Recently updated on September 30th, 2024
Training platforms that fall into the category of online training software help training providers, in-house teams, and corporate training teams create, host, and schedule all their commercial and in-house training programs.
The tricky part for buyers is understanding which types of training software fall under the category of online training software, the features they should look for, and some of the top solutions to consider.
In this guide, we aim to provide a clearer understanding of these key points by defining online training software, examining the essential features to consider, and reviewing nine potential solutions for you to explore.
What is online training software?
Online training software can be defined as any digital platform that facilitates the creation, management, and delivery of training programs and courses. A platform that fits this description will typically include features for course development, learner registration, progress tracking, and assessment.
The nuance lies in the type of training that these platforms cater to. For example, training platforms like Arlo, which fall into the category of training management software, are primarily built to support the delivery of instructor-led training—both in-person and virtual. They may also have features that support eLearning or integrations with other types of training software, such as learning management systems (LMS).
The other main type of training software that can fall under the online training umbrella are learning management systems. LMSs are more suitable for creating, hosting and delivering eLearning content.
What is online training software used for and what features should you look out for?
As mentioned earlier, most solutions categorized as ‘online training software’ are designed to help companies effectively deliver their instructor-led and eLearning programs—training management software for instructor-led training and learning management software for eLearning.
Both types of platforms have specific features and use cases. Regardless of the type of training you’re delivering, the solution you choose should include the following essential features:
Course development capabilities
Different types of online training software can assist in creating a variety of courses. For example, with a training management platform like Arlo, you can bulk upload your courses and publish them immediately to your website.
You can also utilize course templates to quickly create courses suitable for different delivery methods, such as face-to-face, live online, or blended formats.
Course authoring tools, or learning management systems, on the other hand, offer features that help you create self-paced eLearning content. There are also more niche training platforms available that specialize in specific use cases, such as those that assist corporations with compliance training.
Course scheduling and registration
The online training platform you use should include features for scheduling and registering for courses. These features can help you upload courses to your website, set the date and time for the course, choose the delivery method, and manage all logistical aspects, such as email communications and trainer or instructor bookings.
Registration features typically include form templates tailored for different types of courses, such as paid or free, public or private. Many platforms also allow you to create custom registration forms, enabling you to add or swap out fields to capture the information you need based on the course you’re offering.
Some platforms offer templates for more specific use cases, such as conferences or camps. The most important thing to consider is the types of classes, courses, or events you are running. For example, if you only conduct a few classes each year, a simple or free registration option that allows you to create basic forms may be sufficient.
However, if you run regular courses and handle a significant number of registrations—such as a minimum of 500 per year—you’ll need a more robust solution, like a dedicated course registration platform. These platforms are designed to manage a higher volume of registrations and include features that let you create various types of registration forms based on the courses you offer.
Learner and instructor management
Many training platforms have features that help you manage instructors, such as assigning an instructor to a course, managing calendars to avoid conflicts, assigning resources to instructors, and setting up automated communications, like sending emails when they receive a new course sign-up.
Learner management tools include features such as attendance tracking and reporting, course completion statistics, and customer portal functionalities that allow learners to log in and manage their own registrations.
Assessment and feedback
Online training software includes tools for quizzes, tests, and evaluations, helping assess learner understanding and providing feedback for improvement. Leading online training platforms will also usually integrate with surveying platforms such as SurveyMonkey, so you can set up all your pre and post course surveys easily and set up workflows for them to send automatically when you need them to,
Buying factors to keep in mind when you’re in the market for online training software
#1 What type of training do you run and what’s your specific use case?
The first point relates to the point we made earlier around different types of training software being set up to help businesses deliver specific types of training or in some cases events.
Relating back to our earlier point about the types of businesses that use a training management platform versus those that require an LMS, consider the following examples:
A commercial training provider focused on selling training to clients typically needs a training management system, and sometimes a learning management system as well. In contrast, a company seeking a platform to onboard or upskill new employees, primarily for internal training, usually only requires a learning management system.
