Articulate 360 Reviews

Create eLearns with ease

Pros:

Ease of use and the interactive tools are very helpful.

Cons:

Storyline is a goal but very time consuming. Wish it was easier to create courses.

Best authoring tool

Comments: I started by using Captivate and was not happy with the results. I found that the training I created and articulate looks more professional and was much easier to author.

Pros:

Articulate has a suite of products that will serve any training needs. For a quick training with interactive elements, RISE is what you will need. For a more complex robust training, STORYLINE is best suited. Assets are robust and very numerous.

Cons:

The price point is a little high for an individual license. That being said, if that is the only drawback, it is very well worth the price.

Great software but needs some serious updating

Comments: I have been an Articulate StoryLine user since it came out in about 2013. It took a while, but once I learned how to use it, I was able to create hundreds of amazing e-course modules and interactive games. It became one of my favorite software development tools allowing me to do things I never dreamed possible and really impressed (and expanded) my clients. Support was okay. But I never really had to submit a support ticket. Articulate has the best community and I was usually able to get the help I needed from moderators or other community members. However, I can relate to Chris' frustration. For example, StoryLine has the capability to execute javascript which greatly expands what you can do with it. But the stock answer when you have a javascript question is ... "Sorry, we don't provide support for javascript; perhaps someone in the community can help you out." Fortunately for me, there was always someone well versed with javascript that was willing to share their code. Recently, it is becoming apparent that StoryLine has some major shortcomings, and that Articulate has been slow in adding new features and enhancements in response to client requests. These include such things as a) inability to use with high-res monitors; b) no capability to e-mail results to admin or user; c) no feature to have background audio across all slides (see Chris' review); d) no capability to publish only HTML5 output; e) poor quality of HTML5 published output that does NOT work well on many mobile devices; f) no responsive design capability; g) no capability to send results to a database; h) very slow player response on timeline when synchronizing animations and no true scrubber; and several other issues. In Nov. 2016, Articulate released 360 which bundled all of their current programs into one annual subscription (which is way too expensive for us to even consider). StoryLine 2 as a stand-alone product is still available and Articulate claims that StoryLine 3 will be available sometime in 2017. However, whether SL3 will address the major shortcomings of us and others, remains unknown. Therefore, to meet our needs for course development in an ever changing technological environment, we are currently exploring alternative e-learning software development tools. Our leading candidate is Captivate 9. It appears to have all the features missing in StoryLine (and much more). Also, it appears that CP9 is a much better value.

Creative Tool for Hands-On Learning

Comments: My experience was a bit of a journey since I taught myself how to use the tool through YouTube videos and trial and error. Now that I've used the tool for a few years, it feels like second nature and a really awesome way to train learners in a more hands-on way.

Pros:

I love the flexibility that Articulate 360 and you can create simulations and interactive activities and quizzes. This is especially useful for adding videos and pausing them to have a learner complete an interactivity.

Cons:

It takes some time to get used to as there are a lot of intricate pieces that you have to have a deeper understand, such as variables and triggers.

Best eLearning development tool on the market

Pros:

It's really easy to get the basics down with Articulate but when you want to dig deeper there are always ways to improve you courses with advanced triggers, variables, javascript.

Cons:

Sometimes it's unstable, slow. The amount of built-in animations could be more and there is still no Mac version.

Ease of use

Comments: Having worked with both Adobe Captivate and Storyline I must say I am extremely impressed about how easy the software is and how many options are available to develop content right out of the box.

Pros:

Articulate 360 comes with many tools available, including video capturing and rapid eLearning development. I use the authoring tool Storyline mainly from the suite and it meets all my requirements - powerful, customisable and easy to use. Being able to use javascript adds additional options behind the scenes. To their credit they are constantly updating the software and from time to time introduce new features. The community "ELearning Heros" is great with lot's of support and members sharing ideas and troubleshooting. The review process is incredible and makes it easy to keep track of changes that are required.

Cons:

Suggestions to enhancements are slow and sometimes are ignored for years. Needing to pay full price for a full suite of products also makes it expensive for small teams , e.g. I didn't even consider suggesting Rise to our community of SMEs because it requires a full license even though they're only using one small feature set of the Articulate 360 suite. A BIG NEGATIVE for me is no native Apple Mac support. This is a serious problem for me and many other members of the community

Articulate 360 is a $weet $uite

Comments: I use Storyline 360 most days, and find it very user friendly. It has a lower learning curve than Captivate or Lectora for sure. The online community at eLearning Heroes is amazing, and Adobe's support is excellent.

