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Captivate - an overpriced, underdeveloped product
Updated November 04, 2020

Captivate - an overpriced, underdeveloped product

Bernard Gale | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Captivate

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 We were pleased to see some improvements and again started to use it but the product is still full of out-of-date code, an attempt by Adobe to keep flash users.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.
  • 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.
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.

Adobe Captivate Feature Ratings

eLearning Content ()
Not Rated
Learning Management
3.1
Course authoring
7
Course catalog or library
1
Player/Portal
2
Learning content
4
Progress tracking & certifications
2
Learning reporting & analytics
5
Social learning
1

Adobe Captivate Support

The support is only available 5 days a week, however the staff are very good and happy to go the extra mile.

Using Adobe Captivate

Easy and simple to use if you have limited needs.
ProsCons
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Do not like to use
Lots to learn
  • 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.