PiiQ by Cornerstone vs. Google Classroom

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PiiQ by Cornerstone
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Cornerstone’s PiiQ is an SMB offering formerly known as Sonar6. PiiQ is aimed at small-to-medium sized businesses and includes core learning management and performance management systems, including content creation, mobile accessibility, and in-product reporting.
$8
per user per month
Google Classroom
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
N/A
$0
per month
Pricing
PiiQ by CornerstoneGoogle Classroom
Editions & Modules
PiiQ Performance
$8.00
per user per month
PiiQ Learning + Content
$8.00
per user per month
PiiQ Learning + Content & Performance
$15.00
per user per month
Education Fundamentals
$0
per license/per month
Google Workspace for Education Standard
$3
per student/per year
Teaching and Learning Upgrade
$4
per license/per month
Google Workspace for Education Plus
$5
per student/per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PiiQ by CornerstoneGoogle Classroom
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup Fee$1,000 per installationNo setup fee
Additional DetailsEducation Fundamentals Version - 30-day free trial for qualifying institutions.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PiiQ by CornerstoneGoogle Classroom
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
PiiQ by CornerstoneGoogle Classroom
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
PiiQ by Cornerstone
6.6
11 Ratings
22% below category average
Google Classroom
7.8
53 Ratings
4% below category average
Course authoring6.011 Ratings7.545 Ratings
Course catalog or library6.811 Ratings7.536 Ratings
Player/Portal6.810 Ratings8.234 Ratings
Learning content6.611 Ratings8.038 Ratings
Mobile friendly7.98 Ratings7.951 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications6.210 Ratings7.540 Ratings
Assignments6.711 Ratings8.452 Ratings
Compliance management5.89 Ratings7.429 Ratings
Learning administration6.611 Ratings7.740 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics6.911 Ratings7.737 Ratings
Social learning00 Ratings7.846 Ratings
Gamification00 Ratings6.95 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning00 Ratings8.57 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PiiQ by CornerstoneGoogle Classroom
Small Businesses
Tovuti LMS
Tovuti LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Tovuti LMS
Tovuti LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Bridge Learning Platform
Bridge Learning Platform
Score 9.9 out of 10
Sakai
Sakai
Score 8.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Bridge Learning Platform
Bridge Learning Platform
Score 9.9 out of 10
Intellum
Intellum
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PiiQ by CornerstoneGoogle Classroom
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(40 ratings)
8.6
(73 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
3.0
(2 ratings)
1.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(37 ratings)
3.0
(4 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.2
(36 ratings)
1.9
(14 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(2 ratings)
2.0
(2 ratings)
Configurability
6.5
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
PiiQ by CornerstoneGoogle Classroom
Likelihood to Recommend
Cornerstone OnDemand
Well suited for:
  • A busy environment where you want learners to be self-sufficient and to be able to access learning solutions at a time that suits them.
  • For anyone who wants to access learning using different platforms such as iPad, mobile, PC, etc
  • Anyone who needs a more in-depth learning solution rather than an overview of key learning points.
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Google
- During the pandemic, the college needs a fast and easy solution to conduct Google Classroom. The integration with Google Accounts and Google Meet allows the university to run and access the Classroom on a large scale. - The teacher wants to conduct some exams in third-party software like Moodle. But we have not found any plugin for this famous open-source learning platform. The exam system in Google Classroom is so poor that it doesn't even fully screen the test when students are writing their exams.
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Pros
Cornerstone OnDemand
  • Enables employees to draft work goals and collaborate with their supervisors on a final version - improves mutual understanding right up front.
  • Combines performance goal ratings with competency ratings and provides a blended score. Simplifies the goal weighting so you don't have to do any calculations.
  • 9-box matrix provides useful definitions and descriptions so managers can prepare development notes or plans for individual employees.
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Google
  • Student-teacher communication - I love using Classroom for this because my students can always go back and check what was on Classroom by looking through the stream. This way they don't have to go dig through emails to find what they're looking for.
  • Posting to multiple classes - I can post the same announcement or assignment to multiple classes at once without having to repeat the process or send separate emails.
  • Streamlining grading - when students turn work in on Classroom, it all goes to one place and then when I'm grading I can open their documents directly from Classroom or my Drive folder. This way, I'm not looking through emails and Google Doc shared files for their assignment.
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Cons
Cornerstone OnDemand
  • Would be good to have have a virtual "top level" (eg board) user built in to allow senior execs without a direct manager to be able to be set up with KPIs instead of having to create a dummy user
  • Reports have difficulty downloading if pop ups disabled or in some browser environments
  • When competencies are updated while a cycle is open, any changes don't effect that open cycle but only future ones. Would be nice to be able to have the option to apply changes to existing "open" cycles
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Google
  • Although usually in the discussion with other LMS apps such as Schoology and Canvas, Google Classroom doesn't possess as in-depth of a platform. There is no ability to set individual learning paths, pace student work with completion settings, or embed other apps directly into teacher-created assignments.
  • The assignment creation options are limited. Teachers can only choose from creating an assignment (usually a link with directions), a material (usually a doc/slide/website, etc), a question, and a quiz.
  • With gamification taking on a new lens in education, there really isn't any way to use gamification elements with Google Classroom. There isn't any way to create Individual learning paths, or use badges and micro-credentials within Classroom. Outside programs would have to be used.
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Likelihood to Renew
Cornerstone OnDemand
It's not that CSB isn't a decent performance management system, but we have decided to go with just one vendor (Workday) for an HRIS/performance management/payroll system so we can directly relate pay to performance. We are more interested in having just one system that "talks" to the other pieces instead of having to work with several vendors. It reduces the hassle of having to communicate with different support teams, having different contracts, and so on.
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Google
Testing is particularly important in online learning, and Google Classroom falls far short of other learning management systems in this regard. Security is also a concern: while account control is reasonable for the account used with Google Classroom, the person controlling a particular account is often able to, for example, forward or download proprietary materials.
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Usability
Cornerstone OnDemand
There are specific things within the goals and competencies that are user-friendly. For example, the rating slider isn't great in my opinion. You can slide in between ratings which can create some odd scoring (if you use scoring). It seems a better solution would be a drop down where you select your rating. There are also some glitches in the system and have been told Cornerstone is aware of them but are focused on delivering new features. There are workarounds, but that doesn't seem to be a great answer.
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Google
This is only a product I would recommend to a humanities teacher. Math and science teachers cannot use this product the same way that I can as an English teacher. It is great for word process and for reading, but unable to handle the demands of math and science. Therefore, I would highly recommend this product to English or Social Studies teachers, but NOT math or science teachers
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Reliability and Availability
Cornerstone OnDemand
So far 100%.
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Google
We have had very little trouble in accessing Google Classroom. Our issues, if any, have risen from our server and not the Google servers.
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Performance
Cornerstone OnDemand
The saving process slows it down. It doesn’t auto save. If you leave a page, it will sometimes warn you, but not always. When you hit the save button, a window pops up that says creating/saving packets. It feels very archaic.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cornerstone OnDemand
My assistant could better address this issue. My perception is that there is not immediate assistance, and that there can be a wait for help. That is not a negative, just a perception. I have not used support in two years.
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Google
Since this platform is provided by Google, the technical support is better than any others, and we are not required to bother about the space constraints for adding the contents. If we have a good uninterrupted internet facility we can access Google Classroom without any delay or lag. They have app support in both Android and iPhone.
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Online Training
Cornerstone OnDemand
We bought training provided by 3rd party – it was fabulous.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cornerstone OnDemand
I think we could have done a better job of rolling out the tool to our managers. We were under a tight timeline. In the training, we showed them everything and said go do it by this date. Looking back, I would have done it in pieces: for example, 2 weeks to write goals, 2 weeks to get sign-off from direct reports. I just let them go at it. Since then we’ve moved to agile development environment and are applying the technique to everything. In future would only do through change sprint. It is a big change I didn’t take it seriously enough.

I had a team of 3 project managing. You need a champion from every department to make sure you’re getting it right and to make sure what’s happening is communicated. It’s not something you can do without input from department heads
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Google
It was relatively easy to implement due to the simplicity of the platform. Even our more technology challenged teachers found it easy to get started with Google Classroom.
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Alternatives Considered
Cornerstone OnDemand
Lesson.ly has been great to work with but it is a very clear and simple, user-friendly system that anyone can pick up with very little training as it is self-explanatory. It also has a great mobile interface and lots of different features that are easy to add for the admin but really impactful for the user.
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Google
I haven't tested or evaluated another digital classroom website or application. I feel like Google Classroom is convenient for many reasons such as compatibility to Google docs, slides, etc. I also love the ability to link to YouTube and other sites. I don't know if there would be a site that is easier to maneuver.
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Scalability
Cornerstone OnDemand
No answers on this topic
Google
It is very easy to push out this program across our buildings. Teachers are able to use it without much trouble.
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Return on Investment
Cornerstone OnDemand
  • It's tool and it's only as good as the person wielding it. The investment in PiiQ was accompanied by a quarterly cadence and manager feedback training. We feel like our employees are given regular feedback and bonuses are tied to objective accomplishment.
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Google
  • Students are able to continue learning in a remote environment
  • Parents have a single, consistent organization structure to make it easy to track assignments and progress for multiple children
  • Much better solution than the quickly assembled Zoom-and-gloom of the previous spring when school abruptly went remote with no planning
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ScreenShots

PiiQ by Cornerstone Screenshots

Screenshot of PiiQ Performance Employee ReviewScreenshot of PiiQ Learning on DevicesScreenshot of PiiQ Manager/Employee Check-insScreenshot of PiiQ 9-box Talent MatrixScreenshot of PiiQ Learning Publish New ContentScreenshot of PiiQ Learning Searchable Library & Self-registration