Adobe Learning Manager vs. D2L Brightspace

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Learning Manager
Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Adobe Learning Manager is a Learning Management System developed by Adobe Inc. that offers personalized learning at scale to employees, partners and customers alike. Compliant with GDPR guidelines, SOC2 TYPE 2 and FedRAMP Certifications, Adobe Learning Manager integrates with Adobe Experience Manager Sites, Adobe Commerce, Marketo Engage with out-of-the-box components and any other application through Open APIs, offering hybrid learning programs and detailed analytics.…N/A
D2L Brightspace
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Brightspace is an academic and corporate learning management platform. It provides core e-learning features, as well as mobile accessibility and granular personalization and analytics insights.N/A
Pricing
Adobe Learning ManagerD2L Brightspace
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Learning ManagerD2L Brightspace
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMust contact vendor for pricing information. 30-day free trial is available.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Learning ManagerD2L Brightspace
Considered Both Products
Adobe Learning Manager
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
I don't know that there's been another product. They were already using it like in beta or something when I started. So it predates my experience. I've been there for one year.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
Even though we didn't get to utilize Captivate to its fullest potential, I have found nothing that comes close in comparison.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
It directly helps us with commerce.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
We have long used open source learning management platforms, such as Moodle. However, the "free" cost ends up being misleading, since the costs of installation, customization, and web hosting are often difficult to calculate. A SaaS scheme is more controllable and allows you to …
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
Adobe Learning Manager stacked up very well against the other major LMS system we had considered, which was Vision by Grace Hill. Adobe offered a more dynamic, visual learning experience that Grace Hill could not. Grace Hill, however, was less costly and did offer similar …
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
In initial trailing the product we had experience with canvas LMS and Adobe Learning Manager stood out in terms of integration of the different connectors it was offering across the portfolio when trying to select the best and also making the learning easy for the internal …
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
The user experience of Adobe Learning Manager is more complete. I have no experience with other LMS software. However, some colleagues have clarified to me that Adobe Learning Management provides a more inclusive experience compared to similar software. The graphical interface …
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
Adobe Learning Manager does provide an Intuitive user experience which is the most important thing for corporate learners. Centralized content management, sharing the content across groups, tracking the course progress, and the power of handling different types of course …
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
The free trial, the competitive price point, and the sales rep were the main determinators in choosing this software.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
360 keeps up the Adobe learning manager. It even outclasses it in certain parts, but with a huge stalwart tech giant like Adobe, it is hard to keep up. Many of the features are present, but there's always that final touch missing. And it is always trying to play catchup.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
One of my prior employers used SumTotal's LMS solution. It was extremely expensive to implement and required a great deal of customization. It was a lengthy implementation, and by comparison, Adobe Learning Manager was a breeze to set up and get up and running.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
In a lot of ways, ALM has a very different feel from other LMS's, and has more of an internal training feel than a class feel. I would definitely recommend this for skills and compliance training, it is less well suited to a classroom feel. For a licensing course, it has its …
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
It is one-stop solution for all LMS needs. To train the employee on a regular basis we need something reliable, and good reputation.
  1. The cost is effective as compared to other
  2. The UI and software stability is nice.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
There is no comparison. ALM is in a class all by itself.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
We chose it to replace Absorb. I think it’s better overall and has more features.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
Adobe Learning Manager is more business focused than Canvas and Blackboard. It is also more user friendly than SuccessFactors and Cornerstone. iSpring is the only other LMS that is comparable.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
Rippling is mostly an HRIS that now has an LMS component. It's truly meant for one-a-year compliance training as learners cannot return to the courses and review them unless they are re-assigned. It has good features like automatic enrollment, but it doesn't give us the ability …
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
I prefer Adobe Learning Manager to Cornerstone OnDemand as the latter is mostly focused on performance management and does not support the needs of small and medium businesses.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
Creating content has been easier in articulate.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
Comparable, but Adobe Learning Manager is double the price.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
Adobe Captivate Prime is on par with the other LMS products that I have used.
Chose Adobe Learning Manager
We considered Absorb LMS and Saba Cloud but found that Adobe Captivate Prime had better service and support but was also easier to integrate and deploy with our other services. The fact that we had a team member familiar with the platform also made it easy for us to pick Adobe …
D2L Brightspace
Chose D2L Brightspace
In my opinion, D2L Brightspace is inferior to CANVAS and Blackboard. I didn't choose it. It was selected by my employer.
