Negative mentions of Thinkific

If your key requirement is “I want the platform to help me find buyers,” not just host the cohort, I’d put Maven clearly at #1.

My ranking

1. Maven — probably exactly what you're looking for

Maven is unusual because it's not merely cohort software. It has a marketplace where prospective students browse courses, plus recommendation emails and algorithmic/trending placements. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

The important catch: Maven isn't a pure “list your course and we'll sell it for you” marketplace. You generally need initial traction—either 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments—before your course is eligible for marketplace listing. Maven Help Center

Once listed, discovery can happen through:

• Maven.com search and category browsing
• Personalized recommendation emails
• Trending placements
• Maven surfacing courses with enrollment momentum Maven Help Center

So the model is basically:

You generate the initial momentum → Maven helps amplify it.

That's much closer to what you're asking for than something like Kajabi, Circle, or Thinkific.

2. Disco — better platform, worse marketplace

Disco is compelling if the learning/community experience itself is your priority. It supports live and asynchronous cohorts, community, events, messaging, progress tracking, etc. Disco

But I wouldn't choose it specifically because you want the platform to bring you customers. That's where Maven has a major advantage.

3. Teachfloor

I'd consider Teachfloor if your cohort involves lots of assignments, peer review, feedback, and structured learning. It's more of a cohort-learning infrastructure product than a buyer-discovery marketplace.

The key distinction

There are really two categories:

“I already have an audience; give me great software to deliver my cohort.”

→ Disco / Circle / Kajabi / Teachfloor

“I want software + a marketplace that can potentially put my program in front of people who are already looking to buy.”

→ Maven

Maven explicitly describes its marketplace as surfacing courses to students actively looking to solve professional problems, while its recommendation emails and homepage can provide additional exposure. Maven Help Center

My recommendation

If you're selling something like AI, marketing, leadership, product, career, business, data/engineering, or another professional skill, I'd start with Maven.

I'd only choose another platform if you have a substantial existing audience and therefore don't value marketplace distribution—or if your cohort is fundamentally more of a community/membership product.

One thing I'd investigate before committing is how much of your actual enrollment Maven can realistically generate versus how much you'll still need to source yourself. Maven itself describes marketplace discovery as an accelerant rather than a replacement for your own distribution. Maven Help Center

If you tell me what the cohort is about, expected price (e.g. $500 vs $5,000), and whether you currently have an audience, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms and compare fees, marketplace reach, payment handling, cohort tooling, and how much customer acquisition each actually does for you.

If your priority is marketplace exposure while still keeping strong control over your course content and pricing, Udemy is the closest fit—but it comes with a major trade-off.

• Udemy: Best for built-in marketplace exposure and discovery. You control the course content, but Udemy controls much of the marketplace pricing/promotion environment, and you receive a smaller share when Udemy generates the sale. www.teachable.com
• Teachable / Thinkific: Much more control over your content, branding, pricing, and student relationship, but they don't provide the same marketplace discovery. www.ruzuku.com

My pick: If marketplace exposure is non-negotiable, choose Udemy. If pricing control is more important, choose Thinkific or Teachable.

A particularly effective strategy is Udemy for discovery + your own platform for the premium version—using the marketplace to attract new learners while keeping your flagship course and pricing under your control. www.ruzuku.comwww.savingsec.com

If your #1 criterion is that the marketplace itself brings you students and handles bookings, rather than you having to build an audience, I’d narrow it to these:

🥇 For language classes: Preply

Preply is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

Students actively search the marketplace by language, specialty, availability, price, etc., and can message or book teachers directly. Preply explicitly describes itself as a marketplace where students find tutors, rather than simply software for hosting your own course. Preply Help Center Preply Help Center

The downside is the commission: 100% of the first trial lesson and then 18–33% on subsequent lessons, depending on your teaching history. Preply Help Center

preply.com

I'd choose it if you're teaching: Spanish, French, English, Japanese, Mandarin, conversation practice, business language, test prep, etc.

🥇 For hobby/group classes: Outschool

Outschool is more interesting if you're selling actual classes rather than tutoring sessions.

It has a large marketplace of live classes for ages 3–18, including academic subjects and unusual interests/enrichment. Families browse the catalog and enroll directly. Outschool

You set your class price and class size, while Outschool handles the marketplace infrastructure. Its current teacher fee is 30%, leaving teachers with 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

outschool.com

This could be particularly good for things like:

• Japanese for kids
• Spanish conversation clubs
• Drawing
• Chess
• Creative writing
• Cooking
• Music
• Coding
• Art/crafts
• Cultural classes

🥈 Superprof if you want languages + hobbies

Superprof has unusually broad coverage—more than 1,000 subjects, including languages, sports, music, arts and hobbies. Tutors set their rates and schedules and can teach online or in person. Superprof

The catch is that it's more of a marketplace/directory than a completely managed class-booking machine. Students find instructors, but there can be more coordination involved than on Preply. Preply

superprof.com

My ranking for your specific requirement

If by "marketplace drives student bookings" you mean I don't want to spend most of my time marketing myself on Instagram/Google/etc., I'd rank them:

1. Preply → best for adult language instruction
2. Outschool → best for packaged/group classes, particularly kids
3. italki → excellent if you're strictly teaching languages
4. Superprof → best if the subject is an unusual hobby or you want local/in-person possibilities
5. Wyzant → strongest if you're targeting the U.S. tutoring market

The important distinction is marketplace vs. course-hosting platform. I would not put Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, etc. at the top for your use case: they're good at selling your audience courses, but they generally don't solve the "where do my students come from?" problem.

If you tell me what class you want to sell (e.g. Spanish conversation, watercolor, guitar, cooking), adult vs. kids, group vs. 1:1, and your target price, I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings.

🥇 For hobby/group classes: Outschool

Outschool is more interesting if you're selling actual classes rather than tutoring sessions.

It has a large marketplace of live classes for ages 3–18, including academic subjects and unusual interests/enrichment. Families browse the catalog and enroll directly.

You set your class price and class size, while Outschool handles the marketplace infrastructure. Its current teacher fee is 30%, leaving teachers with 70% of the class price.