So, you’re looking to make income from your passion, but you’re not sure where to start.
If this is what you’re thinking – you’re not alone.
Since the recent pandemic, there has been a drastic transition from in-person teaching to online teaching, using high-quality online course platforms. These platforms were made to help creators and instructors build courses, host live classes, and monetize their training via memberships.
You may have heard of some popular online course builders like Thinkific. But there are so many Thinkific alternative platforms out there, and we think you should be aware of them before signing up.
Why? Well, like any other product out there, each online course platform has its pros and cons. Each Thinkific alternative also has unique feature sets that could be beneficial to your business (features that Thinkific may not necessarily have).
This is the reason for this comparison guide. We’ll be analyzing how well Mastera measures up as a Thinkific alternative. And more importantly, which one is best for you and your business.
But before we dive into the comparison, let’s review Thinkific in more detail.
What is Thinkific?
Thinkific is a popular online platform that helps you create, sell and market online courses. The platform has been around for a few years and has evolved to learn better online audiences. It has also focused on how creators can build successful online courses – and sell them effectively.
Like Mastera, Thinkific hosts live classes and offers memberships to help you create recurring revenue. But the platform also has a few disadvantages that alternatives to Thinkific may not:
- Landing pages can be challenging to build.
- Thinkific doesn’t offer live chat support.
- Page design customizations are limiting at times. For example, adding a gallery of images.
- Most features are available on the higher-priced plans only.
Mastera vs. Thinkific: A Comparison
In this review, we’ll outline some features that go beyond just the process of building a course. We’ll take a look at how well both platforms create a course, maintain a course, and monetize your content. We believe in understanding the various revenue streams and seeing how well-diversified each platform is in terms of monetization. After all, we want your business to succeed and continue to grow from strength to strength.
Here are some features that we’ll be comparing between Mastera and Thinkific so that you can make an ideal and right choice for your goals:
- Course creation
- Course maintenance
- Monetization
- Customer or technical support
- Pricing
Course Creation
If you’re looking for a quick and easy course builder – Mastera is the right platform for you. The platform allows you to sign up (for a paid or free plan) and immediately start building your course. The dashboard breaks down your platform into classes, videos, products, programs, and posts. Here, you can upload files into various sections and add content where needed. You can also access all your customers’ information from here and efficiently manage their progress.
Source: Mastera
Mastera also offers a website or subjective profile page for all its plans. You can use one of Mastera’s many design tools to help you get your single-page website up and running. Once you have your website live, you can add all your lessons and schedule them as you wish.
When it comes to creating courses, both Mastera and Thinkific have intuitive course builders. Thinkific has a large number of course template options for customers, and the platform allows you to do the basics of course development. These basic features include unlimited video hosting, creating lesson content, organizing lessons into training programs, and creating assessments.
But Thinkific’s course builder features aren’t necessarily as advanced as some Thinkific alternatives out there. From a navigational point of view, Thinkific is a bit more complex than Mastera. As a result, Thinkific isn’t always as intuitive as you would want it to be.
Source: Thinkific
The bottom line: If you want a platform that helps you build courses with flexibility and good operability, consider Mastera. Thinkific has more complex assessments, but it also has a more complicated dashboard and formatting area, which may be confusing.
Course Maintenance
Mastera lets you host unlimited content and customers – so you can maintain your courses without worry. You can add customers directly on the platform or upload a CSV document with customer information in it. You can schedule classes and host live lessons if you wish. The platform integrates with Zoom, which means your audience can interact with you during the lesson.
The other great option from Mastera is personalized calendar bookings. You can do one-on-one training with subscribers if they prefer that over a class. This is a good option if you are in the wellness industry or teach a specific hobby, like playing guitar.
Mastera also has built-in analytics so that you can track and analyze how well your subscribers are doing in a course. This also allows you to have conversations with them about their progress as well as any pain points they may be experiencing. Chat with subscribers via text messages from anywhere – it’s something that learners love and want more often than not!
Source: Mastera
Like Mastera, Thinkific has some good course maintenance features. You can upload video files from your desktop or via cloud storage like Dropbox or Google Drive. Thinkific also allows you to archive or delete videos if you wish to.
Both Thinkific and Mastera have analytics that helps you see how your members interact with your content.
Source: Thinkific
Although, Thinkific’s analytics is quite basic. It does show you essential data like your video play rate and the total number of plays. But it doesn’t necessarily break down the analytics in the same way that Mastera does. Mastera shares reporting on the following areas:
- Revenue
- Customers
- Class bookings by teacher
- Teacher summary
- Teacher payroll
- Class bookings
- Top videos
- Top plans
- Custom reports are also available
Source: Mastera
The bottom line: Both Mastera and Thinkific have good course maintenance. But Thinkific has a more complex dashboard and lacks analytics. So, if you want more advanced analytics, give Mastera a try.
Selling Products
Both platforms allow you to market and sell products on their platform.
But Mastera takes this feature to the next level, as it offers subscribers both digital and physical products. Now, creators have additional revenue streams from one platform – it’s a win-win situation.
Mastera believes that businesses who want to share their talent and passion should be able to do that through digital and physical product selling. The physical products, or merchandise, is there for creators to elevate their brand and help subscribers achieve their goals. For example, if you’re a gardener that teaches learners how to start their indoor herb garden, you should consider selling a herb growing kit on the platform. This way, people can engage with your classes and buy your kit that they already understand and resonate with.
