AI Indexes
HR AI Index
September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › Learning and development › September 2026 Edition

Learning management systems

Asked as “LMS for employee training”, and as “learning management system”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 53 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
51%
Clear leader
51TalentLMS15Absorb LMS09LearnUpon25others

51% of first choices, clear leader.

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.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01TalentLMS51%2%58endorsed leader
02Absorb LMS15%5%42accepted challenger
03LearnUpon9%0%24accepted challenger
04360Learning6%4%23accepted challenger
05Docebo4%12%40accepted challenger
Show the seven products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
12Blackboard Learn0%50%18criticized challenger
10Canvas LMS0%29%21criticized challenger
08Moodle0%27%33criticized challenger
09D2L Brightspace0%24%17accepted challenger
11Cornerstone OnDemand0%23%13accepted challenger
06SAP Litmos0%0%19accepted challenger
07iSpring Learn0%0%13accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All fifteen head-to-head pages: the top six products, each against each

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
D09
10
11
12
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01TalentLMS51%
02Absorb LMS15%
03LearnUpon9%
04360Learning6%
05Docebo4%
06SAP Litmos0%
07iSpring Learn0%
08Moodle0%
09D2L Brightspace0%
10Canvas LMS0%
11Cornerstone OnDemand0%
12Blackboard Learn0%

What they warned about

One 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, 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.
Moodle
27%
9 of 33 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid **Blackboard Original**, **Blackbaud LMS**, and **self-hosted Moodle** if you prioritize user experience and modern workflows.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Blackboard Learn
50%
9 of 18 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“Long-standing reliability issues... "atrocious" help desk experiences... an "80's platform trying to meet the needs of this century"” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Canvas LMS
29%
6 of 21 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“consider Canvas a high-risk choice until Instructure's security posture is fully verified” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Google Classroom
75%
6 of 8 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid for advanced/enterprise needs” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

What they cite

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

Sites the answers cite

76 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1031 links across 274 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · TalentLMS44 answers · 77 citations · 12 models
vendor site · Docebo38 answers · 60 citations · 14 models
vendor site · LearnWorlds31 answers · 48 citations · 11 models
vendor site · D2L30 answers · 46 citations · 12 models
vendor site · GoSkills27 answers · 32 citations · 9 models
25 answers · 27 citations · 11 models
22 answers · 26 citations · 11 models
vendor site · ProProfs Training18 answers · 19 citations · 11 models
vendor site · 360Learning16 answers · 19 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Thinkific16 answers · 19 citations · 9 models
vendor site · CYPHER Learning15 answers · 17 citations · 7 models
14 answers · 15 citations · 8 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.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best lms for employee training”, “learning management systems”, “lms for employee training”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
TalentLMS talentlms.com51%3488,10010382,431$1,1791191
Absorb absorbai.com
Absorb LMS 15%
15%2232,9003416,283$8120
LearnUpon learnupon.com9%905,4005581,52340
360Learning 360learning.com6%2662,4004045,8968
ProProfs proprofstraining.com
ProProfs Training Maker 6%
6%46170139,3410
Docebo docebo.com4%3519,90024298,677153
Zoho parent site
Zoho Learn 4%
4%441,30052
GoSkills goskills.com2%1411,90023120,277120
WorkRamp workramp.com2%183,600348,8410
Coursebox coursebox.ai2%27,25464

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 22 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (cypherlearning.com, d2l.com, docebo.com, talentlms.com). The first result for “best lms for employee training” is cypherlearning.com.

