Brightspace Reviews & Pricing

by Desire2Learn | Founded 1999, Ontario, Canada

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What is Brightspace?

Industry Specialties: Serves all industries

Brightspace is a cloud-based LMS that supports personalized learning for educational institutions, corporations, healthcare institutions, nonprofits and more. For K-12 schools, it offers blended and virtual learning options, along with tools for professional learning. For companies, it provides an engaging learning platform to train employees, customers and partners.

Key features include tools for tailored learning experiences, intelligent agents, analytics for tracking progress, course authoring and a gradebook with a mastery view. You can choose from flexible options to build and curate content, and use its mobile-friendly design for on-the-go learning.

Users praise Brightspace for its extensive features, user-friendly interface and proactive support. A large number of reviews mention its exceptional implementation and onboarding process, praising the responsiveness and speed of the support team. While the majority of users are impressed by the solution’s capabilities, some mentioned that it may have a learning curve for new users.

The exact pricing of the solution isn’t mentioned online. For accurate pricing details based on the size and requirements of your institution, you can contact the vendor for a custom quote.

On the bright side, you can access the 30-day free trial to get hands-on experience with the platform. It includes a variety of pre-loaded courses to explore and a sandbox area where you can experiment with creating your own course.

Our Research Process for Brightspace

To evaluate Brightspace, I started by exploring its official website to get a clear overview of its features, pricing and customer success stories. I read about its most popular capabilities like reporting and analytics, real-world applications, assessments and grading, and more.

The product documentation, including tutorials and articles, was especially helpful for understanding how these features worked. I also explored the Brightspace Community, browsing discussions, reading product updates and looking into specific topics on its features, challenges and integrations.

Next, I looked at user reviews on platforms like G2, Capterra, Software Advice and TrustRadius to see how people actually use Brightspace and what they think about it.

I paid attention to common themes, like whether users found the platform easy to use, if they liked specific features or if they faced any problems, such as limits with customization or advanced tools. These reviews also gave me insights into things like how good the customer support is, whether the platform is reliable and how easy it is to set up.

Finally, I tested Brightspace using its free plan, which allowed me to dive into various features like course authoring, competencies and forums. Getting started was straightforward — creating an account was all it took to begin exploring the platform's key features without any cost.

Stay tuned to learn how each feature performs, what Brightspace does well, and where there’s room for growth.

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User Sentiment

Based on 911 reviews:

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Brightspace Pricing

Based on our most recent analysis, Brightspace pricing starts in the range of $100 - $500.

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Starting From: Undisclosed
Pricing Model: Quote-Based
Free Trial: Yes, Request for Free

Training Resources

Brightspace is supported with the following types of training:

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars

Support

The following support services are available for Brightspace:

Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Help Desk
Knowledge Base
Tickets
Training
24/7 Live Support

Brightspace Benefits and Insights

Why use Brightspace?

Key differentiators & advantages of Brightspace

Revolutionizes Learning with AI: D2L Lumi uses AI to simplify tasks for both teachers and admins in Brightspace. It can automatically generate practice questions and custom learning paths for students, speeding up course setup. For learners, Lumi provides personalized feedback and helps with note-taking, making learning more efficient and boosting training outcomes.
Digitizes Courses: Brightspace’s Content Experience platform makes it easy to build interactive courses with videos, images and even external tools like Google Drive and OneDrive. Pre-made templates simplify course design, and tools like Video Note come with automatic captions, ensuring accessibility for learners with special needs.
Facilitates Performance Review With Grading Tools: Based on our data, Brightspace scores 93 for the Assessments module. Its Gradebook and Mastery View make it easy to grade and track student progress in one place. With the Creator+ add-on, AI helps you by automatically generating quizzes and practice questions, saving you time. Advanced Analytics give you clear insights into student engagement and performance, so you can quickly spot who may need extra support and adjust your teaching to fit their needs.
Improves Decision-Making: With predictive models, you can actually forecast how learners will perform and fill in any knowledge gaps with personalized learning paths. Plus, real-time reports and visualizations give you a clear view of how effective your courses are and how engaged learners are.

