Absorb LMS vs. Coursera

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
Coursera
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Coursera is an online catalog of learning content, available to businesses to help them to strengthen critical skills, Develop, retain, and advance critical talent, or use role-based assessments to identify skills gaps and advancement opportunities.
$399
per year per user
Pricing
Absorb LMSCoursera
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Coursera for Teams
$399
per year per user (for less than 125 employees)
Coursera for Business
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Absorb LMSCoursera
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Absorb LMSCoursera
Features
Absorb LMSCoursera
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Absorb LMS
9.0
101 Ratings
10% above category average
Coursera
8.8
4 Ratings
3% above category average
Course authoring8.583 Ratings8.94 Ratings
Course catalog or library9.688 Ratings9.14 Ratings
Player/Portal8.892 Ratings8.94 Ratings
Learning content9.372 Ratings9.54 Ratings
Mobile friendly7.676 Ratings00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications9.996 Ratings9.24 Ratings
Assignments9.885 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance management9.979 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning administration9.798 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics8.896 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Social learning7.952 Ratings8.94 Ratings
Gamification7.647 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning9.769 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Absorb LMSCoursera
Small Businesses
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.5 out of 10
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.5 out of 10
Infosec Skills
Infosec Skills
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Axonify
Axonify
Score 10.0 out of 10
Infosec Skills
Infosec Skills
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Absorb LMSCoursera
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(101 ratings)
8.5
(17 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(6 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.7
(86 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.9
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.9
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Absorb LMSCoursera
Likelihood to Recommend
Absorb Software Inc.
Our integration experience was very well managed. We launched on-time, and only had to do basic end-user training because the system is very user friendly and intuitive to use. The customer support is exceptional, we have an assigned Customer Success Manager we meet with and talk to regularly. They are very responsive and have helped us optimize our processes to get the most out of the system. Because the system is easy to use, we have very few user issues or tickets we have to support. 90% of user problems are resolved by using the FAQs we provided when we launched the system
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Coursera
The Coursera platform can be a useful part of your overall learning content portfolio if utilized correctly. It's fantastic for asynchronous courses that don't necessarily need a dedicated faculty member (though I'd highly recommend at least having some discussion moderators/student workers) and for offering MOOCs. The ability for the learners to contribute translations really makes it ideal for the international learning community - I am always amazed to see a course we launched with 2-3 languages to quickly have 10-12 more added. This feature really helps expand the audience reach and Coursera has such a large following already that it can grow seemingly overnight.
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Pros
Absorb Software Inc.
  • Customer Service - Our CSM, Kirsten Spak, provides friendly, timely and high quality help and has helps us to understand and efficiently use the system.
  • Course Creation - We have been able to create custom courses with a wide range of features, including branding, audio, video and assessments.
  • Reporting - Absorb LMS offers a robust reporting function which allows us to understand our users and meet the needs of our partners when user information is required for their projects.
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Coursera
  • Interaction: the student learns by doing. For programming courses, this means programming!
  • Assessments: the courses I'd taken ask students to grade each others work with a rubric. This is hugely effective and permits tests and quizzes to be other than multiple choice.
  • Creativity and enthusiasm of the instructors. Some of the approaches demonstrated real out-of-the-box thinking by the instructors. For example, the Rice Python course was a self-contained website requiring no installation of IDE on one's computer, and the final project was a working version of Asteroids.
  • Low cost of entry: most of the course I enrolled in were free, with an optional fee for certifications. This really gives people the freedom to explore learning. It's almost like a Public Library of Learning.
  • Coursera forces a weekly discipline on the user with lectures and assignments and this really motivates one to put in the effort.
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Cons
Absorb Software Inc.
  • Reporting needs some additional help, especially the Course Activity Report. It would be great to see the description of the course on the header of the report.
  • The courses on the smart devices look wonky and sometimes the videos don't show up, yet you can hear it.
  • The Absorb LMS phone application also needs a lot of work. It does not show all the tiles that are available in the browser version.
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Coursera
  • Some of the courses (very few) have some old information (more than 2 years), and in some areas like technology the information has to be very new and updated.
  • Some professors or people doing videos are not good in front of the camera, they should train their people a little bit more for those things.
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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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Coursera
Constantly renewing already. One of my favourite MOOC platforms.
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Usability
Absorb Software Inc.
Absorb LMS is easy to use from both a user experience and admin experience. For users, navigating the site to complete assignments or finding courses to develop new skills is very user-friendly. As an admin, the course creation tools walk you through each step simply, but have a ton of functionality to support any of your training needs.
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Coursera
User-friendly and developer-friendly Web UI.
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Reliability and Availability
Absorb Software Inc.
The customer service team is top notch. They have always been readily available and quick to assist regardless of the day or time of the call
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Coursera
No answers on this topic
Performance
Absorb Software Inc.
Absorb LMS's performance is very reliable and consistent. Pages load quickly. Report are generated within a reasonable amount of time (even with significant amounts of data), etc. Nothing seems to slow it down.
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Coursera
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Absorb Software Inc.
Absorb LMS's client service managers have been extremely responsive, efficient, and available. While we pay for a higher level of support, we have found it well worth the investment. We've been less pleased with the accounting side of the organization, but that has little impact on the delivery of training to our clients and employees.
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Coursera
I’ve used it a couple of times and... that did great. They take their time, but in the end they solve your issues.
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Online Training
Absorb Software Inc.
I meet and do training with my absorb support every week. and I have all my questions answered! it's great
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Coursera
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Absorb Software Inc.
No answers on this topic
Coursera
Coursera is familiar, intuitive, compatible and easy to use and implement.
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Alternatives Considered
Absorb Software Inc.
hands down favorite in look, function, cost and service. Others were close but could not meet our external and internal cases. Our current one (we looked at them again) did not have 40% of the functionality or value, despite the bargain cost, it was not worth it to continue. Only new hires used our LMS for onboarding because they had to; no one went back for more training. With Absorb our classes are more dynamic and targeted.
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Coursera
I think Coursera has the best overall interface. I think you will find that different platforms go in different directions, and have different specialities. For the most part the differences are more in the types of courses they offer than one being particularly better than the other, so it comes down to content for me.
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Scalability
Absorb Software Inc.
This is one of the main reasons we chose Absorb as our LMS. It is a very user-friendly application that is able to be deployed across multiple departments in geographically dispersed locations. It works amazingly well for us.
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Coursera
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Absorb Software Inc.
  • Absorb LMS's user-friendly interface and interactive learning features contributed to a 150% increase in learner engagement levels. The platform's ability to deliver engaging content and quizzes enhances employee participation and knowledge retention at retail
  • With Absorb LMS, we are looking to streamline our remote employee onboarding process, and tracking to reduce the time taken for new hires to complete training modules by 30%.
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Coursera
  • The greatest benefit of Coursera is access to quality courses on various subjects that you can either browse or dive in deeply. Customizable, flexible and accessible.
  • Helps our department to recommend trainees courses on this website and gain important knowledge. Also, the courses are provided by big-name universities which helps students in their careers
  • Developing and exploring professional skills.
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ScreenShots

Absorb LMS Screenshots

Screenshot of a company's unique identity with a training interface that is custom-designed for the brand.Screenshot of a company's image and values with a training interface that is tailored to the brand's specific needs.Screenshot of the course creation workflow, that offer a diverse set of formats, including instructional videos, quizzes, and assessments.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 learners' progress insights, used to make data-driven decisions with the reporting capabilities of Absorb LMS.Screenshot of course creation with Create AI Beta.