16 Best Learning Management Systems for 2024

Implementing a learning management system (LMS) across your organization isn’t just “nice to have” these days—it’s also essential for keeping your workforce competitive in 2024. 

The right customized system lets you optimize tedious training programs, track real-time progress so employees don’t slip through the cracks, and ensure your teams will be ready to crush those big company goals.

In this article, we’ll give you our list of the 16 top-rated LMS systems, including their pros, cons, and best use cases. Here’s what you need to know before you invest in an LMS for your organization.

What is a learning management system (LMS)?

A learning management system (LMS) is a cloud-based software platform that allows organizations to create, deliver, track, report on, and manage all types of learning, training programs, and educational courses. LMS software also gives educators and course creators the tools to develop engaging online learning environments with interactive elearning materials such as videos, documents, quizzes, and live-streamed course instructions.

Key capabilities of a modern LMS include the following:

• Hosting all learning materials in one place with easy access on any device
• Supporting both asynchronous self-paced courses and real-time, virtual instructor-led training
• Providing learner dashboards and reporting for management to monitor participation and progress
• Streamlining course administration with automated notifications, grading, and record-keeping

An LMS solution allows you to create a personalized, digital learning ecosystem tailored to developing employee skills and knowledge. So whether you want to distribute training programs internally or on social media, collaborate across teams, or track ongoing learning metrics, investing in an LMS solution will give you the tools to do it all.

What are the different use cases of an LMS?

Considering an LMS but unsure exactly how you’ll put it to use? 

The diverse range of LMS platforms on the market supports a variety of training and development needs. In this section, we’ll explore the most popular ways organizations leverage LMS solutions—from employee onboarding to managing compliance training programs—to help you find the best fit.

Employee training and onboarding

By uploading training videos and documents to the platform, you can automate and streamline your onboarding workflows for a consistent experience. Interactive features like quizzes, guided tutorials, and learning gamification also make it easy to ensure that new team members retain what they learn during the onboarding process.

Corporate training

With an LMS, employees can select customized learning paths that align with their goals and complete microlearning modules at their own pace. Studies suggest that most employees prefer the autonomy of self-directed learning in the workplace, which helps keep employee skills sharp and teams motivated between more formal training sessions.

Customer education and retention

New organizations and established brands alike can also leverage LMS offerings to build customer loyalty and advocacy by providing buyers with on-demand training resources about their products and services. This drives customer engagement and retention without putting added responsibilities on your customer success or support teams.

Compliance training

Finally, organizations can use LMS tools to assign and track the completion of required cybersecurity, harassment, and workplace safety trainings. The automated notifications and centralized documentation available within most modern LMS platforms make it easier for companies to maintain compliance standards across remote and distributed teams.

Student elearning

In higher education and vocational settings, LMS solutions give students customizable portals to access their course learning materials, submit assignments, engage in discussions, and connect with instructors. And an increased number of interactions with an LMS can be a good indicator of overall student performance.

What to consider when choosing an LMS

Just understanding all the features and benefits an LMS offers doesn’t make it easier to find the right platform for your organization's needs. With the wide variety of LMS solutions now available, it’s important to research multiple vendors before making your final decision. 

Here are a few key factors you may want to consider:

Budget and licensing models

When evaluating your LMS options, the cost and contract structure should align with both your budget and the core features you need. Factor in elements like per-user pricing, tiered subscription plans, and any content hosting and storage fees.

Mapping out your total predicted monthly and yearly costs against the value delivered will ultimately give you stronger negotiating power with vendors—especially if you plan to roll out an LMS on an enterprise scale.

Ease of use and setup

Try to avoid investing in an LMS with a steep learning curve, if possible. Be wary of any solution that requires extensive training or complicated workflows just to get started—this will only slow down user adoption and minimize the impact of your solution altogether.

Instead, prioritize LMS vendors that allow both non-technical admins and course creators alike to quickly build engaging learning experiences. Some green flags to look out for include pre-built workflow templates or automations, community forums, solid customer support, and thorough documentation of how key features and functionalities work.

You may also consider how you can leverage AI to speed up the time it takes to develop your elearning, onboarding, or other training videos. For example, you could spin up research-backed AI video trainings to produce content on subjects that don’t require deep subject matter expertise.

Ultimately, the goal of an LMS is to reduce the burden on your team so you can quickly upload and host your organization’s learning materials.

Integration capabilities

Choosing an LMS that integrates seamlessly with other workplace platforms can save your team (and your users) hours every month. Look for LMS systems with API connectivity to HR tools like Workday, office apps like G Suite, or team chat apps like Slack so you can quickly share your learning materials. This lets your team easily pull data and content from other sources when building courses—rather than starting from scratch.

