ThriveCart vs Teachable – Which Is Better?

Teachable and ThriveCart are both popular platforms that allow you to create and sell online courses.

While Teachable primarily focuses on course creation and marketing tools, ThriveCart offers a comprehensive checkout system with built-in LMS features.

If you are considering one of these platforms for your business, it’s essential to evaluate them on all factors including features, benefits, integration capabilities, affiliates programs and more.

In this article, we will discuss these at length. It will help you decide which platform suits you better.

Let’s dive in.

ThriveCart

ThriveCart is a shopping cart software designed for digital entrepreneurs to simplify the process of selling digital products, such as e-books, courses, and membership sites.

It offers a range of features to help users create high-converting checkout pages, manage subscriptions, and boost profits through upsells and downsells.

Key Features

1. Simple and User-Friendly Interface: ThriveCart has a clean and intuitive interface, making it easy for users to set up and manage their digital products without extensive technical knowledge.
2. Payment Options and Coupons: It supports various payment options, including one-time fees, multiple payment plans, subscriptions, buy now pay later, and name-your-price. It also offers customizable coupons with expiration dates and limited uses.
3. Customizable Checkout Pages: ThriveCart offers a range of customizable checkout page templates that can be easily tweaked using drag-and-drop functionality, making it easy to create high-converting pages.
4. Recurring Subscriptions and Membership Sites: The platform supports recurring subscriptions and membership sites, making it suitable for businesses offering ongoing services or subscription packages.
5. Affiliate Program: ThriveCart has a built-in affiliate program, allowing users to easily enable affiliates to promote their products.

Limitations of Using ThriveCart

ThriveCart comes with its share of limitations that may be deciding factors while choosing the right platform for your business.

Take a look at the areas where it lacks:

1. Limited Templates: ThriveCart has a limited selection of templates, which may not be sufficient for all users.
2. No Business Growth Tools: It does not offer tools for business growth, such as a CRM or built-in webinars, which may be necessary for larger businesses.
3. No Marketplace for Expert Services: The platform does not have a marketplace for expert services or third-party funnels, which may limit its use for certain types of businesses.
4. No Fulfillment for Digital Products: ThriveCart does not allow direct fulfillment of digital products, requiring users to host their files elsewhere.
5. No Complete Checkout Solution: It is primarily a checkout system and not a full-fledged shopping cart, which can limit its functionality for certain types of businesses.
6. No Physical Product Fulfillment: The platformis designed for digital products and does not support physical product fulfillment, which can be a limitation for businesses that sell physical goods.

These limitations should be considered when evaluating whether ThriveCart is the right choice for your specific business needs.

Also read: ThriveCart vs Stripe

Teachable

Teachable is an online course platform that helps creators build, market, and sell subscription-based online courses.

It offers a range of features to simplify the process of creating and managing online courses.

Key Features

1. Easy to Use Course Builder: Teachable provides an intuitive drag-and-drop course builder that makes it easy for anyone to create courses, even without technical knowledge.
2. Customizable Checkout Pages: It allows users to create customizable checkout pages for their courses, making it easy to sell their products.
3. Student Engagement Tools: Teachable offers tools to keep students engaged, such as graded quizzes and course compliance features. Users can track student progress and assess their performance.
4. Branding and Customization: Teachable allows users to match their school to their personal brand with a variety of customizations. Users can remove Teachable branding and use custom CSS to ensure their school and products are on-brand.
5. Advanced Features: Teachable offers advanced features for users on higher plan tiers, such as custom user roles, bulk student imports, and course compliance tools. These features allow users to customize their offerings and grow their business.

Limitations of Using Teachable

Users also highlight certain drawbacks of using Teachable, such as:

1. Limited Customization Options: Teachable’s design and layout options are somewhat limited, making it difficult to fully customize course pages to match a brand or desired aesthetic.
2. Limited Marketing Features: Teachable’s marketing features are basic and may not be as robust as those offered by other course platforms. Users may need to integrate Teachable with third-party tools for more advanced marketing capabilities.
3. Transaction Fees: Teachable charges transaction fees on all sales, in addition to any payment processing fees, which can eat into profits.
4. Limited Course Types: Teachable is primarily designed for creating and selling video-based courses. It may not be suitable for interactive or live courses.
5. No Built-in Sales Funnels: Teachable does not offer built-in sales funnels, which can be a disadvantage for users looking to create more complex marketing campaigns.
6. Limited Reporting: Teachable’s reporting tools are somewhat limited, making it difficult t work well for complex or nuanced tasks that require more data or customization.

Check out: Does ThriveCart Host Courses?

Course Creation & Customization

Course Structure

• • ThriveCart: Allows for flexible course structures with projects that can contain videos, courses, notes, and more. You can also clone courses for later use.
  • Teachable: Offers more traditional course structures with modules, lessons, and quizzes. It also supports various multimedia formats like videos, PDFs, and quizzes.

Customization

• • ThriveCart: Provides a well-organized interface with features like projects and cloning, making it easy to manage and customize courses. It also integrates well with popular platforms.
  • Teachable: Offers a more comprehensive set of customization options, including course analytics, video heatmaps, and retention graphs. It also supports live chat and AI capabilities for course outline and quiz creation.

ThriveCart Learn excels in its flexibility and ease of use, while Teachable offers more advanced features and customization options.

Explore: How To Build Landing Pages With ThriveCart?

Marketing & Sales

Sales Funnel Integration

• ThriveCart: Offers seamless integration with popular marketing platforms like Facebook and email marketing campaigns, making it easy to create attractive checkout pages and sales funnels.
• Teachable: Provides a flexible editor for creating attractive sales pages and supports integrations with over 40 premium apps, including popular marketing and sales tools.

Upselling & Cross-Selling

• ThriveCart: Features the 1-click Upsell and Bump features, which allow for easy upselling and cross-selling of related products within a single payment.
• Teachable: Does not have specific features for upselling and cross-selling, but users can use other tools to achieve these goals.

While both platforms offer marketing and sales features, ThriveCart Learn appears to be the better choice for those focused on creating attractive sales funnels, and upselling and cross-selling products.

Read this too: Best ThriveCart Alternatives

Integration & Compatibility

Integration with Popular Platforms

• • ThriveCart: Integrates well with popular platforms like Hubspot, PayPal, and Stripe, making it easy to manage payments and sales.
  • Teachable: Supports integrations with over 40 premium apps, including popular marketing and sales tools.

Compatibility

• • ThriveCart: Offers seamless integration with various platforms, including email marketing and payment processors, allowing for flexibility in course creation and marketing..
  • Teachable: Provides a comprehensive set of tools for course creation and marketing, but its compatibility with other platforms is not as impressive as that of ThriveCart.

Although Teachable scores well in terms of integration with other platforms, its compatibility with other platforms might be limited compared to ThriveCart.

You might like this: Shopify vs Sellfy

Student Experience

Variety of Content Formats

• Teachable offers a wide variety of content formats, including PDFs, text, videos, images, and more, to enhance student engagement and understanding.
• ThriveCart is limited to just text and videos, and does not support PDF downloadables.

Groups and Discussion Boards

• • Teachable allows setting up groups and discussion boards to facilitate student interaction and offer one-on-one coaching lessons for extra income.
  • ThriveCart does not have specific features for groups and discussion boards.

Mobile App

• • Teachable provides a mobile app for students to access courses from anywhere, enhancing flexibility and accessibility.
  • ThriveCart does not have a dedicated mobile app for students.

Course Compliance

• • Teachable offers features to ensure students follow a specific course order for better understanding and retention, and monitors their progress.
  • ThriveCart does not have built-in course compliance features to restrict student access to lessons.

Teachable excels in providing a more engaging and interactive student experience with its variety of content formats, groups and discussion boards, mobile app, and course compliance features.

ThriveCart, being a newer platform, lacks some of these specialized student experience features compared to Teachable.

Also read: Shopify vs Etsy

Analytics & Reporting

Thrivecart

• Limited Analytics: ThriveCart provides basic analytics for sales and revenue, but it does not offer detailed student analytics like Teachable.
• No Student-Level Analytics: ThriveCart does not provide student-level analytics, such as progress tracking, quiz and assignment performance, and video engagement, which are essential for understanding student behavior and improving course content.
• No Course Completion Certifications: ThriveCart does not offer course completion certifications, which are a key feature for acknowledging student achievements and motivating them to continue learning.

Teachable

• Detailed Student Analytics: Teachable offers detailed student analytics, including progress tracking, quiz and assignment performance, video engagement, and more, to help educators understand student behavior and tailor courses accordingly.
• Course Completion Certifications: Teachable allows for downloadable course completion certifications with unique serial numbers and customizable templates to acknowledge student achievements and motivate them to continue learning.
• Comprehensive Dashboards: Teachable provides comprehensive dashboards for tracking sales and student insights, making it easier to monitor and improve course performance.

Teachable excels in providing detailed student analytics and course completion certifications, which are essential for understanding student behavior and acknowledging their achievements.

ThriveCart, on the other hand, is more focused on optimizing the checkout process and sales funnel, but lacks the advanced analytics and reporting features offered by Teachable.

Check out: ThriveCart vs ConvertKit

Affiliate Programs

ThriveCart

• Lifetime Access: ThriveCart offers lifetime access to its affiliate program, which means once you join, you can earn commissions for life without any recurring fees.
• Commission Structure: ThriveCart offers a flat commission rate of 50% on all sales made through your affiliate link.
• Cookie Duration: ThriveCart has a 60-day cookie duration, which means that if someone clicks on your affiliate link and buys within 60 days, you earn the commission.
• Affiliate Tools: ThriveCart provides a range of affiliate tools, including banners, email swipes, and social media posts, to help you promote their products effectively.

Teachable

• Recurring Fees: Teachable has recurring fees for its affiliate program, which means you need to pay a monthly or annual fee to maintain your affiliate status.
• Commission Structure: Teachable offers a tiered commission structure, with commissions ranging from 30% to 50% based on the number of sales you generate.
• Cookie Duration: Teachable has a 30-day cookie duration, which means that if someone clicks on your affiliate link and buys within 30 days, you earn the commission.
• Affiliate Tools: Teachable provides a range of affiliate tools, including banners, email swipes, and social media posts, to help you promote their products effectively.

ThriveCart’s affiliate program offers lifetime access and a flat commission rate, making it more attractive for long-term earnings.

Teachable’s affiliate program has recurring fees and a tiered commission structure, which may be more suitable for those who want to earn commissions quickly.

Explore: 6 Best SamCart Templates

Conclusion

ThriveCart and Teachable are both powerful platforms for creating and selling online courses, but they cater to different needs and goals.

ThriveCart excels in optimizing the checkout process and sales funnel, making it ideal for those focused on maximizing conversions and revenue.

Teachable, on the other hand, is a comprehensive platform for course creation and marketing, offering advanced features like detailed student analytics, course compliance, and course completion certifications.

While Teachable is better suited for educators and content creators, ThriveCart is a cost-effective option for those looking to streamline their checkout process and sales funnel.

The choice between ThriveCart and Teachable finally comes down to your specific needs and priorities. Pick the one that suits you better.