Google Classroom vs Cornerstone LMS

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Our analysts compared Google Classroom vs Cornerstone LMS 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

Google Classroom is a free online learning platform that integrates with G Suite applications. As part of Google for Educators, it has a wide breadth of capabilities. Educators can create courses, assign homework, give grades and feedback, build exams, provide supplemental reading materials, share resources and more. Students can complete assignments, reach out to their instructors, ask questions, collaborate with others and more. It was used by over 100 million people and developed in collaboration with educators. There’s a free and paid version of the product. The paid one has greater functionality, notably the ability to host many hundreds more in a web conference.
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Cornerstone LMS is designed to help organizations create, deliver and manage employee training programs. It lets you create personalized learning experiences, facilitate real-time collaboration, and track learner and team performance. Features include content management, personalized learning, HR integration, reporting and insights, and compliance training.

User reviews generally commend its ease of use, scalability and effectiveness in improving employee engagement and knowledge retention. When compared to other LMS platforms, Cornerstone stands out with its strong focus on user experience, diverse feature set and insightful reporting capabilities.

While its pricing varies based on the specific modules and features chosen, it typically falls within the mid-range of similar products, offering a good balance of value and functionality.

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$4.80/Student, Annually
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$6/User, Monthly
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Product Assistance

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Product Insights

  • More Efficient: Save time through automation, the replacement of paper and manual processes. Grade quickly through the Docs app, which allows teachers to comment upon and return assignments rapidly.
  • Cut Down on Plagiarism: Prevent plagiarism with tools that scan for matching phrases or text online, find missing citations, do a cross-reference of books, look for paraphrasing and more. Provide this for learners who can check their work before they turn work in. Download originality reports and keep work so instructors can catch peer-to-peer copying.
  • Engaged Students: Integrate with virtual reality allowing users to explore famous landmarks, natural events and more. Explore spaces made by instructors and use mobile technology, the Expeditions app, while in VR to get further instructions and navigate the world. Let the app act as a roadmap while they explore. Pair the VR with mobile devices, access 360 views of virtual landscapes, work with several content partners and get a free course to teach individuals how to use VR provided by partners.
  • More Centralized Info: Use the complete G Suite, including Sheets, Meet, Drive, Docs, Forms, Calendar, Jamboard and more. Create and collaborate across several mediums while instructors can make various administrative processes more efficient.
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  • Exceptional Online Course Selling and Learning Analytics Features: In our analysis, Cornerstone scored exceptionally well for features that help you sell courses online, generate analytical reports, enable learning on the mobile app and gamify training activities. All the basics are available out of the box — from course selling and subscription management to mobile course tracking and custom reports.
  • Helps Identify and Fill Skill Gaps: Identify top talent and create development paths today with Cornerstone Succession.
    • Bird’s Eye View: Visualize employees on a customizable grid with filters and intuitive color-coding to easily spot high-potential talent and those at risk.
    • Resume Profiles: Use highly configurable pages to specify and view the qualifications, interests and career aspirations of employees.
    • Succession Snapshot: Access key succession metrics such as performance, successors, impact of loss, potential and probability of loss on a configurable dashboard.
    • Succession Tasks: Set up forms and workflows to collect relevant succession information from managers throughout the year.
    • Talent Search: Conduct attribute-based searches using resume data to find matches among high-potential employees.
    • Talent Pools: Filter and search within manually created collections of employees based on your talent searches.
  • Powers AI-driven Learning: Identify skills gaps, develop skill development opportunities and retain top talent with Cornerstone Galaxy, the AI-powered Workforce Agility platform. By leveraging AI, Galaxy provides actionable insights into your employee’s skills, and helps you make data-driven decisions about your training program.
  • Award-Winning LMS: In the SelectHub Awards 2024, Cornerstone won best-in-class honors for assessments, user management and gamification, and integrations and extensibility.
