Absorb LMS vs Adobe Learning Manager

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared Absorb LMS vs Adobe Learning Manager based on data from our 400+ point analysis of LMS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

Absorb is a cloud-based LMS designed to enhance corporate training and education. It caters to organizations of all sizes, offering scalability, a user-friendly interface, and a wide range of features such as gamification, personalized learning paths, content libraries and social learning tools to keep learners engaged.

You can create, manage and deliver diverse training materials, and integrate with various third-party platforms, including HR, video conferencing and CRM tools. Advanced reporting and analytics provide valuable insights into learner progress and training effectiveness, helping you make data-driven decisions that align with business goals.

The Absorb Learning mobile app, free on iOS and Android devices, provides anytime, anywhere access to training. Absorb Intelligence, an AI-powered toolset, uses predictive AI and natural language recognition to connect learners with relevant content, enhance search and microlearning, and streamline administrative tasks.

Users like Absorb LMS for its intuitive design, advanced features, scalability, comprehensive analytics and exceptional customer support, all of which contribute to a positive learning and administrative experience. You can request a quote for pricing information.

read more...
Adobe Learning Manager is a comprehensive learning management system (LMS) designed to facilitate efficient and engaging employee training and development. It offers a user-friendly interface and mobile accessibility, allowing learners to access training materials on various devices. Notable features include content authoring tools for creating interactive courses, customizable learning paths for individual learners, robust analytics for tracking progress, and seamless integration with Adobe and third-party applications. Organizations benefit from centralized content management and automated administrative tasks. While it simplifies training, some users note limitations in reporting customization and integration challenges. Overall, Adobe Learning Manager empowers businesses to deliver effective, scalable, and flexible training programs.
read more...
$16,200 Annually
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$4/User, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Offers Extensive Reporting Tools: When we tested Absorb, we found that it offers a vast suite of reporting tools that provide insights into nearly every aspect of your training program. You can drill down data to view reports on course activity, ILC sessions, assessments, learner progress and competencies, and more. Apply filters, sort data, and download and share reports—all on an easy-to-use, interactive interface.
  • Provides Comprehensive Capabilities: According to our analysis, it supports 100% of our content and course management, mobile and eCommerce capabilities entirely out of the box. It offers content creation and partnership, transaction management, mobile learning and collaboration, discounts and promotions, and more.
  • Creates an Engaging Learner Experience: Our experience with the product revealed that it offers many tools to enhance the learner experience. You can:
    • Customize the dashboard with templates, logos and design elements to reflect your branding.
    • Tailor widgets to meet specific needs and use the Billboard feature to embed videos and links to both external and internal pages.
    • Edit the Tiles to configure and display courses, catalogs, calendars and resources effectively.
  • Provides a User-Friendly Interface: Our testing revealed that the platform is straightforward and accessible. Essential features are conveniently located on the left-hand side, minimizing the need for extensive navigation. You can effortlessly switch between roles — administrator, learner and manager — and enable accessibility tools to enhance data visualization and webpage design.
  • Offers AI-Powered Course Creation: Absorb’s Create AI tool streamlines course development by quickly assembling content from brief descriptions, PDFs or pasted text. The AI efficiently processes and organizes this input, reducing the time and effort needed for course creation. This allows you to deliver high-quality training materials and focus on creative aspects while AI handles the technical details.
  • Personalizes Learning: Absorb Skills provides predefined skills and competencies aligned with employees' job functions across diverse industries and job roles. The platform leverages AI to tailor learning experiences for over 1500 job roles and nearly 200 competencies, supported by a comprehensive library of over 20,000 courses.
  • Award-Winning LMS: Absorb LMS won several awards in the LMS category in the SelectHub Awards 2024. It won best-in-class honors for content and course management, learning delivery, platform capabilities, and integrations and extensibility.
read more...
  • User-Friendly Interface: Adobe Learning Manager offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easy for both administrators and learners to navigate the platform effortlessly.
  • Scalability: The platform is scalable, allowing organizations to accommodate a growing number of users and courses, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes.
  • Mobile Learning: Learners can access content on Adobe Learning Manager through mobile devices, providing flexibility and the ability to learn on-the-go.
  • Personalized Learning Paths: It enables organizations to create customized learning paths for individual learners, ensuring that training is tailored to specific needs and goals.
  • Robust Analytics: Adobe Learning Manager provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools, allowing administrators to track learner progress and assess the effectiveness of training programs.
  • Integration Capabilities: The platform integrates seamlessly with other Adobe products, as well as popular third-party tools, facilitating content creation and management.
