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MindTap vs Brainier

Last Updated: November 18th, 2024

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

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Product Basics

MindTap is an online learning software owned by Cengage that provides educational content and some class management. Among its assets are coursework, textbooks and print with over 1,300 options. The subjects it covers span across business, economics, humanities, math, professional disciplines, science, social science and technology. Some of its educational modules include grading, testing, homework submissions and a mobile app. Instructors can inform students of due dates and encourage underperforming class members.

Brainier helps organizations of all sizes create and manage employee training programs. It’s cloud-based, mobile-compatible, and designed to support collaboration and building a broader community around development efforts.

The solution offers personalized learning experiences through features such as certification and compliance management, content authoring and social learning capabilities. It also provides insights into learner progress and program effectiveness through data reports and a mobile app that lets users access learning materials anytime and anywhere.

Brainier Cultivate, its talent management platform, offers built-in tools, including assessments, certification planning and goal tracking. Administrators can create self, 180, and 360 assessments, set dynamic certification plans, and track goals for individuals or teams. The platform also allows learners to receive personalized learning recommendations and track progress with gamified leaderboards.

The LMS is praised for its content creation, reporting tools and user-friendliness. Its intuitive interface and drag-and-drop functionality make course building easy, even for those with limited technical expertise. You can contact the vendor for a personalized quote.

$160 Annually

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$3,000 Monthly

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Chromebook

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24/7 Live Support

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Product Insights

More Confident Students: Give learners more tools to succeed by increasing core competencies. Personalize materials and deliver feedback to reach people by highlighting text and annotations. Increase completion rates and security through smartphone accessibility and the ability to identify at-risk pupils.
Saves Time: Access information in one unified location. Automate grading processes to save the time of tediously entering grades. Integrate with other tools to ensure all needs are met without needing to hunt down individual applications.
High-Quality Content: Find and share interactive textbooks or create a resource library for employees so workers and students can peruse information at their leisure. Create a shareable, professional-looking collection of assets.
Greater Engagement: Increase students’ motivation to learn and boost engagement through improved coursework. Establish clear communication lines between trainer and trainee. Use StudyHub to follow notes, bookmarks and selected text. Students can also create study guides.

Offers Needs-Specific Resources: Access thousands of courses from top industry content providers to meet your learning goals. Whether you need training in business skills, compliance or safety, Brainier simplifies the process by partnering with extensive content libraries. These libraries feature hundreds of high-quality, up-to-date courses covering leadership development, managerial skills, mindset training and various soft skills topics, so you don't have to start from scratch.
Market Leader: Brainier ranks among our top 10 LMS solutions. It holds its own among industry leaders such as LearnUpon and Docebo, and offers a range of features, including eCommerce, reporting and dashboards, and content and course management, available right out of the box.
Comes With Excellent Course Management Capabilities: If you’re seeking an LMS with outstanding content and course management, and mobile capabilities, Brainier is our top choice. In our analysis, it scored exceptionally well for its features that assist users in creating and managing courses, learning offline, tracking courses on the mobile and learning materials. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools out of the box, including course cataloging, authoring, learning paths and progress tracking.
Offers AI-Powered Recommendations: The Daily Snapshot highlights featured learning objects, and transforms the LMS into your daily hub for relevant training, events and information. It considers due dates for assigned training, completion status, upcoming events and assignment progress. You can provide personalized suggestions to groups or individual learners, helping them prioritize their time in the system based on various factors.
Improves Coaching Delivery: Video coaching helps learners develop practical and soft skills on a large scale. It uses three main methods: spaced skill practice, personalized feedback and real-world application of knowledge. By recording and sharing videos, you can get an accurate picture of your learners' understanding and abilities.
Easily Integrates with Third-Party Software: For companies looking for HR tools, succession software, talent management, CRMs or other workforce technology, Brainier has many partners to broaden its capabilities. This includes Bullseye Engagement, Ceridian, Edcomm, ExponentHR, HR Performance Solutions, iCIMS, J.J. Keller, Media Partners, Prositions, Salesforce, Skillsoft, TalentGuard, Ultimate Software, U.S. Learning and Vado.

