Authoring tools are bought per author and judged by the courses they leave behind.
This guide ranks fifteen on what an L&D team lives with afterwards: the yearly cost per author, whether building happens in a browser, on a desktop or inside PowerPoint, which tracking standards the plan exports, and who keeps the source when the subscription stops.
Vendors can pay for visibility on this page. It never changes what an entry
says about a product, including the criticism, and we earn nothing when you click through to a
vendor. How that works.
In short
What elearning authoring tools software does
eLearning authoring tools let instructional designers and subject experts build interactive courses and quizzes, then export them as SCORM, xAPI or cmi5 packages that a learning management system can track.
In this order: setup effort, what it really costs, how your data comes back out, whether
you can leave, and who each elearning authoring tool is built for. Why those five, and why there is no
score out of ten, is on the how we work page.
Large employers already buying their LMS or compliance content from Confirm
Buyers who chose Elucidat for being an independent specialist
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
Browser authoring priced per author, with SCORM on every plan
Ranked #1 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Mindsmith Learning, Inc. is a Utah company with a plain pricing page: two paid tiers charged per author, an Enterprise tier on request, and a starter tier that puts a badge on the output. Translation covers more than seventy languages.
What decides the fit is the standard your LMS expects. SCORM is everywhere in the plan table; xAPI is not, so a learning record store project means the Enterprise conversation. Budget the AI credits too.
What stands out
Free plan
SCORM on all plans
Per-author pricing
Where it costs you
xAPI export and single sign-on are listed for the Enterprise plan only
AI generation draws on a monthly credit allowance per author, and the starter allowance is a one-time grant
Right for
Small L&D teams wanting published per-author pricing and SCORM without a sales call
Wrong for
Teams that need xAPI statements below the Enterprise plan
United StatesFree plan; per author per month, published
Turns PowerPoint decks into SCORM, xAPI and cmi5 courses
Ranked #2 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
iSpring was founded in 2001 and reports 520 staff, so it is mid-sized, yet it publishes one price per author per year. Output covers SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, xAPI and cmi5. Stakeholder feedback is collected in a separate web workspace.
The dependence runs the other way from most tools here: you are tied to Microsoft's slide format and to Windows, not to a vendor's cloud. For a team that thinks in slides, a fair trade.
What stands out
PowerPoint add-in
Windows only
cmi5 export
Where it costs you
Authoring requires Windows 10 or 11 and an installed copy of PowerPoint
The Suite AI edition is priced about a third higher per author
Right for
Trainers with a library of PowerPoint decks and Windows laptops to author on
Wrong for
Mac-based teams or anyone wanting to leave PowerPoint behind
United StatesPer author per year, published; 14-day trial
Desktop authoring and screen recording bought once, not rented
Ranked #3 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Published pricingAsia-Pacific
Atomi Systems of Hanoi publishes three figures: Standard, Pro, and an education edition at the Standard price for approved schools and non-profits. A no-cost edition exists for trial and non-commercial use, and it watermarks output made with paid features.
The economics differ from everything else in this ranking: three years of a subscription suite buys several licences outright. What you give up is the hosted layer: collaboration means passing project files around.
What stands out
One-time licence
Windows and macOS
Screen recording
Where it costs you
Licensed per machine, so every author workstation needs its own purchase
Major-version upgrades after the first year cost 40 per cent of the full price
Right for
Software trainers who record screens and want to own the authoring licence
Wrong for
Distributed teams that co-author in a browser workspace
Browser authoring aimed at subject experts, not only instructional designers
Ranked #4 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
Easygenerator lists Rotterdam as its primary office, a second one in Dubai, and hosting in Frankfurt. The product is built for decentralised authoring: subject experts write, a reviewer comments, and the L&D team governs the brand.
EasyTranslate handles 75 languages and supports XLIFF, and a multilingual mode keeps one master course. Co-authoring starts at Team, LMS integrations and full branding at Enterprise, and the add-ons are quoted separately, so the published figure is a floor.
