In a competitive industry, there are quite a few learning management systems on the market to help employers provide access to skill training courses and educational resources.
360Learning is one such platform. It’s an LMS designed to enable collaborative learning, offering features like collaborative content authoring and AI-assisted course generation.
In this article, we’ve laid out what this platform has to offer, its various features and ideal users. We’ve also broken down the areas where it comes up short, and all of this for one reason: To help you compare and contrast the best alternatives to 360Learning.
Why explore alternatives to 360Learning?
Much like with laser eye surgery, or hiring a contractor, it’s best to take your time in finding the best learning management provider. For one thing, employers are currently grappling with looming tech skill gaps. Research from Gartner shows that:
- 64% of managers don’t think their employees will keep up with future skill needs.
- 70% of employees haven’t even fully mastered the skills they currently use.
- The reskilling approach used by 77% of L&D execs isn’t working.
To take control of workplace training and skill development, you need a learning management system that offers control and a good overall balance of features. 360Learning certainly offers an exciting take on the idea of collaborative learning, but it’s not the ideal fit for every company.
About 360Learning
360Learning was founded in 2013, but their collaborative learning LMS has recently taken off. Today, they have approximately 1,800 customers in 120 countries, totaling about 1.8 million end-users. Prominent customers include AB Tasty, Dannon and Pizza Hut.
Their style of collaborative learning aims to move away from hierarchical, top-down approaches to training and education. The idea is that democratized course authoring tools allow anyone in an organization to be a knowledge provider or course coordinator.
Core features of 360Learning
When choosing a system to improve learning management, primary features are likely the first thing that’ll catch your eye. 360Learning’s LMS uses AI in a lot of its functions, including L&D and user management. The platform’s core features include:
- Co-authoring: Course authors can invite collaborators into their project to work on course content. This allows you to bring in knowledge experts from across your business without creating a drawn-out chain of direct reports.
- Reactions: Users can respond at any time during the course to let authors or course leaders know how well they’re engaging with the material. This allows people on all levels to take an active role in improving workplace training over time.
- Reporting: 360Learning offers a large number of packaged, data-driven reports to highlight usage trends and areas for improvement. Compared to the relatively subjective nature of user reactions, data-based reporting offers more solid, quantitative insights.
- LXP learning hub: A centralized hub with personalized user dashboards. As you’d expect, this hub lets users manage their course sign-ups, access training materials and track their progress. You can layer and nest groups as needed, and each academy has its own news feed for relevant updates.
- Academies: These are 360Learning’s way of streamlining the formation of learning groups. Course leaders and managers can group up employees and have them automatically assigned to relevant training programs or educational seminars.
Strengths and selling points
That list of core features may have already given you some idea of what this platform does well. On the other hand, it may have made what you’re looking for in potential 360Learning alternatives. For now, let’s look at its strengths as an LMS:
- A broad array of systems: 360Learning offers plenty of different options to help you navigate L&D in your business. From core features like its co-authoring tools and learning hub to smaller features like AI-driven surveys and screencast demo functionality.
- Depth of functionality: Each 360Learning product contains a set of tools and sub-features. For example, their authoring tool has a variety of AI-assisted functions, as well as file management, comments and feedback functionality.
- Packaged reporting metrics: 360Learning’s reports consolidate data into actionable insights to save time you can use for improving training and course management.
- Collaborative content: Many of 360Learning’s various features support their ethos of collaborative learning management. Their co-authoring, file-sharing and feedback systems help course leaders, knowledge specialists and even employees in general contribute to L&D.
- Flexible purchase plans: 360Learning offers three tiered pricing packages based on the number of users. They also offer a number of paid add-ons to customize their system. This flexibility can be a boon for companies with limited budgets.
Pricing and best fit
The ideal clients for this platform are organizations employing between 500 and 10,000 people. In theory, this means they can handle learning management for large enterprise businesses, though we delve further into this topic in the next section. As 360Learning emphasizes collaborative learning management, companies that rely more on top-down training methodologies may prefer alternative solutions.
360Learning offers three pricing tiers based on the size of your user base:
- Team ($): Designed for smaller teams, this tier supports 5 to 100 users and includes essential features like collaborative authoring, content integrations, reactions, and mobile app access.
- Business ($$): Ideal for medium-sized groups, this tier adds advanced features such as user roles, nested groups, SSO and API access, and email support.
- Enterprise ($$$): Tailored for large organizations, this tier unlocks the full range of 360Learning features, including expanded options for L&D project management.
Each tier’s pricing scales based on the number of users, providing flexibility for organizations of different sizes.
For additional costs, you can also purchase any combination of several add-ons, which include:
- Virtual coaching tools
- A translation add-on for globalization
- Live training functionality
- An advanced version of their mobile app
- Champion, a tool for empowering knowledge specialists
Drawbacks
All of this sounds great on paper. That said, there’s clearly more to consider, or this article wouldn’t be about alternatives to 360Learning, would it?
For all of the positives and handy features, 360Learning has a few flaws worth pointing out:
- A lack of user-friendliness: 360Learning has a less modern interface than other options, meaning it struggles to match the consumer-friendly interfaces of other LMS platforms. Learning management in modern business needs to be accessible and intuitive.
- Time-consuming course management: Its automation features are far from the best, which can cause high administrative overhead and limit scalability.
- Shallow Microsoft Teams integration: 360Learning does technically have Teams integration, but doesn’t really take advantage of it. Instead of using Microsoft Teams as a hub, 360Learning instead creates yet another login for employees to remember.
- Little flexibility for content creation: Despite providing AI assistance and enabling collaboration, creating content in 360Learning is surprisingly inflexible. The only available formats are document uploads, cheat sheets, questions and recordings, which don’t offer much range.
- The costs build up: The range of prices on offer may initially seem like great financial flexibility. In truth, these paywalls lock off useful features. This, combined with the paid add-ons, mean using this LMS can get much pricier than you initially planned.
Now you’ve got a clear idea of what this product can offer as an LMS, and where it tends to fall down. With that in mind, let’s look at some 360Learning alternatives that might be a better fit for your organization.
1. Learn365 from Zensai: Alternative to 360Learning
We’re putting our best foot forward with our own AI-powered LMS, Learn365. As you can probably guess from the name, it’s designed from the ground up to be fully integrated and compatible with Microsoft 365 and Teams. Its customers include Aston University, BDO, and Nelson Mullins.
As part of our Human Success Platform, Learn365 is designed to holistically manage employee performance, engagement and development as a centralized platform in ways a standalone LMS can’t match. Its end-to-end automation and agile design are what make it one of the best alternatives to 360Learning.
Core features
Each LMS on this list has a lot going for it. The only reason we’re confident to include Learn365 with such fine company is because it has more than enough features to compete. These include:
- Fully integrated with Microsoft 365: As mentioned, Learn365 has full Microsoft 365 integration as part of our Human Success Platform, and can be accessed through Microsoft Teams. This means L&D takes place in systems your people already know, so you don’t have to waste time training people to use your training platform.
- AI-assisted course management: Use AI to quickly create courses and curate content from vast knowledge libraries to suit any professional need. The algorithm can even help individuals with recommended courses based on their skill gaps and professional goals.
- The Learn365 skills framework: This framework helps you map skills distributions across your organization to identify gaps in your organization, to ensure you’re delivering the courses and qualifications your people actually need.
- Secure SSO user management: Microsoft 365 integration means employees don’t have to memorize yet another work login. Single sign-on (SSO) user management provides accessibility and convenience while keeping compliant with cyber security regulations.
- The mobile app: Our Microsoft integrations even extend to the Learn365 mobile app, to ensure that training is fully accessible to frontline workers and deskless employees.
- Automated tracking and reporting: Learn365 tracks vital learning management stats like enrollment, course start and completion dates, role assignments and much more to provide a real-time view of training and development. Ready-made dashboards provide the latest info, while custom power BI reports and audit trail tracking let you drill down on any issue.
Strengths and selling points
Learn365’s main selling point is obviously its close integration with Microsoft services. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t keep mentioning it. Centralizing everything in Microsoft Teams makes learning management and access way more efficient, while the familiarity helps employees of all tech skill levels get stuck in.
Learn365’s other strengths include:
- End-to-end automation: Manual course creation and management entail so much busywork and upkeep. Learn365 circumvents that by automating everything, from enrollment and course recommendations to content curation and grading.
- The world’s largest online content library: Learn365’s vast content library gives you the educational resources to put together whatever kind of course you’ll need. Content365 lets you combine training materials from different sources for bespoke training. You can even add your own content libraries so that everything is accessible in one place.
- A lower total cost: Learn365 is one of the more affordable alternatives to 360Learning. By comparison, the basic Learn365 LMS is available for almost half of 360Learning’s starting cost.
- Support for collaborative learning: You may still be tempted by 360Learning if you want collaborative learning management. Fortunately, Learn365 has you covered here too. It supports collaboration with granular permissions, learner feedback, and custom dashboards for distinct learning channels.
- Engage365 and Perform365: Learn365 is only one of our services. Its companions focus on employee engagement and performance in their roles. One can help you track employee satisfaction with training, while the other provides confirmation of your training ROI.
Pricing and best fit
Learn365 is useful not only for SMBs, but also large businesses and huge enterprises too. Its comprehensive automation features, AI-powered course management and integration with widely used professional tools make it a highly scalable learning management solution.
