2025 Showdown: The Ultimate Comparison of Thinkific and Podia for Course Creators

One effective way to generate income passively and grow your business is by offering online courses.

Not only can you sell courses directly through your website, but you also establish authority in your niche, foster strong relationships with your students, and earn money doing what you enjoy!

To begin, you’ll need a suitable online course platform.

The industry is thriving and constantly evolving, valued at $240 billion by 2022, making it a lucrative market worth exploring.

In this article, I’ll compare two top-rated platforms for creating and selling courses today: Thinkific and Podia.

I’ll detail their features, including course creation tools, membership site options, and more—so you can choose the platform best suited to your business needs.

Let’s dive in!

Here’s a brief comparison of both platforms.

Thinkific provides an all-in-one solution for designing, marketing, and selling online courses.

Creating courses is straightforward with their intuitive builder interface, allowing you to import existing content or upload new materials easily.

Thinkific manages everything from hosting your course content to processing payments, collecting tax info, and providing support.

There’s no need to worry about technical hurdles—your focus should be on creating engaging content for your learners.

You can manage multiple courses from a single dashboard.

The platform supports various formats—text, videos, images, documents—that can be imported, along with quizzes and completion certificates to enhance your course offerings.

It also integrates with major marketing tools like Zapier, Keap (formerly Infusionsoft), Shopify, Zoom, and ActiveCampaign.

Key features include:

Podia is also a comprehensive platform that enables you to create and sell online courses, digital downloads, and membership sites without worrying about technical details.

You can upload various types of content—videos, PDFs, audio files, and more—to your site easily.

Podia offers deep integrations with email marketing services like MailChimp, Convertkit, and AWeber, as well as payment options through PayPal and Stripe.

You can connect it with Zapier for a broader range of integrations.

Prominent features include:

In summary, Podia is a versatile platform designed for selling online courses, digital products, and memberships all in one place. It’s an excellent choice for creators seeking an easy-to-use yet comprehensive solution.For selling content such as coaching sessions, events, or even hosting webinars, platforms like webinar platforms let you organize and manage your own webinars easily.

Thinkific is a comprehensive learning management system (LMS) designed to help you craft, promote, sell, and deliver your online courses effectively.

Below is a detailed comparison between Thinkific and Podia, highlighting their main features.

Thinkific’s course builder allows you to design lessons, upload various content types, and set your course parameters. This intuitive editor enables you to add and modify content for each lesson effortlessly, supporting texts, images, videos, quizzes, and more. To get started, you sign up with your first name, last name, email, and password.

Note: Thinkific does not support direct login via Google accounts. The registration process involves answering some initial questions before accessing your dashboard. Once logged in, you can navigate through the menu on the left or simply click the “New Course” button to create or add a course.

Image: Thinkific dashboard. Source: Thinkific Support

You can choose from different starting templates, each suited to specific goals, such as:

All these templates are customizable, and you can add, update, or remove chapters as needed to organize your course content effectively.

Organizing lessons into chapters helps segment your content into manageable sections. For example, a Mini-Course template is ideal for creating low-cost introductory courses that attract initial learners and build an audience.

Mini-Course template example

To add content, you can either input chapters one at a time via the Curriculum tab or upload multiple chapters simultaneously using a bulk content uploader. To add a chapter individually, navigate to the Curriculum section on the top-left and select Add Chapter.

Image: Creating a new chapter in Thinkific; Source: Thinkific

Chapters in your course can be broken down further into lessons, which may include various types of media such as text, videos, audio files, PDFs, presentations, and more.

You can enhance your lessons by adding quizzes, assignments, surveys, and exams to engage students and assess their understanding.

Image: Different types of lessons available in Thinkific; Source: Thinkific

You also have the option to preview lessons before making them available, and you can set lessons to be accessible for free if you choose.

You can enable discussions within lessons, allow students to download media files, and add tags or keywords to improve content discoverability.

From the Course Settings tab, you can update your course’s name, add a custom URL, assign an instructor, and set access restrictions.

Image: Course configuration; Source: Thinkific

Sometimes, you may not want to release all your premium content immediately. In these cases, you can set up your course to release content gradually over time, known as drip content.

You can use the drip schedule to control when students gain access to new materials, based on factors like their enrollment date, course start date, or specific calendar dates.

For example, students might access lesson 1 immediately upon enrolling, then unlock the next chapter one week later, and subsequent chapters a week apart.

Image: Drip schedule for content release; Source: Thinkific

Courses can be offered for a one-time payment, a subscription model, monthly installments, or completely free to access. You also have control over where students are directed after their purchase.

To get started, visit Thinkific and begin creating your course today.

Signing up for a Podia account is quick — just enter your name, email, and password, and you’ll be ready to start building your course right away.

You have a 14-day free trial before you need to become a paying member. During this period, you can explore all the features and see if the platform suits your needs.

Image: Podia Sign-up; Source: Podia

With Podia, you can choose from various types of online courses to create and sell. You have the flexibility to develop standalone courses, drip-fed courses, course bundles, pre-sell offerings, or pre-launch courses. After creating your course structure, the next step is to add content. Podia allows you to include text, links, quizzes, and upload files directly into your lessons. You can also embed videos from YouTube or Vimeo, integrate tools like Soundslice, Google Docs, Instagram, and more to enhance your lessons.

Pricing options are customizable: you can offer courses for free, set up recurring payments, and upsell additional products during checkout. Podia also provides control over the course’s availability, allowing you to pre-sell courses, make them available immediately, or hide them until a specified start date, so all participants begin together. To get started, visit Podia’s website and follow the easy setup process.

Image: Availability; Source: Podia

Overall, Podia makes course creation simple and accessible, but if you need more advanced features and greater flexibility, Thinkific might be a better choice. Thinkific’s platform offers options like creating course bundles and deeper customization, although its interface might not be as user-friendly as Podia’s.

For creating membership sites, both platforms support this feature, which involves setting up password-protected portals where users pay a recurring fee for exclusive content. Thinkific allows you to build memberships by creating bundles—collections of courses sold as a single package. To do this, you start by creating a bundle from the Courses tab, naming it, and adding your selected courses. This makes managing and selling multiple courses as part of a membership straightforward and effective.

Image: Course Bundle; Source: Thinkific Help Center

You can assign different access levels to your content based on the membership tier your members choose. This flexibility allows you to tailor the experience for each group.

Image: Subscription Pricing Tiers; Source: Thinkific Help Center

Once you’ve set your pricing, you’re all set to launch. You have the option to create multiple membership levels and subscription plans, giving users various ways to sign up. Additionally, you can offer trial periods, or charge users either as a one-time payment or on a recurring basis. You can also allow members to pay in a single lump sum or through installment options via Stripe.

In addition, the bundle landing page offers customization options such as adding personal code snippets and SEO settings to optimize your visibility.

Heading into marketing and sales, both Thinkific and Podia provide a suite of tools like discount codes, promotional offers, drip email campaigns, and integrations with popular third-party marketing software. They help you attract and convert customers efficiently.

Thinkific’s marketing suite includes features like built-in SEO, landing page creation, upselling options, and coupon generation. You can gather leads by enabling visitors to sign up for free or paid courses, and set diverse pricing tiers targeted at different customer segments. An additional feature is the ability to add order bumps—extra products or services that your students can purchase during checkout, thus increasing your sales. These are presented as optional add-ons that customers can choose, with charges applied upon completion of the purchase.

Furthermore, Thinkific integrates seamlessly with third-party email marketing services like ActiveCampaign and CRM tools, enabling you to craft branded marketing emails and further enhance your outreach.

Thanks to Thinkific’s social sharing tools, you can effortlessly post your course content on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter directly from the platform. When sharing, you will see a preview of your post and can add extra details before publishing.

Image: Social Sharing; Source: Thinkific

Thinkific also allows you to add QR codes to your courses and promotional materials, making it simple for users to access your content. You can use QR codes for various marketing purposes, such as making it easier for customers to find your site and course landing pages, including QR codes on print materials to facilitate offline-to-online transitions, attaching promotion codes to QR codes to offer discounts, or providing potential students with a free preview by linking the QR code to sample content.
Here’s how you can leverage Thinkific’s QR codes for marketing:

Thinkific offers a pre-order feature that lets you sell your course before it’s officially launched, enabling early sales, increasing overall revenue, and boosting your course’s visibility. This feature helps you validate market demand, gather initial feedback, and raise funds to cover startup costs.

Using pre-orders can also help you:

With Thinkific, you benefit from an integrated payment gateway that operates without transaction fees, supporting payments from over 100 countries worldwide.

Podia offers a comprehensive suite of tools to manage your online business, including a checkout system, an affiliate marketing platform, and an in-house email marketing tool. You can promote your courses through membership sites, live webinars, and digital products. The email marketing functions allow you to send broadcast messages to your entire list or trigger automated email sequences targeting specific audiences. You can segment recipients based on the products they’ve purchased to customize your messaging for better engagement.

