MemberPress vs Thinkific
Features, use cases, pros and cons, and pricing side by side — and which one to pick.
Quick verdict: Pick MemberPress if you're already on WordPress and want memberships, courses, and coaching in one plugin; pick Thinkific if you'd rather have a hosted platform and try it free first.
Best for: Creators selling online courses with a built-in WordPress LMS, Coaches running one-on-one or group coaching programs
Read the full MemberPress reviewBest for: Experts and coaches selling courses, memberships, coaching, or digital downloads, Training academies scaling professional education programs
Read the full Thinkific reviewCommission may apply at no extra cost
MemberPress vs Thinkific: features compared
Compare key features side by side
Feature Comparison Summary
Which should you choose?
Choose MemberPress if
- Your site already runs WordPress and you want one plugin.
- You want paywalls, coaching, and community features together.
- You need MCP AI connections, Zapier, and a REST API.
Choose Thinkific if
- You want hosting, checkout, and courses managed for you.
- You'd rather test everything with a 30-day free trial.
- You sell B2B training needing SCORM, SSO, and seats.
MemberPress vs Thinkific: pros and cons
MemberPress
MemberPress packs paywalls, courses, coaching, and communities into one WordPress plugin, with code-free setup and unusually broad payment support. The trade-offs: annual-only billing, renewals at full price, a 4.9% fee on the entry plan, and top-tier features locked behind Scale. Overall, it's a strong pick for WordPress owners who want one system instead of many.
Pros
- Consolidates paywalls, subscription billing, courses, coaching, communities, and digital downloads into a single WordPress plugin, replacing the need for several separate tools
- Content Access Rules let you gate posts, pages, and courses with a click, and Growth-and-above plans add content dripping and access expiration for scheduled releases
- ReadyLaunch™ page maker and drag-and-drop course builder enable a code-free setup that the vendor claims can be sale-ready in under a day, working with any theme including custom ones
Cons
- Annual billing only — no monthly payment option appears on the pricing page, so the minimum commitment is $199.50 per year, and refund terms are not displayed there
- The entry-level Launch plan ($199.50/year) omits quizzes, assignments, certificates, and content dripping, and locks you to Stripe as the only payment gateway
- Coaching (CoachKit™) and community features (ClubSuite™ forums, directories, live chat) plus the built-in affiliate program are reserved for the top Scale tier at $499.50/year
Thinkific bundles courses, community, and checkout on one platform, with flat per-site pricing that covers up to 10,000 students, verified security credentials, and a 4.5/5 G2 rating. The trade-offs: no free plan or refund guarantee, tier-gated features, and bandwidth caps. Overall, it's a strong pick for creators and teams serious about selling what they know.
Pros
- Courses, community, and checkout run on one platform with a single learner login, so you avoid stitching together a separate course builder, payment processor, and community app.
- Commerce goes beyond basic payments — subscriptions, payment plans, bundles, upsells, order bumps, multi-currency checkout, automated sales tax and VAT, and failed-payment recovery are all built in.
- Pricing is flat per site rather than per student — every self-serve plan covers up to 10,000 current students and unlimited published courses, so costs don't climb with enrollment.
Cons
- There is no free plan — only a 30-day trial — and Thinkific advertises no money-back guarantee.
- Video bandwidth is capped by tier at 100–400 GB per month, the main limit that scales with price, which can constrain video-heavy course catalogs.
- Important capabilities sit behind higher tiers — API access and webhooks start at Grow, Thinkific branding removal requires Grow, and SCORM, SSO, and HubSpot/Salesforce integrations are reserved for quote-based Plus.
MemberPress and Thinkific in detail
MemberPress
MemberPress is a WordPress plugin that turns a regular site into a paid membership business. Based on the company's site, it covers paywalls and content dripping, subscription billing, online courses, coaching programs, member communities, and digital downloads. It's aimed at creators, coaches, course sellers, and businesses that want recurring revenue on WordPress. Setup is marketed as code-free, and the plugin works with any theme.
Standout features
- Lock Down Your Content
- Turn Knowledge Into Courses
- Build Community and Coaching
- Get Paid, Your Way
- Launch Fast, Without Code
Use cases
- Sell Your First Online Course
- Coach Clients on Recurring Revenue
- Grow a Paid Community
- Sell Bulk Memberships to Businesses
Thinkific
Thinkific is an all-in-one platform for creating, selling, and running online learning. It covers courses, communities, memberships, coaching, digital downloads, and the checkout to sell them. It's built for experts turning knowledge into revenue, academies scaling training, companies running customer education, and associations powering member learning. Thinkific says 20,000+ teams use it, and customers have earned $4.23B.
Standout features
- Build courses learners actually finish
- Community that lives beside your lessons
- Sell more with built-in commerce
- AI that handles the busywork
Use cases
- Turn your expertise into revenue
- Scale a professional training academy
- Train customers and partners
- Build member education that renews
Pricing compared
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, before taxes and add-ons. Costs are per month.
| Pricing compared | MemberPress | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| From (cheapest paid plan) | $33.25/mo Launch | $54/mo Basic |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Free trial | Not stated | 30 days |
| Money-back guarantee | Not stated | Not stated |
| Annual billing savings | — | Up to 26% |
| Pricing model | Flat price | Flat price |
| Cost for 1 user | $33.25/moCheaper Launch plan, billed annually | $40/mo Basic plan, billed annually |
| Cost for 5 users | $33.25/mo Launch plan, billed annually · price per account (user limit not stated) | $40/mo Basic plan, billed annually · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Cost for 10 users | $33.25/mo Launch plan, billed annually · price per account (user limit not stated) | $40/mo Basic plan, billed annually · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Cost for 25 users | $33.25/mo Launch plan, billed annually · price per account (user limit not stated) | $40/mo Basic plan, billed annually · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Plans | 3 | 5 |
| Prices checked | Vendor page checked Oct 13, 2026 | Vendor page checked Oct 13, 2026 |
| Price history | Tracking prices since Sep 9, 2026. No price change detected yet. | Tracking prices since Oct 1, 2026. No price change detected yet. |
- Cheapest plan that fits each team size. Per-user plans are multiplied by the number of users (respecting stated minimums and seat packs). Plans that include some users cost their base price plus the extra-user price for each user beyond those included. Flat-priced plans with no stated user limit are counted as one licence per user.
Cheaper for your team size
For 1 user (billed annually), MemberPress costs $33.25/mo vs Thinkific at $40/mo.
Computed from published list prices on the dates shown. Excludes taxes, add-ons and promotions.
More comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Which connects to AI tools?
MemberPress's AI Foundation add-on connects Claude, Cursor, and VS Code through an MCP server. Thinkific includes built-in AI features, but no MCP support is documented.