Course Management: Instructors can grade and curate content, facilitate online discussions and walk students through sample assignments. Provide quizzes, assessments and interactive homework. Let learners see current and upcoming homework as well as individual progress. Clone courses easily to repeat units for different classes, adding information, copying and changing dates.
Learning Path: Create a path by selecting material to customize a course. Add or delete material when needed and move activities around for personalized experiences. Encourage pupils to track progress and reach out to trainers.
Mobile App and eReader: Give employees and students access to an ebook that works on or off the internet through the smartphone app. Use interactive elements to keep people engaged. Take attendance with geolocation and polls to ensure learners are present. Provide other tools like online flashcards, practice quizzes and alerts for homework and due dates. Make annotations and notes in the online textbook. Embed videos into the reader, share highlighted notes and emphasize key text to demonstrate what’s important in testing. Give students access to a text speaker that reads aloud.
Suggested Content: Customize information for specific students to increase engagement with education guides. Suggest videos and assignments that reinforce learning, offered by class or by chapter.
Integrations: Connect with more full-service LMSs like Blackboard, Brightspace, Canvas, Moodle or other solutions. Integrate with other Cengage platforms such as SAM, WebAssign and Cengage Unlimited. Use the same login to access material. Some major products auto-sync grades, so instructors don’t have to duplicate work. Communicate with various programs with IMS Basic LTI standards and additional functionality for more common products.
Reporting: Dig deep and understand where students are failing or succeeding with real-time analytics that measure 12 different metrics and deliver actionable insights.
Subjects: Let learners consume content, software and textbooks that cover a variety of topics like agriculture, anthropology, art, astronomy, biology, college skills, communications, counseling, early childhood education, film, history, humanities, human services, mass communication, music, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, social sciences, theatre, world languages and more.
Aplia: Connect concepts to real-world situations. Elevate critical thinking with feedback, algorithmic questions, review problems and other elements.
Pathbrite Portfolio: Showcases learner work through videos, images, documents and other assets. Give a visual representation of accomplishments and skills.
Cengage Unlimited: Work with several Cengage learning solutions aimed at specific subjects, including:

CengageNOWv2: Study for accounting, business statistics and taxation. Complete assignments, study for exams and succeed academically. Give workers and students practice opportunities to help them master content.
OWLv2: Save time with coursework in chemistry classes. Help finish assignments, study for exams and give learners other tools to help with success.
SAM: Cover Microsoft Office and computer concepts. Practice and apply skills to prepare for the Microsoft Office environment. Auto-grade assignments and use flexible reporting to report the outcomes.
WebAssign: Study STEM technology. Acquired in 2016, it has former educators on its development support teams to ensure the pedagogy of the experience.
Discontinued Programs: The iLrn, eSAM and iLrn Advance products aren’t for sale for students and can’t be accessed as of December 31st, 2020.

Content Creation: Use Chameleon Cloud to transform your PowerPoint presentations and video library into tailored learning content.
- Customize your training materials to fit your organization’s specific needs.
- Incorporate full-motion video, study materials, discussion questions and multiple-choice tests into your content.
- Ensure compatibility with AICC, SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 formats.
Embedded AI: Use AI-powered tools to enhance and contextualize the learning experience.
- AI Coach & Auto Analysis: Use AI Coach for real-time feedback on speech content and delivery during video coaching. This tool provides quantitative and qualitative feedback, including keyword analysis and delivery metrics.
- Content Creation: Automate quiz, survey and object description creation with generative AI.
- Auto-Tagging Learning Objects: The system scans content to suggest relevant tags, and efficiently categorizes learning objects by topics, subjects and competencies.
- Learning Content Recommendations: AI analyzes tags and actions to recommend relevant content, helping learners bridge knowledge gaps and follow a guided learning path.
Ecommerce: Turn your learning content into a revenue stream by selling courses internally and externally.
- Set custom pricing rules easily using your organizational chart.
- Offer flexible payment options, such as credit cards, PO numbers and promo codes.
- Process payments securely through PayPal without storing credit card information.
Gamification: Engage learners with built-in gamification features that inspire friendly competition and reward top performers.
- Create leaderboards to identify top performers using a points system and customizable goals.
- Unlock badges and ranks through activities like completing courses and sharing content, with easy admin customization.
- Recommend relevant courses based on job titles, locations and completed courses.
Assessments: Use built-in assessment tools for comprehensive evaluations, including self-assessments and 180 and 360-degree reviews.
- Use a variety of question types, such as linear scales, radio buttons, drop-down menus, essays and text boxes.
- Configure different sections and points within assessments to map competencies.
- Recommend relevant learning content based on assessment results to address skill gaps.
Content Library: Use the built-in content library featuring essential topics and expand it further with top content providers for extensive off-the-shelf learning options. Course topics include:
- HR Compliance: Ensure compliance with state and industry regulations.
- Finance: Enhance financial literacy with Banker’s Academy.
- Leadership Development: Develop mentoring, management and leadership skills.
- Productivity: Improve day-to-day efficiencies and overall strategies.
- Customer Support: Deliver exceptional customer support with materials designed for meaningful and personal interactions.
Analytical Reporting: View real-time learner progress with powerful analytics tools, including native reporting dashboards, data visualization and custom reports.
- Configure the system to deliver up-to-the-minute learning data via email or FTP, tracking overdue training, event registrations and approaching expiration dates.
- Provide role-specific access to relevant learning data for administrators, instructors, managers and custom roles.
- Empower leaders at all levels to view critical learning information tailored to their needs and organizational structure.
- Use the Smart Report to get an in-depth view of individual or group progress, as well as a summary of all learning activities in the LMS to date.
- Use the Custom Report Builder to create reports that meet specific business needs. With over 1,000 standard report options and customizations, it generates insightful data on users, groups, and learning objects.
- Configure these reports to auto-generate and deliver on a regular schedule.
Social Learning: Enable learners to like, comment and share content within the system.
- Allow learners to engage in discussions, share knowledge and build communities of practice via forums.
- Use the learner directory to connect learners to peers and mentors
- Use real-time chat, group chat and native video chat with screen share to enhance collaboration and interaction.
Compliance Management: Simplify access to compliance training with single sign-on (SSO) or an efficient access page. Employees can quickly navigate to their required courses via a customized dashboard, reducing confusion and enhancing the user experience.
- Training At-Scale: Set up recurring assignments for annual compliance, re-certifications and safety courses. Custom expiration dates and automated reminders help prevent overdue training and reduce administrative tasks.
- Learner Analytics: The Analytics Dashboard gives you real-time oversight of learning progress. Segment groups and access detailed data on specific learners or teams. Built-in reporting tools monitor compliance training status from a macro or micro perspective.
- Common Compliance Content: Access extensive off-the-shelf compliance course libraries relevant to 99% of industries. These courses cover essential topics like harassment prevention and workplace safety, meeting state mandates and reducing the need for additional sourcing.

Product Ranking

#39

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#65

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Analyst Rating Summary

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User Sentiment Summary

92%

of users recommend this product

MindTap has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 13 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

91%

of users recommend this product

Brainier has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 91% when considering 167 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

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4.6 (130)

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Improved Student Engagement: MindTap offers a variety of interactive activities and assessments that can help to keep students engaged with the material. This is in contrast to traditional textbooks, which can be passive and unengaging.

Personalized Learning: MindTap can be customized to meet the individual needs of each student. This means that students can focus on the areas where they need the most help, and they can learn at their own pace.

Accessibility: MindTap is accessible from any device with an internet connection. This makes it easy for students to access their course materials from anywhere, at any time.

Data and Analytics: MindTap provides instructors with data and analytics that can help them to track student progress and identify areas where students are struggling. This information can be used to improve instruction and better support student learning.

Ease of Use: Users find the platform easy to navigate, with a straightforward and intuitive interface. The student portal is highly praised for its simplicity and ease of use.

Responsive Support: Users appreciate the friendly and helpful support staff, who are available via multiple channels (email, chat, phone).

