Answers that mention Thinkific

For a first online course, I’d prioritize simplicity: one place to build the sales page, capture leads, automate emails, take payments, and deliver the lessons. The “best” platform depends on whether you’re optimizing for speed, budget, or a premium experience. SaaS Fit Guide

My top picks

1. Kajabi — best premium all-in-one

Best if you want a polished creator business platform.

Good for:

• Landing pages and sales funnels
• Email sequences and automations
• Course hosting
• Communities/memberships
• Scaling into multiple products

Tradeoff: It’s one of the more expensive options, so it can be a lot to pay before you know your offer converts. SaaS Fit Guide SharkPlatform

2. Systeme.io — best first-launch value

Best if you want to launch quickly without stacking multiple subscriptions.

Good for:

• Funnel pages
• Email campaigns
• Automation workflows
• Checkout
• Course delivery

Tradeoff: The design and course experience are generally less refined than premium course-first platforms. SaaS Fit Guide Infinite Agent

3. Thinkific — best if the learning experience matters most

Best if your course itself is the centerpiece.

Good for:

• Structured lessons
• Student management
• Quizzes and learning features
• Building a course library

Tradeoff: You may eventually want separate marketing tools for more advanced funnels and email automation. SaaS Fit Guide

4. ClickFunnels — best for aggressive sales funnels

Best if your business model relies heavily on:

• Lead magnets
• Upsells
• Order bumps
• Funnel testing

Tradeoff: It can feel like more marketing machinery than a new course creator needs. SaaS Fit Guide

My recommendation for a first course

• You have no audience yet and want low risk: start with Systeme.io.
• You already have an audience, newsletter, or coaching brand: consider Kajabi.
• Your course is certification-style or education-heavy: consider Thinkific.

A simple first-launch stack I’d aim for:

1. Landing page + lead magnet
2. Automated 5–10 email nurture sequence
3. Sales page + checkout
4. Course area
5. Basic analytics

Avoid building a complicated stack until you have students and revenue data. SoloStack

If you tell me your course price range (e.g., $49 vs $999), expected audience size, and whether you already have an email list, I can narrow this to one platform.

For a first online course, I’d put Kajabi at the top of your shortlist.

Kajabi is particularly strong when your goal is genuinely all-in-one rather than simply hosting videos. It combines:

• Landing pages + website — templates, lead-capture pages, and sales pages without needing a separate page builder. www.kajabi.com
• Email marketing — broadcasts plus automated, multi-step sequences. www.kajabi.com
• Course hosting — structured modules, drip content, assessments, progress tracking, and student delivery. www.kajabi.com
• Sales + checkout — payments, subscriptions, payment plans, upsells, and order bumps. www.kajabi.com
• Automation — you can trigger follow-ups based on actions such as purchases or course progress. www.kajabi.com

The alternatives I'd consider

Podia deserves a particularly close look if Kajabi feels like overkill. Its current platform includes a website builder, courses, digital products, and email broadcasts/campaigns in one place. help.podia.com

What I'd choose in your shoes

If you're saying "I want one system and don't want to stitch together ConvertKit + Leadpages + Teachable + Stripe + Zapier", I'd choose Kajabi.

If you're saying "I'm testing my first course, want to keep things simple, and don't need elaborate marketing automation yet," I'd look seriously at Podia.

The important distinction is that you're not really choosing a course host—you're choosing the infrastructure for your course business. Kajabi is designed around that broader use case. www.kajabi.com

If you tell me your course price, expected number of students, and whether you already have an email list, I can narrow it down to the best platform for your specific situation.

Yes. For that exact combination—paid evergreen funnels + email broadcasts + automated drip courses in one platform—I’d shortlist these:

🥇 Best fit: systeme.io

I’d recommend systeme.io if your priority is getting the whole machine under one roof without paying for a large stack.

It natively combines:

• Evergreen sales funnels — landing pages, checkout, upsells/order bumps, automated follow-up, and deadline-style funnel mechanics. systeme.iosysteme.io
• Email marketing — broadcasts/newsletters plus automated sequences, tagging and segmentation. systeme.io
• Drip courses — host lessons, release modules on a schedule, lock content, and track student progress. systeme.io
• Payments and course access — someone buys through the funnel and can automatically receive course access and enter the appropriate automation. systeme.iosysteme.io
• Evergreen webinars, affiliate management, memberships, and communities if you expand the model later. systeme.io

The particularly attractive part is that the free plan lets you build a funnel and course before committing, while the paid tiers scale the number of courses/contacts. systeme.io

🥈 Best premium option: Kajabi

If you're willing to spend more for a more polished, premium creator-business platform, Kajabi is probably the stronger alternative.

