Maven vs Thinkific
Side-by-side comparison on fees, payouts, monetization, and audience ownership.
Platform fee
10% · of course revenue
from $36/mo · monthly, 0% on Thinkific Payments
Payout speed
weekly
weekly
Minimum payout
$0 (Stripe payout schedule)
$0
Countries
Global where Stripe is supported
Global via Thinkific Payments / Stripe / PayPal
Email list export
Limited (course and cohort comms)
Full access (Thinkific Email with automation)
Custom domain
No (hosted on maven.com)
Yes
Community features
Built-in cohort discussion and Slack integrations
Built-in Communities with Spaces
Best for
Experts running premium live cohort courses rather than self-paced content
Course creators who want predictable monthly pricing and native payments
Maven vs Thinkific: which one wins?
Maven charges 10% (of course revenue) versus Thinkific at from $36/mo (monthly, 0% on Thinkific Payments).
On payout speed, Maven pays weekly while Thinkific pays weekly. No difference here.
For audience ownership, Maven offers limited (course and cohort comms) email export and Thinkific offers full access (thinkific email with automation). Email portability matters most for creators planning to migrate later or build a list independent of any single platform.
Best for: Maven suits experts running premium live cohort courses rather than self-paced content. Thinkific fits course creators who want predictable monthly pricing and native payments.