  • Compliance Management: It offers features for compliance training, ensuring that organizations can easily track and manage compliance requirements and certifications.
  • Social Learning: Adobe Learning Manager includes social learning features, promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing among learners through discussion forums and social tools.
  • Content Management: Organizations can centralize their training content, making it easy to create, manage, and update courses, ensuring that learners have access to the latest materials.
  • Automation: The platform automates administrative tasks such as enrollment, reporting, and notifications, reducing manual workloads and enhancing efficiency.
read more...
  • Content Libraries: Access expert-curated, always-current courses via Amplify content portfolio. It offers three content libraries:
  • Amplify
    • Over 500 foundational courses ideal for small to mid-sized companies.
    • Features essential and mandatory business training.
    • Engaging micro-learning format for quick, impactful learning.
  • Amplify Plus
    • More than 2,000 courses covering basic to intermediate topics.
    • Includes compliance, safety, skills, and continuing education.
    • Versatile formats with bite-sized lessons, full-length courses, and instructor-led training.
    • Available in English and Spanish, with voiceovers in French and Spanish.
    • Accessibility features include closed captioning in multiple languages.
  • Amplify Max
    • Extensive library with over 20,000 courses from over 100 reputable publishers.
    • Covers essential to advanced levels, including safety, business skills, technology, wellness and industry-specific accreditations.
    • Supports diverse learning styles and is available in 90+ languages with localized content in over 40 languages.
  • Search Analytics: Track learner searches with the Search Analytics Report. This feature displays data on searches conducted by both authenticated and unauthenticated learners. Monitor which items learners select from search results, including details such as the item’s ID, name, type and rank. With the correct permissions, access information on the selected items to gain insights into learner behavior and preferences.
  • Salesforce Connector: Enable customers, partners and employees to access and engage with learning materials without leaving Salesforce.
    • Track training engagement and evaluate its impact on sales revenue and service metrics.
    • Display relevant courses on the home screen to upsell or educate prospects about new products.
    • Provide access to essential training across Salesforce Support, Sales and Community environments.
  • Course Catalog: Edit course access based on departments to ensure the right learners have the appropriate permissions. Refine course lists by name, type, vendor, tags, location, type and other criteria. Organize and view courses in various formats, including detailed, list and calendar views.
  • Third-Party Integrations: Connect with third-party apps to streamline learning management across your organization.
    • Integrate with communication tools like Zoom and HR platforms like ADP.
    • Develop custom integrations to facilitate data transfer between the LMS and other applications.
    • Integrate off-the-shelf eLearning content from the Absorb Amplify Portfolio.
    • Integrate LMS logins with existing SSO solutions to improve security and user experience.
    • Use RESTful APIs to manage and expand integrations. Build scalable workflows and connect with various systems, devices and learners both inside and outside your organization.
    • Create real-time integrations that respond instantly to key events. Use webhooks to automate notifications for events like course completions and user registrations.
  • Absorb Engage: Keep learners engaged and motivated with interactive tools. These include:
    • Polls: Gather learner feedback with customizable, open-ended polls. Design questions for fact-based, opinion-based or choice-based responses. Monitor results over time to adapt training content.
    • Collaborations: Create discussion spaces for learners to share ideas on specific topics or courses. Features include document sharing, post interactions and member messaging.
    • Leaderboards: Encourage competition by awarding points for course completions, curricula, instructor-led courses, and competencies. Learners earn points for achievements and interactions, with points being date-stamped and non-retroactive.
    • Billboards: At the top of the Learner Dashboard, display announcements, new initiatives or course promotions with eye-catching video or photo banners.
  • Dashboards: Design multiple dashboards for different departments and customize them with a variety of widgets, including competencies, reports, logins, activity and course enrollment.
    • Admin Controls: Only System Admins can create, edit or delete dashboards.
    • Permissions: Set access and editing permissions for users.
    • Report Handling: Download completed reports or have them emailed to you.
    • Dashboard Templates: Adjust the colors and images of the Learner Dashboard and the Login Page, and add a Public Dashboard.
  • Absorb Analyze: Generate custom reports to gain insights into various aspects of your LMS data, including:
    • Course Enrollment: Track details such as enrollment ID, key, type, status, dates (started, completed, expired), progress, score and more.
    • Course: Analyze course-specific data, including ID, type, name, status, language, tags, enrollment types, certificate details and other settings.
    • User: Examine user information, including ID, names, email, status, roles, job details and location, and sync data from external systems.
    • Department: Review department data such as ID, name, description, and contact information.
    • Reports: Access essential reports on learner activity, competencies, progress, course activity, curricula, evaluations, approvals, certificates, and credits.
  • Course Creation: Choose a theme for your course or build around content like screen recordings, videos, PowerPoint presentations or AI-generated materials.
