Top 10 eLearning Authoring Tools You Should Know in 2023

In the past two years, eLearning has shifted from being an option to a critical success factor for businesses. Corporate demands for continuous employee education have been growing louder each year. As vital information changes rapidly, employees need to be in the know – immediately. Authors and learners must adapt to a changing landscape.  

According to LinkedIn’s 2018 report on workplace learning, surveys found that as many as 90% of corporations offer digital learning to employees. Source: LinkedIn

This need for easy access to on demand information has shifted from the classroom setting (formal learning) to the flow of work (informal learning) where learners are accessing information whenever and wherever they are.

The rise in demand comes with a substantial challenge—creating and delivering a diverse range of content that caters to the unique learning needs of users worldwide. And this challenge is further amplified by the sheer number of eLearning authoring tools in the market—each boasting a wide array of distinct features—leaving content authors with the daunting task of picking the most suitable one for their use case.

As an eLearning content creator, you need to decide on an authoring tool that meets your authoring needs, accomplishes learner goals, offers flexibility, and adapts and evolves with the changing technology.

eLearning authoring features like easy content creation, publishing courseware to preferred formats, non-LMS publishing (publish to the web directly), access to previously created content for reuse, integrated stock library, support for eLearning standards, accessibility support, single source design, varied learning interactivity options, simulation and gamification, prompt-based instructions, learning assessment and reporting, etc. determine if the authoring platform you picked is the right one or not. With the help of these capabilities, you can author eLearning content that meet the desired learning outcomes and goals like:

• Improving quality of learning content
• Meeting varied learner needs with personalized learning
• Improving efficiency and effectiveness  
• Managing and delivering large volumes of content  
• Improve user engagement and course completion by offering time flexibility, offline access, etc.

In this article, we list the top 10 eLearning authoring tools you should know about in 2023, along with a summary of their features to help you decide which tool is best for you.

‍

1. dominKnow | ONE

As the leading cloud-based content creation and knowledge management platform, dominKnow | ONE has been a multi-award-winning eLearning authoring platform for over a decade. dominKnow | ONE won Brandon Hall’s gold award in “Best Advance in Content Authoring Technology” and "Best Advance in Content Management Technology" categories, along with four other awards in 2022. dominKnow | ONE delivers an impressive suite of features in a unified, collaborative environment, allowing digital content authors to create, collaborate, and manage content in various formats.

Some of its standout features are real-time collaboration capability, course content reusability, and the ability to utilize single source design to meet personalized needs. These features allow your teams to collaborate more effectively, to reuse content and content elements across courses, and develop single sourced projects that can adapt to unique needs. All of these save effort, time and money and allow for rapid efficient content creation.  

Another key factor which makes dominKnow | ONE the go-to authoring solution is support and training. Customers love the human support experience, and prompt response the dominKnow | ONE team offers.

Key Features:

• Unified platform with responsive and traditional content design and software simulation in the same product and interface along with central management to create, organize, tag and categorize all learning content

• Real-time collaboration feature allows admins, authors and reviewer teams to work together on projects regardless of their location
• Translation and localization feature for content creation in over 60 languages (supports XLS and XML export/import)
• Extensive customizability for all kinds of learning and responsive content authoring
• Diverse and powerful action-trigger-system that supports creative designs and gamification
• Support for intensive testing and assessment with adaptive testing, inline quizzing, question randomization, extensive question types and more ‍
• Software simulation (for Mac and Windows), with simulation elements such as 'show me', 'try me', 'guide me', ‘test me’ & downloadable PDF job aids ‍
• Versatile WYSIWYG theme designer enabling organizations to meet their unique needs for content appearance and design ‍
• Ready-to-use course templates for rapid course authoring ‍
• Support for no-LMS content publishing via dynamic publishing through Convey to public links  ‍
• Convert PowerPoint slides into engaging eLearning content

Pros

• Offers a complete feature-packed subscription with all the essential authoring tools for a smooth course creation experience
• Provides tools to create responsive pages and interactions to support effective learning across all devices
• Includes single-source authoring with resource tagging for effortless content categorization, search and re-use, works with courses, structures, learning objects, or pages  

• Enables easy content creation, management, dynamic delivery and sharing via Convey, helping reduce delivery time by as much as 90%
• Includes a robust search function for reusing content in new projects
• Supports engaging microlearning course authoring with a wide range  of themes, templates, infographics, games, comics, etc.  
• Supports creating courseware for formal eLearning, informal learning, job aids, knowledge base, product guides, and more  
• Comes with many built-in interactive widgets that make it easy to add engaging elements like flip cards, lightbox pages, etc.  
• Exceptional human-support and self help including: context sensitive help, product tours, training guides built with dominKnow | ONE,   a searchable knowledge base, integrated inline help, community , and live meet ups.
• Offers editable, off-the-shelf content within the authoring interface as add-ons
• Offers a mobile app that supports offline learning

Cons

• New users may need time to get used to the interface due to the many options, but there are permission and interface settings that can simply it for less experienced users
• No text-to-speech
• No audio or video editor
• Dynamic delivery option is an add on
• Smaller stock art library compared to others

No direct support for AR or VR

Pricing: Available on request; 14-day free trial available

‍

2. iSpring  

iSpring is a suite best known for being a PowerPoint-based authoring platform. Because iSpring integrates with MS PowerPoint, the platform offers a familiar interface for course creation, making it popular among many new and non-tech-savvy authors. It is especially apt for basic authoring needs that involve converting PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and PDFs into eLearning content.

More advanced authors seeking a more dynamic authoring platform choose dominKnow | ONE over iSpring.

iSpring is also a multi-award-winning authoring tool that won Brandon Hall’s bronze medal in 2018 for “Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for SMB”.

Key Features:

• Works within Microsoft PowerPoint for rapid course development  
• Offers an interactive dialogue simulator and a decent tool for making quizzes and surveys  

• Offers text-to-speech function and XLIFF translation support  
• Support no-LMS publishing - publish your course directly to the web  
• Lets you create flip books that mimic an actual book
• Offers extensive character library with 81,000+ different characters

Pros:

• Offers discounted plans for freelancers and academics  
• Has a familiar interface for making course authoring simple for newbies  
• Superior PowerPoint conversion capabilities
• Offers extensive content library with close to 70,000 assets, including icons, templates and backgrounds

Cons:

• Works only as a local installation—requires PowerPoint to function
• Lacks capabilities like collaboration, content re-use etc. in desktop version
• No software simulation capabilities

• No independently operating platform or application is available for authoring
• Limited software simulation support through iSpring Converter Pro 11 add-on
• Only compatible with Windows, no Mac support  
• All the essential features, like the content library, text-to-speech etc., are only available as add-ons  
• Only suited for small and medium businesses   

Pricing: Starts at $770 per author, annually (essentials like the content library, collaboration and text-to-speech features are not included)
‍

3. Articulate  

Articulate 360, featuring two flagship products Storyline and Rise, provides an eLearning development suite with advanced customization features, extensive asset libraries, and collaboration tools. Articulate secured Brandan Hall’s gold award in 2022 in the “Technology Excellence” category. Despite these plus points, authors of all organizational sizes prefer dominKnow | ONE over Articulate because of the steep learning curve and occasional usability issues that come with Articulate.  

Key Features:

• Offers access to 12+ million royalty-free stock content  
• Offers collaboration and review capabilities with Review 360 app  

• Offers live and on-demand online training  
• Offers pre-built but customizable course themes  
• Storyline interface is available in five languages: English, Chinese, French, German, and Spanish  
• Supports animations, interactions, media & simulations for creating interactive & engaging courses
• Offers a range of assessment types and support for question banks  

• Offers a built-in text-to-speech and close captioning features
• Offers Reach 360 an LMS alternative to distribute training to external learners at additional cost

Pros:

• Offer a single subscription with access to all tools

• Very active and helpful community
• Offers 50% academic discount and a separate plan for freelancers  
• Offers a large content library  
• Basic software simulation capabilities
• Supports HTML course export for self-hosting

• Supports 360° images and videos for immersive experience

Cons:

• Pricey  
• Has multiple products like Rise 360 and Storyline 360 with completely different interfaces, which can be confusing for new authors

• Limited design and interactivity capabilities in the responsive design option
• Requires external translation and additional effort for more language support  
• Has limited customization for course themes  
• Some users report occasional usability issues
• No support for Mac with Storyline

• Limited interactive design for Rise
• Significantly steeper learning curve for Storyline

Pricing: $1,399 per author, annually (Teams Plan)
‍

4. Adobe Captivate  

Captivate is a feature-packed authoring platform by Adobe that is capable of creating responsive eLearning courses, software demonstrations, simulations & more. It also provides an immersive learning experience with Virtual Reality capabilities and interactive video features.

Despite all the features, many users find the configuration, usability and interface of Adobe Captivate to be fairly complex, requiring a steep learning curve.

Key Features

• Offers enhanced design capabilities and multiscreen authoring  
• Support for generating text-to-speech content automatically  
• Supports green screen feature  
• Offers a wide range of features for creating interactive and immersive eLearning experiences  

• Supports integration with Adobe CC and Microsoft PowerPoint  
• Offers easy find and replace/swap feature for fonts, images, interactions and more  
• Available for Windows and Mac  
• Supports bulk questions import as CSV
• Build long scroll interactive content

• Stylish text presets
• Rich media asset library

Pros:

• Affordably priced

• 360-degree VR compatibility for immersive experience
• Strong software simulation capabilities
• Enhanced responsive design capabilities with Fluid Boxes 2.0 and multiscreen authoring
• Excellent support for creating accessible content that meets Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 standards
• Automatic voiceover functionality to turn text into speech

• Customizable green screen feature
• Enhanced image editing  

Cons:

• Has a steep learning curve due to a large number of features and functionalities
• Doesn't have a very friendly UI
• No chat support or phone support  
• Depends highly on Adobe CC for added functionality like video editing
• Does not effectively support single-source authoring

• PPTX import functionality requires MS PowerPoint installed  
• To use some features Adobe CC is required and is licensed separately
• Asset library comes at an additional cost

Pricing: Available on request
‍

5. Elucidat  

Elucidat is a scalable, cloud-based eLearning authoring tool for large organizations. It offers SCORM and xAPI-compliant content authoring with collaborative features, ready-to-use templates, and a mobile-responsive editor. The platform also supports role-based course development access, HTML5 publishing, and performance evaluation capabilities but is fairly expensive and lacks essential features like screen and video recording, amongst others.

Key Features

• Allows for team focused workflow streamlining  
• Offers customizable page layouts and content personalization  

• Supports responsive course creation for any device  
• Has flexible item animation to animate almost any course element
• Supports automatic course translation to 75 languages and also offers XLIFF export for additional languages
• Offers team collaboration with access level control  
• Offers course template repository along with customization option  

• Supports bulk asset replacement

Pros

• Capable of managing eLearning content at a large scale  
• Facilitates streamlined workflows for teams  

• Supports flexible course element animation
• Support auto-translation of courses
• Responsive and timely customer support
• Comes with five users in the basic plan
• Offers several different components to Analytics like trends, page progress, and more

Cons

• Very pricey
• Preferred for large-scale organizations  
• No screen or video recording support  

• No software simulation capabilities
• Less flexibility compared to other platforms  
• Limited control over custom interactions  
• Analytics, translation, and associated features available as an add-on in the starting and mid-level plans  
• Limit on course live release in each plan

Pricing: Available on request
‍

6. Easygenerator

Easygenerator is a cloud-based eLearning authoring tool designed for both novices and experienced individuals. This platform is also a multi-award winner with Brandon Hall’s silver medal in 2019 for “Excellence in Technology Award”. The platform has many subscription-level limitations, like no support for collaboration, analytics, xAPI, etc., that typically hamper the authoring experience. Such limitations also restrict the usability of the course and the authoring platform.

Key Features:

• Offer a very user-friendly interface  
• Supports seamless remote collaboration with features like real-time content creation and comment exchange  

• Supports course export to SCORM or xAPI formats (not in basic plans)
• Offers comprehensive tracking and insights (not in basic plans)  
• Offers access to extensive stock images and template library  
• Supports course publishing to a website as an HTML package

Offer engagement metrics and learner satisfaction surveysYou can share a private link and results in their tracking engine

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Offer AI powered course creation with automated brainstorming, questions generation and text simplification
• Provides basic LMS features and learner analytics and reporting
• Video Editor

• Supports text to speach
• Automatic course translation to 75 languages
• PowerPoint conversion

Cons:

• Limited capabilities of advanced creative features such as video editing or gamification  
• Minimal features are offered in the basic plan—only 10 courses and 100 learners, no support for xAPI, and many more  
• All essential features like team collaboration, question analytics, advanced learning analytics, reviews certificates, etc. require a plan upgrade costing almost 5x the basic plan
• No software simulation capabilities

Pricing: Starting at $1299/year (with very limited features)
‍

7. Camtasia  

Primarily a screen recording and video editing software, Camtasia is a TechSmith product used widely in eLearning for creating video tutorials and presentations. It is a popular tool for educators and businesses due to its simplicity and versatility. Despite its versatility, the tool is limited to video-based course creation, restricting authors from creating highly engaging and versatile eLearning courses.

Features

• Offers advanced video recording and editing capabilities  
• Supports on-screen mouse pointer animation and editing  

• Offers a built-in quiz maker with very basic functionalities
• Ability to export training modules for LMS use with SCORM support  
• Offers video creation-specific templates and effect library  

Pros

• Considered the most advanced video editor amongst other authoring platforms
• Great for video creation with drag-drop and easy-to-use features
• Available for Mac and Windows  
• One-time license cost  
• Discount available for non-profit and academic use

Cons

• Not a true eLearning authoring platform - limited to producing video content only  
• Very limited interaction or engagement element support for quizzes  
• Costly compared to other video editing tools  

• No cloud or web platform available  

Pricing: $299/license

8. Xyleme  

Xyleme is Brandon Hall's “Excellence in Technology” 2021 silver award winner  that simplifies content creation, management, and analysis. It is a platform that combines the capabilities of CCMS and LCMS into a studio to facilitate content creation, review, update and sharing while supporting reuse, regulatory compliance, and data-driven content optimization.  

Key Features

• Offers a cloud environment for single-source eLearning content authoring, management, and distribution  

• Office a central content library for easy content access and reuse  
• Supports real-time collaboration for authoring and review  
• Support detailed content access control level and deep analytics  
• Supports all common interactions like drag and drop, fill in the blank, etc., to engage the learner  
• Supports integration with other popular authoring platforms to import more complex interactions  

• Offer version tracking, resource usage, linking monitor and modification history  
• Supports XLIFF export for translation

Pros

• Supports easy personalization of content through content tailoring

• Maintains central content library for easy access and update
• Supports content export in SCORM, web and print formats
• Web-based, easy-to-use browser tool
• Offers live review feature with real-time feedback​

Cons

• Features can be lackluster for specific scenarios, e.g., no support for gamification  
• No software simulation capabilities
• Offers basic interactions and question types  
• No support for hybrid work, no Windows or Mac application  

• High learning curve  
• UX can be a challenge for some users
• No trial offered  
• Pricey

Pricing: Available on request

9. Lectora  

Lectora is known for its responsive course design, accessibility compliance, and powerful scenario-based learning capabilities. In 2021, Lectora won gold from Brandon Hall for  the “Best Advance in Sales Enablement and Performance Tools (SEP)” category. This authoring platform supports rapid instructional design creation by offering an extensive ready-to-use course template and stock content library.
‍

Lectora does not support VR and game-based learning. Many users even report that its UI is outdated. This authoring platform has a steep learning curve and is expensive compared to other authoring platforms.

Key Features:  

• Supports authoring of responsive courses

• Offers pre-built course logic and templates for faster development  
• Features an extensive stock library with audio, video, images, etc.  
• Supports collaborative authoring with versioning for teamwork  
• Supports desktop & online authoring
• Supports VR content through an add-on—CenarioVR (separate license)  
• Offers course exporting in 7 languages and XLIFF support for additional localization

Pros:

• Pervasive and highly customizable pre-built course logics, flows, and templates  
• Supports personalized and adaptive learning through a range of scenarios and interactive course templates  \
• Comes with ReviewLink—an integrated tool for review and feedback
• Supports collaborative authoring and review process with access control and roles  
• Offers built-in text-to-speech for generating content in different personas and dialects  
• Allows adding custom scripts, libraries, fonts, CSS, JS, HTML, etc.
• Basic software simulation capabilities

Cons:

• Very steep learning curve  
• Responsive design is based on developing multiple screens for each screen size
• Pricey
• Can be overwhelming for most users due to the extensive features  
• Expensive for small and mid-sized teams or individual developers  
• UI feels dated  
• VR and gamification support are only available as separate products (separate licensing is required for both)
• More expensive with VR and game support

Pricing: $1398 per author, annually

10. Gomo  

Gomo is a cloud-based eLearning authoring tool, allowing teams to collaborate and deliver courses seamlessly. With support for SCORM and xAPI, the platform offers responsive and adaptive design capabilities. This authoring platform offers three subscriptions with different features, but there are some major restrictions like included storage space limit, no telephone support, no access to personalized training, and no or limited reviewer access with entry-level plans.  

Key Features:

• Easy-to-use, cloud-based authoring platform with SCORM and xAPI support
• Offers access to decent content and stock library
• Support drag-and-drop course creation along with page copy-paste from one course to another
• Supports dynamic branching and feedback and multiple attempts on the same question for tailored learning
• Offers team management with user access control levels
• Offers multi-language authoring and course translation with XLIFF support  

Pros:

• Simple to use interface  
• Offers single instance resource storage, which allows you to update a resource across all courses  
• Offers microlearning styled product usage guide  
• Affordably priced
• Wide variety of templates and quizzes  
• Localization supported in 250+ languages

Cons:

• Lacks features like stock image/video library, HTML publishing via link (requires a separate subscription of LMS), etc.
• Limited storage and no review account available in the entry-level plans
• Team collaboration and review features only start with mid-tier subscription
• No screen recording feature
• Clunky and lengthy course creation architecture

Pricing: Available on request
‍

Empower Your eLearning with the Right Authoring Tool

Each platform in this list has been carefully selected and evaluated based on their unique capabilities, strengths, potential limitations, and user opinions to enable you to streamline your decision-making and choose the right eLearning authoring tool for your needs.

Whether it’s based on functionalities and features, user-friendliness, scalability, cost, or how well the tool aligns with your organization's unique needs, choosing the best eLearning authoring tool is just the beginning of your content creation  journey. navigate this journey and enable you to create engaging, learner-centric courses with round-the-clock expert support.

Supported by positive customer feedback across a wide range of review platforms and a continuous spree of awards, dominKnow | ONE is proud to be a top preference when it comes to choosing a complete content authoring and content management solution.

Reach out to us with any questions about dominKnow | ONE or if you’d like to get started with the 14-day free trial.