Updated E-Learning Authoring Tools Comparison
With the release of Adobe Captivate 8 a few weeks back, I thought I would update our popular—and often controversial—comparison grid on the major authoring tools. As always, the information contained within this comparison is based solely on my opinions. You may not agree with some of my assessments, and that’s okay! At the end of the day, the decisions about which tool(s) you choose to use should be based on the features that are most important to you and your organization.
Notable Changes
The only notable change since my last comparison is in the mobile category. With the new responsive design and geolocation features, Captivate 8 moved to first place and broke the previous three-way tie with Studio and Storyline.
You can learn more about my thoughts on Captivate 8’s responsive design and geolocation features in my recent ATD Learning Technologies blog post.
Updated Authoring Tools Comparison Webinar
This past week, I had the privilege of delivering my updated authoring tools comparison on one of our free webinars. Feel free to watch the recording here.
I greatly appreciate the free webinar from June 20th where you discussed this content in greater depth. I have been going back and forth on which platform to invest first, and this helped me make a good all-around decision. Ultimately, I’ll need to be familiar with all of them, but I know where to start at least.
Glad you found it helpful, Jerry!
Thanks for the kind words Jerry! Choosing an authoring tool can be challenging. Are you leaning towards a specific one?
Leaning towards a subscription with Captivate.
Thanks for the info!
Great info Akanksha. We would love to get feedback from your team on our solution, Claro. If you are interested please drop me a line – paul.schneider@dominknow.com
Where’s the key? Is a 1 good or bad?
Hmm. That is pretty important to know — thanks for pointing out the oversight. 1 is best.
So if 1 is best why is its background color RED and not green 😉
Would be good to know the vendor names as well. Who makes Studio, for example?
I think “Studio” is made by Zenler. Is this the case?
Articulate makes Studio.
Curious about how Storyline 2 changes this grid? It actually doesn’t change it at all. The biggest advantage of SL2 is the various usability enhancements that make some of the advanced features easier to use. Storyline already gets the highest marks of the three of the more powerful tools, so it maintains its position there.
I assume you were comparing to Storyline 1. How does Storyline 2 fit into the comparison?
Hi Rob,
At the time of this post, Storyline 2 was not yet released. We are hosting an updated E-Learning Authoring Tools Comparison, which will include Storyline 2 and Lectora 12. If you’d like to attend (it’s free), you can register here: http://elearninguncovered.com/free-webinars/
Hi Rob,
I realize this post is pretty old, but I thought you might be interested in seeing a more detailed comparison of Storyline 2 with a couple of other authoring tools.
http://www.ispringsolutions.com/blog/adobe-captivate-8-vs-articulate-storyline-2-vs-ispring-suite-7-1/
Hope that helps!