Comparisons
Thinkific vs Podia: scale courses or bundle your whole storefront
vs
Different jobs. Thinkific is course-first: unlimited courses, a 10,000 current-student cap, no platform fee with its own payments, and B2B group selling from Grow. Podia is an all-in-one storefront bundling website and email, but it caps products, videos and email subscribers and charges 5% on Mover. For a big learner base or B2B seats, Thinkific. For a simple site-plus-email-plus-products setup, Podia.
Our pick for structured course businesses
Unlimited courses, room to 10,000 students, certificates from Start and B2B selling from Grow.
See pricing →Choose Podia if
You want one simple tool for site, email and products, with generous community spaces on every plan.
See pricing →Side by side
Thinkific on annual billing; Podia listed no annual discount at our last check. Read the caps and the fee lines together.
| 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) |
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Admins | Fees | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mover | $42/mo | $42/mo | 5% transaction fee | website builder and custom domain included; unlimited customers | |
| Shaker | $84/mo | $84/mo | No platform fee | affiliate marketing; upsells; PayPal | |
| Earthquaker | $150/mo | $150/mo | No platform fee | unlimited products and videos; unlimited assistants; affiliate marketing |
The decision lines
Scale and caps. Thinkific allows unlimited courses and 10,000 current students on Basic, Start and Grow. Podia caps products at 50, 150 and unlimited, videos at 500, 1,000 and unlimited, and email subscribers at 100, 500 and 1,000. A large course catalog or a big audience runs into Podia's caps well before Thinkific's.
All-in-one versus course-first. Podia bundles a website builder, custom domain and email marketing into one tool, so it can replace a separate site and email service. Thinkific is course-first: it does courses, communities and selling deeply, and expects your marketing site and email to live elsewhere. If you want one tool for everything simple, Podia; if courses and selling are the core, Thinkific.
Fees. Podia Mover charges 5% per sale, dropping to 0% on Shaker and Earthquaker. Thinkific takes no platform fee with Thinkific Payments, though bringing your own Stripe or PayPal adds a surcharge of 5% on Basic, 2% on Start and 1% on Grow. Using Thinkific Payments, Thinkific's fee line is zero at every plan.
B2B selling. Thinkific publishes group and B2B selling plus invoicing from Grow ($164 per month on annual billing). Podia publishes no B2B seat selling, so treat it as absent for selling seats to companies. If B2B is on your roadmap, Thinkific is the documented choice.
Communities and spaces. Thinkific includes 1 community on Basic and Start and 3 on Grow. Podia includes spaces at 25, 100 and unlimited across Mover, Shaker and Earthquaker. If community spaces are central to your offer, Podia's counts are far higher; if you need one or a few, Thinkific covers it.
Which one for your situation
- You have a large learner base: Thinkific. Its 10,000 current-student cap and unlimited courses outrun Podia's product, video and subscriber caps.
- You sell B2B seats with invoicing: Thinkific, from Grow. Podia publishes no B2B seat selling.
- You want site, email and products in one simple tool: Podia. It bundles a website builder, custom domain and email that Thinkific leaves to other tools.
- Community spaces are central to your offer: Podia, with 25, 100 and unlimited spaces, against Thinkific's 1, 1 and 3 communities.
- You want zero platform fee: Thinkific with Thinkific Payments, or Podia Shaker and above where the 5% Mover fee disappears.
What neither publishes
Confirm these in a demo, since neither vendor commits to them clearly in public:
- Podia B2B seat selling, SCORM and SSO. None are published; treat as absent for those needs.
- Thinkific SCORM below the quote-based Plus plan, and SSO which is listed on Plus only.
- Podia public API beyond Zapier from Shaker; Thinkific publishes API access from Grow.
- Podia certificate availability, not on the published grid; confirm before relying on it.
Take the next step
What the two products actually look like
Frequently asked questions
Which scales to more learners, Thinkific or Podia?
Does Podia replace my website and email tool?
How do the fees compare?
Can I sell B2B seats on Podia?
Keep deciding
Teachable vs Podia: what each one caps, and what it costs
Teachable caps products but stores lots of video; Podia caps email subscribers and includes a domain on every plan. Fees: 7.5% vs 5% at entry.
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.
Podia plan comparison: Mover vs Shaker vs Earthquaker
Podia priced by email subscribers, not students. The 5% Mover fee, subscriber caps of 100, 500 and 1,000, product caps and when Shaker is worth it.
Podia alternatives, chosen by the reason you are leaving
Leaving Podia over email subscriber caps, the 5% Mover fee, missing B2B and SCORM, or video limits? The best alternative per reason, with numbers.