Comparing MemberSpace and Thinkific: Features, Pricing, and More

Are you trying to choose between MemberSpace and Thinkific? Both platforms are used to create membership sites, but they offer different features and have different strengths.

I’ve analyzed both platforms and provided a detailed comparison to aid your decision making process.

Overview of MemberSpace and Thinkific

What is MemberSpace?

MemberSpace is a flexible platform that can be integrated into any website builder, such as WIX, WordPress, or Squarespace. It focuses on turning your existing site into a membership platform.

You have manage your content and monetize your material. You can manage your members and interact with your audience with MemberSpace’s user-friendly design.

Features of MemberSpace

  1. Website Integration: MemberSpace integrates into any website builder, such as WIX, WordPress, or Squarespace.
  2. Customizable Access: You can control the content to be visible to members and offer a high level of flexibility in managing access.
  3. Multiple Payment Options: You can make one-time payments, subscription plans, or free trials.
  4. Member Management: Easily manage and monitor your members and send emails to targeted groups.
  5. Security Features: Your content is secured and only members with the right permissions can access certain areas.

What is Thinkific?

Thinkific is an all-in-one platform for creating, marketing, and selling courses to trusted members.

It is best suited for educators and course creators who look to make money through their knowledge by courses, membership programs, and digital content.

Features of Thinkific

  1. Course Creation: You can access comprehensive tools for building online courses and provide certificates upon course completion.
  2. Membership Plans: You can give access to specific courses, videos, or content depending on the tier and create different membership levels.
  3. Drip Content: It allows you to schedule content releases, meaning you can gradually release material to keep members engaged over time.
  4. Sales & Marketing Tools: It integrates with many marketing tools and provides the ability to sell memberships, bundles, and more through built-in payment gateways.
  5. Student Management: The platform includes detailed insights and analytics to track student progress and engagement, making it ideal for course-based membership sites.

Differences Between MemberSpace and Thinkific

Target Audience

MemberSpace:

  • It is designed for website owners who want to add membership features to their existing site.
  • It can be integrated with most website builders like WordPress, Squarespace, WIX, Weebly, and others.
  • It’s ideal for users who want to create exclusive areas for members for their present site.

Thinkific:

  • It is tailored for educators, course creators, and businesses focused on selling online courses.
  • It is best suited for users who want to manage both courses and memberships in one place.

Platform Integration

MemberSpace:

It integrates seamlessly with existing websites built on platforms like:

  • Wix
  • Squarespace
  • WordPress
  • Weebly
  • Webflow

The flexibility is great if you want to lock certain pages or content behind a paywall. It allows you to keep your design and functionality intact without moving to a new platform.

Thinkific:

  • It is not built to integrate with your existing site.
  • It provides a comprehensive platform where you can create and manage courses.
  • It doesn’t require third-party website builders.
  • It works without external integrations.

Content Delivery

MemberSpace:

It allows you to protect existing content like blog posts, videos, PDFs, and more. You can decide which pages or sections of your website members can access.

Content may include

  • Articles
  • Downloadable resources
  • Videos and more

Thinkific:

It offers built-in course creation tools to create structured lessons. It’s perfect for drip-feeding content to students or members, offering a more structured approach. If your focus is on providing educational material or courses, Thinkific has a better system for this type of delivery.

Payment and Subscriptions

MemberSpace:

It offers flexible payment options. You can set up:

  • One-time payments
  • Recurring subscriptions
  • Free trials
  • Payment plans

Thinkific:

  • It also allows you to charge for courses or membership access through payment plans.
  • It focuses more on selling courses.
  • It integrates well with payment processors like Stripe and PayPal.
  • It also offers promotions as well as coupon features.

Customization and Design

MemberSpace:

  • It allows you to design your membership site with the flexibility of your existing website builder.
  • You can maintain full control over the look and feel of your membership pages.
  • You can customize the sign-up forms, member login areas, and dashboard to fit your branding.

Thinkific:

  • It offers pre-designed themes for your membership and course pages with customization upto some extent.
  • Thinkific is more template-driven. Example: Templates are specifically optimized for online courses and membership sites.

Pricing

MemberSpace:

  • Starter Plan: $29/month – Includes up to 100 members and basic features.
  • Growing Plan: $49/month – Includes up to 1,000 members, customizable access, and more payment options.
  • Advanced Plan: $99/month – For large-scale sites with unlimited members and advanced member management features.

Thinkific:

  • Free Plan: Allows you to create and sell 1 course with basic features.
  • Basic Plan: $49/month – Includes essential membership features and unlimited courses.
  • Pro Plan: $99/month – Offers advanced tools like memberships, certificates, and priority support.
  • Premier Plan: $499/month – For larger businesses with a need for more advanced tools and integrations.

Why MemberSpace is the right choice?

  • Works with any website builder.
  • Highly customizable, allowing you to retain control over design and layout.
  • Simple and intuitive setup.
  • Supports flexible membership tiers and payment options.

Why Thinkific is the right choice?

  • All-in-one solution for course creation and membership.
  • Strong focus on educators and course creators.
  • Built-in marketing and sales tools.
  • Excellent for structured content delivery and student engagement.

Both platforms are powerful, but their target users differ based on these needs. Your choice depends on whether you’re focused on protecting and monetizing an existing website, then MemberSpace is the right one but if you are tailored towards education-based memberships and course purchases, Thinkific is the best option.