It is no secret that online courses are a booming market. With the number of course providers using the online learning market to make money, it can be hard to know which online course system is best for you. Skillshare and Thinkific are among the leaders in this field. You may be wondering which of these two platforms is better for hosting or selling your courses. Both platforms claim to allow you to develop and market your online courses. Let’s look side by side to get a clearer picture and find out which of the two platforms is the better and clearer winner in this case.
First, let’s look at some of the key things you need to consider when choosing a course builder:
| THINKIFIC | SKILLSHARE | |
| RATING (*source: GetApp) | 4.6 out of 5 | 4.5 out of 5 |
| FORMATS AVAILABLE | Video courses for both desktop and mobile | Video courses for both desktop and mobile |
| PRICE COMPARISON | Starting from $468 per member, billed annually | Starting from $159 per user, billed annually |
| 24/7 LIVE SUPPORT | YES | YES |
| CONTENT SHARING | YES | YES |
| TARGET MARKET | Organizations of all sizes | Organizations of all sizes |
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Thinkific vs. Skillshare: Features & Capabilities
The success of your online course depends on the online course software you use. To help you, we have listed the best features of Thinkific and Skillshare.
Thinkific is an online learning platform developed by people who know what teachers need. It also focuses on what students want from the learning experience. It provides teachers with features for creating, marketing, and selling their courses. These tools include an online course creation tool, a website builder, a marketing and sales suite, and student engagement tools. It offers courses on everything from web design to music production. It is an online course system with a strong focus on advertising and marketing, making money, and optimization.
Here are some powerful key features:
- Deep learning tools (live teaching, drop scheduling, assignments, quizzes, certificates, discussions, and communities)
- Drag and drop course creation
- Customizable certificates for students
- Ready-made topics
- Editing by drag & drop
- Integrated payment processor for e-commerce
Moving on to Skillshare, the platform is best for creating and selling courses on photography, digital art, animation, creative writing, and other creative skills. You can access the thousands of courses exclusive to the platform by creating an account. If you want to become an instructor, you must switch between your regular student account and your instructor account. They’ve done a great job of making the platform easy to access from the moment you sign up. In the end, you won’t be held up by a cannonade of questions, so you can focus on what’s important – building your course. Skillshare is also suitable for teachers who don’t yet have an audience.
Some of its best features include:
- Sleek and streamlined design
- Ideal for teachers who want a less complicated approach to designing and managing courses
- Team plans available for business organizations
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Thinkific vs. Skillshare: Pricing
Both Thinkific and Skillshare offer different packages ranging from free to premium. Thinkific offers the Basic plan for $49, which gives you 1 administrator account with unlimited courses and students. The Pro plan of $99 allows 2 administrators, and the Premier plan costs $499 for 5 administrators. They offer a 20% discount for those who choose to be billed annually. Skillshare offers an entry-level package for $159 per user, suitable for teams of 2 to 19 people. There are Enterprise and Revive packages for more than 20 people, and you should contact customer service for pricing to suit your needs.
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Reasons to choose Thinkific over Skillshare.
Although Skillshare has a clear design and user interface, the experience of delivering and managing courses on the platform is not as compelling. The lack of important analytics and reporting tools will hinder instructors from improving their courses over time. Skillshare’s subscription model also makes it difficult for instructors to expand their course offerings, thus lowering their revenue potential. Thinkific is a great solution for course providers as it offers a wide range of online sales and marketing. The amazing thing about Thinkific is its ability to use analytics and evaluate customers’ habits on your website helps you develop better content promotion methods.
Reasons to choose Skillshare over Thinkific.
If you are seeking a simple online teaching platform that you can easily create your course, you might want to consider using the seven-day trial of Skillshare so that you can get an initial feel of it. Compared to Thinkific, Skillshare focuses more on creative, business-oriented courses. Content such as photography, web development, and programming is very well received.
Skillshare also offers course participants the opportunity to leave a rating on how useful the course was and a detailed written evaluation. And since the ratings are not directly included in the ranking, the evaluation process seems fairer.
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The Similarities between Thinkific and Skillshare
When it comes to creating courses, Skillshare and Thinkific are quite similar. Both have a drag-and-drop function and are very intuitive, and the packages of Thinkific and Skillshare are almost identical and have the same functions, except for some features that you might need to check before purchasing.
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Thinkific and Skillshare Alternatives
Alternatives to these two-course creators are:
Udemy – a website with many open online courses where you can freely create and apply for courses. Users can also take courses to earn points toward technical certifications.
Teachable – an all-in-one platform that lets you create and sell online courses. It handles everything from web hosting to payment processing.
Kajabi – Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for knowledge entrepreneurs. Kajabi makes it easy for you to create, market, and sell your online courses, membership sites, coaching programs, etc. You don’t have to learn any code or worry about plug-ins or buggy integrations.
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Thinkific vs. Skillshare Final Verdict
From the debate between Thinkific and Skillshare, one platform emerges as the winner, clearly outweighing the functions of the other. Between the two online platforms, Thinkific is the clear winner.
It allows you to create courses easily, you have more flexibility in the type you want to create, you have more pricing options, and you generally have more features you can use. Skillshare is undoubtedly one of the more unique online education platforms available today; however, it lacks a few properties for the sales funnel. Apart from the price, Skillshare also lacks several important key features for creating effective courses. For example, there are no analytics or reporting features, and student engagement is limited to a tab below your course.
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FAQ
Does Skillshare offer a free trial?
Skillshare offers a free trial for 7 days, in which you’ll need to provide your credit card information for signing up.
Does Skillshare give you the option to edit your videos?
Unfortunately, Skillshare does not have an option for video editing. However, you can change your video titles and thumbnails and add subtitles for your videos.
Does Skillshare offer certification?
Skillshare does not offer certificates, but publishing your teaching project is a great way to show that you have completed a course and a new project to add to your portfolio.
Does Thinkific get a share of the sales?
No, Thinkific does not take a share nor percentage of the money from your courses. They only make their earnings from the paid plans.
What does Thinkific integrate with?
Thinkific integrates with Zoom, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, and other tools specifically made for course creators.
Can you use Thinkific on your mobile phone?
Thinkific apps are software components that work seamlessly with Thinkific. Just as Android or iOS apps work effortlessly with your phone without complicated settings, Thinkific apps are designed to work effortlessly with Thinkific.