Education & E-Learning · ranked shortlist
Best Education & E-Learning software in 2026
20 approved education & e-learning listings, ordered by published rating with the method stated below rather than assumed.
- Tools ranked
- 20
- Entry price range
- $4.99-$1,399
- Publish a $0 plan
- 10 of 20
How this ranking is derived
The sort key
Published rating, highest first. Ties break on the number of ratings behind the score, then on product name so the order never depends on what the API happened to return first. That is the whole rule, there is no weighting, no score of our own, and nothing paid: no sponsored slot runs on these pages.
Where the ratings come from
No listing in this set carries a rating, so the order falls back to name. Those scores are aggregated from public sources rather than collected here, Softwr hosts no reviews of its own, which is also why no rating on this page is marked up as ours in structured data.
What the pool is
Approved education & e-learning listings, capped at 20 per page; 20 came back for this one. It is not the whole market, and a tool being absent means we hold no record of it rather than that it failed a test. The unranked full set is on the education & e-learning category page.
The ranking
Each entry lists why it sits where it sits, drawn from its own published rating and pricing.
- #1
Articulate 360
Highest rated hereThe complete e-learning authoring solution
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $1,399 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $1,599 plus a tier sold by quote.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- authoring-tools, e-learning, storyline, rise
- #2
Babbel
Language learning that works
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $6.95 a month, with no free plan.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $249.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- language-learning, mobile, practical, bite-sized
- #3
Blackboard
Comprehensive learning platform for educational institutions
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $10 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- lms, Education, higher-education, Enterprise
- #4
Brilliant
Learn math and science through problem-solving
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $24.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $150.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- stem, math, science, problem-solving
- #5
Codecademy
Learn to code interactively for free
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $17.49 a month.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $29.99.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- coding, programming, interactive, Free
- #6
DataCamp
Learn data science and AI skills online
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $28 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- freemium
- Tags
- data-science, Python, r, sql
- #7
Duolingo
Learn a language for free, forever
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $12.99 a month.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $119.99 plus a tier sold by quote.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- language-learning, gamification, Free, mobile
- #8F
Flip
Empower student voice with video discussions
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- video-discussion, student-voice, Free, microsoft
- #9
Gimkit
Game-based learning built by students
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $9.99 a month.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- game-based, gamification, fun, student-created
- #10
Khan Academy
Free world-class education for anyone, anywhere
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Free, nonprofit, k12, math
- #11
Labster
Virtual science labs for immersive learning
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $49 a month, with no free plan.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- virtual-labs, science, simulations, stem
- #12
MasterClass
Learn from the world's best
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $10 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $20.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- celebrity, premium, inspiration, entertainment
- #13
Miro Education
Visual collaboration platform for interactive learning
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- visual-collaboration, whiteboard, Education, interactive
- #14
Open edX
Open-source platform powering online learning
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- Open Source, mooc, scalable, university
- #15
Pluralsight
Technology skills platform for IT professionals
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $29 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $45 plus a tier sold by quote.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- tech-skills, it-training, Enterprise, certifications
- #16
Quizizz
Gamified quizzes that motivate every learner
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $5 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- quizzes, gamification, assessment, Free
- #17
Rosetta Stone
Learn languages through immersion
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $13.25 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- language-learning, immersion, speech-recognition, established
- #18
Udemy
World's largest marketplace for online learning
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $19 a month.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $360.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- online-courses, marketplace, affordable, self-paced
- #19
Wakelet
Save, organize, and share content for learning
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $4.99 a month.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- curation, collections, resources, portfolios
- #20
Wooclap
Make learning awesome with interactive questions
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $6.99 a month.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $14.99 plus a tier sold by quote.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- interactive-presentations, polling, audience-response, Education
What education & e-learning software costs
Counted from the published pricing of the 20 listings on this page. A tool counts as free only where it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence or a starting price of zero.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $4.99Wakelet
- Median entry price
- $13.12across 16 priced
- Dearest entry price
- $1,399Articulate 360
- Publish a $0 plan
- 10of 20
Paid education & e-learning plans in this set start anywhere from $4.99 a month for Wakelet to $1,399 for Articulate 360. The median entry price across the 16 tools that publish one is $13.12, half of them start below that figure and half above it.
Entry price is not the ceiling. The dearest published tier anywhere in this category is Articulate 360's at $1,599 a month. Read the top of each ladder as well as the bottom, because that is where you land after two years of growth.
10 of 20 publish a $0 plan, and 4 of those charge nothing at all. 10 tools have no free tier of any kind.
8 of 20 keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote, which in practice means the number you end up paying at the top end is not on this page or on theirs.
How these vendors bill
The billing model each of the 20 education & e-learning listings publishes, counted. Two tools at the same headline price are not the same purchase if one of them charges per seat.
- freemium
- 6
- subscription
- 5
- free
- 3
Separately, 8 of 20 publish at least one tier with no price attached. Those are sold by quote, so the top of the ladder is negotiable, and unknowable, until you talk to sales.
What comes as standard, and what you pay extra for
Every capability named in a published pricing tier by any of the 16 education & e-learning tools here that break their plans down, counted once per vendor. This measures what vendors choose to advertise as a selling point, not everything the software does, an absence below is silence, not a missing feature.