Integrations and Custom Security: Many users like that it integrates with other HR software products, including payroll, benefits and performance management solutions, and allows them to set custom securities to manage user accessibility and security levels.

Comprehensive Content Library: Users praise Brainier’s content library, which includes a wide range of learning materials covering common business issues like skills development and leadership training.

Cost: Students have expressed concerns about the additional cost associated with purchasing access to MindTap, especially when required course materials are already expensive. This can create a financial burden for students, particularly those on a tight budget.

Technical Issues: Users have reported encountering technical problems with MindTap, such as glitches, errors, and compatibility issues with certain devices or browsers. These issues can disrupt the learning process and cause frustration for students who rely on the platform to access course materials and complete assignments.

Learning Curve: Some students have found MindTap's interface to be complex and not intuitive, requiring a significant investment of time and effort to learn how to navigate the platform effectively. This can be a barrier for students who prefer a more straightforward and user-friendly learning experience.

Integration Challenges: Integrating MindTap with existing Learning Management Systems (LMS) can sometimes present challenges, leading to synchronization issues, broken links, and difficulties in accessing grades or assignments. This can create confusion and inconvenience for both students and instructors.

High Costs: The pricing structure may be a deterrent for smaller organizations with limited budgets.

Busy Interface: Some users find the design to be too cluttered, which can make it less intuitive to use.

Let's tap into the minds of MindTap users and see what they have to say. User reviews from the past year suggest MindTap offers a robust platform for learning and course management, but it's not without its quirks. Reviewers frequently praise MindTap's ability to integrate seamlessly with learning management systems (LMS) like Blackboard and Canvas, making it a convenient hub for accessing course materials, assignments, and grades. The platform's interactive features, such as quizzes, flashcards, and simulations, receive positive feedback for enhancing engagement and comprehension. However, some users find the interface a bit clunky and overwhelming, especially for those new to online learning platforms. Technical glitches and occasional syncing issues can also disrupt the learning flow. Despite these drawbacks, MindTap stands out for its comprehensive content library and alignment with Cengage textbooks, making it a valuable tool for students seeking additional support and practice. Ultimately, MindTap is best suited for students who prefer a structured learning environment with readily available resources and are comfortable navigating a feature-rich online platform. Those who value simplicity and a more intuitive interface might explore alternative options.

Brainier is an award-winning LMS with a 93% customer satisfaction rating, a user-focused design and a comprehensive feature set. It offers exceptional tools to personalize learning. Administrators can create custom learning paths and dashboards, and set up tailored content pages that cater to specific job roles and departments. The LMS integrates smoothly with popular apps like Salesforce, UKG Pro and Ceridian Dayforce, and lets you manage complex team structures through custom group setups and multi-tenancy. Brainier also emphasizes AI-driven functionalities, such as AI-powered video coaching and content recommendations. It uses AI to provide real-time feedback and personalized content suggestions, ensuring that learners focus on the most relevant materials. The solution’s video coaching capabilities support skill development through self-paced practice and personalized feedback. Its course library offers an extensive range of content, covering everything from compliance training to leadership development. Reporting tools, including a smart report builder, offer detailed insights into learner progress, helping organizations track skill mastery and make data-driven decisions. Accessibility features and automated learning objectives further enhance the platform’s appeal by ensuring that training is inclusive and efficient. User reviews highlight Brainier’s ease of use, scalability and excellent customer support. Many users appreciate its flexibility and integration capabilities, though some find the interface a bit cluttered. While Brainier’s pricing is competitive, it may not be the best fit for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets, as its features could come at a higher price point. Brainier is ideal for mid-sized to large enterprises, especially in industries like healthcare, manufacturing and financial services, offering customizable learning, compliance tracking and integration with HR systems like ADP and UKG. With personalized learning paths, detailed analytics and scalability, Brainier supports both growing businesses and established enterprises, ensuring effective employee engagement and training outcomes. However, companies primarily needing basic course delivery or those with highly specific training requirements may find Brainier’s extensive capabilities overwhelming and might require customizations.

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FAQ

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