What stands out
Browser-based
cmi5 and xAPI
XLIFF translation
Where it costs you
The one-author Pro plan stops at 10 courses and 100 learners
Translation, video and role-play coaching are add-ons with no amount shown on the pricing page
Right for
Organisations spreading course writing across five or more subject-matter experts
Wrong for
A single author who will publish more than ten courses
NetherlandsPer author, billed annually, published; limited free plan
Template-led course builder sold in two-seat annual plans
Ranked #5 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Published pricingAsia-Pacific
Chameleon Creator lists offices in Wellington and Melbourne and has been building the tool since 2018. The pitch is visual quality without a designer: start from a template, swap in illustrations from the built-in library, add branching for pre-assessments.
Onboarding and a custom template are included. The plan table is short: we found SCORM on it but no line for xAPI or translation, so ask about both, and check whether twenty projects cover a year.
What stands out
Review tool included
Two-seat minimum
SCORM 1.2 and 2004
Where it costs you
The Starter plan is limited to 20 projects across its two creator seats
URL publishing and learner analytics start at the Professional plan
Right for
Two-person design teams that care how a module looks on a phone
Wrong for
Solo authors, who pay for a second creator seat
New ZealandAnnual plans with two creator seats, published; 14-day trial
Fixed-layout and responsive authoring in one shared content library
Ranked #6 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Self-hostablePricing on requestNorth America
dominKnow Inc. has been at this since 1997 and signs its site 'Proudly Canadian'. The idea is a content management system for learning: write a block once, reuse it across courses, translate with the built-in AI translator, and keep versions.
All three tiers include WCAG 2.2 AA support and multi-user collaboration. The cost of that scope is setup time, since a reuse library pays off only once organised, and quote-only pricing means no budget before talking to sales.
What stands out
On-premise option
Content reuse
Software simulation
Where it costs you
No amounts on the pricing page; every tier ends in a custom quote
SSO, custom URLs and a private single tenant begin at Business PLUS
Right for
Regulated or defence-adjacent teams needing on-site deployment and reusable content
Wrong for
Occasional authors who want a simple card-payment plan
Cloud course builder from Madrid with a permanent starter tier
Ranked #7 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
isEazy is a Madrid product; the terms name BIZPILLS GROUP BPO as the legal entity under Spanish law. Professional is a single-author plan with five gigabytes of storage, and Business doubles the authors and adds team management.
Annual payment takes ten per cent off. Watch the storage ceiling, because video-heavy courses fill it quickly. Simultaneous editing exists, but only from Business, so a lone author upgrading for a colleague more than doubles the bill.
What stands out
Free plan
Auto-translation
Euro pricing
Where it costs you
The no-cost tier adds an isEazy watermark and limits SCORM export
Storage is capped per plan, at 5 GB for one author
Right for
European teams that want euro invoicing and a tool to test first
Wrong for
Teams needing version history outside the Enterprise plan
SpainFree plan to 3 projects; per-author plans, published
Low-cost Australian course builder priced by course count
Ranked #8 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingAsia-Pacific
Compozer Pty Ltd is an Australian company whose terms fall under New South Wales law. Its grid runs from one course on the starter tier to ten, thirty-five and a hundred on the paid ones, with extra users charged from Grow.
The vendor commits to AA and AAA accessibility standards. That suits someone who was about to build training in slides. For a department it is thin: team collaboration starts at Grow, and we found no translation workflow described.
What stands out
Free plan
AUD pricing
Accessibility focus
Where it costs you
Every plan below Enterprise caps the number of courses you can create
Review and the AI text editor are held back for the Pro plan
Right for
Freelancers and small firms building a handful of courses a year
Wrong for
Teams with an xAPI learning record store to feed
AustraliaFree plan with 1 course; monthly plans, published
The incumbent bundle: Storyline, Rise, Review and Localization together
Ranked #9 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Articulate Global, LLC is a Delaware company with a New York notice address. The plan page lists two per-seat subscriptions and a newer Frontline offer sold with unlimited seats and credit bundles.
Storyline publishes SCORM, AICC and Tin Can packages; Rise is the browser app. On independence the suite loses ground: every author needs a seat every year, and the terms promise no export window once the subscription lapses. Archive your packages.
