TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Adobe Captivate

    Score6.8 out of 10
    N/AAdobe Captivate is an elearning authoring and course design tool (or LCMS). It supports mobile HTML5 content. Captivate’s users are commonly midsized businesses to enterprises. Adobe Captivate includes some prebuilt assets as well as customizable workflows.

    $33.99

    per month

    Google Classroom

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/AN/A

    $0

    per month

    Pricing
    Adobe CaptivateGoogle Classroom
    Editions & Modules
    Subscription
    $33.99
    per month
    Student & Teacher Edition
    $399
    one-time fee
    Upgrade
    $499
    one-time fee
    Pereptual License
    1,299
    one-time fee
    Education Fundamentals
    $0
    per license/per month
    Google Workspace for Education Standard
    $3
    per student/per year
    Teaching and Learning Upgrade
    $4
    per license/per month
    Google Workspace for Education Plus
    $5
    per student/per year
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Adobe CaptivateGoogle Classroom
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Education Fundamentals Version - 30-day free trial for qualifying institutions.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Adobe CaptivateGoogle Classroom
    Considered Both Products
    Adobe
    No answer on this topic
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    88%
    Would buy again
    75 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    69 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    34 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    84%
    Happy with the feature set
    71 Answers
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    32 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    89%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    48 Answers
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    18 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    53 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    26 Answers
    Features
    Adobe CaptivateGoogle Classroom
    Learning Management
    Comparison of Learning Management features of Adobe Captivate and Google Classroom
    Feature
    Adobe Captivate
    9.1
    31 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Google Classroom
    7.8
    56 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Course authoring8.030 Ratings8.048 Ratings
    Course catalog or library9.018 Ratings8.937 Ratings
    Player/Portal8.024 Ratings9.536 Ratings
    Learning content9.024 Ratings5.139 Ratings
    Progress tracking & certifications9.026 Ratings8.042 Ratings
    Learning reporting & analytics9.019 Ratings9.039 Ratings
    Social learning10.014 Ratings7.749 Ratings
    Gamification8.02 Ratings6.57 Ratings
    Mobile friendly00 Ratings5.754 Ratings
    Assignments00 Ratings8.155 Ratings
    Compliance management00 Ratings8.132 Ratings
    Learning administration00 Ratings7.743 Ratings
    Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
    eLearning Content
    Comparison of eLearning Content features of Adobe Captivate and Google Classroom
    Feature
    Adobe Captivate
    8.4
    1 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Google Classroom
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-Lingual Support7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Structured Learning10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Historical Metrics8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cloud-Based Content10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automation & Integration7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Adobe CaptivateGoogle Classroom
    Small Businesses
    Pluralsight Skills
    Score9 out of 10
    Teachable
    Score6.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Renaissance myON
    Score10 out of 10
    Schoology Learning
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Skillsoft Percipio (Skillport)
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Axonify
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Adobe CaptivateGoogle Classroom
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (128 ratings)
    7.9
    (76 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (8 ratings)
    8.0
    (7 ratings)
    Availability
    1.8
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.8
    (18 ratings)
    1.9
    (14 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    2.7
    (2 ratings)
    2.0
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Adobe CaptivateGoogle Classroom
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Adobe
    Captivate is well suited for instruction designers who want to build attractive, personalized, interactive, energetic lessons. It's also a good choice for someone who wants to build something innovative because Captivate gives the developer so much control over so many aspects.
    But if someone wanted something built quickly, generically and didn't care about holding the viewer's attention, then Captivate might be an expensive tool. That person might be more satisfied with a cheaper and easier to learn authoring tool.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Google Classroom allows teachers to post for daily lessons and assignments. It also allows teachers to be able to communicate with students easily outside of class. Students are able to stay connected and know where to find all information and resources easily in a streamlined manner for all of their classes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Adobe
    • Quickly adding in graphics, text, and interactive buttons.
    • Has extensive variables and branching for additional customization, beyond the competition.
    • Has 360 degree capability which competitors don't offer (I have not used this feature).
    • High degree of customization and personalization.
    • True responsive screen display on all devices, viewable as you are creating the training. This is different than some competitors - some just shrink the screen, but Adobe Captivate allows actually removing or moving or changing items at different screen sizes.
    • If you like Flash, it has Flash output, although it's going away in 2020. Personally, I think this is an outdated technology.
    • Many advanced capabilities. I chose this product due to the capabilities.
    • Comes with assets, templates, people, head shots, and full body—excellent.
    • Adobe Captivate is the authoring tool. It integrates with Adobe Captivate Prime - which I highly recommend if you want to truly take advantage of all of its features in reporting, administration, compliance, and social learning. (I didn't use Prime because you essentially need 100+ students to affordably use Prime.) If you look at my chart of what Captivate is capable of, I can't say that Captivate has a lot of the reporting features because they are part of Prime/SCORM, although, with Captivate's customization, you might be able to do most of them if you are up to it, but I did not.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • Student-teacher communication - I love using Classroom for this because my students can always go back and check what was on Classroom by looking through the stream. This way they don't have to go dig through emails to find what they're looking for.