Source: Mastera
According to their website, Thinkific doesn’t offer physical products within their platform. Instead, they encourage instructors to sell their merchandise as part of a course bundle. If you would like to, you can create a course named ‘How to get your [product name],’ set the pricing, and allow subscribers to purchase it. But you are responsible for the shipping and handling. The other option is to use a third-party storefront such as Spotify. If you choose this option, you need to include your Thinkific courses alongside your physical products on Shopify. So, this takes away from the all-in-one platform experience.
Source: Thinkific
The bottom line: If you sell just digital products, Thinkific will be satisfactory. If you want to sell digital and physical products on your platform, go with Mastera.
Customer Support
The customer is king. We have all heard the line, and we know how true it is. Should anything go wrong with your courses, programs, or platform as a whole, you should be able to contact someone right away.
We’re happy to say that both Mastera and Thinkific do well here. Mastera takes pride in putting its customers first. You can interact with someone via chat directly from the home page if you’re on the website.
If you prefer to, you can log into the app and book a call with a Mastera agent to help you with anything, whether setting up your account or resolving an issue.
Source: Mastera
Thinkific is an older platform and naturally has a good amount of materials and guidance on how to solve issues or use the platform as a whole. The main problem with Thinkific is that there is no live chat. If you need to speak to someone, you will have to contact them via phone or email.
This isn’t a huge issue, but to many people, a live chat is much more adaptable and easier to use during a busy day. If you have to call or email someone, the chances are that your request will take some time to be seen by an agent. Whereas on a live chat, often resolutions happen while you’re still chatting with an agent.
However, if you’re happy to review guides and articles from the Thinkific help center, this is available to anyone.
Source: Thinkific
The bottom line: Mastera is the better choice if live chat is important to you.
Pricing
It’s time to talk numbers! Now that you know what Mastera and Thinkific have to offer, how much do these platforms cost? Many Thinkific alternative platforms have varied pricing because some platforms are tailored for different styles of businesses and marketing. For example, Kajabi is more expensive because it has much more advanced sales funnel marketing features than other Thinkific alternatives.
When we look at Mastera and Thinkific head-to-head, you’ll notice that both platforms offer a free plan, making it uncomplicated for you to try them out.
Remember that the alternatives to Thinkific and the platform itself, have tiered pricing plans. Now some may seem much cheaper, while others are exorbitantly more expensive. The devil is in the detail here.
You have to analyze the inclusions within each tiered plan for you to gauge how acceptable one platform is over the other – for your business needs.
Let’s take a look at the pricing for Mastera and Thinkific in more detail:
Mastera Pricing
Mastera offers four paid plans:
- Starter: $39/month
- Premium: $99/month
- Elite: $199/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Source: Mastera
Mastera offers four tiers, three of which are paid plans. The first paid plan is quite affordable at $39 per month. You will also notice that Mastera doesn’t charge any transaction fees on any paid plans they offer. It also provides unlimited classes and content across all tiers. This way, no matter which package you choose to go with, you can have peace of mind that most features are the same.
Some standard features include:
- Unlimited classes
- Unlimited content
- Unlimited customers
- Zero transaction fees (only 7% on the free plan)
- Single page website
- Customer messaging
- Class scheduling and one-on-one appointments
- Reporting
- Payments and bookings
Mastera is also contract-free. So, if you’d like to cancel at any time, it isn’t an issue at all.
Thinkific Pricing
There are four plans available on Thinkific:
- Free: $0/month
- Basic from $39/month
- Pro from $79/month
- Premier from $399/month
Source: Thinkific
Some typical features of Thinkific include:
- Limited courses (unlimited for paid plans only)
- Unlimited students
- Course builder
- Full e-commerce
- Website templates
- Customer messaging
- Email and phone support
The one aspect to remember about Thinkific is that it limits your abilities if you choose the free plan or the basic plan. If you want the most out of the platform, you will start at the pro plan for $79 per month. For example, the basic plan doesn’t offer live lessons or any advanced course building. These are standard in the Mastera plans. You also have access to the Thinkific Academy Basic Courses on the basic plan and not the Pro Courses on the pro and premier plans. These are all elements that may limit you in the long run.
The bottom line: Mastera is a competitive Thinkific alternative as it offers many features within the base plan. Thinkific also has competitive prices, but you’ll need to have at least the pro plan if you want advanced features.
Mastera vs. Thinkific – Which One Should You Choose?
So, now that we have compared five main aspects of Thinkific and Mastera – which one is the best?
It’s a fine line between the two platforms, and it’s safe to say that they each have their strengths and pain points. Let’s break down some of the key points of each platform:
Mastera is affordable, user-friendly, and sells physical and digital products. It also offers live chat support, conversations with subscribers, and excellent reporting.
Thinkific is reliable, but the dashboard can be complex. It is also affordable and offers course bundles, basic analytics, and good quiz assessments. It does not provide live chat but does have a help center.
To Sum Up
In a nutshell, Mastera ticks all the boxes as one of the best Thinkific alternatives. But you need to look at both platforms critically and understand what you need it to do for you.
Want more information? Get in touch with a Mastera agent. We believe in providing customers with a safe, easy-to-use, and affordable solution for their business needs. If you’re looking for a video experience platform that is fuss-free and ready to go – we are here to help you.
Co-Founder, Gleantap & Mastera