Essential LMS software buying information
Learning management system (LMS) software helps organizations create, manage, deliver, and track learning content, with the goal of providing structured and engaging learning experiences. It can be used in any type of teaching, from academic learning to employee training.
On the corporate side, LMS buyers most often come from industries such as nonprofit, healthcare, manufacturing, and consulting. These industries operate under strict regulations that employees must abide by, prompting the need for training material that can keep employees certified and compliant. On the education side, buyers often come from either K-12 schools or higher education colleges and universities.1
Most LMS products are priced on a per month subscription basis that scales based on the number of people you have using the system and the amount of functionality it offers. A basic system for less than 100 users averages $219 per month, while a more advanced system for 1,000 users or more costs on average $1,084 per month.2
Jenn Tardy, a consultant with more than 10 years of experience in HR and recruiting3, says LMS software tends to save companies money despite the initial investment. “Instead of sending people to a different location every quarter or so to take a course, you just buy a license for a specific training and have your employees watch it online,” she explains.
When choosing an LMS, buyers should make sure to ask potential vendors these important questions to ensure that the vendor can meet all their needs:
Does the system offer course authoring tools to make content from scratch, or does it allow only pre-made content?
What features does the system offer to engage learners?
What are the different learning activities that can be tracked?
What level of technical support does the software provide?
What are the most reviewed learning management systems?
Capterra Shortlist identifies the top learning management systems based on a proprietary blend of user ratings and popularity, helping small businesses efficiently find the most effective learning management solution for their needs.4 Here are the five most reviewed products in our Capterra Shortlist for this category:
These rankings are determined by combining verified user ratings and publicly available web search popularity data:
Ratings score: Relative score of the software based on ratings given by users on Capterra, normalized for number and recency of reviews.
Popularity score: Relative popularity of software based on web search trends and products’ web presence.
What is a learning management system?
A learning management system (LMS) is software that supports the creation, management, delivery, tracking, and reporting of educational or training programs. Whether you’re a business who wants to train their employees, a school who wants to teach students, or even a subject matter expert who wants to sell their learning courses online, an LMS platform is the ideal tool to provide structured and engaging learning experiences.
In the education sector alone, Gartner predicts that 75% of all K-12 schools globally will use an LMS by 2027—highlighting how vital LMS software has become to support modern learning initiatives.5
Tardy isn’t surprised by that percentage, given the benefits that LMS software offers. “It gives you a lot of different ways to learn and personalize your training,” she says. “For example, you can offer micro-learning sessions of 5 to 10 minutes, integrated quizzes, and low-stakes assessments to inform you about your progress. All of these things help to retain information. Compare that to a situation where people are required to attend a two-hour workshop in person where it’s much harder to absorb information.”
Capterra covers 1,464 different LMS products, and we published 10,194 reviews from LMS software users in the past year.6
LMS pricing
Most LMS products are priced on a “per month” subscription basis that scales based on the number of people you have using the system, the available storage and the amount of functionality it offers. A basic system for less than 100 users costs, on average, around $219 per month, while a more advanced system for 1,000 users or more averages $1,084 per month.
Entry level LMS include the core functionality of course management, course tracking, and knowledge assessments.
An advanced LMS that’s priced higher typically includes additional features such as mobile learning, blended learning, and personalized learning paths.
Twenty-seven percent of the learning management system buyers our advisors spoke to in the last two years are budgeting less than $625 per month.
First-time buyers should be aware that:
Installation, integration, and customization are common upfront costs
Maintenance and support are common recurring costs
Tardy also advises companies to consider the cost of content licensing. "You can either build your training content internally or buy training from somewhere else,” she adds. “In the latter case, you'll need to budget for the cost of those licenses."
It is also common for LMS vendors to offer free trials of their products. Organizations can leverage those trial versions to see if they match their business or trainee needs. There are also some free versions available, with basic features.
LMS features rated by users
All LMS software systems include course management, course tracking, and test/assessment features, and most have a variety of common features such as a content library, gamification, and real-time synchronous learning.
Core LMS features
Course management: Create customized learning courses, organize them within a planned curriculum, and assign them to learners. 89% of reviewers rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Course tracking: Track which course materials have been completed by each user, as well as what progress has been made. 84% of reviewers rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Tests/assessments: Create and administer assessments to measure learner retention of course material. 75% of reviewers rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Tardy emphasizes that these three features are incredibly important for managing the career path of your employees. “The fact that you can track someone’s training history helps you gain better insight into whether associates are ready for the next step in their career or not,” she says.
