Absorb vs. Articulate 360

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Absorb
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Absorb LMS aims to empower organizations to train employees with the skills needed to stay modern and relevant in today's fast-paced world. The LMS software focuses on aligning learning needs with business demands.N/A
Articulate 360
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Articulate 360 is an e-learning platform for creating workplace training. Users can build engaging courses with AI-enhanced authoring, simplify collaboration, and quickly share content. A subscription includes robust onboarding resources and access to a community of 1.5M pros.
$1,449
per year per user
Pricing
AbsorbArticulate 360
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Articulate 360 AI - Personal Plan
$1,449
per year
Articulate 360 AI - Teams Plan
$1,749
per year
Frontline
Starting at $500
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AbsorbArticulate 360
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredOptional
Additional DetailsIf you’re new to Articulate 360, you can try it out free of charge. After the trial period is over, you can subscribe to one of the following packages: Articulate 360 AI Teams plan: $1,749 per user per year Rise: Build beautiful training that automatically adapts to every screen Storyline: Create deeply custom, interactive courses AI generation: Guide AI to draft complete courses and other formats from source material Collaboration: Get stakeholder input, share for review, and finalize faster Integrations: Stay in your flow of work with connections to Google Drive, OneDrive, Claude, ChatGPT, and more Flexible distribution: Share trackable links, export to your LMS, use our native LMS—Reach—or download in more formats AI tutor: Give learners personalized, in-context guidance and coaching Analytics: Track engagement and completion, with insights to improve effectiveness Advanced workflows available with credits (purchased separately) Personal plan: $1,449 per user per year Rise: Build beautiful training that automatically adapts to every screen Storyline: Create deeply custom, interactive courses AI generation: Guide AI to draft complete courses and other formats from source material Review: Get stakeholder input, share for review, and finalize faster Integrations: Stay in your flow of work with connections to Google Drive, OneDrive, Claude, ChatGPT, and more Flexible distribution: Share trackable links, export to your LMS, use our native LMS—Reach—or download in more formats AI tutor: Give learners personalized, in-context guidance and coaching Analytics: Track engagement and completion, with insights to improve effectiveness Advanced workflows available with credits (purchased separately) Frontline: Starting at $500 Complete training kits: Turn source content into a connected set of training assets, with the right mix of formats chosen for what you're trying to teach Formats that fit the job: Create training decks, guides, scenarios, interactive videos, and quick references, each built for a different training need Quick updates and editing: Use AI to quickly update a whole kit, individual format, or specific sections Insights and analytics: Gather data from surveys, track engagement and completion, and see what questions your team has to improve effectiveness Easy distribution: Share trackable links anywhere your team already works: Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, or text Integrations: Stay in your flow of work with connections to Google Drive, OneDrive, Claude, ChatGPT, and more AI avatars: Create presenter-led videos, no filming required Multi-format translation: Translate each output into 80+ languages in a click AI tutor: Give learners personalized, in-context guidance and coaching
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AbsorbArticulate 360
Considered Both Products
Absorb
Chose Absorb
The main reason is the prompt support and useful features
Chose Absorb
We evaluated a few well-known LMS options, including Docebo, Cornerstone, and MindTickle. Each has strengths (especially in very specific use cases), but we selected Absorb LMS because it matched our priorities best: value for money, global scalability, straightforward …
Chose Absorb
I have only ever used Moodle in a personal educational setting, so not from an administrator-perspective, but Absorb definitely has a ton of settings and customizability. I know that one reason we decided to go with Absorb is their ability to create custom templates, which has …
Chose Absorb
The user interface in Absorb is awesome; the back end - admins don't have as much ability. In the past, I could do things like exclude groups from training, build groups based on people who had completed courses, link courses without having to put them in a curriculum, etc.
Chose Absorb
Absorb support is way better than others and I feel more valued and listened to than the other LMS that I have checked out
Chose Absorb
We really like the innovative AI functions of Docebo but appreciate the clean, modern interface of Absorb LMS.
Chose Absorb
Absorb LMS offered the best e-commerce for what we origionally wanted, however, we stayed due to their CSM support and anticipated/ongoing additon of features. Additionally we were drawn to the Create feature and gamification options, along with the Collaboration features.
Chose Absorb
When we were looking for a new LMS years ago, we met with a number of vendors. Absorb stood out to me because the functions and interface just made sense and it met our budget well.
Chose Absorb
We previously used the Oracle LMS function, as we utilize other Oracle products within the organization. Absorb LMS is a much more user-friendly, robust LMS tool which better suits the needs of our business with the growing geographic landscape and integration of other …
Chose Absorb
I think Absorb LMS stacks up well but can't speak to specifics. Basically, it gets the job done. I didn't select Absorb LMS - it was an existing part of our org when I joined.
Chose Absorb
Absorb LMS had far more white labelling and customisation which is essential for our business use. Talent LMS does not allow downloading of content authoring files, effectively locking you into their platform. Articulate has great content authoring functionality but it staggers …
Chose Absorb
I think Absorb LMS is, by far, the most clean and visually appealing platform, while being easy to use and still providing powerful functionality.
Chose Absorb
Two of the other platforms that we tested and evaluated are not available in your list. We looked at systems from EMS1.com delivered by Praetorian, Inc., and we looked at a product called WebAnywhere, with whom we actually contracted for a year before abandoning the platform …
Chose Absorb
Absorb LMS has all the functionality that is now expected from a premier LMS. But it also has superb customer support. At a fair price point
Chose Absorb
Implementation of a new product was intimidating.
Chose Absorb
Absorb LMS was a lot more intuitive and user friendly, it also provided a much better user experience. The analtyics were a vast improvement as well.
Chose Absorb
Our organization previously used LMS365, which did not support eCommerce and had difficulties supporting external users. (My understanding is the issues with external users may have been directly related to our Microsoft implementation and not directly LMS365's fault, but it …
Chose Absorb
We felt Absorb LMS best fit our needs.
Chose Absorb
We vetted several web-based systems, but I don't recall all of the names.
Chose Absorb
We were very disappointed with D2L and Workday's ability to customize what or how content is shown to users. The platforms can be robust but the onboarding time for new administrators is much longer than Absorb. Workday's current offering (2023) for external learners is …
Articulate 360
Chose Articulate 360
I honestly don’t know if any products that can even be compared to the articulate programs. I’ve use simple things like PowerPoint and canvas to create material for training needs. I can’t say that they are even remotely close to what you achieve in Articulate. However, …
Chose Articulate 360
Docebo is a superior LMS for scale, but I prefer the features and functionality of Rise and Storyline to that of Absorb and Captivate.

However, I find the Absorb content dev tool to be a great middle ground between Rise and Storyline, and would love to see a similar …
Chose Articulate 360
I think they are all comparable, however articulate is easier to onboard. It also seems that Articulate is innovating in the way business need.
Chose Articulate 360
Captivate worked much like photoshop with the layering.
Features
AbsorbArticulate 360
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Absorb
8.6
167 Ratings
4% above category average
Articulate 360
-
Ratings
Course authoring9.0131 Ratings00 Ratings
Course catalog or library9.3146 Ratings00 Ratings
Player/Portal8.6150 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning content8.5124 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile friendly8.0120 Ratings00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications9.4159 Ratings00 Ratings
Assignments9.7137 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance management9.5133 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning administration8.8163 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics8.5160 Ratings00 Ratings
Social learning6.388 Ratings00 Ratings
Gamification6.185 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning9.7125 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AbsorbArticulate 360
Small Businesses
iSpring LMS
iSpring LMS
Score 9.6 out of 10
iSpring LMS
iSpring LMS
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
iSpring LMS
iSpring LMS
Score 9.6 out of 10
iSpring LMS
iSpring LMS
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
AITalent LMS
AITalent LMS
Score 9.3 out of 10
Absorb
Absorb
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AbsorbArticulate 360
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(170 ratings)
9.3
(654 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.6
(10 ratings)
9.7
(34 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(74 ratings)
8.8
(509 ratings)
Availability
9.2
(6 ratings)
9.2
(8 ratings)
Performance
8.8
(6 ratings)
9.3
(7 ratings)
Support Rating
9.6
(156 ratings)
5.7
(36 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.2
(1 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(4 ratings)
8.7
(6 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.3
(5 ratings)
8.7
(13 ratings)
Configurability
7.9
(3 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
7.8
(3 ratings)
9.7
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.9
(3 ratings)
9.3
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.9
(6 ratings)
8.3
(7 ratings)
Professional Services
9.6
(2 ratings)
8.5
(3 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(5 ratings)
7.9
(4 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.8
(5 ratings)
9.3
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
AbsorbArticulate 360
Likelihood to Recommend
Absorb Software Inc.
Absorb is highly intuitive for end users. The resources feature allows for uploads of materials that are not marked as part of any training but rather available for users to review at their convenience. Scheduling reports so they are sent to users via email has been a pain. Reports are duplicated and there is also no start and end date, which causes the portal to continuously push the reports unless they are manually cancelled
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Articulate Global Inc.
I have been using this for many years and love how I can use the same platform for all of my use cases. Each module can feel different while the learners don’t need to be introduced to another platform and how to use
Read full review
Pros
Absorb Software Inc.
  • Overall, Absorb LMS is pretty easy to use for learners and especially for admins. It's practical to create and manage course content - it provides the most crucial options and yet is lean enough not to overcomplicate the admin's life. The consistent and customizable "table-view" in most of the admin-areas is very helpful and easy to follow.
  • Using Enrollment Rules, Absorb LMS let you define who a course applies to and how they get enrolled. You can build rules based on learner attributes, such as department, location job role, group, to include or exclude specific audiences. The way Absorb LMS is using enrollment attributes, no other LMS actually can fulfill our requirements easier. Enrollment rules are mainly embedded in individual course options (you can also create scheduled enrollments outside of the courses).
Read full review
Articulate Global Inc.
  • Unrivaled Power and Customization. After 15 years in the training industry, Storyline 360 remains my favorite tool because it is, simply put, the most powerful authoring tool I have ever used, giving me complete creative control.
  • Advanced Interactivity. I love being able to 'overengineer' content using Triggers, Variables, States, and Layers, which allows me to build the most sophisticated and deep functionality.
  • Superior to Basic Tools. Storyline's capability to build detailed branching scenarios and realistic simulations sets it leaps and bounds apart from basic tools like PowerPoint, which is essential for high-impact training.
Read full review
Cons
Absorb Software Inc.
  • The "And" and "Or" rules for self + automatic enrollment could be spelled out more to clarify who we're enrolling into courses
  • The thumbnail and poster "Upload photo" section is confusing. There should be a "Favorites" folder where we can easily find most commonly used posters and thumbnails
  • more education around Absorb analyze essentials
  • How the Featured courses section ranks courses is confusing on the back-end. I need to switch the primary one to second place to feature the new one first. But if the previous one now becomes second place, what happens to the old course that was in second place? I've noticed the order you select on the back-end for this isn't always reflected on user side
  • Same comment as Featured Courses but for appearance of billboards. Hard to position each in the right order
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Articulate Global Inc.
  • I would like to see features like video creating software within the tool.
  • Triggers could be made easier for new users. This may be solved with AI (i.e., tell AI what you want, and AI will create the trigger for you).
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Absorb Software Inc.
We love the ability to have a user-friendly system that integrates well with our different HR interfaces (we have 3 systems that feed data/employees into the system). It makes it easy to track course completions and report out on metrics enterprise-wide. In addition, the ability to provide consistent education to staff who are geographically dispersed is a huge incentive for us, and Absorb LMS does this seamlessly.
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Articulate Global Inc.
This has been a huge time saver with all the new features. It has become a trusted platform for ease of use and reliability. Cost per license continues to stay at a good point for renewal. Using it to think outside of our current needs and innovate in a timely manner.
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Usability
Absorb Software Inc.
Our company has performed many software implementations over the last few years. Getting Absorb LMS up and running was one of the easiest and most pleasant by far. The process is fairly straightforward, but you are also given excellent support in instances when it is needed.
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Articulate Global Inc.
It is very user-friendly, especially considering past alternatives I’ve been asked to use for training (PowerPoint is NOT a robust training tool). I like that everything is integrated in one system. I had to use an outdated LMS 5 years ago that was exhausting trying to get to work: upload SCORM, update SCORM, learn what SCORM is, and then repeat. Now, I just click “upload to Reach”. Wham, Bam, Thank you, ma’am.
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Reliability and Availability
Absorb Software Inc.
We have never had any major issue with Absorb's availability. Any outages that have occurred have been planned an communicated. Any small issues that occur within the Absorb platform have been addressed efficiently and quickly by support and the development team
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Articulate Global Inc.
No issues here
Read full review
Performance
Absorb Software Inc.
We have experienced infrequent issues with things like load times on reporting, or pages timing out, but for the large majority of our time within the system things have worked as they should
Read full review
Articulate Global Inc.
Pages load fast, the videos play normally, and I haven't seen any delays in the system
Read full review
Support Rating
Absorb Software Inc.
My client success manager had to reach out once for our company once. Although it was not an Absorb issue (it was an issue on the course vendor side), Absorb offered a resolution while the vendor was fixing the issue. We were very happy with the resolution and feel like Absorb went above and beyond for us.
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Articulate Global Inc.
I rate the overall support for Articulate 360 ​​with a 9. On the one hand because of the smooth and accurate support from Articulate's support team (usually within 24 hours) and on the other because of the commitment / use of a community (e-learning Heroes) where I have all kinds of insights from other helpful users.
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In-Person Training
Absorb Software Inc.
No answers on this topic
Articulate Global Inc.
The instructors don't know how to use it.
Read full review
Online Training
Absorb Software Inc.
The training was comprehensive - there were existing modules to learn functionality but working with Absorb staff, and receiving recordings of those walk-throughs, made a rapid understanding of the LMS achievable and covered the necessary material that was needed and allowed for specific questions to be addressed.
Read full review
Articulate Global Inc.
The online training options given by the online tutorials, forums, and "E-Learning Heroes" community are simply awesome. Examples galore, easy to understand descriptions including step-by-step guides, images, occasionally videos, and the "Articulate Insiders" sub-community give you more materials to learn about Storyline than you are likely to be able to read.
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Implementation Rating
Absorb Software Inc.
The implementation of Absorb went very seamlessly. We previously had the Oracle LMS and importing user data and getting the new system up to speed was painless. The smooth transition helped leaders and staff gain confidence early in the application/company and we have had a successful partnership with Absorb since.
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Articulate Global Inc.
Outside of having to dedicate a powerful enough PC for the installation and having to update Flash in our browsers there really isn't much pain involved in using Articulate. For the most part this is an easy to implement and roll-out product. The installation occurs quickly and smoothly with no additional steps needed.
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Alternatives Considered
Absorb Software Inc.
Absorb offers a more flexible and robust experience for managing learning ecosystems. The user interface is more modern and provides a stronger user-centric learning experience. Absorb is at parity for social learning, which most learning platforms struggle with. The admin capabilities within Absorb are stronger than those of each of these providers. The notifications are strong, too.
Read full review
Articulate Global Inc.
Articulate 360 is the industry leader for e-learning authoring. While we use the Adobe Creative Suite for artistic support, we find that when it comes to authoring tools, Articulate products are superior in both design and accessibility. Articulate 360 has strong support behind it and has deep educational resources for new and intermediate users.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Absorb Software Inc.
Clear and easy to understand. Of course, I would love to have seen these costs during my research of different LMSs, but I understand why they don't share this information.
Read full review
Articulate Global Inc.
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Absorb Software Inc.
We have already scaled our LMS from a couple hundred users to 1000 users and have plans to scale even larger. We use the LMS across multiple internal departments. countries and user types. Absorb has made it easy to integrate and scale and we will continue to scale in the near future.
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Articulate Global Inc.
Easy to use. Cheap. It has a lot of features.
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Professional Services
Absorb Software Inc.
We work directly with Kirsten Spak, who has continuously
provided timely and quality help for myself as the lead and our organization.
Kirsten has helped us ensure that we are going about things as efficiently and
is always willing to walk through things to demonstrate suggestions and
functions. As we look to expand our offerings further, Kirsten has helped
strategize for the best approach, which has helped our workflow and the
end-user experience. As we are still relatively new users, but using the LMS
every day, Kirsten has been very patient and provided clear instruction on
processes when we were unsure of what to do and has been able to troubleshoot,
with her team, functions that were desired but not availability at the time, to
provide us with solutions.
Read full review
Articulate Global Inc.
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Absorb Software Inc.
  • We used Absorb LMS to track Annual Safety Training to ensure compliance with inspectors and ensure our teammates understand the risks and how to mitigate them safely. We were never able to track this before and thus, we simply didn't have mandatory annual training.
  • A huge drawback prior to implementation of Absorb LMS was our inability to offer more than our 40 purchased e-courses to our employees. These were mostly safety and equipment based courses, so we didn't have any soft skill development happening. Now we have hundreds of courses available from the Absorb library that cover the safety aspects, but we also have dozens of leadership courses, communication and influence courses, etc. It has been a huge gamechanger for our employees and their development opportunities! When I look at our course library, there are 400 courses, which over 300 being available through Absorb library (the other 80+ were made using Absorb Create).
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Articulate Global Inc.
  • Has been at the training process so we can release new content swiftly and introduced. Introduced it to new member.
  • Storyline has helped build prototypes and wire frames. Provide feedback and allowed many different situations to be viewed for brains. Brainstorming.
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ScreenShots

Absorb Screenshots

Screenshot of Absorb's course details page, accessible from the course catalog dashboard, used to give learners an understanding of the course material.Screenshot of course creation with Create AI Beta.Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Articulate 360 Screenshots

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