and explanations created in its course builder; it suggests copying them manually.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- Thinkific: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- LearnDash: Pricing on liquidweb.com Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Thinkific Help: Thinkific Payments supported countries and transaction fees Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Thinkific Help: Third-party payment gateway fee FAQ Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Thinkific Help: How to switch payment processors from Thinkific Payments to Stripe Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Thinkific Help: Can I export my course? Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Thinkific Help: Can I export quiz questions? Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: Plans Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: WordPress hosting plans Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Stripe: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Thinkific Help: User table, user report and filters Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Thinkific Help: Progress reports Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Thinkific Help: Download a video from your Video Library Accessed 29 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.