Industry Expertise

Brightspace is a flexible LMS used by a wide range of organizations. Schools — whether universities, colleges, K-12 institutions or vocational centers — use it to offer online courses, manage assignments and track student progress. Businesses also turn to Brightspace for employee training, onboarding and professional development, while government agencies use it for staff training and knowledge sharing.

Brightspace Reviews

Based on our most recent analysis, Brightspace reviews indicate a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% based on 911 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

911 reviews

87%

of users would recommend this product

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Based on an aggregate of Brightspace reviews taken from the sources above, the following pros & cons have been curated by a SelectHub Market Analyst.

Pros

Comprehensive Feature Set: Brightspace gets major props for its "all-in-one" feature set that includes tools for creating and managing courses, delivering content in various formats (videos, quizzes, documents) and promoting collaboration. Users appreciate its support for different instructional approaches, whether it's entirely online, blended or traditional classroom settings.
User-Friendly Interface: The platform's interface is generally described as clean and intuitive, which is crucial for both instructors and students. This minimizes the learning curve, allowing users to focus on teaching and learning rather than navigating a complex system.
Customization: Institutions and instructors like the ability to tailor the platform to their branding and specific needs. This includes customizing themes, layouts and navigation.
Analytics and Reporting: Brightspace provides detailed analytics and reporting tools that allow instructors to track student progress, identify areas where students might be struggling and measure the effectiveness of their teaching methods.
Accessibility: Brightspace is built with accessibility in mind, complying with standards like WCAG 2.1, Section 508 and EN 301 549. Features like screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation and alternative text for images ensure that all learners, including those with disabilities, have equal access to educational content.

Cons

Learning Curve: While the interface is generally user-friendly, some users, especially those new to Brightspace or transitioning from another LMS, may find the initial setup and learning process to be challenging.
Limited Customization in Certain Areas: Although Brightspace offers extensive customization in many areas, some users have reported limitations in specific areas, such as fine-grained control over page layouts and graphics.
Cost: Depending on your organization's size and requirements, the cost of Brightspace can be a significant factor. Additional costs for add-ons or premium features can further increase the overall investment.

Researcher's Summary:

Brightspace is one of our top-rated LMSs with a solid analyst score of 92. It’s designed for large organizations and is popular for both education and corporate training.

According to our data, Brightspace has a high score for several LMS modules. These include:

Collaboration: 100
Compliance: 100
Reporting and Dashboard: 100
Assessments: 93

One of its standout features is the flexible course builder, allowing you to create interactive courses without technical expertise. With Creator+, you can use ready-made templates to quickly build professional-looking content, complete with quizzes and polls to keep learners engaged.

Brightspace also makes it easy to add videos and multimedia, giving courses a dynamic feel. Built-in design styles help ensure that everything looks consistent and polished. The platform’s grading system, including the Gradebook, simplifies the grading process by automatically pulling in scores from assignments, quizzes and discussions. Setting up grading is easy with a step-by-step wizard, and you can provide feedback through text, audio or even annotations.

Brightspace’s predictive analytics helps you spot students who might need extra support by analyzing grades, engagement, and activity. Performance+ adds even more reporting power, letting you generate detailed reports, track learning patterns and set up personalized learning paths for each student based on their progress.

If you need advanced reporting across courses, the Achievement+ package includes tools for tracking learning outcomes and viewing results over time. This package includes features like the Outcome Achievement Dashboard and the Course Achievement Overview, which offer visual reports that can also be exported for offline use.

Brightspace integrates with third-party tools like video conferencing and student information systems. Plus, its mobile-friendly design allows students to access courses from any device, anytime. Based on our data, Brightspace stands out in collaboration, compliance and reporting. Its Performance+ suite offers real-time training insights, and it complies with standards like WCAG and SCORM, while providing strong security measures like encryption and backups.