To help you get clear on the solution you may require, here’s an overview of what training management software, and learning management software are, and their features:
Training management software – designed to help with the delivery of instructor-led training. Delivering instructor-led training (ILT) is resource-intensive. Whether you’re offering face-to-face sessions, virtual learning, or a mixture of both, there’s a ton of administrative tasks to juggle in order to pull off a smooth, successful course.
Training management software has specialist features to help with all of these processes, including:
Back-office administration features:
- Organize course logistics and resources – for example, schedule courses, presenters and rooms
- Automate manual tasks – for example, send registration confirmations, reminder emails and surveys
- Manage finances – for example, capture orders, accept payments online and issue invoices
- CRM and record management – store each customer’s upcoming and past training, financials, and sales interactions
- Reports and business intelligence – run reports to provide information to make data-driven business decisions
Front-of-house features:
- Website – build a website from scratch or integrate a TMS into an existing site
- Online registration – accept online registrations and make your shopping cart a stress-free experience
- Customer portal – provide a self-service portal for registrants.
If you’re managing training or learning operations for a commercial training provider (or within an organization), but are unsure whether you may require a training management system, take some time to consider if any of these problems/issues are affecting your business:
- Are you manually handling tasks like email communication, invoice creation, website updates, or training operation reports?
- Is your data duplicated across various systems?
- Are spreadsheets your go-to for tracking registrations, attendance, or tasks?
- When you adjust an event’s schedule, does your website update itself automatically?
- Are manual calculations or processes causing preventable human errors?
- Do your systems integrate seamlessly, or do you need to manually ensure consistency across them?
If you answered yes to any of the above then a training management system could be the solution you’re looking for.
Learning management software/system – A learning management system (LMS) is a type of software dedicated to delivering online learning. Unlike a training management system, an LMS is mainly focused on the experience of the end-user. This type of system allows you to create and manage e-learning content, enroll and communicate with students, and track and assess their performance.
Typically, an LMS will have functionality such as:
- Assessment management
- eLearning course creation
- eLearning content hosting
- Course resource libraries
- Collaboration tools.
If you think you may require an LMS, take some time to consider these points:
- Are you struggling to manage and track employee training effectively?
- Do you need to deliver consistent training across multiple locations or to remote workers?
- Is compliance training a significant concern for your organization?
- Do you want to offer personalized learning experiences to your employees?
- Is it challenging to measure the impact and ROI of your current training programs?
- Do you need to quickly onboard new employees or update existing skills?
If you answered yes to any of the above then a learning management system could be what you need.
#2 Can it scale with you as your business grows?
This factor really depends on where you’re at in your business, but from our experience working with hundreds of training and course providers, they often come to a point where they’re growing, and whatever platform or processes they’re currently using can’t scale with them.
Suitable training software should be able to accommodate an increasing number of users, courses, and content without sacrificing performance. Look for features like flexible pricing models, customizable user access, and the ability to easily integrate new functionalities as your needs evolve.
Best online training software ranked for 2024
1. Arlo – the best online training software for instructor-led training
Arlo is a comprehensive training management software platform designed specifically for instructor-led training providers and organizations that want to automate their training management processes, set up and schedule courses in just a few clicks, and ultimately spend less time on administration and more time on training.
Here’s a guide to Arlo’s key features:
Simple course creation and scheduling
Inside Arlo you can get started by creating a new course from scratch, or, if you want to speed up the process, you can use a course template from an extensive library within Arlo. Specific templates are available for face-to-face, live-online, blended and eLearning formats, so you can deliver training in the format most suited to your learners.
When you create a new course using a template it will be automatically generated, pre-filled with key information that you can edit and save. You can then re-use the template as many times you like, making it easy to schedule repeat courses on multiple dates and locations.
Once you’ve created the course, you can set up all the logistical tasks relating to the course, including choosing the physical location (venue or room) or the virtual location (such as a Zoom room), assigning an instructor or presenter, and more.
When the logistics are handled, you’ll come to a publishing page where you can input the course description, add a summary, and set the amount of time you want your course to be advertised for.