A perfect example is the LMS integration capabilities we have at Colossyan. Our video creator turns text into studio-quality instructor-led videos that you can automatically upload to your LMS catalog via an MP4 or SCORM export.

This makes creating customized, accessible video lessons far simpler for your course developers. By translating your written scripts into professional training videos with AI avatars, you can quickly build out a library of learning materials within your LMS.

SCORM functionality

As you evaluate LMS options, look for a platform that supports SCORM, xAPI, and other critical content standards to future-proof your training materials. These protocols will allow you and your team to seamlessly integrate and track interactive elearning modules from third-party developers so you can save your training materials, even if you switch to another LMS tool.

The 16 best LMS examples for 2024

Here are the 16 top-rated types of LMS platforms we would recommend based on your use case, budget, and the scale of your organization.

1. Canvas

Canvas is an open-source, cloud-based LMS platform used widely in academic settings. With strong mobile app integrations and adaptability, Canvas enables administrators and educators to monitor learner progress and engagement across learning materials. 

Their open-source model makes scaling affordable for most institutions. However, the interface design lacks polish compared to other platforms, and its steep learning curve can also slow user adoption.

Best for: K-12 school districts and higher education institutions that want analytics-driven, customizable learning management tools but may have lower technology budgets

2. Cornerstone

Cornerstone is a leading enterprise LMS focused on employee training. With dynamic training courses, targeted learner recommendations, and real-time tracking functionality, Cornerstone enables major companies to elevate their online training programs. 

The LMS equips administrators to assess team skill gaps and align learning to key organizational initiatives, all within a user-friendly portal. Though pricing caters to more well-resourced corporations and may not be a great fit for smaller businesses, the Cornerstone LMS is unmatched for global employee training at scale.

Best for: Global enterprises and large corporations training 100,000+ employees that need an all-in-one LMS solution with advanced analytics and modern aesthetics

3. TalentLMS

TalentLMS offers intuitive, cloud-based LMS features tailored for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). With its user-friendly interface and rapid deployment capabilities, TalentLMS makes it easy for SMBs to manage the learning process at an affordable price.

However, the platform has basic analytics compared to larger enterprise systems, and scalability may be an issue for rapidly growing organizations.

Best for: SMBs and smaller teams that want an uncomplicated, reasonably priced LMS solution to build and distribute their training content straightaway

4. Absorb

Absorb LMS specializes in configurable compliance training programs that are typically required across highly regulated industries (think finance and healthcare). With responsive features and workflows developed explicitly for oversight demands, Absorb stands out where rigorous tracking and documentation are required.

However, the platform lacks more advanced features for less-regulated extended enterprise training and may be costly for non-revenue-generating training initiatives.‍

Best for: Organizations needing an audit-ready LMS specializing in governance capabilities, like healthcare, financial services, and energy

5. LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning combines a massive catalog of expert-led online courses with built-in LMS functionality.

For organizations focused purely on delivery rather than initial content creation, LinkedIn Learning provides unparalleled LMS course management and content management combined with leading elearning materials. 

Administrators can even bundle video series into customized learning paths aligning to teams, as well as monitor enrollment, progress, and completion. However, course materials cannot be customized by administrators.

Best for: Companies seeking turnkey training content taught by industry experts

6. Docebo

Docebo offers a robust corporate LMS solution powered by AI and analytics to track and nurture learner growth. With Docebo, companies can also curate content, understand employee capabilities, and tailor learning with real-time insights. That being said, the platform also has complex pricing tiers that can be difficult to manage.

Best for: Midsize to large enterprise organizations looking to closely tie their learning initiatives to high-level business objectives

7. SAP Litmos

SAP Litmos helps large, complex organizations deliver training across diverse global workforces and franchises. SAP Litmos’s robust LMS features cater to extended enterprises with scalability and broad integration capabilities.

With strong multilingual support, branding control for sub-organizations, and API connections to leading HCM platforms, SAP Litmos streamlines critical learning functions for sprawling enterprises.

Keep in mind that this platform may not be a good fit for SMBs, and it’s priced higher than other vendors in the market.

‍Best for: Multinational franchises, retail chains, and global corporations that need to provide localized training efficiently across borders and systems

8. Epignosis eFront

Epignosis eFront is a user-friendly, cloud-based LMS that’s focused on delivering an intuitive learning experience. eFront’s sleek interface, variety of course options, and 1,200 pre-built templates also help drive higher learner engagement.

The trade-off of the platform’s minimal design is that brand customization is relatively limited, and its reporting is less robust than some competitors.

Best for: Organizations of all sizes that want an effortlessly simple and modern LMS to meet their employees’ learning needs

9. Thought Industries

Thought Industries offers a cloud-based LMS uniquely designed for customer training and education, from sales enablement to self-service support resources. 

Its specialized features and analytics for customer training—along with customizable portals and content—make it easy for companies to deliver interactive learning content that drives customer retention at scale.

But the platform is expensive, given its niche application focus, and scaling to broader organization training requires third-party integration.

Best for: B2B and SaaS companies focused on building customer advocacy through education

10. Podia

Podia offers a user-friendly LMS platform for online course creators, coaches, consultants, and solopreneurs to sell and manage paid learning content. Its robust ecommerce, marketing tools, and interactive course content-building features are what differentiate Podia from other LMS platforms.

Some downsides of Podia are that it’s missing traditional LMS functionality (like SCORM support) and it has limited scalability for large training programs.

Best for: Entrepreneurs, creators, and small teams selling online courses and looking for an all-in-one platform to combine course management, community, and ebusiness

11. Anthology (formerly Blackboard)

Anthology offers one of the most comprehensive cloud-based learning platforms tailored specifically for education.

With products spanning Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Collaborate, Blackboard Ally, and more, Anthology caters extensively to academic organizations’ unique needs around enrollment, virtual classrooms, student engagement, accessibility, outcomes, and beyond. For the education sector, Anthology remains the market-leading digital learning environment provider.

Best for: Medium to large higher education and K-12 campuses needing a mature LMS

12. Moodle

Moodle is one of the most widely used open-source learning management systems and is especially popular within education. Free to download and deploy, Moodle offers excellent customizability suited for small budgets.

And while the backend interface remains unintuitive, the cost flexibility of its open-source LMS makes Moodle a go-to free LMS without compromising reporting or support.

Best for: Schools, universities, and organizations needing a free, customizable LMS solution and willing to work around a dated admin experience and limited mobility

13. iSpring Learn

iSpring Learn helps subject matter experts create highly interactive elearning modules in multiple formats like quizzes and tests. Administrators can also seamlessly track learning achievements in the platform’s built-in learner dashboard. 

Learners can also refresh skills or track their credentials on mobile devices via iOS and Android mobile apps. These mobile learning and social learning capabilities that the iSpring Learn LMS provides make it ideal for facilitating blended learning.

The downside of the platform is that its admin functionality is relatively lightweight and is more basic compared to leading corporate LMSs.

Best for: Organizations focused on building their own training content who want an all-in-one cloud solution with excellent authoring capabilities, paired with a capable delivery system

14. 360 Learning

While smaller than some rivals, 360 Learning wins on forward-looking intelligence and its speech interaction capabilities. The LMS also delivers personalized learning paths and course materials that are recommended by the platform’s algorithms.

But the platform is light on course creation compared to other corporate LMSs and has a smaller content library.

Best for: Midsize and large companies looking to leverage AI, adaptive learning, and modern interfaces to foster more targeted, high-impact development programs

15. Rise Articulate

Rise Articulate offers a sleek, easy-to-use visual LMS solution designed specifically for Articulate third-party course-building tools. With intuitive interfaces for administrators, creators, and learners, Articulate streamlines beautiful elearning content delivery alongside robust cloud LMS capabilities.

The real downsides of this platform are twofold—it’s tied to the higher-cost Articulate development platform and it’s less customizable than other open-source LMS alternatives.

Best for: Organizations focused on premium elearning content who have already invested in Articulate Studio and Storyline authoring tools

16. Eloomi

The Eloomi LMS looks and feels completely distinct from typical enterprise solutions thanks to its savvy design choices and the inclusion of in-demand communication features.

However, Eloomi’s reporting is relatively basic for data-driven buyers and it has a premium price point in spite of its lighter functionality.

Best for: SMBs, startups, and lean teams that prioritize learner engagement over complex data analysis. For them, Eloomi provides a consumer-like experience that isn’t common in the LMS market.

Improve your learning and training videos with Colossyan

There you have it—with the right LMS solution, you can optimize and streamline your learning programs in one central location. As you continue exploring LMS options, you may also consider supplementing your LMS with advanced AI video tools like Colossyan’s to quickly generate learning and training videos using AI. 

Have any questions about producing elearning materials for your LMS? Reach out to the Colossyan team to see how other companies are leveraging AI to produce professional learning content in their organizations.