The 10 Best Alternatives to Skilljar

Keith Martin, President at Continu.

Skilljar alternatives are ranked based on first-hand research from our advisory team, not partnerships or commissions. Data is gathered from trusted sources: G2, Capterra, and Gartner.

Quick Summary

As a B2B GTM leader who's evaluated 30+ extended enterprise learning platforms, I've analyzed the best Skilljar alternatives to help you find customer education and partner enablement software that fits your budget, reporting needs, and customization goals without the high upfront costs or technical barriers that frustrate growing teams.

Organizations switching from Skilljar avoid annual contracts starting at $30K+ while gaining advanced analytics dashboards, intuitive content authoring, and easier customization—without sacrificing the branded academy experience that drives customer adoption.

Top 5 Skilljar Alternatives Shortlist

If you're thinking of switching from Skilljar here's the top options based on features, overall ratings, and user reviews:

1. Continu — Best for AI-powered, enterprise-scale learning focused on business results

2. Thought Industries — Best for externally-focused learning ecosystems with strong community support

3. Northpass — Best for launching branded customer academies quickly for SMBs

4. Docebo — Best for enterprise organizations training internal and external teams

5. Absorb LMS — Best for scalable, AI-powered strategic learning

Skilljar has built a strong reputation in customer education and partner enablement.

With 4.6 stars across 141+ reviews, intuitive interface design, strong CRM integrations with Salesforce, and flexible monetization options, it's a solid platform for teams prioritizing external training and customer onboarding.

But here's what we discovered after analyzing hundreds of user reviews and interviewing L&D leaders who've migrated away:

High upfront costs lock teams into annual commitments. Starting at roughly $30,000 per year plus per-user fees, Skilljar requires significant budget allocation before you've proven ROI with your customer education program.

Reporting and analytics require workarounds. Many teams report needing to export data to external tools for meaningful analysis. Built-in dashboards don't always surface the insights customer success teams need without technical assistance.

Content authoring depends on external tools. Skilljar excels at delivery and tracking, but creating engaging course content often means purchasing and learning separate authoring software—adding complexity and cost to your tech stack.

The good news?

The customer education software landscape has evolved dramatically.

Modern platforms deliver external training capabilities at 40-60% lower costs, with built-in authoring tools, advanced analytics, and customization that doesn't require HTML/CSS knowledge.

Below, you'll find 10 alternatives to Skilljar ranging from affordable team solutions to enterprise platforms—each evaluated across pricing transparency, migration ease, feature completeness, and user experience.

Whether you're a 50-person startup or a 5,000-employee enterprise, there's a better-fit option here.

What is Skilljar?

Skilljar is a customer education platform used to launch branded academies for customers, partners and external users. It supports structured learning paths, self-service registration, certifications, analytics and monetization options. Robust integrations with CRM, support and marketing systems enable targeted training and tracking of customer engagement and business impact.

Skilljar's flexible architecture lets you train external audiences at scale while delivering a seamless brand experience. The platform primarily serves SaaS, technology, and professional services organizations.

Core Philosophy

Skilljar positions itself as an enterprise-grade external LMS purpose-built for customer education—enabling organizations to design, deliver, and monetize personalized training programs through customizable academies that connect to business outcomes.

Key Features and Capabilities of Skilljar

Customizable Branded Customer Academies: Create white-labeled learning portals that match your brand identity. This allows customers to engage with training content that feels like a natural extension of your product experience, building trust and reinforcing brand consistency.

Learning Paths, Certifications, and E-Commerce Monetization: Structure courses into guided learning journeys with completion certificates. The built-in e-commerce engine lets you monetize training content through paid courses or certification programs, turning customer education into a revenue stream.

Deep Integrations with Salesforce and CRM/Analytics: Connect training data directly to customer records in your CRM. Customer success teams can see certification status, course completion, and engagement metrics alongside account health data—helping identify at-risk customers or upsell opportunities.

Skilljar integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Marketo, and Zoom to create a connected customer education ecosystem.

Skilljar's Common Use Cases

Organizations typically deploy Skilljar for:

Customer Education and Product Adoption: SaaS companies use Skilljar to onboard new customers, teach product features, and drive adoption through self-service training academies. Well-trained customers require less support and renew at higher rates.

Partner Enablement: Channel partners, resellers, and implementation consultants access Skilljar academies to learn product positioning, technical implementation, and sales strategies. Certified partners drive revenue more effectively.

Customer Certification Programs: Organizations create formal certification tracks to validate customer expertise. Monetized certification programs generate revenue while building a community of product champions and power users.

Biggest Strengths

Organizations can expect to see the following benefits of using Skilljar:

Highly Customizable Branded Academies: The white-labeling capabilities allow complete control over the customer-facing experience, making training feel native to your product ecosystem rather than a disconnected third-party tool.

Robust CRM Integrations: The deep Salesforce integration provides customer success teams with training visibility directly in their workflow—no context-switching required to understand customer education status.

Excellent Support and Flexible Monetization: Skilljar's customer success team helps organizations launch and optimize their academies, while built-in e-commerce supports various revenue models for paid training content.

Pricing and Free Trial

Pricing Structure:

  • Annual subscription model with custom enterprise pricing
  • Starting at approximately $30,000 per year base fee
  • Additional per-active-user fees on top of base subscription
  • Annual contracts required (no monthly options)

Free Trial: Demo only—no self-service trial available.

Important Note: Pricing requires custom quotes and annual commitments. Several users report that costs escalate as active user counts grow, making budget forecasting challenging for scaling customer education programs.

Skilljar Review Platform Sources

*Skilljar's overall rating and reviews pulled from these sources may have changed since this article was created. Data was pulled early December 2025 and will be updated quarterly.

Skilljar customer training platform dashboard

Why Look for an Alternative to Skillar?

Organizations don't casually research Skilljar alternatives.

You're here because something isn't working—whether it's budget constraints, reporting limitations, or the need for content authoring tools that don't require a separate purchase.

After analyzing 141+ user reviews across G2, Capterra, and Gartner Peer Insights, clear patterns emerge.

Here's what drives customer education teams to evaluate other platforms:

The 3 Biggest Skilljar Limitations

1. High Upfront Costs and Annual Contract Requirements

Skilljar's pricing model requires significant financial commitment before you've validated your customer education strategy. Annual contracts starting at $30,000+ plus per-user fees mean you're locked in for 12 months minimum.

For growing companies testing customer education programs or mid-sized organizations with budget constraints, this creates real friction. You're essentially betting on ROI before you have data to prove it.

What Users Report:

"We had to justify a $40K+ annual commitment to leadership before we'd even launched our first course. That's a tough sell when you're still proving the value of customer education."

"The per-user pricing model made budgeting unpredictable. Every time we onboarded new customers to training, our costs increased. Hard to scale when success means spending more."

Many customer education managers report difficulty getting budget approval for Skilljar, especially in organizations where training isn't yet seen as a revenue driver.

2. Limited Reporting and Analytics Without Data Exports

Customer success teams need real-time visibility into training engagement, certification status, and learning outcomes. Skilljar's built-in analytics often require data exports to external tools for meaningful analysis.

When dashboards don't surface actionable insights natively, teams spend hours in spreadsheets instead of acting on data. This friction slows decision-making and reduces the impact of customer education programs.

What Users Report:

"We ended up exporting data to Google Sheets weekly just to create the reports our leadership wanted. The built-in dashboards didn't show what we needed."

"Our customer success team wanted to see training completion alongside account health in one view. Getting that data out of Skilljar and into our BI tools took more effort than expected."

Smaller teams particularly struggle when reporting features require technical expertise to configure effectively.

Better Alternative: Platforms like Continu offer AI-powered analytics with natural language queries—ask a question, get actionable data without exports or complex configuration.

3. Limited Built-In Content Authoring

Skilljar excels at content delivery and tracking, but creating engaging course content typically requires external authoring tools. You'll need to purchase, learn, and maintain separate software just to build the training materials Skilljar delivers.

This adds cost, complexity, and friction to your content creation workflow. Every new team member needs training on multiple tools instead of one unified platform.

What Users Report:

"We bought Articulate separately to create our courses, then uploaded everything to Skilljar. That's two subscriptions, two learning curves, and twice the complexity."

"The lack of built-in authoring caught us off guard. We assumed a $30K+ platform would include course creation tools. Instead, we had to budget for Storyline on top of our LMS costs."

Organizations with limited L&D resources find this particularly challenging when they expected an all-in-one solution.

Better Alternative: Platforms like Continu and LearnUpon include modern authoring tools built directly into the LMS—create courses, quizzes, and interactive content without additional software purchases.

The Bottom Line

If you're experiencing any of these challenges, the alternatives below address these specific pain points.

Use our comparison table to identify which platforms solve your unique concerns while maintaining the branded academy experience and CRM integrations that drew you to Skilljar initially.

The right alternative delivers advanced analytics, built-in authoring, and flexible pricing without sacrificing the customer education capabilities your team values.

Skilljar Alternatives Comparison Table

The table below summarizes our list of the best Skilljar alternatives. Products are ranked using our advisory team's first-hand research and data from trusted sources like G2, Capterra, and Gartner Peer Insights.

Product
Rating & Reviews
Free Trial
Quick Pricing

4.7 (873)

No

Custom quotes based on number of learners and tier

View pricing details →

4.3 (242)

No

No pricing available, done troughout sales process

View pricing details →

4.6 (150)

No

Plans start around $600/month; custom enterprise pricing

View pricing details →

4.4 (1126)

No

Custom quote based on usage-based pricing

View pricing details →

4.6 (1443)

Yes

Starts around $25K per year for basic package

View pricing details →

4.7 (759)

No

Starts around $800–$1,000/month for up to 100 users; custom pricing for larger teams

View pricing details →

4.6 (1106)

Yes

Team plan $8/user/month up to 100 users

View pricing details →

4.7 (70)

Yes

Starting at $2400/year for 3 users (content creators)

View pricing details →

4.5 (250)

Yes

Custom quote based on required features

View pricing details →

4.3 (148)

No

No pricing or quote request, part of the sales process

View pricing details →

The Top 10 Skilljar Alternatives Reviewed

Explore our in-depth breakdown of the top alternatives to Skilljar. We’ve compiled the most relevant information and ranked all products by its impact on your organization's learning compared to Skilljar's platform.

Continu's logo icon

1. Continu

4.7 (873)

Best for AI-powered, enterprise-scale learning focused on business results

Continu is a modern all‑in‑one learning platform that helps mid to large‑size organizations centralize employee, customer and partner training. It combines content authoring, workshops, journeys and assessments with smart automations and AI‑powered analytics to boost engagement, reduce ramp‑up time and save administrators hours. Deep integrations with tools like Slack, Google Workspace and Zoom make it easy to embed learning into everyday workflows.

Why I picked Continu

Continu is the top-ranked alternative thanks to its deep integrations with workplace tools, robust AI-powered reporting, ease-of-use for admins and learners, enterprise-grade features, and the ability to centralize learning for employees, customers, and partners into a single platform.

Continu is ideal for:

Mid-market & enterprise organizations that would be training over 500 total users (employees, customers, and/or partners)

2. Thought Industries

4.3 (242)

Best for externally-focused learning ecosystems with strong community support

Thought Industries customer education platform interface

Thought Industries is a leading external learning platform that provides powerful tools for creating, delivering, and monetizing customer education programs. It offers multi-tenant portals for different audiences, a robust e-commerce engine for selling courses and subscriptions, and advanced analytics to measure impact. It supports webinars, certifications, and blended learning.

Why I picked Thought Industries

Thought Industries ranks as a top option for its multi-portal architecture and strong e-commerce and monetization features.

Thought Industries is ideal for:

Large enterprises and high-growth companies

3. Northpass

4.6 (150)

Best for launching branded customer academies quickly for SMBs

Northpass customer education platform dashboard

Northpass is a modern learning platform purpose-built for customer education. It allows organizations to create and deliver branded online academies quickly. With drag-and-drop course authoring, microlearning, quizzes and certifications, Northpass helps you onboard customers, train partners, and drive product adoption. Integration with CRM and support platforms ensures personalized learning experiences and insights into customer engagement.

Why I picked Northpass

Northpass is a compelling option for teams seeking fast set-up and user-friendly course creation and branded customer academies.

Northpass is ideal for:

Small to mid-sized SaaS companies launching customer training

4. Docebo

4.4 (1126)

Best for enterprise organizations training internal and external teams

Docebo dashboard showing personalized learning portal, AI automation settings and reporting charts

Docebo is an AI-powered learning suite designed for enterprises to deliver personalized, branded training experiences to multiple audiences from one platform. It offers advanced AI capabilities to automate tasks like enrollments, translations and content categorization, and provides hyper-personalized learning paths for employees, customers and partners. Docebo’s customizable interface and robust reporting tools help organizations manage complex learning programs, integrate with existing systems such as Salesforce, Microsoft Teams and SSO providers, and scale training across geographies and languages.

Why I picked Docebo

Docebo is a solid choice thanks to its enterprise-grade, highly customizable, scalable platform, and AI-driven automation.

Docebo is ideal for:

Mid-size to large enterprises with 250+ active learners

5. Absorb LMS

4.6 (1443)

Best for scalable, AI-powered strategic learning

Absorb LMS dashboard showing learner portal, progress tracking and analytics charts

Absorb LMS is a cloud-based, AI-powered learning management system designed to streamline training for employees, partners and customers. It combines intuitive administration with deep branding options, eCommerce capabilities and global infrastructure to deliver reliable, scalable learning. Key features include advanced reporting and analytics, AI-driven skills and personalized learning paths, a built-in content library, course authoring, gamification, social learning, mentorship and learning in the flow of work. With over 3,000 customers and 24/7 support, Absorb LMS enables companies to build branded portals, manage multi-tenancy and connect to dozens of third-party systems through a robust integration ecosystem.

Why I picked Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS is a solid choice thanks to its user-friendly interface and intuitive navigation and comprehensive features including advanced reporting, content library and eCommerce.

Absorb LMS is ideal for:

Businesses of all sizes, especially SMBs and enterprises

6. LearnUpon

4.7 (759)

Best for organizations prioritizing ease of use and excellent support

LearnUpon LMS interface showing course catalog, reporting dashboard and gamified learner progress

LearnUpon is a versatile LMS designed to streamline the delivery of learning to employees, customers and partners. The platform offers Essential, Premium and Enterprise plans tailored to different organization sizes, with features like SCORM/xAPI support, custom branding, live learning, eCommerce, single sign-on, gamification and deep integrations (Slack, BambooHR, Personio, HubSpot, Salesforce, LinkedIn Learning, Go1). LearnUpon emphasises ease of setup, quality of support and content delivery, and provides learning journeys, dynamic rules and automation. Pricing is typically per active user (around $6–$9 per user per month) with demos and custom quotes.

Why I picked LearnUpon

LearnUpon stands out as a better option for organizations needing user-friendly interface and easy setup and scalable plans and deep integrations.

LearnUpon is ideal for:

Medium to large organizations (150+ users) needing to train employees, customers or partners

7. 360Learning

4.6 (1106)

Best for AI-powered collaborative learning

360Learning dashboard showing collaborative course creation, discussions and analytics

360Learning is a collaborative LMS and LXP that lets subject-matter experts build and deliver engaging courses using drag-and-drop modules, quizzes, videos and embedded content. Learners can react, comment and discuss courses in real time to drive social learning, while AI-powered analytics highlight skills gaps and personalize training journeys. Deep integrations with Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace, Salesforce and HRIS tools help centralize onboarding, compliance, upskilling and customer education.

Why I picked 360Learning

360Learning made the list as a great alternative because it combines user-friendly interface and intuitive authoring with engaging social learning features.

360Learning is ideal for:

Small to mid-market teams and scalable to enterprise

8. Trainn

4.7 (70)

Best for AI-driven interactive customer training content

Trainn product training and customer education platform interface

Trainn is a customer education platform designed for SaaS businesses. It offers a suite for creating video tutorials, product walkthroughs, and knowledge base articles, enabling teams to deliver consistent and engaging training at scale. Customers can access self-serve guides, watch feature-specific videos, and track progress while you monitor engagement analytics and feedback.