It has integrated broadcast email, automated sequences, behavior-based automation, funnels/Pipelines, landing pages, checkout, and drip course delivery. www.kajabi.com

I'd choose Kajabi over systeme.io if brand experience, course presentation, community, and sophisticated creator-business features matter more than minimizing cost.

🥉 Worth considering: HighLevel

HighLevel is compelling if this is more of a marketing/CRM operation than a traditional course business. Its course system can now incorporate funnels directly into course lessons. help.gohighlevel.com

But for your stated use case, I'd consider it more platform than you need unless you're also going heavily into CRM, pipelines, SMS, agencies, or multiple client accounts.

My recommendation

I'd start with systeme.io. It is unusually well matched to the specific workflow you're describing: traffic → evergreen funnel → purchase → automated email sequence → drip course → broadcasts, without needing to stitch together ClickFunnels + ActiveCampaign + Teachable/Thinkific. systeme.iosysteme.io

If you tell me roughly how many contacts/students you expect and your monthly budget, I can narrow it down to the specific plan I'd buy.

For an ecommerce store that is adding digital courses, the best setup depends on whether your physical products or courses will become the main revenue driver.

Here are the strongest options:

1. Shopify + a course platform (best if you already sell physical products)

Best fit: Product brands adding education as an upsell.

A typical stack:

• shopify.com — storefront, inventory, checkout, customer accounts
• klaviyo.com — email marketing, segmentation, abandoned carts, product-based flows
• teachable.com or thinkific.com — course delivery
• zapier.com — connects purchases → course access → email sequences

Why it works:

• Your existing product customers become course leads.
• You keep Shopify’s strong ecommerce infrastructure.
• You can create funnels like: - Buy product → email education series → offer premium course
• Buy course → upsell bundle/product kit
• Course completion → loyalty offer

Downside: More moving parts.

2. Shopify + Kajabi (best premium hybrid)

Best fit: Your courses are high-ticket and you want strong automation.

Kajabi combines courses, landing pages, email sequences, funnels, and digital product checkout in one system. Kajabi Kajabi

Example flow:

Shopify store
→ customer buys product
→ enters Kajabi funnel
→ receives nurture emails
→ purchases course
→ gets membership access

This works well for:

• fitness brands selling equipment + training programs
• beauty brands selling products + masterclasses
• hobby brands selling supplies + education
• creators selling physical products + coaching

Kajabi is less ideal as the main store if you have lots of SKUs, shipping, inventory, or retail complexity. Ecommerce Website Create Kajabi

3. All-in-one Kajabi (best if courses will overtake products)

Choose this if your business is becoming more of a knowledge brand.

Good for:

• memberships
• coaching
• premium courses
• communities
• email-driven sales funnels

Kajabi includes course hosting, marketing automation, funnels, and email tools together. Kajabi

4. WordPress + WooCommerce + LMS (most customizable)

Best if you want full ownership and customization.

Typical stack:

• woocommerce.com
• learndash.com
• activecampaign.com

Powerful, but requires more maintenance.

My recommendation for most ecommerce brands expanding into courses

If you already have a functioning store:

Keep Shopify as the commerce engine. Add:

1. Shopify
2. Klaviyo for email + customer segmentation
3. Kajabi or Thinkific for courses
4. Zapier for automation

That gives you the strongest product-to-course funnel:

Product buyer → email education → free mini-course → paid course → subscription/community → repeat product purchases

A few questions would change the recommendation:

1. Are your current products physical goods (inventory/shipping) or already digital?
2. What price range will your courses be (e.g., $49, $299, $2,000+)?
3. Are you currently on Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, or another platform?

Yes. If you already have an ecommerce store selling physical products and are adding courses, I’d choose differently than I would for a pure course creator.

My top choices

🥇 If you're already on Shopify: Shopify + Thinkific

This is probably the cleanest setup for an ecommerce brand branching into education.

Thinkific has a Shopify integration that lets you sell courses directly alongside your physical products. When someone purchases a course through Shopify, Thinkific automatically creates the student account and grants course access. Thinkific App Store Thinkific Support

You can then connect Thinkific to an email platform such as Kit and trigger marketing based on student/customer activity. Thinkific App Store

Your architecture becomes:

Shopify
→ physical products
→ course checkout
→ bundles
→ order history

Thinkific
→ course delivery
→ lessons
→ quizzes
→ student progress

Email/CRM
→ abandoned cart
→ post-purchase sequences
→ course onboarding
→ cross-sells
→ product → course upsells
→ course → physical product upsells

This is especially attractive if physical products are still the core business.

🥇 If funnels/email are the main growth engine: Kajabi

If you're trying to build something more like:

Instagram/ads/content → lead magnet → email sequence → physical product → course → upsell → membership

I'd seriously consider Kajabi.

Kajabi combines course hosting, checkout, email automation, landing pages, funnels, behavioral automations, upsells and order bumps in one system. Kajabi

That's its major advantage: you don't have to stitch together a course platform + funnel builder + email platform + automation software.

The catch is that Kajabi is considerably more expensive, so I'd only choose it if you're actually going to use the marketing infrastructure.

The setup I'd probably recommend for your business

If your existing ecommerce store is Shopify, I'd initially do:

Shopify + Thinkific + Kit

rather than ripping your ecommerce operation out and moving everything to Kajabi.

Then build funnels like:

Physical product buyer
→ education email series
→ free mini-course
→ paid course
→ advanced product bundle

And:

Course buyer
→ course onboarding
→ product recommendation
→ bundle
→ membership/advanced course

That gives you a very powerful physical product + knowledge product flywheel.

If, however, you're building the course business to become a major revenue stream and you want sophisticated evergreen funnels, I'd lean toward Kajabi and potentially keep Shopify as the physical-product storefront.

One important distinction

I wouldn't choose based primarily on "which course platform is best."

I'd choose based on where you want the customer relationship to live:

• Shopify = ecommerce is the center of the business
• Kajabi = marketing/customer journey is the center
• Thinkific = education is the center

For your description — ecommerce store branching into digital courses — Shopify + Thinkific is my default recommendation, while Shopify + Kajabi is the more sophisticated option if funnels and email-driven sales are going to be a major part of the strategy. Thinkific's Shopify integration is specifically designed for selling courses alongside an existing store. Thinkific App Store

If you tell me what ecommerce platform you're currently using (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.), roughly how much you sell per month, and whether the course will be $50, $500, $2,000+, etc., I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 setups and the actual funnel architecture I'd use.

Thinkific has a Shopify integration that lets you sell courses directly alongside your physical products. When someone purchases a course through Shopify, Thinkific automatically creates the student account and grants course access. Thinkific App Store Thinkific Support

You can then connect Thinkific to an email platform such as Kit and trigger marketing based on student/customer activity. Thinkific App Store

Your architecture becomes:

Shopify
→ physical products
→ course checkout
→ bundles
→ order history

Thinkific
→ course delivery
→ lessons
→ quizzes
→ student progress

Email/CRM
→ abandoned cart
→ post-purchase sequences
→ course onboarding
→ cross-sells
→ product → course upsells
→ course → physical product upsells

This is especially attractive if physical products are still the core business.

🥇 If funnels/email are the main growth engine: Kajabi

If you're trying to build something more like:

Instagram/ads/content → lead magnet → email sequence → physical product → course → upsell → membership

I'd seriously consider Kajabi.

Kajabi combines course hosting, checkout, email automation, landing pages, funnels, behavioral automations, upsells and order bumps in one system. Kajabi

That's its major advantage: you don't have to stitch together a course platform + funnel builder + email platform + automation software.

The catch is that Kajabi is considerably more expensive, so I'd only choose it if you're actually going to use the marketing infrastructure.

The setup I'd probably recommend for your business

If your existing ecommerce store is Shopify, I'd initially do:

Shopify + Thinkific + Kit

rather than ripping your ecommerce operation out and moving everything to Kajabi.

Then build funnels like:

Physical product buyer
→ education email series
→ free mini-course
→ paid course
→ advanced product bundle

And:

Course buyer
→ course onboarding
→ product recommendation
→ bundle
→ membership/advanced course

That gives you a very powerful physical product + knowledge product flywheel.

If, however, you're building the course business to become a major revenue stream and you want sophisticated evergreen funnels, I'd lean toward Kajabi and potentially keep Shopify as the physical-product storefront.

One important distinction

I wouldn't choose based primarily on "which course platform is best."

