How to Migrate From Thinkific Without Losing Students

To migrate from Thinkific without losing students or revenue, work in this order: export your user list, orders and course files; rebuild your courses and offers on the new platform; invite clients with a clear email; then move each paying subscriber at their next renewal date so nobody is charged twice or locked out. Thinkific has no one-click course export, and recurring payments do not follow you to a new platform, so those two steps need the most care. Plan on two to six weeks, mostly decided by how many active subscriptions you have.

This guide covers the whole move: what Thinkific documents you can export, where each piece lands in a coaching platform, paste-ready emails for your clients, a subscription cutover that avoids double billing, and a checklist for the final day. We make Coachful, so we use it as the destination throughout, and we say plainly where it is not the right fit. Thinkific facts come from Thinkific's own pricing and help center pages as listed in October 2026.

Why do coaches migrate from Thinkific?

Most coaches leave Thinkific because it is a course platform first, and their business has become client work: 1:1 sessions, programs with weekly accountability, and check-ins between calls. The second reason is cost, which went up in August 2026.

Here are the specific, documented reasons that come up:

• Price increase. Thinkific raised prices by about 10% on August 13, 2026. The Start plan went from $99 to $109 per month ($82 per month billed annually), and Grow went from $199 to $219 ($164 annually). A new Expand plan sits at $499 per month. The cheaper Basic plan is no longer shown on the public pricing page.
• No built-in 1:1 scheduling. Thinkific sells coaching and webinar products, and live cohorts connect to Zoom, but our September 2026 profile found that 1:1 coaching relies on external booking links. That usually means paying for a separate scheduling tool.
• No per-client coaching layer. There are no client habits, daily check-ins or per-client plans. Students move through courses; you cannot see how an individual client's week is going.
• Branded app as an add-on. A branded mobile app is a $199 per month add-on, included only on select Plus contracts.
• Gateway fees with your own processor. Thinkific charges 0% transaction fees when you use Thinkific Payments, which it describes as "in line with other processors at 2.9%". If you connect your own Stripe or PayPal instead, an extra gateway fee applies; the amounts are not listed on the pricing page.
• Public sentiment. Thinkific showed a Trustpilot score of 1.8 from 868 reviews when we checked on October 25, 2026. Review scores are not a full picture, but they are worth knowing before you renew.

If you are still weighing whether to leave at all, our Thinkific review and Thinkific pricing breakdown go deeper on what each plan includes. If you have decided to move but not where, start with Thinkific alternatives for coaches.

How does Thinkific compare with Coachful for a coaching practice?

The short version: Thinkific is built to sell courses at scale, while Coachful is built to run a coaching practice where courses are one part of the client journey. The table compares the points that usually decide a migration.

Thinkific is still the stronger choice if you sell courses to thousands of students, need SCORM packages or certificates, or want a course marketplace style catalog. Coachful is not a course marketplace. If your revenue comes mostly from clients you know by name, the comparison tips the other way. For a broader side-by-side, see our Thinkific alternative page or the comparison hub.

What can you export from Thinkific?

You can export your user list and your orders as CSV files, and you can download videos, PDFs and audio files one at a time. You cannot export a whole course as one file, and quiz content has to be copied by hand. Here is what Thinkific's help center documents, as read on October 25, 2026.

Users and students (CSV)

Thinkific's help article "User Table: User Report and Filters" explains the export. From the Admin Dashboard, go to Users, then All Users, and choose Export. Thinkific emails you a link to download the CSV. Two details matter:

• Only visible columns are exported. Before exporting, open Columns and switch on everything you want (name, email, date created, enrollments, amount spent and so on).
• Custom sign-up fields come with it. If you added custom fields to your sign-up page, students' answers are included in the export.

The same page lets you filter before exporting, which is useful for splitting your list into active subscribers, lifetime course buyers and past students. Thinkific notes that user export and filters are available on the Basic plan and above, and that dates are shown in UTC.

Orders and transactions (CSV)

According to Thinkific's "Orders Report" article, go to Sales, then Orders, and export as CSV. The report covers purchases made through Thinkific's built-in checkout with Thinkific Payments, Stripe or PayPal. Subscriptions and payment plans show one transaction per payment, including failed attempts. Orders update once every 24 hours, so export the day after your last sale if you want a complete file. Keep this export as your financial archive; it is not something you import anywhere.

Course content (manual)

Thinkific's "Can I export my course?" article (updated August 2026) is direct: there is no option to export an entire course as one file and no bulk download. Instead:

• Download video files from the Asset Library.
• Download PDFs from PDF lessons and audio from audio lessons with the Download button in the course builder.
• Download lesson files by previewing the course as a student.
• Use your original files for presentation lessons.
• Copy and paste text lessons, quizzes and surveys.

