Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Adobe Captivate

Adobe Captivate

Overview

What is Adobe Captivate?

Adobe Captivate is an elearning authoring and course design tool (or LCMS). It supports mobile HTML5 content. Captivate’s users are commonly midsized businesses to enterprises. Adobe Captivate includes some prebuilt assets as well as customizable workflows.

Read more
Recent Reviews

Captivate review

9 out of 10
October 07, 2022
Incentivized
I use Adobe Captivate to build customized eLearning for companies. Sometimes the units are for a wide audience such as for new hire …
Continue reading

Awesome elearning

9 out of 10
October 07, 2022
Incentivized
Captivate is powerful and builds great eLearning. It has a bit of a learning curve, but your end products will be well worth it. Our …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 8 features
  • Course authoring (29)
    10.0
    100%
  • Progress tracking & certifications (25)
    10.0
    100%
  • Learning content (23)
    9.0
    90%
  • Player/Portal (23)
    8.0
    80%
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing

Subscription

$33.99

On Premise
per month

Student & Teacher Edition

$399

On Premise
one-time fee

Upgrade

$499

On Premise
one-time fee

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Return to navigation

Product Demos

Adobe Captivate - Software Simulations and Video Demos

YouTube

Create your first video demo with Adobe Captivate (2017 Release)

YouTube

Adobe Captivate Animated Text - brief how to and samples

YouTube

Adobe Captivate Tutorial - Pan, Zoom, Picture-in-Picture - Captivate Training in Los Angeles

YouTube

HOW TO Record Video Demo with Adobe Captivate

YouTube

Demo PowerPoint to Captivate Demo

YouTube
Return to navigation

Features

Learning Management

Features of LMS and LCMS systems, related to designing, administering, and consuming learning content in an educational, corporate, or on-the-job context.

9.4
Avg 8.5
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Adobe Captivate?

Adobe Captivate is an elearning authoring and course design tool (or LCMS). It allows users to rapidly author responsive, interactive learning eLearning content, as well as mobile HTML-5 learning content. Users can test courses with the preview LMS feature, and track the performance of learners as they complete quizzes and other tasks. Adobe Captivate includes some prebuilt templates and learning assets, but users also have the option to custom code their own complex learning workflows. Adobe Captivate integrates with SCORM-compliant LMS systems, including Adobe Captivate Prime.

Adobe Captivate Video

What is Adobe Captivate?

Adobe Captivate Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Adobe Captivate is an elearning authoring and course design tool (or LCMS). It supports mobile HTML5 content. Captivate’s users are commonly midsized businesses to enterprises. Adobe Captivate includes some prebuilt assets as well as customizable workflows.

Reviewers rate Course authoring and Progress tracking & certifications and Social learning highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Adobe Captivate are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(270)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-5 of 5)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Adobe Captivate is our authoring tool for e-Learning. We use this to create e-Learning content to deploy to employed and non-employee staff.
  • Interactive learning.
  • Flexibility with Advanced Actions.
  • Access to assets.
  • More animation options.
  • Better text to voice options.
  • Responsive design is challenging to work with.
I love using Captivate - honestly the only thing I tell people is that they would want to be prepared to take a training on it like from ATD to maximize the use and to quickly adapt. They can't just pick it up and start using it.
  • Quiz settings/tracking.
  • SCORM compliance.
  • Assets for courses.
I've only ever authored in Adobe Captivate.
20
Instructional Design and Epic Training.
3
IT Team for subscription and installation, ID Team to support other trainers.
  • eLearning development.
  • Flexible tool to meet learning needs.
  • Cloud has multiple other Adobe products to support.
  • e-Learning
  • Interactive video
  • VR
  • Quick e-Learning development.
  • Microlearnings.
I don't intend to switch as Captivate along with the Adobe Cloud are industry standard tools.
No
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
We have paid subscriptions for the Cloud and Captivate, so all tools together allows for limitless options.
I wouldn't.
Support was for my colleague.
No
No
You can't use it without proper training.
  • Themes.
  • Fonts.
  • Smartshapes.
  • Learning Advanced Actions
  • VR
  • Video
No
October 05, 2022

