Absorb LMS vs Skilljar

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Our analysts compared Absorb LMS vs Skilljar based on data from our 400+ point analysis of LMS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

Absorb is a cloud-based LMS designed to enhance corporate training and education. It caters to organizations of all sizes, offering scalability, a user-friendly interface, and a wide range of features such as gamification, personalized learning paths, content libraries and social learning tools to keep learners engaged.

You can create, manage and deliver diverse training materials, and integrate with various third-party platforms, including HR, video conferencing and CRM tools. Advanced reporting and analytics provide valuable insights into learner progress and training effectiveness, helping you make data-driven decisions that align with business goals.

The Absorb Learning mobile app, free on iOS and Android devices, provides anytime, anywhere access to training. Absorb Intelligence, an AI-powered toolset, uses predictive AI and natural language recognition to connect learners with relevant content, enhance search and microlearning, and streamline administrative tasks.

Users like Absorb LMS for its intuitive design, advanced features, scalability, comprehensive analytics and exceptional customer support, all of which contribute to a positive learning and administrative experience. You can request a quote for pricing information.

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Skilljar is a cloud-hosted solution that helps companies scale their partner and customer training modules. It lets enterprises deliver effective training programs to customers, channel partners, contractors and community members. It integrates with businesses to measure revenue and customer activity.

It speeds up customer engagement and onboarding by supporting multimedia course production, automated CRM data integration and mobile-friendly learning ecosystem. Educators can upload courses, add company branding and publish them online without any technical knowledge. Training is available in audio, video, instructor-led or live formats. Its video tools simplify the creation and distribution of training materials and integrate data with numerous business applications like Marketo and Salesforce.

It supports integrations with ERP systems and provides social certifications, payments engine and advanced analytics for businesses to create courses with ease. Programs can be distributed easily to mobile and web devices. It helps companies provide comprehensive and consistent customer training and boosts product renewal and adoption rates.
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Product Insights