Why I picked Trainn

Trainn stands out as a good option for organizations needing video-based tutorials improve engagement and understanding and self-service guides reduce support workload.

Trainn is ideal for:

SaaS startups and SMBs

9. Valamis

4.5 (250)

Best for organizations needing a skills-based learning platform

Valamis platform dashboard showing learning path progress and manager analytics

Valamis offers a robust learning platform that leverages xAPI and LXP technologies to capture detailed learning data and deliver personalized experiences. It supports open-source content, learning records, and analytics to understand customer engagement and performance. The platform is customizable and can integrate with existing systems.

Why I picked Valamis

Valamis made the cut by combining comprehensive learning paths and role-based access management with strong analytics and manager portal.

Valamis is ideal for:

Large enterprises and government

10. Intellum

4.3 (148)

Best for organizations prioritizing AI-driven learning and course creation

Intellum customer education platform dashboard

Intellum delivers a comprehensive customer education platform that brings together LMS, knowledge bases, certifications, virtual events, and community features into one solution. It allows organizations to build academies, publish documentation and support articles, host webinars, and engage customers through forums, all while tracking engagement metrics.

Why I picked Intellum

Intellum deserves consideration as an alternative thanks to all-in-one platform and robust analytics and customizable branding.

Intellum is ideal for:

Large enterprises and organizations investing in customer education

Making the Switch from Skilljar

Skilljar pioneered branded customer education academies, but it's not the only platform delivering external training capabilities—and often not the best fit for growing organizations.

The alternatives above offer similar branded learning experiences at lower price points, with built-in content authoring, advanced analytics, and pricing models that scale predictably.

Organizations switching from Skilljar typically achieve:

  • 40-60% cost savings versus comparable enterprise platforms
  • Faster implementation timelines with more intuitive admin tools
  • Higher admin productivity through built-in authoring and reporting
  • Better budget predictability with transparent per-user pricing

Our Top Recommendations

For most organizations looking to maximize value and innovation:

Continu delivers AI-powered conversational learning with built-in authoring tools and advanced analytics that don't require data exports—addressing Skilljar's core limitations while supporting customers, partners, and employees from one unified platform.

For teams prioritizing video-based customer onboarding:

Trainn specializes in video-first customer education with intuitive product tour creation and screen recording tools built directly into the platform. If your customer onboarding relies heavily on visual walkthroughs and product demonstrations, Trainn delivers purpose-built capabilities that Skilljar requires external tools to match.

For companies requiring deep enterprise customization:

Thought Industries provides purpose-built external training infrastructure with advanced monetization, certification, and white-labeling capabilities that extend beyond Skilljar's core customer education focus.

Ready to explore better alternatives?

Use our comparison table above to shortlist 2-3 platforms that match your requirements.

Schedule demos focusing on your specific pain points with Skilljar.

Request transparent pricing for your team size to avoid surprises.

Run trials with your actual admin team and customers before committing.

The right platform delivers customer education without the high upfront costs and reporting friction.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best alternative to Skilljar?

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Continu is the top alternative to Skilljar for most organizations. It delivers AI-powered learning with built-in content authoring and advanced analytics dashboards that address Skilljar's reporting limitations and high upfront costs—while supporting customers, partners, and employees from one platform.

Why would an organization switch from Skilljar to another platform?

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Organizations switch from Skilljar for three main reasons: high upfront costs requiring $30K+ annual commitments before proving ROI, limited built-in analytics that require data exports for meaningful reporting, and the need for separate content authoring tools that add complexity and cost to training workflows.

What is the most commonly mentioned problem with Skilljar?

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Based on reviews across G2, Capterra, and Gartner, users most commonly mention limited reporting and analytics capabilities, high costs for smaller organizations, and the need for technical skills to customize beyond basics. Organizations report needing to export data for analysis and purchase external authoring tools.

What do organizations typically see when they switch from Skilljar?

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Organizations switching from Skilljar typically achieve 40-60% cost savings on annual platform fees, faster implementation through more intuitive admin interfaces, higher content creation productivity with built-in authoring tools, and better analytics visibility without manual data exports.

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