Mini Lessons Academy vs Thinkific
Creating Your Course With AI vs Growing a Course Business
Last updated October 2026
The Short Answer
- Both tools host and sell online courses.
- Mini Lessons Academy is a better match if you want AI to build the course from your expertise or documents and sell it from one place, starting at $35/mo.
- Thinkific is a better match if you already have courses and are growing a catalog, with communities, bundles, upsells, payment plans, and an optional branded mobile app.
- Thinkific starts at $109/mo, or $82/mo billed annually, and has a 30-day free trial.
Homepage, November 2026
Built for
Experts who sell what they know
From $35/mo
Homepage, November 2026
Built for
Growing course businesses with communities
From $109/mo
Overview
How They Differ
Mini Lessons Academy and Thinkific both host courses, enroll students, and take payments. They help with different stages of the work.
Mini Lessons Academy is an AI course creator that turns your expertise, documents, or videos into a finished online course, then hosts it and sells it for you with Stripe checkout built in. Thinkific's tagline is "Serious growth. Surprisingly simple." It's a course business platform, and its official AI features are a course outline generator and a quiz generator.
This page uses each company's own website. Mini Lessons Academy publishes this page, so we've stuck to facts each company states about itself.
Before You Compare
Three Questions to Answer First
Are You Creating Your First Course or Growing a Catalog?
Creating a course needs help with the content itself. Growing a catalog needs selling tools: bundles (several products sold together), upsells (extra offers after a purchase), and payment plans (paying in installments).
Do You Want a Community?
Some platforms include discussion spaces and live events for students. If community is central to your offer, check what's included on each plan.
What's the Full Monthly Cost?
Compare the plan price, any transaction fee (the percentage a platform keeps from each sale), payment processing fees, and paid add-ons.
Product
What Thinkific Offers
Thinkific is built for creators and companies that sell courses as a business and want to grow, with mature checkout tools, communities, and student management.
- An AI course outline generator and a quiz generator that works from your existing course content
- Hosted checkout with coupons, bundles, upsells, order bumps, and multi-currency
- One-time, subscription, and payment-plan pricing
- Communities with live events, and a branded mobile app as a $199/mo add-on
Where Thinkific Is Strongest
Mature Selling Tools
Coupons, bundles, upsells, order bumps, multi-currency, and payment plans suit a growing catalog.
Communities Built In,
with live events, so students can learn together.
A 30-day Free Trial,
longer than MLA's 7-day trial.
Unlimited Courses and Products
on every plan.
Product
How MLA Works
Mini Lessons Academy is built for coaches, consultants, and subject matter experts who want to turn what they already know into a course people can buy. You can start from an idea, or upload PDFs, docs, slides, or a YouTube link. MLA builds a full course in minutes. MLA has 100,000+ courses created and an 83%+ completion rate.
- Upload your material, or start from an idea
- MLA builds lessons, quizzes, exams with AI grading, and speaker scripts around your content
- Edit every word, or ask Canvas mode for changes in plain language
- Publish with an auto-generated landing page, a storefront, and Stripe checkout
Where MLA Is Strongest
The AI Writes the Full Course
MLA builds complete lessons, quizzes, exams, and speaker scripts from your own material. Thinkific's official AI builds an outline and quizzes; you write the lessons.
Builds from Your Files and Keeps Your Wording
Upload PDFs, docs, slides, or a YouTube link, and use the "keep my document" option to keep your text as written.
Lower Entry Price
MLA starts at $35/mo ($300/yr). Thinkific starts at $109/mo ($82/mo billed annually).
Email Campaigns on Every Plan
MLA includes 10 to 100 email campaigns a month by plan. On Thinkific, bulk email to students starts on Grow ($219/mo).
Comparison
Feature Comparison: MLA vs Thinkific
| Feature | Mini Lessons Academy | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Built mainly for | Creating a course with AI, then selling it | Growing a course business and catalog |
| Start from your own files | PDFs, docs, slides, YouTube link | Not documented |
| What the AI builds | Full course: lessons, quizzes, exams with AI grading, speaker scripts | Course outline and quizzes; AI teaching assistant on Plus |
| Ebooks and audiobooks | Yes | Not mentioned on site |
| AI video | Slideshow, presenter, cinematic (allowance by plan) | Not mentioned on site |
| Sell courses | Stripe | Thinkific Payments, Stripe, or PayPal |
| Platform fee per sale | 0% to 5% depending on your plan. See pricing | None with Thinkific Payments (standard processing fees apply). Third-party gateway surcharge: Start 2%, Grow 1%, Expand 0.5%, Plus 0% |
| Selling tools | Storefront, bundles, subscription tiers, landing pages | Coupons, bundles, upsells, order bumps, payment plans, multi-currency |
| Courses and products | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Students | Unlimited | 10,000 current students on Start, Grow, and Expand |
| Email campaigns, 10 to 100 a month by plan | Email automation templates on every plan; bulk email on Grow and up | |
| Communities | Lesson comments: open discussion, or private questions to you | With live events |
| SCORM | SCORM 1.2 and 2004 | Import, Plus only |
| Branded mobile app | No | $199/mo add-on |
| Free plan or trial | 7-day free trial | Free plan. 30-day free trial |
Pricing
Pricing Side by Side
USD list prices.
USDHustlers
$35/mo or $300/yr
Founders
$75/mo or $660/yr
Legends
$150/mo or $1,300/yr
Enterprise
Custom
7-day free trial on monthly plans. 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan.
USDStart
$109/mo or $82/mo billed annually
Grow
$219/mo or $164/mo billed annually
Expand
$499/mo or $374/mo billed annually
Plus
Custom
List prices from Thinkific's own pricing page.
What Is Limited Per Month
- MLA: document uploads (35 / 100 / 300), videos, and audiobooks, plus a per-sale fee on Hustlers and Founders. Courses and students are unlimited.
- Thinkific: 10,000 current students on Start to Expand; bulk email from Grow; white-labeled student email from Expand; AI teaching assistant and SCORM on Plus. The branded mobile app is a $199/mo add-on. Thinkific Payments processing is listed at 2.9%.
How to compare total cost: at $2,000 a month in sales, MLA Hustlers costs $35 plus a $100 fee, and Thinkific Start costs $109 (monthly billing), plus a 2% ($40) surcharge if you use a third-party gateway instead of Thinkific Payments. At higher sales, compare MLA Legends ($150/mo, 0% fee) with Thinkific's plans. Payment processing fees apply on both.
Who Each Fits
Choose MLA If / Choose Thinkific If
Choose Mini Lessons Academy If
- You want AI to write the course from your own notes, PDFs, slides, or talks
- You're launching a first course or want a lower monthly price
- You want email campaigns included from the entry plan
- You'd like an ebook, audiobook, or lead magnet from the same material
- You may need SCORM export for corporate or school clients
For example: a fitness coach turning a training guide into a paid course and audiobook; an expert testing a first course before investing in a larger platform.
Choose Thinkific If
- You already have courses and are growing a catalog
- You want bundles, upsells, order bumps, and payment plans
- Community and live events are part of your offer
- You'd like a branded mobile app
- You want a 30-day trial to explore before paying
For example: a course business with several programs and a student community; a training company selling bundles in multiple currencies.
Your Decision
Which One Fits You
Mini Lessons Academy suits you if you want the course itself built from your expertise, then hosted and sold from one place, at a lower monthly price.
Thinkific suits you if you're growing a course business and want mature selling tools, community, and room to scale a catalog you've already built.
The question is whether you need help creating courses or help growing a course business.
Some creators use MLA to build courses, ebooks, and lead magnets from their material, then export it to host elsewhere. MLA exports PDF and DOCX on every plan, and SCORM on Founders and up. You can also embed a course page on another site with MLA's embed code (an iframe). Thinkific imports SCORM on its Plus plan; on other plans, upload the PDF, DOCX, or audio files to lessons.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mini Lessons Academy a good Thinkific alternative?
Yes, if you want AI to create the course. MLA builds full lessons, quizzes, and exams from your documents and includes landing pages, Stripe checkout, and email campaigns, starting at $35/mo. If you're growing a large catalog and want communities, upsells, and a branded app, Thinkific offers more of that.
Does Thinkific have an AI course creator?
Thinkific's official AI features are a course outline generator and a quiz generator that works from your existing course content. An AI teaching assistant for learners is on the custom-priced Plus plan. It doesn't write full lessons for you.
Which costs less, Thinkific or MLA?
MLA starts at $35/mo and Thinkific at $109/mo ($82/mo billed annually). MLA charges a per-sale fee of 5% on Hustlers and 2% on Founders (0% on Legends). Thinkific Payments has standard processing fees and no extra sales fee. With a third-party gateway, Thinkific adds 2% on Start, 1% on Grow, 0.5% on Expand, and 0% on Plus. Regional limits apply (thinkific.com/pricing).
Which has the longer free trial?
Thinkific, with 30 days. MLA has a 7-day free trial on monthly plans (annual plans have no trial) and a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan. Neither has a free plan.
Which one exports SCORM?
MLA exports SCORM 1.2 and 2004 on Founders and up. Thinkific lists SCORM on its Plus plan, for importing and delivering SCORM content inside Thinkific.
Do students finish courses built with Mini Lessons Academy?
Mini Lessons Academy reports an 83%+ completion rate across 100,000+ courses created. Short lessons, built-in quizzes, and a clear outcome for each module are part of how MLA structures every course.
Verified October 2026
Try Both With Your Own Material
Run the same document through each one and compare the drafts side by side.