TalentLMS Reviews & Pricing

Key Features

• Dashboard: Get an overview of active users, assigned courses, training time, course completion rates and more. Use the Timeline widget to track account activity, monitor each course’s progress status, and add or delete widgets to customize your dashboard.
• User Management: Create and store users' personal information, such as name, location, bio, sign-in credential, learner type and email.
• Course Creation: Add the course code, specify the category and pricing, insert intro videos, assign start and end times, set completion rules and include certificates for each course. Fill the courses with text, videos, PPTs, images, assignments, surveys and more.
• Course Management: Reuse presentations and videos or find external media to build classes. Offer certifications for compliance courses and create learning paths tailored to each user’s requirements.
• Course Store: Subscribe to TalentLibrary to access over 900 English and Spanish courses in various fields, such as HR, leadership, safety and compliance, personal development and business skills.
• Gamification: Offer discounts as rewards when learners achieve a set number of points, badges or levels. Reset users' gamification statistics as needed, either for the whole portal or for a specific group or branch. You can:
  • Award users with points for different learning activities.
  • Give badges to highlight milestones in their learning journey.
  • Represent stages in their learning journey with levels.
  • Show users their learning progress in points compared to others with leaderboards.
• Integration: Integrate directly with third-party apps like WordPress, BambooHR, GoToMeeting, Salesforce and Shopify. Add Zapier to access over 750 additional options like Slack and Zendesk, and use the API and JavaScript integrations for additional extensibility.
• Security: Protect sensitive data with features like AWS storage, 2FA, DDoS, BCDR, incident response plans and STAR compliance.
  • Restrict registration to specific email domains and prevent multiple logins from different browsers.
  • Disable video transcoding if videos are web-compatible and add a system logo watermark on uploaded videos.
  • Meet the guidelines for various security and accessibility standards, such as ISO 27001, ISO 9001GDRP, PCI Compliance and WCAG-2.
• Files Repository: Organize, reuse and share files with selected users. Upload and store various types of files in your account, and easily manage and distribute them.
• Collaboration: Allow instructors and learners to engage in discussions, interact through video conferencing, send group and private messages and stay connected at each touchpoint of the training process.
• Branches: Create independent sub-portals (branches) for various departments, user types and customers. Customize each portal with its own URL, theme, language, users and courses.
• Automation: Automate day-to-day tasks to avoid manual admin work and reduce errors. Assign courses to many users simultaneously, send reminders, deactivate users and more.
• Reporting: Generate data reports to track key metrics like course completion rates, courses not started or passed, courses in progress, and training time for each learner, branch, group and course. Track users and their roles, progress status, scores, and completion dates and times for each course. Create and automatically export custom reports.
• Learning Activities: Add learning activities like assignments, tests, surveys and ILT training to courses.
• Blending Learning: Use blended and instructor-led training (ILT) to organize classroom events, manage all aspects of ILT sessions, set up automatic notifications and deliver virtual lessons in real time.
• Assessments: Build a variety of tests with different question types, such as multiple-choice, drag-and-drop matching, ordering, fill-in-the-blank and open-ended questions. Use them to evaluate learner progress and knowledge retention.
• Surveys Engine: Build surveys to gain insights into your learners and training. Send surveys, collect responses and analyze results to gather valuable feedback and data.
• Learning Paths: Set up learning paths by selecting the desired course. They can link courses to create the path and add prerequisites, so learners must complete these courses in any order before proceeding. They can also create alternative paths using the Add an alternative rule option and enable Levels in the Gamification tab to require learners to reach a certain level before accessing a course.
• TalentLibrary: With a subscription, you can access high-quality content in the form of interactive quizzes, expert-created materials and new classes stored in the online library.
• Embedded Video Conferencing: Use a built-in tool for conducting meetings via video call and integrate it with popular apps like Zoom, Google Meet and Skype.
• Mobile App: Allow learners to complete their training on the go using the iOS and Android-compatible mobile app.

