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Our criteria: How we chose the best vendors
We take our research seriously and want to make sure we are presenting our readers with the very best solutions in a given software category. Here's how we select vendors to be in our buyer guides:
- Product: We want to have a deep understanding of a vendor's product before recommending it. This usually means getting a demo by a senior executive (their CEO, head of product, etc), and/or using the product ourselves to make sure it has a solid UI, intuitive workflows, and the features to make it a best in class offering.
- User feedback: We do our best to understand what users say when they experience this product. User input allows us to accomplish a more thorough due diligence of products, put new vendors on our radar, and generally make sure we are presenting the right products to our readers.
- Financial metrics: We are very much finance nerds and so use a product's retention rates, growth, profitability, and scale to understand whether or not it is truly best in class.
- Best for a use case: Sometimes the best solution is the cheapest, the best tool for international companies, or the best for startups. We try to include a diversity of solutions so that our readers can find the tool that is best for what they need.
Here's more detail if you want to read further on how we research vendors.
In this guide you'll find
Learning management systems (LMS) are becoming increasingly popular at companies large and small. An LMS will allow your business to train new employees and teams on a variety of topics and skills. With an LMS, you can more efficiently onboard new hires and keep employees engaged, which will lead to increased productivity, higher retention rates, and a more successful company in the long run.
To really reap the benefits of e-learning, you need to make sure you invest in an LMS or employee training tracker that’s the right fit for your needs and budget. In this guide, we’re going to help you figure that out with a short list of the best learning management systems along with everything else you need to know when buying new software. Let’s get started!
Featured in
Top Learning Management Systems
After surveying the landscape, we came up with this short list of top learning management system vendors for you to talk to.
Why we love it
:
Eloomi's LMS helps teams deliver great learning experiences. Through it, you can assign training to certain roles, import learning materials, or create your own from scratch with the course builder.
- Eloomi is quite comprehensive, with modules for onboarding, training/learning, performance management, employee engagement, and recognition.
- The platform comes with a library of ready-to-use templates to help you create online training faster. It also has a mobile app for your employees to access training materials on the go.
- Their surveys are customizable and private, helping you get specific and honest feedback from employees.
- You can request other members of the organization to provide feedback on certain skills of employees.
- You can make use of Eloomi’s micro-sized online training content to prevent overwhelming onboarding experiences.
- Because of the sheer number of features Eloomi offers, there’s a steeper learning curve for the average user to get the hang of the platform and understand it to its fullest.
- A few users reported experiencing bugs and speed issues when generating reports, especially ones with a large volume of data, but have noted that Eloomi’s customer support team is quick to resolve such issues.
- The platform’s pricing isn’t transparent and free trials aren’t available at this time.
eloomi
Review:
Eloomi streamlines the training process both for your new hires and existing employees. You can use the platform’s pre-built content and templates or build your own training from scratch. You can also inject other content delivery formats such as quizzes, images, and videos, into your training materials to make the learning experience more interactive and fun. Learning sessions can be automatically assigned to your employees according to their roles and you can track the progress of each employee’s learning journey and evaluate their skills.
eloomi
Customers:
Eloomi’s customer list includes BONUS Vorsorgekasse AG, Breakout Games, Carne Group, ElectricBrands, Nufarm, Domino’s, and more.
Eloomi’s customer list includes BONUS Vorsorgekasse AG, Breakout Games, Carne Group, ElectricBrands, Nufarm, Domino’s, and more.
eloomi
Stats:
When Kompan, one of the largest playground manufacturers, trained more than 1000 employees using Eloomi, only 1% of them reached out for help, although the platform was new to around 80% of them.
When Kompan, one of the largest playground manufacturers, trained more than 1000 employees using Eloomi, only 1% of them reached out for help, although the platform was new to around 80% of them.
eloomi
Pricing:
Eloomi offers custom pricing, so the best way to find out how much it costs is to request a demo.
Eloomi offers custom pricing, so the best way to find out how much it costs is to request a demo.
Best For
Eloomi is for HR leaders and managers of mid-sized and large businesses to make onboarding easier for employees, engage them through frequent feedback, and track the progress of their personal development.
Why we love it
:
It's an eCommerce ecosystem specifically geared towards technology workers. They also have their own platform where ways to learn, such as skill assessments, certifications, and cloud labs, are offered.
