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Choosing the right eLearning authoring tool can significantly impact the success of your learning programs, and with so many options available, it’s essential to find the one that best meets your organization’s needs. In this comparison, we’ve reviewed some of the top tools on the market, evaluating them based on ease of use, support for complex content, collaboration features, pricing, and more.
From feature-rich platforms like Articulate Storyline 360 and dominKnow ONE to rapid development tools like iSpring Suite and Camtasia, we’ve highlighted each tool’s strengths to help you make an informed decision. If you have experience with any of these tools, or if there’s another authoring tool you’d recommend, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Your insights could help others find the perfect solution for their eLearning needs.
14 Key Criteria for Evaluation:
In evaluating these eLearning authoring tools, we applied a comprehensive set of criteria to ensure a balanced and objective review. Each tool was assessed based on its ease of use, support for advanced features, pricing, and more, offering insights into real-world performance and suitability for different learning needs. By using both technical analysis and user feedback, we provide a trusted guide to help you choose the right solution for your organization.
1. Ease of Use
This criterion assesses how user-friendly the tool is, focusing on the learning curve for new users. Tools range from highly intuitive platforms ideal for non-technical users to more complex systems requiring a deeper understanding of instructional design or technical skills.
2. Support for Complex Content
This measures the tool’s ability to create advanced, interactive learning experiences, such as simulations, branching scenarios, or VR content. Some tools specialize in rapid, straightforward course creation, while others are equipped for more sophisticated, immersive learning environments.
3. Pricing Range
Pricing varies significantly across tools, from affordable options for small teams to higher-end solutions for large enterprises. The range reflects the scope of features, with some tools offering custom pricing depending on usage and complexity.
4. Pricing Model
The pricing model describes whether a tool offers a subscription, one-time purchase, or custom pricing. Most tools now use a subscription model, often charged annually or monthly, allowing for flexibility in scaling.
5. User Community
Having an active user community can significantly enhance the learning experience, offering a place to share best practices, find troubleshooting help, and access templates or assets. Some tools boast large, vibrant communities, while others offer more limited engagement.
6. Content Output Formats
This criterion reflects the variety of formats in which courses can be exported, such as SCORM, xAPI, AICC, and HTML5. Broad compatibility ensures that content can be used across different learning management systems (LMS) and devices.
7. Mobile Responsiveness
Mobile responsiveness is crucial for today’s learners, ensuring that content automatically adapts to different devices. Tools are evaluated on whether they produce content that works seamlessly on smartphones and tablets without requiring extensive manual adjustments.
8. Multilingual Capabilities
As organizations grow globally, support for multiple languages becomes a critical feature. Tools are rated on how easily they allow users to create and translate courses into different languages, ensuring accessibility for diverse learner populations.
9. Collaboration Features
Collaboration features determine how well a tool supports teams working together on content creation. This can include real-time editing, review workflows, and feedback mechanisms, which are especially valuable for distributed teams.
10. Templates & Assets
This assesses the availability and quality of pre-built templates and media assets that can help speed up course creation. Some tools provide extensive libraries with customizable elements, while others offer more limited resources.
11. Learning Curve/Training Resources
The learning curve reflects how quickly a user can become proficient with the tool. Tools are also evaluated on the quality of their training materials, such as tutorials, webinars, and support documentation, which can reduce onboarding time.
12. Customer Support
Customer support options range from email-only assistance to 24/7 support. Tools with comprehensive support systems, including live chat and phone support, provide greater reassurance, especially when troubleshooting complex projects.
13. Advanced Features
Advanced features such as VR support, gamification, and adaptive learning are critical for organizations looking to push the boundaries of traditional eLearning. Tools are evaluated based on the unique, cutting-edge capabilities they offer to enhance learner engagement.
14. User Ratings
User ratings provide insights into real-world experiences with each tool, offering an aggregate score from trusted platforms like G2 and Capterra. These ratings help indicate overall customer satisfaction, usability, and support effectiveness.
Best 15 eLearning Authoring Tools Compared
1. ArticulateStoryline 360
Articulate Storyline 360 has long been a go-to for creating interactive eLearning content, and for good reason. With a user-friendly interface, the tool allows instructional designers to craft highly engaging courses with animations, branching scenarios, and slide-based interactions. Its PowerPoint-like interface makes it easy for new users, while the deeper functionality is impressive for advanced designers.
One major benefit is its integration within the Articulate 360 suite, which includes Review 360—a cloud-based platform that enables seamless collaboration by allowing stakeholders to review and provide feedback on projects. However, the authoring itself remains desktop-based, which may limit real-time co-authoring compared to fully cloud-native tools like Rise 360. Nevertheless, Storyline 360 excels in customization and interactivity, making it ideal for teams looking to balance ease of use with rich feature sets.
2. Adobe Captivate
Adobe Captivate eLearning authoring tool is built for organizations looking to create complex, multimedia-rich learning experiences. Known for its robust feature set, it supports virtual reality learning, responsive content, and advanced simulations, making it a top choice for companies investing in high-level interactivity.
Captivate allows designers to create immersive learning environments that go beyond traditional eLearning. However, the tool can be daunting for new users, requiring a steeper learning curve than some of its competitors. On the upside, it integrates well with other Adobe products, like Photoshop and Illustrator, making it ideal for creative teams already embedded in Adobe’s ecosystem.
It’s a great tool if you need to deliver more advanced content, but for rapid development or beginners, it may be overkill. This tool suits corporate environments where the instructional complexity demands a tool that can handle multimedia, advanced assessments, and mobile learning delivery.
3. Lectora
Lectora is an eLearning authoring tool that is often recognized as the choice for serious instructional designers who need deep customization, strong accessibility, and multi-device compatibility. What sets Lectora apart is its focus on creating compliant courses (like Section 508 or WCAG), making it the best pick for organizations with strict accessibility requirements.
Its mobile-friendly design ensures that learners can access content on any device, and the scripting capabilities provide flexibility to craft complex learning experiences. However, Lectora’s interface feels somewhat outdated, and it requires more upfront investment in learning to fully leverage its capabilities.
While it’s not the easiest tool for rapid development, Lectora shines in environments where customization and accessibility are critical, such as government or highly regulated industries. For teams that need precision and compliance, it’s a tool worth considering despite its steeper learning curve.
4. iSpring Suite
iSpring Suite takes the power of PowerPoint and amplifies it for eLearning. Ideal for rapid content development, iSpring Suite allows subject matter experts to transform their PowerPoint presentations into interactive, SCORM-compliant eLearning courses.
The tool offers features like quizzes, video training, and dialog simulations, making it perfect for teams with minimal technical expertise. Its ease of use and rapid deployment make it a favorite for organizations needing fast content turnaround, though it lacks the more advanced custom interactivity found in tools like Storyline or Captivate.
iSpring integrates well with many LMS platforms, and its customer service is widely praised. This is a fantastic option for teams looking to leverage existing content and develop eLearning with minimal complexity. If you’re familiar with PowerPoint, iSpring Suite can make the leap to eLearning a painless process.
5. Elucidat
Elucidat is a cloud-based elearning authoring tool built with collaboration in mind. Its standout feature is its ease of use for teams, making it an excellent choice for large organizations that need to produce high volumes of content quickly.
Elucidat’s adaptive design automatically adjusts content to be mobile-friendly, ensuring learners have a seamless experience on any device. The tool’s template library and intuitive interface lower the barrier to entry, making it a strong contender for those who aren’t highly technical.
One area where Elucidat shines is in its analytics, giving organizations insights into how learners are interacting with the content. While it’s less customizable than tools like Storyline or Captivate, Elucidat delivers simplicity, scalability, and the ability to get up and running quickly.
For organizations prioritizing speed and collaboration, Elucidat is an excellent option.
6. Camtasia
Camtasia is a leading elearning authoring tool for anyone focused on creating high-quality video-based eLearning content. Its intuitive interface lets users create screen recordings, add animations, and integrate quizzes directly into videos, making it ideal for tutorials, demonstrations, and video-based microlearning.
