Kartra Vs. Thinkific: Who Wins In 13 Solid Features?

Kartra vs Thinkific Featured Image

To become a successful edupreneur and create a course that truly connects with your audience, it is essential to keep a few key strategies in mind.

One of the most crucial aspects is ensuring that you are utilizing the right software to develop your course and possess a strong understanding of how to monetize it effectively.

Both Kartra and Thinkific are online platforms that assist you in developing, marketing, managing, and selling your courses online.

In this article, I'll review and compare Kartra vs Thinkific. I will describe their features, differences, advantages, and disadvantages to assist you in selecting the tool that is best for online marketing and course development.


Overview Of Kartra vs Thinkific 

Kartra and Thinkific are both online platforms that help you build courses, market businesses, and also manage these businesses with ease.

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kartra homepage

Kartra

Overall Rating: 5/5

Kartra is a cloud-based marketing software that focuses on marketing, course building, marketplace sales, website building, sales funnels, and more for small to large businesses.

Kartra is the right solution for you if your company is divided into various parts and you want to avoid combining numerous systems. 

It was founded in 2018 by two marketing experts, Andy and Mike, at Genesis Digital. 

The company aimed to create a platform with accessible, cost-effective marketing and sales automation tools, and first-rate customer service that would enable business owners and entrepreneurs to gain income through their businesses without stress.

thinkific homepage screenshot

Thinkific

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Thinkific is an online marketing platform that assists entrepreneurs and educators in developing, marketing, and selling online courses to their target markets from their websites.

Thinkific is for experts who want to make money through online education while sharing their knowledge with others through creative and interactive products.

Thinkific was founded in 2012 by Greg Smith with co-founders Miranda and Matt.

The goal of the platform is to completely transform how individuals study and earn online by providing them with the resources they need to transform their expertise into a viable business that benefits them and their audience.


Kartra vs Thinkific: Similarities & Differences In Features

Features

Kartra

Thinkific

Winner

Course Builder:

Yes

Yes

Thinkific

Online Community:

Yes

Yes

Thinkific

Free Trial/Plan:

Yes

Yes

Thinkific

Membership Site:

Yes

Yes

Thinkific

Helpdesk:

Yes

No

Kartra

Video hosting:

Yes

Yes

Tie

Customer Support:

Yes

Yes

Tie

Marketing/Sales Features:

Yes

Yes

Kartra

Page Builder:

Yes

Yes

Kartra

Affiliate Management System:

Yes

Yes

Kartra

Website Builder:

Yes

Yes

Kartra

Student Experience:

Yes

Yes

Thinkific

Customization/White-Labelling:

Yes

Yes

Kartra

Student Certificates:

No

Yes

Thinkific

Marketplace:

Yes

Yes

Kartra

Analytics:

Yes

Yes

Kartra

Email marketing:

Yes

No

Kartra


#1. Page Builder 

Kartra and Thinkific both have a page builder, but Kartra wins here due to its numerous features, templates, and flexibility.

Kartra has more than 200 templates available, and some page elements can use different layouts. You can create various designs using the drag-and-drop builder to create a fresh template for each page session.

kartra pages and funnels step 2 checkout

With the help of Kartras' excellent page builder, you can design comprehensive membership websites and your online courses.

Thinkific has a simple and easy page builder that anyone can use. With Thinkific’s drag-and-drop builder, you can create simple landing pages, pricing pages, sales pages, etc.

This platform doesn't provide you with the chance to customize your design. It also doesn't allow you to have a separate template for different elements on a page.


#2. Student Certificates 

This feature is only available on Thinkific.

With Thinkific, you can give your student a certificate upon course completion, which is done automatically. Without ever leaving Thinkific, you may also check the history of student certificates, alter them, and issue new ones.

All you need to do is choose a certificate style from a variety or take charge and upload your backdrop picture. Prefill information like the student's name, the completion and expiration dates, and custom fields automatically. You can also provide your logo to ensure that all certificate designs correspond with your brand.


#3. Course Builder 

Kartra and Thinkific both have course builders but in this feature, Thinkific wins.

Kartra's course builder has features like memberships, calendars, and CRM that make selling your courses easy. Kartra’s course-building feature comes with a drag-and-drop editor that helps businesses build everything seamlessly and manage their business from a single dashboard. It is user-friendly and highly intuitive, making the customer experience better. 

kartra membership site features

Thinkific wins here because the entire platform majorly focuses on course creation. It has a curriculum feature that helps you arrange your chapters and lessons for each course. It also has a bulk importer that allows you to add videos, audio, and pdfs at once.

With the Thinkific pricing and drip tab, you can add the price of each available course and schedule when you want your courses to be released rather than do it manually.


#3. Helpdesk 

This feature is only available in Kartra. Sadly, to use it in Thinkific, you'll need to integrate it with a third-party plugin.

Kartras helpdesk feature has a reliable ticketing system that enables you to respond to customer complaints promptly.

kartra helpdesk portal in dashboard screenshot

You can use this tool to organize tickets according to departments, embed responses, and incorporate them into every facet of your organization.


#4. Affiliate Program 

Kartra and Thinkific both have this feature. However, Kartra wins here.

With Kartra, you can set up an affiliate program for all your products and services. Also, with Kartra, you get to pay members to promote your courses. You can also use direct tracking and customizable compensation rates to motivate your affiliates.

kartra affiliate management homepage screenshot


#5. Marketing/Sales Feature 

Kartra and Thinkific both have this feature, but in this feature, Kartra wins.

Kartra is a marketing platform that helps business owners market their products efficiently. Kartra enables you to create marketing pages that precisely meet your company's needs. Its membership sites, surveys, and quiz sections assist in attracting readers to your material.

Thinkific also offers marketing features that help you sell and market your products. It provides multiple payment methods, SEO, order tracking, email integrations, instant access to funds, etc.

Overall, Kartra is a more marketing-focused platform.


#6. Video Hosting 

Kartra and Thinkific allow you to host your videos without using an external platform. In this feature, it's a tie for both Kartra and Thinkific.

Kartra provides video hosting tools that give a multi-video playlist, allow you to put captions, etc. Kartra doesn't allow you to upload pdf, but this isn't an issue as other platforms allow you to.

Thinkific allows you to upload pdf, videos, audio, and text. With Thinkific, you get unlimited video hosting, and the file can be up to 2GB. You are also allowed to view analytics, bulk videos, etc.


#7. Free Plan/Trial 

Kartra and Thinkific offer a trial, but in this feature, Thinkific wins.

Kartra offers a free trial for all its new users with full access to all its features. To get access to Kartra’s free trial, you are required to input your credit card information. The trial lasts for two weeks. However, you can use our link to get a FREE 30-day trial instead.

On the other hand, Thinkific offers a free plan for its subscribers. The free plan doesn't need a credit card to access it. With this plan, you get access to some of Thinkific’s core features.


#8. Analytic Feature 

Kartra and Thinkific both have the analytic feature but in this feature, Kartra wins.

Kartra analytics helps you monitor how well your product is doing in the market and helps you understand your customers' preferences to satisfy them better. With this tool, you can check out the best way to better advertise your product in the market.

Thinkific analytic features allow you to track the performance of your courses, student engagement, enrollment, income, etc. With Thinkific and Kartra, you can integrate Google Analytics tracking code into the platform.


#9. Email marketing

This feature is only available in Kartra. The email marketing function of Kartra is entirely automated. You may personalize emails and messages with this feature.

Moreover, it offers an “If and Then” option that triggers actions whether or not your emails are clicked. You don't need to constantly check to see if your email has been read because the If and Then functionalities automatically respond.

kartra mail automation screenshot


#10. Students Management Feature

Kartra and Thinkific both have this feature but in this feature, Thinkific wins.

Kartra also has surveys and quizzes features, but it doesn't have a course completion certificate. With the survey feature, you can check how your product is doing in the market and generate more leads.

Thinkific has more inbuilt student management features than Kartra. It has surveys, assignments, and quiz features that help access your student knowledge in any course they take. It offers a certificate for every course completion.


#11. Customer Support 

Karta and Thinkific have this feature, and it's a tie.

Kartra customer support offers a 24/7 service to all its users to attend to their problems. They are swift to respond once you make a complaint. You can get across to them through their live chat and emails.

Kartra has a Facebook community where you can meet new people and exchange ideas on using Kartra features and solving problems.

Thinkific also has 24/7 customer support. You can get across through emails, calls, and live chat. On Thinkific, there's a blog where you can quickly learn about Thinkific features, access its FAQ, and get answers to questions you might ask.

Thinkific has Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube communities. To connect with them, you'll need to fill out a form from the support team.


#12. Website Builder

Kartra and Thinkific have this feature but in this feature, Kartra wins.

Kartra is popular for its website-building tool. This software offers more features for building a responsive website than Thinkific. With this feature, you can also build courses and membership sites, sales funnels, and pages using the templates provided.

It has an A/B split testing feature that allows you to analyze two or more website pages and decide which is best.

With Thinkific, you can build a website, but its website builder tool has limited templates for creating a website. 

The truth is, trying to build a website with Thinkific is limited because, for every element, there are no separate templates. Unlike Kartra, which has A/B split testing, Thinkific doesn't track website performance.


#13. MarketPlace

Kartra and Thinkific both have the marketplace feature. In this feature, Kartra wins again.

With Kartra marketplace, you can sell sales funnels, your products, courses, etc. If you're an affiliate, you also get to sell other users' products in the marketplace.

kartra marketplace screenshot

For Thinkific, you can hire experts that can create courses and market and sell these courses. You can also sell your courses to your users through this platform.


After going through both software, Kartra is undoubtedly better at building an effective website and landing pages for your business and marketing and selling your products.

On the other hand, Thinkific tools are just perfect for edupreneurs. Its Course builder, Academy, and certificates will help you as an edupreneur have a professional feel to the courses you offer.


Thinkific vs Kartra: Pricing Comparison

Software:

Kartra

Thinkific

Pricing Plan:

Starter, Growth, Professional 

Free, Basic, Start, Grow

Price:

$119, $229, and $549 per month

$0, $49,  $99,  and $199 per month

Free plan/ Trial:

Free 30-Day Trial

$0

Kartra Pricing Plans: 

Kartra pricing has four distinct plans, which include;

  • Starter plan 
  • Growth Plan 
  • Professional Plan
latest kartra pricing plans

#1. Kartra Starter Plan

The Kartra Starter plan costs $119 per month, but you get to save $240 when you pay annually. It offers a 17% discount if you want to pay yearly.

Suppose you're just starting up a business or you have a small business, and you're looking to gain your first customers online, effectively manage your business and still quickly generate income. In that case, this plan is for you before you upgrade to higher-tier plans.

This plan offers its users the following benefits:

  • You can host unlimited videos with this plan 
  • You can sell unlimited products with this plan 
  • You're allowed to send unlimited emails per month 
  • You have access to advance analytics 
  • You can add five extra team members
  • You can add a custom domain 
  • Access to unlimited bandwidth per month
  • You can create unlimited membership sites
  • You can have up to 2500 subscribers.

#2. Kartra Growth Plan 

The Kartra Growth plan costs $229 per month, but you get to save $480 when you pay annually. It offers an 18% discount for anyone that wants to pay yearly.

This plan is for those with more leads than the Starter plan but still want something they can afford. If you have a midsized or digital marketing business and are looking forward to expanding your website and income, then this plan is for you.

With this plan, you get the Kartra Agency feature used to manage your clients’ accounts.

This plan offers its users the following benefits:

  • You get to add three custom domains.
  • You can access everything in the Starter plan.
  • You can add ten extra team members.
  • You can add 12,500 subscribers.
  • You can host unlimited courses.
  • You get access to Kartra Webinar feature with 300 attendees and six presenters.
  • You get access to funnel mapping simulator, advanced automations, affiliate management system, and helpdesk support feature.

#3. Kartra Professional Plan

This plan costs $549 per month, but you get to save $1440 when you pay annually. It offers a 25% Kartra discount for anyone that wants to pay yearly.

If you own a large business with a large team and a large number of leads monthly, then this plan is for you.

This plan offers its users the following benefits;

  • Everything in the Growth plan. 
  • You can add five custom domains.
  • You can add 25,000 leads.
  • You get real-time funnel analytics.
  • You can add 20 extra team members
  • You get access to Kartra Webinar feature with 1000 attendees and six presenters


Thinkific Pricing Plan 

Thinkific has five distinct features, which include:

  • Free Plan 
  • Basic Plan 
  • Start Plan 
  • Grow Plan 
  • Plus plan
thinkific pricing

#1. Thinkific Free Plan 

This plan costs $0. It is Thinkific’s most basic plan. If it's your first time going into course creation, then this plan is for you. This free plan is forever free, so you can keep using it until you're ready to try out the other higher-tier plans.

This plan offers its users the following benefits;

  • A course 
  • Two spaces per community 
  • One administrator 
  • Unlimited students 
  • 0% transaction fee 
  • One community 
  • A chatbot
  • 100% ownership of content 
  • Drag and drop course builder 
  • Fully integrated e-commerce 
  • Thinkific academy course 
  • Courses, quizzes, and surveys 
  • App store

#2. Thinkific Basic Plan 

This plan costs $49 per month, and you get a 25% discount if you pay yearly, so you get to pay $36 per month yearly.

This plan is for you if you are ready to launch and scale your online course or business.