I recently tested Brightspace through its free plan, exploring its key features and tools to understand how it supports course creation, reporting gamification and more. I was impressed with how intuitive and user-friendly the platform is, with a sleek interface that makes navigation seamless.

The dashboard provided a clear snapshot of key information, and I loved how I could customize the layout to fit my preferences. Creating courses was a smooth process, with the flexibility to add different materials and connect external tools — perfect for various teaching needs.

Features like competency tracking, a question library and customizable forums really stood out, making it easier to manage both content and learner progress.

In the upcoming Brightspace in Action section, I’ll dive deeper into how these features performed in practice. I’ll share specific insights on how I tested competencies, the question library and other key elements, and how the system’s awards and gamification tools helped enhance learner engagement.

Although Brightspace excels in core features like tracking, reporting, and compliance, it’s missing some capabilities like workload balancing and lesson gating, which can help manage learner progress.

Compared to other platforms like Docebo or LearnUpon, Brightspace lacks certain AI-powered features such as AI-based tagging and content recommendations, which could be a disadvantage for organizations wanting advanced AI tools. Absorb LMS also offers more options for subscription management and interactive learning, which Brightspace doesn’t fully support — potentially making it less ideal for businesses looking to monetize training or enhance engagement with interactive features.

Brightspace is a good option for large organizations with complex learning needs, like universities or big companies. It offers tools for customization, tracking, and assessments, which can help manage various types of training. Its ability to integrate with other systems is also a helpful feature.

However, it might not be the best choice for smaller organizations or those with basic training needs. If you don't have a lot of technical support or a large budget, Brightspace could be more complicated and expensive than needed. It’s best suited for those who need its range of features and have the resources to manage them.

Key Features

Built-In Features

Roles and Permissions: Create, define, modify and delete user roles, and assign permissions to control access to features like creating discussions or editing navigation bars. Apply roles to users for specific org units to determine their access levels, and use cascading roles to extend permissions to all subordinate org units for easier management.
Calendar: Display all upcoming events to learners in one central location. Post essential dates like project deadlines, office hours, in-class events and more on the calendar.
Assignments: Create and edit assignments using the Assignments tool, track submission times and review work directly. Associate assignments with rubrics and competencies, and return them with grades and feedback. Organize them into categories, and set restrictions by date, group membership or special access.
Mobile App: Use the Brightspace Pulse mobile app to let learners access course calendars, assignments, grades and announcements from one place. Send real-time alerts for cancellations, room changes, and new content or grades. Allow them to view schedules and weekly tasks with built-in visualization tools to track what’s due today, this week and later.
Portfolio: Use the Portfolio tool to help learners capture and showcase their learning journey. Create and update digital portfolios to track progress over time. Use the app to collect evidence, record audio and video reflections, and document achievements.

Add-On Features

Course Merchant: Based on our data, Brightspace scores 92 for the eCommerce module. Use Course Merchant's integrated, branded storefront to extend your online reach.
- Enable learners to browse, purchase, and self-enroll with instant course access through single sign-on.
- Accept payments via 30+ gateways, including credit cards, PayPal, and offline invoicing.
- Offer free courses to attract traffic and provide flexible discount codes, multi-seat purchases, and bundled deals.
- Customize your storefront’s look, catalog, and layouts, and set seat limits with waitlists for full courses.
Video Assignments and Virtual Classroom: Assign individual, group and interactive videos to help learners demonstrate skills in real-world contexts. Provide personal feedback through self-assessment, expert coaching, peer reviews and AI-driven analysis. Use the Virtual Classroom to hold live discussions, office hours and video sessions, and schedule and record directly within the platform.
D2L Link Integrations: Quickly link your existing systems with D2L Link to cut down on manual data entry and ensure accuracy. Integrate with CRM, HRIS, ERP and other systems using pre-built solutions and expert-maintained workflows.
Creator+ eLearning Authoring Tool: Use ready-made templates to add interactive elements without coding. Integrate multimedia with the Capture app and ensure design consistency with Content Styler. Design engaging courses quickly with all tools in one platform, and use built-in training to boost your efficiency.
Achievement+: Centralize achievement data and generate reports with one-click CSV exports for accreditation. Access insights into student performance and curriculum effectiveness through an interactive dashboard with built-in visualizations. Monitor outcomes in real-time to make informed decisions and boost student success directly within your course.
Performance+: Based on our data, Brightspace scores 100 for the Reporting and Dashboard module. Use the Learning Analytics Dashboard to easily access and share insights, identify performance patterns and create personalized learning paths. Evaluate course effectiveness, streamline data access and boost adoption by monitoring usage and engagement, all within a single platform.