Camtasia’s strength lies in its simplicity—within minutes, even non-technical users can create polished videos that feel professional. However, for those looking to create full-fledged eLearning courses with branching scenarios or interactive elements, Camtasia won’t be enough on its own. Instead, it excels when paired with a more robust learning authoring tool platform. While it doesn’t offer the same interactivity as a tool like Storyline, Camtasia is unbeatable for teams that want to focus on high-quality, engaging video content for learning.
7. GOMO Learning
Gomo Learning is a cloud-based, responsive eLearning authoring tool designed for speed and simplicity. As a mobile-first tool, Gomo excels in creating learning content that automatically adapts to various devices, which is particularly valuable for learners on the go.
Its drag-and-drop interface makes it accessible to non-technical users, but it lacks some of the complex functionality found in more feature-heavy tools like Captivate or Storyline. However, Gomo’s strengths lie in its collaborative features—teams can work together in real-time, reducing development time for larger organizations.
Gomo also stands out for its multi-language support, making it a popular choice for global organizations. It’s best suited for organizations that prioritize quick, responsive content and don’t require heavy customization or complex interactions. For fast, scalable, mobile-friendly course development, Gomo is a strong option.
8. Adapt learning
Adapt Learning offers an open-source authoring platform designed to create responsive, mobile-friendly eLearning content. Built on the principles of adaptive learning, it automatically adjusts to various devices, ensuring seamless delivery on phones, tablets, and desktops.
Adapt is highly customizable, which makes it a favorite for developers who want full control over the content and design. However, that customization comes at a cost—Adapt’s learning curve is steeper than drag-and-drop tools, and it’s better suited for teams with development skills.
For organizations looking to build more complex, multi-device learning content without being locked into a proprietary system, Adapt provides flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Its collaborative features are limited compared to cloud-based solutions, but for companies that can handle the technical side, it offers incredible design freedom.
9. Easygenerator
Easygenerator lives up to its name by offering one of the most user-friendly authoring experiences on the market. Designed for subject matter experts with little to no technical skills, the tool provides a cloud-based, drag-and-drop interface that enables fast course creation.
The biggest advantage of the Easygenerator eLearning authoring tool is its simplicity—it allows non-instructional designers to develop interactive content quickly without the need for extensive training. The tool’s templates and built-in guidance also help ensure the courses adhere to instructional design best practices.
However, it lacks the advanced features of more complex tools like Storyline or Captivate, so it’s not the best fit for projects requiring deep interactivity or customization. Easygenerator is perfect for organizations that want to empower subject matter experts to create content independently without a heavy reliance on instructional design teams.
10. Vyond
Vyond is a powerful animation and video-based eLearning authoring tool designed for teams that need to create engaging, character-driven content. Its intuitive interface allows users to create professional-looking animations without prior design or video production experience.
Vyond’s standout feature is the ability to create custom characters, allowing organizations to tailor videos to match branding or specific scenarios. The tool is especially useful for creating explainer videos, animated scenarios, and storytelling in learning content. While it lacks the more traditional features of course authoring tools (such as quizzes or branching), it excels in providing dynamic, animated video content that engages learners.
For organizations looking to enhance their video content with rich animations and storytelling, Vyond is an excellent choice. It’s perfect for marketing-style learning videos or internal training that needs to capture attention quickly.
11. Knowbly
Knowbly is designed for teams that need to produce media-rich, interactive eLearning content quickly. The cloud-based tool offers a straightforward drag-and-drop interface, making it simple for non-technical users to create SCORM-compliant content that integrates easily with most learning management systems.
One of Knowbly’s strengths is its multimedia support, allowing users to embed videos, animations, and audio with ease. While it’s not as robust as tools like Storyline or Captivate in terms of customization, it excels at producing interactive, visually appealing content in a short amount of time.
Knowbly is ideal for small to medium-sized organizations that prioritize ease of use and quick deployment over complex, advanced functionality. Its simplicity may not be enough for highly complex learning projects, but for teams that need to create engaging, media-rich content quickly, Knowbly fits the bill.
12. dominKnow ONE
dominKnow ONE is a comprehensive, cloud-based eLearning authoring platform that combines the power of responsive design with collaboration tools. This makes it an excellent choice for large teams working on complex projects.
