20 + 1 of the best online learning platforms for organizations

The success of modern organizations is measured by how fast their employees can learn new skills and absorb information. And while there are many online platforms that support learning and development at work, not all of them are created equal.

To help you choose the platform(s) that’s right for your organization’s needs, we’ve listed 21 great technologies categorized into 3 groups:

1. E-learning platforms (with ready-made learning content)

2. Corporate learning management systems (for organizing and tracking employees’ learning initiatives in one centralized platform)

3. Learning experience platforms (that rely on not only content delivery but also collaboration and applied learning)

E-learning platforms

While there are many contradicting definitions of e-learning platforms, for the purpose of this article, we’ll stick to the following:

E-learning platforms are web-based services that can be used to share structured learning materials and courses with an unlimited audience. Typically e-learning platforms favor static content delivery over collaborative features.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the most popular e-learning platforms and their key differences.

1. LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning offers a wide variety of expert-led online learning courses for teams and organizations. Unlike many other e-learning platforms, the business plan allows you to bring custom content into the platform and that way make courses more applicable to your organization.

✅ Pros:

• A huge library of learning materials spanning several different areas

• The ability to customize content based on your organization’s needs

⛔️ Cons:

• Many of the courses are only available in English

• Most materials are only delivered in video format

2. Pluralsight

Pluralsight is a technology-focused e-learning platform that helps your team upskill across design, development, security, and cloud.

✅ Pros:

• High-quality and highly specialized expert-authored courses across a variety of technology topics

• The ability to track employee’s progress across their learning paths

⛔️ Cons:

• No certified courses

3. Udemy for business

Udemy for Business is a corporate learning platform that offers courses in business, tech, and design.

✅ Pros:

• In-depth courses on a wide variety of topics

• User-friendly interface — especially on the mobile app

• The ability to track the participants’ learning progress

⛔️ Cons:

• A lack of shorter, summary courses for on-the-go learning

4. Coursera

Coursera has partnered with world-class universities and businesses to bring quality courses to organizations of all sizes.

✅ Pros:

• Certified courses from top universities and organizations

• Video lessons are paired with interactive assessments, quizzes and peer-reviewed assignment to deliver a more holistic learning experience

• Custom courses available with the enterprise plan

⛔️ Cons:

• The interface is not the most intuitive

• A lack of shorter courses

5. Skillsoft

Skillsoft is a corporate e-learning platform that offers perhaps the most comprehensive set of learning materials to companies. Including tactical courses like how to use Microsoft Excel to highly specialized expert-led courses on digital transformation, Skillsoft serves a variety of different learning needs.

✅ Pros:

• Perhaps the industry’s widest selection of courses

• Convenient mobile app

⛔️ Cons:

• Occasional issues with a long loading time

• Reporting features could be improved

6. uQualio

uQualio is a video-based e-learning platform that comes with handy practice quizzes and gamification features. Unlike many of the more traditional e-learning platforms, it favors shorter, bite-sized content and interaction between the participants.

✅ Pros:

• The ability to build your own courses

• Packed with quizzes and other interactive features

• Support for bite-sized content that can be consumed on-the-go

⛔️ Cons:

• Launched in 2017 and a lot of the features are still being developed

7. Mind Tools

Mind Tools is a management and leadership training platform that offers a catalog of learning resources.

✅ Pros:

• Clear focus on management, leadership, and business related content

• Materials available for all knowledge levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced

⛔️ Cons:

• Most of the content is in article format, and not available offline

8. Cornerstone

Cornerstone is an e-learning content subscription service that allows you to order tailored content for your organization’s LMS.

✅ Pros:

• Customizable platform, where you can set different access levels to different users and create custom welcome messages to each group

⛔️ Cons:

• Limited reporting functionalities

• Limited customer support

9. OpenSesame

OpenSesame is an e-learning solution that helps you curate the right content for your learning program.

✅ Pros:

• A wide variety of courses

• Helpful customer service with short response times

⛔️ Cons:

• The courses leading up to a certification can be pricey

• Limited localization to different languages

10. Grovo

Grovo is a microlearning platform that offers corporate customers bite-sized mixed-media lessons on the go.

✅ Pros:

• Mixed-media lessons, e.g. short videos that are supplemented with quizzes

• Gamification features that allow organizing internal learning competitions

⛔️ Cons:

• Some of the videos use cheesy stock images to illustrate serious concepts

• At times, the quizzes are too easy, and can therefore be construed as disengaging

11. Udacity

Udacity helps forward-thinking organizations train their technical teams on topics like machine learning, data science, and artificial intelligence.

✅ Pros:

• Tons of free, high-quality courses on technical topics — even emerging ones

• Nano degrees offer a more comprehensive view of a topic

• Great quizzes at the end of each lesson

⛔️ Cons:

• No interaction possibility between the learner and the instructor

Learning management systems (LMS)

While e-learning platforms focus on delivering learning content to employees, the primary goal of corporate learning management systems is to help HR and learning professionals organize, track, and manage employee learning initiatives.

LMSes are used to manage a variety of training programs ranging from onboarding to compliance, and from security to professional upskilling.

So without further ado, here are some of the best LMSes in 2019.

12. Moodle & Microsoft Teams

We know, we know. While Moodle and Microsoft Teams are technically two different platforms, they now offer a seamless integration, which means that you can bring collaboration directly into your LMS.

✅ Pros:

• Tons of customization options and different plug-ins

• Smooth integration between the two platforms, which allows learners and facilitators to interact with one another

⛔️ Cons:

• While the integration is great, having two separate platforms can make the learning experience a bit noisy for everyone involved

• Creating a continuous learning journey is difficult, since Moodle and Teams function as more of a content and project management tool than an interactive learning platform

• A lot of Moodle users find the interface a bit difficult to navigate and use, which can have serious consequences in terms of the results of your learning initiatives

13. Lessonly

Lessonly is a modern training software that helps customer-facing teams such as sales and customer success learn and practice skills that they need to succeed in their roles.

✅ Pros:

• Lessonly makes it easy for admins to create structured, user-friendly learning materials for employees

• World-class customer success team

⛔️ Cons:

• Reporting only comes in a CSV format and is more focused on per-user data than per-lesson data

• No white-label support in terms of fonts, colors, and logos

14. TalentLMS

TalentLMS is a cloud-based LMS perfect for training employees, partners, and customers.

✅ Pros:

• Support for various different content types

• The secure cloud-based storage makes sure that your data is safe within the platform

• Robust reporting capabilities

⛔️ Cons:

• Some limitations in the mobile app’s user interface

• Limited email notification options

15. Eloomi

Eloomi is a hybrid between a learning management system and a performance management software.

✅ Pros:

• Intuitive user interface for admins and users alike

• Clever gamification features

• Good customer support and seamless implementation

⛔️ Cons:

• Limited support for different languages

16. Eurekos

Eurekos is a content-first learning management system that delivers powerful administration, analytics, and social features.

✅ Pros:

• Eurekos makes it easy to reuse and recycle existing learning content

• Courses are easy to structure and build

• Advanced analytics features

⛔️ Cons:

• Tons of features, which can be a downside for admins who don’t have time to learn how to use them

17. iSpring

iSpring is a cloud-based learning management system that allows you to teach and assess employees online.

✅ Pros:

• Setting up a new course is very easy

• Helpful support with fast response times

⛔️ Cons:

• Some users have reported problems with integrating iSpring into their existing tools

18. Docebo

Docebo is an online training tool for employees that comes with a fully customizable interface and tons of useful automation features.

✅ Pros:

• Modern look and feel

• Frequent updates to the platform

⛔️ Cons:

• The admin side of the platform can be difficult to navigate

• Occasional bugs on the platform in conjunction with the software updates

19. Bridge

Bridge is a learning solution that makes it easy to onboard new employees and coach existing ones.

✅ Pros:

• Simple and streamlined approach to remote employee training

• Implementation is fast and no user training is required to get started

⛔️ Cons:

• Limited reporting capabilities

• Lack of interactive features

20. Adobe Captivate Prime

Adobe Captivate Prime is a learning management system that allows you to deliver and track e-learning efforts.

✅ Pros:

• Beautiful UI with nice graphics

• Great reporting features

• Ready-made email templates and advanced automation capabilities

⛔️ Cons:

• Not easily integrated with 3rd party software

Learning experience platforms

Learning experience platforms are online services that support e-learning programs, traditional learning programs, and blended learning programs, i.e. courses and training programs that contain both online and in-person training.

The main difference between learning experience platforms, e-learning platforms and LMSes, is that the former encourages learning by doing rather than only delivering and tracking theoretical knowledge.

21. Howspace

Howspace is a collaborative learning experience platform that encourages your employees to learn together. It’s a great addition to traditional LMSes and static e-learning platforms, as it promotes social learning and applied learning at work.

✅ Pros:

• The intuitive admin interface makes it easy for facilitators to create, customize, and manage workspaces, and facilitate learning experiences

• The social media-like user interface helps you create shared learning experiences, while encouraging the participants to engage with each other and the learning materials in different ways

• Each workspace member gets a unique sign-in link, which means that they never have to worry about remembering or resetting lost usernames and passwords

⛔️ Cons:

If you’d like to see Howspace in action, you can now get a free 30-day trial of the learning experience platform. No strings attached, no credit card needed.