  • Helps Deliver Immersive Learning Experiences: Cornerstone leverages XR simulations to immerse employees in realistic work scenarios and develop their skills. It offers secure, effective simulations of customer service situations and builds emotional confidence through authentic, controlled conversations. Additionally, the platform facilitates virtual hands-on learning, allowing employees to acquire new skills and adapt to new tools without interrupting their current workflows.
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  • Different Roles: Adjust access on the platform allowing administrators to create other roles for parents, students, educators and more.
  • Web Conferencing: Create a unique link for each video session and send out a private link for classes. Use the IETF security standards for Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol and Datagram Transport Layer Security. Record and live stream with the expanded paid product.
  • Integration: Integrate with many school administration apps, curriculum building, communication, education enhancement and more. Use apps like Aeries, Aladdin Schools Connect, Classcraft, Pear Deck, Pearson Education, Quizizz, Squigl, Writable and a wide variety of others. Have programmers connect their app with the platform and access technical support, company-wide initiatives and marketing support.
  • Mobile: Use the mobile app that works on iOS and Android where learners and instructors can access the program from multiple devices.
  • Jamboard: Provide a smart display for tablets, smartphones or smart boards. Pull in images, make notes with the stylus and handwriting and shape recognition tools and more. Operate with Meet or during an in-person class.
  • Enterprise Option: Use the teacher center and Google for Education for more control, better security, device management, data loss prevention, a S/MIME for Gmail, Gmail logs and admin reports in BigQuery, a security sandbox and more. Set up a university-wide email system with Gmail.
  • Stream: See posts, comments and other materials when they log into the program. Upload content and respond to comments while students can collaborate with their peers and comment on posted materials.
  • Class Management: Facilitate classes through an organization with features such as a content library for assignments, slides, class papers, forms and other resources. Lock due dates, set a timer on access for materials, reuse content, add YouTube videos and more.
  • Accessibility: Accommodate students with impairments such as hearing, vision, physical disabilities and processing disorders. Use voice access, screen readers, closed captioning and more so learners can access information in a way that helps them. Adjust the content to make it more visual, auditory and more to match individual learning styles. Download an accessibility conformance report to analyze the effectiveness of the program.
  • Security: Use a system that supports the standards and compliance for the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Software & Information Industry Association, ISO/IEC 27018:2014, HIPPA, GDRP and more. Host information on secure servers, let administrators watch over data security and get audited by a third-party to ensure data protection.
  • Grading: Allow instructors to add comments, grade, enter commonly used feedback, apply rubrics and automatically notify students when their assignment is ready for them.
  • Educator Groups: Unite local educators so they can collaborate and help one another online and in-person. A local volunteer organizes the group and the members unite for teaching, workshops, advice and more.
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  • Content Creation: Tailor existing Grovo courses or create new ones to fit your organization’s needs quickly.
    • Use various media types, including documents, videos, images and PowerPoint slides to enrich your content.
    • Enhance learning with interactive elements like quizzes to reinforce key concepts.
    • Design responsive, mobile-friendly courses using an intuitive interface.
    • Create, manage and analyze custom training materials efficiently.
  • Integrations Marketplace: Browse and select from a variety of partner-built integrations, including APIs, import loads and content subscriptions. Use pre-built integrations, connectors and flexible APIs to manage integrations easily, with a self-service platform for efficient data handling.
  • Immersive Learning: Use the Immerse tool to build personalized learning experiences in extended reality (XR) simulations of real-life work situations.
    • AI-Powered Content Authoring: Design immersive simulations with a range of environments, avatars and voices without needing coding or animation skills.
    • Skills Analytics Dashboard: Manage learning content and evaluations all from one dashboard.
    • Immersive Learning Content: Develop essential soft skills like leadership and communication through roleplay with virtual characters. Access a variety of pre-made content or create your own to fit your needs.
  • Surveys: Use various question types and response formats to collect information beyond course-based evaluations. Create detailed reports on individual survey responses or track trends over time with recurring surveys. Gather valuable information, such as employee interest in development opportunities or skills assessments for new roles.
  • Products: The company offers several solutions. Learning is the training, education and informational tool. However, several other applications with complementary goals are provided through the same company. All integrate with Learning and each other as part of the larger suite.
