Thinking Cap LMS Pricing

Annual User Model

Choose this model when you have a stable, internal workforce with consistent, year-round training requirements.

How it Works

You reserve a fixed number of seats for the year at our best rate. If you need more, extra licenses are discounted rather than repriced.

• Billing Signal
  A unique user account that is in an “Active” status for three months or more during the 12-month license period. In this case, the annual license is the most cost-effective option.
• Reset Cadence
  Active seat counts reset annually on the contract anniversary date. At renewal, users set to inactive or deleted are removed from your count, and the new term reflects only your current active users. At that point, you may upsize or downsize as needed.

Advantages of this model

• Audit-Ready Archiving
  Even if a user is deactivated to free up a seat for a new hire, their historical transcripts and compliance records remain fully accessible for reporting at no extra cost.
• Total Budget Predictability
  You pay one flat fee with zero monthly fluctuations, regardless of how many training hours your team consumes or how often they log in.
• No "Activation Tax"
  Unlike the giants, we don't charge you a setup fee just to turn on the seats. Onboarding and technical setup are included in your base rate.
• Rules-Based Automation of Enrollments
  

  Rules-based automation of enrollments is available only under the Annual User Model, where users are continuously active and fully accounted for. This preserves system integrity while keeping upgrade paths explicit and transparen

Who This Model Is Best For

This model works best for organizations with predictable staffing and ongoing training obligations.

Typical fits include:

• Mid to large corporations with stable internal teams and mandatory annual training programs …especially in regulated or compliance-heavy environments.
• Professional associations delivering member education, certification, or continuing education year-round.
• Government departments and public agencies with fixed headcounts and budget cycles.
• Healthcare networks and hospital systems where staff training is continuous and audit readiness matters.
• Education providers and internal academies supporting faculty, staff, or long-term cohorts.
• Enterprises with strong HR or L&D governance that value budget certainty, reporting continuity, and minimal license churn.

This model favors stability, predictability, and long-term record keeping over short-term flexibility.

Pricing Scenario

A national insurance firm manages a stable, full-time workforce with recurring internal requirements and high-frequency touchpoints.

• The Audience: These permanent employees, including adjusters, underwriters, and administrative staff, are required to consume regular professional development modules, compliance updates, and multi-week leadership tracks.
• The Pulse: Continuous engagement throughout the year, as employees return for their upskilling and compliance training.
• Ideal Alignment: The Seat-Based Model is the ideal plan as it keeps a seat warm for each employees every month.

A flat, high-utilization line showing a stable workforce with recurring monthly training needs.

Monthly Usage Model

(pay monthly; no fixed user commitment beyond the minimum)

Choose this model when participation levels are unpredictable but you want the freedom to scale usage up or down month to month.

How it Works

This is a fully usage-based, transactional model with a minimal annual entry point and no baseline commitment beyond the first 100 users. A fee for the initial 100 users is billed at the start of the term. Each month thereafter, you pay only for users above that threshold.

Usage is billed in volume blocks, with the per-user rate improving as usage increases. For example, if the first 100 users are billed at $7.70 per user, users 101 to 400 are billed at $6.65 per user, and users beyond 400 are billed at $6.23 per user.

This model includes a premium for flexibility. You are not committing to capacity beyond the initial minimum, and pricing reflects that optionality. The goal is efficiency. In many cases, it is better to pay a slightly higher rate for a small number of users than to secure a lower rate on capacity you do not need or use.

• Billing Signal
  Triggered by actual monthly activity (logins, enrollments, etc.).
• Reset Cadence
  Active user counts reset monthly.

Advantages of this model

• Zero Waste on "Shelfware"
  You have a $0.00 baseline liability during quiet months with no learner activity, ensuring you only pay for real pulses.
• Massive Scalability
  Transactional rates drop significantly as your volume increases, making this ideal for national-scale external training.
• External Learning Support
  Perfectly suited for B2B or B2C sales where learner volume is high but individual frequency is low.

Who This Model Is Best For

A monthly minimum of 100 users is billed at the start of the term. Beyond that baseline, usage is billed monthly based on actual activity, with no upper limit and no long-term lock-in.

