Absorb LMS vs Thrive

Canvas

Moodle

Connecteam

Canvas is a modern, cloud-based LMS that helps organizations of all sizes deliver impactful learning. Whether you're teaching students, onboarding new hires, or running a training program, Canvas makes it simple to build, manage, and scale engaging learning experiences.

With hundreds of millions of users around the globe and translated into over 100 languages, more organisations choose Moodle to support their education and training needs than any other system in the world.

An all-in-one employee app that's both powerful, affordable and easy to use, especially for the mobile workforce.

Learning and Development Manager

The help guides are useful and if further detail is required, the support team are always on hand for guidance.

Admin

You can create something that actually feels like a polished, cohesive environment rather than a generic LMS, which matters for engagement and professionalism.

Built to deliver flexible training, the intuitive design and robust features create an engaging learning environment that keeps your employees, customers and partners coming back for more. Tap the scalable LMS that supports integration and security, while offering 24/7 in-house support.

Academic/Education

Access Controls/Permissions

Activity Dashboard

Activity Monitoring

Activity Tracking

Adaptive Learning

Alerts/Notifications

Assessment Management

Assignment Management

Asynchronous Learning

Audio/Video Conferencing

Audio/Video Recording

Bite-Sized Learning

Blended Learning

Built-in Course Authoring

Built-in LMS

Certificates

Certification & Licensing

Certification Tracking

Collaboration Tools

Commenting/Notes

Communication Management

Compliance Management

Compliance Tracking

Contact Management

Content Library

Content Management

Content Sharing

Corporate/Business

Course Authoring

Course Library

Course Management

Course Publishing

Course Tracking

Customizable Branding

Customizable Fields

Customizable Questions

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Data Import/Export

Document Management

Drag & Drop

eCommerce Management

eLearning Companies

Electronic Forms

Electronic Signature

Employee Engagement

Employee Handbook

Employee Onboarding

Employee Portal

Employee Training

Engagement Tracking

Extended Enterprise Learning

Feedback Management

For Hospitality Industry

For Nonprofits

Gamification

Instructor-Led Courses

Interactive Content

Interactive Learning

Leaderboards

Learner Portal

Learning Management

Learning Paths/Tracks

Media Import

Media Management

Microlearning

Mobile Access

Mobile Learning

Modeling & Simulation

Multi-Language

Multimedia Support

Multiple Question Types

Multi-User Collaboration

Offline Access

Onboarding

Orientation Workflow Management

Peer Learning

Performance Metrics

PowerPoint Conversion

Progress Reports

Progress Tracking

Question Library

Quizzes

Real-Time Analytics

Real-Time Data

Real-Time Reporting

Recommendations

Reminders

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Role-Based Permissions

SCORM Compliance

Self-Enrollment

Self-paced Learning

Self-Service Content Curation

Self Service Portal

Single Sign On

Skills Assessment

Reviews for Absorb LMS come from a wide variety of industries, including computer software (8% of reviewers), information technology and services (7%), and medical practice (6%). The most frequent use case for Absorb LMS cited by reviewers is as a learning management system (89% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Most reviewers indicate that Absorb LMS delivers strong value for money, with a wide feature set and transparent pricing. They appreciate reasonable costs and free trials, though some reviewers find pricing high for smaller organizations and note extra charges for integrations.

Value for money

Absorb LMS is a learning management system program with key features that include course management, learner portal, and more.

Absorb LMS

Web-based

iPad

Android

iPhone

Docebo

Litmos

TalentLMS

360Learning

LearnUpon

Cornerstone LMS

Articulate 360

LinkedIn Learning

Adobe Learning Manager

Tovuti

LearnDash

Looop

Basic

Persistent bugs and delayed fixes

LMS Administrator

The cost is high for support beyond basics and it's hard to get queries and issues resolved in a timely manner.

50% of reviewers feel negative about bugs and issues in Absorb. Some users report frequent technical glitches, such as interface rigidity, random bugs, and compatibility problems, which disrupt workflows and require time-consuming troubleshooting. Reviewers indicate that support responses to bug reports can be slow, with fixes sometimes taking months or longer, and users often need to follow up repeatedly. Some reviewers find the process for resolving issues cumbersome, involving multiple interactions and limited transparency about resolution timelines, leading to frustration and additional workload.

Collaborative and responsive team

100% of reviewers feel positive about the Absorb team. Reviewers indicate the team is consistently professional, approachable, and dedicated to addressing user needs. Some users say they value the team's proactive communication and willingness to guide them through setup and ongoing processes. Reviewers appreciate that the team is quick to provide solutions and invests time in helping users understand the system. Some reviewers find the team's support during critical situations, such as system outages or launches, particularly reassuring, and they highlight the team's creativity and commitment to ensuring a smooth experience.