Pros:

The suite includes everything an elearning specilist might need to create great elearning: Storyline 360 (authoring tool), Rise (authoring tool), Review (a tool that works to capture feedback from reviewers for both Storyline and Rise), Replay (video-reording tool for capturing screen activity), Peek ( for recording screencasts), as as a large content library, and live online training. The suite is award-winning and very popular.

Cons:

The suite is quite expensive for a single elearning developer.

Articulate 360 a strong authoring tool in the eLearning world

Comments: I am happy with the software and would recommend it to anyone looking to create engaging, interactive, asynchronous and scalable learning solutions.

Pros:

The ability to customize learning experiences in such a way that you can create decision-based scenarios, and present information in a dynamic and engaging way. You can use your imagination to it's fullest extent.

Cons:

There are some image editing features that are present in MS PPT that I wish were present in Storyline360 such as merging images. There is also a bit of a learning curve on the system.

Great for courses

Comments: Overall, it's ahead of the curve. It's a great tool for online learning.

Pros:

We use these for self-paced learning as well as guiding classes in-person. The courses allow you to track completion as well.

Cons:

It can be a bit of a recipe in the sense that they start to look the same. Options are somewhat limited in terms of what you can actually do.

Still the best authoring tool for elearning development

Comments: Great

Pros:

Articulate 360 has covered the e-learning management through stunning tools starting from rapid development to quality accurate software . It literally made the history of e-learning

Cons:

There have been some problems on bugs management in the past ,but now the fixing process is ok

Alternatives Considered: Adobe Captivate

Truly the best authoring tools!

Comments: Storyline is incredibly easy to learn. If you want to do something, you can always find a way to make it happen in Storyline. I credit the training I have created to being able to have access to this tool.

Pros:

Articulate 360 suite has all of the tools I need to create the best e-learning possible and then some. It's intuitive to figure things out and takes very little time for a new user to learn. One feature I recently discovered and now LOVE, is the translation function. One simple button allows me to print out a word document to send out for translation. Once the translator updates the word document, I just upload it back into the training and within minutes, the entire course content is translated; all on-screen text, notes text, buttons, everything. It places the text right where it needs to be with all the same font settings. Even better is the text to speech functionality allows you to insert audio in many languages and dialects with closed captioning. Great for companies that need training in multiple languages.

Cons:

I really cannot think of anything that I dislike about this software.

Alternatives Considered: Adobe Captivate and Lectora

Switched From: Adobe Captivate and Lectora

Reasons for Switching to Articulate 360: Before purchasing, I compared Articulate 360 to Adobe Captivate. In this comparison, I can honestly say there were more features in Articulate 360 than Captivate and where both had the same feature most of them were more advanced and easier to use in Storyline. A huge bonus for me was Rise. For the last year I really overlooked this feature. After trying this part of the Suite, I love it! It makes simple training easy to create and easy for learners to get it. The product comes out beautifully and the feedback from learners has been exceptional. This comparison seems to be a common one that I have seen over the years. While Storyline may have limitations years ago, they have truly listened to customers and continued to develop new features and enhance features as well. Captivate really has had very few changes in the last few years and seems like they are being pushed out of the authoring tool market by Articulate and others.

An e-learning must!

Comments: We realized that Articulate 360 includes a wide range of tools that helps us create content for our virtual courses. We can have PowerPoints with interactive elements and audio integrated, we can have a Rise course, self paced, in which the student gets a very contemporary look and variety of media that illustrates the information. Engage makes easy interactions to navigate through information. Storyline is just... amazing, it gets so much done, it has endless possibilities. We love this products.

Pros:

Articulate Storyline is the one we use and like the most. It's easy to start producing e-learning content thanks to the familiarity the interface has in regards to PowerPoint. One can easily find and edit anything they might need.

Cons:

There are some things that need to be researched to get done on software and that they get discussed on Articulate's forum. I wish they added new features often, with more updates. For example, there's no specific "timer" option on evaluations. This could easily be added, but it has to be programmed. That's the way I've gotten around to having that done, at least.

Alternatives Considered: iSpring Suite and Adobe Captivate

Reasons for Switching to Articulate 360: Easier use, variety of tools integrated to 360, compatibility with our platforms, quality in the publication of courses.

