Comparisons
Thinkific vs LearnDash: hosted convenience or WordPress ownership
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This is a hosting decision as much as a feature decision. Thinkific is a hosted platform: pay monthly, get updates and support, no server to manage. LearnDash is a WordPress plugin: pay once a year for the license, then you (or your host) run WordPress, backups and updates yourself. Thinkific's Basic plan at $40 per month on annual billing beats LearnDash Essentials at $259 per year once you add real WordPress hosting, but LearnDash gives full ownership of the site and data. For B2B seat selling, Thinkific opens it on Grow ($164 per month); LearnDash opens it on the Elite license ($599 per year, group management and seat selling included).
Our pick for a hosted, supported platform
No server to run: hosted updates, support and B2B selling plus invoicing from Grow.
See pricing →Choose LearnDash if
You already run WordPress and want a flat yearly license with no monthly platform fee.
See pricing →Side by side
Thinkific bills monthly with everything hosted. LearnDash bills once a year for the license; hosting, a page builder and maintenance are separate costs you add yourself.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Admins | Fees | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $54/mo | $40/mo | 1 | 5% only if you use your own Stripe or PayPal | video lessons and quizzes; 1 community; custom domain |
| Start | $109/mo | $82/mo | 2 | 2% only if you use your own Stripe or PayPal | live sessions via Zoom; completion certificates; assignments and grading |
| Grow | $219/mo | $164/mo | 6 | 1% only if you use your own Stripe or PayPal | remove Thinkific branding; group and B2B selling; invoicing |
| Plus | Custom pricing | Custom pricing | custom | No platform fee | SCORM compliance; single sign-on (SSO); CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce) |
| License | Price per year | Sites | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $259 | 1 | course and quiz builders; memberships and subscriptions; Stripe and PayPal; certificate builder |
| Pro | $399 | 1 | AI course outline and quiz builder; advanced reporting; enrollment tracking; custom report cards |
| Elite | $599 | 1 | group course management; sell seats; instructor role; multi-instructor management |
The decision lines
Total cost. Thinkific Basic runs $40 per month on annual billing, about $480 a year, hosted and supported. LearnDash Essentials is $259 a year for the license alone; add WordPress hosting (commonly $10 to $30 a month) and a page builder if your theme needs one before comparing totals directly.
Ownership and control. LearnDash gives you the WordPress site outright: your data, your host, your checkout, no vendor lock-in beyond the license renewal. Thinkific hosts everything, which removes the operational load but means you work inside its platform and policies.
B2B seat selling. Thinkific opens group and B2B selling plus invoicing from Grow at $164 per month. LearnDash opens group course management and seat selling on the Elite license at $599 a year, the cheapest of the two once you are past a handful of WordPress sites.
SCORM. Thinkific lists SCORM on the quote-based Plus plan only. LearnDash does not publish native SCORM in its license grid either; third-party WordPress SCORM plugins exist and must be evaluated separately, so neither gives you SCORM without extra work or spend.
Support. Thinkific includes hosted support tiers with the plan. LearnDash is self-supported by default: you are your own first line, backed by LearnDash's documentation and community, unless you pay a WordPress agency to carry that load.
Which one for your situation
- You want hosting and support included: Thinkific. No server, no plugin updates, no backups to schedule yourself.
- You already run WordPress and want to own the stack: LearnDash. A flat yearly license beats a recurring hosted fee once you have the WordPress skills in house.
- You sell B2B seats and want the lowest license cost: LearnDash Elite at $599 a year undercuts Thinkific Grow's $164 a month (about $1,968 a year) once your WordPress hosting is already sunk cost.
- You need SCORM without extra plugins or a sales call: neither publishes it cleanly below enterprise pricing or third-party add-ons; see the SCORM support matrix before you promise a client SCORM works out of the box.
What neither publishes
Confirm these before you rely on them:
- LearnDash SSO and native SCORM depend entirely on which WordPress plugins you add; the license itself does not include them.
- Thinkific per-client data separation below Plus; neither platform makes a public commitment here, so avoid the word isolation until you have tested it.
- Real total cost of ownership for LearnDash: hosting, a page builder and a maintenance plan are yours to price, and vary by host.
Take the next step
What the two products actually look like
Frequently asked questions
Is LearnDash cheaper than Thinkific?
Does LearnDash support SCORM?
Which is better for selling seats to companies?
Do I need WordPress skills to run LearnDash?
Keep deciding
LearnDash: licenses, ownership, limits, and who should shortlist it
LearnDash license tiers, full ownership on WordPress, group selling on Elite, and the self-hosting reality: updates, backups and support are yours.
Hosted LMS vs WordPress LMS: ownership and total cost
SaaS subscription versus a LearnDash license plus hosting, updates and backups. The yearly cost, the responsibility split, and who owns your data.
Selling training seats to companies: the buyer-to-learner workflow
The buyer-to-learner path for B2B seat sales, with named roles and the three things vendors blur: purchase orders, payment, and seat allocation.
Thinkific vs Teachable: entry price versus the fee
Teachable Starter is cheaper monthly but charges 7.5% per sale. Thinkific takes no platform fee with its payments. See where the math flips.