    • Add and manage different content types, including course materials, instructor-led sessions, course bundles, curricula and categories.
    • Organize courses by ratings, access date, comments, self-enrollment, audience, author, automatic enrollment, average rating, category, certificate details, and more.
    • View detailed reports on learner course starts, ends, scores, departments, and certificates.
  • Course Settings
    • General: Adjust status, title, description, and default language.
    • Syllabus: Customize content, completion order, terms, mobile compatibility and proctoring.
    • Enrollment Rules: Set department restrictions, enrollment rules, self-enrollment options, automatic enrollment, approvals and eCommerce settings.
    • Completion: Define certificates, competencies, credits, leaderboard points, failure and re-enrollment policies.
    • Availability: Schedule access, due dates, expiration, prerequisites and offline access.
    • Catalog Visibility: Customize mobile app visibility, category, images and posters, and make courses mandatory or featured.
    • Course Administrators: Designate individual or department admins.
    • Messages: Manage and customize course notifications.
    • Resources: Add files and notes for learners.
    • Course Uploads: Provide instructions for uploading course materials and certificates.
    • Attributes: Enable ratings and evaluations, and add audience, vendor, goals, external IDs, time estimates and costs.
    • Social: Enable comments and collaborations.
    • Competencies: Reward users with custom designations, like 'CPR Certification,' for completing courses. Set up and assign competencies with unique names and images, which can serve as icons or badges.
    • Competency Levels: Award competencies on a scale from 1 to 10, allowing for incremental achievements and more control over user progression.
    • Access Management: Configure competencies to grant or restrict access to additional catalog content based on user achievements.
    • Reports: Use the Learner Competencies Report to view user achievements, modify data fields, create new competencies, message users, view transcripts or delete competencies.
    • Integration: Edit or add competencies to online courses, instructor-led courses or curricula.
  • ILC (Instructor-Led Courses): Facilitate live or asynchronous training sessions, either physical or virtual. Enrolled learners choose which session to attend. While a venue is optional, it helps specify the training location.
    • Recurring Classes: Schedule classes to repeat regularly with consistent time, instructor(s) and location, similar to Outlook calendar invitations.
    • Waitlist: Manage session capacity by adding learners to a waitlist when sessions are complete. Automatically enroll learners from the waitlist when seats become available or manually override capacity limits.
    • ILC Sessions Report: Access detailed reports on session details, learner enrollments, attendance, waitlists and instructor messaging.
  • Course Enrollments: Access and manage enrollments for curricula, ILCs, online courses and course bundles. Add, modify or delete course enrollments as needed. Re-enroll users in training, un-enroll them from courses, and update user details as required. Access detailed user transcripts, message users directly and review enrollments to track past training activities.
  • Enrollment Keys: Provide enrollment keys to users to automatically assign them to departments and courses, and manage validity and usage limits. Create and customize keys, name them, define access, and configure user details and notifications.
  • Observational Checklists: Use Observation Checklists to evaluate users based on specific criteria, and ensure they have the necessary skills and perform tasks effectively. Ideal for tracking mentoring and on-the-job training, these checklists help reviewers assess and document user performance.
  • Knowledge Checks: Add knowledge checks between courses to assess learners' understanding. Use question types like multiple-choice, true-or-false, matching, sequencing, pick one, pick many, drag-and-drop, fill-in-the-blanks and free text.
read more...
  • Intuitive Dashboard: Adobe Learning Manager features an easy-to-navigate dashboard that provides administrators and learners with a user-friendly interface for course management and learning.
  • Mobile Learning: The platform offers mobile compatibility, allowing learners to access courses and training materials on a variety of devices, fostering flexibility and convenience.
  • Content Authoring: Adobe Learning Manager includes content authoring tools, enabling organizations to create and upload a wide range of training content, including videos, simulations, and interactive courses.
  • Customized Learning Paths: Organizations can design personalized learning paths for individual learners, tailoring training programs to their specific needs and career goals.
  • Analytics and Reporting: Robust analytics and reporting capabilities allow administrators to track learner progress, assess training program effectiveness, and make data-driven decisions.
  • Integration: The platform offers seamless integration with other Adobe products, such as Adobe Connect and Adobe Creative Cloud, as well as integration options with third-party applications for content management and HR systems.
  • Compliance Management: Adobe Learning Manager includes tools for managing compliance training, helping organizations track and enforce compliance requirements and certifications.
  • Social Learning: The platform promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing through social learning features, including discussion forums and social tools that encourage learner interaction.
  • Content Management: Organizations can centralize their training content within the platform, simplifying content creation, management, and updates to ensure learners have access to the latest materials.
  • Automation: Adobe Learning Manager automates administrative tasks such as course enrollment, reporting, and notifications, streamlining workflow processes and increasing operational efficiency.
read more...

Product Ranking

#12

among all
LMS Software

#130

among all
LMS Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

81
75
43
29
71
54
75
83
Show More Show More
Content and Course Management
Mobile Capabilities
eCommerce
Reporting and Dashboard
Platform Capabilities
Platform Capabilities
Reporting and Dashboard
User Management and Gamification
Content and Course Management
Mobile Capabilities

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Absorb LMS
Adobe Learning Manager
+ Add Product + Add Product
AI-based Capabilities Assessments Collaboration Compliance Content And Course Management ECommerce Learning Delivery Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Dashboard User Management And Gamification 43 71 75 67 100 100 80 100 93 97 91 29 54 83 83 93 50 75 87 100 100 100 0 25 50 75 100
43%
0%
57%
29%
0%
71%
70%
0%
30%
50%
0%
50%
67%
0%
33%
67%
0%
33%
67%
0%
33%
83%
0%
17%
100%
0%
0%
93%
0%
7%
100%
0%
0%
0%
0%
100%
62%
0%
38%
38%
62%
0%
100%
0%
0%
88%
0%
12%
93%
0%
7%
100%
0%
0%
100%
0%
0%
100%
0%
0%
91%
0%
9%
100%
0%
0%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

79%
0%
21%
57%
0%
43%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 1162 reviews
Great User Sentiment 1268 reviews
93%
of users recommend this product

Absorb LMS has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 1162 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

84%
of users recommend this product

Adobe Learning Manager has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 84% when considering 1268 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

4.9 (12)
n/a
4.7 (483)
4.0 (314)
4.5 (284)
4.3 (671)
4.8 (255)
n/a
4.4 (128)
4.1 (283)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Absorb LMS and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Content and Course Management and Mobile Capabilities. Absorb LMS stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award
Content and Course Management Award
Mobile Capabilities Award

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Adobe Learning Manager and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Platform Capabilities.

Platform Capabilities Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Professional Development: Over 90% of users who mentioned the professional training abilities of this system felt it helped with career planning.
Comprehensive Feature Set: Nearly 75% of reviewers appreciate its wide range of features, including customizable course settings, multi-tenancy support, observational checklists, e-signatures and third-party integrations.
Customization: More than 80% of reviewers who discussed the customization features were happy with the options for personalization and branding.
Ease of Use: In just under 80% of reviews that discussed the UI, users highlighted the platform's intuitive interface, stating that it's easy to use for both administrators and learners. The dashboard is noted for its clean design, making navigation straightforward and enhancing the overall user experience.
Excellent Customer Service: Over 70% of reviewers that mentioned support felt the staff was friendly and helpful, and provided workarounds for a multitude of issues. Many reviews mentioned that the project managers and account managers are proactive in assisting clients throughout their onboarding and ongoing use of the platform.
In-Depth Reporting: 60% of users who reviewed its data and analytical capabilities said it offers extensive reporting capabilities with the ability to export reports easily and set up automated reporting schedules.
Show more
Intuitive User Interface: Users appreciate the intuitive and user-friendly interface of Adobe Learning Manager, which simplifies navigation and usage for both learners and administrators.
Mobile Accessibility: The platform's mobile compatibility is praised for enabling learners to access training materials on various devices, offering flexibility and convenience for learning on-the-go.
Effective Content Authoring: Users find the content authoring tools to be robust and efficient, allowing them to create engaging and interactive course content with ease.
Customizable Learning Paths: Adobe Learning Manager's ability to create personalized learning paths for individual learners is valued, as it allows organizations to tailor training programs to meet specific needs and goals.
Robust Analytics: The platform's comprehensive analytics and reporting features are highly regarded for providing valuable insights, enabling users to track learner progress and assess the effectiveness of training programs.
Integration Capabilities: Users like the seamless integration with other Adobe products and third-party applications, streamlining content management and enhancing overall workflow efficiency.
Compliance Management: Adobe Learning Manager's tools for compliance management are considered effective in simplifying the tracking and enforcement of compliance requirements and certifications.
Social Learning Features: The platform's social learning features, including discussion forums, are praised for promoting learner interaction and collaboration.
Content Centralization: The ability to centralize training content within the platform is seen as a valuable feature, making content management more straightforward and ensuring learners have access to up-to-date materials.
Automation: Users find the automation of administrative tasks, such as enrollment and notifications, to be a time-saving feature that enhances operational efficiency.
Show more
Insufficient eCommerce: In over 90% of reviews that discussed the system's eCommerce abilities, users felt it wasn’t flexible enough to sell content properly.
Show more
Complex Setup: Some users find the initial setup and configuration of Adobe Learning Manager to be complex and time-consuming, requiring a learning curve for administrators.
Limited Reporting Customization: While it offers analytics and reporting, some users may find the customization options for reports and dashboards to be limited, making it challenging to extract specific data insights.
Integration Challenges: Users have reported integration challenges with certain systems that are not directly supported by Adobe Learning Manager, which can lead to difficulties in connecting with external tools and databases.
Content Authoring Complexity: Content authoring within the platform, while possible, may not be as intuitive or feature-rich as specialized content authoring tools, potentially limiting creative options for course creation.
Limited E-Commerce: For organizations looking to sell courses externally, Adobe Learning Manager's e-commerce capabilities may be limited compared to dedicated e-commerce platforms, potentially affecting revenue generation efforts.
Show more

Absorb is a pretty impressive platform, especially if you're looking for something that's both easy to use and packed with features. It offers an intuitive interface and a clean dashboard with well-organized capabilities, a big plus for both learners and administrators.AI tools help you create courses in minutes and tailor training elements to each user's specific needs. One time-saving tool we really liked is Intelligent Assist. You just have to ask a question like, “How many learners have not been graded?” and you'll instantly get the report or action screen you need.Absorb Pinpoint, their video timestamping expert, uses AI and NLP to transcribe and timestamp video lessons. This allows you to find exactly what you want to learn in a long video without watching the whole thing, another great time-saver.Two more things that really stood out are Absorb’s course creation and reporting modules.With Absorb Create, you can build informational, crisp, good-looking courses using the most user-friendly tools. AI voiceovers, screen readers, themes and fonts, assessments and collaboration, and so many other elements help make course creation an enjoyable, creative and fun experience.We are also fans of Absorb’s insightful universe powered by it’s BI tool, Absorb Analyze. Learners, courses, sessions, certificates, and ILCs — you have a report for all aspects of your training program. You can add multiple filters to drill down to the micro level and schedule them for the future.Absorb’s gamification, user and role management, assessments and collaboration features are equally great and extremely easy to use. And if you need more help, they have Absorb Academy to fill you in on the know-how.The only downside is that it could have some more eCommerce features and built-in virtual classroom tools. Its question bank functionality is limited to only multiple-choice and text-based questions, so it’d be nice to see some variety there. Also, while the interface is undoubtedly a cakewalk to navigate, it could use a bit of color and style, some visual flair to engage learners quickly.Overall, Absorb LMS is a solid choice for anyone looking to boost their training and development efforts. We love that it offers a free trial, a suite of useful features for both small and big businesses alike, and excellent customer support. It has great built-in tools and integration capabilities, and rightly stands out among our top five LMS solutions.

Show more

User reviews for Adobe Learning Manager generally highlight its strengths in terms of user-friendliness, mobile accessibility, content authoring capabilities, and robust analytics. Many users appreciate its intuitive interface, making it easy for both learners and administrators to navigate. The platform's mobile compatibility is seen as a significant advantage, allowing learners to access training materials on various devices, promoting flexibility in learning. Additionally, the content authoring tools are well-regarded for their effectiveness in creating engaging and interactive courses. However, there are reported limitations, such as the complexity of the initial setup and limited customization options for reports and dashboards, which may hinder some users' ability to extract specific data insights. Integration challenges with certain systems and the somewhat less intuitive content authoring process have also been noted. In comparison to similar products, users believe that Adobe Learning Manager offers a competitive solution, particularly due to its seamless integration with other Adobe products and third-party applications. However, it may have limitations in terms of e-commerce capabilities compared to specialized e-commerce platforms. Overall, user reviews indicate that Adobe Learning Manager is a valuable learning management system for organizations looking for user-friendly training solutions, mobile accessibility, and effective content authoring, but it may require careful consideration of its limitations in specific use cases.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in LMS Software


Adobe Learning Manager

Blackboard Learn

Brainier

Brightspace

Canvas

Cornerstone LMS

Docebo

LearnUpon

Litmos

Moodle

Schoology

Seismic Learning

SkyPrep

Spoke LMS

TalentLMS

Thinkific

Tovuti

Trainual

WorkRamp

Related Categories

Head-to-Head Comparison

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings