Blackboard Learning Management vs Cornerstone Learn comparison

Blackboard and Cornerstone OnDemand are both solutions in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category. Blackboard is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.8, while Cornerstone OnDemand is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.5. Blackboard holds a 1.5% mindshare in LMS, compared to Cornerstone OnDemand’s 7.4% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Blackboard users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Cornerstone OnDemand users who would recommend it.

Blackboard Learning Management

Read 10 Blackboard Learning Management reviews

1,869 Views
1,439 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Cornerstone Learn

Read 29 Cornerstone Learn reviews

2,713 Views
841 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Blackboard Learning Management

Cornerstone Learn

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 31, 2025

Blackboard Learning Management and Cornerstone Learn compete in the academic and corporate training sectors. Cornerstone Learn holds an advantage with its more comprehensive talent management features tailored for business environments.

Features: Blackboard Learning Management is ideal for academic institutions, offering powerful course management, collaboration tools, and integration with various educational technologies. Cornerstone Learn provides extensive customizability and seamless integration with HR systems, appealing to businesses seeking a unified platform for learning and development.

Room for Improvement: Blackboard Learning Management can enhance its interface flexibility and add more real-time interaction features. Cornerstone Learn could improve its analytics accuracy and simplify its initial setup process. Both platforms would benefit from greater cross-platform integrations and enhanced mobile accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Blackboard Learning Management provides a straightforward setup process supported by robust academic support services. Cornerstone Learn offers a flexible deployment model that adapts well to various business settings, bolstered by strong customer support services, giving it a slight edge for corporate deployment scenarios.

Pricing and ROI: Blackboard's pricing reflects its comprehensive tools for education, supporting scalability in teaching and learning experiences. Cornerstone Learn's pricing may be higher, but it is justified by its integrated talent management functions, offering significant returns for companies focused on comprehensive employee development.

To learn more, read our detailed Blackboard Learning Management vs. Cornerstone Learn Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Blackboard Learning Management vs. Cornerstone Learn

September 2025

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Helped 867,676 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Blackboard Learning Management

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cornerstone Learn

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Virtual Training (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category, the mindshare of Blackboard Learning Management is 1.5%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cornerstone Learn is 7.4%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Blackboard Learning Management	1.5%
Cornerstone Learn	7.4%
Other	91.1%

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Featured Reviews

James Phelps

Adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University

Expandable with good real-time live interactions but is very expensive

Initially, Blackboard had problems for faculty members who were forced to use it to try to get it set up and running. That said, over time, they improved that. Unfortunately, due to its licensing requirements on standalone systems, like at a university on our servers, we run into problems where we can only set it up in one way. The way you teach a biology class is not the way you teach a social science class, for example. It's not flexible. Often you are forced into compromising in such a manner that neither group would be happy. If you need help, the help desk in-house will provide 24-hour help to both students and faculty. That means you have eight people, eight hours a day, supervisors, and an overall manager. It takes at least 12 people to handle maintenance for a 10,000-person campus for 24-hour coverage.

Read full review

Vibha Mishra

Global L&D Lead at Tieto Sweden AB

Streamlined compliance training and efficient session creation empower diverse industries

Creating a session requires just one click, which makes data ready efficiently. Reporting-wise, Cornerstone is the best. It allows internal content management, playlist creation, using external links for learning, and supports various AI training. All the compliance training, code of conduct, and audits are handled through Cornerstone, making it beneficial.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It encompasses various components, including course delivery modules, content management, community engagement features, digital classrooms, and mobile integration."

"One of Blackboard's strengths is its historical prominence as a leading LMS for universities in the US and Europe a decade or more ago."

"Blackboard enables instructors to collectively gather all the grading data into one place. If students upload content or post it to a Google Doc, I can do my grading and calculate the grades. It is an excellent holding place for all of that data"

"The modules and courses are flexible."

"One of the most important features is the possibility of creating unlimited subdomains."

"The solution is easy to use."

"It is scalable."

"The most valuable feature is how easy it is to learn and use. It's built off the Microsoft Word format, so if you can use Word, you'll be able to figure this out."

"The Meeting feature is similar to a conference call facility that can be used for virtual meetings."

"The solution is very stable."

"The reporting feature is fantastic, and I also like the dynamic learning assignment feature. It is interactive and user-friendly. It is also highly stable, automated, and customizable."

"Cornerstone Learning's most valuable features are the keyword search, filters, and add-to-favorites option."

"What I like the most about Cornerstone is that it is agile. It has good built-in processes and the implementation is rapid."

"The most valuable feature of Cornerstone Learning is the reporting and learner transcripts."

"It is a complete suite of solutions and features. Compared to other solutions which are more niche solutions, which may be as good as Cornerstone or even better in certain parts of it, like discerning user experience. You will not find another solution that has the same completeness of features in all different areas of learning."

More Cornerstone Learn pros

Cons

"It would be ideal to create a more responsive or more intuitive template for access from telephones or tablets."

"Blackboard could benefit from significant improvements in its data storage and software functionality to remain competitive with more innovative LMS solutions."

"The solution must provide better integration with third-party software."

"The solution is not flexible."

"Blackboard has limitations in terms of delivering content and assessing student assignments because it can't handle large file sizes. It's also limited in its ability to track student activity. Instructors can see the student's most recent login, but they can't follow the activity."

"The system falls short in terms of managing assessments and exams effectively."

"Cornerstone Learning's initial setup was complex, but I don't see that as a downside. It was complex because there is a lot of customizing and a lot of settings that can be done in the setup."

"In the next release, I would like to see a Hybrid architecture and to be able to customize the look and feel."

"Its integration with Microsoft Teams for virtual sessions could be better"

"The user interface is in need of improvement."

"The support for this solution could be improved."

"Cornerstone Learning could improve the curriculum function by giving it more flexibility. I'm managing the solution and I adding content to the system, and overall, the backend of the system looks a bit dated. Cornerstone Learning has focused a lot on the user experience and less on the backend operational administrative experience. This could be improved overall."

"Cornerstone needs to be more adaptable by generating content by just giving keywords, similar to other LMS in the market."

"Its dashboard and analytics must be improved. Currently, we get the data, but we don't get anything from the insightfulness perspective. Analytics is where it requires a lot of work. We definitely expect some good dashboard features, which are currently lacking in this solution. From a technical perspective, they need to open access to all HTML tags. It currently doesn't support many HTML tags, which makes it challenging to create HTML pages."

More Cornerstone Learn cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"At the beginning, you can choose a basic plan. As your users grow you can buy a more expensive license."

"The product pricing tends to be higher than alternatives."

"I'm not aware of the costs. It must have been something for which we paid. Every single employee in the company had some kind of access to Cornerstone because that's how they got to their training."

"It is a premium product, and it is on par with its competitors. It isn't out of scale with what the market is demanding. We're always looking at ways of trimming costs, but we haven't had a lot of flexibility with pricing and/or options with Cornerstone. So, its price is decent. There are ad hoc engineering costs when we are required to use a Cornerstone resource. Additionally, when we choose to integrate with third-party platforms, there is a setup and maintenance fee for these data integrations. They need to be built into our ongoing budget as we expand our offerings."

"The solution's pricing depends on the specific requirements."

"This solution offers competitive pricing."

"The pricing of Cornerstone Learning is reasonable, but my knowledge of the cost is limited. I've had some discussions about licenses. I suppose we've had to push them a little bit to be more flexible about the licensing. For example, someone said they could only give us licenses in a batch of 500, but we found out that it wasn't true. We were able to negotiate a different amount."

"I was not involved in the financial negotiation for our contract with this company, but in the past, I have seen the fees run between $10 USD and $11 USD per user."

"The solution cost approximately $47,000 annually."

"The price of Cornerstone Learning depends on many factors, such as size and negotiations."

More Cornerstone Learn pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

University

24%

Educational Organization

18%

Government

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

23%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	20

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Blackboard Learning Management?

The modules and courses are flexible.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Blackboard Learning Management?

The product pricing tends to be higher than alternatives like Canvas, making Blackboard more suitable for larger universities with substantial budgets.

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What needs improvement with Blackboard Learning Management?

To make Blackboard Learning Management better, I believe maintaining, updating, and upgrading the content is the key success factor for the platform to provide value to students.

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Is Cornerstone Learning reliable for content organization?

I think the organizational management of Cornerstone Learning is great. My organization uses this learning software and the way different content types are managed is very useful for our training ...

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Does Cornerstone Learning provide you with good reports?

Cornerstone Learning provides great reports for your training programs and the performance of your employees on them. What's more, you get skills graphs which my company finds the most valuable for...

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Why would you recommend Cornerstone as a platform for virtual training?

Hello, I think that Cornerstone is more than suitable for virtual training. For one, it gives you a really big array of tools and customizations to be able to deliver your employees high-quality t...

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Comparisons

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Compared 100% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Cornerstone Learn

Compared 6% of the time

Skillsoft vs Cornerstone Learn

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Blackboard Learning Management

September 2025

Download Blackboard Learning Management product report

Buyer's Guide

Cornerstone Learn

September 2025

Download Cornerstone Learn product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cornerstone Learning Suite, Saba Cloud

Overview

Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) is a comprehensive platform designed to enhance the teaching and learning experience in educational institutions. With its user-friendly interface and robust features, Blackboard LMS enables educators to create, deliver, and manage online courses effectively. Blackboard LMS is facilitates communication and collaboration among students and instructors. The platform's built-in discussion boards, chat rooms, and messaging systems enable real-time interaction and engagement, fostering a sense of community and allowing students to participate actively in the learning process.

Blackboard LMS also provides a full set of tools for content creation and management. Educators can easily upload and organize course materials, including documents, videos, and multimedia resources. The platform supports various file formats, making it convenient for instructors to deliver diverse content to their students.

Assessment and grading are simplified with Blackboard LMS. Educators can create online quizzes, assignments, and exams, and even set automated grading criteria. This saves time and effort, while also providing students with immediate feedback on their performance. The platform also offers grade book functionality, allowing instructors to track and manage student progress easily.

Blackboard LMS features robust analytics and reporting capabilities. Educators can access detailed data on student engagement, performance, and participation, enabling them to identify areas for improvement and tailor their teaching strategies accordingly. This data-driven approach enhances the effectiveness of instruction and supports personalized learning.

Blackboard LMS is also highly customizable, allowing institutions to tailor the platform to their specific needs. It integrates seamlessly with other educational tools and systems, ensuring a smooth workflow and enhancing the overall learning experience.

Blackboard Learning Management System is a powerful and versatile platform that empowers educators to deliver engaging and effective online courses. With its comprehensive features, user-friendly interface, and customizable options, Blackboard LMS is a valuable tool for educational institutions seeking to enhance their teaching and learning environment.

Blackboard

Cornerstone Learn offers a comprehensive learning management system designed to enhance educational experiences with a focus on user-friendliness, reporting, analytics, and automation capabilities.

Cornerstone Learn provides a robust platform for learning management, ensuring efficient content delivery and knowledge retention. It offers tools for digital, classroom, and blended learning environments. Users have access to custom reporting tools, performance analytics, and seamless integrations with APIs. Despite its rich features, there is room for improvement in interface updates, navigation simplification, and mobile app enhancements. The platform is suited for diverse training needs, especially in large organizations.

What are the key features of Cornerstone Learn?

User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive design simplifies navigation.
Custom Reporting Tool: Allows detailed insights into learning metrics.
Performance Tracking Analytics: Monitors progress effectively.
Proxy Enrollment: Facilitates bulk user enrollments easily.
Automation: Streamlines repetitive tasks in learning workflows.
Mobile Accessibility: Learn on the go with mobile platform support.
API Integration: Connects with other software for extended functionality.
Playlist Capabilities: Organizes content into personalized playlists.

What benefits can users expect from Cornerstone Learn?

Seamless Onboarding: Smooth transitioning for new users enhances experience.
Dynamic Assignments: Adapts to varying learning needs efficiently.
Email Digests: Keeps learners updated without overwhelming them.
Comprehensive Learning Experiences: From virtual meetings to certifications.
Broad Configurability: Adapts to diverse learning environments.

Cornerstone Learn is widely adopted in healthcare, manufacturing, and automotive industries for employee training and e-learning initiatives. It supports compliance training and certification management, integrating with platforms like LinkedIn Learning to deliver on-demand and professional skills training. Companies in corporate and governmental sectors utilize it to maintain their workforce's knowledge up to date, accommodating up to 10,000 users per organization.

Cornerstone OnDemand

Sample Customers

University of Derby, University of Warwick, John Moore's University

Advantage Sales and Marketing

Buyer's Guide

Blackboard Learning Management vs. Cornerstone Learn

September 2025

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