Absorb LMS Reviews

“Faces hurdles but shows potential

Pros

The out-of-the-box reporting is a real time-saver for me, there are so many column and data field options to choose from that I can slice information any way I need. Being able to save, pin, share and schedule reports has genuinely taken a lot off my plate and made daily tasks much more manageable. I also like the Absorb Engage add-on for keeping in touch with our users, the news articles feature is something I use often and find really handy. On top of that, I appreciate how clearly the learner, admin and manager interfaces are separated, each experience feels intentional and suited to its role. There wasn't a cons section provided but overall I'd call this Solid reporting with useful communication tools.

Cons

The way data is placed into historical versus active buckets creates a lot of unnecessary headaches for me, deciding where to put information leads to lengthy cleanup efforts and makes migrating older data awkward and confusing. Course and curriculum settings are particularly aggravating because they must be finalized before enrollment, any adjustments made afterward don't retroactively apply to people who were already signed up which has caused avoidable inconsistencies. Our implementation felt bumpy from the start. The Implementation Manager we were assigned introduced delays and mistakes during setup, and the training we received didn't align with what we actually needed to operate the system smoothly. We're still untangling the consequences months later, spending time fixing data issues and reconfiguring courses so they behave correctly. The enrollment process itself is inefficient for handling departments and job codes, instead of grouping them and applying bulk enrollment rules, I'm forced to assign each department or job code individually to courses to enable automatic enrollment, which is tedious and time-consuming. Finally, setting up recurring courses inside curriculums has been a real problem. When some courses recur yearly and others recur every two years, I can't put them in the same curriculum and expect the scheduling logic to work properly for both existing and new users, which limits how we structure mandatory training paths.

“good tool with room for growth

Pros

Our team finds the interface really simple to get around and I can pull basic reports from the backend with minimal effort, so day-to-day reporting tasks don't give me much trouble.

Cons

I've been frustrated because the platform doesn't behave like we anticipated, particularly around curriculums, individual modules and group hierarchies. Reporting has been spotty, when learners have long training histories, sorting is a nightmare since there's no search box above the course list, which makes locating records tedious. Our implementation in November 2023 was a disaster, the implementation manager was very pushy, didn't listen and even showed us incorrect setup steps that we've been correcting for six months. On the positive side, our current CSM, Stephen, has been phenomenal given the situation he inherited and has been actively helping us untangle and fix all these rollout problems.

“Loved by young workers

Pros

Our younger employees, Millennials, Gen Z and even Gen Alpha, pick up the interface really quickly, it's just easy for them to use. What I appreciate most, though, is the standout customer support we get. Joel Hart, our account rep, responds fast and truly cares about our outcomes. It doesn't feel like we're just buying a product, it feels like a collaborative relationship. Because of that partnership we've been able to simplify compliance training and also open up meaningful personal development opportunities across our teams.

Cons

I found the reporting tools to be lacking for our particular business needs, they don't fully align with the way we need to slice our data. During setup we hit some issues with the ADP Connector which delayed our rollout more than we hoped. Once we got it configured, however those ADP Connector issues stopped recurring and we haven't had further problems since it was working.

“outstanding customer support!

Pros

I've consistently received excellent support from Natalie, she gets back to my emails really quickly whenever I reach out for help and I appreciate that responsiveness.

Cons

Configuring the ILC feature was pretty bewildering for me. The interface is far from interactive, so I wound up spending a lot more time figuring things out than I'd honestly expected.

“Versatile LMS for Multiple Needs

Pros

I found the admin features provided exactly what our team required to enable external trainers to run courses around the world.

Cons

For me, the platform's design templates don't appeal to my taste and could use improvement.

“Easy to use with great support

Pros

It has been really simple for me to use and I love the variety of features, they allow us to create meaningful courses and pull together comprehensive reports that align with our partners' exact needs. Our customer success manager, Kirsten Spak has been wonderful to collaborate with, always warm, quick to respond and consistently delivers excellent support. As we've increased our usage, she's helped us identify the most efficient ways to operate. Because we're still fairly new on the platform, Kirsten's clear, step-by-step guidance on how things work has been absolutely crucial whenever we weren't certain what to do next.

Cons

Every so often I wish the system included some convenience features by default, for example, a way to export all course certificates in one go rather than having to download them individually each time. Even so, when I face those constraints, my customer success manager, Kirsten Spak, steps in and does a great job of raising my requests and coming up with practical workarounds to get the results I need.

“Excellent Support and User Experience

Pros

Over the years, the account team has been absolutely fantastic for us. They've consistently gone the extra mile to help our staff thrive in their learning and I appreciate how supportive they've been throughout our whole partnership.

Cons

One drawback I've noticed is that the reporting tools don't do a great job of identifying inactive learners, which gets frustrating when I'm trying to assemble a full and accurate picture of overall engagement.

“Powerful reports but hard to use

Pros

The reporting tools are very comprehensive, I can pull nearly any course- or user-related metric that comes to mind. In my experience the platform itself runs very smoothly and I hardly ever need to reach out for help, when I do, their response times are reliable. Having Olga assigned as our Client Success Manager has made a huge difference, she's quick to get back to me and spells things out in a way that actually makes sense. Our member database syncs without issues and plugins like the Zoom integration have proven to be genuinely useful for our setup.

Cons

interface is clunky and I often find myself hunting around to locate what I need. The help documentation isn't clear enough, so more often than not I end up reaching out to our customer success manager with fairly basic questions. I wish there were far more avenues to customize the learner experience, that change would make things so much simpler for our users. While add-on modules such as Engage and Create bring some nice functionality, every extra costs money and those fees accumulate quickly. It's frustrating to see so much development focus placed on paid add-ons instead of strengthening the main platform.

“Top customer support!

Pros

the support team here has been phenomenal, whenever I run into a roadblock or feel unsure about something, my Client Manager steps in immediately and walks me through exactly what I need. Since I'm relatively new to the platform and still have a lot to learn, that hands-on guidance has been invaluable. Based on what I've used so far, there are numerous capabilities that suit our organization's needs really well. I find myself logging into the system daily now.

Cons

There's such an abundance of functionality here that I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed, I'm still working through how to properly use all of the tools and features.

“Reliable Partner for Business Success

Pros

Our team found the interface incredibly approachable, so everyone can use it without any diffculty. I really like how simple it is to either upload our existing training files or create brand-new courses from the ground up, someone on the team can jump in and start using it right away. The onboarding was smooth and very hands-on, Derek personally guided me through each part and paused to make sure I felt confident before we moved on. Plus, the way it links directly with BambooHR removed a ton of administrative work for us. Overall, it's a great fit for organizations that take continuous employee development seriously, no matter their size.

Cons

I truly can't find any meaningful drawbacks to point out about this system, it's been flawless for our needs so far.

“Smooth for all!

Pros

It's very user-friendly for both learners and admins alike. There are a wealth of flexible reporting capabilities and engagement features for learners that genuinely enhance the learning journey and simplify a lot of administrative work. I've noticed the company actively takes client input into account when planning new features or updates, which shows in regular improvements. Beyond the software itself, what I truly appreciate is the level of support provided throughout the whole process, from the initial evaluation and choosing the right setup, through implementation and connecting integrations and then supporting adoption and ongoing tweaks. In my experience, their focus on nurturing strong client relationships is the main thing that separates them from other options on the market.

Cons

That said, I do feel there are areas that could be improved. Even with lots of customization options for different scenarios, the search feature often falls short and several learner-facing workflows feel somewhat clumsy and would benefit from clearer, more alignd steps to improve usability.

“Easy and helpful tool, some fixes needed

Pros

My team finds the platform very interactive, practically everyone was able to get up to speed fast without a ton of training. Customer support has been outstanding, they respond quickly and actually fix the issues we run into. I really appreciate that they keep releasing new features and continuous improvements on a regular basis. The Ideas Portal is a thoughtful feature because the company genuinely listens to user suggestions and follows through with changes. We've had consistently positive interactions with our Customer Success Managers especially Tamar and Ashley, who were incredibly helpful and truly invested in making sure we succeeded. The departmental dashboards are also terrific, managers can immediately see each person's training completion status.

Cons

We did run into a few bumps compared with our old LMS, some processes needed to be adjusted to fit how this one works. I'll likely have to purchase a handful of custom reports because the built-in ones don't capture every metric we rely on. Also, even though the vendor claims compatibility with any SCORM content, we found ourselves reconfiguring several courses: tinkering with resolutions and migrating some questions into the platform instead of keeping them inside the course package. It wasn't a deal-breaker, but correcting those issues took quite a bit of time since many of our courses are long. After we finished the rework, however, the courses ran smoothly.

“awsome team & easy to use

Pros

Honestly the customer service at this company is outstanding. Our CSM, Tamar Lupo is exceptional and consistently follows up with clear answers to any questions we raise. The whole team remains deeply attentive to our organization's needs and makes a concerted effort to comply with accessibility requirements. The platform itself is simple to use and the teams supporting it are truly phenomenal.

Cons

We have run into some integration problems with external vendors but in our experience those hiccups tend to be issues on the vendor side rather than with the platform itself. The support team, however, has been amazing at proposing workarounds and alternative approaches whenever we've faced these blockers, so they've helped us keep projects moving despite the third-party limitations.

“User-friendly platform

Pros

I find the platform very simple and easy to use. The help guides are useful and whenever I need further information, the support team is always available to help.

Cons

It would be wonderful if there were increased flexibility in targeting different groups of users dynamically.

“Absorb LMS - AI integration & great support team

Pros

Overall, I find Absorb to be easy to use and pretty flexible. The Create tool, particularly with the AI integration, is a great help when it comes to creating new content. Also, their support team is always there whenever I need help.

Cons

Some parts of Absorb feel a bit clunky, like when I'm creating a class, it's easy to accidentally click the wrong button and end up enrolling the entire company instead of just making the class available to everyone.

“Strong features and great support

Pros

After more than 20 years in tech, I can honestly say this is one of the most feature-packed platforms I've come across. Whenever we found ourselves thinking "wouldn't it be great if we could." there was almost always a built-in capability for exactly that. What really set this apart for us, though, was the onboarding with Adam without his direction we wouldn't be anywhere near where we are now. We implemented this at the same time as a new CRM and the contrast was stark: while the CRM rollout was a struggle, Adam got us up and running with this platform from day one.

Cons

One thing I'd change is making it simpler to move between Create and Absorb, the navigation could be smoother. I'd also love to see hover tooltips across Absorb, especially when you're publishing courses, so there's an easy reminder of what each feature does. The admin interface feels a bit dated and could use a fresher, more user-friendly look. It would be great if some Absorb University training videos were embedded directly into the admin area so you could learn as you work, that small addition would save a lot of time.

“Mixed Experience

Pros

UI is incredibly interactive and Absorb Create made it possible for us to assemble courses from the ground up in a very efficient manner. I really appreciate being able to preview how each course will appear at every stage as I work through it.

Cons

I wish there was an AI-powered video creation option built in, because having that capability would make producing course videos so much easier and save a lot of time.

“simple tool with great support

Pros

I find the interface very easy to use and the implementation team together with customer support have been outstanding, they patiently guide me through every step until I'm fully comfortable managing everything on my own.

Cons

I'd like to see more variety in quiz options and there could be a few additional types or formats to choose from.

“very simple to use but missing key reports

Pros

For me, the interface feels really simple and all of the settings make sense immediately.

Cons

the reporting features were more flexible, for example, showing exactly which courses each person has completed.

“Perfect dealership management solution found

Pros

Having compared several LMS platforms, this one immediately rose to the top for me. What I like best is how naturally everything works, I can move around the system without constantly digging through support articles. When problems arise, their support team gets back to me promptly and professionally instead of leaving me waiting. Our group has been really pleased by how much simpler it is compared with what we used before. I also appreciate that they frequently push out updates driven by user suggestions. The onboarding was much easier than expected because they took care of the technical heavy lifting, and all our legacy data migrated without a hitch. We rely on it daily and experience very few frustrations on either the administrative side or for end users.

Cons

There aren't many negatives, we've managed to work around any features that don't perfectly match our requirements. Every LMS has its little problems but, I can't really point to any serious problems we've faced.