Setting up your registration forms
Within Arlo you can use preset registration form templates for both public and private courses, that are suitable for paid and free courses. Paid course registration forms include a complete payment and invoice process, where registrants receive a payment confirmation (or invoice) email immediately after completing the form, as well as an email with full course details.
For free classes, you can use a simple one-page form, which sends a confirmation email with all course details to the participant upon registration. To simplify the process further, course registrants can register for multiple classes within the same form, add multiple participants, and, if configured, use a voucher code, choose their payment method, and more—all within the same form.
Within each form you can set rules for screening, set wait lists, and registration limits – giving you complete flexibility to tailor a form to the specific course you’re running.
Payment options within the registration forms are flexible, you can take payments via Stripe, PayPal, Windcave and more. You can offer flexible payment options such as credit card, invoice or bank transfer, and Arlo integrates with leasing accounting platforms like Xero or Quickbooks for easy accounting.
Also, within Arlo you can manage all aspects of transfers, refunds, and cancellations. Built-in tools allow you to easily cancel or transfer registrations and automatically notify your customers of any changes that you make, and enable registrants to self-serve cancellations or transfers.
Finally, when you’ve integrated Arlo with your website you can create a branded customer portal, hosted as a page on your website, that gives registrants the ability to sign into their personal account, where they can register for classes, view upcoming and past courses you’ve ran, manage their profile and more.
Automate all your course communications
After setting up your registration forms you can set up and automate all your course communications. This includes setting up instructor confirmation emails, venue booking confirmation emails, registration confirmation emails, reminders for instructors and other relevant stakeholders and more.
In addition to this, you can set up course registrant reports, and attendance reports to send to the presenter after the class has been delivered.
You can also set up follow up emails to attendees and non-attendees containing any materials you want to send post course, and set up automations to send certificates to learners who’ve completed the course.
In-depth reporting
The training software you use should also have reporting features so you can monitor and report on the success of your training programs. Arlo makes this easy by providing access to a range of reports that show exactly how individual courses are performing:
Course registration reports
Registration reports allow you to track metrics such as registration numbers per course, number of registrations by organization, and much more. They are very useful for internal reporting purposes.
Course order reports
Order reports are for understanding the financial performance of your training programs. You can create reports to see the revenue your training business has generated over a specific period, drill down to view revenue generated by each individual course, compare courses to identify financial performance, and run queries to identify outstanding balances and billing contacts for follow-up.
Set favorites and schedule reports
To save time, you can mark frequently used reports as favorites for easy access. You can also schedule reports to run automatically and have the results sent via email to key stakeholders upon generation.
For example, if you’re an administrator and need to report on the profitability of a particular class or set of courses you can set up a report to automatically generate upon the completion of the course, and set up automations for this report to send to your direct report.
Combine reports for business intelligence
Combining data from multiple reports allows you to gain comprehensive insights into different areas of your class performance within a single report.
For example, you might merge performance and expense reports to determine course profitability or analyze occupancy rates to ensure you’re scheduling courses at times that drive the most registrations.
Course feedback collection
Arlo integrates with email marketing and customer surveying platforms like SurveyMonkey to make it easy for you to set up and send both pre-and post-course surveys.
Simply create the survey, set up the course, and Arlo (or SurveyMonkey) will send the survey for you. Arlo’s SurveyMonkey integration also allows you to automatically distribute surveys either when the course starts, when the course finishes, or when the registrants are marked as having attended the course.
Integrate Arlo with your own website or enjoy an out of the box website designed for training
As part of centralizing your training operations into one platform Arlo integrates with your existing training website (should you want it to).
This means that when you publish a new course on Arlo it will automatically be published to your website, so you don’t have to manually upload your course to multiple platforms.
You also get access to our extensive library of pre-built web pages and widgets to integrate into your existing site, these templates include:
- Course pages detailing details about your upcoming courses such as dates, course duration, and a descriptive overview of what the course is about
- Trainer/presenter detail pages profiling key details about the person presenting your courses
- Venue details pages showing users exactly where your course is going to take place.