  • Offers Extensive Reporting Tools: When we tested Absorb, we found that it offers a vast suite of reporting tools that provide insights into nearly every aspect of your training program. You can drill down data to view reports on course activity, ILC sessions, assessments, learner progress and competencies, and more. Apply filters, sort data, and download and share reports—all on an easy-to-use, interactive interface.
  • Provides Comprehensive Capabilities: According to our analysis, it supports 100% of our content and course management, mobile and eCommerce capabilities entirely out of the box. It offers content creation and partnership, transaction management, mobile learning and collaboration, discounts and promotions, and more.
  • Creates an Engaging Learner Experience: Our experience with the product revealed that it offers many tools to enhance the learner experience. You can:
    • Customize the dashboard with templates, logos and design elements to reflect your branding.
    • Tailor widgets to meet specific needs and use the Billboard feature to embed videos and links to both external and internal pages.
    • Edit the Tiles to configure and display courses, catalogs, calendars and resources effectively.
  • Provides a User-Friendly Interface: Our testing revealed that the platform is straightforward and accessible. Essential features are conveniently located on the left-hand side, minimizing the need for extensive navigation. You can effortlessly switch between roles — administrator, learner and manager — and enable accessibility tools to enhance data visualization and webpage design.
  • Offers AI-Powered Course Creation: Absorb’s Create AI tool streamlines course development by quickly assembling content from brief descriptions, PDFs or pasted text. The AI efficiently processes and organizes this input, reducing the time and effort needed for course creation. This allows you to deliver high-quality training materials and focus on creative aspects while AI handles the technical details.
  • Personalizes Learning: Absorb Skills provides predefined skills and competencies aligned with employees' job functions across diverse industries and job roles. The platform leverages AI to tailor learning experiences for over 1500 job roles and nearly 200 competencies, supported by a comprehensive library of over 20,000 courses.
  • Award-Winning LMS: Absorb LMS won several awards in the LMS category in the SelectHub Awards 2024. It won best-in-class honors for content and course management, learning delivery, platform capabilities, and integrations and extensibility.
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  • Responsive Interface: Skilljar is easy-to-use and responsive for businesses and customers. It is intuitive and accommodates company requirements to deliver an enriching learning experience. It stores training materials at a central location for simplified access and delivery to customers. 
  • Scalability:  It can accommodate growing company requirements and is flexible to support an expanding customer base and users. It is consistent in its uptime and lets users complete their tasks on time. 
  • Supports Multiple Languages: Skilljar supports multiple languages for organizations to provide training solutions to a global audience. Educators can provide training content in different languages to suit multiple customers and partners. 
  • Holistic Customer View: It offers businesses a holistic view of their customers. Data from multiple sources like marketing tools, CRMs, service tools, accounting and software lets users create different customer profiles. Customers can also be segmented according to criteria including support needs, usage behavior and subscription models for personalized attention. Companies can monitor customers’ actions and interactions with different teams and create health scores according to client satisfaction. 
  • Training Portals: Skilljar lets companies create separate portals for its varied audience and customize them according to their requirements. Its advanced course authoring lets instructors construct training programs using its pre-built templates. Educators can create instructor-led sessions and learning paths for structured learning. 
  • Integrations: It seamlessly integrates with numerous third-party business applications like Salesforce and Marketo. This functionality helps create and distribute training content swiftly by syncing data with business apps. 
  • Mobile Responsive: Skilljar helps businesses deliver training materials anytime and on any medium. Learners have the flexibility to get trained on their laptops, tablets or smartphones. Availability of training materials on-the-go improves overall course participation. 
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  • Content Libraries: Access expert-curated, always-current courses via Amplify content portfolio. It offers three content libraries:
  • Amplify
    • Over 500 foundational courses ideal for small to mid-sized companies.
    • Features essential and mandatory business training.
    • Engaging micro-learning format for quick, impactful learning.
  • Amplify Plus
    • More than 2,000 courses covering basic to intermediate topics.
    • Includes compliance, safety, skills, and continuing education.
    • Versatile formats with bite-sized lessons, full-length courses, and instructor-led training.
    • Available in English and Spanish, with voiceovers in French and Spanish.
    • Accessibility features include closed captioning in multiple languages.
  • Amplify Max
    • Extensive library with over 20,000 courses from over 100 reputable publishers.
    • Covers essential to advanced levels, including safety, business skills, technology, wellness and industry-specific accreditations.