How 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.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best LMS for employee training for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which learning management system would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top learning management systems and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best LMS for employee training for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an LMS for employee training. What should we look at?”Negative“Which learning management systems should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Absorb LMS
Three alternativesD2L Brightspace, LearnUpon, TalentLMS
TalentLMSChanged
Three alternativesAbsorb LMS, Docebo, WorkRamp
no first choiceTalentLMS
Three alternativesGoSkills, Mitti, iSpring Learn
against: Moodle LMS
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniAbsorb LMS
Four alternatives360Learning, Docebo, Rippling, Trainual
360LearningChanged
Three alternativesAbsorb LMS, Docebo, TalentLMS
no first choiceTalentLMS
Three alternativesEasy LMS, Moodle, Zoho Learn
no first choiceagainst: Moodle
Gemini 3.5 FlashWorkRamp
Three alternativesAbsorb LMS, LearnUpon, TalentLMS
LearnUponChanged
Four alternativesAbsorb LMS, Skilljar, TalentLMS, WorkRamp
no first choice
Ten alternativesAbsorb LMS, Blackboard Learn, Canvas LMS, Docebo, Kajabi, Moodle, Rippling LMS, TalentLMS, Teachable, Thinkific
TalentLMS
Four alternativesGroundwork1, Moodle, TalentCards, iSpring Learn
against: Google Classroom
no first choice
Six alternatives360Learning, Absorb LMS, Docebo, LearnUpon, TalentLMS, WorkRamp
against: SAP SuccessFactors Learning, Workday Learning
against: Blackboard Ultra, Classic Blackboard Learn, Cornerstone OnDemand, Docebo, Moodle, Saba
Perplexity SonarAbsorb LMS
Four alternatives360Learning, LearnUpon, TalentLMS, iSpring Learn
Absorb LMS, LearnUponChanged
Two alternatives360Learning, iSpring Learn
no first choiceTalentLMS
Three alternativesGoSkills, Moodle, iSpring Learn
no first choiceagainst: WordPress-based LMS setups
Grok 4.1 FastTalentLMS
Four alternatives360Learning, Absorb LMS, Docebo, SAP Litmos
Absorb LMSChanged
Three alternatives360Learning, Docebo, TalentLMS
no first choiceagainst: Blackboard LearnTalentLMS
One alternativeMoodle
against: Google Classroom
TalentLMS
Four alternatives360Learning, Absorb LMS, Docebo, SAP Litmos
against: Cornerstone OnDemand
against: Blackboard Learn, Canvas LMS, D2L Brightspace, Google Classroom, Moodle, WorkRamp
Mistral SmallProProfs Training Maker, TalentLMS
Three alternativesAbsorb LMS, D2L Brightspace, Docebo
Absorb LMSChanged
Two alternatives360Learning, TalentLMS
no first choiceTalentLMS
One alternativeProProfs Training Maker
no first choiceagainst: Moodleagainst: 360Learning, Absorb LMS, Auzmor Learn, Blackboard Learn
DeepSeek V4 FlashLearnUpon
Four alternativesAbsorb LMS, Docebo, SAP Litmos, TalentLMS
TalentLMSChanged
Four alternatives360Learning, Absorb LMS, Docebo, LearnUpon
no first choice
Nine alternativesAbsorb LMS, Blackboard Learn, CYPHER Learning, Canvas LMS, D2L Brightspace, Docebo, Moodle, SAP Litmos, TalentLMS
against: Google Classroom
TalentLMS, Zoho Learn
Two alternativesMoodle, Trainual
against: Google Classroom
no first choiceagainst: ADP, Blackbaud Learning Management System, Blackboard Learn, Canvas LMS, D2L Brightspace, Moodle, Oracle Learning, SAP, Workday Learning
Llama 4 MaverickGoSkills, ProProfs Training Maker, TalentLMSTalentLMSChanged
Two alternativesAbsorb LMS, Docebo
no first choiceTalentLMS
Three alternativesAbsorb LMS, Adobe Learning Manager, Moodle
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashTalentLMS
Three alternativesAbsorb LMS, LearnUpon, SAP Litmos
against: Docebo
LearnUponChanged
Three alternativesDocebo, SAP Litmos, TalentLMS
no first choice
Nine alternativesAbsorb LMS, Adobe Learning Manager, Canvas LMS, Cornerstone OnDemand, D2L Brightspace, Docebo, SAP Litmos, Tovuti LMS, iSpring Learn
against: Moodle
TalentLMS
Three alternativesMoodle, Teachable, Thinkific
no first choiceagainst: Absorb LMS, Cornerstone OnDemand, SAP, SAP SuccessFactors Learningagainst: Blackboard Learn, Canvas LMS, Moodle
Kimi K2TalentLMS
Four alternatives360Learning, Absorb LMS, SAP Litmos, iSpring Learn
against: Docebo
TalentLMSHeld
Two alternatives360Learning, Absorb LMS
against: Docebo
Canvas LMS, D2L Brightspace
Five alternativesAbsorb LMS, Docebo, Google Classroom, LearnUpon, Moodle
against: Blackboard Learn, TalentLMS
TalentLMS
Three alternativesMoodle, ProProfs Training Maker, iSpring Learn
against: Trainual
no first choice
Four alternatives360Learning, Absorb LMS, SAP Litmos, TalentLMS
against: Docebo
against: Blackboard Learn, Canvas LMS, Moodle
GLM 4.7 FlashXDocebo, TalentLMS
Two alternativesAbsorb LMS, SAP Litmos
TalentLMSChanged
One alternativeDocebo
no first choiceCoursebox, ProProfs Training Maker, TalentLMS, Zoho Learnagainst: Moodleno first choiceagainst: Blackboard Learn, Canvas LMS
MiniMax M2.5360Learning
Four alternativesAbsorb LMS, Docebo, SAP Litmos, iSpring Learn
360Learning, Absorb LMSChanged
Two alternativesDocebo, TalentLMS
no first choiceTalentLMS
Two alternativesMoodle, ProProfs Training Maker
against: LearnWorlds
no first choiceagainst: D2L Brightspace
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The 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-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:03yes1713 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 12:02yes25 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 12:18yes2355 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 10:09yes199 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 10:05yes228 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 08:45yes54 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 07:48yes2329 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 07:41yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 09:41no026 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 11:15yes1326 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:19yes1520 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 12:02yes1120 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 10:03yes1810 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 12:10yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 11:06yes1722 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 10:41yes183 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:15yes238 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 09:03yes53 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 08:36yes2521 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 09:20yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 12:08no032 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 09:17yes1527 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:41yes1529 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:19yes517 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 09:02yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:23yes57 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 09:21yes2927 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 10:05yes207 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:44yes1412 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 12:08yes1011 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 12:08yes1734 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:35yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 07:43yes1028 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 10:40yes1547 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:27yes1467 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 11:30yes527 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 09:49yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:51yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 09:53yes1215 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 11:11yes203 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 12:03yes2411 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 08:05yes52 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 10:28yes2339 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:29yes51 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 10:37yes1032 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 09:36yes1318 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 07:42yes2424 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 11:18yes916 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 10:41no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 11:47no06 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 12:15no043 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 09:41yes188 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:53yes1412 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 10:03no017 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 09:18yes2439 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 09:59yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 11:35no028 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 09:26yes1926 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 07:40yes2445 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:47yes521 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:59no03 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 10:36yes65 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 08:49yes3425 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 12:10yes184 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:18yes2517 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 11:52yes54 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 10:52yes2545 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 11:07yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 10:35yes1025 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 09:50yes2526 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:00yes2534 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 09:17yes916 s

