This is my shoestringer’s guide: a Thinkific vs. Memberpress comparison review.
By January 2022, I realised that my book creation program as a membership was not as good as it could be. I had tried MemberPress – a WordPress paid plugin – for two years. I had set up loads of pages, 40 rules and umpteen emails, but if Memberpress did not guide the student through the materials, even with a hyperlink table of contents, it wasn’t ever going to be ideal.
I was, of course, loathe to set it all up again, but after doing the Thinkific Fast Track course for free, I realised it was a simpler tool to use AND a much smoother experience for my students.
Plus, I am now an affiliate of Thinkific, so if you click the link here, I would get a commission but only after you decide you want to keep going with it.
Once decided, you can choose the free plan until you’re ready to make the link to your domain and have various promo discounts. As I’m a shoestringer, after the initial sales calmed down, I went back to free level. Anyone can do this.
Try out the Thinkific course building system while doing the course, ALL without any payments.
The main advantage of integrating a Memberpress model is to have a paywall on the paid content, with the ability to show half an article and then explain that to see the good stuff, you need to buy the membership. This worked fine with their shortcode. Having to read the knowledge base a lot did take its toll though. So many rules I had to set up.
Website Integration
The other thing I got rid of was my .com website and its slow loading. Why? The fact is, Thinkific give you the ability to showcase your course, design more pages, and/or have it plug into your own website. I think it’s fantastic service and the course sign-up page is best in class.
Though you may want to get a designer to make the hero image, you, my non-techy friend, can do all the rest.
Pricing Monthly
The only drawback with Thinkific is I keep wanting the bulk emailing and ‘discount code’ features of higher plans but alas the US dollar keeps going against the Australian and making it a bit too dear for me at the moment.
If you have a course that’s priced at upwards of $1,000 and a fairly large community to sell to, then this ongoing subscription is not going to be an issue.
The Memberpress Basic plan has a cost of about $179 ($230 AUD) per year. You could also dial back to free in year two – but at risk of things breaking or getting out of date.
MemberPress vs Thinkific comparison. For beginner course creators, it’s a clear win to Thinkific free plan, due to their helpful video courses and pricing guide. If you want a community and multiple courses, then consider paying the US$36 a month on the Basic annual renewal plan, or if you want to offer drip subscriptions (monthly revenue!) then consider the Pro plan, US$74 a month if paying annually.
Remember to convert the $ using Google to today’s currency. e.g. If in Australia, type in: 36 USD in AUD. Today’s answer is $52.85.
Ready to create, market, and sell your own online courses? 💻 You need to check out Thinkific, an all-in-one course platform.
If you’d prefer to view the course I made with Thinkific, that’s called Book Creation Success.