Named most often
- Priority support , 5 of 16
- SSO , 4 of 16
- All features , 3 of 16
- LMS integration , 3 of 16
- Admin tools , 2 of 16
Named by fewer
- Analytics , 2 of 16
- Collaboration , 2 of 16
- Mobile access , 2 of 16
- No ads , 2 of 16
- Progress tracking , 2 of 16
Named by exactly one vendor: Access to all 90+ courses, All Personal, Content Library, Games, Practice exercises, Storyline 360. Those are differentiators rather than table stakes.
What “Education & E-Learning” covers in practice
The subject tags that recur across these 20 listings, with the number of tools carrying each. A category label is a filing decision; this is the closer read of what is actually filed under it.
- Free5
- Enterprise4
- interactive4
- Education3
- engagement3
- gamification3
- language-learning3
- higher-education2
- math2
- mobile2
- science2
- stem2
Carried by a single tool: affordable, certificates, e-learning, inspiration, mooc, problem-solving, scalable, student-voice. If one of those is the reason you are here, the category page is the wrong lens, go straight to that product.
How to choose between them
Four things the numbers above should change about your shortlist.
Start with the free tiers if there are enough of them
10 of 20 education & e-learning tools here publish a $0 plan, which is enough to run a real trial without a purchase order. A free tier is worth more than a free trial when you are evaluating: a trial expires on the vendor's schedule, a free plan expires when you outgrow it. The thing to check before you commit is which of the capabilities below sit above the free line, starting with priority support, the single most frequently named capability in this category's published tiers.
Read the spread before you read the features
$4.99 to $1,399 is a $1,394.01 spread on entry price alone, and a spread that wide is never about polish, it is about who the vendor built for. Tools at the bottom of this ladder are priced for one person or a small team; tools near $1,399 are priced for a department with a procurement process. Decide which of those you are before you compare capability, or you will shortlist four tools that were never competing for the same buyer.
Check which tier you actually land on
10 of 20 tools here publish three or more tiers, and the median vendor in this category ships 3 of them. The advertised price is the first rung, and the things teams tend to need, priority support, sso, all features, are named in higher plans far more often than in entry ones. Price your shortlist at the tier that contains what you need, not at the tier on the pricing page's left edge.
The billing model matters more than the headline number
This category splits across 3 billing models: freemium on 6 listings, subscription on 5, and 1 other arrangement across the rest. A per-user price and a flat subscription at the same headline figure are not the same purchase, the first one grows with headcount and the second does not. Multiply by your real team size before you compare two numbers side by side.
Questions people ask about education & e-learning software
Answered from the listings on this page, and nowhere else.
- How is this education & e-learning ranking decided?
- Mechanically. The 20 approved education & e-learning listings on this page are sorted by their published rating, highest first, with the number of ratings behind each score as the tie-break and the product name as a final tie-break so the order is stable. Those ratings are aggregated from public sources, not collected from Softwr readers, this site hosts no reviews, so the order is a summary of what is already published elsewhere, not a verdict of our own. Nothing on this page is paid placement.
- How much does education & e-learning software cost?
- Across the 20 education & e-learning tools listed here, paid plans start between $4.99 and $1,399 a month, with a median entry price of $13.12. The most expensive single tier published in the category is $1,599 a month (Articulate 360). 10 of 20 also publish a $0 plan.
- What is the cheapest education & e-learning software?
- 4 of the 20 tools listed here cost nothing at all. Among the ones that charge, Wakelet has the lowest published entry price at $4.99 a month. Cheapest and best value are different questions: check which tier the capability you need actually appears in before you compare starting prices.
- Is there free education & e-learning software?
- Yes, 10 of 20 tools in this category publish a plan priced at $0. 4 of them are free outright, with no paid tier above. A tool is only counted as free here when it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence, or a starting price of zero, a free trial does not count.
- What features should education & e-learning software have?
- Judging by what vendors put in their own published pricing tiers, the most frequently named capabilities in this category are priority support (5 of 16 tools that publish plan detail), sso (4) and all features (3). Treat those as the category baseline. Anything named by only one vendor, such as access to all 90+ courses or all personal, is a differentiator rather than a standard, so it is worth deciding whether you need it before it narrows your shortlist to one.
- How is education & e-learning software usually billed?
- freemium (6), subscription (5), free (3), counted across the 20 listings on this page. The distinction that costs money is per-seat versus flat: a per-user plan at the same headline price scales with your headcount and a flat subscription does not. 8 of 20 tools also keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote.
- What does education & e-learning software actually cover?
- The 20 tools on this page do not describe themselves the same way. The subject tags they carry most often are free (5), enterprise (4), interactive (4), education (3), engagement (3). That spread is the honest answer to what the category means in practice: it is not one product shape, and two tools filed under education & e-learning may overlap on very little.
- How many pricing tiers do education & e-learning tools offer?
- 16 of 20 tools here publish a plan breakdown, and the median one has 3 tiers. 10 of 20 publish three or more. More tiers is not generosity, it usually means the capability you are buying for sits two rungs above the advertised price, so price your shortlist at the tier that contains it.
- How many education & e-learning tools are listed on Softwr?
- 20 approved education & e-learning listings appear on this page, including Articulate 360, Babbel, Blackboard, Brilliant. Each links to a full breakdown with its pricing tiers and plan detail, and the category can be filtered by price and sorted by rating above. You can also read the shortlist view at /best/education-e-learning, which ranks the same set by published rating.
Keep reading
More on Education & E-Learning
Neighbouring categories
- Logistics & Shipping
- Sales Enablement
- File Storage & Backup
- Software Development
- Communication & Collaboration
- Design Tools
- E-commerce
- Marketing
Adjacent in the same taxonomy, not a ranking.