Chose D2L Brightspace
Brightspace is by far the most user-friendly LMS I have ever used. Faculty with a lower technical skill set have an easier time navigating Brightspace features. Teaching wise, I have also found Brightspace to be easier for students to navigate than its competitors. I adjunct …
Chose D2L Brightspace
In looking at Brightspace versus its competitors currently, it continues to provide the widest functionality, great value, and better ability to tailor the user experience of it to our organizations needs. The longer that our institution has had Brightspace, the more we've been …
Chose D2L Brightspace
This is the only other LMS I've used other than Schoology. I used Blackboard many years ago.
Chose D2L Brightspace
Compared to Blackboard, Brightspace is a much more powerful application that allows instructors to share more content, customize their courses, and design courses in a more intuitive wizard style if desired. Brightspace is also designed to work well on mobile devices and …
Chose D2L Brightspace
Brightspace offers one of the most tailored employee engagement learning platforms in existence. My organization has utilized a multitude of employee engagement and learning platforms and Brightspace has offered one of the most customized tools that we have used thus far. We …
Chose D2L Brightspace
We switched to Brightspace from Blackboard, and it is much better. It can do a lot more, and it is much more user-friendly.
Chose D2L Brightspace
We migrated from PLS. Brightspace is much more intuitive and modern than PLS was. The ability for Brightspace to work across a range of devices (mobile, tablet, PC, Mac, etc) has been positive for our instructors and students. The main interface is straightforward and easy to …
Chose D2L Brightspace
Although it's been some time since I used Blackboard (as a student in my undergraduate degree), it felt much more intuitive at the time than Brightspace has when I've taken or taught classes. However, I don't feel especially comfortable comparing them since it's been quite …
Chose D2L Brightspace
I used blackboard when I was in college, but that was very little. I just used it to register for classes and to view grades. Brightspace is leaps and bounds what Blackboard was when I last used it in 2010.
Chose D2L Brightspace
I have used Blackboard Learn 8 and 9. I am currently learning about Canvas. Blackboard is overall much clunkier and lacks the intuitive feel in some parts of D2L. Its grade book is much harder to control and manipulate than D2L's. Its navigation menu can be more radically …
Chose D2L Brightspace
I was not involved in the selection process for my organization since I am only a professor. However, I have worked at 2 previous organizations that have used other online LMSs, and I think overall, D2L is at the top of the list of LMSs I find the most usable.
Chose D2L Brightspace
Desire2Learn was selected for me, but I find it to be simpler to navigate than Moodle, more intuitive. Blackboard was many years ago, but I find more flexibility in assigning due dates and end dates in the newer version of Desire2Learn.
Chose D2L Brightspace
Comparing Desire2Learn to Blackboard Vista, I actually believe that Blackboard has a better product, although it has its own set of challenges. We changed systems because of the extremely poor customer service and high level of faculty irritation with Blackboard at the time. I …
Chose D2L Brightspace
Desire2Learn is very good compared to Blackboard and has a lot more flexibility with presenting and organizing material. Desire2Learn is about the same as WebCT. There are similar features and while each one has its drawbacks, they are both acceptable for my current class …
Chose D2L Brightspace
Comparable to Desire2Learn, many similar features to Blackboard Collaborate. Desire2Learn is more user friendly, and more stable.
Chose D2L Brightspace
Desire2Learn is similar to Blackboard but with less functionality and intuitiveness in terms of use. Grading options are more limited. Desire2Learn uses a cluttered interface with many tabs and options needing to be used to create even basic assignments for upload and grading. …
Chose D2L Brightspace
The Desire2Learn system provided a greater ability to customize the learning environment than the Canvas system we evaluated. We did like the simpler interface that Canvas provides and the navigation was easy to follow. We also evaluated the Blackboard LMS and found a large …
Chose D2L Brightspace
We believe D2L to be the best LMS, based on our long-term use, functionality, and overall product stability.
Chose D2L Brightspace
Some faculty have used WebCT, Blackboard, Angel and/or Moodle in the past. Most of us really do like D2L the very best!
Chose D2L Brightspace
These days, most LMS systems provide somewhat comparable feature sets. We selected Desire2Learn because our organization saw it as a stable product that would scale well, we could manage our own self-hosting hardware and infrastructure, it is a tool that our faculty and …
Chose D2L Brightspace
Desire2Learn is a strong competitor of Blackboard, Moodle, and Angel learning management systems. As an online course facilitator, I have used other online learning management systems and find that Desire2Learn is user friendly and provides options equal to the competition.
Features
Adobe Learning ManagerD2L Brightspace
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Learning Manager
7.6
Ratings
7% below category average
D2L Brightspace
5.8
Ratings
35% below category average
Course authoring8.10 Ratings2.00 Ratings
Course catalog or library8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Player/Portal7.80 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Learning content7.00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Mobile friendly6.80 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications6.00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Assignments7.80 Ratings2.00 Ratings
Compliance management8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Learning administration7.00 Ratings2.00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics7.00 Ratings2.00 Ratings
Social learning8.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Gamification8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe Learning ManagerD2L Brightspace
Small Businesses
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Axonify
Axonify
Score 10.0 out of 10
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Learning ManagerD2L Brightspace
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
6.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Availability
7.3
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.1
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
3.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
6.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
4.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
1.6
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Learning ManagerD2L Brightspace
Likelihood to Recommend
It's good if you have a good use case for that feed. I do know that you have to incorporate it in a process in isolation. It's not you don't realize the full value, so you have to incorporate it into an overall improvement process. I would say the pro cases are marketing optimization with respect to campaigns. And I would say that the areas it's not well suited is in distilling attribution. So if you were to take all of the improvements that it suggested, the numbers exceed revenue, which isn't real, but that's a hard problem to solve. Nobody's really solved that problem well. So distilling the attribution piece would be good. And it is well suited for marketing campaigns in the ideation phase of so
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As a member of a large-scale organization with a wide variety of employment positions, I view Brightspace as primarily an administrative solution for continuous learning and engagement. As an educational platform, Brightspace works perfectly for setting learning goals for particular groups or departments. Furthermore, there are many customization options intent on personalizing the overall user experience for employees. The platform also does a wonderful job of increasing overall engagement, retention, and completion of learning goals. However, I do not necessarily view Brightspace as the learning tool for all employees. There are production employees within my company and they may better benefit from other learning tools that do not require being on a computer.
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Pros
  • Rich and engaging learning experiences that capture employees' attention.
  • Is multi-device capable so our teams can take classes where it's most convenient for them during the day, especially if they don't have an assigned static workstation?
  • Allows us to personalize compliance training based on where our employees are at in the organizational chart, competencies, and requirements.
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  • The grade book is very customizable. There is a learning curve, as there always is if something is flexible, but there are a lot of good options available for grading, displaying grades, and calculation of grades.
  • Adding course content of many types can easily be done using drag & drop or copy-paste. It is easy to retain stored content from semester to semester. Updating an item takes three clicks. It is easy to organize and reorganize content and allows sub-sections. It records whether individual students have opened material and how much time they spent using an item.
  • I like the flexibility of organizing the dropbox for student submissions. Deadlines in the dropbox or discussions automatically appear in the course calendar.
  • I like the range of quiz question options, in particular, the "multi-select" question type.
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Cons
  • High initial set-up cost and licensing fees for all employees at one go
  • Once a courses been enrolled by employee, there's no function to remove those courses by themselves.
  • Mobile version not working very well and some contents not able to load, e.g. Leaderboard, Level.
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  • The use of rubrics in the discussion area and the quizzes area could use some TLC. The rubrics actually have to be added to the grade book item for them to be functional. In the Discussion area the instructor is unable to grade them discussions and publish them to the grades area. In quizzes, students are not able to see the rubric at all. If the rubric functioned in these two tools like they do in the dropbox they would be a very useful tool.
  • The discussion area could benefit from a few different enhancements. There is currently no way to grade group restricted discussions without having to manually enter the grades in the grade book or setup a different grade item for each group and then someone restrict those grade book items to individual groups. It is not an easy process one way or the other. The discussion area would also benefit from the ability to add categories so that Forums could be grouped by a certain category (i.e. Units)
  • D2L needs to invest some time and resources to develop/redevelop blogging, journaling, and wiki in the LMS.
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Likelihood to Renew
It wasn't user friendly enough for me. I had a difficult time navigating it and didn't want to waste too much time trying to figure it all out. If it were more clear cut and to the point I think it would be more worthwhile for someone like me.
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Our faculty and students are satisfied with D2L, find its features to be mostly intuitive, and it is sufficient for our needs. After version 10.4, D2L will be going to a continuous incremental release model, which will allow them to innovate more frequently. The introduction of version 10 has been a tremendous improvement over prior versions. D2L has integrated well with our ERP (Peoplesoft) and it has become a core part of our technology suite.
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Usability
For shorter learning courses it is probably very capable and gets the job done very nicely. It can be engaging while keeping the users motivated with the gamification features. There are some technical challenges while doing longer courses. But they can be fixed with further updates to the platform and is a promising front.
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For me, someone who is reasonably technologically proficient, it was a bear to learn, but once I did it was relatively intuitive. However, for most of the professors I work with who are not comfortable with technology, I can see how they would be overwhelmed by D2L and then, as a result, just refuse to use it--which is what is happening to a certain degree
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Reliability and Availability
On a few occasions, I've logged in to issue a test to a staff member and my course would just spin. I've had to reschedule several test attempts due to this. In my opinion, the issue was not resolved by Adobe
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Both students and instructor enjoy the 24-hoiur access. After, all isn't that the point of online learning. As an instructor located in an Eastern time zone state it is great to connect with students located in a Pacific time zone state. I have gotten comments about the early hours I am in the course room grading assignments . . . 4:00 a.m. PST; 7:00 a.m. EST So, it's sleep time for my students and "first cup of coffee" time for me.
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Performance
The performance of Adobe Captivate Prime is also extremely good. The user interface is fast and easy to load. The complexity is not nearly as bad as some of the other programs on the market. Speed was not impacted.
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Easy to navigate; little to no delay from one section of the course room to another; actually fun to use after overcoming the learning curve.
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Support Rating
I think they have a competent, friendly and "resolving" team. I have only ever been met with a willingness to assist any and every query I have come across. Roy who is one of the technical people is amazing, and so is my Customer Success Manager, Hema! I do not know what I would do without them.
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I have had excellent support from Desire2Learn. Any ticket that I submit is acknowledged immediately and the correction is usually almost as quick. We use this for thousands of classes and it is pretty well liked by both faculty and students. We have been using it for almost 4 years now and most of our instructors have become pretty proficient with it.
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In-Person Training
Training by my staff was quick. Could have been a bit longer. Had to pick up on things myself
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Did not participate in the in-person training due to distance; training was completed online
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Online Training
No answers on this topic
The training provided online did not, necessarily, fit the version of the system that I was using. Screens were somewhat different and not all options were readily available. This could have been due to customization on the part of my institution however, I rather believe it was due to version changes and training materials not yet being updated.
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Implementation Rating
Trial period was great, and It let me plenty of time to try the different feature of the platform. However, when we decided to move forward, the ADOBE team was slow and not reactive at all. Actually after 2 years, I am still waiting for answers which is quite unacceptable.
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The D2L implementation team listened to our concerns and built a system based upon our needs. We wanted to keep them after the initial implementation.
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Alternatives Considered
We have long used open source learning management platforms, such as Moodle. However, the "free" cost ends up being misleading, since the costs of installation, customization, and web hosting are often difficult to calculate. A SaaS scheme is more controllable and allows you to forget about all the technical problems and focus on what is important: training
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In looking at Brightspace versus its competitors currently, it continues to provide the widest functionality, great value, and better ability to tailor the user experience of it to our organizations needs. The longer that our institution has had Brightspace, the more we've been able to leverage it for one-off projects and long-term organizational needs, many of which would not have been possible if we would've had a competitor's product.
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Scalability
The product's overall scalability and flexibility is extremely good. I wish that the other products our company uses were this flexible! The product is easy to deploy across multiple departments and teams as needed.
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During my first semester working with Desire2Learn the integrated learning management system was more down than up. This meant reconfiguring assignment due dates, frustration for both the instructor, students, and help desk staff. After an upgrade, Desire2Learn has been reliable.
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Return on Investment
  • Apple built its own LMS (The Grove) on top of the Adobe Learning Manager with Saba, so overall it was a great experiment.
  • Adobe Learning Manager is really useful for bringing learners together in one place, under a unified solution.
  • Customer satisfaction equals more learners with an appetite to learn.
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  • I cannot speak to whether this system is less expensive than the more fully featured Blackboard, but employees are far less efficient, frustrated, and require frequent calls to the help center to set up fairly simple course templates.
  • I have been asked to consider teaching courses which will be completely online at my current institution. I have done such online courses several times at other universities, but I have decided Desire2Learn is too frustrating and cumbersome to do so. I am now exploring using Google Drive to teach a course online. Otherwise, I will not teach online until required or I find an alternate system.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Learning Manager Screenshots

Screenshot of the platform for all learning needs.Screenshot of guided learning journeys.Screenshot of gamification.Screenshot of actionable insight from analytics.Screenshot of learning that’s engaging.Screenshot of measurable analytics.

D2L Brightspace Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of