Additionally, Podia provides quick access to detailed analytics such as recipient activity, sales figures, email open rates, and click-through metrics, helping you track your marketing effectiveness. When users download free resources, you can automate email campaigns that guide them toward purchasing your paid courses, all managed within Podia’s dashboard—no third-party tools required. While integrations are available for more advanced functionalities, the built-in system simplifies your workflow. You can also embed signup forms directly onto your Podia site to grow your email list.

Podia also includes a built-in affiliate program, making it straightforward to recruit partners, monitor their performance, and pay commissions easily.

Image: Podia Affiliate Marketing; Source: Podia

Podia provides an integrated messaging system that allows you to actively communicate with prospects and build relationships with customers, all without extra charges. This tool helps you engage your audience effectively, increasing your chances of converting visitors into buyers.

You can easily use this messaging feature directly within Podia, making it a seamless part of your marketing efforts. Additionally, Podia offers an Embed feature that enables you to sell digital products directly from your website. You can add product cards, buy buttons, or text links to your sales pages, making it simple for visitors to purchase your offerings without leaving your site.

Overall, Podia stands out because of its comprehensive tools that support sales, marketing, and customer engagement, giving you everything you need to grow your digital product business efficiently.

Although Thinkific and Podia both offer robust marketing and sales functionalities, Podia’s built-in email marketing system and its affiliate program make it the superior choice for many creators looking for an all-in-one platform.

Starting with digital products is a smart move because there’s no need to handle shipping or inventory—just upload your files and start selling. Both Thinkific and Podia make creating and selling digital content straightforward, but which platform excels? Let’s compare.

Thinkific allows you to include various file types in your courses, which students can download. This feature makes it easy to provide supplementary materials like worksheets, tutorials, or exam files as part of your lessons. However, Thinkific doesn’t support selling standalone digital products separately; instead, you add downloadable resources directly within your courses or as optional upgrades during the checkout process.

To add a downloadable product within a Thinkific course, navigate to your dashboard’s Manage Learning Content section, select the relevant course, click the three dots on the course card, and choose Edit. Then, go to the Curriculum tab, click Add Content, and select Downloads. From there, you can upload your files—there’s no limit on the number or size—and once saved, students can access and download these materials easily.

On the other hand, Podia allows you to create and sell digital downloads directly. You can upload your files and link them to your product pages, making the sales process seamless for buyers. Podia’s platform makes it simple to set up digital product listings, provide instant downloads upon purchase, and manage your sales efficiently.Sell digital products such as ebooks, audiobooks, PDFs, checklists, preset collections, and more.

Here’s how you can create your own digital product:

Start on your dashboard by clicking on Products, then select + Create Product. You will be prompted to choose the type of product you want to create. Select Digital Download. This will open a window where you can upload the files you wish to sell in digital format. Use the upload button to select files from your device or simply drag and drop your files into the space provided.

Once the files are uploaded, you’ll see four tabs: Files, Details, Pricing, and Availability. These tabs allow you to customize your product:

– Files: Manage and upload all the digital files associated with your product.
– Details: Add your product’s name, customize its URL, assign relevant categories, and upload a social media image.
– Pricing: Set the selling price for your download.
– Availability: Control whether your product is visible to customers and decide when it will go live.

When you’re finished setting up everything, click Publish, and your digital product will be available for sale.

While both Podia and other platforms allow you to add digital products, Podia uniquely enables you to sell individual standalone digital downloads, whereas platforms like Thinkific mainly focus on selling downloads bundled with courses.

Getting into student engagement, the platforms also aim to enhance your students’ experience. Both Thinkific and Podia provide features to keep students involved through video watching, quizzes, and interaction.

Thinkific lets you build a website or create standalone checkout pages to encourage student interaction. Students need to enroll in a course to access its content, and during the registration process, they provide their personal information and payment details. Students can also create accounts without purchasing courses. After purchase, they are directed to a thank you page, which you can customize in your settings. They will also receive a welcome email from Thinkific and your course notification.

The platform’s student dashboard provides an overview of their courses and progress, making it easier to track learning. Unless students enroll in a drip-scheduled course, they gain immediate access to the content.Access to the course features is made easy with Thinkific’s integrated Course Player, which enables students to watch videos, complete quizzes, and download additional files seamlessly. This Course Player can be tailored to match your branding, allowing you to customize fonts, colors, themes, and logos to create a cohesive learning environment.