As mentioned, Learn365 is also one of the more affordable 360Learning alternatives with the following price tiers:
- Freemium: Free to use with one content library, up to eight course and learning modules, and 100 monthly enrollments. Freemium users gain access to basic features including skill manager, audit trail, basic security and recovery, and third party integrations.
- Standard ($): Unlimited content libraries, modules and enrollments. This provides access to success planning and basic security and recovery.
- Professional ($): Access to everything from the Freemium and Standard subscriptions. Additionally, it includes the ability to copy courses across catalogs, and offline mobile synchronization.
- Select ($$): In addition to everything from the standard subscription, you get access to audit and penetration reporting, as well as more advanced security and data recovery features.
For a more complete picture of L&D’s impact on your organization, Learn365 can be used with Zensai’s other platforms, Engage365 and Perform365.
2. Docebo: Alternative to 360Learning
Docebo is an LMS that emphasizes flexibility. It allows businesses to generate custom pages for the management of courses, training materials and users. Its API is designed to accommodate integrations, and Docebo also offers their own collection of purchasable add-on modules.
Core features
Besides its capacity for flexibility and gamification, Docebo has a collection of features that make for an interesting entry on our list of 360Learning alternatives. These include:
- Docebo Virtual Coach AI bot
- Coach & Share collaboration tools
- Learning Impact metrics and surveys
- Process Automation
- Extended Enterprise to support partners, customers and members
Strengths and selling points
As with most alternatives to 360Learning, Docebo has its share of appealing selling points, such as:
- AI capabilities: Extensive AI features like its coaching bot allow Docebo to streamline learning and make bespoke recommendations.
- Replacing legacy LMS systems: As Docebo’s reputation grows, it’s replacing old enterprise LMS systems, as shown by high-profile clients such as Pizza Hut.
- High brand recognition: Docebo has great name recognition in various employee learning communities. This boosts employee buy-in, as it lends authority to your learning management policies.
- Breadth of features: Between AI coaching, analytical functions and multi-portal functionality, Docebo is a versatile option for enterprise businesses.
Limitations
As enticing as Docebo might be for enterprise businesses, there are still drawbacks to consider. Despite its versatility, there are a few issues:
- Limited integrations: There’s a lack of integration support for flow-of-work learning, which can cause gaps between training scenarios and real work. There also aren’t many options for streamlining admin, which is a vital LMS function.
- Escalating platform complexity: As the platform grows and gains more integrations and bolt-ons, it risks becoming bloated.
- Outdated creation and management tools: The options for creating and managing courses and content are fairly limited compared to more modern 360Learning alternatives.
- Not as customizable as it tries to be: Despite a robust API for integrations, it fails to meet the extension compatibility requirements common to a lot of organizations.
Pricing and best fit
Learn LMS, the core of Docebo’s platform, is available at a range of prices depending on the number of users:
- ($) for up to 300 employees
- ($$) for 500 employees
- ($$$) annually per learner for at least 5,000 employees
On top of that, Docebo offers a wide variety of add-ons including Coach & Share, Learning Impact, Discover and Extended Enterprise.
3. Cornerstone Learn: Alternative to 360Learning
Cornerstone Learn is just one module of its cloud-based, five-part talent experience platform. It uses SSO to centralize its content, which is presented as cards or tiles to organize different topics and forms of content. Some well-known Cornerstone customers include American Express, PayPal and Visa.
Core features
Cornerstone Learn doesn’t focus on collaborative learning management like other 360Learning alternatives do, although it does democratize learning through AI-driven personalization. Its core features include:
- Interactive content tiles for easy navigation
- Integrated third party content libraries via Cornerstone Content Anytime
- Personalized learning paths with AI
- Five modules: LMS, Core HR, Recruiting, Performance and LXP
Strengths and selling points
Cornerstone has its share of advantages that make it a… well, cornerstone of this list of 360Learning alternatives. These include:
- Modern UI sensibilities: A sleek user interface for both web browsers and mobile.
- Complex performance review automation: Automated review processes streamline feedback provision.
- Addresses a range of HR requirements: As a suite of tools, Cornerstone provides HR benefits beyond learning management.
- A wide range of content: Integrations with a variety of popular content sources and curated libraries.
Limitations
Like most alternatives to 360Learning, Cornerstone has its share of weaknesses, such as:
- Disjointed and repeated functionality: The separation between modules results in some feature gaps, or features in different modules that serve similar (i.e. redundant) functions.
- Lacks collaborative learning management: General learners cannot upload or create content of their own, unlike many 360Learning alternatives.
- Lack of support for custom requirements: It’s not easy to set up custom workflows, multiple user groups or hybrid setups.
- Poor compatibility with other systems: Doesn’t play well with common HR, productivity or management tools. You basically have to use the modules.
Pricing and best fit
Unlike other alternatives to 360Learning, Cornerstone is exclusively focused on mid- to large-sized businesses, with no separate service packages for SMBs. Other than that, they have customers in a wide variety of industries.
Cornerstone charges on an annual per module, per user basis. Each module costs the same. Their annual pricing plan per module ranges depending on how many users, going from 1,000 learners to over 20,000 learners.
Additionally, Cornerstone bundles different modules together on a case-by-case basis for a reduced cost. So, keep an eye out for a good deal.
4. TalentLMS: Alternative to 360Learning
TalentLMS is a SaaS-style learning management system designed with small businesses and individual teams in mind. Despite this, however, some of its major customers include Google, Amazon, eBay and Duolinguo, which is a testament to its quality.
Core features
As a smaller-scale option than other alternatives to 360Learning, it should come as no surprise that TalentLMS focuses on simplicity and accessibility. It includes such core features as:
- Course Builder with a graphic user interface (GUI)
- Course assignment automation
- Categories and paths (rules for content organization and access)
- Gamification via points, leaderboards, badges, levels, etc
- Theming customization for consistent internal branding
Strengths and selling points
As noted, TalentLMS’ biggest strength is its simplicity. But, if you want to get more specific, its biggest selling points are:
- Ease of use and configuration: The GUI system makes course building and content organization easy and intuitive.
- A standalone LMS: The ideal learning tool for small teams that don’t necessarily need a ton of other infrastructure.
- Easy automation: Native features like assigning courses to continue an employee’s learning path.
- Flexible pricing: Unlike other competitors that charge by the user, TalentLMS offers a range of affordable packages covering your whole team.
Limitations
As you might expect, there are drawbacks to a lack of complexity. The limitations of TalentLMS include:
- A lack of scalability: TalentLMS’ highest pricing tier caps out at 1,000 named users or 500 active users. This makes it impractical for medium to large businesses.
- No name-brand content providers: With only native content integration and a lack of well-known providers, TalentLMS lacks the rich content libraries of other providers.
- Lacking admin streamlining: TalentLMS doesn’t do much to streamline learning management admin, which is another scaling issue.
- Shares its niche: Although it stands out on this list, TalentLMS is very similar to other alternatives targeted at teams and small businesses.
Pricing and best fit
As noted from the beginning, TalentLMS focuses exclusively on individual teams and smaller organizations. As such, they aren’t really an option for big organizations looking for an LMS to roll out company-wide. They are, however, more affordable than other options with plans sitting around the ($$) scale.
Considerations for 360Learning alternatives
To finish up, let’s look at some key considerations to bear in mind when selecting 360Learning alternatives. It’s important to remember that every company’s situation is unique, and factor in the learning needs of your business and its employees.
Budgetary constraints
The costs of learning management systems can vary, as this list shows. Money saved on an LMS can be reinvested in other areas of learning and development, like third-party content packages. You might, for example, choose TalentLMS as one of the more budget-friendly alternatives to 360Learning.
Company size and scalability
While many LMS platforms on this list cater to large businesses, some pull it off better than others. Enterprise businesses especially need to facilitate training access across all the different areas and branches of the company. Your chosen solution must also be able to handle scaling for organizational growth in the future.
Key features
Different alternatives to 360Learning share many of its features in addition to their own. To choose the best LMS, you need to make a list of essential criteria. Which features do you need, and what do your employees want from a learning platform?
If your industry has strict regulatory requirements, for example, you’ll need something with support for comprehensive compliance training. If you have a lot of frontline workers, you’ll need a good mobile app. And, if your company is growing fast, you’ll need a training system with good onboarding support.
Ease of integration
An LMS is only as good as its compatibility with your existing tools. That’s why Learn365 is integrated with Microsoft 365, and why so many platforms offer Teams functionality.
User experience
Quality UX is essential for employee buy-in. If your chosen LMS is difficult or frustrating for the end-user, they’re far less likely to engage with course material. Learn365’s use of Microsoft infrastructure is one way of ensuring user-friendliness. The novel approaches of Cornerstone’s tile system or TalentLMS’ GUI layout are another.
What next?
Learning management tools represent a significant investment. It’s essential to make the right choice if you want to improve training and education for your people. That’s why you need to list everything you need from an LMS, whether it’s one of the 360Learning alternatives we’ve mentioned, or something else entirely.
Be sure to take your time. Weigh the pros and cons. Most modern learning management platform providers offer technical demonstrations to familiarize you with their capabilities. So, reach out and schedule some demos today!
