Thinkific vs iSpring Learn

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Our analysts compared Thinkific vs iSpring Learn based on data from our 400+ point analysis of LMS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

Thinkific is a software platform that creates, sells, markets and delivers online courses. It enables people to learn online and turn unique skills and expertise into a sustainable business. Users can quickly customize an online class’s look, feel, and functionality and create content that aligns with a company, brand and vision with the system’s App Store. Some of the content includes PDF, audio, files HTML, quizzes, surveys and resources such as Articulate, Storyline and Typeform.

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The iSpring platform is a learning tool with over 54,000 clients worldwide. Overall, it has an authoring capability for creating interactive lessons, quizzes and assessments and reporting and analytics to track education in a corporate or institutional setting. With many integrations, it can be used for its content or act as a way to analyze skills in an organization.

One of its most notable functions is the way it works with PowerPoint.Through HyperPointe technology, it’s able to convert the slideshows into SCORM compliant HTML5 or MP4s. It has different levels of support and design abilities depending on the subscription.
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$49/Feature, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$2.82 Monthly, per-user
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

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Product Insights

  • Easy to Set Up: Get complete control of content and data and make decisions about online course business based on what’s best for the brands and audiences. Customize every platform part to match the brand and continue to scale without missing a beat. 
  • Bonus Resources: Access premium training templates, programs and unique opportunities after subscribing to the Basic or Pro plan. 
  • Expert Advice: Get in-depth guidance on finding the most suitable course topic, pricing, creating content, marketing and selling. Access content and training from industry leaders in the online education business. Sell online courses at a professional level and ensure more students get success during the learning experience. 
  • Quick and Effective: Explore downloadable guides, templates and use the swipe copy capability to take all the guesswork out of structuring and launching new online courses. 
  • Convenient: Review workshops and summit replays and watch videos of industry experts as per convenience to level up online education business. 
  • More Secure: Take advantage of reliable, 24/7 monitoring and safe cloud hosting with SSL certificates. 
  • Exclusive Opportunities: Get unique discounts and offers on popular content creation tools and stand unique among competitors. 
  • Flexible: Sell knowledge in bundles, standalone courses, memberships and digital downloads. 
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  • More Effective Assessments The software has templates so instructors can quickly create multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, sequencing, matching and other types of questions. To ensure information is retained properly, it also has feedback capabilities, branching scenarios, randomized questions and customizable scoring rules.
  • Greater Security: The solution is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation and uses Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) for transferring data between EU and non-EU countries. The servers are hosted at Liquidweb, IBM Cloud, Amazon Web Services or FirstColo which all comply with various standards. It uses an https connection, thoroughly background checks all employees and undergoes security audits.
  • Higher Quality Content: Its ability to convert PowerPoint presentations makes it easier to create high-quality lessons with embedded links, images, animations and other elements. There’s also a library where administrators can find the necessary course materials and thousands of assets.
  • Better Communication: The platform comes with due dates and reminders to keep learners on track and centralizes knowledge so it’s easily accessible. In terms of video conferring, Zoom integrates within the application. This allows users to jump on calls without losing time switching applications.
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  • Live Lessons and Cohorts: Deliver world-class learning experience on live, blended or on-demand classes. 
  • Assessments and Certificates: Gain access to a wide range of engagement surveys, comprehensive quizzes, assignments, exams and certificates that offer a premium learning experience. 
  • Progress Tracking: Track student progress through in-depth reporting and provide certificates to validate their efforts. 
  • Drag-and-Drop Website Builder: Create a customized school or storefront or to display class and course value and advantages.
  • E-Commerce: Accept payments in more than 100 countries with NIL transaction fees. 
  • Website Themes: Rest easy with beautiful and easy-to-use website themes and advanced customizations and deliver a professional look to the website without the extra cost. 
  • Connect Tools: Add professional and personalized domain to the website, mailing lists or CRM. 
  • Academy: Access premium webinars and courses curated by industry experts who help in taking courses to the next level. 
  • A Community of Experts: Share inspiration and strategy with a community of more than 50,000 course creators and get ideas to make the product more comprehensive and effective. 
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  • Content Creation: Instructors can create a PowerPoint presentation and then add screencasts, narrations, quizzes and more to make a dynamic lesson. Then, they can upload the content for their students.
  • Products: There are two main options:
    • Learn: This product contains the base course functionality for students and instructors.
    • Suite: The Suite has a Suite version and a Full-Service Suite version on the pricing page to indicate two different levels of functions. The full-service version comes with authoring tools, access to the cloud, access to priority support and access to an online library.
  • Conversion: The platform converts PowerPoint presentations to an HTML5 or MP4 format. Through HyperPointe technology, they can generally keep the same animations and formatting so no one needs to reformat for the web. PowerPoints are converted without having to leave the program. Users can then upload to Vimeo or YouTube.
  • Content Library: It comes with over 55,000 royalty-free assets such as templates, over 30,00 character images and more than 230 backgrounds from different locations. Aside from that, it also has various icons, paper clips, buttons and switches to complete a presentation. For assets created in-house like logos or brand guides, the built-in cloud allows all team members to have access.
  • Integrations: For organizations that are looking for more robust functionality, the solution integrates with 156 systems. It’s built to integrate with materials that meet AIIC, cmi5, SCORM or xAPI compliance. The apps include Absorb, Adobe, Flora, Schoology, SmarterU, TOPYX and more.
  • Video Lessons: It can capture video lectures, narration, screenshots and annotations that provide step-by-step guides and easy to follow lessons. The program comes with a simple video editor so it’s easy to tweak videos, add effects, include text, add music and more.
  • Responsive Design: The platform works across mobile devices, tablets, PCs and more across Android and iOS. Teachers only have to create courses once. It automatically adapts to other formats. Learners can access materials offline.
  • Corporate Training: It can facilitate many different kinds of business training. The solution manages deadlines, provides consistent branding, secures information and can conduct comprehensive reports on employee skill level. An administrator can assign specific training options. Some real-world applications include:
    • Onboarding: It lets new hires get accustomed to company culture, compliance and policy more quickly.
    • Partner/Channel Training: For associations who work with other affiliates, channels or partners, it offers an easy way to get everyone up to speed.
    • Compliance Training: It helps learners stay on top of annual or monthly compliance whether that means safety, privacy, anti-harassment or discrimination policies or more.
    • Certification Training: Administrators can make in-house certification training so they can see who has completed the necessary training.
    • Product Training: It provides uniform, accurate dissemination of information to all when new products or updates are released.
    • Sales Training: With the ability to make how-to guides and choice-based scenarios, instructors can create interactive sales training to ensure the funnel is working properly.
  • Quizmaker: It helps create more engaging quizzes to see the skill level of employees. It has assignments geared toward retention and testing at key moments to ensure the subject is understood. The activities provide hands-on experience while teachers can provide feedback with annotations.
  • Cam Pro: This function allows the user to share their screens and record to provide tutorials. It provides narration over a slideshow and highlights the cursor so it can be followed visually.
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Product Ranking

#57

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LMS Software

#14

among all
LMS Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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AI-based Capabilities Assessments Collaboration Compliance Content And Course Management ECommerce Learning Delivery Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Dashboard User Management And Gamification 7 70 58 0 93 100 67 87 98 77 77 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 491 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 237 reviews
91%
of users recommend this product

Thinkific has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 91% when considering 491 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

92%
of users recommend this product

iSpring Learn has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 237 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

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4.7 (14)
4.7 (171)
4.7 (48)
4.49 (155)
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4.6 (133)
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4.1 (3)
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Awards

Thinkific stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

iSpring Learn stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Ease of Use: Thinkific is known for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design, making it easy for both course creators and students to navigate the platform and manage their learning experience.
Customization Options: The platform offers a wide range of customization options, allowing course creators to tailor their courses to their specific branding and style preferences. This includes the ability to customize the look and feel of the course, as well as the content and structure.
Marketing and Sales Tools: Thinkific provides built-in marketing and sales tools to help course creators promote their courses and reach a wider audience. These tools include features such as email marketing, coupons and discounts, and affiliate marketing.
Community and Support: Thinkific has a strong community of users and offers excellent customer support. Course creators can connect with other users, share ideas, and get help from the Thinkific team.
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User-Friendly Design: Around 80% of reviewers loved the interface and said it was easy to implement, learn and navigate.
Excellent Customer Service: Users found the customer service to be friendly, helpful and effective in 60% of all reviews.
Competitive Price: About 60% of users felt that the price was fair and that the functionality was well worth the money.
Overall Good Functionality: The features were described as working well in just over 40% of the reviews. The most popular mention was its quick course setup, learning paths, customization, integration, mobile functionality and course authoring capabilities.
Testing Assessments: Around 20% of users who left reviews said the platform had excellent capabilities when it came to delivering tests, surveys, quizzes, assessments and simulations.
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Limited Course Design Options: Thinkific's course builder might feel restrictive for users who want to create highly customized learning experiences. The platform's strengths lie in delivering content in a straightforward manner, but it may lack the flexibility needed for intricate branching scenarios or complex gamification elements.
Marketing and Sales Features: While Thinkific provides basic marketing tools, users seeking advanced features like sophisticated email marketing automation or intricate sales funnels might find the platform's capabilities somewhat limited. Integrating third-party tools can address this, but it may introduce additional complexity and costs.
Pricing Structure: Thinkific's pricing structure, particularly for higher-tier plans with advanced features, can be a concern for budget-conscious users or smaller organizations. Evaluating the cost-benefit ratio and exploring alternative platforms with more competitive pricing for similar features is recommended.
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Problems with Features: While many felt the features worked well, around 40% found issues with the existing tools, with around10% disliking the reporting and customization features.
Missing Functionality: In 20% of the reviews, users requested add-ons to the current feature set with better native screen recording and screenshots capabilities mentioned the most.
Pricing Issues: Between 10% to 20% felt the price was too much for its functionality with just under 10% saying they felt pressured to buy more expensive subscriptions.
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Thinkific has garnered a reputation as a user-friendly and affordable platform that empowers businesses and individuals to create and deliver online courses. Users appreciate the intuitive drag-and-drop course builder, built-in payment system, and comprehensive reporting dashboard, making it a breeze to get started. The platform's flexibility allows for customization to match individual teaching styles and content requirements, while its affordability makes it accessible to a wide range of users. However, some users have expressed concerns about limited customer support and a lack of advanced features compared to competitors like Kajabi or Teachable. Thinkific's strength lies in its simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for those new to online course creation or who prioritize a straightforward platform. Thinkific is best suited for solopreneurs, small businesses, and educators who are looking for an easy-to-use and affordable platform to create and deliver online courses. Its intuitive interface and essential features make it a great starting point for those new to the world of e-learning. However, users with more complex needs or who require extensive customer support may want to explore alternative options with more robust feature sets and dedicated assistance.

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The iSpring system is an extremely user-friendly option especially popular among educators. This is likely due to its tie-in with PowerPoint. Users can create a presentation in PowerPoint and then, without leaving the app, directly upload it to iSpring where it’s converted into the proper format. Its usability, quick adoption, good price and excellent customer service made for an overwhelming number of satisfied reviews. On the other hand, the satisfaction with the feature set was split with half saying it worked well and half finding the functionality wanting. Many users wanted new features, but the requests were mostly distinct from one another and for very specific capabilities. While iSpring does offer customization options, there are many features that are out of reach due to price, technological limitations or lack of knowledge on the part of the customer. Overall, this is a great solution for educators and corporate administrators looking to adopt a system quickly and easily. It may not be suitable for large businesses with more complex needs. Users should also look into exactly what they need so they don’t get bumped into the more expensive pricing tier.

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