HR AI Index
Index › Learning and development › Course authoring tools › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Course authoring tools for small business buyers

Asked as “elearning authoring tool”, and as “course creation software”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 49 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Articulate 360
Contested
20% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 50 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessArticulate 36020%ContestedThis pageMid-marketArticulate 36022%ContestedStanding →EnterpriseArticulate 36052%Clear leaderStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Articulate 36020%30%33criticized challenger
02iSpring Suite16%5%43accepted challenger
03H5P14%12%25accepted challenger
04Easygenerator6%0%24accepted challenger
05Articulate Rise 3604%10%20accepted challenger
06Adobe Captivate2%36%39criticized challenger
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09Lectora0%42%12criticized challenger
07Articulate Storyline0%35%20criticized challenger
08Elucidat0%29%14criticized challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Articulate 360 vs H5PArticulate 360 vs iSpring SuiteH5P vs iSpring Suite

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Articulate 36020%
02iSpring Suite16%
03H5P14%
04Easygenerator6%
05Articulate Rise 3604%
06Adobe Captivate2%
07Articulate Storyline0%
08Elucidat0%
09Lectora0%

02What they warned about

Zero of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Adobe Captivate
36%
14 of 39 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Adobe Captivate: While powerful for software simulations, it is frequently cited for having a steep learning curve and a dated interface.” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Articulate Storyline
35%
7 of 20 labels negative · 6 of 12 models
“purchase "Pro" versions of authoring tools (like older versions of Storyline or specialized legacy systems) thinking they need more power” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Lectora
42%
5 of 12 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“$1,997+ per author/year; built for enterprise-scale content operations with extensive teams” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Articulate 360
30%
10 of 33 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“authoring tools small businesses should avoid or approach with caution ... **Articulate 360** | $1,449–$1,749 per author/year ... "overkill for most freelance IDs and small teams."” Kimi K2, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

62 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 765 links across 203 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

elearningindustry.com
34 answers · 71 citations · 10 models
confirm.com
vendor site · Confirm26 answers · 26 citations · 9 models
guideflow.com
vendor site · Guideflow25 answers · 26 citations · 10 models
colossyan.com
vendor site · Colossyan24 answers · 24 citations · 8 models
elearningsolutionslab.com
20 answers · 20 citations · 8 models
gartner.com
vendor site · Gartner20 answers · 20 citations · 10 models
easygenerator.com
vendor site · Easygenerator19 answers · 27 citations · 8 models
collab.thehumanco.org
14 answers · 15 citations · 6 models
lingio.com
14 answers · 15 citations · 6 models
pcmag.com
14 answers · 14 citations · 7 models
g2.com
13 answers · 17 citations · 10 models
ispringsolutions.com
13 answers · 16 citations · 7 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

confirm.com/blog/elearning-authoring-tools
26 answers · 9 models
elearningindustry.com/directory/software-categories/elearning-authoring-too…
26 answers · 10 models
colossyan.com/posts/elearning-authoring-tools-comparison-chart-for-2026-top…
24 answers · 8 models
elearningsolutionslab.com/best-elearning-authoring-tools
20 answers · 8 models
gartner.com/reviews/market/elearning-authoring-tools
20 answers · 10 models
collab.thehumanco.org/blog/best-elearning-authoring-tools
14 answers · 6 models
easygenerator.com/en/guides/elearning-software-authoring-tools
14 answers · 7 models
pcmag.com/picks/the-best-elearning-authoring-tools
14 answers · 7 models
lingio.com/blog/elearning-authoring-tools
11 answers · 6 models
guideflow.com/blog/elearning-authoring-software
10 answers · 7 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best elearning authoring tool for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which course creation software would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top authoring tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best elearning authoring tool for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an elearning authoring tool. What should we look at?”Negative“Which authoring tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Articulate 360
Five alternativesArticulate Rise 360, Articulate Storyline, Easygenerator, TalentLMS, iSpring Suite
TeachableChanged
Three alternativesKajabi, Podia, Thinkific
Articulate 360
Three alternativesH5P, HelpNDoc, Knowbly
no first choice
Two alternativesArticulate Storyline, H5P
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniArticulate 360
Four alternativesAdobe Captivate, Articulate Rise 360, Articulate Storyline, iSpring Suite
ThinkificChanged
Two alternativesLearnWorlds, Teachable
Articulate Rise 360
Four alternativesArticulate Storyline, Camtasia, H5P, iSpring Suite
against: Adobe CaptivateAdobe Captivate
One alternativeArticulate Rise 360
against: Articulate Storylineno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashEasygenerator
Three alternativesArticulate Rise 360, Mindsmith, iSpring Suite
ThinkificChanged
Three alternativesLearnDash + Uncanny Groups, LearnWorlds, TalentLMS
against: Docebo, SkilljarArticulate 360
Four alternativesAdobe Captivate, Easygenerator, Mindsmith, iSpring Suite
ActivePresenter, Genially, iSpring Suite
Two alternativesH5P, isEazy
against: Articulate 360Easygenerator
Five alternativesArticulate 360, Coassemble, LearnWorlds, Mindsmith, iSpring Suite
against: Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storylineagainst: Adapt Learning, Adobe Captivate, Articulate 360, Elucidat, H5P, Lectora, dominKnow | ONE, iSpring Suite
Perplexity SonarArticulate 360
Three alternativesAdobe Captivate, Easygenerator, iSpring Suite
LearnWorldsChanged
Three alternativesAcademy of Mine, TalentLMS, Thinkific
Articulate 360
One alternativeiSpring Suite
against: Adobe CaptivateH5P
Two alternativesEasygenerator, iSpring Suite
no first choiceagainst: Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Xyleme
Grok 4.1 FastiSpring Suite
One alternativeEasygenerator
against: Articulate 360LearnWorldsChanged
Four alternativesProProfs Training Maker, TalentLMS, Teachable, Thinkific
against: Academy of Mine, KajabiArticulate 360, iSpring Suite
Two alternativesEasygenerator, GitBook
against: MadCap FlareH5P
Five alternativesActivePresenter, Adapt Learning, Adobe Captivate, Genially, iSpring Suite
against: Articulate 360Articulate 360
Six alternativesAdobe Captivate, Articulate Rise 360, Elucidat, GoSkills, Lectora, iSpring Suite
against: Adobe Creative Cloud, Articulate 360, Contentful, Elucidat, Lectora, dominKnow | ONE, iSpring Suite
Mistral SmallArticulate 360, iSpring Suite
One alternativeAdobe Captivate
Articulate 360, DoceboChanged
One alternativeLearnDash
against: Academy of MineArticulate 360
Five alternativesEasygenerator, Elucidat, Synthesia, dominKnow | ONE, iSpring Suite
against: Adobe CaptivateH5P
Two alternativesAdobe Captivate, iSpring Suite
against: Articulate Storylineno first choicenothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashiSpring Suite
Three alternativesAdobe Captivate, Articulate 360, Easygenerator
LearnWorldsChanged
Three alternativesAcademy of Mine, LearnUpon, TalentLMS
against: Cornerstone OnDemand, Docebo, Kajabi, ThinkificArticulate Rise 360, Easygenerator
Three alternativesAdobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, iSpring Suite
against: Articulate 360H5P, iSpring Suite
Two alternativesActivePresenter, Adobe Captivate
against: Articulate 360Articulate 360, Easygenerator
Two alternativesAdobe Captivate, iSpring Suite
against: H5Pagainst: Adobe Captivate, Articulate 360, Articulate Rise 360, Elucidat, Lectora, Shift
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceTalentLMSChanged
Two alternativesProProfs Training Maker, Teachable
no first choiceH5P
Two alternativesArticulate Rise 360, iSpring Cloud AI
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashArticulate 360, Articulate Rise 360
Three alternativesAdobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, iSpring Suite
LearnWorldsChanged
Two alternativesLearnUpon, TalentLMS
against: TeachableArticulate Rise 360
Three alternativesArticulate Storyline, H5P, iSpring Suite
against: Adobe CaptivateH5P, iSpring Suite
Two alternativesEasygenerator, Genially
against: ArticulateArticulate Rise 360
Two alternativesArticulate Storyline, iSpring Suite
against: Adobe Captivate, Vyondagainst: Adobe Captivate, Adobe FrameMaker, Articulate Storyline, Elucidat, dominKnow | ONE
Kimi K2iSpring Suite
Two alternativesAdobe Captivate, H5P
against: Articulate 360ThinkificChanged
Two alternativesAcademy of Mine, TalentLMS
Articulate 360, iSpring Suite
Five alternatives360Learning, AsciiDoc + adoc Studio, Easygenerator, Lectora, Notion
against: MadCap FlareActivePresenter
Two alternativesH5P, iSpring Suite
against: Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storylineno first choiceagainst: Adobe Captivate, Articulate 360, Articulate Storyline, Lectora, dominKnow | ONE
GLM 4.7 FlashXArticulate 360
Two alternativesEasygenerator, iSpring Suite
against: H5PLearnUponChanged
Four alternativesAbsorb LMS, Docebo, TalentLMS, iSpring Learn
against: LearnWorlds, Teachable, Thinkificno first choiceagainst: Co.llabH5P, eXeLearning
Two alternativesTwine, iSpring Suite
against: Adobe Captivate, Articulate Rise 360no first choiceagainst: Adobe Captivate, Gomo Learning, Lectora
MiniMax M2.5Articulate 360
Four alternativesAdobe Captivate, Camtasia, Easygenerator, iSpring Suite
LearnWorlds, TeachableChanged
Three alternativesKajabi, Podia, iSpring Learn
HelpNDoc, Mintlify, Notion
Three alternativesClickHelp, GitBook, MadCap Flare
against: ConfluenceGoogle Slides/Canva, iSpring Suite
One alternativeArticulate Rise 360
no first choicenothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:12yes99 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:37yes46 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:05yes1355 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:52yes208 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 19:05yes3120 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:20yes109 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:35yes1012 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:21yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:27yes1017 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:58yes1339 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:45yes12128 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:07yes533 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:22no05 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:06yes45 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:56yes1744 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:17yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 21:24yes4117 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:23yes54 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:39yes1818 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:39yes54 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:41yes1040 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:04yes2032 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:46yes10109 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:50yes1223 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:12yes99 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:58yes48 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:45yes1324 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:38yes208 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:20yes3421 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:22yes99 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:41yes1720 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:18yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:34no033 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:39yes1349 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:34yes2191 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 17:55yes822 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:46no04 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:41yes36 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:07yes1453 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:39yes204 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:12yes2617 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:35yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:43yes2017 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:15yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:34yes928 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:37yes1434 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 21:12yes1025 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:33no07 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 21:24no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:17no08 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:37yes1224 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:18yes2010 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:01yes1213 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:14no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:55yes1015 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:18yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:19no028 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:35yes1229 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 21:47yes1237 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:34no010 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:55yes97 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:52no04 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:57yes1742 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:16yes205 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:53yes2214 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:04yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:53yes2222 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:13yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:42yes1338 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:38yes2951 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:58yes2291 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:16yes2149 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
Adapt read as Adapt Learning
Articulate Rise read as Articulate Rise 360
Cornerstone read as Cornerstone OnDemand
Coursebox read as Coursebox AI
Gomo read as Gomo Learning
Litmos (SAP Litmos) read as SAP Litmos
Moodle Workplace read as Moodle
dominKnow read as dominKnow | ONE
iSpring LMS read as iSpring Learn
Unresolved, counted raw
ACI Learning
Adobe Creative Cloud (e.g., Captivate for eLearning authoring)
Animaker
AsciiDoc + adoc Studio
DaVinci Resolve
Docsio
Document360
Domo (formerly DomoLearn)
Ghost
Google Docs / Quip
Google Slides/Forms
Help & Manual
HelpSmith
Knowbly
LearnDash + Uncanny Groups
Markdown + Git
Mintlify
OpenLearning
Powtoon
Synap
TechSmith Snagit
Xyleme
iSpring Cloud AI
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in learning and development

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
← Compliance trainingLearning experience plat →