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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Canvas

    Score8.2 out of 10
    N/AInstructure is an educational software company based in Sandy, Utah. It is the developer of the Canvas learning management system, which is a comprehensive software package that competes with such systems as Blackboard Learning System, SumTotal and Saba.N/A

    Thinkific

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/AThinkific Plus is a scalable learning platform that’s designed to be easy to use for teams and customers. Thinkific Plus offers enterprise-grade features that scale with the needs of enterprises, and the service includes a people seriously dedicated to helping users to reach their goals.N/A
    Pricing
    CanvasThinkific
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    CanvasThinkific
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsMust contact vendor for pricing information.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    CanvasThinkific
    Considered Both Products
    Instructure
    No answer on this topic
    Thinkific
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    87%
    Would buy again
    20 Answers
    87%
    Would buy again
    41 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    17 Answers
    88%
    Delivers good value for the price
    35 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    87%
    Happy with the feature set
    20 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    12 Answers
    85%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    34 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    35 Answers
    Features
    CanvasThinkific
    Learning Management
    Comparison of Learning Management features of Canvas and Thinkific
    Feature
    Canvas
    9.8
    42 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Thinkific
    -
    Ratings
    Course authoring9.942 Ratings00 Ratings
    Course catalog or library9.839 Ratings00 Ratings
    Player/Portal9.933 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning content9.935 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile friendly9.941 Ratings00 Ratings
    Progress tracking & certifications9.938 Ratings00 Ratings
    Assignments9.942 Ratings00 Ratings
    Compliance management9.833 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning administration9.937 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning reporting & analytics9.939 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social learning9.934 Ratings00 Ratings
    Gamification9.63 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning9.83 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    CanvasThinkific
    Small Businesses
    Google Classroom
    Score8.1 out of 10
    iSpring Suite
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Schoology Learning
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Articulate 360
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Axonify
    Score10 out of 10
    Articulate 360
    Score9.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    CanvasThinkific
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.6
    (84 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.3
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (11 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    CanvasThinkific
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Instructure
    It is really well suited for school situations like knowing what [assignments] need to be done when, getting feedback, getting points, finding the slides that the teacher used for explaining an [assignment] or theory. I think It would be less suited in business situations because it's [primarily] made to be a [one-way] communication tool for schools. Businesses need more control on individual levels I think[.]
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    I think Thinkific is very well suited if you want more control and not a ton of competition. It is very well suited if you want to create courses because it does an amazing job with providing course outline examples for you to stay organized and so forth. The only thing I would say where the courses might be less appropriate is if someone is expecting it to be like an udemy where people can see a ton of different course creators all in one place with course recommendations. Thinkific is not that type of platform and I LOVE that. On Thinkific, it almost feels like our site is our own ya know. I tried out other platforms and it just felt like you were competing with so many other people and could see other courses. Felt like being on a platter served with others. Thinkific just feels more unique in the sense it feels like when people come to your page, they are only seeing your page.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Instructure
    • Creativity options for teachers to create a virtual space that still has fun graphics and accessibility options.
    • Canvas has versatility in viewing options for assignment due dates such as the calendar built in feature as well as the dashboard options to display upcoming and due assignments.
    • Allowing teachers to create community with each other and collaborate in each-other's space.
    • Discussion platforms within classrooms for students to communicate with each-other and with their teachers.
    • Easy messaging portal within each virtual classroom.
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    • Enables course creators to deliver high quality courses very fast
    • Offers unlimited hosting for videos included in the subscription price
    • Provides an easy to use administration interface that's powerful and accessible
    • Easy to scale subscription tiers on B2C plans, cost effective highly scaleable B2B plans (Thinkific Plus) ideal for companies who want to start a customer education program
    • Amazing support and account management team - great mindset and people in the teams.
    Read full review
    Cons
    Instructure
    • Their integration with Big Blue Button was a bust for distance learning. Would be great to see them collaborate with Zoom or Google Meets.
    • Their "feature request" process is slow and cumbersome at times because it relies on user "up votes" to get ideas addressed by the developers.
    • They seem to have a lot of turn-over with their staff. We get a new Customer Success Manager far more frequently than with other vendors.
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    • auto formatting of some course building content, does not format well on phone vs desktop
    • filter by group functionality for website based content, it's mostly filter by enrollments
    • the plug and play web building is convenient but really we need a UX/UI designer to build a super good looking website. Plug and play builder works but doesnt look SUPER sharp if done by someone with no dev skills or coding ability
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Instructure
    The other LMS tools have fallen behind. One reason is they are not able to update their systems, features, toolsets in a timely manner. While other LMS providers release bug fixes and new features several times a year, schools struggle to install and implement them in a timely manner. It is not uncommon for a school to take 6 months to a year to fully install and implement new releases on other LMS platforms. With Canvas, those features are released every 3 weeks, and there is nothing for a school to do other than choose to turn them on once released. This has allowed Instructure to innovate faster, and get new features and tools to customers quicker. Other factors include great pricing, customer support, and the innovative way in which LTI is implemented in the tool.
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    I'm very likely to renewal as long as Thinkific stays focused on helping small businesses like myself to stay in the know of new and more effective ways to use digital learning tools to help our students get better success. I will also stay with Thinkific if they do not intend to hike up the prices and keep the different price plans suit all businesses regardless of the size.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Instructure
    The functions in Canvas are well integrated and consistent across the application, and mostly intuitive. Overall navigation and setup is streamlined through integrated features and navigation. The feedback we've gotten from our program participants is that it is easy to learn to use. It also integrates well with third party software like Google Docs and Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing software
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    Under Site Builder, when trying to add a new section, so many templates appear; however, preview is not shown, which makes it super difficult and time consuming to identify a template that suits the purpose. Customization of certification designs is a bit difficult too. There are limitations to the type of quiz questions I can create - for example, there's no option to have fill in the blank questions.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Instructure
    No answers on this topic
    Thinkific
    I've never had any issues with accessing Thinkific but I can see when it has been a problem for others. When I get updates on when they are doing maintenance to their platform I tend to make sure that is not the day I plan to be working on my school so as not to get frustrated
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Instructure
    No answers on this topic
    Thinkific
    When it comes to the performance of Thinkific for me I find that it's good but could be better. I tend to think that the larger the files and videos you upload on your courses may add to the impact of it's uploading (not sure if that's actually true or not). But overall the performance of Thinkific via my tablet and desktop is very good when I have a fast speed broadband speed
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Instructure
    I do not personally use Canvas support since we have a central office that helps us. However, our central office always has the answers we need and are always able to solve our issues - so I would assume that get great support from the Canvas team on their end. They also offer great training, which uses materials directly from Canvas
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    I rate Thinkific a ten because of its excellent customer service, ease of use, high-quality product, fair price with excellent ROI, and because they keep making improvements. Using Thinkific solved the problems of piecing together our course with various WordPress plugins, iframes, and payment processing software. It's easy to create a course website for people who can't write code.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Instructure
    The training sessions were broken down into several days as well as different levels depending upon the knowledge of the user
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Instructure
    The online tutorials and videos are very clear and addressed the issues/questions that I had about using the system.
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Instructure
    Once you purchase and sign the contract there is nothing to install or hardware to buy. You can almost immediately start using it and have courses up and going within weeks. We signed in December and had pilot courses online ready to go for the start of school in January
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    The implementation period took time like it would in earning and using any new tool. It was more about being organised, having better time management processes in place and having people you were able to reach out to if you were every able stuck. The other key ting with the implementation period was giving yourself a realistic time scale to get the job completed.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Instructure
    Canvas is more secure, has a cleaner design, and has more features. For the features, they have in common canvas still stacks up against [Smart school] by going for the extra mile. Besidfor e that, [the] canvas looks a lot more [professional] than [Smart school]. I didn't make the decision myself to get canvas instead of [Smart school] but I'm happy they did.
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    Thinkific
    ClickFunnels is great for funnels, but as of now, it does not do well with e-learning. Maybe they'll change that in ClickFunnels 2.0. But for now, I use Thinkific because I need a place where the students can come into their own dashboard, find all the courses they have purchased on a single place and be able to track their progress.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Instructure
    No answers on this topic
    Thinkific
    The opportunities to scale your online course business with Thinkific is endless. They provide a great range of plans with features, integrations and support to suit the needs of any business as different levels. The key here is knowing where to start with the budget you have and then knowing when it's time to scale up and the tools and resources it will require.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Instructure
    • Canvas has helped us provide a more robust online component to our courses.
    • Canvas has helped us better adapt to a rapidly changing educational landscape.
    • Canvas has reduced the time that we have to spend training faculty on how to use our learning management system.
    Incentivized
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    Thinkific
    • I have to work harder to insure I get a monthly return on my investment.
    • A positive is once I create a course, I market it over and over each year.
    • Being able to mix hosting a live masterclass with course modules allows me to offer more value to my customers, which is good for my business.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots