Training Industry is the most trusted source of information on the business of learning. Our Top eLearning Authoring Tools List is based on thorough analysis of the capabilities, experience and expertise of eLearning authoring tool providers.
eLearning authoring tools refer to software and applications that facilitate the development of eLearning with functions that support creating, editing, reviewing, testing and configuring eLearning. Today’s eLearning authoring tools support distributed eLearning that is cost-efficient to produce and incorporate in an organization’s learning strategies and delivery technologies.
We continuously monitor the training marketplace looking for the best providers of eLearning authoring tools that offer a strong and diverse set of features and capabilities. This annual list is designed to help buy-side organizations in their search for the right training partners.
Selection of this year’s Top eLearning Authoring Tools Companies List was based on the following criteria:
- Leadership and innovation of authoring tool.
- Breadth and quality of authoring tool features and capabilities.
- Company size and growth potential.
- Quality and number of clients.
- Awards, recognition and competitive differentiation.
Looking for an eLearning authoring tool provider for you or your organization?
Click on a company’s logo below to find more information about its products and services. Continue scrolling for this year’s eLearning Authoring Tools Watch List Companies.
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Due to the diversity of services included in authoring tools, no attempt is made to rank the companies.
Top 20 Companies

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Adapt Learning
The Adapt Learning Project, established in 2013, has developed the leading framework for creating digital learning content supported by a front-end authoring tool, all available for free under a GPL open-source license.
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Adobe Inc.
San Jose, California
With the 2019 release of Adobe Captivate, create beautiful, mobile-ready courses in minutes with the all new quick start projects, ready-to-go slides and out-of-the-box interactions. Edit scalable video graphics and convert them to buttons, play overlay videos by clicking a virtual reality hotspot, and add multiple overlay slides to interactive video at any point.
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The Game Agency
Stamford, Connecticut
The Game Agency makes corporate training more fun and effective with the power of game-based solutions. The Game Agency’s intuitive game builder, The Training Arcade®, transforms training from passive to active and enhances learning while providing robust analytics. Training games are their passion and have led their team to coin the phrase, "Play with purpose."
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Elucidat
Brighton United Kingdom
Elucidat makes it easier for large teams to produce digital learning at scale, enabling their business to respond to change faster. With Elucidat, organizations can reduce time to learn, decentralize learning production and widen their impact. This enables teams to reduce costs while increasing business performance – ensuring its spot as a top authoring tool.
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dominKnow Learning Systems
Ontario Canada
dominKnow continues to push the boundaries of what modern e-learning authoring tools can do. By creating more than just e-learning in one integrated system, authors have the power and flexibility to create content to fill any formal course, performance support or microlearning need. This allows authors to do more faster.
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Kineo
Brighton United Kingdom
Kineo helps businesses improve performance through learning and technology. Kineo founded the free, award winning, open source e-learning tool, Adapt, to make e-learning development accessible to all. Kineo provides organizations support in learning and using Adapt to create exceptional e-learning, including training, templates, hosting and support.
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SmartBuilder
Encinitas, California
SmartBuilder provides authoring software and consulting services for creating performance-focused e-learning. SmartBuilder is the only e-learning authoring tool that provides the power of programming to instructional designers, educators and other non-programmers to quickly create games, scenarios and other forms of meaningful interactivity.
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MOS - MindOnSite
Lausanne Switzerland
For almost 20 years, MOS Chorus has proven its reliability in the digital learning market with its MOS Chorus platform. MOS Chorus is a learning management system and learning content management system platform that enables the creation of rapid agile instructional design online, as well as in collaborative mode and “haute couture” portals with the ability to fully customize the learner’s environment.
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Articulate
New York, New York
Articulate is committed to making e-learning development as easy as possible and putting people first in all that they do. Constantly innovating to make it easy for developers to create engaging e-learning, Articulate’s applications have served more than 104 million learners in 151 countries in learning new skills via their online courses.
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iSpring Solutions, Inc.
Alexandria, Virginia
iSpring Solutions is an international software company focused on providing professional e-learning authoring tools used by over 21,000 companies and 4,000 educational institutions worldwide. Founded in 2001, iSpring is committed to developing high-quality desktop and web-based solutions for corporate training, e-learning and content creation.
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Area9 Lyceum
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Area9 Lyceum builds 21st-century skills and competencies through the world’s first four-dimensional learning platform, Area9 Rhapsode. Based on more than 20 years of research on human factors and cognition, their AI-based authoring, curation and delivery platform offers truly personalized learning at scale.
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eXact learning solutions
Genoa Italy
eXact learning solutions is the leading global knowledge transfer learning content management system provider, supporting digital transformation for organizations in the way they re-use, author, manage and deliver content. eXact's all-in-one content technology includes collaborative authoring, structured and workflow-based content management, and multiple output delivery.
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Learning Pool
Derry United Kingdom
Learning Pool is staffed by experts in workplace learning with experience in delivering learning to hundreds of organizations around the world. The Learning Pool team creates the content and technology solutions that engage and empower modern learners. Learning Pool is passionate about customer success, and their customers trust them to deliver long lasting value and a great return on investment.
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Growth Engineering
Windsor United Kingdom
Founded in 2004, Growth Engineering is staffed by research-backed learning experts. Growth is passionate about creating engaging online training solutions that result in meaningful business impact. They are laser-focused on making learning more fun and engaging, thereby helping learners unleash their inner superheroes.
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CD2 Learning
Overland Park, Kansas
CD2’s learning and development system is an enterprise SaaS platform that organizations can scale and match to their needs (including learning management system capabilities, customer relationship management system capabilities, built-in content authoring tools, gamification and social collaboration capabilities). From a single platform organizations can create, manage, deliver and track their valuable content.
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Brainshark
Waltham, Massachusetts
Brainshark provides award-winning content authoring tools and sales enablement software for an always-ready sales force. Any businessperson can easily create, update and deliver engaging sales learning content that is available on-demand and powers sales effectiveness. Dashboards track learners’ progress and give a holistic view of team readiness.
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Intrepid
Seattle, Washington
Intrepid delivers learner centric, intuitive content for organizations looking to solve their most critical business challenges.
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Trivantis
Deerfield Beach, Florida
For 20 years, Trivantis has been innovating the training industry by creating award-winning authoring products, such as Lectora® for authoring and CenarioVR for immersive learning. As the leader of learning accessibility, Trivantis serves clients across the world including global enterprises, government agencies, educational institutions and more.
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Gomo Learning
Brighton United Kingdom
Gomo allows learning and development teams around the world to make the e-learning production process efficient and collaborative. With authoring, delivery and analytics – whether an organization already has an established learning infrastructure or nothing at all – Gomo saves time, effort and money while supporting more dynamic, scalable and seamless learning.
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Easygenerator
Rotterdam Netherlands
The content creating process with instructional designers that interview subject matter experts (SMEs) is too slow, too expensive and the content is hard to maintain. Easygenerator enables the SME to put his or her knowledge directly into a course or an assessment, thus saving time and resources and supporting the author while doing so.
Watchlist Companies
Watchlist
Our 2020 eLearning Authoring Tools Watch List is intended to help buyers of training services evaluate eLearning authoring tools providers, representing emerging or unique strengths and capabilities.
Selection of the Watch List is based on the same criteria used for Top 20 companies.
Click on a company’s logo below to find more information about its products and services.
Due to the diversity of services included in authoring tools, no attempt is made to rank the companies.

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Learnetic
Gdansk Poland
Learnetic
Gdansk Poland
There is no other tool designed for the educational market that offers users so many critical features. Learnetic SA believes in an egalitarian education with access to knowledge for everyone. Learnetic’s software allows organizations to create accessible, adaptive and responsive courses with the largest number of easy-to-implement interactivities.
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ej4
St. Louis, Missouri
ej4
St. Louis, Missouri
Since 2004, ej4 has delivered the unexpected in the e-learning industry. Their unique style of microlearning videos combines instructional design with adult learning theories and is delivered via contemporary video design. ej4’s modern learning management system is simple, intuitive and mobile, so employees have the freedom to learn anywhere, anytime.
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Hurixdigital
Mumbai India
Hurixdigital
Mumbai India
HurixDigital is a pioneer in delivering digital content solutions for enterprises globally. Hurixdigital enables clients in their digital journey with cloud-based platforms and training solutions. Kitaboo Author is a cloud-based authoring environment used to create native content and publish the output in a reflowable format.
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Netex Learning
Oleiros Spain
Netex Learning
Oleiros Spain
Netex is obsessed with great learning experiences, which they have curated in their SaaS content management and authoring platform – contentCloud. It offers a professional digital authoring tool for organizations to take content to another level with collaborative activities, classroom tools, teacher authoring and advanced learning analytics.
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ClickLearn
Copenhagen Denmark
ClickLearn
Copenhagen Denmark
ClickLearn creates user instructions, e-learning and process videos for business software in eight different learning formats. ClickLearn can auto-upgrade all learning materials to newer or changed product versions.
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Coassemble
Newcastle Australia
Coassemble
Newcastle Australia
Coassemble is an integrated online training platform that combines intuitive, cloud-based authoring with the functionality of a learning management system. With Coassemble, anyone can create engaging e-learning content in minutes and share that content from a single integrated platform.
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Warp VR
Delft Netherlands
Warp VR
Delft Netherlands
Warp VR is a unique SaaS solution enabling clients to easily create, distribute and analyze interactive, story-based VR training scenarios suited for all situations. Organizations can integrate Warp VR into their current learning management system use this proven method to effectively train their workforce.
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mysimpleshow
Miami, Florida
mysimpleshow
Miami, Florida
By the explanation experts™ at simpleshow, mysimpleshow is a do-it-yourself, online video creation tool. With the help of artificial intelligence, users can turn any message into an engaging video in seconds. Simply enter text and sit back while the explainer engine does the rest. Organizations can simplify their content and captivate their audience every day using mysimpleshow.
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Gnowbe
San Francisco, California
Gnowbe
San Francisco, California
Over 81% of organizations are switching to mobile microlearning and choosing Gnowbe because of its simplicity in creating a sequential learning journey for users. Gnowbe measures effective behavior change by embedding constant reminders, spaced repetition, active recall and gamification mechanics into the content authoring journey.
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Gutenberg Technology
Montreuil France
Gutenberg Technology
Montreuil France
Gutenberg Technology builds solutions that enable companies to leverage their biggest asset – their intellectual capital. Knowledge is power only if it’s applied, and organizations typically do not fully utilize this asset. Gutenberg Technology’s goal is to help organizations unlock critical content, so they can efficiently deploy it to employees and customers.