Attentive and accessible support

96% of reviewers feel positive about Absorb’s client support. Some users report that support is prompt, accessible, and helpful, with team members guiding them through both basic and complex issues. Reviewers appreciate having a dedicated contact for business inquiries and value the team's openness to feedback and suggestions for improvement. Some reviewers say support is consistently available, provides clear communication, and collaborates with clients to optimize the platform for their needs. Users think the support team’s responsiveness and willingness to address operational queries contribute to a positive overall experience.

Senior Digital Learning and IT training Officer

The categorical structure simplifies configuration, and the quick-access tabs at the top provide a more efficient alternative to navigating through multiple layers of course settings.

The reporting features did not always provide the level of detail or customization needed and the assignment functionality felt somewhat limited, making it harder for admins.

Learning and Development Digital Specialist

Not only that, but since implementation, Absorb are constantly reflecting on their options and updating and upgrading all the time, with outstanding levels of communication; my favourite is their "Ideas Portal" where customers can suggest changes or updates to their platform, and you can chat with product and tech specialists and put forward a case, where they'll then let you know if it's a likely candidate for their roadmap.

Any initial challenges, bugs and issues were addressed promptly, either through quick resolutions or by providing suitable workarounds tailored to our organization’s learning needs.

Sr. Director of Learning and Development

My goal is to become a "super" admin and utilize features that we have access to but have not implemented, like new content creation with Create.

VP, Talent Operations

Their license structure doesn't allow us to re-use licenses from past users, which is hard with our industry's turnover.

Director of Learning and Development

There are grids that allow for many ad hoc reports, but sometimes the fields included are not what I need causing me to have to run multiple reports and merge them together.

One of its strongest aspects is the customer support, which is responsive, knowledgeable, and genuinely helpful when issues arise or guidance is needed.

Project Coordinator

It is very customizable and can cater to whatever learning needs you have, or however you want to structure the learning environment.

The admin-side workflow and the learner side workflow is highly intuitive and straightforward, making it easy to navigate and manage tasks efficiently.

Project Manager

Some parts of the backend feel a little limited, especially when trying to customize certain features or layout options.

Sr. Technical Writer

The Absorb Create tool allows you to customize training content in an engaging manner while not having to spend days upon days to create a ten-minute course.

Learning and Development

This customization empowers our teams to upskill effectively while streamlining the onboarding process for new hires, allowing them to transition into their roles more quickly.

It has every feature we need to successfully share content and train everyone at our company.

Business System

It has allowed us to speed up training and give our team the training and understanding to do what we do better.

IT Manager

Any technical errors we met during implementation were resolved within 24 hours and often were user error rather than a system glitch.

Technical Writer

Also, all videos are removed and unplayable when uploaded as part of an existing PPT.

My company has not had an L&D team for very long and have adapted to Absorb as the new learning tool really well due to its ease of use with 1200 unique logins the first month.

Manager of Learning and Development

I've long been curious about whether we could integrate Absorb into a UI designer that would give us more control.

Training Specialist

I do wish there were a way to download Create content to a PowerPoint format to make it easier to share with external clients before launching a new training.

Senior Director

What I liked most about Absorb was all of the reporting features and ability to customize and schedule reports.

Learning Management Coordinator

Absorb has created a platform that has an incredibly user friendly backend that makes it incredibly straightforward to create courses for our leaners to access the most up to date information.

Operations and Data Manager

We also need to be able to see deleted enrollments.

Director of Supply chain Programming

There are some odd things that you cannot do in terms of setting up courses, that have been frustrating, but we've always found a workaround.

Additionally, the observation checklist feature has some gaps.

Setup was super smooth and extremely efficient, from contract signing to roll out was less than a month which was impressive.

Director of training and education

The ability to have learners input third party training

Transitioning to Absorb LMS has been one of the smoothest software rollouts our team has ever experienced.

Director Internal IT

Integration of AbsorbCreate with AbsorbLMS - also the customer onboarding phase went very well - helping us go from zero to a strong first release of content in a few months.

LMS Admin

It has all the functionality that we need with quick and professional customer support.

The platform is generally easy to navigate, which helps streamline course management and improves learner engagement.

Ease of use and support - when we first selected Absorb as our new LMS my onboarding as a brand new LMS Administrator was smooth and efficient.

Instructional Designer

It’s a modern, easy-to-navigate platform that helps streamline course delivery and learner management.

I've personally suggested several changes that they've rolled out, so it feels great to know they're listening, making improvements and also making the platform better for other customers too.

Absorb LMS is extremely intuitive for both admin users and our end-users.

Finally, I really hate that AI ad that Absorb was running on streaming services for a while.

Senior Manager

From admin and instructor point of view, we found the system to be difficult to design dashboards, welcome pages. Although, I liked its capability to import SCROM files.

Absorb LMS vs Thrive Comparison (2026)

Absorb LMS

Thrive

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives