# Brightspace Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Brightspace the right Higher Education solution for you? Explore 235 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/122854/Brightspace/reviews --- Brightspace 4.3 (235) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/122854/Brightspace/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of Brightspace Ease of use 4.1 Customer Service 4.1 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews JN Jean-Pierre N Instructional DesignerHigher Education, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I like the fact that D2L is user-friendly, including mobile and PC users, and accommodates the accessiblity to all users. “ December 22, 2025 LA Louis A Adjunct InstructorHigher Education, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Everything I need to do takes way too long, too many clicks and then it makes such a mess on the student end of things because it is full of bugs and no one at D2L cares.“ July 31, 2025 EB Ethan B DetailerAutomotive, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “Good especially for a program that is so diverse in the amount of things it can support as a program“ December 1, 2025 SA Sameer A StudentEducation Management, Self-employedUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “Its not for the website but the app does not show number grades or all the different days where the things are posted.“ October 3, 2025 JN Jean-Pierre N Instructional DesignerHigher Education, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “D2L has improved the HTML templates for the designers.“ December 22, 2025 EB Erika B Massage TherapistAlternative Medicine, Self-employedUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “It seemed like it was glitchy at times, my log in occasionally needed to be updated more than it seemed like it should because my credentials weren’t recognized.“ October 14, 2025 SA Sameer A StudentEducation Management, Self-employedUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “I like that D2L is a centralized place to keep all my courses and I can switch between courses very quickly.“ October 3, 2025 Joe R IT DirectorEducation Management, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “Brightspace can be a little clunky and laggy at times.“ October 8, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 235 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Heather W. Student E-Learning Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Hands down the best learning software to date " January 5, 2023 5.0 My other experience with this software it has made me love to learn again maybe love school again it’s so easy to use. It’s so user-friendly I can’t say that enough it is hands-down, the best learning software there is. Pros Everything about this software is super user-friendly they think about the student when they made this it’s not hard to years. It’s not hard to follow as long as you do the tutorials and follow what they say. At the beginning you can’t go wrong there’s nothing negative I can say about it. I’ve never had any issues using this and I’ve used this software at two different colleges. Hands down the best. Cons There’s only one thing that I kind of don’t really understand is the virtual classroom thing I’ve still not understood why some places use the virtual product classroom and sign the right space software and some don’t but I think that’s more of a college preference instead of a software preference to bright space Review Source CR Carol R. Adjunct Professor E-Learning Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "User friendly!" February 4, 2025 5.0 Logical and easy to use, especially coming off of programs like Canvas and Blackboard. Pros It's easy to add content and grade. Organization of a course is logical, and it doesn't require a lot of training to use, whether from an instructor or student standpoint. Cons Zeros are entered automatically for quiz and test questions that must be manually graded, which causes my students to stress at their initial grades. Keeping the initial grade hidden until those questions can be addressed would be nice. Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) My college chose to move from Blackboard to Brightspace due to better functionality and features. Review Source RN Razi N. Professor Higher Education Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Worst Learning Management System" November 17, 2024 1.0 This is the worst LMS I have experienced as a teacher or student, considering four different systems that I have used. It is not intuitive and the simplest thing takes many steps. It is very poor in organizing what you see on the screen. Pros Nothing. See comments below about experiences. Cons Everything. See comments below about experiences. Switched from [Canvas](https://www.capterra.com/p/127214/CANVAS/) Higher management decision, faculty had no choice. Review Source LL Lucy L. Associate E-Learning Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Easy to Use, Could Be Improved" August 20, 2024 4.0 I do enjoy Brightspace, however certain functions could be improved. It would be nice if it had an "Upcoming Assignments" section on the dashboard. Pros I enjoy the way in which the content or each class is organized. Cons I am not a fan of the amount of email notifications sent by Brightspace (discussions, announcements, etc.). If you do not want to receive any of these notifications, you have to unsubscribe from each thread. It is timely and clutters the inbox. Switched from [Canvas](https://www.capterra.com/p/127214/CANVAS/) Switched due to changing higher education institutions. Review Source AK Amber K. Administrative Specialist Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "D2L LMS Review" November 1, 2021 5.0 My overall experience with D2L is a great experience. I enjoy using this product as a staff, as well as a student. There are also many tutorial videos out there to search through when having an issue. Pros What I like most about this product is the ease of navigating each feature of the product. There are quite a few features, all of them being outstanding and easy to use. Cons There seem to be quite a few bugs for us with this product. However, the product has been integrated going on two years, so there is bound to be some issues going forward. Alternatives considered [Canvas](https://www.capterra.com/p/127214/CANVAS/) Reason for choosing Brightspace Brightspace was cheaper than others, with a much better quality. Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) The other LMS was going away, and we had to look for a new product, also one that was cheaper. Review Source NB Nathan B. Principal E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Aesthetically Pleasing and Easy to Use" June 11, 2021 5.0 We have been able to boost productivity consistency, and quality using Brightspace. It is easier to build out courses and map them in a simple hierarchy. Course templating allows us to ensure consistency when building copies of courses or new versions. Brightspace has also allowed us to automate a number of functions we would normally need to perform in terms of student management, which has freed up personnel for other tasks but also removed human error from the equation. Pros Brightspace is very intuitive; users can jump into the LMS and figure out what they need to do with little to no instructions. I like the power it gives admins to build in automation and customize how students work through the course. This is done via intelligent agents and release conditions. Brightspace just looks great. Is the most aesthetically pleasing LMS on the market as far as I have seen. Cons The platform seems more geared toward traditional schooling systems rather than asynchronous models at times. For example, there is no easy way for students to add their own due dates to assessments; they can only be added for the entire course, which does not work when students are all pacing differently. Brightspace for Parents is also not as strong as I would have expected. There seems to be limited features and out parents are just not really interested in using it. Alternatives considered [Edsby](https://www.capterra.com/p/122855/Edsby/)[Canvas](https://www.capterra.com/p/127214/CANVAS/)[Schoology](https://www.capterra.com/p/128481/Schoology/) Reason for choosing Brightspace We felt Brightspace packed in the most functionality and also looked (and felt the best). Switched from [Moodle](https://www.capterra.com/p/80691/Moodle/) We were looking for something that worked well out of the box. D2L manages all of the updating of the system, hosting, etc. Using something like Moodle requires at least one person on the team with a strong tech background. Brightspace can be run with little to no tech experience. Review Source SR Shanyce R. student Medical Practice Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "One of the Best Softwares to Use as a Student" May 24, 2022 5.0 Pros What I liked most was the simple and effective organization. It was a software that was definitely created in mind to set students up to succeed. Firstly, the way the Chapters, sections, topics, and individual assignments were organized on the side was something that was consistent for each of the subjects I was studying. Then on the top bar, you were able to click on pages that would essentially "filter" the types of class material. You could see all the assessments in one place, all the assignments in one place, and your grades. On top of that, every single thing was linked back to the corresponding item. For example, if you couldn't recall what "assignment 2" was when looking at it in the gradebook, you were able to click it and redirect it to the original post. There was also notifications for when assignments were open and reminders for when exams and homework was due. As someone who has used canvas, blackboard, google classrooms, and a few other softwares for school, these functions were not common. There were also times where it would be extremely hard and confusing to navigate. However I never ran into that issue with D2L. Cons It is hard to find any qualms about D2L Brightspace, there is nothing negative I've noticed the entire time I have been using the software. Switched from [Class for Web](https://www.capterra.com/p/141222/Blackboard-Collaborate/) Not my choice, the school decided to switch to using Brightspace on their own. Review Source DM Danilo M. Digital Products Manager Latam E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A Canadian Masterpiece like a Lego with 3000 pieces" March 26, 2024 4.0 I used for almost ten years, in 2013 help me to replace a huge straming infra strutucture , sattelites and big antesnas, was update by caption, just me a web cam and my note could increase the opportunitties to offer content to k12 schools that we never dreamed before, after that we use almost all D2L portfolio. was amazing. Pros Very trustable Visibility of team productivity Helpful students reports Cons Hard to assemble Negotiation complicated Small support Review Source SW Steve W. Contract Instructor Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Complicated work made simple!" December 20, 2024 5.0 Helps me keep a good grip on assignments my students have completed, as well as grades for the term at a glance. Easy to use and covers pretty much every function that a professor or instructor is likely to need. Pros Using the program means you don't have to re-invent the wheel. It's a great and well-designed educational program that I use as a university prof. Cons There are a few little things such as color coding for certain assignments that I still don't fully understand. But it's not critical. Review Source BP Brittany P. Manager Restaurants Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Very reliable " March 25, 2025 5.0 10/10 experience it was a helpful tool and very reliable Pros Brightspace was useful tool while I was in college Cons It was difficult to navigate while I was trying to do easy tasks on the app Review Source EL Elizabeth L. Student E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great for students on the go and online learners" November 4, 2024 4.0 I like it for when I am on the go and do not have my laptop on me. I can write on discussion boards, hand in assignments, check grades, among with more tasks. Pros I like that you can attend classes on your phone or on your computer using brightspace. Cons Viewing the instructor, power point , and the chat is not possible. You can only do either the chat view slides or the teacher. Review Source WM Wyatt M. Instructor Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Instructor" January 16, 2025 4.0 Pros Very user friendly, easy to figure