    • Careers: This coaching software helps managers praise over performers and give extra help to underperformers. Staff can use them to figure out their interests and build a path to growth within a company.
    • Content Anytime: For organizations looking to supplement their information with pre-made content, it has classes aimed at skill building in subjects such as communication, leadership and coaching, customer services, emotional intelligence, listening, personal growth, stress management and more.
    • Development: This helps with continuous growth by suggesting content so employees can build valuable skills. Whereas coaching is more geared toward building career goals, this focuses on the information from preferred sources whether that be books, podcasts, videos or something else.
    • HR: It provides HR data management to aid in decisions about the workforce, management and other organization-wide initiatives. The platform manages the human capital component of a business.
    • Performance: As a performance and workforce management platform, this aids in the high-level work of seeing the broader trends in skill gaps, performance and the overall talent pipeline. It has tools for giving staff reviews and ensuring performance processes are compliant.
    • Recruiting: Aimed at solving talent acquisition issues, this program helps with the discovery, acquisition and onboarding of talent. Some of its capabilities include attracting qualified candidates, AI insights for recruiting and showcasing a company’s unique brand and culture.
    • Other Solutions: It also has applications for SMB talent management, compliance, e-commerce, sales and other integrations.
  • Instructor-Led Training (ILT): ILT sessions are available in both virtual and physical classroom settings. This includes interest tracking, reservation capabilities, session rosters and waitlists. The solution has a wide range of delivery options including audio, digital files and documents, instructor-led classes, video and VR.
  • Grovo Microlearning Content: Use Grovo’s exclusive microlearning content through Cornerstone to provide impactful training on key topics that engage employees and support business goals.
    • Modify existing content or build new materials with the Grovo Create tool to fit your organization’s needs.
    • Access a wide range of content, including professional skills, leadership and management, modern compliance, diversity, equity, inclusion, and remote work essentials and fundamentals.
  • Mobile App: The Cornerstone CSX app allows you to access key features and a fast, intuitive learning experience on your device.
  • Core Features
    • Learner Home: View a personalized dashboard with company banners, training metrics and recommended content driven by machine learning.
    • Learning Search: Quickly find and filter courses by topic and duration to view relevant training options.
    • Learning Transcript: Manage your training history, track progress, and access ongoing and completed courses.
  • Use Cases
    • Log In: Switch language settings based on company preferences after logging in.
    • Learner Home: Receive personalized content recommendations and interact with training on your dashboard.
    • Learning Search: Locate and filter short courses to find relevant training.
  • Check-ins: Use Check-Ins to hold regular meetings and discussions with teams, focusing on alignment, coaching and performance development. Set up templates to guide discussions, help employees set goals, discuss career development and provide feedback. Schedule one-on-one or regular Check-Ins to ensure continuous communication and manage performance effectively.
  • Engage: Set up and schedule recurring feedback campaigns to capture employee satisfaction, engagement and commitment, and gain a complete view of workforce dynamics. Allow managers with the right permissions to access and review campaign results through a dedicated dashboard without creating or editing campaigns.
  • Assessments: Create tests and assignments to assess learner performance.
    • Use the Search bar to find specific assessments quickly.
    • View all assessments in the table, including their title, version, number of questions, last updated date and last updater.
    • Edit assessments, view current and previous versions, and manage version status (Draft or Published).
    • Publish assessments to make them available in the Course Console and Learning Assignment Tool. Note that once published, assessments are locked and cannot be edited.
  • Course Catalog: Manage and update metadata for learning objects (LOs) in your system. Adjust details like titles, keywords, subjects, recurrence settings, recommendations and email notifications.
  • Security: Keep your data safe on a foolproof learning platform.
    • Protect your data with 256-bit TLS encryption for secure data in transit.
    • Authenticate clients to control application access and ensure users only see what they’re authorized to view.
    • Benefit from FedRAMP authorization and regular audits to meet global and regional compliance requirements.
    • Use advanced cloud security measures to support heavy workloads.
    • Align with data protection regulations through integrated privacy features and commit to responsible AI technology in the workplace.
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Product Ranking

#7

among all
LMS Software

#25

among all
LMS Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Google Classroom
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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 67 67 91 100 76 100 96 100 100 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 4017 reviews
Great User Sentiment 1306 reviews
92%
of users recommend this product

Google Classroom has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 4017 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

83%
of users recommend this product

Cornerstone LMS has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 1306 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (14)
5.0 (21)
4.5 (1386)
4.1 (495)
4.7 (2352)
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4.3 (220)
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4.3 (137)
4.4 (265)
4.1 (433)

Awards

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

User Favorite Award

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Cornerstone LMS and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Mobile Capabilities.

Mobile Capabilities Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Affordable: Over 80% of viewers who mentioned price were happy with the cost.
Integrates with the G Suite: Users who mentioned the integration with Google Docs, Slides and other products were pleased in 80% of reviews.
Uploads Efficiently: Over 70% of reviewers felt that uploading ran smoothly.
Easy to Use: The majority of users who mentioned the UI were happy with its capability in just under 70% of reviews.
Multimedia Support: More than 60% were happy with the various formatting and multimedia support in the system.
Excellent User Communication Tools: Users who mentioned the messages, notifications and other communications functions were pleased in more than 60% of reviews.
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Easy to Learn: Users adjusted well to the system and navigated it easily in about 40% of reviews.
Satisfactory Features: Between 30% and 40% of users were happy with the features and 20% felt the platform frequently added improved functionality. The most popular features included customization options, course and content creation tools, third-party integrations and communication capabilities.
Excellent Reporting: Around 20% found the reporting comprehensive, usable and suited to their needs.
Fair Pricing: In 20% of user reviews, administrators felt they got good value for their money.
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Glitchy: More than 80% of users who mentioned the speed of running the program felt it was glitchy.
Lack of Customization: Reviewers who mentioned customization felt the options were lacking in more than 70% of reviews.
Not Enough Admin Control: Over 60% of reviewers who discussed the user admin function felt functionality was lacking.
Lacks Features: In over 50% of reviews that mentioned the feature set, users felt they were missing features.
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Poor Customer Support: By far, the biggest complaint was the customer service, with almost 40% of reviewers complaining about slow turnaround times, ineffective solutions or other issues.
Unintuitive User Experience: Around 30% of users disliked the overall user experience, with the most common complaints surrounding glitches, the data importing process, integration and reporting.
Overwhelming and Confusing: Between 10% and 20% found the number of features hard to learn.
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Google Classroom is an eLearning solution that’s widely used in education because of its price point. While the base version is free, there is a paid enterprise package with expanded functionality. Reviewers like its simple UI, integration with the G Suite, support of multimedia options and good base functionality with grading, assignments, exams and more. They also felt it encouraged engagement and collaboration while saving time and money. On the flip side, reviewers felt the platform lacked options for customization and didn’t come with enough features. The platform isn’t a full-service LMS. It delivers lessons, shares files and has some higher function feedback functions, but doesn’t have the advanced administrative, reporting and other options of more robust solutions. This is an excellent option for small to medium-sized organizations that need to facilitate training. Make sure you understand the functional differences between the free and enterprise versions.

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Cornerstone Learning is an all-in-one LMS that brings together learning, growth, skills and capabilities into a personalized, curated experience for employees. Trusted by thousands of organizations across all sizes and industries, it supports employees from hire to retire.Users generally find the system easy to learn and navigate and praise its frequent updates and improved functionality. They also find the reporting comprehensive and usable and feel it provides good value for their money.The biggest drawback of Cornerstone among users is poor customer support, with reviewers complaining about slow turnaround times and ineffective solutions. Some users also reported issues with glitches, data importing, integration and reporting.Overall, Cornerstone Learning is a comprehensive and customizable LMS that helps organizations provide personalized, engaging and compliant learning experiences for their employees. It’s particularly well-suited for organizations looking to boost productivity with version management and smooth inline content workflows

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