Noise floor in this category

Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.

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Claude Haiku 4.5
2 of 3 flipped
GPT-5.4 mini
2 of 4 flipped
Gemini 3.5 Flash
2 of 5 flipped
Perplexity Sonar
2 of 4 flipped
Grok 4.1 Fast
1 of 4 flipped
Mistral Small
2 of 3 flipped
DeepSeek V4 Flash
3 of 3 flipped
Llama 4 Maverick
2 of 3 flipped
Qwen 3.7 Flash
3 of 4 flipped
Kimi K2
1 of 4 flipped
GLM 4.7 FlashX
4 of 4 flipped
MiniMax M2.5
3 of 4 flipped

Normalization in this category

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

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Blackboard read as Blackboard Learn
Canvas read as Canvas LMS
Canvas (Instructure) read as Canvas LMS
Canvas (by Instructure) read as Canvas LMS
Canvas by Instructure read as Canvas LMS
Cornerstone read as Cornerstone OnDemand
Litmos read as SAP Litmos
Litmos (SAP Litmos) read as SAP Litmos
Oracle read as Oracle Learning
SAP SuccessFactors read as SAP SuccessFactors Learning
Sana read as Sana Learn
Tovuti read as Tovuti LMS
Workday read as Workday Learning
iSpring LMS read as iSpring Learn
Unresolved, counted raw
Auzmor Learn
Blackbaud K12
Blackbaud Learning Management System (formerly OnCourse)
Blackboard Ultra
Canvas – Instructure
Classic Blackboard Learn
Groundwork1
Instructure Canvas
Microsoft Teams for Education
Oracle PeopleSoft Learning
WordPress-based LMS setups
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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