Thinkific also offers the ability to design interactive quizzes that students can take after lessons or videos. These assessments are excellent tools for helping learners retain information and solidify key concepts.

After students finish a quiz, you can review their results directly within the platform. If you’ve set up surveys in your course, you can also analyze your students’ responses. To get a comprehensive view of performance, you can export quiz and survey data into a CSV file through the Quiz & Survey section in your admin dashboard by selecting the “Export” option. Additionally, you can filter search results by course name or completion date to find specific data efficiently.

Student profiles can be accessed easily, providing details such as name, email address, company, job title, time zone, language preferences, and more. The top-left menu of the platform allows students to view their certificates, updates, billing information, past orders, and also allows them to change their password.

Several other assessment features further support student progress tracking. For example, the progress report allows learners to mark units as complete and continue their course. The activity feed displays which chapters students have viewed and finished, giving instructors insights into engagement levels. Students can also check their sign-in history, including last login dates and total sign-ins, to monitor their activity.

To gain insights into how students interact with your videos, enrich your content by navigating to Manage Learning Content > Video Library > Edit next to your video, then select Analytics. Here, you can view metrics such as average engagement time, total plays, play rate, and the last time the video was watched. These reports can be downloaded as CSV files, and the platform’s export feature includes filters like affiliates, spending amounts, course names, email, enrollment status, and more, giving you powerful tools for in-depth analysis.

Podia adds another layer of engagement with its built-in community feature, which allows you to connect and communicate with your audience directly within each lesson. This feature enables members to participate in discussions and share feedback all in one centralized space.Your products, content, and community interactions are all accessible from one platform. There’s no need to switch to a different site to engage with members or course creators. The community feature allows you to publish various posts, FAQs, and discussion topics that your members can follow, comment on, or even create themselves, depending on the access permissions you set. Privacy controls help you manage who can view and participate in your community activities.

You also have access to comprehensive community analytics that show you how many members are part of your group, the total likes and comments on posts, the number of discussion topics, and more. You can refine these insights using filters such as All Members (default), Free Trials, Free Members, and Paid Members. Additionally, data can be sorted by membership join date or role.

The main dashboard provides a snapshot of how members interact with your offerings, including various sections dedicated to engagement statistics: The Community area tracks total posts, likes, and comments; the Audience section offers insights on the number of subscribers, paying customers, and community members; while the Sales section displays total sales, revenue, and monthly recurring income. You can also monitor email engagement, seeing how your audience interacts with broadcasts and campaigns—such as email sends, opens, clicks, and bounces—and track unsubscribes and sales driven by email marketing.

Based on these features, the platform stands out with its strong community management tools, making it a clear winner. Get started with Podia now.

The pricing plans for Podia and Thinkific differ slightly. Podia offers three main plans at $33, $75, and $166 per month, while Thinkific’s plans are priced at $39, $79, and $399 per month. Both platforms also have a freemium option, allowing new users to test features before committing—though these prices apply when signing up for annual billing.

Dissecting their plans further, Thinkific offers a free option with limitations like a cap on course numbers and access to basic features, but with unlimited students, a drag-and-drop builder, ecommerce capabilities, and template options. The Basic plan unlocks unlimited courses, students, and content, along with live chat support, custom domains, coupons, scheduled content, and basic courses. The Pro plan adds additional features like private courses, subscriptions, course completion certificates, and live lessons. The top-tier Premier plan includes even more privileges, such as multiple admin accounts, unlimited communities,API access, and white labeling.

All paid plans offer a free trial period of 30 days.

All paid Podia plans include a 14-day free trial.

Get started with Thinkific.

Deciding which online course platform suits your business best can be a challenge.

Both Thinkific and Podia are powerful tools for creating and selling online courses, capable of helping you build a successful digital education business.

They offer extensive customization options, user-friendly interfaces, site builders, and the ability to develop unlimited courses, incorporate interactive classroom features, and access other advanced tools.

If your primary goal is simply to sell courses and generate income, then Thinkific appears to be a suitable choice.

It also provides a free plan, making it accessible for startups and beginners exploring course creation possibilities.

For most users, Thinkific is the preferred option and a good place to start.

On the other hand, Podia acts more like an all-in-one platform, bundling features like messaging, affiliate marketing, and additional tools, making it ideal if you need a more comprehensive solution.

For more detailed insights on each platform, visit StepThroughThePortal.com, where you can read in-depth reviews of Thinkific and Podia.

If you’re interested in comparing various online course platforms side-by-side, check out these comparison articles: