D2L Brightspace vs. Panopto

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
D2L Brightspace
Score 5.1 out of 10
N/A
Brightspace is an academic and corporate learning management platform. It provides core e-learning features, as well as mobile accessibility and granular personalization and analytics insights.N/A
Panopto
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Panopto is a video management platform for businesses and universities from the company of the same name in Seattle, supporting the recording, sharing, live streaming, and (after recording) sharing via LMS or internal video site, video search, and virtual classroom.
$14.99
per month
Pricing
D2L BrightspacePanopto
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Pro
$14.99
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
D2L BrightspacePanopto
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMust contact vendor for pricing information. 30-day free trial is available.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
D2L BrightspacePanopto
Considered Both Products
D2L Brightspace
Chose D2L Brightspace
We migrated from PLS. Brightspace is much more intuitive and modern than PLS was. The ability for Brightspace to work across a range of devices (mobile, tablet, PC, Mac, etc) has been positive for our instructors and students. The main interface is straightforward and easy to …
Panopto

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
D2L BrightspacePanopto
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
5.9
10 Ratings
32% below category average
Panopto
-
Ratings
Course authoring2.110 Ratings00 Ratings
Course catalog or library10.06 Ratings00 Ratings
Player/Portal9.87 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning content9.69 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile friendly1.19 Ratings00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications9.49 Ratings00 Ratings
Assignments2.110 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance management8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning administration2.19 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics2.110 Ratings00 Ratings
Social learning8.49 Ratings00 Ratings
Video Marketing
Comparison of Video Marketing features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
-
Ratings
Panopto
7.0
6 Ratings
2% below category average
Video personalization00 Ratings7.06 Ratings
eCommerce00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Support for advertisements00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Video SEO00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Video Platform Integrations
Comparison of Video Platform Integrations features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
-
Ratings
Panopto
9.4
7 Ratings
39% above category average
Integration to LMS00 Ratings9.47 Ratings
Video Security
Comparison of Video Security features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
-
Ratings
Panopto
8.8
10 Ratings
1% above category average
Video access controls00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
User management00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Video link sharing00 Ratings10.010 Ratings
Internal video00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
External video00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
Video Player
Comparison of Video Player features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
-
Ratings
Panopto
8.4
10 Ratings
0% above category average
Player customization00 Ratings7.08 Ratings
Embedded videos00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Video quality / Bandwidth controls00 Ratings8.89 Ratings
Mobile compatibility00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Video Analytics
Comparison of Video Analytics features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
-
Ratings
Panopto
7.5
10 Ratings
0% above category average
A/B testing00 Ratings9.04 Ratings
Streaming quality reports00 Ratings6.04 Ratings
Per viewer tracking00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
Per video tracking00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
Video analytics dashboard00 Ratings6.38 Ratings
Video Hosting, Management & Storage
Comparison of Video Hosting, Management & Storage features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
-
Ratings
Panopto
8.1
9 Ratings
4% below category average
On-Demand video00 Ratings7.68 Ratings
Live streaming00 Ratings7.28 Ratings
Impact of streaming on network00 Ratings8.04 Ratings
Video upload & format support00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Video library / File management00 Ratings9.29 Ratings
Video portal00 Ratings7.88 Ratings
Video Engagement
Comparison of Video Engagement features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
-
Ratings
Panopto
8.8
7 Ratings
9% above category average
Audience polling00 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Audience Q&A / Live chat00 Ratings7.25 Ratings
Video comments00 Ratings9.27 Ratings
Best Alternatives
D2L BrightspacePanopto
Small Businesses
Tovuti LMS
Tovuti LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Wistia
Wistia
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Sakai
Sakai
Score 8.7 out of 10
Flipgrid
Flipgrid
Score 1.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Intellum
Intellum
Score 9.2 out of 10
Ensemble Video
Ensemble Video
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
D2L BrightspacePanopto
Likelihood to Recommend
1.5
(45 ratings)
8.1
(12 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(25 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.4
(11 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(6 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
Online Training
4.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.6
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
D2L BrightspacePanopto
Likelihood to Recommend
D2L
If you're an educational institution (K-12, Higher Ed, etc.), this is an amazing tool, and it will provide you all the functionality to support anything you may want and need it to do. If you are looking at Brightspace as a tool for corporate training, I'm not sure exactly how good or bad it will be for you. My guess would be that it likely depends on your organization's size. Along that line, what I can speak to is how we use it for our customized training and in-house professional development/training, and it works fantastically for that. While we primarily use it for normal higher ed coursework, we regularly do training and professional development for all of our employees and I manage those along with our HR department. Because we use it for many other things as well, all of our employees are familiar with the product, which makes our trainings go that much smoother and makes my job that much easier.
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Panopto
Panopto is great if you have a lot of video content that you need to put in a central repository. It makes it easy to manage who sees it and how it is categorized. The captioning features are also really good too. For folks to view the video, they don't need a Panopto account. You can send them a direct link. If you want to upload videos, however, they will need a Panopto account. If you only have a few videos or care less about usage statistics, SharePoint may be a better file repository option
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Pros
D2L
  • Allowing users to embed content links from YouTube or Google Drive enables learners to experience a richer lesson.
  • Providing a powerful editor that allows developers to also include content from Adobe Stock as well as textbook publishers and cloud storage companies gives more power and creative ability to instructors.
  • Providing scaling for mobile and traditional computer systems ensures students will not have issues on the go.
  • The customization of home pages and groups enable courses to be used for small training sessions with breakout groups, large courses with separate sections, and even just more engaging courses that present themed icons and logos.
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Panopto
  • Simple to use - It really is a click-and-go system. Log in, click on record, and you're set.
  • Flexible - It allows multiple information-rich inputs to be recorded simultaneously (for example, the screen, webcams, microphones, etc.). For some demonstrations, having multiple perspectives/views can be beneficial. The ability to add multiple webcams enhanced the value of some of my recordings.
  • Reliable - This is critical when an unforeseen opportunity arises and you want to capture it visually and with audio. I had multiple experiences where a unique person was available briefly and due to Panopto's reliability, I was able to capture content that would otherwise have been seen by only those physically present at the time.
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Cons
D2L
  • One can feel a bit rushed on the Brightspace platform during the log-out period. Security requirements may require this, but it makes end-users more conscious about getting through content than taking notes.
  • From my experience, there is not a direct connection between the platform and Outlook.
  • Some content on the platform can feel redundant.
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Panopto
  • Panopto doesn't fully support Ultra courses in Blackboard - we can do quizzing, which is very helpful, but we can't do video submissions like an Original course.
  • There is no built-in certificate option for completing a video and its quiz questions, which requires us to use additional systems for tracking and awarding.
  • Analytics are mediocre. The reporting tools are challenging to use and to get clear information on a consistent basis.
  • Quizzing is limited to multiple choice or T/F -- there is no reflection point or open-ended question format.
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Likelihood to Renew
D2L
I would never give any system a perfect score. In the technology environment today we need to be constantly looking at ways to improve the user experience and LMS companies like Desire2Learn need to know that we have options today with other systems and they need to stay current with features and listen to their customers.
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Panopto
No answers on this topic
Usability
D2L
Overall, the learning environment works as expected. However, there are plenty of bugs. For example, for a few versions, trying to print out a PDF from the Content screen in several browsers would produce a blank page. We inform D2L support about these issues, most of which are known issues. However, they are very slow to respond. D2L seems to spend more time selling than actually coding and testing their product. Most of the issues are not major -- however, there have been a few that are unbelievable. In fact, this past week we had a sudden issue where the "Submit" button in quizzes would not appear if users had a certain browser/operating system combination. This is a major problem, if students cannot submit their exams! D2L is slow to respond to these kinds of situations, which do occur more often than I would like.
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Panopto
Needs some work, but I'm sure improvements will come over time
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Reliability and Availability
D2L
Both students and instructor enjoy the 24-hoiur access. After, all isn't that the point of online learning. As an instructor located in an Eastern time zone state it is great to connect with students located in a Pacific time zone state. I have gotten comments about the early hours I am in the course room grading assignments . . . 4:00 a.m. PST; 7:00 a.m. EST So, it's sleep time for my students and "first cup of coffee" time for me.
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Panopto
No answers on this topic
Performance
D2L
Easy to navigate; little to no delay from one section of the course room to another; actually fun to use after overcoming the learning curve.
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Panopto
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
D2L
I have had excellent support from Desire2Learn. Any ticket that I submit is acknowledged immediately and the correction is usually almost as quick. We use this for thousands of classes and it is pretty well liked by both faculty and students. We have been using it for almost 4 years now and most of our instructors have become pretty proficient with it.
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Panopto
Panopto has been quick to answer any questions, but their rollouts and updates have caused issues where we felt a little blindsided by unexpected changes. Their development cycle is slow and often their promises for future updates have been extremely slow or never come.
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In-Person Training
D2L
Did not participate in the in-person training due to distance; training was completed online
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Panopto
No answers on this topic
Online Training
D2L
The training provided online did not, necessarily, fit the version of the system that I was using. Screens were somewhat different and not all options were readily available. This could have been due to customization on the part of my institution however, I rather believe it was due to version changes and training materials not yet being updated.
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Panopto
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
D2L
The D2L implementation team listened to our concerns and built a system based upon our needs. We wanted to keep them after the initial implementation.
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Panopto
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
D2L
I have used Blackboard Learn 8 and 9. I am currently learning about Canvas. Blackboard is overall much clunkier and lacks the intuitive feel in some parts of D2L. Its grade book is much harder to control and manipulate than D2L's. Its navigation menu can be more radically modified from the default than D2L's, but this doesn't seem that useful to me. Discussions in Blackboard can be more easily reorganized than in D2L, but no grading of discussions is possible. Blackboard Assignments is a good innovation which allows markup directly in the students' submissions, but it displays student work in a confusing manner that doesn't allow for any customization, and its markup options need further tweaking. Furthermore, no rubrics can be used in Blackboard in any way to grade any kind of work (that I am aware of). Overall, I would choose D2L over Blackboard.
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Panopto
Cost wise, unless you have a huge audience, Panopto is better. Both Zoom Meeting and Kaltura and for more expensive and a smaller program/company may not have the demand to justify them. Kaltura - is a far superior tool, the UI is much more modern and easier for a novice user to understand, and it makes sharing videos amongst faculty much easier. The LMS integration if far smoother and the recording is much easier and faster (from within the LMS). The analytics are also present in a much cleaner and digestible way. Lastly, the quizzing feature is far more robust. Zoom - Smoother at streaming and live interactions. Stronger chat feature and supports larger audiences, it can handle over 100 HD webcams at once if needed. It does basic desktop capture and supporting audio-only formats that can easily be converted to Podcast or Soundcloud. Google Loom - This one is not listed above as it's rather new but its a FREE tool for fast video/desktop/PPT recordings and it's extremely fast and easy to share. That said it's pretty basic as far as any additional features are concerned. Post-production editing is limited to basic timeline trimming.
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Scalability
D2L
During my first semester working with Desire2Learn the integrated learning management system was more down than up. This meant reconfiguring assignment due dates, frustration for both the instructor, students, and help desk staff. After an upgrade, Desire2Learn has been reliable.
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Panopto
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
D2L
  • I cannot speak to whether this system is less expensive than the more fully featured Blackboard, but employees are far less efficient, frustrated, and require frequent calls to the help center to set up fairly simple course templates.
  • I have been asked to consider teaching courses which will be completely online at my current institution. I have done such online courses several times at other universities, but I have decided Desire2Learn is too frustrating and cumbersome to do so. I am now exploring using Google Drive to teach a course online. Otherwise, I will not teach online until required or I find an alternate system.
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Panopto
  • Panopto integrates with our LMS, D2L quite well. It makes the process very simple for our instructors and students to record and watch videos.
  • It does not require any plugins or software to watch videos, as they load up in a web browser.
  • The videos work on mobile and embed easily in courses or on websites.
  • We also enjoy the easy sharing of videos and simplified management in the web portal.
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ScreenShots

D2L Brightspace Screenshots

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