The companion article "Can I export quiz questions?" confirms there is no direct way to export quiz questions, answers or explanations; Thinkific suggests copying them into Word or Excel. Thinkific also notes that it stores only the current version of your content, so your own files are your only version history.

What does not come with you

• Student progress and completions. Export or screenshot progress reports for your records, but expect clients to restart tracking on the new platform.
• Community posts and threads. We found no documented export for community spaces. Save anything you want to keep, such as pinned resources or welcome posts.
• Active subscriptions. These are covered in their own section below because they need a plan.
• Saved card details. No platform hands you clients' card numbers in an export. Card data stays with the payment processor.

Where does each Thinkific item go in Coachful?

Almost everything you sell on Thinkific has a direct home in Coachful, and a few things change shape because Coachful is organized around clients rather than students. Use this map to plan your rebuild.

Two items get better rather than just moving. First, a Thinkific "coaching product" was a purchase with an outside booking link; in Coachful the booking page, intake questions, agreement, payment and session notes all sit on the same client record. Second, a cohort becomes a program with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits and check-ins, so you can see who is engaged between calls instead of guessing from completion rates.

What is the step-by-step migration plan and timeline?

Run the migration in five stages over two to six weeks. The build is quick; the length comes from waiting for each subscriber's renewal date so you can switch them without overlap.

Step 1: Audit what you actually sell

Open a spreadsheet with one row per product: name, type (course, coaching product, cohort, membership, bundle), price, billing model, number of active buyers and whether access is lifetime or recurring. If a product has had no buyers in the past year, retire it instead of moving it. This is also the moment to check your Thinkific renewal date, especially if you pay annually, so you do not renew for another year by accident.

Step 2: Export everything, twice

Export the full users CSV with all columns visible, then a second filtered export of active subscribers only. Export orders. Download course files lesson by lesson into folders that match your course structure (Course / Module / Lesson). Copy quiz questions into a document. Save welcome messages, onboarding emails and any community posts you reuse. Store a copy in cloud storage, not only on your laptop.

Step 3: Rebuild on the new platform

In Coachful, build in this order: payments first (connect your Stripe or Razorpay account), then offers, then the content behind them, then the website and funnels. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding, and the free white-glove build service can set up your site, funnels and course outlines, so this stage is mostly reviewing rather than building. Videos are the exception: you upload your own video files.

If you sold Thinkific courses mainly as a container for coaching, consider turning them into a program instead. A program delivers weekly goals, daily tasks and check-ins alongside the lessons, which is closer to how coaching actually works. Our guide to course platforms for coaches explains when a course is the right format and when a program is.

This short walkthrough shows how programs are put together in Coachful:

Step 4: Test as a client

Make a test purchase of every offer with a real card, then refund it. Check that the receipt and invoice arrive, that the client lands in the right course or program, that booking reminders go out, and that the agreement is sent before the first call. Ask two or three clients you trust to log in and tell you what confused them.

Step 5: Announce, invite and cut over

Send the announcement email (templates below), then invitations, then handle billing client by client. Point your custom domain to the new site once the new checkout is live, so old links still reach you. Keep Thinkific running until the last subscriber has moved and you have your final exports.

What should you tell your clients? Paste-ready email templates

Send three short emails: an announcement a week before, an invitation on switch day, and a billing note to each subscriber before their renewal. Clients mostly want to know three things: what changes for them, what they need to do, and whether they will be charged twice.

A compliance note: the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide says purely transactional or relationship messages are exempt from most of the Act's rules, but anything promotional needs an accurate sender, an honest subject line, a valid physical postal address and a working opt-out honored within 10 business days. Keep migration emails factual and you stay on the transactional side; if you add a promotion, include the address and opt-out.

Email 1: Announcement (send 7 days before)

Subject: Your coaching space is moving on [date]

Hi [First name],

On [date] I'm moving my courses and coaching to a new home. You'll have one login for your sessions, your program, your course lessons and our community, and you can book calls directly instead of through a separate link.

What you need to do: nothing yet. On [date] you'll get an invitation email from me with a link to set your password. Everything you've bought stays yours.

If you pay me monthly, I'll email you separately before your next payment so you're never charged twice.

Questions? Just reply to this email.

[Your name]

Email 2: Invitation (send on switch day)

Subject: Your new login is ready

Hi [First name],

Your new client space is live. Click the invitation link in the separate email you'll receive today to set your password. You can also download the app and sign in with the same email address.

Inside you'll find: [your course name], [your program name], our community, and a booking page for your next session.

Your progress from the old platform didn't transfer, so you may see lessons marked as not started. Pick up wherever you left off.

The old site stays open until [date] if you need to grab anything.

[Your name]

Email 3: Billing change (send to each subscriber 5 to 7 days before renewal)

Subject: Your [membership name] payment is moving

Hi [First name],

Your current payment on the old platform renews on [renewal date]. I've cancelled that renewal, so you won't be charged there again. You keep access there until [renewal date].

To continue, please start your membership on the new platform using this link: [checkout link]. Your first payment there will be on [date], the same day your old one would have renewed, at the same price of [price].

You can pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

If anything looks wrong, reply and I'll fix it.

[Your name]

If you used PayPal on Thinkific, note in Email 3 that PayPal is not available on the new checkout. Coachful does not support PayPal, so those clients will need a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

How do payments and subscriptions move from Thinkific?

They do not move automatically. Every active subscription or payment plan on Thinkific has to be cancelled there and started again on the new platform, and the client has to enter payment details again. Plan for this client by client.

Why subscriptions cannot transfer

Recurring billing lives inside the payment processor account that created it. On Thinkific, that is either Thinkific Payments (which Thinkific manages for you) or your own Stripe or PayPal account connected to Thinkific. Coachful takes payments through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account. Even if the same Stripe account is involved, a subscription created by Thinkific's checkout is tied to Thinkific's products and access rules; it does not become a Coachful subscription that grants access to a Coachful program. Treat every subscriber as a new sale on the new platform.

What Thinkific documents about cancelling

• Thinkific Payments. If you cancel a student's subscription or payment plan from the admin dashboard, the student keeps access until the date their next payment was due, then loses it. You can also unenroll them immediately.
• Your own Stripe account. Deleting a student in Thinkific, or ending their enrollment, does not cancel their Stripe subscription. You must cancel it in Stripe as well, or the client keeps being charged.
• Student cancels. Access continues until the next renewal date, then ends.

That second point catches people out. If you connected your own Stripe account, check the Stripe dashboard for active subscriptions after you think you are done.

A cutover method that avoids double charges

1. For each subscriber, note the next renewal date from your orders export or the processor dashboard.
2. A week before that date, cancel the Thinkific subscription. With Thinkific Payments, the client keeps access to the end of the paid period; with your own Stripe account, cancel the subscription in Stripe and set the Thinkific expiry date to the end of the paid period.
3. Send Email 3 with a checkout link for the same offer on the new platform. Ask the client to start on or just before the old renewal date.
4. Check off the client once their new payment appears. Chase anyone who has not moved two days after their renewal date.

If a client starts the new subscription early and their old period has not ended, you can refund the overlap, since Coachful supports refunds. Payment plans work the same way: let the client finish the installments already paid, then set up the remaining installments as a new payment plan.

Lifetime buyers and one-time purchases

Clients who paid once for lifetime access to a course owe you nothing further, so this is about honoring access. Import them as clients and grant access to the courses they already own; confirm with Coachful's onboarding team how this is set up for your list. Do not ask them to pay again.

Fees after the move

Coachful charges a 0% platform fee on sales (since August 2026). You pay only your Stripe or Razorpay processing fees. Payments support one-time purchases, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Stripe Tax, with an invoice for every transaction plus manual invoices. More detail is on the coaching payment software page.

This is general guidance, not tax advice. If you sell across borders or collect sales tax or VAT, check with an accountant before you change processors.

What does the new client experience look like?

On Thinkific, a client logs into a course player. On Coachful, a client logs into your branded home, inside the Coachful app, where their program, course lessons, sessions, habits, goals and community sit together. That change is the main reason coaches make the move, so it is worth knowing what clients will see.

• Programs: multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks.
• Sessions: booking pages with availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, two-way Google, Apple and Outlook calendar sync, built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links, and email reminders (SMS and WhatsApp reminders once messaging is enabled). See scheduling software.
• Community: a feed, group chat, direct messages and video events, with cohort groups created automatically when someone enrolls in a program. See group coaching software.
• Agreements: coaching agreements with e-signature are sent before the first call and stored on the client record.

On your side, each client record holds goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions, with a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk. Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, briefs you before sessions using that live data. If you are moving from cohorts to a mix of 1:1 and group work, our guide on scaling from 1-on-1 to group coaching covers how to structure it.

What is on the cutover checklist?

Work through this table on the day you switch and in the weeks after, ticking off each line only when the check in the last column passes.

If you are moving from more than one tool at once, the same sequence applies. Our guide to migrating from a discontinued coaching CRM covers the client-record side in more detail, and how to migrate from Kajabi follows the same pattern for another course platform.

How does the Coachful white-glove import and build work?

You describe what you want, attach your files, and the Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. It is free on every plan, and it covers most of the rebuild work in a Thinkific migration.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. Instead of leaving you with an empty account, Coachful's team builds the pieces for you. From Create > We'll build it for you · FREE (or the "Want us to build it for you?" card on the Website, Funnels and Programs pages and the template galleries), you can request a website, a funnel, an offer or sales page, a program, a course outline with written material, a coaching flow, a form or worksheet, an email sequence, a link-in-bio page, a lead quiz, an event or webinar, or an automation. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, such as logos, photos, brand guides, copy and documents. Your old Thinkific pages make good reference links while the site is still up.