“For example, when someone is applying for a management position, you can easily check whether she or he has already completed a management training program. It also works the other way around: You have an overview of employees who are ready for the next step in their career.”
Common LMS features
Our analysis of proprietary reviews data reveals other common LMS features users rate as valuable:
Learner portal: Gives students/employees access to materials and allows them to communicate digitally with instructors. 90% of reviewers say this is a highly important feature.
Progress tracking: Track and report on the progress of a particular user, team, or course. 81% of reviewers say this is a highly important feature.
Asynchronous learning: Allows users to access and engage with educational content or training course materials at their own pace and schedule. 72% of reviewers say this is a highly important feature.
Learning paths/tracks: Arrange course materials to be completed in a specific order for personalized learning purposes.
Mobile learning: Allows access to complete learning materials on mobile platforms.
Assessment management: Manage various created assessments to test users on their progress.
Blended learning: Create and track learning paths that blend in-person and virtual learning experiences.
Top LMS benefits identified by users
More agile and comprehensive training programs: Users say their LMS has boosted their employee training efficiency and helped keep employees and other stakeholders up to date on important knowledge.
“[Our product] has been an excellent tool both for training our customers and for training our employees, especially in a fast-paced environment where knowledge changes so quickly and frequent updates and retraining are necessary.”
–Dave K., director of technical learning, electronic manufacturing
Better communication and knowledge sharing: LMS features such as forums, direct messaging, and user-generated content tools allow for more seamless discussions on course materials.
“Students can readily interact with one another via forums, chat rooms, and online conferences, resulting in an immersive learning environment.”
–Shivam D., senior machine learning engineer, computer software
Customized content creation: Reviewers say their LMS helps their company target specific areas by easily creating and integrating content geared to these needs. Additionally, LMSs enable regular updates, ensuring that learning programs remain aligned with the organization's objectives.
“Any area of improvement that our facilities are facing, we are able to target those specific areas and create content that would benefit our safety awareness and improve the safety the cultures within the organizations.”
–Ashley H., regional human resources director, hospital & health care
Tardy says another key benefit is the accessibility of training materials on an LMS. “Your associates can access a central repository of their trainings at any time and do them at their own pace,” she adds.
“The self-guided aspects of online training help people get up to speed very quickly when they need to, as compared to in-person sessions that require coordinating around the trainer’s schedule.”
Common challenges of LMS identified by users
Recent learning management systems reviewers cite issues with software bugs, the grading and quizzes features, and with page design.
Users of learning management systems have encountered various glitches. These range from minor inconveniences, such as the calendar not automatically loading on today’s date, to more significant challenges, such as tracking issues, slow loading times, or unexpected system errors.
Educational users have also indicated challenges with the grading and quizzes features. Automatic notifications for completed assignments are not always available, nor is the ability to import questions in bulk or in batches.
LMS users also point out page design challenges, like limited template customization and difficulties with the editor when pasting content. These issues can hinder the desired layout and design.
To avoid running into these issues, you can ask the following questions when talking to vendors:
What type of technical support and regular software updates does the LMS provide?
What type of notifications and feedback options does the LMS offer for grading assignments?
What level of template customization does the LMS provide?
What is LMS software used for?
Analysis of our extensive LMS reviews highlight the most common use cases:
Centralized content management: An LMS stores all learning materials, such as courses, documents, videos, and assessments, in one centralized location. This makes it easier for coordinators to organize, update, and manage learning content efficiently.
Automated compliance tracking: Gone are the days where you have to manually track down and redo important worker certifications. With an LMS, employees are automatically notified when an important training or certification is due, and you can track when it’s been completed.
Creating more engaging learning content: Gamification elements and microlearning features can enhance the learning experience and increase learner engagement and motivation. These platforms also support various multimedia formats, such as videos, animations, audio, and graphics, to present information in diverse ways—enabling learners with different learning styles to grasp concepts more effectively.
Data-driven insights: Visualized data on completion rates, time taken on courses, assessment scores, and more can give your team insight into what’s working and what’s not working with your current inventory of learning content.