PluralSight
Review:
Technology is changing rapidly and it doesn't take long for even the best technical teams to fall behind. Pluralsight provides assessments, courses and testing for technologists to stay sharp on the latest in skills, languages, and the softer side of how to get work done. Their expert-authored courses are offered on their own software product, Skills.
PluralSight
Customers:
Companies that use Pluralsight to build up tech skills include Adobe, VMware, ADP, Fujitsu, and Nasdaq.
PluralSight
Stats:
- According to their own surveys, 93% of organizations that use Pluralsight saw a return on their investment after 6 to 12 months of implementation.
- 96% of those surveyed organizations are likely to recommend the tool.
- 70% of companies in the Fortune 500 list use Pluralsight
- This amounts to more than 17,000 business customers in over 180 countries.
PluralSight
Pricing:
There are two plans for Skills by Pluralsight, Professional, which is $579 per user per year, and Enterprise, at $779. With the former plan, you can start a team trial. With the latter, you can start a pilot. Both of them include the entire course library.
Best For:
Skills by Pluralsight is an excellent choice for companies that want a solution specific to their technology workers, regardless of company size or industry. It's also great for individuals, as they even offer a pricing scheme for freelancers or consultants which starts at $29 per month.
Why we love it
:
Cornerstone OnDemand makes highly-acclaimed software for recruiting, training, and managing. Their LMS is a stellar solution for large enterprises and small businesses alike.
CornerStone OnDemand
Review:
Cornerstone OnDemand's LMS is best known for servicing large enterprise customers who need a dependable solution to ensure employees stay up to date with certification requirements, evolve their skill sets, and can get access to a blended learning model of both in person and virtual learning.
CornerStone OnDemand
Customers:
This vendor is trusted by companies like Wendy's, Nestle, Dell, and New Belgium Brewing.
CornerStone OnDemand
Stats:
- Used by over 75+ million people
- Used in over 180 countries
- Available in 50 languages
- Went public in 2011, listed on the NASDAQ as CSOD
- 3,000+ employees
CornerStone OnDemand
Pricing:
Pricing for the Cornerstone OnDemand LMS is not disclosed publicly. However, they do offer a free trial.
Best For:
Judging from their stats, customer list, and reputation, we could say that Cornerstone OnDemand could be a good fit for organizations of all sizes, industries, and postal codes.
Why we love it
:
Bridge combines a learning management system and an employee performance & engagement tool into a single platform.
Bridge by Instructure
Review:
Companies like Chemical Bank and Livongo use Bridge to engage employees with a learning management system that is tightly integrated to performance management. This means managers can assign continuing education materials that align directly with goals. You can leverage Bridge's content, third party content, or create your own courses.
Bridge by Instructure
Customers:
Notable customers for Bridge include C Space, NHS, TCF Bank, Brewer Science, Domino's, and Catalant Technologies.
Bridge by Instructure
Stats:
- Founded in 2008
- Over 1000 employees
- Bridge was launched in 2015 and had over 500 clients by 2018
- Thoma Bravo, an American private equity and growth capital firm, acquired Instructure for $2 billion in 2019
Bridge by Instructure
Pricing:
Bridge has four potential pricing plans. The first three are priced per user and billed annually. The "Learning" plan starts at $3 per user per month, and then you have the "Learning+Performance" and "Learning+Performance+Engagement" plans which are priced at $9 and $12, respectively. For larger companies, Bridge offers enterprise and custom solutions with unique pricing models.
Best For:
Companies of all sizes may benefit from Bridge's LMS. This vendor is especially suitable for companies that may be looking for a performance and/or engagement tool as well.
Why we love it
:
It's an eclectic eLearning ecosystem and LMS from the quintessential social network for work, and one of the top tools for recruiters.
LinkedIn Learning
Review:
LinkedIn Learning has a strong backbone of content from Lynda, one of the first online businesses from back in the 1990s that had several decades to assemble content around all types of business knowledge from soft to hard skills. With LinkedIn Learning, employees can get training on three main areas, business, creative, and technology. Together, these categories can display topics on anything from SCRUM and Excel to photography and non-verbal language for leaders.
LinkedIn Learning
Customers:
LinkedIn Learning
Stats:
- Over 16,000 courses
- An average of 50 new courses are added per week
LinkedIn Learning
Pricing:
With LinkedIn Learning, you can buy individual courses or subscribe to the whole catalogue as you would do for a streaming service. The latter option is priced for a single account, and starts at $29,99 per month if you pay monthly, or $19,99 if you pay for the whole year. If you'd like to purchase the service for a team, they offer custom pricing.
Best For:
Companies or individuals that want a simple solution with ready-made content that won't break the bank.
Why we love it
:
More than an LMS, Trainual aspires to become a playbook, a way of organizing who does what and how, for each business they serve. They do this by encompassing onboarding, training, documentation, a wiki, and other tools, all within a single platform.
Trainual
Review:
Trainual is a simple to use tool that allows organizations to document standard operating procedures across anything from pushing code to re-stocking. This is a great solution for smaller organizations that want to structure the necessary organizational knowledge for people to do their jobs, but that don't want to invest the time and money into a full-on learning management system.
Trainual
Customers:
The UPS Store, Harmon Brothers, RE/MAX, Stanford University, Design Pickle.
Trainual
Stats:
Trainual
Pricing:
Mainly, Trainual is offered in two plans; Pro and Premium. The former is either $99 per month if you pay for one year or $119 if you go monthly. The Premium plan is either $149 or $179 per month. Both plans include the first 25 users. Afterwards, you'd pay more for each user, but the fee is currently not disclosed upfront, likely because it varies according to the number of additional accounts. If you've got more than 100 users, they offer custom pricing from the get-go. And, in case you're a nonprofit, they may offer you 50% off any plan for as long as you use the tool. They also offer a free trial.
Best For:
Trainual was designed for smaller companies that, unlike enterprises, perhaps don't need a very robust LMS. Instead, they've combined certain features of an LMS with modules like a company wiki, process documentation, and SOPs.
Why we love it
:
It's an enormous eLearning library that lets you choose between your existing LMS or theirs. You can access all their content for a a low-priced subscription.
Go1
Review:
Go1 provides thousands of online courses to HR teams looking to help their people maintain certifications, grow their hard skills, and become more productive colleagues. While they do provide tools to manage learners, Go1 also integrates with many of the major LMS players so you can access their content from your existing or new learning management system - or just use them as the way your employees access content directly.
Go1
Customers:
Go1 is trusted by organizations like Delta, TikTok, ATP Media, and Hays.
Go1
Stats:
Go1
Pricing:
Go1 is priced differently depending on whether you want the content hub (which includes their platform) or just the platform. To give you an idea, the content hub plan starts at $10 per user per month and is for teams with less than 20 users. Their next plan is for growing teams (21+) and is $12 per user per month. If you just want the platform to use your own content with, the basic plan is free for unlimited users, while the enterprise plan is priced based on your needs.
Best For:
Go1 is used by small businesses and startups, but also enterprise clients and government organizations. Naturally, it's best-suited for teams looking for ready-made content instead of creating their own, regardless of size and industry.
Why we love it
:
We love Lessonly because it's an interactive and beautiful-looking product with all the features you'd expect from a fully-fledged LMS; course authoring, quizzes, forums, SCORM, and more.
Lessonly
Review:
Lessonly allows teams from L&D to Sales to create and deploy effective learning materials to help new employees ramp faster through consistent training, and existing employees to get on the same page with best practices for their roles. It's very intuitive and easy to use, and has advanced features like an open API and webhooks for teams that want to have a deeper integration with existing technologies.
Lessonly
Customers:
Lessonly is trusted by companies such as HelloFresh, Trunk Club, McAfee, Salesloft, Jostens, and Lending Home.
Lessonly
Stats:
- Over 3 million users worldwide
- At Directly, an AI-powered customer service provider, product experts who completed courses through Lessonly averaged 18% higher on customer satisfaction surveys.
Lessonly
Pricing:
Although Lessonly has two available plans (Pro & Pro+Coaching), the pricing for them isn't disclosed on their website. The difference between one plan or another is mainly having additional modules and features like Lessonly Practice, conversations, and certifications.
Best For:
Lessonly is a good bet for companies of all sizes, but the product might resonate particularly with distributed teams.
Why we love it
:
This LMS offers customization at levels we have yet to see in other platforms. Its AI translation and content creation services are uncommon features you would hardly find in other learning and coaching systems.
- It is completely free to use for unlimited content creation and deployment. Their paid version is also one of the most affordable for learning management systems.
- Easy onboarding. It takes only about five minutes to get started on EdApp. Inviting trainees and coaches is just as easy.
- The software allows you to connect to your proprietary company tools with its open API functionality.
