Thinkific offers two settings — Private and Hidden — that give you control over who can access your products and how they appear on your site. Private blocks the checkout while keeping the landing page public. Hidden removes the product from your site entirely, making it accessible only via a direct link. Both settings are available on the Start plan and above.
This article covers both settings. If you are not sure which one you need, see the comparison table below.
Private vs. Hidden: Quick Comparison
| Private | Hidden | |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page visibility | Public — anyone can find it | Only accessible with a direct link |
| Checkout | Completely blocked | Available — students can enroll themselves |
| Enrollment | Manual only — you add students yourself | Self-serve via the landing page |
| Search engine indexing | Indexed | Not indexed |
Private Products
Setting a product to Private completely blocks the checkout. Students cannot enroll themselves — you must manually manage all enrollments.
The landing page remains publicly visible, so visitors can find and view the product. However, instead of a Buy or Enroll button, they will see a message inviting them to contact you to request access. By default this reads: "Interested in this [product type]? Email us at [your support email]." To customize this message, see: Customize Default Site Text on Your Landing Pages.
Private is useful when:
- The product isn't ready for enrollment yet — your landing page can be live for pre-launch marketing while enrollment is blocked.
- The product is only available for a limited time or to a limited group — set the product to Private when enrollment is closed, and reopen it when ready.
- You need to vet students before they enroll — speak to prospective students first, then manually enroll those who qualify.
Note: Digital Download products and Coaching & Webinars products cannot be set as Private.
How to Set a Product to Private
For courses, communities, and memberships, navigate to your product via Products > [product type]. For bundles, navigate via Sales > Bundles.
- Navigate to the specific product you want to edit.
- Click on the Settings tab.
- Under Basic Settings, find the Access section.
- Select the Private checkbox.
- Select Save.
Note: Communities can only be set to Private if they use the purchase access type.
How to Give Students Access to a Private Product
To give a student access to a Private product, manually enroll them from your Admin Dashboard — or automate enrollments using the Thinkific API or Zapier. See: Manually Enroll Students into a Product, Working with Zapier, and Thinkific API Documentation.
Important Considerations
- Setting a product to Private completely blocks the checkout — students cannot enroll without you manually adding them.
- Because the checkout is blocked, you do not need to set pricing for a Private product.
- Price will not be displayed on product cards throughout your site for Private products.
- Free Preview is not available for Private products.
- Digital Download products and Coaching & Webinars products cannot be set as Private.
- If you downgrade to the Free plan, you will lose access to the Private setting. Any products already set to Private will remain Private, and you will not be able to set them back to Public. We recommend setting any Private products back to Public before downgrading.
Hidden Products
Setting a product to Hidden removes it from your site entirely. It will not appear as a product card on your site landing page and will not be indexed by search engines. The product is only accessible via a direct link, from which students can buy or enroll as usual.
Hidden is useful when:
- The product is for a specific group — for example, employees of a company for whom you have tailored the content. Share the direct link only with those people.
- You want to offer bonus content — hide the product and share the direct link only with students who have purchased another product.
- The product has a prerequisite — hide the product and include the direct link in the course completion email for the prerequisite course. See: Send a Course Completion Email.
Note: Digital Download products and Coaching & Webinars products cannot be set as Hidden.
How to Set a Product to Hidden
For courses, communities, and memberships, navigate to your product via Products > [product type]. For bundles, navigate via Sales > Bundles.
- Navigate to the specific product you want to edit.
- Click on the Settings tab.
- Under Basic Settings, find the Access section.
- Select the Hidden checkbox.
- Select Save.
The URL shown in the Basic Settings of your product is the direct link you can share with students. It will take them to the landing page, where they can buy or enroll as usual.
Important Considerations
- A Hidden product is not indexed by search engines. If the product was previously public, it may continue to appear in search results until search engines recrawl your site. See: How do I stop Google from indexing my site?
- Digital Download products and Coaching & Webinars products cannot be set as Hidden.
- If you downgrade to the Free plan, you will lose access to the Hidden setting. Any products already set to Hidden will remain Hidden, and you will not be able to set them back to Public. We recommend setting any Hidden products back to Public before downgrading.