What sets dominKnow|ONE apart is its versatility—it “has advanced course authoring, content management and multi-channel publishing all under ONE roof. Produce, collaborate, share, and reuse content with a single-source methodology to deliver it on any device, in any format.”
While dominKnow ONE can seem overwhelming for first-time users, its power comes in its ability to handle everything from simple, rapid eLearning to more intricate designs. For organizations that need an all-in-one solution with strong collaboration capabilities, dominKnow ONE is a top contender, especially for teams that require the flexibility to create both eLearning and just-in-time performance support.
13. Rise 360
Rise 360 is a key component of the Articulate 360 suite, offering a modern, cloud-based eLearning authoring tool that focuses on rapid, responsive course design. One of the most user-friendly tools on the market, Rise 360 allows even non-technical users to create sleek, mobile-optimized courses quickly. Its block-based design system is easy to use, but the trade-off is a lack of deep customization compared to other tools like Storyline.
That said, Rise’s templates are well-designed, and for organizations that need to develop content quickly and ensure compatibility across devices, it’s hard to beat. Its integration with the broader Articulate 360 suite adds value, giving users access to assets and tools to further streamline the process. Rise 360 is best suited for teams that prioritize speed and simplicity while maintaining a professional, modern look in their eLearning content.
14. Evolve Authoring
Evolve Authoring is a robust, cloud-based eLearning tool designed for teams that need to create responsive, SCORM-compliant courses quickly. Its collaborative features make it a great choice for distributed teams working together on multiple projects.
Evolve stands out for its responsive design, ensuring that courses work seamlessly on desktops, tablets, and smartphones without additional effort. The drag-and-drop interface and a wide range of pre-built components simplify the content creation process, though the tool also allows for deeper customization if needed.
One of Evolve’s strengths is its focus on accessibility, ensuring that all learners can access the content. While it may not offer as much customization as some of the more advanced tools, Evolve Authoring is an excellent option for organizations that value collaboration, speed, and mobile-friendliness in their content creation.
15. WarpVR
WarpVR provides a robust platform for creating immersive Virtual Reality (VR) simulations and training experiences. With a focus on VR, it excels in delivering interactive and engaging content, ideal for environments where traditional eLearning tools fall short. The platform’s ease of use is generally good, though users will need VR hardware and some familiarity with VR environments. Pricing is on the higher side, with custom subscription models based on user needs, and potential clients should contact WarpVR for specific pricing details.
In terms of output formats, WarpVR specializes in VR and 360-degree video, making it a strong choice for creating fully immersive experiences. The tool is fully responsive within VR environments and supports multiple languages, enhancing its global reach. However, it has limited templates and assets, focusing primarily on VR content.
Collaboration features are available in real-time, which is beneficial for teams working on VR projects, but the learning curve may be moderate, requiring some training and adaptation to VR environments. Customer support is robust, with 24/7 availability, and the platform is cloud-based, integrating well with various VR hardware and software.
For advanced features, WarpVR stands out with its capabilities in VR simulations and interactive environments, positioning it as a leading choice for organizations looking to leverage VR for training and development.
Conclusion: Choosing the Best Authoring Tool
Choosing the best eLearning authoring tool depends on your organization’s specific needs, technical expertise, and budget.
For teams needing robust, complex content creation, Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe Captivate, and dominKnow ONE are top choices. These tools offer deep customization, advanced interactivity, and scalability. This makes them ideal for experienced instructional designers who require versatile solutions. dominKnow ONE, in particular, stands out for its collaboration features making it a great fit for teams working together on complex projects.
For organizations prioritizing speed and simplicity, tools like iSpring Suite and Rise 360 offer intuitive interfaces and rapid development, perfect for teams with limited technical skills or tight deadlines.
If immersive, VR-based training is a focus, WarpVR delivers engaging simulations, making it ideal for industries like healthcare or safety training where experiential learning is crucial.
Whether your focus is rapid deployment, advanced content creation, or immersive learning, this review offers a range of tools to help you choose the best authoring tool for your organization.