    • Supports diverse learning styles and is available in 90+ languages with localized content in over 40 languages.
  • Search Analytics: Track learner searches with the Search Analytics Report. This feature displays data on searches conducted by both authenticated and unauthenticated learners. Monitor which items learners select from search results, including details such as the item’s ID, name, type and rank. With the correct permissions, access information on the selected items to gain insights into learner behavior and preferences.
  • Salesforce Connector: Enable customers, partners and employees to access and engage with learning materials without leaving Salesforce.
    • Track training engagement and evaluate its impact on sales revenue and service metrics.
    • Display relevant courses on the home screen to upsell or educate prospects about new products.
    • Provide access to essential training across Salesforce Support, Sales and Community environments.
  • Course Catalog: Edit course access based on departments to ensure the right learners have the appropriate permissions. Refine course lists by name, type, vendor, tags, location, type and other criteria. Organize and view courses in various formats, including detailed, list and calendar views.
  • Third-Party Integrations: Connect with third-party apps to streamline learning management across your organization.
    • Integrate with communication tools like Zoom and HR platforms like ADP.
    • Develop custom integrations to facilitate data transfer between the LMS and other applications.
    • Integrate off-the-shelf eLearning content from the Absorb Amplify Portfolio.
    • Integrate LMS logins with existing SSO solutions to improve security and user experience.
    • Use RESTful APIs to manage and expand integrations. Build scalable workflows and connect with various systems, devices and learners both inside and outside your organization.
    • Create real-time integrations that respond instantly to key events. Use webhooks to automate notifications for events like course completions and user registrations.
  • Absorb Engage: Keep learners engaged and motivated with interactive tools. These include:
    • Polls: Gather learner feedback with customizable, open-ended polls. Design questions for fact-based, opinion-based or choice-based responses. Monitor results over time to adapt training content.
    • Collaborations: Create discussion spaces for learners to share ideas on specific topics or courses. Features include document sharing, post interactions and member messaging.
    • Leaderboards: Encourage competition by awarding points for course completions, curricula, instructor-led courses, and competencies. Learners earn points for achievements and interactions, with points being date-stamped and non-retroactive.
    • Billboards: At the top of the Learner Dashboard, display announcements, new initiatives or course promotions with eye-catching video or photo banners.
  • Dashboards: Design multiple dashboards for different departments and customize them with a variety of widgets, including competencies, reports, logins, activity and course enrollment.
    • Admin Controls: Only System Admins can create, edit or delete dashboards.
    • Permissions: Set access and editing permissions for users.
    • Report Handling: Download completed reports or have them emailed to you.
    • Dashboard Templates: Adjust the colors and images of the Learner Dashboard and the Login Page, and add a Public Dashboard.
  • Absorb Analyze: Generate custom reports to gain insights into various aspects of your LMS data, including:
    • Course Enrollment: Track details such as enrollment ID, key, type, status, dates (started, completed, expired), progress, score and more.
    • Course: Analyze course-specific data, including ID, type, name, status, language, tags, enrollment types, certificate details and other settings.
    • User: Examine user information, including ID, names, email, status, roles, job details and location, and sync data from external systems.
    • Department: Review department data such as ID, name, description, and contact information.
    • Reports: Access essential reports on learner activity, competencies, progress, course activity, curricula, evaluations, approvals, certificates, and credits.
  • Course Creation: Choose a theme for your course or build around content like screen recordings, videos, PowerPoint presentations or AI-generated materials.
    • Add and manage different content types, including course materials, instructor-led sessions, course bundles, curricula and categories.
    • Organize courses by ratings, access date, comments, self-enrollment, audience, author, automatic enrollment, average rating, category, certificate details, and more.
    • View detailed reports on learner course starts, ends, scores, departments, and certificates.
  • Course Settings
    • General: Adjust status, title, description, and default language.
    • Syllabus: Customize content, completion order, terms, mobile compatibility and proctoring.
    • Enrollment Rules: Set department restrictions, enrollment rules, self-enrollment options, automatic enrollment, approvals and eCommerce settings.
    • Completion: Define certificates, competencies, credits, leaderboard points, failure and re-enrollment policies.
    • Availability: Schedule access, due dates, expiration, prerequisites and offline access.
    • Catalog Visibility: Customize mobile app visibility, category, images and posters, and make courses mandatory or featured.
    • Course Administrators: Designate individual or department admins.
    • Messages: Manage and customize course notifications.
    • Resources: Add files and notes for learners.
    • Course Uploads: Provide instructions for uploading course materials and certificates.
    • Attributes: Enable ratings and evaluations, and add audience, vendor, goals, external IDs, time estimates and costs.
    • Social: Enable comments and collaborations.
    • Competencies: Reward users with custom designations, like 'CPR Certification,' for completing courses. Set up and assign competencies with unique names and images, which can serve as icons or badges.
    • Competency Levels: Award competencies on a scale from 1 to 10, allowing for incremental achievements and more control over user progression.
    • Access Management: Configure competencies to grant or restrict access to additional catalog content based on user achievements.
    • Reports: Use the Learner Competencies Report to view user achievements, modify data fields, create new competencies, message users, view transcripts or delete competencies.
    • Integration: Edit or add competencies to online courses, instructor-led courses or curricula.
  • ILC (Instructor-Led Courses): Facilitate live or asynchronous training sessions, either physical or virtual. Enrolled learners choose which session to attend. While a venue is optional, it helps specify the training location.
    • Recurring Classes: Schedule classes to repeat regularly with consistent time, instructor(s) and location, similar to Outlook calendar invitations.
    • Waitlist: Manage session capacity by adding learners to a waitlist when sessions are complete. Automatically enroll learners from the waitlist when seats become available or manually override capacity limits.
    • ILC Sessions Report: Access detailed reports on session details, learner enrollments, attendance, waitlists and instructor messaging.
  • Course Enrollments: Access and manage enrollments for curricula, ILCs, online courses and course bundles. Add, modify or delete course enrollments as needed. Re-enroll users in training, un-enroll them from courses, and update user details as required. Access detailed user transcripts, message users directly and review enrollments to track past training activities.
  • Enrollment Keys: Provide enrollment keys to users to automatically assign them to departments and courses, and manage validity and usage limits. Create and customize keys, name them, define access, and configure user details and notifications.
  • Observational Checklists: Use Observation Checklists to evaluate users based on specific criteria, and ensure they have the necessary skills and perform tasks effectively. Ideal for tracking mentoring and on-the-job training, these checklists help reviewers assess and document user performance.
  • Knowledge Checks: Add knowledge checks between courses to assess learners' understanding. Use question types like multiple-choice, true-or-false, matching, sequencing, pick one, pick many, drag-and-drop, fill-in-the-blanks and free text.
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  • Supports Multiple Content Types: Skilljar comes with flexible content authoring tools for organizations to offer variable content types. It helps businesses create multiple learning pathways based on user skillset, role and more. It supports high-quality audio, video and course content can be easily embedded from external hosts. It is compatible with AICC, SCORM and offers a native quizzing engine. It also provides live training registration and management. 
  • Assessments and Certifications: Its built-in assessment and certification tools lets organizations display their expertise. It comes with a built-in quizzing tool to assess students’ knowledge. Learners automatically receive certificates and badges after course completion; each certificate can be accessed via a unique URL. Students can flaunt their accomplishments with its LinkedIn integration. For high-stakes tests, organizations can make use of its remote proctoring module. 
  • E-Commerce Flexibility: Skilljar offers direct sales and e-commerce functionality for companies to price and package their training materials. Users can sell customer training subscriptions with its robust e-commerce and payment tools. It has flexible prices and packaged course content and aligns payment gateways with a company’s finance division. Its Salesforce integration helps realize revenue. 
  • Customizable: It lets businesses customize their training portals to match their branding and visual identity with tailored designs. Administrators can create custom objects, fields, calculations, views and rules according to their workflows. Its advanced customization capabilities like CSS, Javascript and HTML let users tailor their portals to offer a unique experience. It offers pre-built templates and dynamic theme control options for enhanced appeal. Learners can self-register through SSO, Salesforce or APIs for instant access. 
  • Secure and Reliable: Skilljar is designed for stringent security protocols for global users. It supports enterprise-grade security and is SOC2 certified. Its robust integrations and APIs accommodate multifarious programs and complex cases. It also offers support for premium implementation and customer success. 
  • Advanced Analytics: Skilljar lets users interact with its centralized dashboard. It generates pre-built and customized reports that offer deep business insights. Its extensive reporting tools help companies make data-driven decisions about customer health and training. It also aggregates data on learners’ performance and other key metrics and displays on dashboards and reports. 
  • While Labeling: Skilljar lets users customize their account with the company's branding, logo and a personalized URL. Administrators can implement personalized branding throughout the application. 
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Product Ranking

#12

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#56

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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AI-based Capabilities Assessments Collaboration Compliance Content And Course Management ECommerce Learning Delivery Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Dashboard User Management And Gamification 43 71 75 67 100 100 80 100 93 97 91 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 1162 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 314 reviews
93%
of users recommend this product

Absorb LMS has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 1162 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

91%
of users recommend this product

Skilljar has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 91% when considering 314 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.9 (12)
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4.7 (483)
4.6 (181)
4.5 (284)
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4.6 (29)
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Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Absorb LMS and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Content and Course Management and Mobile Capabilities. Absorb LMS stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award
Content and Course Management Award
Mobile Capabilities Award

Skilljar stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Professional Development: Over 90% of users who mentioned the professional training abilities of this system felt it helped with career planning.
Comprehensive Feature Set: Nearly 75% of reviewers appreciate its wide range of features, including customizable course settings, multi-tenancy support, observational checklists, e-signatures and third-party integrations.
Customization: More than 80% of reviewers who discussed the customization features were happy with the options for personalization and branding.
Ease of Use: In just under 80% of reviews that discussed the UI, users highlighted the platform's intuitive interface, stating that it's easy to use for both administrators and learners. The dashboard is noted for its clean design, making navigation straightforward and enhancing the overall user experience.
Excellent Customer Service: Over 70% of reviewers that mentioned support felt the staff was friendly and helpful, and provided workarounds for a multitude of issues. Many reviews mentioned that the project managers and account managers are proactive in assisting clients throughout their onboarding and ongoing use of the platform.
In-Depth Reporting: 60% of users who reviewed its data and analytical capabilities said it offers extensive reporting capabilities with the ability to export reports easily and set up automated reporting schedules.
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Easy to Use: Skilljar is known for its user-friendly interface, which allows for easy navigation and customization, even without deep technical expertise.
Integrations: Skilljar integrates seamlessly with various tools, including CRM systems, to streamline data management and enhance functionality.
Strong Support: Skilljar is recognized for its excellent customer support, particularly during the initial setup and ongoing use of the platform.
Analytics Capabilities: Skilljar offers robust analytics features that allow businesses to monitor customer engagement and assess the effectiveness of their training programs.
Versatile Content Creation: Skilljar supports a wide range of content formats, including videos, quizzes, and downloadable materials, to create engaging and diverse learning experiences.
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Insufficient eCommerce: In over 90% of reviews that discussed the system's eCommerce abilities, users felt it wasn’t flexible enough to sell content properly.
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Limited Gamification: While Skilljar offers some gamification elements, users seeking advanced features like elaborate point systems or interactive challenges might find the current options somewhat limited.
Basic Collaboration Tools: Skilljar's collaborative features, such as discussion forums, are considered rudimentary by some users. Businesses looking for robust real-time collaboration tools within the platform might need to consider integrations or alternative solutions.
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Absorb is a pretty impressive platform, especially if you're looking for something that's both easy to use and packed with features. It offers an intuitive interface and a clean dashboard with well-organized capabilities, a big plus for both learners and administrators.AI tools help you create courses in minutes and tailor training elements to each user's specific needs. One time-saving tool we really liked is Intelligent Assist. You just have to ask a question like, “How many learners have not been graded?” and you'll instantly get the report or action screen you need.Absorb Pinpoint, their video timestamping expert, uses AI and NLP to transcribe and timestamp video lessons. This allows you to find exactly what you want to learn in a long video without watching the whole thing, another great time-saver.Two more things that really stood out are Absorb’s course creation and reporting modules.With Absorb Create, you can build informational, crisp, good-looking courses using the most user-friendly tools. AI voiceovers, screen readers, themes and fonts, assessments and collaboration, and so many other elements help make course creation an enjoyable, creative and fun experience.We are also fans of Absorb’s insightful universe powered by it’s BI tool, Absorb Analyze. Learners, courses, sessions, certificates, and ILCs — you have a report for all aspects of your training program. You can add multiple filters to drill down to the micro level and schedule them for the future.Absorb’s gamification, user and role management, assessments and collaboration features are equally great and extremely easy to use. And if you need more help, they have Absorb Academy to fill you in on the know-how.The only downside is that it could have some more eCommerce features and built-in virtual classroom tools. Its question bank functionality is limited to only multiple-choice and text-based questions, so it’d be nice to see some variety there. Also, while the interface is undoubtedly a cakewalk to navigate, it could use a bit of color and style, some visual flair to engage learners quickly.Overall, Absorb LMS is a solid choice for anyone looking to boost their training and development efforts. We love that it offers a free trial, a suite of useful features for both small and big businesses alike, and excellent customer support. It has great built-in tools and integration capabilities, and rightly stands out among our top five LMS solutions.

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Is Skilljar really all it's cracked up to be, or will it leave you feeling jarred? User reviews from the past year paint a largely positive picture of Skilljar as a customer and partner education platform. Users consistently praise its user-friendly interface, highlighting its intuitive design that allows for easy navigation and content creation. One user even described it as "easy to dive right in and start creating content." Skilljar's strength in integrations is also frequently lauded, with users appreciating its compatibility with various business tools, which streamlines workflows and centralizes data. However, some users have voiced concerns about Skilljar's limitations in advanced reporting and customization. While the platform offers basic reporting features, some users find them restrictive for in-depth analysis. Similarly, although Skilljar provides customization options, some users note that achieving more complex customizations often requires coding knowledge, which can be a hurdle for those without technical expertise. Skilljar differentiates itself through its specialized focus on external training, setting it apart from more general-purpose LMS platforms. Its features are tailored specifically for customer and partner education, including audience-specific portals, robust analytics for tracking learner progress and content effectiveness, and seamless integration with CRM and marketing automation tools. These aspects are crucial for businesses aiming to enhance customer onboarding, improve product adoption, and drive customer engagement and retention. For instance, one user highlighted how Skilljar's API connections allowed them to personalize the training experience by directing users to specific landing pages with relevant content, a feature not available in their previous system. In conclusion, Skilljar emerges as a strong contender for businesses seeking a user-friendly and feature-rich platform dedicated to customer and partner education. Its strengths lie in its intuitive interface, robust integrations, and specialized focus on external training. However, businesses requiring advanced reporting and customization capabilities might find the platform's limitations a drawback. Overall, Skilljar is best suited for organizations prioritizing ease of use, seamless integrations, and a dedicated platform for external training, particularly those focused on driving customer success and engagement.

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