Absorb LMS vs. Articulate 360

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Absorb LMS
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 9.3 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
Pricing
Absorb LMSArticulate 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
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Absorb LMSArticulate 360
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredOptional
Additional DetailsThose new to Articulate 360 can try it free of charge for 30 days. Articulate 360 is available on the Articulate website and through Articulate Authorized Resellers.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Absorb LMSArticulate 360
Considered Both Products
Absorb LMS
Chose Absorb LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
The main reason is the prompt support and useful features
Chose Absorb LMS
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 LMS
We really like the innovative AI functions of Docebo but appreciate the clean, modern interface of Absorb LMS.
Chose Absorb LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
Implementation of a new product was intimidating.
Chose Absorb LMS
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 LMS
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 LMS
We felt Absorb LMS best fit our needs.
Chose Absorb LMS
We vetted several web-based systems, but I don't recall all of the names.
Chose Absorb LMS
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
Absorb LMSArticulate 360
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Absorb LMS
8.6
162 Ratings
4% above category average
Articulate 360
-
Ratings
Course authoring9.0127 Ratings00 Ratings
Course catalog or library9.3141 Ratings00 Ratings
Player/Portal8.4146 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning content8.8119 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile friendly7.7116 Ratings00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications9.6154 Ratings00 Ratings
Assignments9.7133 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance management9.8128 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning administration9.2158 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics8.8155 Ratings00 Ratings
Social learning6.286 Ratings00 Ratings
Gamification5.683 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning9.7120 Ratings00 Ratings
User Ratings
Absorb LMSArticulate 360
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(165 ratings)
9.4
(522 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.1
(9 ratings)
9.6
(25 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(69 ratings)
8.9
(376 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(5 ratings)
8.8
(5 ratings)
Performance
8.4
(5 ratings)
8.2
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(151 ratings)
9.4
(31 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.2
(1 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
8.6
(3 ratings)
8.8
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.5
(4 ratings)
8.0
(9 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(3 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
4.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.4
(2 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.1
(5 ratings)
8.8
(4 ratings)
Professional Services
9.6
(2 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.6
(4 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.6
(4 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Absorb LMSArticulate 360
Likelihood to Recommend
Absorb Software Inc.
We use the system to automatically assign compliance courses to new hires. This varies by location and employee level. Absorb lets us dynamically enroll users in the required courses based on their geographic location and level. We use the system to build comprehensive leadership development programs for managers. This includes helping managers develop a coaching habit to build bench strength on their teams.
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Articulate Global, Inc.
Articulate 360 is great for online courses, courses for an LMS, courses that use media, text to speech audio, interactive items. Courses can be translated into other languages quickly. You can bring in outside media into the course pretty easily. The layouts are professional looking and blocks can be copied easily and repeated as needed.
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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).
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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.
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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.
  • Feature suggestions take a long time to be added to the software
  • Would like to see deeper options for some of the learner engagement activities (Drag and drop, sliders, etc. )
  • Occasionally will not save as expected, and you have to create a copy to keep working on a project
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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.
I haven't seen any other platform for developing learning materials that is as comprehensive or as reliable as Articulate has proven to be for our use. Because our group has a number of PowerPoint power users, the PowerPoint integration with Articulate is particularly beneficial.
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Usability
Absorb Software Inc.
Absorb is a solid platform that is relatively easy to use for users and admins and provides basic features with minimal problems. Their support and sales staff are helpful and knowledgeable. There are some features that are less user friendly and more advanced features such as career pathing and advanced gamification are non-existent.
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Articulate Global, Inc.
Usability is where Articulate shines. Anyone who has ever built a PowerPoint can open the tool and quickly understand how to use it. The more complex aspects of the tool are also very user-friendly, but you can build great content without ever going into advanced variables or JavaScript.
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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.
I love how when there is any downtime that the user can still access the tool
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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
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Articulate Global, Inc.
Pages load fast, the videos play normally, and I haven't seen any delays in the system
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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.
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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 LMS is feature packed with small but smart elements (can have a username that isnt an email, can change the core language used in the platform, can change the font and layout) that offer greater security and accessibility for learners.
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Articulate Global, Inc.
I have not used any other elearning development software other than Articulate 360. Though, I have seen demos of other products and while they are great, they still don’t seem to be as great as Articulate 360. This opinion also shows up in other places like product reviews and instructional design groups on Facebook.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Absorb Software Inc.
Seems very expensive for limitations we have experienced.
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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.
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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 LMS 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

Screenshot of creating a course in RiseScreenshot of Articulate 360Screenshot of Storyline 360Screenshot of Rise 360Screenshot of Content Library 360Screenshot of Review 360