- EdApp provides a great deal of resources that gives you all the information you need about how the system works. There are also some tips made available to make your learning management process easier.
- It is completely free to use for unlimited content creation and deployment. Their paid version is also one of the most affordable for learning management systems.
- Easy onboarding. It takes only about five minutes to get started on EdApp. Inviting trainees and coaches is just as easy.
- The software allows you to connect to your proprietary company tools with its open API functionality.
- EdApp provides a great deal of resources that gives you all the information you need about how the system works. There are also some tips made available to make your learning management process easier.
- You always have to learn new ways to use the app as they release updates frequently.
- EdApp’s video limit is only 10 MB. This means you will have to shrink high-sized videos which, subsequently, reduces the quality of your videos.
- Some users complain about the analytics feature. It is usually slow and it sometimes takes a long time to pull out data into a CSV file.
- You always have to learn new ways to use the app as they release updates frequently.
- EdApp’s video limit is only 10 MB. This means you will have to shrink high-sized videos which, subsequently, reduces the quality of your videos.
- Some users complain about the analytics feature. It is usually slow and it sometimes takes a long time to pull out data into a CSV file.
SafetyCulture (EdApp)
Review:
EdApp is a learning management system designed for deskless workers. It provides useful features that help create bite-sized interactive lessons that can be accessed by anyone on any device, for free.
Speaking of free, they also provide free content creation services that involve turning old powerpoint slides, pdfs, and other learning materials into engaging and interactive content — all within the space of 48 hours.
SafetyCulture (EdApp)
Customers:
Audi, Deloitte, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
SafetyCulture (EdApp)
Stats:
Over 500 million data points come into SafetyCulture’s system per annum. As a data-driven company, they have collated some interesting statistics we believe is worth noting:
- The average micro lesson takes less than 10 minutes to complete.
- The average completion rate of an EdApp micro learning course is 82%.
- EdApp reported a 61% increase in monthly active users from 2020 to 2021.
- 70,000 lessons are deployed per day on EdApp
Other stats:
- 65,000 organizations use one or more SafetyCulture platforms in over 180 countries.
- According to Forrester — a US-based research and advisory company — deploying SafetyCulture’s platforms (EdApp and iAuditor) has a potential ROI of $3.6 million in cost savings from operational improvements.
- The same report finds EdApp’s mobile-first platform makes social learning more consistent and efficient, leading to time savings valuing over $1.1 million.
SafetyCulture (EdApp)
Pricing:
As far as content creation for educational purposes is concerned, EdApp is completely free. But you can get additional features across two paid subscriptions. Here is a breakdown of their price plans:
- Free: The free plan provides an unlimited number of course creation and access to a library of 800+ editable courses. It is also free for an unlimited number of users.
- Growth: This plan costs $1.95 per active user per month. It offers all the benefits of the free plan with the ability to customize the learner’s journey with achievements, review tests, and certifications.
- Plus: The plus plan gives you everything in the two previous plans with advanced features such as full API integration support and AI translation. It costs $2.95 per active user per month.
Note that EdApp offers a 30-day free trial period for all paid plans.
Best For:
SafetyCulture’s EdApp works best for small-medium sized blue-collar companies as it is a mobile-first platform. Larger global companies can also benefit from its numerous features, such as multilingual content deployment.
Why we love it
:
Docebo is a robust and scalable LMS ideal for companies with more than 300 team members in need of some sort of training.
Docebo
Review:
Docebo allows employees to drive their experience by choosing their learning paths based on skills they'd like to acquire. Managers can then understand the progress made by employees through a unified dashboard. Docebo is used by companies like Uber and WalMart.
Docebo
Customers:
Docebo is used by companies like Walmart, Amazon Web Servies, Heineken, Thomson Reuters, Uber, and Bose.
Docebo
Stats:
- 99% user satisfaction according to their own research
- 500+ global team
- Listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange since 2019 and in NASDAQ since December 2020
- Used by over 2,000 customers worldwide
Best For:
Docebo is best-suited for medium to large enterprises. Typically, they work best with companies that want to train more than 300 customers, partners, and employees on a monthly basis. It's also ideal for those organizations that want to expand rapidly and whose learning needs span several business units.
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Next Steps
At the end of the day, a learning management system can be great for your company as long as the platform you choose aligns with your learning/engagement objectives. So make a list of your must-haves and then run through that list on your demos so you can be confident in your investment.
Best Learning Management Systems
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