See It in Action: Course Authoring, Reporting, Gamification and More

Interface

Course Authoring

1. Log in to TalentLMS: Start by logging in to your TalentLMS account as an administrator or instructor.
2. Go to the Courses Page: From your dashboard, click on "Courses" in the main menu to access the course management area.
3. Create a New Course: Click on the "Add Course" button. This will open a new course creation form.
4. Fill in Course Details: Enter the course name, description and category. You can also set visibility settings, choose a course language, and select whether it will be a free or paid course.
5. Add Course Content: Go to the "Content" tab to start adding material. You can add various content types, like:
   • Text: Write instructions, descriptions or other text.
   • Videos: Upload video content or link to external videos.
   • Assessments: Add quizzes or tests to evaluate learner progress.
   • Files: Upload PDFs, presentations or other file types.
   • SCORM/xAPI Files: If you have interactive modules in these formats, you can upload them here.
6. Set Up Modules or Sections: Organize content into modules or sections for a structured learning experience. Each module can have multiple content types, making the course easy to follow.
7. Add Completion Rules: Set rules for passing or completing the course, such as minimum scores for assessments or mandatory content completion.
8. Set Up Branching or Automation (Optional): For more advanced courses, you can add branching scenarios to direct learners based on their choices. You can also use automation to trigger actions, like enrolling learners in follow-up courses upon completion.
9. Preview the Course: Use the “Preview” feature to see how the course will look from a learner’s perspective. This helps you confirm the layout and functionality.
10. Publish the Course: Once everything looks good, return to the course settings and set the course as “Active” to make it available to learners.
11. Assign Users: Enroll learners manually, or set up automatic enrollment rules if needed. You can also assign groups or departments to the course.

Notifications

Reporting

Gamification

Course Store

Branches and Automation

Mobile App

Approach to Common LMS Challenges

• Keeping Learners Updated: TalentLMS’s events engine sends notifications to learners or specific recipients when you create new assignments, add new courses and users, award certificates and more. Add the name, recipient, message and time for each notification and update them as needed. This helps learners stay informed in real time about important training activities and complete their courses and assignments on time.
• Boosting User Adoption: TalentLMS's interface is very intuitive and user-friendly. The layout is clean and colorful, so it’s really easy to locate tools and features and get comfortable with the system fast. This allows learners to focus more on their training and less on figuring out the platform itself.
• Enhancing Efficiency Through Automation: TalentLMS lets you automate your user and course management tasks. You can set rules for assigning courses, deactivating inactive users and managing recertifications. The system will automatically perform a specific action when a trigger event occurs, saving you time and effort.
• Saving Money: TalentLMS provides flexible options with a free plan that includes essential features like course creation and data reporting. Paid plans offer expanded capabilities, such as consultation calls, onboarding support, unlimited courses and custom domains. You can choose from monthly or annual billing, making it easy to find an option that fits your budget and needs.

Pricing

1. Core Plan ($89/month, up to 100 users, billed yearly)

• Target Audience: This plan is well-suited for small teams, startups or even educational settings where the user base is limited, but structured learning is essential. Core Plan’s key features — like unlimited courses, SSO, a custom homepage and SSL — offer a strong foundation for small-scale but serious training needs. TalentCraft (basic) can help guide users in creating well-structured learning paths, making it practical for organizations new to LMS platforms.
• Benefits: Provides essential LMS functions without overwhelming new users. It’s affordable, making it ideal for businesses on a budget that still want custom branding and solid support.
• Limitations: If you anticipate rapid growth or need complex branching, advanced reporting or onboarding, this plan may feel restrictive. Upgrading to the Grow Plan may become necessary sooner than expected if your user base expands.

2. Grow Plan ($139/month, up to 500 users, billed yearly)

• Target Audience: This plan caters to midsize businesses or educational institutions ready for expansion. The addition of three branches allows for segmenting training by departments, teams or groups, which is useful for growing businesses with diverse learning needs. Onboarding, custom reports and TalentCraft Premium also make this plan more suitable.
• Benefits: Excellent for organizations beginning to scale, with onboarding tools to ease new user adoption and reporting features to measure effectiveness. This plan accommodates a broader user base without leaping to enterprise pricing.
• Limitations: Although it offers branches and more user capacity, larger companies might still outgrow it due to branch and reporting limitations. For organizations requiring substantial segmentation or intensive support, the Pro Plan might be more fitting.

3. Pro Plan ($179/month, up to 1,000 users, billed yearly)

• Target Audience: Larger businesses and educational institutions, particularly those needing extensive training for large groups, will find the Pro Plan beneficial. With 15 branches, priority email support, live chat, a customer success manager and white labeling, this plan is great for organizations with complex training needs and a larger user base.
• Benefits: Organizations with complex structures can manage distinct branches with unique content, a great fit for enterprises needing flexibility within a controlled environment. Additional customer support ensures smoother operations, while white-labeling enhances branding.
• Limitations: High-growth organizations or multi-national corporations with very high customization demands may find the Enterprise Plan more adaptable. Although this plan is broad, some larger organizations may still desire unlimited branching or advanced integration that only Enterprise offers.