This plan offers its users the following benefits;

  • For the yearly plan, you get free access to their accelerator program 
  • Unlimited courses 
  • All free features 
  • Affiliate selling 
  • Coupons and discount 
  • Email and live chat support 
  • Unlimited students 
  • 0% transaction fee 
  • Five spaces per community 
  • One administrator 
  • One Community

#3. Thinkific Start Plan 

This plan costs $99 per month, and you get a 25% discount if you pay yearly, so you get to pay $74 per month yearly.

With this plan, you can improve your student's experience. It offers its users the following benefits:

  • Everything in the Basic plan 
  • Assignments 
  • Add-on packages 
  • Live lessons 
  • Membership and payment plan 
  • Advanced course-building option 
  • Advanced website code editing 
  • Ten spaces per community

#4. Thinkific Grow Plan 

This plan costs $199 per month, and you get a 25% discount if you pay yearly, so you get to pay $149 per month annually.

This plan helps you sell and expand into multiple learning products. It offers its users the following benefits:

  • Everything in the Start plan 
  • Two administrators 
  • 20 spaces per community 
  • Three community 
  • Phone support 
  • Remove Thinkific branding 
  • Bulk enrollment 
  • Bulk student emailer

#5. Thinkific Plus Plan 

To know about the price, you have to contact the team. This plan offers advanced features to enable your students to learn effectively.

This plan offers its users the following benefits;

  • All features from the growth plan 
  • 3+ separate Thinkific sites 
  • Email white labeling 
  • Service level agreement 99.9%
  • Single sign-on 
  • Unlimited products 
  • Multiple seats 
  • Bulk selling app


Kartra vs Thinkific: Pros And Cons 

kartra logo

Kartra Pros:

  • An all-in-one platform with features that are strong in sales and marketing
  • The helpdesk feature ensures users can provide excellent client service
  • Provides a checkout tool with upsells, downsells, and order bump capabilities
  • State-of-the-art affiliate marketing feature
  • The platform is user-friendly and it is extremely easy to navigate the Kartra user interface.
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • The entire platform is completely customizable. You can 100% white label the platform and brand everything, from the logo, domain, and templates, and to the user interface, and sell it as your own for a profit.

Kartra Cons:

  • It's pricey compared to Thinkific
  • The Starter plan doesn't have the Agency feature.
  • It will take some time to understand if you're using the platform for the first time.
  • It doesn't offer a free plan like Thinkific.
  • To access its free trial, you'll have to put in your credit card details.
thinkific logo

Thinkific Pros:

  • The user interface is simple.
  • You can create a course with ease and host it.
  • A free version is available.
  • Its pricing plans are reasonably priced.
  • You can integrate with several third-party tools.
  • You can construct as many classes as you like.
  • Thinkific can help you attract countless students to your course.
  • There are tests and certifications available.

Thinkific Cons:

  • Because Thinkific isn't an all-inclusive platform, you'll have to incorporate several third-party plugins, costing you more money and time.
  • There are only a few features in the free versions.
  • Only the pro version offers access to all features.
  • Live sessions are only limited to Zoom.


Frequently Asked Questions 

FAQs

What Are Kartra And Thinkific Used For?

What Discounts Can I Get From Kartra And Thinkific?

Can I White Label Kartra And Thinkific?

Are Kartra And Thinkific Free?

Thinkific Vs. Kartra: Which Has The Best Affiliate Program?


Kartra Vs. Thinkific: Which Is Better?

Kartra and Thinkific are both excellent platforms to grow, manage and make income from your business.

If you are searching for a platform to design, host, and manage your online courses, Kartra and Thinkific are good choices. You should go for Thinkific if you're looking for an online solution for just hosting and selling only your online courses. 

Kartra is the best option if you want a platform with everything you need to manage your online business.

kartra logo

Summary:

Kartra beats Thinkific due to Kartra’s all-in-one marketing and course creation features, ease of use, reliability, and customer support.

Kartra Key  Features:

  • Unlimited membership sites
  • Unlimited products and videos
  • Unlimited pages and checkouts
  • Unlimited emails and bandwidth
  • Unlimited team members

overall 

5/5

Support

Speed

Ease of Use

Cost

kartra vs alternatives testimonial
kartra vs alternatives testimonial


My Kartra Bonuses

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best kartra bonuses

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  • Bonus 11: Kartra 30-Day FREE Trial ($119-$549 Value)

For more details and to learn how to get these bonuses, check out my Kartra bonus page.

kartra vs thinkific PassiveSecrets
Avatar of Valentine Okoronkwo

My mission is to help entrepreneurs create passive income systems online so we can ALL make a BIGGER impact while having MORE time to spend with those we love.

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