Substack vs Thinkific
Side-by-side comparison of Substack and Thinkific.
Newsletter publishing and monetization in one place
Build and sell online courses without technical headaches
What they are
Substack
Substack is a publishing platform where writers host email newsletters and charge subscribers a recurring fee. Independent journalists, essayists, and niche experts use it to build direct audiences without relying on ad revenue. The platform handles payments, delivery, and a basic website automatically. Substack takes a 10% cut of paid subscription revenue on top of stripe fees, which becomes a real cost as an audience grows.
Thinkific
Thinkific is a hosted course platform where creators build, market, and sell online courses, membership sites, and digital communities. It suits independent educators, coaches, and small teams who want a dedicated course home without stitching together separate tools. The course builder is straightforward, though the platform's customization ceiling is lower than fully self-hosted alternatives, and transaction fees disappear only on paid plans.
if you need hosting and monetization. It has a usable free tier to start with.
- +Free to start with no upfront cost
- +Built-in payment processing removes the need for a separate tool
- +Readers can comment and respond, creating light community features
if you need hosting and monetization. Starts at 63/mo.
- +No transaction fees on paid plans
- +Unlimited courses and students on most tiers
- +Built-in community and membership features
Which to choose
Substack and Thinkific both cover hosting, monetization, so this is a real either-or for some teams. The right pick depends on which one's wider feature set and pricing fit how you work.
Read the full reviews for Substack and Thinkific.
Pricing checked 3 Jun 2026.