    • Posting to multiple classes - I can post the same announcement or assignment to multiple classes at once without having to repeat the process or send separate emails.
    • Streamlining grading - when students turn work in on Classroom, it all goes to one place and then when I'm grading I can open their documents directly from Classroom or my Drive folder. This way, I'm not looking through emails and Google Doc shared files for their assignment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Adobe
    • Clunky interface, it takes a lot of extra clicks to get places compared to other Adobe apps and competitor's eLearning software.
    • Would be nice if it was part of creative cloud, or at least in the group of apps you can add through Creative Cloud.
    • More regular and meaningful updates. Compared to flagship apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. Captivate is like the read headed step child. Competitors excel at providing regular updates with clear change documentation. How are we still using Captivate 2019 in 2022?
    • The interface feels like it is still stuck in the 90s, would be nice if it was more modern and better in-line with flagship adobe offerings.
    • Variables and associated menus are a nuisance to work with vs some of the clever drop down and content-sensitive options in Articulate Storyline.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • The content management of the Classroom is not that good. The sub-section for notes, syllabus, or discussion is missing.
    • It doesn't have parental control feature.
    • It converts the excel output into a normal file. All the formulas and pivots got changed into plain text.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Adobe
    We have hundreds of courses that were created in Adobe Captivate. It will take us a while to convert to Articulate. We'll need a license for another year and/or until Adobe comes out with a true update to the software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Testing is particularly important in online learning, and Google Classroom falls far short of other learning management systems in this regard. Security is also a concern: while account control is reasonable for the account used with Google Classroom, the person controlling a particular account is often able to, for example, forward or download proprietary materials.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Adobe
    Adobe Captivate does take some getting used to. There are features that are much more convoluted than they need to be, but overall it is a great product with a some excellent features. Being in a pretty small market, Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline dominate the space. They are not the same software, but allow for eLearning authoring. Each has their benefit and their downside, but, for me, Adobe Captivate edges out Storyline.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Simple design and seamless integration with Google tools and drive, but missing some key features. However, since it is limited in overall functions and ability to truly personalize / customize, it is quite user friendly and easy to set up and get going, other than sending out the code to your course or dropping students in via their gmail account. Users of Google Forms and sites will find the layout similar in design.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Adobe
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    We have had very little trouble in accessing Google Classroom. Our issues, if any, have risen from our server and not the Google servers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Adobe
    It is difficult to get in touch with Adobe Captivate support. With a seemingly limited number of resources, mostly outsourced, getting in contact with someone to help troubleshoot an issue is challenging. Typically wait times are long, and the desired path to resolution is to use an existing knowledge base or a self-help guide. It is certainly not a user-friendly experience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Since this platform is provided by Google, the technical support is better than any others, and we are not required to bother about the space constraints for adding the contents. If we have a good uninterrupted internet facility we can access Google Classroom without any delay or lag. They have app support in both Android and iPhone.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Adobe
    I'm only aware of the problems Adobe Captivate had with SumTotal LMS and Upside LMS, requiring extensive contact with both internal and external support staff to fix the problems. We had no problems at all with Articulate.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    It was relatively easy to implement due to the simplicity of the platform. Even our more technology challenged teachers found it easy to get started with Google Classroom.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Adobe
    I think that Articulate360 is more user-friendly and has a cleaner, more updated look. If you can edit a PDF, then you can use Articulate 360. Adobe Captivate may be more challenging for the designer, but it has more features. We chose Adobe Captivate because we want the option to create interactive learning environments. Adobe Captivate plays well with the other Adobe design products including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premier. Additionally, Adoe Captivate is highly compatible with Cornerstone, our preferred Learning Management Systems.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    I haven't tested or evaluated another digital classroom website or application. I feel like Google Classroom is convenient for many reasons such as compatibility to Google docs, slides, etc. I also love the ability to link to YouTube and other sites. I don't know if there would be a site that is easier to maneuver.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Adobe
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    It is very easy to push out this program across our buildings. Teachers are able to use it without much trouble.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Adobe
    • Adobe Captivate has allowed our instructors to engage students in ways we never have before.
    • Instructors who have used Adobe Captivate in our organization have reported higher levels of engagement with their courses and their students, theoretically leading to improved assessment of student performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • Students are able to continue learning in a remote environment
    • Parents have a single, consistent organization structure to make it easy to track assignments and progress for multiple children
    • Much better solution than the quickly assembled Zoom-and-gloom of the previous spring when school abruptly went remote with no planning
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots