Thinkific vs Propiaterra - Video Course Platform Comparison
Propiaterra vs Thinkific
Thinkific has built a solid reputation as a course-first platform. It's reasonably priced at entry level, supports unlimited courses on all paid plans, and charges no platform fees when using their own payment system. For a creator getting started, it's a reasonable place to begin.
But as your course business grows, Thinkific's structure starts to reveal its constraints. Features move up the tier ladder. New fees appear. The platform you're building on is one you'll never fully control, and the data you're generating lives in their system, not yours.
Propiaterra is built on a different premise. We build your course platform once - on Webflow, Outseta, Bunny.net, and Make - with every account set up in your name, billed directly to you. Your site, your student data, your content, your automations. We build it and step back.
What Thinkific is genuinely good at
Thinkific's course builder is consistently praised for being clean and easy to use. Unlimited courses on all paid plans is a real advantage, so you're not counting products the way you do on Kajabi. The Basic plan at $36/month (annual billing) is one of the most accessible entry points in the market for a proper course platform.
Thinkific added built-in email marketing in 2024, which was a meaningful improvement. It also supports a wide range of course content types, has solid student progress tracking with compliance tools on higher plans, and integrates well with third-party tools via its app store.
Where it gets complicated
The payment surcharge. In July 2024, Thinkific introduced a third-party payment gateway fee for creators using their own Stripe or PayPal account instead of Thinkific Payments (TCommerce). The fee is 5% on Basic, 2% on Start, and 1% on Grow. This applies on top of Stripe's standard processing fees. On the Basic plan, a creator using their own Stripe account pays an effective 7.9% per transaction. For context, Thinkific had marketed "0% transaction fees" as a core differentiator for years. The reaction on Reddit and Trustpilot was pointed.
The only way to avoid the surcharge is to use Thinkific Payments, which means accepting their payment processing ecosystem and the lock-in that comes with it. Active subscriber relationships through TCommerce cannot be migrated without disrupting your students' billing.
The 10,000 student cap. All three standard plans - Basic, Start, and Grow - cap students at 10,000. Beyond that you're into the custom-priced Plus tier. For most creators this isn't an immediate problem, but it's worth knowing the ceiling exists on every plan.
Feature gating. Course completion certificates, memberships, and payment plans all require the Start plan ($74/month). White-label branding, API access, webhooks, and bulk email require the Grow plan ($149/month). The mobile app - branded in your name - is a separate $199/month add-on on every standard plan.
Email marketing is limited. Thinkific's built-in email tool is text-only with no visual builder. Monthly send limits apply (24,500 on Basic, 99,500 on Grow). Most creators running a serious email operation integrate an external tool regardless.
On cancellation, Thinkific's ToS makes no guarantee of data retention on downgrade. Active student subscriptions through TCommerce continue charging even after you cancel, you need to manually cancel every student subscription before leaving. Course designs, page layouts, and automations have no export mechanism.
What Propiaterra does differently
We build on Webflow, Outseta, Bunny.net, and Make, and every account is set up in your name from day one.
Your design, not a template. Thinkific gives you a site builder within their constraints. Webflow gives you a completely custom design, your brand system, your typography, your layout, your custom video player. With our Signature and Flagship services, nothing on your platform looks like anyone else's.
Your videos on a proper CDN. Video is delivered through Bunny.net, a purpose-built global content delivery network. The player is custom-designed to match your brand. No third-party player chrome, no platform watermarks.
Your CRM, email, and payments in your Outseta account. Outseta handles your CRM (contact management, pipelines, tagging), email marketing (broadcasts, sequences, automations), payments (Stripe-native subscriptions, one-time purchases, and trials), and help desk, all under your account. There's no Thinkific surcharge, no TCommerce lock-in. Your Stripe account is your Stripe account.
Your automations in your Make account. Every workflow - onboarding, progress tracking triggers, certificate delivery, re-engagement - runs in Make under your account. Visible, editable, yours to extend.
Your student data sits in your Outseta account, where you are the sole data controller. There's no equivalent of Thinkific's ToS ambiguity around data retention, it's simply in your account.
The ongoing tool costs are ~$85–150/month, billed directly to you at published rates. We don't mark them up. There's no monthly fee to Propiaterra after the build.
The upfront investment ($5,000–$12,000 depending on tier) is a real commitment. For a creator just starting out, Thinkific at $36/month makes more sense. Propiaterra is designed for creators already earning consistently who want their platform to be theirs, not rented month to month.
A note on price
Thinkific Grow at $149/month (annual) = $1,788/year, every year, with fees that have already increased once and a payment surcharge introduced mid-subscription.
Propiaterra Signature = $7,500 once, then ~$100/month in tool costs billed directly to you.
By year five, the Thinkific Grow user has paid over $8,900, plus any surcharges, plus the $199/month mobile app add-on if they want branded apps. The Propiaterra client has paid $7,500 plus roughly $6,000 in tools; and the platform is theirs.
Which is right for you?
Thinkific is a sensible choice if you're growing your course business, want a clean platform at a low monthly entry point, and aren't yet at a stage where full platform control is a priority.
Propiaterra is worth a conversation if you're already earning consistently, want every account in your name, and want a platform that reflects your brand, not Thinkific's.