Rapid development with high quality

Comments: Couldn't work without it. I use it daily. I've introduced it to several organisations I've worked for and it has allowed each to step up the quality of elearning experience provided. The review system cuts down on admin around receiving feedback from subject matter experts.

Pros:

The learning curve on the software is very shallow. You can get p and running with it very quickly. However, the depth of advanced features means you can really make some powerful interactions and resources without being a 'coder'.

Cons:

As the software is very easy to use many people believe it will make them a great eLearning developer. It will, but that will come with experience.

Alternatives Considered: iSpring Suite and Adobe Captivate

Reasons for Switching to Articulate 360: Ease of use. Flexibility. Price. Training available and support .

Storyline is Good - Could be Better

Comments: Great tool for creating/editing e-learnings. Will need to take some courses to become proficient in it as it's not the easiest software to learn. Customer care is not always the best as they will point you to a blog of other IDs who are posing questions and relaying on other IDs to build that. Storyline support should be able to answer more questions than relying on their users to answer them.

Pros:

Overall features are great for designing e-learning courses. Overall user friendly. Ability to publish in multiple ways including SCORM, PPT, etc. Streamlines the creation of elearning courses

Cons:

While overall its easy to user, there are some features that are missing from Storyline and require you to build using java script. Thus in order to be a master of Storyline, you also have to be a master of java script. If the software can do something, it should be able to be built using the software, not going somewhere else.

Alternatives Considered: Adobe Captivate

Reasons for Choosing Articulate 360: Storyline is more inline with the future of elearning than captivate.

Switched From: Adobe Learning Manager

Reasons for Switching to Articulate 360: Storyline allows for more interaction in the creation of courses than captivate does.

Solid E-Learning Creation Tool

Comments: Great tool overall with solid control of lesson design and management.

Pros:

Ease of deployment. Templated lessons. Quiz customization.

Cons:

Tracking user engagement is lacking. A/B testing built in would be beneficial.

Articulate 360 has made creating learning easy!

Pros:

Using Rise 360 to quickly create, share with team members for review and edit work for our learners. Easy to build and nice to use built in templates and photos to use. Quick turn around product. Storyline is excellent in it's similarity to the ppt file builds and a TON of built in resources!

Cons:

Not a lot of features in Rise to edit the look/feel of the pages.

Rise is so easy to use

Pros:

I used the trial version of Rise and loved it. It is so easy to create a publish an eLearning through Rise. It also has a huge library of stock images. I would highly recommend Rise 360.

Cons:

It is restricted. I wish I could customize the blocks more. But I still like it!

“Powerful Learning Management Platform”

Comments: Articulate 360 is an E-learning system that gives course developers all the essentials tools to create courses that increase engagement for their target audience. They have a huge collection of images that make the courses look very creative.

Pros:

The platform is easy to use and it’s a great overall authoring solution.

Cons:

It seem to have minor bugs and crashes frequently.

Storyline - A Love Hate Relationship

Comments: Storyline offers many features for beginning designers but is limiting for anyone planning on advancing to a serious learning developer. It is powerful enough so that if this is the only authoring tool you ever use, then you will not be disappointed. Storyline will get the job done, but if you are planning a purchase, do a through comparison of the major authoring tools and if possible, speak with an experienced developer for guidance.

Pros:

Layers is one of the most powerful features of Storyline. An entire slide of content can be placed on another layer and manipulated with triggers. The ability to give objects multiple states helps in creating engaging content. The option to add a variety of sliders without programming is a nice bonus. Adding animation effects should come naturally to anyone with PowerPoint experience.

Cons:

The interface that displays slides as tiles gets very confusing on a large project. The built-in player gets in the way and must be removed for custom projects. Creating master slides like in PowerPoint makes it difficult to inherit objects throughout the course. There is no access to individual files in a published course, so if one image changes you have to edit the course.

The best option for now, but lots of room for improvement

Comments: Overall, I am happy with the product, but it's mainly because there doesn't seem to be a better option at the moment. If they could apply more resources to these products to fix bugs and add features, I think they'd have something no other tool could even touch. But it seems like updates to 360 tools is not something they take seriously.

Pros:

Articulate Rise is currently my favorite tool for simple web based training development. Very easy to build beautiful and responsive courses that flow well and are easy to navigate. Great interactive elements that work well on any device, and overall a very nice tool for simple elearning courses.

