LinkedIn Learning vs Thinkific

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Our analysts compared LinkedIn Learning vs Thinkific 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

LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda.com, creates and hosts online courses for business, technology, creative services and certifications. Used by SMBs and in enterprise settings, it’s not a distinct learning platform; however, it does offer classes and video tutorials. Workers can build competencies in an individual subject or follow predefined paths for a comprehensive overview. Courses include graphic design, audio/visual editing, database management, leadership training, soft skills and a range of industry-specific information.
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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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$379.88/Seat, Annually
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Tailored to your specific needs
$49/Feature, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

Documentation
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Live Online
Videos
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Videos
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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Product Insights

  • Learning Paths: Take a bundle of specific classes to teach subjects comprehensively. Some of the paths include Digital Marketer, Graphic Designer, Manager, Project Coordinator and more. Give employees necessary training in a structured way.
  • Scalability: Plan for rapid growth. Accommodate more learners as the organization grows with scalable pricing and feature sets. Ensure that the system lasts more than a few years, cutting down on costly upgrades.
  • Close Skills Gap: Sort through information from LinkedIn to help students and administrators identify where they fall short of their peers. Ensure that all learners are caught up on core competencies. Then, get recommendations for courses or learning paths based on the insights.
  • Employee Engagement: Use micro-learning to keep employees interested. Provide videos and tutorials in bite-sized bits to ensure they have the information and can consume it quickly. Make workers feel more confident with comprehensive training.
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  • 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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  • Content Library: Choose from a vast number of courses, videos and tutorials from a platform that generally adds more than 60 pieces of content per week. Analyze learning patterns and use the insights to find classes for the industry’s most relevant hard and soft skills.
  • Certification Prep: Quiz, train and prepare workers who want to advance in the industry via certifications. Choose from popular, valuable certifications such as Google, Linux, Microsoft, Oracle, PMI, Six Sigma, CompTIA and more.
  • Instructor-Led Courses: Give workers a face-to-face experience with experts that have real, practical field experience. Let them ask questions and request further help from someone who knows what they’re doing. Encourage conversations with industry experts to reinforce and explain content.
  • Reporting Dashboard: Measure the effectiveness of training through different data and analytics, allowing the staff to see how their education initiatives work. Pull reports and share relevant findings with leaders.
  • Integrations: Integrates with various online education and talent management products, including Absorb, Adobe Captivate, Blackboard, Bridge, Canvas, Cornerstone, D2L, Docebo, SAP SuccessFactors, and more.
  • Continuing Education: Provide employees with the opportunity to maintain certification or compliance through appropriate credit. Choose from a range of courses designed to satisfy specific requirements.
  • Translations: Provide access to students who speak different languages such as German, French, English, Japanese, Spanish and more. Help standardize training across an international organization.
  • Personalized Recommendations: Give workers course options that apply perfectly to their fields based on previously entered LinkedIn information. Suggest skills, courses, certifications, videos and learning paths that enrich employees.
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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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Product Ranking

#44

among all
LMS Software

#57

among all
LMS Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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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 12 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 491 reviews
96%
of users recommend this product

LinkedIn Learning has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 96% when considering 12 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

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.

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4.7 (171)
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4.49 (155)
4.8 (12)
4.6 (133)
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4.2 (32)

Awards

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

User Favorite Award

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

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Extensive Content Library: Users appreciate the vast and diverse collection of courses available, covering a wide range of topics from business and technology to creative skills. The platform offers over 18,000 expert-led courses.
High-Quality Courses: LinkedIn Learning is known for its high-quality courses, featuring industry experts and thought leaders as instructors. The production value of the courses is consistently high, with clear audio and video, engaging visuals, and well-structured content.
Personalized Recommendations: The platform provides personalized course recommendations based on users' profiles, interests, and learning history. This helps users discover relevant content and build a customized learning path.
Integration with LinkedIn: LinkedIn Learning seamlessly integrates with the LinkedIn platform, allowing users to showcase their completed courses and earned certificates on their profiles. This can enhance professional visibility and credibility.
Offline Viewing: The platform offers the ability to download courses for offline viewing, enabling users to learn on the go or in areas with limited internet connectivity.
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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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Limited Course Selection: The platform's course offerings primarily focus on business, technology, and creative skills, potentially leaving gaps in specialized or niche areas.
Subscription-Based Model: Access to LinkedIn Learning's content requires a recurring subscription fee, which may not be ideal for individuals or organizations with limited budgets or those seeking specific, one-time learning experiences.
Variable Content Quality: While LinkedIn Learning hosts a vast library of courses, the quality and depth of content can vary significantly between individual courses and instructors.
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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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Get "linked in" to the world of online learning with LinkedIn Learning!  This platform has been making waves in the e-learning scene, but is it the right fit for your needs?  Let's dive into what users have been saying about LinkedIn Learning over the past year.  Users appreciate the vast and diverse course library covering technical skills, creative pursuits, and business acumen.  The platform's integration with LinkedIn is a major plus, allowing users to showcase their newly acquired skills on their profiles and potentially catch the eye of recruiters.  The bite-sized course format is perfect for busy professionals who want to learn on the go.  However, some users find the content to be more surface-level than in-depth, and the lack of interactive elements can make the learning experience feel passive.  While LinkedIn Learning may not be ideal for those seeking comprehensive, hands-on training, it's a valuable resource for professionals looking to upskill or reskill conveniently and efficiently.  The platform's seamless integration with LinkedIn and its focus on career development make it particularly well-suited for individuals seeking to advance their careers or explore new job opportunities.

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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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Screenshots

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