What stands out
Storyline and Rise
Review app
Annual per seat
Where it costs you
Review and the built-in Reach LMS come with the Teams plan, which costs more per seat than Personal
Customer content is deleted six months after the subscription term ends
Right for
Established instructional design teams hiring people who already know Storyline
Wrong for
Small budgets, or authors who build courses only occasionally
United StatesPer seat per year, published; 14-day trial
Browser authoring with many interaction types, now inside Intellum
Ranked #10 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Evolve has two self-serve tiers, Personal and Team, billed annually, with a three-week trial. Output can go to an LMS, to SCORM, offline or to the web. The ownership question matters more than the feature list.
Intellum sells its own learning platform, and its terms still refer to a UK subsidiary for purchases of this product. Nothing on the page ties the tool to that platform, but a buyer on a rival LMS should ask about the roadmap.
What stands out
Owned by Intellum
SCORM 1.2 and 2004
Live review comments
Where it costs you
Translation automation and SSO are limited to the Enterprise plan
The plan page lists SCORM output and does not list xAPI
Right for
Designers who want rich responsive interactions at a mid-range annual price
Wrong for
Buyers avoiding tools owned by an LMS vendor
United StatesPer user, billed annually, published; 21-day trial
Adapt produces single-version HTML5 courses that scroll and reflow on any device, delivered from a web server or a SCORM LMS. The framework ships with 23 bundled plugins and more from the community.
Because the code is GPL, an agency can fork the output, theme it and keep it indefinitely, which makes exit a non-issue. Setup is the opposite story: someone must stand the server up and keep Node current, so the first ninety days cost engineering hours.
What stands out
Open source
Self-hosted
Needs a developer
Where it costs you
You install, host and update the authoring tool yourself on Node.js and MongoDB
Community project with no named vendor, country or support desk on its site
Right for
Organisations with a developer on hand that want to own the toolchain
Wrong for
Teams that need a vendor to call for support
Not stated by the vendorFree and open source (GPL-3.0); self-hosted
Xerte asks for little: PHP with a handful of extensions, a web server, and write access to one folder. Anyone with a browser can then build learning objects from templates, which suits institutions with many occasional authors and no per-author budget.
The permissive licence lets you modify and redistribute it. The weak point is pace: the release listed is nearly two years old, and the site names contributors, not a company, so plan on in-house support.
What stands out
Open source
Self-hosted
PHP and MySQL
Where it costs you
Latest release named in the repository is v3.13, dated October 2024
Installation and upgrades are your own job; the site offers no paid hosting
Right for
Institutions with their own web server and many occasional course authors
Wrong for
Corporate teams expecting vendor onboarding and an SLA
Not stated by the vendorFree and open source (Apache-2.0); self-hosted
Windows desktop and browser authoring, now sold inside a suite bundle
Ranked #13 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
ELB Learning is based in American Fork, Utah, with a second office in Chennai. Lectora Online runs in any major browser on Mac or PC; Lectora Desktop needs Windows. The vendor stresses accessibility work against ADA and WCAG.
The ranking position reflects the commercial wrapper, not the tool. A buyer who only needs an editor still pays for the suite, international pricing varies, and the larger Studio bundle starts at several times the Gold figure and goes through sales.
What stands out
Desktop and online
cmi5 and AICC
ReviewLink
Where it costs you
No Lectora-only plan is priced; the entry point is a suite bundle
Listed amounts apply to the United States, and the page does not say whether they are per user
Right for
Compliance-heavy teams publishing to older AICC or cmi5 learning systems
Wrong for
Buyers who want one tool, not a bundle
United StatesBundle subscription per year, published
Cloud authoring with hosted delivery, owned by Learning Technologies Group
Ranked #14 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
Gomo Learning Ltd is registered in Brighton, England, and belongs to a group whose top package bundles the Bridge LMS. Output covers SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 and xAPI, and one course can hold several languages.
The translation round trip is the strongest argument: export XLIFF, send it out, import it back. Against that, an authoring-only buyer sees no price at all, and the packages steer towards delivery and an LMS.
What stands out
Owned by LTG
XLIFF translation
LMS wrapper
Where it costs you
All three packages are quote-only with a 12-month minimum term
Instant LMS updates depend on buying the Delivery package as well as Authoring
Right for
Multinationals translating one course into many languages through outside translation agencies
Wrong for
Small teams that want to see a price first
United KingdomQuoted; 12-month minimum; 21-day trial
Ranked #15 of 15 in Best eLearning Authoring Tools in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
Confirm gives its headquarters as Derry, Northern Ireland, and Brighton, England, with offices in Delaware and San Francisco. The authoring features are still described: AI-assisted drafting, stock imagery, text-to-speech, SCORM delivery and analytics.
It sits last because the tests run against it at present. Price is hidden, the product has just changed name and owner, and the vendor's other products are priced per employee. Existing customers should ask what happens to standalone contracts.
What stands out
Formerly Elucidat
Part of Confirm
75+ languages
Where it costs you
No rate is listed for Create; the pricing page offers a 'Get pricing' button
Sold as one product in a workforce suite, after a rename and a change of owner
Right for
Large employers already buying their LMS or compliance content from Confirm
Wrong for
Buyers who chose Elucidat for being an independent specialist
eLearning authoring tools let instructional designers and subject experts build interactive courses and quizzes, then export them as SCORM, xAPI or cmi5 packages that a learning management system can track. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
12 of the 15 tools here publish what they cost; the other 3 quote per organisation. The ones you can compare without a sales call: Mindsmith, iSpring Suite, ActivePresenter, Easygenerator, Chameleon Creator, isEazy Author, Compozer, Articulate 360, Evolve, Adapt, Xerte Online Toolkits, Lectora.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
These 15 vendors are established in 9 countries across 4 regions (North America 6, Europe 4, Asia-Pacific 3, Elsewhere 2). That decides whose disclosure law applies to what the vendor holds, wherever the servers are.
03
Consider whether you want the source
2 of these are open source: Adapt, Xerte Online Toolkits. Hosting one yourself trades a subscription for maintenance.
What an eLearning authoring tool seat really costs
Most products here charge per author, not per learner, but the unit hides different things. Mindsmith and Evolve publish a monthly figure per author billed annually. iSpring Suite and Articulate 360 publish a yearly figure per seat, several times higher. Chameleon Creator sells two creator seats as its smallest plan, so one author pays for two.
Easygenerator caps its single-author plan at ten courses, and the next plan is a five-author bundle. Compozer limits courses per plan, not people. ActivePresenter is the outlier: a one-time licence per machine with paid upgrades later. Then come the extras that a normal team needs within a year: review seats, translation, an AI tier, stock assets. Several vendors list those as add-ons without an amount.
Count authors, reviewers and courses per year before comparing any two price pages.
Ask for the add-on price list in writing: translation, AI credits, video, asset library.
Price year three, including upgrade fees on one-time licences and seat minimums on plans.
Desktop, browser or PowerPoint: where authoring tools make you work
The place a course is built decides who can build it. iSpring Suite runs inside PowerPoint and needs Windows, which suits trainers with existing decks and excludes a Mac-only team. ActivePresenter installs on Windows and macOS and keeps projects as local files. Lectora offers both a Windows desktop edition and an online one.
Easygenerator, Gomo, Evolve and isEazy Author run in the browser, which makes co-authoring and reviewer comments part of the product instead of an email thread. Adapt and Xerte Online Toolkits are also used through a browser, but on a server your own staff install and patch. PowerPoint import sounds like a shortcut and is worth testing with a real deck: Gomo still marks it as coming soon, and an imported slide is rarely a good responsive page.
List the operating systems your authors use before shortlisting any desktop tool.
Import one real forty-slide deck during the trial and check what survives.
Decide whether reviewers need a login, a link, or nothing but a browser.
SCORM, xAPI and cmi5 export: read the plan table, not the features page
Every tool in this ranking produces SCORM, and that is where the agreement ends. Mindsmith includes SCORM sharing on all plans but lists xAPI for Enterprise only. The Evolve plan page names SCORM 1.2 and 2004 and says nothing about xAPI. iSpring Suite, Easygenerator and Lectora name cmi5, and Lectora still publishes AICC for older systems.
isEazy Author and Compozer both restrict SCORM export on their starter tiers. A second question is what happens after upload. Gomo, with its Delivery package, and Mindsmith offer packages that update inside the LMS without a fresh upload; a plain zip file has to be replaced by an administrator every time a typo is fixed. Test the package in your own LMS, because completion and score reporting differ between systems.
Ask your LMS administrator which standard and version it actually reports on.
Export a test course from the exact plan you intend to buy.
Check whether a corrected course needs a new upload or updates in place.
Who keeps the source when an authoring subscription ends
A published SCORM package keeps playing after you cancel, but it cannot be edited, so the question is what happens to the editable source. Articulate 360 terms end the right to use the service at termination and delete customer content six months later. Mindsmith terms give thirty days to export. Compozer keeps the licence alive until access ends so content can be taken out.
Tools built on local files behave differently: iSpring Suite courses remain PowerPoint files and ActivePresenter is bought outright. Adapt and Xerte Online Toolkits are open source, so the editor itself stays with you. Translation deserves the same scrutiny, since a course in eight languages is eight times the lock-in. Gomo and Easygenerator support XLIFF, the format agencies use, which keeps translated text portable.
Read the termination clause for a retention period and an export right.
Ask whether exported source can be reopened in any other tool, or only archived.
Archive every published package and its translation files outside the vendor's cloud.
What goes wrong most often when buying elearning authoring tools software
Buying the suite every instructional designer knows for a team of subject experts who will open it twice a year and need a browser form, not a timeline editor.
Assuming xAPI or cmi5 is included because the vendor's features page mentions it, when the plan you can afford exports SCORM only.
Cancelling an authoring subscription while keeping only the published zip files, then finding a compliance course needs one sentence changed.
Choosing a self-installed open source tool for the zero licence fee without naming the person who will run the server and its upgrades.
07
Frequently asked questions
8 answers
What is the best elearning authoring tools in 2026?
Mindsmith leads our ranking of 15. A published per-author price well under half of what the suites charge, SCORM sharing on every plan including the free one, and terms that keep your content exportable for thirty days after termination.
The homepage also advertises SCORM packages that update automatically. The catches: xAPI and single sign-on sit in the Enterprise plan, review comments start at Business, and AI generation is metered in monthly credits.
Which elearning authoring tools publish their pricing?
12 of the 15, with the pricing model each one publishes:
Mindsmith: Free plan; per author per month, published.
iSpring Suite: Per author per year, published; 14-day trial.
ActivePresenter: One-time licence per machine, published.
Easygenerator: Per author, billed annually, published; limited free plan.
Chameleon Creator: Annual plans with two creator seats, published; 14-day trial.
isEazy Author: Free plan to 3 projects; per-author plans, published.
Compozer: Free plan with 1 course; monthly plans, published.
Articulate 360: Per seat per year, published; 14-day trial.
Evolve: Per user, billed annually, published; 21-day trial.
Adapt: Free and open source (GPL-3.0); self-hosted.
Xerte Online Toolkits: Free and open source (Apache-2.0); self-hosted.
Lectora: Bundle subscription per year, published.
The other 3 quote per organisation.
Is there a free elearning authoring tool?
Mindsmith, Easygenerator, isEazy Author, Compozer, Adapt, Xerte Online Toolkits offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition.
Where are these elearning authoring tool vendors established?
In 9 countries across 4 regions: North America 6, Europe 4, Asia-Pacific 3, Elsewhere 2.
Mindsmith: United States.
iSpring Suite: United States.
ActivePresenter: Vietnam.
Easygenerator: Netherlands.
Chameleon Creator: New Zealand.
dominKnow ONE: Canada.
isEazy Author: Spain.
Compozer: Australia.
Articulate 360: United States.
Evolve: United States.
Adapt: Not stated by the vendor.
Xerte Online Toolkits: Not stated by the vendor.
Lectora: United States.
Gomo: United Kingdom.
Create (formerly Elucidat): United Kingdom.
Which elearning authoring tools are open source?
Adapt, Xerte Online Toolkits.
Which elearning authoring tools can you host yourself?
dominKnow ONE, Adapt, Xerte Online Toolkits. The other 12 are hosted by the vendor only.
What should you use instead of Mindsmith?
iSpring Suite and ActivePresenter are the next two on this page. iSpring Suite is for Trainers with a library of PowerPoint decks and Windows laptops to author on; ActivePresenter is for Software trainers who record screens and want to own the authoring licence.
Who should not buy Mindsmith?
Teams that need xAPI statements below the Enterprise plan. xAPI export and single sign-on are listed for the Enterprise plan only.
If your elearning authoring tools product belongs among these 15, tell us what it does and who it is for. Inclusion is an editorial call; what a listing is and is not is set out under software advice.
