Achene vs Thinkific
There’s a better home for your online courses.
A course platform that adds a gateway fee of up to 5% on Stripe and PayPal sales, charges $199/month for a mobile app, and raised its prices in August 2026.
Get early access to AcheneKey differences
- 0%
- Extra fee on every Stripe payment
- vs up to 5% gateway fee on Thinkific Basic
- Included
- A mobile-friendly learning area for students
- vs a $199/month add-on on Thinkific
- $14/mo
- Entry price for unlimited courses with 0% fees
- vs $54/mo for Thinkific Basic (then up to 5% per sale on Stripe or PayPal)
Feature by feature
How Achene and Thinkific stack up on the things that matter most to independent educators.
| Feature | Achene | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Extra fee on Stripe and PayPal payments | 0%, no surcharge ever | 5% (Basic) · 2% (Start) · 1% (Grow), on top of the processor fee |
| Mobile app for students | Mobile-optimised on all plans | $199/month add-on, included only on select Plus plans |
| Broadcasts and workflows on every plan | Abandoned-cart emails on Basic; email automation templates are listed | |
| Community | Global + per-course, all tiers | On every plan, with space limits: 5 (Basic), 10 (Start), 20 (Grow) |
| Unlimited courses | All tiers | All paid tiers |
| Student limit | Unlimited on all tiers | 10,000 current students on Basic, Start and Grow |
| Video bandwidth | Unlimited on all tiers | 100 GB/month (Basic) · 200 GB (Start) · 400 GB (Grow) |
| Live classes | Built in on every plan, with RSVPs, reminders and recordings | 5 live events on Basic; live cohorts and coaching from Start |
| CRM and contact segments | Every student a contact, with tags and saved segments | HubSpot and Salesforce integrations on Plus |
| Annual lock-in | None, month-to-month | 25% discount incentivises annual |
Prices and features checked on . Plans change, so confirm on Thinkific’s own pages before you decide. Sources:
Included on every plan
Everything you get with Achene.
Beyond the headline price, every Achene plan includes a built-in CRM with automations, live classes, community and a leaderboard, so you never pay extra to unlock a feature as you grow.
Get paid
Keep every penny, paid straight to your Stripe account.
- 0% commission on student payments
- Free, one-time and subscription courses, with free trials and bundles
- No payout holds and no annual lock-in
Build your courses
Everything to author, schedule and share your lessons.
- Rich lessons with video, audio and files
- Drip release, free preview lessons and recording in your browser
- A media library and automatic transcripts
Teach live
Classes and events inside your own site.
- Live video classes with your students
- RSVPs, reminders and calendar links
- Recordings saved to your library
Community
A place for students to talk, with the tools to keep it healthy.
- A forum for your whole academy and one for each course
- Points, levels and a leaderboard you can switch on or off
- Pin, lock and moderate, with reply notifications by email
Students and email
Know your students, then reach the right ones.
- Every student becomes a contact, with tags and saved segments
- Broadcasts, branded templates and automations
- Your own sending domain, GDPR tools and one-click unsubscribe
Your brand
Your name on everything, and a great day for your students.
- Your own domain, logo and colours
- Notes pinned to video moments, bookmarks and resume where you left off
- Passwordless sign-in and eight interface languages
Pricing, side by side
All prices in USD. No commission on student payments on any Achene tier.
Thinkific plans
Basic
$54/mo- + 5% transaction fee on every sale
- Up to 10,000 students
- Unlimited courses
- Email marketing: Not included
- Community: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Start
$109/mo- + 2% transaction fee on every sale
- Up to 10,000 students
- Unlimited courses
- Email marketing: Included
- Community: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Grow
$219/mo- + 1% transaction fee on every sale
- Up to 10,000 students
- Unlimited courses
- Email marketing: Included
- Community: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Achene plans
Seed
$14/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 100 GB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 2,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 1,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Taking RootMost popular
$70/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 500 GB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 10,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 5,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Thriving
$140/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 1 TB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 20,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 10,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
See what you’d save
Enter your current plan and revenue to see your estimated annual saving with Achene.
Currency
Your estimated annual savings
Thinkific annually
$2,448
incl. 5% in fees
Achene annually
$840
0% commission
You save
$1,608
Estimates only. Thinkific prices are quoted in USD and converted at the same rates as Achene’s price list (£1 ≈ $1.40 ≈ €1.30). Does not include standard Stripe processing fees (2.9% + $0.30), which apply to all platforms.
Why educators move away from Thinkific
Thinkific adds a gateway fee of 5% on Stripe and PayPal payments on Basic. On $3,000/month revenue that's $150/month on top of your subscription.
A mobile app for your students is a separate $199/month add-on, included only on select Plus plans.
Thinkific raised its plan prices by about 10% in August 2026: Basic from $49 to $54, Start from $99 to $109 and Grow from $199 to $219 a month.
Basic caps video bandwidth at 100 GB a month and community at 5 spaces. Bigger limits mean paying for Start or Grow.
Completion certificates start at the $109/month Start plan.
Thinkific scores 1.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 868 reviews.
Switching from Thinkific
- Export your student list from Thinkific.
- Import it into Achene as a CSV. Every student becomes a contact you can tag and segment.
- Rebuild your courses in the lesson builder. Video hosting is included on every plan.
- Connect your Stripe account, so payments go straight to you at 0% commission.
- Point your own domain at your school, then email your students to say you have moved from Thinkific.
Your next chapter starts here
Your teaching.
Your people.
Your proper home.
Claim your founding spot and help shape what comes next. We’ll be in touch with launch news, not a checkout page.
Built for teachers, not shareholders.