There are 800 LMS in the world – most are viable businesses with active clients. Why are there so many LMS development companies? Because no LMS is created equal, each serves different clients.
We couldn’t compare all 800 LMS, but let’s look at the most popular ones – and figure out who they are for.
LMS stands for Learning Management System. It’s a digital platform for organizing, delivering, and tracking educational content. LMS is software where people go to study, but it’s also where admins track learner progress.
What Types of LMS Exist?
Open-source vs Commercial. Open-source means that the LMS is free, anyone can download or contribute to them. Note, that with open source you’ll need to host your LMS by yourself. There’s no tech support either, you’ll be on your own. Unless you hire a 3rd party company that’ll maintain the software for you.
Commercial software is the old school distribution model. A LMS development company makes an LMS and sells it to the customer. It’s more expensive but includes perks like technical support and cloud hosting.
Cloud vs Self-hosted. Cloud LMS are hosted on the servers of the developer, while self-hosted LMS don’t provide hosting. If you choose a self-hosted LMS, you’ll need to either set up private servers or go to an LMS hosting company that will take care of it.
Corporate vs Academic. Academic LMS are tailored for class schedules, grading, and academic content. Corporate LMS are suited for employee onboarding, skill tracking, and compliance training. These features are often similar, so LMS development companies often serve both academic and corporate clients simultaneously.
Simple vs Advanced Analytics. Some LMS only track grades and studying time, while others use AI and xAPI for advanced analytics. It’s a huge topic, and we have a separate article on LMS analytics. Feel free to read it.
What Are the Best LMS Development Companies?
Here’s a list of popular LMS. They are in no particular order because each LMS serves slightly different audiences.
Aristek Systems
The LMS for Content Publishers
Aristek Integration Tool is a perfect LMS for content publishers. While major LMS are great for schools and universities, they do not integrate with each other very well. So if a content provider gets an LMS, they struggle selling content to customers with another software. With Aristek, publishers can sell curriculum to districts, regardless of their LMS.
Canvas
Most Popular LMS in K-12
Canvas is the most popular K-12 LMS in the United States that’s also popular in higher education and corporate sectors. Customers choose it for the integration options – some eLearning development companies can integrate hundreds of 3rd party tools with Canvas. Another advantage is the intuitive design that helps educators create engaging content.
D2L Brightspace
Personalized Learning & Analytics
Brightspace focuses on personalized learning. With adaptive learning technologies, students get to choose what they learn next, instead of being forced to learn materials. Like some other LMS, Brightspace has great analytic tools that empower instructors to track student progress. Brightspace developers promote interactive learning environments and collaboration between learners.
Moodle
World’s Most Popular Open-source LMS
Moodle is an open-source LMS. In part thanks to the free options, Moodle is popular globally. With thousands of plugins, Moodle is easily customizable. It used to have the reputation of an old school LMS, but Moodle 4 is a modern and sleek platform. Although it’s open-sourced, there are many companies that will host your Moodle instance.
Cornerstone
Most Popular Corporate LMS in the World
Cornerstone has 7000 clients and 125 million users. Brands like Samsung and DHL rely on it, but many universities do too. The LMS focuses on personalized development with custom learning paths. It also provides lots of data insights about employee learning productivity.
Docebo
LMS Development Company with AI
Docebo is a major corporate LMS with over 3500 clients worldwide, from Coca-Cola to Lego. They are a great choice for companies in need of an onboarding platform, customer education, or sales enablement software. Docebo is powered by AI, which makes content creation faster and more efficient. Meanwhile, some users feel that Docebo’s reporting tools are somewhat weak.
Edsby
LMS Company Focused on Student Collaboration
Edsby is a popular LMS company among K-12 school districts and private schools. They provide social learning, so students can collaborate and not just consume learning content. Edsby is compatible with most EdTech standards like LTI and OneRoster.
iSpring Learn
A Corporate LMS Used by a Million Learners
iSpring Learn is popular is big on compliance training, as a result, they are popular in automotive and healthcare businesses. It’s a great LMS for employee certification, but like other corporate LMS companies, iSpring also handles onboarding, skill training, and microlearning.
Talent LMS
A Simple Corporate LMS That You Can Deploy within a Week
Many LMS development companies try to cover the educational market – but Talent LMS doesn’t. Because of that, it’s stripped of many unnecessary features. And yet it still offers lots of personalization options. That’s why clients like Google and Open AI trust Talent LMS. One downside is that it doesn’t support SCORM.
Absorb LMS
A User-friendly Corporate LMS with an AI Assistant
Absorb is a corporate LMS company great for compliance, onboarding, and employee development. The platform is very user-friendly with an AI assistant that can take over some of the administrative tasks. The LMS will automate certificate renewals and remind employees about the training.
How to Integrate LMS with Other Software?
Depends on what you’re trying to integrate.
No-code integrations. Most LMS will have seamless integrations with MS Teams, Zoom, and other popular tools. If you choose wisely, there will be no coding required for such integrations.
Custom integrations via API. Major LMS will typically have API integrations. API is a programming interface that links services with each other. You’ll need to hire developers, but you’ll get to integrate LMS with another software app.
Integrate LMS with another LMS or SIS. You’d do this if you are a curriculum publisher, and your clients have different LMS from yours. Even then, you’ll probably be able to export content via SCORM – but that’s not what school districts expect. They’ll want an LTI integration.
Yet most LMS don’t export content via LTI. To get clients with different LMS, you’ll need an intermediary tool. If you want to know more, read about LMS content integration.
What About Custom LMS Development Companies?
If you need a custom LMS development company, we’re here to help.
Our LMS are used by millions of people, from students to businesses. Here are just a couple of examples: a major K-12 LMS, LMS Integration Tool , and business software for US school districts.
Summing Up
Every LMS is different, so check which one fits you best. Some are great for corporate training, others are perfect for K-12 education.
Smaller LMS companies develop niche solutions – like our customizable LMS for publishers. They fill the market gaps with unique features.
Want to learn more about LMS? Get in touch. We’ll help you find the right LMS specifically for your needs.
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