Brightspace in Action: Key Insights from My Free Trial Experience

I tested Brightspace firsthand through its free plan. All I had to do to get started was create an account on the website. From there, I could add up to five users and access key platform features like course authoring, course store, reporting, gamification and integrations.

After exploring these features and capabilities as a site admin, here are my takeaways:

User Interface

One of the first things that stood out to me was its sleek, modern design. The interface is clean and super user-friendly, making it easy to navigate right from the start.

The dashboard is where you’ll find a quick overview of everything important — like course progress, announcements and upcoming events on the calendar. What’s great is that it’s not just a one-size-fits-all setup. You can customize the dashboard by adding or removing widgets to make it fit your specific needs. This flexibility makes it feel more personal and tailored to how you want to work.

Another handy feature is the placement of messages, alerts and updates. They’re all located at the top-right of the screen, so it’s easy to stay on top of communications without missing anything important.

Course Creation

I was impressed with the variety of elements available when creating a new course. As I started building, I could choose from options like new lessons, pages, assignments, discussions, quizzes and more to organize my content. If I wanted to link out to external resources, I could quickly add a web link.

The process of adding materials to a new course was really straightforward. Whether you’re uploading content from Google Drive or Onedrive, you can easily integrate these into the course. You also have the option to add essential elements like assignments, discussions, quizzes or even a checklist. For more interactive content, you can include external tool activities and SCORM/ xAPI objects.

You can also access a media library to store videos and other media, as well as upload course files. The platform made it simple to drag and drop or browse files, streamlining the whole course-building process.

You can customize course descriptions with headers, images, PDFs and links while also editing text style — like changing colors, sizes and fonts. Plus, the preview feature ensures your course looks just right, and the system automatically checks for accessibility issues.

You can also set start and end dates for learners, along with release conditions, so users are not able to access or view the module unless they meet the release conditions.

Course completion tracking ensures learners fulfill specific criteria before being marked as complete. Once this feature is activated, their status remains locked until the conditions are satisfied, even if adjustments are made later.

You also have the flexibility to mark completion when all required topics are finished and display progress as a percentage. Keep in mind that enabling completion tracking after learners begin the course won’t capture earlier completions.

Competencies

I found it really easy to create and manage competencies for learners. To create a new competency, I set the Type (e.g., Competency) and gave it a Name and Description that clearly defined what the competency was about.

For each competency, there was an Additional Identifier field where I could add extra details, which made it easier to keep track of specific competencies.

One great feature was the ability to choose whether to make competency and its children visible to users, allowing me to control when learners could see it. Plus, there were Evaluation Settings where I could decide if I wanted to allow re-evaluation of users who had already achieved the competency. This flexibility made it easy to track and manage learner progress over time.

Question Library

One of the features I found particularly useful during my testing was the question library. It serves as a centralized hub for managing questions and sections for quizzes and assessments.

I could build a question bank from scratch, either by creating new questions or by organizing them into sections for easier management. An extensive range of question types enabled me to create assessments tailored to specific learning outcomes. I could easily create true/false, multiple choice, multi-select and fill-in-the-blank questions.

For more detailed responses, you can create options like written responses, short answers and multi-short answers. You can also create more complex question types, such as matching, ordering, arithmetic, significant figures and Likert scale questions.