Cons:

Support and frequency of updates are just horrible. I've never worked with a product that was so poorly supported and so painfully slow to receive product updates and new features. Manny very basic feature requests that have been submitted on multiple tools within the 360 suite by hundreds of users have been "in development" for over 4 years. In the 3 years I've used the toolset, bug fixes and feature updates have been so infrequent, they're almost non-existent.

Alternatives Considered: Adobe Captivate

Expensive But Worth It If You Are Do E-Learning

Comments: Since I do a lot of e-learning and all of it is on Articulate Storyline, it is a must but it has serious deficiencies and that is compounded by the fact that the customer service is utterly deceptive. If you need an e-learning tool, this is the best one even though it costs as much as it does. It is worth it. However, you need to be ready to understand a few things quickly. One thing you will learn is that they offer a discussion board and they have staff who are there to patrol and respond and help users, but it is not a help desk. When it comes to asking why something doesn't work, you will be told much of the time that it is working as designed but if it isn't quite right that you should submit a feature request and they don't do that for you as they should if they cared about the direction of the software. You should also know that there are many things about the product design that simply make no sense to anyone but the designers. They focus more on new features rather than fixing persistent problems that users continually complain about.

Pros:

There is really no other software for publishing e-learning that is as easy to use and has the best non-programmer customization as Articulate Storyline. I absolutely love what you can do with it and how it can be used in many, many ways.

Cons:

I absolutely hate three things about Articulate Storyline. I hate the enormous cost. I hate the way they handle their customer support and the way they deal with their own product development. If the product didn't cost as much as it does, then these other issues would not be so terrible, but because we pay so much for it, there really should be excellent customer support and excellent product development.

Best Authoring Tool

Pros:

One of the best authoring tool,- It helps to create quick and engaging online courses.- We can make it gamified by adding lots interaction.- Also this tool has in built characters/assets library with different expression and poses.- In storyline 360 we can build simulations to make courses lot more engaging. - And the interface is very user friendly.

Cons:

So far this is one of the best authoring tool in the market, no drawbacks as of now.

Powerful authoring tools for e-learning development

Comments: I am responsible for creating e-learning courses, and I find that articulate 360 (Rise and Storyline) are the best authoring tools that someone can find in the market. However, it is quite pricy. I think the target group could be for medium and large company size.

Pros:

Articulate could be split in two parts: Rise and Storyline. Rise is an authoring tool that gives the essential to create and publish an e-learning, which could include text, audio, video, pictures, a few interactions, and the possibility to create interactive questions. Storyline is the complement for any e-learning, you can create powerful software simulations and interactive e-learning or just the interactive part of the e-learning, which can be uploaded into the Rise.Moreover, the Articulate 360 community and support are active and helpful, you can find all answers to your questions.

Cons:

I think working with Articulate Storyline could be a little complicate at the beginning, despite the free training offered by this company. It takes time to get use to the interface and programming (when you use variables).

I have SL2 and love how interactive I can make my courses. I have been using it for three years.

Comments: Mainly information on ID best practices and some "how tos" from their blog and community. It can be really engaging and fun to create a course using SL2. I like their templates as they are easy to customize. However, now there is SL3 and 360, so getting help or templates for SL2 are few and far between.

Pros:

The free templates are amazing. I love their community site that is up-to-date on LD trends and challenges. Everyone that has taken one of my courses on SL2 likes how fun and engaging they can be. I can add all types of file formats, different types of quizzes, interaction, and multimedia.

Cons:

I never seem to feel like an expert as some of the functions/interactions are hard to create. I went to a two day training on SL2 and it didn't teach me enough as I am still trying to figure out variables and how they work. Sometimes the E-Learning Heroes take days to get back to me if I have an issue and don't always explain in detail how to correct the issue.

Perfect tool for avid developers

Pros:

I love how intuitive the UI is - very similar to the familiar Office suite. Tons of triggers, animations, and media types to make great elearning. Especially useful is the layers function, which makes it easier to create rich media and manage the source files. Lots of my clients really appreciate the review site and our communication there, and it makes it easier for me to manage feedback!

Cons:

You definitely need to be an expert in order to make the most of this tool; while a novice may be able to create objects and basic animations, you've got to dive pretty deep to use all of the features. You'd be surprised that the elearning courses you've taken before which look like they are built by the most creative developers and designers are actually done in Storyline. It's also insanely expensive and make it cost prohibitive for most.