Thinkific vs Flodesk
Side-by-side comparison of Thinkific and Flodesk.
Build and sell online courses without technical headaches
Flat-rate email marketing built for visual creators
What they are
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.
Flodesk
Flodesk is an email marketing platform focused on design-first newsletters and automated workflows. It attracts independent creators, photographers, and small-business owners who prioritize aesthetics over deep segmentation. The flat monthly rate has been abandoned, pricing is now subscriber-based and scales with list size ($19 is the starting price at 1,000 subs) so the price scales as the list grows. The trade-off is a thinner feature set compared to platforms like Klaviyo or ActiveCampaign.
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
if you need monetization and email marketing. It has a usable free tier to start with.
- +Free option available to try before you buy
- +Template designs are polished and require minimal editing to look professional
- +Drag-and-drop editor is quick to learn for non-technical users
Which to choose
Thinkific and Flodesk both cover 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 Thinkific and Flodesk.
Pricing checked 3 Jun 2026.