Learning management system usage also differs based on the breadth of functionality offered. All of these can be purchased as either a standalone tool or as an integrated feature set within a comprehensive learning management system suite:
Who uses LMS software?
Businesses use LMS software to create, store, maintain, deliver, and report on learning content and learner activities, with the goal of upskilling their workforce. Gartner indicates that these technologies assist organizations in various areas such as compliance training, certifications, onboarding, talent development, upskilling, collaboration, coaching and mentoring, sales training, partner education, and customer training.7
Companies can create an immersive training environment when combining LMS with innovative technologies like virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). This can have a positive impact in a hybrid work environment. Dan Shawbel, HR futurist, believes it can even help motivate employees to come into the office more often: "It's all about doing more with fewer resources. Obviously with AI and all this transformative technology, it's about how we become more efficient. And with VR and AR, it's leveraging that technology in the office space as part of the value proposition to get people back in.”
Schools and universities use LMS software to support the various roles involved in teaching and learning—facilitating online collaboration and communication among learners, instructors, and administrators. According to Gartner, higher education learning management systems serve as the primary hub for teaching and learning technologies. They provide a range of tools and services, both within and outside the platform, to support the different roles involved in education. LMSs promote online collaboration and communication among learners, instructors, and administrators.8
Most learning management systems are purchased by organizations with between one and 499 users, $25 million or less in annual revenue, and between one and 449 employees, based on conversations with LMS software buyers in the past two years. In a business, the number of users and employees are often the same, but in an educational institution these numbers often differ (such as the number of teachers versus the number of students in a school, for example).
On the corporate side, LMS buyers often come from industries such as nonprofit, healthcare, manufacturing, and consulting. These industries operate under strict regulations that employees must abide by, prompting the need for training material that can keep employees certified and compliant. On the education side, buyers often come from either K-12 schools or higher education colleges and universities.
Common LMS integrations
We analyzed our extensive reviews database and based on that, we determined the three categories that most often integrate with learning management systems are accounting, higher education, and meeting software.
Integrating accounting software with an LMS helps streamline financial processes by seamlessly adding accounting functionality. This can include automated invoicing, payment tracking, and subscription management, improving the efficiency and the accuracy of financial transactions for organizations.
Higher education software integration with an LMS helps educational institutions streamline processes such as student recruitment, admissions, faculty and course management, and financial aid. By providing a centralized platform and data transfer, integration enhances efficiency, communication and collaboration, ultimately improving the overall effectiveness of the institution.
Integrating meeting software with an LMS offers benefits to companies and educational institutions. This integration provides a platform that facilitates the organization and management of meetings, enabling the coordination, scheduling, conduct and participation in collaborative meetings. It enhances communication and collaboration between teams, fostering interaction between students and teachers.
Recent trends in LMS software
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) contributes to the growth of user-generated content: By leveraging an LMS with user-generated content (UGC) functionality, learners can create and share their own learning content—facilitating all-important knowledge sharing. Generative AI is fueling this effort even further by reducing the amount of effort needed to make UGC. By 2025, Gartner expects that 50% of digital learning content providers will have integrated GenAI-based learning tools.9
On-the-job learning beats traditional training methods: By integrating your LMS with something such as a customer relationship management (CRM) system, relevant training content can appear to employees as they do actual job tasks—negating the need for them to open a separate system to learn. This method, called “on-the-job learning,” has been found by Gartner to have a “tenfold impact on talent outcomes, threefold impact on employee performance and more than twice the impact on employee engagement relative to traditional training methodologies.”10
xAPI overtakes SCORM: An evolution of the SCORM e-learning technical standard, xAPI is becoming the go-to technical standard used in learning management systems because of its ability to capture learning data beyond the basics such as completion status and assessment results. Critically, xAPI can capture and record a variety of learning experiences, whether it’s a mentor-mentee interaction, an e-learning course, a classroom session, or even a YouTube video.
Can workplace collaboration tools replace learning management systems? Gartner indicates that the focus is the student experience rather than a single platform or technology. Educational institutions need to seamlessly leverage the LMS, workplace collaboration tools and additional solutions to deliver an optimal student experience. Learning experiences are delivered through an ecosystem of platforms that flex toward structure or social learning formats as needed to support learning objectives.11
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