The Forrester Wave™: Learning Management Systems And Experience Platforms, Q4 2025

Learning Management Systems And Experience Platforms Vendor Product Comparisons 2025

Key features and pros and cons of top Learning Management Systems And Experience Platforms products:

Absorb Software - Leaders

Pros:

Made thoughtful and strategic investments in technology and customer enablement over the past two years
Intelligent Assist agent provides conversational AI interface allowing administrators to execute complex tasks with ease
Superior capabilities to manage content, control for quality, and reduce administrative overhead
Strong focus on administrator experience extends to classroom learning
Supports both internal and external use cases effectively

Cons:

Some customers expressed that not all features work as well as expected
Some features were slower to market compared with other vendors

Cornerstone - Leaders

Pros:

Strongest overall feature set of any vendor in this evaluation
Market-leading skills solution providing best-in-class visibility into workforce capabilities
Most flexible deployment models and strong feature set across all use cases
Significantly improved learner experience and content curation through EdCast acquisition
Strong community support with robust opportunities to share best practices, events, and peer communities

Cons:

Functionality requires time and skill to administer
Pricing remains relatively opaque despite simplified packaging
Platform complexity may be challenging for organizations without sufficient resources and maturity

Docebo - Leaders

Pros:

Superior low-code recipe builder allows connection to nearly any business technology
Native authoring tool leverages AI with robust safeguards and integrated best practice recommendations
Thoughtful approach to AI balancing functionality with significant safeguards to mitigate risks
Strong focus on integration, reporting, and analytics
Robust, flexible platform supporting both internal and external learning use cases

Cons:

Slower to market with some functionality compared to competitors
Room to grow in gamification capabilities
Classroom/hybrid experience is on par with market but not as strong as other parts of the offering
Significant turnover in marketing leadership roles resulting in less cohesive market position

Adobe - Strong Performers

Pros:

Robust deployment strategies including FedRAMP certification at highest level of platform security and reliability
Fluidic player and other unique capabilities support learning in the flow of work
Robust support of extended enterprise enables complex customer and partner learning use cases
Extensive customer support during onboarding and for ongoing needs
Market-forward community of practitioners sharing best practices

Cons:

Captivate authoring tool not included with learning platform, placing it below par compared to other vendors
Some features shown in sales process were not available
Pricing for some features changed significantly over time
Gaps remain in the sales process
Pricing is not as transparent as customers would like

Axonify - Strong Performers

Pros:

Shines in deskless worker support with strong mobile capabilities
Features designed specifically for frontline workforce including communication capabilities
Access for learners without email addresses
Differentiating gamification capabilities that continuously refresh learning to optimize for retention
Strong focus on frontline and deskless workforces

Cons:

Minimal extended enterprise support and no e-commerce capabilities
Lacks complex curriculum and content management features
Limited partner ecosystem offering narrowest selection of all vendors in evaluation
Few options for customers to connect and share best practices
Roadmap is limited in scope which may result in lack of support for some common capabilities

D2L - Strong Performers

Pros:

Market-leading authoring capabilities with Brightspace core product
Thoughtfully designed learner and author experiences with unique personalization features
Strong commitment to accessibility and content authoring aligned to science of human learning
Robust professional services and support options
Transparent roadmap providing detailed information for customers and public
Strong focus on learning science to drive business outcomes

Cons:

Administrator interface is complex with limited automated or AI-enabled support for administration
Room to grow partnerships with HR technology ecosystem
Expanding from higher education background into corporate space may present learning curve

Degreed - Strong Performers

Pros:

Excels at ingesting data from across the learning ecosystem
Acts as 'front door' to fragmented portfolio of learning solutions with strong learner experience
Brings key skills data to administrators and business leaders
Captures signals of learning through focus on learner experience and deep analytics
Strong partnership from client support teams

Cons:

Lacks functionality common in other learning tools such as deskless worker support, advanced extended enterprise capabilities, and content authoring
Competitors have integrated similar functionality, eroding market leadership
Roadmap may not be sufficient to close gap as competitors continue to innovate
Requires buying and maintaining an additional platform
Recent executive leadership changes in 2024 and 2025 as strategy continues to evolve

360Learning - Contenders

Pros:

Market-leading social learning and mobile capabilities
Content authoring tool has ability to rapidly source and create content
Vision grounded in need for knowledge sharing and collaborative learning to support rapid upskilling
Strong opportunity for AI to power vision across many aspects of platform
Conducts research to drive thought leadership around maturity of learning and development teams

Cons:

Relies mainly on AI models themselves rather than building quality control features into platform
Lacks direct capabilities to control for plagiarism and hallucinations in content authoring
Lags market in accessibility
Lacks features for hands-on learning
Enterprise customers see growing pains including challenges with integration and project management in large, complex organizations

Litmos - Contenders

Pros:

Comprehensive feature set satisfying most use cases for organizational learning
Supports employee skills development and extended enterprise capabilities
Transparent pricing and packaging with focus on easy trial for prospective buyers
Easy for learners to use
Renewed focus on innovation in past few years

Cons:

Vision to make learning simple lacks nuance for increasingly strategic capability
Offers very few capabilities to support hands-on or experiential learning
No functionality to scan or identify low-quality content in central repository
Administrative interface has a learning curve
Some aspects not as customizable as customers would like
Does not host conferences and provides fewer opportunities for buyers to connect
Pace of innovation likely not enough to close gap with other vendors

Microsoft - Contenders

Pros:

Most powerful capability is presence in flow of work
Learning seamlessly integrated into Teams, Outlook, and other business applications
Deep integration with broader Microsoft ecosystem
Ability to leverage vast dataset of users' daily work activities to personalize learning

Cons:

Pace of innovation has left product behind market in many core capabilities
Lacks functionality typical of LMS such as content management, curriculum management, or authoring tools
Skills integration was on 2023 roadmap but still not implemented
Does not provide opportunity marketplace or functionality to practice skills in controlled environment
No lab or simulation function
Has not yet achieved potential to disrupt market due to limited features and lack of standard functionality

TalentLMS - Contenders

Pros:

Multiple deployment options including private cloud and on-premises
Added AI functions to support authoring, administration, and content curation
Fully transparent pricing
Ability for prospects to try full platform prior to investment
Value for price as key differentiator
Ease of use for learners

Cons:

Current messaging leans heavily into training, behind market in terms of enterprise leverage of learning for business value
AI approach lacks guardrails and may not be sufficiently mature to support enterprise market
AI authoring pulls directly from public LLMs with minimal guardrails
Skills functionality leans heavily on AI and lacks integration with assessment or skills validation tools
Does not yet support complex learning paths
Behind market in terms of accessibility
Some key feature gaps in comparison with other platforms

FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2025?

A: Absorb Software, Cornerstone, Docebo

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

A: Leaders in the Forrester Wave are vendors that offer the strongest current offerings in the market combined with robust strategies for the future. In this evaluation, Leaders demonstrate comprehensive feature sets across all evaluated criteria, strong capabilities for supporting diverse use cases (employee learning, extended enterprise, deskless workers), superior integration capabilities with business applications, thoughtful approaches to AI and GenAI implementation with appropriate safeguards, and strong vision for connecting learning to business outcomes. Leaders typically have the resources, market presence, and innovation roadmaps to maintain their positions as the market evolves.

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

A: https://www.forrester.com/policies/forrester-wave-methodology/

Report:

Top Vendor Products for Learning Management Systems And Experience Platforms in 2025

Learning Management Systems And Experience Platforms Vendor Product Comparisons 2025

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FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2025?

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

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