4. Enterprise Plan (Custom pricing, starts at 1000 users)

• Target Audience: This plan is for large corporations, universities and enterprises that require maximum flexibility and support. Organizations with multiple training departments, global audiences or specific custom integrations will benefit the most.
• Benefits: Customizable to meet unique business requirements, and includes unlimited branches and a dedicated account manager, ideal for companies needing tailored training solutions and a high level of support.
• Limitations: For some organizations, the custom pricing model may be a financial consideration, especially if they do not need the full suite of features regularly. Smaller companies should carefully assess if they truly need the capabilities of this plan, as its price is generally higher.

Who Benefits?

• Small and Mid-Sized Businesses: The Core and Grow Plans give small businesses and startups access to a powerful LMS with growth capabilities. TalentLMS’s scalability ensures that businesses can start small and upgrade as needed.
• Growing Organizations: Companies expanding training departments can leverage the flexibility of the Grow and Pro Plans to add branches and custom reporting, giving them control over segmented training initiatives without excessive costs.
• Large Enterprises: The Pro and Enterprise Plans benefit enterprises with complex training structures, segmented training needs and a global audience. The comprehensive support included in these plans adds value for companies that require high uptime and dedicated assistance.

Who Might Find It Limiting?

• Highly Specialized Sectors: Companies needing features beyond LMS basics — like intricate compliance management, highly specialized integrations, or offline capabilities — might find limitations here. While TalentLMS offers essential features, certain sectors like healthcare or regulated industries may need a more specialized platform.
• Budget-Conscious Startups: Although the Core Plan is affordable, startups on extremely tight budgets may find it steep and may prefer free LMS options or those with more granular pricing flexibility.
• Organizations with Unique User Demands: If your organization needs dynamic, high-frequency user changes or extensive gamification beyond TalentCraft, TalentLMS may not cover all bases, as these functions often require extensive custom development.

Approach to Common Challenges

• Keeping Learners Updated: TalentLMS’s events engine sends notifications to learners or specific recipients when you create new assignments, add new courses and users, award certificates and more. Add the name, recipient, message and time for each notification and update them as needed. This helps learners stay informed in real time about important training activities and complete their courses and assignments on time.
• Enhancing Efficiency Through Automation: TalentLMS lets you automate your user and course management tasks. You can set rules for assigning courses, deactivating inactive users and managing recertifications. The system will automatically perform a specific action when a trigger event occurs, saving you time and effort.
• Improving Reporting and Tracking: TalentLMS supports 100% of reporting capabilities straight out of the box. Quickly catch and fix problems with detailed learning analytics and clear visualizations. Share custom reports with stakeholders, schedule them to arrive weekly or monthly, and use the training matrix to view user and course progress.

Cost of Ownership

• Core: Starts at $69/month for 1-20 users.
• Grow: Starts at $109 for 1-20 users.
• Pro: Starts at $139 for 1-20 users.
• Enterprise: Starts at 1000 users. Contact sales for a custom quote.

Limitations

• Doesn’t Fully Support Two-Factor Authentication: While TalentLMS offers a suite of security features like single sign-on, audit trails and encryption out of the box, it only supports two-factor authentication with partner integrations. So, if that’s a must-have security feature on your list, you can opt for alternatives such as Canvas and SAP Litmos.
• Doesn’t Offer Mobile App Push Notifications: The mobile app is missing push notifications, making it challenging to give regular training updates to users. On the contrary, popular alternatives like Cornerstone, Canvas and SAP Litmos offer this feature.
• Doesn’t Support Video Functionality: One area we found TalentLMS lacking was its video capabilities. It doesn’t fully support virtual classrooms, attendance, session recording, breakout rooms, interactive whiteboards and screen sharing out of the box.
• Limited Features on the Modern Interface: TalentLMS's new UI is still being developed. As of Q3 2024, the updated interfaces for administrators and instructors are being rolled out slowly. Features like reports, import and unit types (like ILTs, assignments and tests) aren't available in the new UI yet. You have to switch back to the legacy interface to use these features.

Training Resources

• TalentLibrary: Explore a collection of over 900 expert-crafted, pre-made courses designed to help employees develop essential skills. The courses cover areas such as leadership, marketing, customer training, human resources, sales, service and more.
• Webinars: Join live webinars by reserving your spot or access recorded sessions at your convenience.

FAQs

• Unlimited email support for all plans.
• Phone support for higher-tier plans.
• Live chat support.
• Access to a comprehensive knowledge base and community forums.
• Dedicated account managers for enterprise customers.