Great Product

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I develop courses in Captivate based on SME content.
  • Imputing graphics.
  • Interactivity.
  • User friendly.
  • Accessibility.
  • Simplifying advanced actions.
  • Upload to LMS easier.
Accessibility is proving difficult, and that is my clients main focus. All other things are fine.
  • Easy to use.
  • Training available.
  • ROI - positive.
  • Accessibility issues- negative.
5
5
  • Client and staff training.
  • na
  • na
Not Sure
  • Product Reputation
I wasn't involved.
  • Don't know
  • Training
I did not participate in this.
  • No Training
Yes. Good videos
It eventually does what it needs to do.
Keep trying and check the Adobe chats.
na
contacted support
I'm not at liberty to purchase.
Each time my boss contacts them, he gets a prompt response
Need more accessibility features
  • advanced features
  • accessibility issues
Yes, but I don't use it
  • Adobe illustrator
  • vyond
  • unsure
  • File import/export
  • Single Signon
  • Javascript widgets
Unsure
I didn't
unsure
No
  • unsure
  • more accessibility
Bernard Gale | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We originally selected Captivate to develop e-learning courses for our customers. We were very pleased with the original product although it was never as good as the original product Adobe bought to build on, Authorware. However, it became apparent Adobe were slow to develop the product. It fell behind other e-learning products in the marketplace.
We came back to Captivate after a customer had been using it and asked for help. We were pleased to see some improvements and again started to use it but the product is still full of out-of-date code, an attempt by Adobe to keep flash users.
It does include some AR and VR options but nothing compared to other products in the excellent Adobe range. So we are now being forced to move away again from Captivate.
  • Easy to use for a basic user and you can quickly produce a reasonable course.
  • Tight integration with LMS systems.
  • Good working examples to develop.
  • A good user base if a bit long in the tooth!!
  • Little coding options (yes you can use some Java script but it needs to be adapted.
  • Poor cross-platform integration with other Adobe products.
  • Poor slow develop cycle.
  • Can be buggy and cause Windows errors.
Good for users with limited needs. It's simple to take a model course, make changes and have something working in 0.5 hour. Simple to get started, very short learning curve.

Not good if you seek to do much with VR or AR and sadly lacks integration with other Adobe products.
eLearning Content
N/A
N/A
Learning Management (7)
31.428571428571427%
3.1
Course authoring
70%
7.0
Course catalog or library
10%
1.0
Player/Portal
20%
2.0
Learning content
40%
4.0
Progress tracking & certifications
20%
2.0
Learning reporting & analytics
50%
5.0
Social learning
10%
1.0
  • Poor return on investment compared to other Adobe products. You pay a lot for very little.
  • Good short develop time.
  • Frustrating on limitations.
Articulate (even more limited than Captivate). Now using Adobe Creative Cloud products to produce similar results to Captivate at about 1/10th price.
The support is only available 5 days a week, however the staff are very good and happy to go the extra mile.
Easy and simple to use if you have limited needs.
  • Develop a course like a PowerPoint in minutes.
  • Create good visual product.
  • Develop certificates.
  • Get results out without an LMS.
Yes
Very poor to develop mobile courses.
D Walwyn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Adobe Captivate is used by my organization as the primary e-learning tool for creating engaging clinically relevant content for staff. There are online learning departments that use the software for training and there is also a training group who use the software. Subject Matter Experts are paired with Captivate design experts to create the content.
  • Software simulations work very well in Adobe Captivate and are easily captured and editable.
  • Outputs a variety of SCORM compliant formats to work with many LMS.
  • HTML5 compliant content can be adjusted to be viewed on a variety of devices.
  • The quizzing is very lackluster. You cannot review questions without breaking them.
  • Animations are clunky and not as easy to set up as with other software
  • The workflow in Captivate could stand to be improved. There are limited templating options.
Captivate is great for creating quick modules providing instructions for various PC based tasks, such as filling in web forms or new features in software, or complete software training. Any sort of computer based training can be done with Captivate. Where the software really falls short is that you need to be a fairly competent computer user to create attractive learning modules.
eLearning Content
N/A
N/A
Learning Management (5)
94%
9.4
Course authoring
100%
10.0
Course catalog or library
80%
8.0
Player/Portal
90%
9.0
Learning content
100%
10.0
Progress tracking & certifications
100%
10.0
  • Captivate has a steep learning curve, it takes a while for users to become proficient.
  • Travel for training has been nearly eliminated when Captivate has been utilized to create the learning modules.
  • SME's are paid more than content developers so it makes sense to have content developers create the content instead of an SME needing to spend the time to get up to speed to use the software or to train in person.
Captivate is better for software simulations and handles images a bit better. Storyline always makes a box around the images, which is problematic for selecting items in a drag and drop environment. The workflow of being able to edit images right within the software is also a plus for Captivate.
26
There are staff educators as well as nurse educators that utilize Adobe Captivate for creating online learning modules, just in time resources and job aids that can be based on information in a presentation or in software simulations. The software is also used to create quizzes for knowledge verification, and assessments. Modules have also been created for new staff orientation and continuing medical education credits.
2
Once users are up to speed on the software there is very little necessity to support captivate, but if support is needed, good analyical thinking is a must. Adobe Captivate is great but there is a steep learning curve, this curve can be lessened with experience in graphic design and a basic understanding of Adult Education principles (in my environment).
  • Orientation
  • Software Simulations
  • Assessments
  • Knowledge Checks
  • Surveys
  • Creating gamified training modules
  • Creating presentations that are more engaging that can be created in powerpoint
  • Creating 'easter eggs' in the modules to drive engagement.
  • Hoping to branch into 3d goggles with future versions of Captivate
Because we have so many modules built in Captivate that may on occasion need to be updated or recreated, Captivate is now a permanent part of the software ecosystem of our organization. There are many features that other elearning authoring suites are not able to come close to, which is the reason that Captivate is the defacto standard of authoring tools.
No
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
When we first delved into eLearning the project was primarily software simulations for a major software upgrade. Captivate's ability to allow editing of images captured almost seamlessly with image editing tools made it the logical choice.
If we had to do it all over again, I would advocate for Captivate again, just as I have in the past. The other software suites available do not have the robust screen capture process and editing that Captivate has, which are the primary uses for eLearning Authoring tools in my department at present.
  • Importing Powerpoint slides
  • Creating Quizzes
  • Embedding videos and customizing how they play etc.
  • Drag and Drop
  • Scripting
  • creating templates
No
Once a usre is well versed on the software it is a 10, but because of the steep learning curve, I give it an 8.
Tracy Ford | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are transforming our training program from completely in-person to a blended learning environment to engage our people better, while saving on the expense of travel. We are spread out over a 300 mile span, making geography a challenge. Adobe Captivate allows us to deliver content on the learner's term, from their own office.
  • Adobe Captivate can integrate current PowerPoint presentation, and transform them into eLearning curriculum.
  • Publishing an Adobe Captivate project is simple.
  • Adobe Captivate uses built-in interactions to engage the learner, making the content easier to remember.
  • Adobe Captivate does not allow for great customization overall. For example, you cannot change the default font, causing a lot of wasted time changing the font choice.
  • Creating engaging interactions could be a simpler process.
  • A customizable Quick Access Toolbar would be quite useful.
Adobe Captivate can open up the door to eLearning, but it is not quite as intuitive as I would have liked to see. There is a lot of support for Adobe Captivate, but it must be constantly sought out on specific topics. The integration of Adobe Stock and Assets gives Captivate a strong push.
  • Less travel expense.
  • More access to training courses, more impact on the frontline.
  • Only $29.99 a month, it can be used when necessary, keeping overall cost low.
Articulate 360 offers a both Storyline and Rise as eLearning authoring tools, as well as a Stock Library with over 100,000 images for $1200/year. Adobe Captivate is a stand alone product for $30/month. If you are only using eLearning authoring tools the cost is significantly less. If you are looking at the broader suite of software, Articulate 360 does offer two eLearning authoring tools and a Stock Library, in addition to 3 other program, for a total of 5. For the same cost, I purchased Adobe Captivate along with the entire Adobe Creative Cloud suite (27 programs), including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, etc.. This suite offers a much broader range of design, allowing for content to be created and engaged in many more ways.
3
Training and Development. We have been able to broaden our training footprint drastically through the integration of Adobe Captivate. Creating quick Microlearnings allow managers to assign quick trainings to their team on very specific topics. We have been able to set clear expectations for the company through a 5 minute Microlearning. This is huge for ensuring the organization is moving in the same direction.
I am the primary support for Adobe Captivate. I function mainly in how-to scenarios. If there is an issue with Adobe Captivate, we utilize their support. They have been quite helpful every time support has been required. They are thorough and efficient. They ensure the issues are resolved and stay connected until then.
  • Replacing in class training with eLearning
  • Implementing microlearning for topics of interest
  • Software simulations
  • Microlearning
  • Software simulation open a lot of options
  • "Board Game" eLearning
  • Reusable course outlines
  • Further department reach
  • Available for customers
There is no doubt in my mind that we will be using Adobe Captivate for years to come. There are so many uses for the software that we are just scratching the surface. The more we use it, the better it gets. This is a great option for anyone looking for an eLearning authoring tool.
No
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
Adobe Captivate integrates with the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, for a very reasonable price. This made the choice for Adobe Captivate very simple. Other eLearning authoring tools offered a few things that Captivate did not, but with the backing of the Creative Cloud and the very low price point, Adobe Captivate was the strongest option.
I do not think that I would change my evaluation process. I utilized the free 30-day trial for both software suites that I was evaluating. I vetted them through our Risk Assessment Team to ensure security is tight. I sought opinions from other users, and read reviews. Being able to try them both helped me make my decision.
Every issue I have ever had was handled with care and quite thoroughly. After the initial conversation on the phone, I received frequent emails letting me know what they were working on, and also received follow up phone calls. After I found the resolution, I got one more call to ensure everything was working properly. The follow up was quite surprising.
No
I could not access the Assets tab of Adobe Captivate. I called in for support, they ran through the settings to ensure everything was installed properly. I received frequent email updates and phone calls letting me know what they were doing to find a resolution. I ended up checking with my IT to find the issue was on our end. Adobe made sure everything was working properly, even after it was resolved.
  • Drag and drop interactions
  • Converting a shape to a button
  • Rollover Caption
  • State views
  • Timing of buttons
  • Simple settings such as default font
No
Adobe Captivate does take some getting used to. There are features that are much more convoluted than they need to be, but overall it is a great product with a some excellent features. Being in a pretty small market, Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline dominate the space. They are not the same software, but allow for eLearning authoring. Each has their benefit and their downside, but, for me, Adobe Captivate edges out Storyline.
Return to navigation