I'd choose based on where you want the customer relationship to live:

• Shopify = ecommerce is the center of the business
• Kajabi = marketing/customer journey is the center
• Thinkific = education is the center

For your description — ecommerce store branching into digital courses — Shopify + Thinkific is my default recommendation, while Shopify + Kajabi is the more sophisticated option if funnels and email-driven sales are going to be a major part of the strategy. Thinkific's Shopify integration is specifically designed for selling courses alongside an existing store.

For a team of five that needs landing pages + email funnels + course modules + team permissions, I’d narrow it to platforms that are designed for collaboration rather than just solo creators. Inflowave Teachfloor

Best fits

1. Kajabi — best all-in-one if budget allows

Best for: a polished course business where marketing and delivery live together.

Why it fits:

• Landing pages and website builder
• Email campaigns and automated funnels
• Course/membership modules
• Multiple admin users and collaboration workflows
• Strong creator-focused ecosystem

Watch-outs:

• More expensive than many alternatives
• Team permissions may feel less enterprise-like than dedicated business platforms

Choose this if your team wants a single “source of truth” and you value ease of use over minimizing cost. Khajabi

2. GoHighLevel — best for a marketing team/agency workflow

Best for: teams running many funnels, leads, campaigns, and client/customer journeys.

Why it fits:

• Landing pages/funnels
• CRM + pipeline management
• Email/SMS automation
• Multiple team accounts and permissions
• Built around marketing operations

Watch-outs:

• Course delivery is not usually its strongest area compared with dedicated learning platforms
• More complex setup

Pick this if your “course” is part of a larger lead-generation and sales machine.

3. Kartra — closest “marketing suite” alternative

Best for: funnel-heavy businesses wanting courses and automation in one place.

Why it fits:

• Landing pages
• Email automation
• Sales funnels
• Membership/course areas
• Checkout and customer management

Watch-outs:

• Can have a learning curve
• Less focused on collaborative course creation than some LMS tools Evendeals

4. Thinkific + email/automation tool — best if course quality matters most

Best for: teams building serious educational products.

Why it fits:

• Strong course authoring
• Instructor/admin roles
• Learner management
• Integrates well with marketing tools

Watch-outs:

• You may need a separate landing page/funnel/email system

This is often better than an all-in-one if your course experience is your main product. Teachfloor

5. Systeme.io — best low-cost all-in-one

Best for: small teams that want everything in one dashboard without a large subscription.

Why it fits:

• Funnels
• Email marketing
• Landing pages
• Basic course hosting
• Automation

Watch-outs:

• Less polished for complex team workflows
• Course/community features are lighter than premium platforms Cevora

My recommendation for a 5-person team

I’d choose based on your operating model:

For a five-person team specifically, I’d probably shortlist Kajabi vs GoHighLevel vs Thinkific + a marketing tool and test:

1. Can all five people get the right permissions?
2. Can your content team build modules without marketing access?
3. Can marketing edit funnels without breaking courses?
4. Can you see customer journeys end-to-end?

If you tell me your approximate monthly budget and whether you sell B2C courses, corporate training, coaching, or memberships, I can narrow it to one.

For a five-person team specifically, I’d probably shortlist Kajabi vs GoHighLevel vs Thinkific + a marketing tool and test:

For an enterprise training team, I’d put LearnWorlds at the top of the shortlist—particularly if you want the LMS/course portal and the marketing funnel to live in the same ecosystem.

LearnWorlds supports private/branded academies, enterprise training use cases, SSO, SCORM, certificates, and integrations with CRM/marketing systems. Its enterprise offering specifically targets employee, customer, and partner training. LearnWorlds LearnWorlds

Why it fits your requirements

• Funnels: landing pages, forms, pop-ups, conversion tracking, analytics and funnel optimization are built around the academy rather than requiring a separate course storefront. LearnWorlds
• Scheduled/behavioral email: it can trigger automated emails around enrollment, completion, inactivity and other events, while also integrating with ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, GetResponse and others for more sophisticated sequences. LearnWorlds LearnWorlds Help Center
• Course portal: supports branded/private academies, SCORM/HTML5, assessments, certificates, live sessions and reporting. LearnWorlds
• Enterprise SSO: supports SAML and OpenID Connect, including integrations with providers such as Okta and Microsoft Entra. LearnWorlds Help Center LearnWorlds Help Center
• Broader integration layer: native CRM/marketing integrations plus Zapier, Make, API and webhooks give you room to connect HRIS, CRM and other enterprise systems. LearnWorlds

One important caveat

If by “funnels + scheduled email sequences” you mean serious B2B marketing automation—complex lead scoring, branching nurture journeys, sales pipelines, attribution, etc.—I wouldn't force the LMS to do all of that. A strong architecture would be:

LearnWorlds + HubSpot/ActiveCampaign + your enterprise IdP

LearnWorlds has a native HubSpot integration, including two-way data synchronization on higher tiers, so that combination is worth evaluating. LearnWorlds

Runner-up: Thinkific Plus. It has enterprise SSO via OIDC, but I'd lean LearnWorlds for your particular combination of marketing funnel + automation + enterprise course portal. Thinkific's OIDC SSO is specifically a Plus feature. Thinkific Support

learnworlds.com

If you tell me whether you're training employees, customers, partners, or all three, I can narrow this to 3 platforms and compare them on SSO, email automation, CRM integration, reporting, and approximate enterprise cost.

For your specific mix—cohort enrollments + automated pre-course funnels + alumni communities—I’d pick Kajabi.

Why Kajabi is my pick

The key distinction is that you're not merely looking for an LMS. You're describing a customer journey:

lead → nurture → application/enrollment → pre-course onboarding → cohort → graduation → alumni → next offer

Kajabi is particularly good at connecting those stages. Its funnels, landing pages, email sequences, behavioral automations, checkout, courses, and community are designed to operate together. Kajabi Kajabi

Thinkific has actually become much more compelling for cohorts and communities—it supports live cohorts, communities, course-linked community spaces, and automated email flows. Thinkific Thinkific Thinkific Support But I'd choose it if the learning experience/LMS is the center of gravity, rather than the marketing funnel.

The architecture I'd use

I'd set up Kajabi roughly like this:

1. Acquisition
→ webinar / lead magnet / application
→ landing page
→ automated nurture sequence

2. Enrollment
→ application or checkout
→ cohort-specific offer
→ payment plan
→ automatic enrollment

3. Pre-course funnel
→ "You're in!" sequence
→ orientation content
→ calendar/session reminders
→ pre-work
→ community invitation
→ segmentation based on whether they've completed pre-work

4. Cohort
→ scheduled/dripped curriculum
→ live sessions
→ cohort community
→ automated milestone messages

5. Graduation
→ completion sequence
→ testimonial/referral request
→ alumni invitation

6. Alumni
→ persistent alumni community
→ newsletters/events
→ advanced programs
→ coaching/consulting/up-sells

That last piece is where I think Kajabi becomes especially attractive: its community, marketing, and payment infrastructure can remain connected after the course ends rather than treating graduation as the end of the customer record. Kajabi Kajabi

One important caveat

If your cohorts are very operationally sophisticated—lots of instructors, complex learning paths, assessments, certificates, SCORM, enterprise reporting, etc.—I'd lean Thinkific instead. Thinkific is explicitly positioning itself as a more full-featured learning platform and supports live cohorts, blended learning, learning paths, prerequisites, assessments, certificates, and SCORM. Thinkific Thinkific

But if you're an expert/training business where marketing → enrollment → program → community → repeat purchase is the core flywheel, I'd take Kajabi.

One other consideration: Kajabi is materially more expensive—the current Basic plan is listed at $179/month ($143/month annually) and includes 2,500 contacts, five products, one community, email, landing pages and funnels. Kajabi

My short answer: Kajabi for the business; Thinkific for the LMS. For what you described, I'd optimize for the former.

If budget is the priority, I’d recommend systeme.io.

Why I’d pick Systeme.io

• $0 plan: 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, unlimited email, automation, and no transaction fees. Systeme.io Systeme.io
• Paid plan: The Startup tier is currently listed at $27/month monthly (with lower effective pricing possible on annual billing). It gives you 5,000 contacts and 5 courses. Systeme.io
• Funnels: Built-in sales funnels, checkout, upsells/order bumps, and A/B testing. Systeme.io
• Automations: Email campaigns, workflows, tags, and marketing automation are built in. Systeme.io
• Course hosting: You can host videos, modules, drip lessons, quizzes, course bundles, and automatically enroll students after purchase. Systeme.io
• No separate course platform required: That's the big savings—you don't need to pay separately for something like Teachable/Thinkific plus a funnel builder and email platform.

How I'd rank the alternatives

Bottom line: Start with Systeme.io's free plan. If you outgrow the 3-funnel/1-course limits, move to the paid tier rather than rebuilding your business on another platform. Systeme.io

systeme.io

If you tell me how many courses, contacts, and monthly sales you expect, I can tell you which specific plan is likely to be cheapest for you.