Clients, programs and content are also imported for you during onboarding. Here is how that splits for a Thinkific migration:

• The team can build: your website (send your Thinkific site URL as a reference), sales pages for each offer, checkout funnels, course outlines and written lesson material from your documents, programs, intake forms and your welcome email sequence.
• You still do: upload your video files (video files cannot be attached to build requests), record anything new, connect Stripe or Razorpay, and handle the billing cutover with each subscriber.
• Not included: recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing.

Nothing is invented. The team will not add credentials, testimonials or prices you did not provide; gaps are left for you to fill. Recent builds give a sense of scope: a somatic coach leaving Kajabi had the homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected; a business mentor for beauty professionals got a 12-week mentorship sales page, a free start-up-guide funnel and rewritten follow-up emails; a real-estate and money coach got a year-long cohort program with an application form, an eight-page site and a free nine-day bootcamp funnel. Read more in how the free white-glove service works.

What is Coachful, and who is it for?

Coachful is a coaching platform. One subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It is built for coaches who deliver programs rather than only sessions, solo coaches growing into a small team, and coaches replacing four to six separate tools. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia, and has a Trustpilot score of 4.5 from 21 reviews.

What it does not do. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign a BAA, so it is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. It has no PayPal and no permanent free plan. The client app carries your branding inside the Coachful app rather than shipping under your own App Store account. It is not a course marketplace. There is no Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura sync. Affiliate payouts are recorded manually rather than sent by Coachful.

How to start. Pricing is flat and monthly: lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, team plans add coach seats, and monthly plans cancel in one click (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). If you have a large Thinkific list, the unlimited-client plan is usually the right starting point: Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients. Start with a free trial, then request your white-glove build from the Create page.

Your site moves too. The section-based website builder includes a blog, custom domain, SEO settings, 30 designed homepage templates and an Import website option. See the coach website builder for details.

What mistakes should you avoid when leaving Thinkific?

The costly mistakes are about money and access, not content. Content can be fixed later; a double charge or a locked-out client costs trust.

• Deleting students before cancelling Stripe subscriptions. Thinkific documents that deleting a student or ending an enrollment does not cancel a subscription in your own Stripe account.
• Exporting with hidden columns. The users CSV includes only visible columns. Turn them all on first.
• Closing Thinkific too early. Wait until the last subscriber's renewal date has passed and your final exports are saved.
• Forgetting your own renewal. Annual Thinkific plans save 25% but renew for a full year. Put the date in your calendar.
• Moving dead products. Every product you rebuild needs a page, a checkout and support. Retire what does not sell.
• Silent switches. An unexpected login email or a new charge with no warning invites confused replies and refund requests. Send the announcement first.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to migrate from Thinkific?

The build usually takes a week or less, especially with the white-glove service. The full migration takes two to six weeks because you move each subscriber at their own renewal date. If you have no active subscriptions, you can finish in about two weeks.

Can I export my whole course from Thinkific?

No. Thinkific's help center says there is no option to export an entire course as one file and no bulk download. You download videos from the Asset Library, PDFs and audio from each lesson, and copy text, quiz and survey content by hand.

Will my students' progress transfer?

No. Completion and progress data stay on Thinkific. Export or screenshot progress reports for your records, and tell clients in your invitation email that lessons may show as not started.

Do Stripe subscriptions move to Coachful automatically?

No. Subscriptions created through Thinkific's checkout are tied to Thinkific, whether you used Thinkific Payments or your own Stripe account. Cancel each one on Thinkific (and in Stripe if it is your own account), then have the client start a new subscription through Coachful's checkout on their renewal date.

What happens to clients who paid with PayPal?

Coachful does not support PayPal. Those clients will need to pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay when they restart on the new platform. Mention this in your billing email so it is not a surprise.

Is the white-glove migration help really free?

Yes. The white-glove build service is free on every Coachful plan. You describe what you want, attach up to 8 links and 10 files, and the team builds it in your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ads or ongoing marketing.

Can I keep my custom domain?

Yes. Coachful's website builder supports a custom domain. Update the DNS records at your domain registrar once your new site and checkouts are live, so existing links and bookmarks reach the new site.

Should I move my courses or turn them into programs?

Keep self-paced, evergreen material as courses. If a course was really a container for coaching, with weekly calls and accountability, a program usually fits better because it adds weekly goals, daily tasks, habits and check-ins around the lessons.

Is Coachful suitable if I sell courses to thousands of students?

If course sales to a large anonymous audience are your main business and you need SCORM, certificates or a marketplace-style catalog, Thinkific or another dedicated course platform may suit you better. Coachful fits best when you work with clients you know by name and courses support that work.