out on your own Cons Upgraded visual platform wasn't as user friendly as the previous version Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Instructional Designer E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Top Tier LMS" August 14, 2021 5.0 Pros It’s extremely customizable, but no matter how each course might be built, there is a feeling of familiarity. I love the assessments, open ended plugins to embed for my faculty, user support, and the student experience. I really love the course builder. It’s an easy to use yet extremely effective tool. Cons I would say the fact that it is so customizable and open ended at first is daunting to faculty. However with proper training and support, my faculty have really excelled with the LMS. Review Source LL Lee L. Program Coordinator Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Brightspace, keeps users in the dark." December 16, 2021 4.0 I have taught online for over a decade and used multiple different platforms, and I am sorry to write that this is by far the worst program I have ever used. Editing tools are not named well. There is no instructor file or content repository for easy access. You have to drill down in multiple pages to make simple course edits, and guiding students is not easy. There is not a natural flow or progression where the student can easily move from one assignment to the next. Pros I know this is bad, but I can honestly say I haven’t found anything I like about the Brightspace program! The only good thing I can think of is the college has selected a bolt-on (Zoom) and it is important for live synchronous meetings. The recordings can be easily accessed from within the course tools. Cons Brightspace is not user friendly from an instructor’s perspective. Points have to be changed in multiple places. Constantly having to switch to the “student view” to see if instructions have loaded correctly or saved recent changes is not an efficient way to function or make course edits. You can’t add points when reading discussions, you have to go out to a separate page to enter points/grades. The list could go on and on. Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) The college administration made the change. Review Source CS Carolyn S. Faculty E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Brightspace" May 11, 2022 5.0 My overall experience with BrightSpace is positive. Learners also find the LMS easy to use and navigate. Pros The most impactful features of BrightSpace are discussion opportunities, auto-grading, and navigation. Cons The cost of the LMS is the only drawback. Switched from [Moodle](https://www.capterra.com/p/80691/Moodle/) Administrative decision. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Professor / Coordinator Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Poor excuse for a modern LMS" November 8, 2018 2.0 No benefits realized. Purely a frustrating experience having to use this LMS to manage my post-secondary classes. Pros Nothing at all. The LMS has a LONG list of features but nearly all of them are poorly designed and frustrating to use. I have moved back to old solutions that I used before I was given this piece of software. Clearly no teachers with any experience were consulted in the design of this. There was a huge opportunity for D2L when they moved from their old solution to a new Cloud based one. They missed the opportunity Cons The interface was not intuitive. There were very few clear best practices in the interface. The way that you complete tasks changes depending on which part of the interface you are using. Non-technical users will become quickly frustrated with the number of steps required to complete even the most basic of tasks. The interface feels like it was built by different groups of developers and designers who didn't communicate with each other. Every developer had their own idea about how to accomplish a task. Many default options are counter to what an actual teacher would need in their day-to-day tasks. Nothing in the interface saves you work. Every task prolongs how long it takes me to do something. After months of trying to use this tool I have given up and am now searching for alternative tools that make my life easier not harder. Review Source Response from D2L November 20, 2018 We're sorry to hear you're having problems with Brightspace and want to help. Please feel free to reach out to me directly so we can discuss the challenges you're having and get you some help. MVL Maria Victoria L. Asst. Professional Lecturer Hospitality Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Brightspace user (Bigsky)" January 24, 2024 5.0 I love using Brightspace (Bigsky). It is easy to learn, and I even volunteer to assist other faculty members. As a retired faculty member, I would look for the features I enjoyed with Brightspace when given the opportunity to use other LMS. Pros It has gamification, and once the course has been set up, everything is like clockwork. Cons Just the setting up at the start of every semester, BUT, it is worth the time. Review Source DF Daniel F. STEM Teacher Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "A Powerful, Though Complicated, Online Teaching Platform" September 27, 2021 4.0 Brightspace has a wealth of features I’ve found helpful when using it in my Pre-K through 5th grade classrooms, but I can’t help but feel that this is more focused for older students. The interface can be overwhelming for young students, and creating and accessing tools such as quizzes and assignments can have a steep learning curve. When compared to Google Classroom, Brightspace has more capabilities, but can take more effort to set up and use properly. In elementary schools, I don’t know if Brightspace outweighed Classroom, but I can see middle and high schools getting much more out of it! Pros Brightspace has tons of features and capabilities that teachers and students can use in learning! Through assignments with release conditions, video and audio recording for instructions and responses, homepage customization, and much more. There are few things that you are limited to with Brightspace. Cons Though there are many features in Brightspace, they can often be tedious and complicated to create and use. For example, creating tests/quizzes in brightspace is a very important tool for teachers to give formative assessments. The creation tool works, but takes many more steps and work when compared to other quiz creation tools, such as Google Forms. This applies to almost all features on Brightspace. When using this with younger students - Pre-K through 5th grade - that can take a toll on time and learning. Review Source RV Reka V. Jr. HR Specialist Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great Online Learning Resource" February 13, 2023 5.0 Good, highly recommend for any online learner. Pros I love how user friendly this software is. As a daily user, I can easily navigate the different portals on this software and find all my class's resources quickly. It is very organized, and has great assessible features such as clear text, and high contrasting colours. Grades are easily accessible, and there offer all features necessary to succeed in your course, eg. discussion boards, class list, attendance, course content etc. Cons The notifications are quite overwhelming, every time any professor makes any adjustment to their course you get a notification that piles up throughout the day. Moreover, the notifications for upcoming assignments are sometimes inconsistent, as assignments not done through the D2L will not show up at all, causing confusion for upcoming work to be done for the student. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Social Studies/U. S. History/World Geography/World History Teacher E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "BrightSpace is amazing!" January 20, 2018 5.0 My students (middle and high school) are able to become proficient in the navigation of the system in just a few days with minimal questions and challenges. Pros BrightSpace includes all of the typical features of any LMS. However, D2L has improved the platform over time and has made the system more intuitive and user friendly. I also use CourseDen (the higher ed version of BrightSpace) for my college courses and the features are essentially the same with a few differences. However, the two platforms are enough alike that, once you know one system, learning to use the other one is a cinch. The features allow for very specific customization of assessments, discussions, and other features. I have built my own courses within the LMS, so I am familiar with a majority of the features and capabilities of the LMS. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Accountant Accounting Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Brightspace was easy to learn as a student!" January 22, 2019 4.0 It allows for great communication between students and teachers and overall was simple to understand from both perspectives! Pros I enjoyed the formatting and how easy to use brightspace was compared to the previous software my university used. It made tracking grades and all of the content my teacher posted so much easier to follow. It also shows how your grades were compared to other students and allows you to track your own performance. When I was a TA, it was also really easy to post news items, enter grades and insert comments on students' papers. Easy to understand for all users! Cons It can be difficult to operate on mobile devices - there are less buttons to navigate the pages but it's not impossible to use. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Digital Marketing Specialist Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great online classroom tool" April 14, 2022 5.0 Pros It’s easy to see what’s next/where you’re at. Cuts down on much of the visual clutter and steps you need to take to get where you want. Cons It could be a bit slow at times, but I think that was a server/isolated IT issue. Review Source Natalie S. Academic and Financial aid Advisor Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Simple for students, set up takes work " October 13, 2019 4.0 Very happy with it from a student side when the faculty take time to set it up. But setting up a good classroom can be more work than teaching. Pros Have used Brighspace as a student and as a faculty. As long as the faculty sets it up well it is exceedingly easy to navigate. The features really benefit the educational experience. Cons Setting up the individual course takes time. I felt like I needed to be a coder to actually use to features. We have two full time hired staff to help keep the online classes in this running. Also, the email is ridiculously complicated. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Graduate Student Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Fantastic for everyone from beginners to people who want to do some unique activities and grading" July 19, 2019 5.0 Pros I was recently employed by Texas Christian University as an adjunct professor, and this was the first time I had ever taught a class at a different university. I had never used Brightspace before and to be honest I was a little bit overwhelmed with it at first. There are so many different functions and options that at first glance it seems like it will take months to learn. However, I think their help section is really user friendly and within a day I had my class pretty much set up. I love all of the more advanced grading features and automatic % calculations that this does, it saves so much time as I used to do this all in Excel. Also, I was only on campus once/week and was driving from over 40 minutes away on days that I was there. So, having office hours on days off was pretty much not going to happen. However, Brightspace has an amazing feature that can connect you to students over video chat from anywhere! This allowed me to have more personal 1-on-1 time with students who needed help while not having to drive all the way to campus! Cons There is quite a bit of a learning curve to get to the more complex stuff, but after you learn it your productivity skyrockets. Review Source Audra W. Admissions Assistant Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The BEST resource for school" December 27, 2018 5.0 Pros This resource carefully organizes all your school material. It allows for each class to have a separate section. It is like a virtual binder. Teachers can upload quizes, tests, and any additional material. Such a great resource for any age student. I have been using it for over 6 years now. Cons It sometimes glitches which makes it difficult to submit assignments, look up something, but that will happen with any software. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.