Forums

Setting up a forum to facilitate discussions was quick and easy, with several options that allowed me to tailor the forum's settings to my needs.

To start, I simply gave the forum a Title, and the system automatically gave me the option to create a new topic with the same title right away. This made it easy to link the forum title to a specific discussion topic. I could also add a Description to provide learners with clear context about the forum’s purpose and set expectations for the discussion.

I found several settings that gave me flexibility in how I wanted the forum to operate. For instance, I could allow anonymous posts to encourage open discussions. There was also an option to require learners to start their own thread before replying to others. This encourages meaningful contributions and prevents learners from replying without adding value to the discussion.

I also appreciated the option to display the forum description in each topic, ensuring learners could easily refer back to the instructions or context, no matter where they were within the forum.

I could also enable moderator approval before making discussions visible to other participants. This is particularly useful in sensitive discussions where managing content is important.

Awards

Brightspace’s Awards tool offers two types of awards: Badges and Certificates.

Badges are digital rewards for achievements like posting a certain number of discussion posts or maintaining perfect attendance. Certificates, on the other hand, are awarded for significant milestones, like completing a course or passing an exam, and can be printed as PDFs for professional use.

One of the features I really liked was the flexibility to automate or manually assign these awards based on specific criteria. You can even customize the awards with unique identifiers like a Certificate ID to ensure that certificates are protected with passwords.

Another great addition is the ability to share awards on LinkedIn, which can help students showcase their achievements on their professional profiles.

The customization options for Award Icons and Certificate Templates were also a highlight. I tested uploading new icons and certificates, and found the process extremely easy. It was straightforward to add logos, branding and text replacement (like course name or learner name), which helped personalize the awards and make them look professional.

The customizable email notifications for when an award is earned or when an award is about to expire are another valuable feature. These can be tailored to fit the tone of the course, ensuring students are in the loop about their achievements and upcoming expiration dates for awards.

Approach to Common Challenges

Personalizing Learning: Brightspace offers a user-friendly interface designed to meet each learner's individual needs. This ensures that learners can easily navigate the platform and access course content regardless of their age or skill level.
Creating Personalized Learning Experiences: Brightspace offers smart tools like Intelligent Agents and Release Conditions to keep students on track with personalized learning paths and automatic reminders. The Portfolio tool allows learners to document and reflect on their progress, giving them a sense of achievement and growth. Plus, with AI-powered features like the Dedicated AI Coach, students get personalized support whenever they need it.
Managing Content: Brightspace provides an intuitive way to create content aligned to course outcomes. This includes various ways to add content, such as the Brightspace Editor linking to Google Drive, web links, videos, external learning activities and more.
Automating Tasks: The Brightspace API offers free, self-serve tools for automating tasks and quickly solving issues. It's based on Postman, an API client that enables you to connect with Brightspace, perform API calls and streamline processes. Users can easily automate repetitive tasks, solve challenges, support testing and speed up Brightspace API development.
Facilitating Collaboration: Brightspace offers various tools for instructors to communicate easily with learners about upcoming assignments, new content or discussions. This includes features like Virtual Classrooms for face-to-face video discussions and Quick Eval for managing submissions from multiple courses.

Cost of Ownership

Frequently asked questions regarding Brightspace pricing include:

Q. How much does Brightspace LMS cost?

A. Brightspace LMS pricing varies based on the number of student seats you require, with two student-volume blocks: 205 and 405 students.

Q. What are the different pricing models for Brightspace LMS?

A. Brightspace LMS offers a simple and flexible licensing model that allows you to start small and grow or start big and scale up from there. The registered user model lets you assign individual licenses to a fixed number of learners within your account who will have continuous access to courses.

Q. Can I get a free trial of Brightspace LMS?

A. Yes, you can subscribe to a 30-day free trial.

Q. What are the main factors that affect the price of Brightspace LMS?

A. Some factors that affect the price of Brightspace LMS include:

Number of users: More users generally means a higher cost.
Features: Brightspace has different packages (e.g., Core, Performance Plus, Engagement Plus) with varying features and corresponding costs.
Support level: The level of support and training you require can influence the price.
Contract length: Longer contracts may come with discounts.
Implementation services: If you need help setting up and integrating Brightspace, that will add to the cost.

Q. Are there different pricing tiers or packages?

A. Yes, Brightspace offers different packages with varying levels of functionality and support.

Q. How does Brightspace pricing compare to other LMS platforms?

A. It's tough to make direct comparisons without specific quotes. Some LMS platforms have per-user pricing, while others have tiered pricing. It's best to get quotes from multiple vendors to compare.

Q. Are there discounts for non-profits or educational institutions?

A. The vendor may offer discounts for certain organizations. It's worth inquiring about this during the pricing discussion.

Q. Can I get a price quote online for Brightspace LMS?

A. You'll need to contact the vendor directly for a personalized quote.

Q. What happens if my needs change after I purchase Brightspace?

A. It's important to discuss scalability and flexibility with the vendor to ensure the platform can adapt to your evolving needs. You might be able to adjust your contract or add features as required.

Limitations

Based on user feedback, some of the product limitations at the time of this review include:

Lack of AI-Powered Features:
- AI-Based Tagging: Brightspace doesn’t have AI-based tagging, making it hard to organize and find learning materials.
- AI-Based Course Recommendation: Without AI-powered course recommendations, learners miss out on personalized course suggestions, affecting their learning experience.
- AI-Based Content Translations: The platform lacks AI translation tools, making it challenging to offer content in different languages and share it with global teams.
- AI-Powered Search: Without AI-powered search, finding specific content is less accurate and more complex.
Limited Course Management Tools
- Assignment Warnings: The platform doesn’t offer alerts for balancing assignment workloads, which can lead to overloads for both learners and instructors.
- Lesson Gating: Without lesson gating, learners can skip important tasks, which might create gaps in their understanding of key course content.

Training Resources

Brightspace Training: Access step-by-step training resources, including self-serve webinars that guide you through creating and customizing your own training sessions.
Self-Serve Webinars: Attend tiered webinars for school or district-wide training that start with basic tools and advance to more robust features within Brightspace.
T&L Webinars: Learn best practices with effective workflows and use case examples to optimize your Brightspace classroom.
Quick Tips for Brightspace: Watch short video tutorials that showcase helpful workflows, tips and tricks to effectively use the platform.
Community: Join the Brightspace Community to access resources and ideas from other users.
Ontario VLE: A hub for Ontario-specific resources, including training, TELT contacts and French-language support.

FAQs

Q. What browsers does Brightspace support?

A. D2L Brightspace supports many browsers across mobile, tablet and desktop devices.

Q. What is Brightspace used for?

A. D2L Brightspace is used for online teaching and learning activities.

Q. Is the Brightspace app free?

A. Yes, the Brightspace app is free to download and use.

Q. What are the system requirements for Brightspace LMS?

A. The system requirements for Brightspace LMS include a computer with a stable internet connection, a modern web browser and a compatible operating system

Q. Can I integrate Brightspace LMS with other tools?

A. Yes, you can integrate Brightspace LMS with other tools through D2L links.

Q. What are the minimum technical requirements for using Brightspace?

A. Brightspace works on a variety of devices, but you'll need a stable internet connection and a modern web browser like Chrome or Firefox.

Q. How do I submit assignments in Brightspace?

A. The exact process for submitting assignments varies depending on how your instructor has set up the course. Look for assignment dropboxes or submission links within the course content.

Q. Can I import content from other LMS platforms into Brightspace?

A. Yes, Brightspace supports importing content from various formats and platforms.

Q. Where can I find support resources for using Brightspace?

A. Brightspace offers comprehensive documentation, tutorials and a community forum where you can find answers to common questions and connect with other users.

Q. What is the Brightspace Community?

A. The Brightspace Community is an online platform where users can connect, share ideas and find support. It's a valuable resource for both students and instructors.