Best for organizations with variable or evolving usage patterns.

Typical fits:

• Training providers and program operators delivering short-term, rolling, or cohort-based programs.
• Organizations running pilots, trials, or phased rollouts where participation grows over time.
• Seasonal employers with fluctuating training demand.
• Nonprofits and NGOs operating on grant cycles or time-bound initiatives.
• Enterprises launching new programs before usage stabilizes.

This model emphasizes flexibility while establishing a clear, predictable baseline.

Pricing Scenario

A professional certification body issues mandatory bi-annual credentials to a large, external membership base with no consistent daily usage.

• The Audience: Professionals are required to continue their education throughout their career with a minimum number of credits (e.g., CEs, CEUs, contact hours) that must be earned every two years. Instructor-led sessions and high-stakes 3-hour recertification exams are being offered at various times during the year with various levels of audience interest.
• The Pulse: Training is highly episodic and transactional, meaning the vast majority of users log in only once every 24 months to finish their specific task and do not return until their next renewal cycle. But you cannot anticipate the interest in the training, making it nearly impossible to predict the population each month.
• The Partnership Logic: The Pure MAU-Based Model solves the unpredictability problem by offering complete flexibility. Starting with the base of 200 professionals taking training per month, the number beyond that may differ entirely and costs are only incurred when a professional purchases their training.

Unpredictable and transactional engagement with sharp, irregular spikes based on external member interest.

Hybrid Monthly Model

(monthly billing with a committed floor)

Choose this model when you know roughly how many users you will have each month, but the individuals change. The overall volume is reasonably consistent, even though participation rotates.

How it Works

We combine a committed annual baseline with a "reset" every month. This allows new cohorts of learners to use baseline slots without incurring extra seat costs.

• Billing Signal
  Any unique user who triggers a usage signal (login, enrollment, content interaction, or system notification) within a calendar month.
• Reset Cadence
  Active user counts reset monthly on the 1st of every month.

Advantages of this model

• Audience Elasticity
  If 1,000 people finish training in June and 1,000 new people start in July, you only pay for your 1,000-user baseline, not 2,000 unique seats.
• Usage Fairness
  You are never billed for "ghost users" who were invited but never actually logged in or engaged with a learning activity.
• Automated Efficiency
  Deactivating accounts once training is complete instantly stops them from counting toward your next month's total, maximizing your baseline utility.

Who This Model Is Best For

This model is commonly adopted once organizations observe a repeatable usage pattern, though some organizations will continue to operate with uneven traffic and prefer other models.

You establish a monthly usage floor, billed at a preferred rate. All users up to that floor are charged at the same discounted rate. Usage beyond the floor is billed monthly, and rotating users do not require annual licenses.

Best for organizations with steady monthly volumes and rotating participants.

Typical fits:

• Organizations with recurring programs and rotating participants.
• Employers with predictable staffing levels but regular turnover.
• Associations with consistent monthly engagement and rolling enrollment.
• Enterprises balancing budget discipline with operational flexibility

This model rewards consistency without penalizing rotation or variability.

Pricing Scenario

A regional transit agency manages a permanent operations team alongside a large, revolving population of seasonal and contract drivers.

• The Audience: The year-round operations staff (e.g., dispatchers, diesel mechanics, and safety inspectors) and seasonal drivers are required to consume regular professional development modules, compliance updates, and multi-week leadership tracks. Seasonal drivers are hired during the summer months and therefore require more rapid onboarding and compliance training.
• The Pulse: While there is continuous engagement with the permanent employee throughout the year, there is a hiring free each November, causing a dip in training that month. The seasonal employees hired for the summer cause a natural spike every summer in their training.
• The Partnership Logic: The Hybrid MAU-Based model addresses the mix of a continuous flow of employees, the summer hiring of seasonal staff, and the hiring free dip result in two periods of change in the usual flow of learners. While keeping a base level of active learners per month, it also allows for the once-a-year spike and dip.

A "spike and dip" pattern featuring a 500-user core, a summer hiring surge, and a November operational freeze.