- A course feature widget that you can use to promote a chosen course or event on your website’s homepage.
View some selected examples of the best training websites built with Arlo’s templates, and a more extensive gallery here.
Integrate Arlo with your wider tech stack
Any new tech platform you select should ideally integrate with the other parts of your tech stack, and Arlo does just that.
You can integrate Arlo with everything from accounting platforms such as Xero, Sage and Quickbooks, leading learning management systems (LMS) such as Moodle, Coassemble LMS and LearnDash, communication platforms such as Zoom, Gmail, Outlook and Slack, through to leading CRM’s such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365.
These integrations mean you can connect Arlo with your key apps, and discover new opportunities to improve your training processes and workflows.
If Arlo sounds like the training solution you need for your business, you can get started with a 14-day free trial below 👇
Try Arlo for free.
2. Skyprep – suitable for employee training
Skyprep is an LMS that has features facilitating employee onboarding, development, customer and compliance training and more. You can improve your training programs by offering tailored learning experiences through distinct portals for various brands or clients, all managed under a single account. Each learning environment can be customized with unique branding and content, allowing you to create a personalized experience for different segments of learners.
You can easily share courses and materials across these platforms, ensuring consistent access to high-quality content. You also have the flexibility to modify the appearance of each portal by adjusting colors, logos, and notifications, making it simple to meet the specific needs of diverse audiences.
The platform also has features for creating engaging learning materials by incorporating various media types and assessment methods within a streamlined program. A range of tools is available to help you build comprehensive courses, including assessments and checklists that enhance knowledge retention. Regular knowledge checks throughout the training help reinforce skills and demonstrate real-world applications.
You can also establish user workflows with course checklists to monitor progress and ensure successful completion. Additionally, there’s the option to upload SCORM files or create content directly within the platform, allowing for diverse and engaging learning experiences.
Pricing
Skyprep has three plans available: Lite, Premium and Enterprise – pricing for each plan is available upon request.
3. TalentLMS – good choice for larger corporations
TalentLMS is a cloud-based corporate LMS aimed at helping teams grow. Key features include comprehensive course management with support for eLearning standards like SCORM and xAPI, along with AI-driven content generation to create diverse training materials. Users can easily integrate multimedia, design assessments with various question formats, and establish structured learning paths to guide learner progression.
Communication tools, such as messaging and discussion forums, enhance engagement, while reporting and analytics provide valuable insights into learner activity. Security is a priority, with strong password enforcement and GDPR compliance features to protect user data. The platform also supports seamless integration with popular applications like Salesforce and BambooHR, allowing for streamlined operations.
Pricing
Talent LMS have four plans available (all prices in USD):
- Core priced $89/month
- Grow priced at $139/month
- Pro priced at $179/month
- Enterprise – pricing available upon request.
4. Moodle – best low cost, and most customizable LMS
Moodle is an open-source learning management system (LMS) designed to facilitate online education and training. One of its key features is a highly customizable course structure, allowing educators to create engaging and interactive learning experiences. Moodle supports various content types, including videos, quizzes, and assignments, which can be organized into modules for easy navigation.
User management is another important aspect of Moodle, enabling administrators to create user accounts, assign roles, and monitor participation and progress. Moodle also includes assessment capabilities, allowing instructors to design and administer quizzes and assignments that can be automatically graded.
Pricing
Moodle is available for free, depending on the use-case. But they have five standard plans available (priced annually in USD):
- Starter plan – $130
Mini plan – $220
Small plan – $400
Medium plan – $920
Standard plan – $1750
5. 360Learning – LMS with an impressive number of integrations
360Learning is an LMS designed as a platform for collaborative learning. Collaborative learning is a method where employees share knowledge and teach each other, fostering a people-centric approach to skill development through teamwork and collective expertise.
In terms of features, 360Learning offers tools specifically designed to help companies onboard new employees, upskill their teams, get accustomed to new software, and ensure compliance. Standout features include AI course authoring tools, automated syncing of learner analytics to HR systems, and integration with platforms like Salesforce, MS Teams, and Zoom for e-commerce course monetization.
Pricing
360Learning have two plans available:
- Team plan – $8 per registered user per month
Business plan – Pricing available upon request.
6. eloomi – another good option for onboarding training and ongoing employee deverlopment
eLoomi is a solution designed to help companies manage all of their employee training and development. It simplifies employee engagement by integrating various tools for eLearning content, skills management, communication, and performance tracking.
The platform supports effective employee communication through features like activity feeds and social learning communities. It also facilitates people development by automating HR tasks, enabling goal setting, and gathering feedback during performance discussions. Additionally, mobile access allows employees to engage with training materials from any device.
This system addresses a range of learning challenges, including compliance training, onboarding, and skills development, aiming to make employee training easier and more effective.
Pricing
eloomi have three plans available:
- Play plan – pricing available upon request
Plus plan – pricing available upon request
eLoomi One plan – pricing available upon request
7. Trainual – good platform for onboarding training
Trainual is an employee training platform helping new employees get started quickly when they begin a role. One standout feature is role-based training, which automatically assigns training based on each employee’s job, department, or location. This ensures everyone has the right resources without extra manual effort. Additionally, training materials are easily accessible and searchable, allowing employees to find important information when they need it.
The platform offers customizable content, making it easy to create engaging training paths that fit individual needs. You can track progress and generate reports to see how employees are doing, which helps ensure accountability. Features like e-signatures and completion reports help keep track of training progress.
Pricing
Trainual have four plans have four plans available:
- Small plan – $299/month
Medium – $349/month
Growth – $499/month
Custom – available upon contacting the company.
8. Podia – solid option for course creators
Online training and course creation platforms, such as Podia, provide users with the tools to build and sell courses effectively. Creators can manage course content, marketing, and community engagement all in one place. Users can easily upload videos, create sales pages, and handle payments without needing extensive technical expertise.
Podia supports a variety of course formats, including standalone and cohort-based courses, and offers integrated video hosting, eliminating the need for additional storage solutions. Its built-in marketing features, such as customizable websites and email marketing tools, help users grow their audiences efficiently.
Flexible checkout options enable creators to sell individual courses or bundle them with other offerings, while features like upsells, course certificates, and waitlist management give creators flexibility in what they offer.
Pricing
Podia has three plans available (all prices in USD):
- Free plan
Mover plan – $39/month
Shaker plan – $89/month.
9. iSpring Learn – another good choice for large corporations
iSpring Learn is a flexible corporate LMS with a range of useful features. Users can upload various file types like presentations and videos without storage limits, and it supports SCORM for existing content. The platform allows the creation of interactive long reads with exercises and customizable designs.
User management is straightforward, enabling organizations to set up roles and groups for efficient training assignments. Administrators can quickly add users, filter assignments, and track progress with detailed reports. Learning paths can guide users through structured training, with notifications and assignments for added engagement.
iSpring Learn integrates with Zoom for live sessions and includes a calendar for managing events. Reporting tools provide insights into user activity and content effectiveness, while a 360-degree feedback system supports comprehensive evaluations. The platform can be customized to fit corporate branding and supports multiple languages.
Learners benefit from an intuitive portal that organizes courses and uses gamification to increase motivation. A mobile app allows for offline learning, and the platform can integrate with existing systems or be installed on-premise, making it adaptable for small and large businesses.
Pricing
iSpring Learn has two plans available: Start and Business pricing is dependent on the amount of users required.
Final thoughts and takeaways
As you can see, the best online training software for your specific needs will depend on the type of training you’re conducting and the features you require.
This guide should have provided you with an overview of the key features to look for and some options to consider. The main takeaway is that if you’re running instructor-led training, whether in-person or virtually, a training management system like Arlo offers all the features you need to set up, schedule, and manage your instructor-led courses.
If you’re looking for a solution to create, host, and manage eLearning content, a learning management system might be what you need.
To get started with Arlo, you can book a demo with our friendly team, who can give you a personalized look at the platform. Alternatively, you can try it out for free by starting a free trial below.