Canvas LMS vs Cornerstone Learn comparison

Instructure and Cornerstone OnDemand are both solutions in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category. Instructure is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0, while Cornerstone OnDemand is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0. Instructure holds a 5.3% mindshare in LMS, compared to Cornerstone OnDemand’s 5.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Instructure users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Cornerstone OnDemand users who would recommend it.

Canvas LMS

Read 10 Canvas LMS reviews

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463 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cornerstone Learn

Read 29 Cornerstone Learn reviews

814 Views
437 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Canvas LMS

Cornerstone Learn

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 27, 2025

Cornerstone Learn and Canvas LMS compete in the learning management system space. Canvas LMS has the upper hand due to its user satisfaction and comprehensive features, making it a preferred choice.

Features: Cornerstone Learn offers comprehensive learning paths, integration capabilities, and personalized experiences. Canvas LMS excels with robust content management, collaboration tools, and intuitive content delivery.

Room for Improvement: Cornerstone Learn could improve its user interface, simplify its analytics feature, and reduce the learning curve for deployment. Canvas LMS could enhance certain integration options, offer more detailed reporting, and further refine its assessment tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Canvas LMS is praised for its straightforward cloud deployment and proactive customer support, while Cornerstone Learn may require more internal IT expertise for setup.

Pricing and ROI: Cornerstone Learn's flexible pricing models may incur higher initial setup costs, while Canvas LMS offers tiered pricing and favorable ROI, with a scalable solution for efficient budget deployment.

To learn more, read our detailed Canvas LMS vs. Cornerstone Learn Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Canvas LMS vs. Cornerstone Learn

April 2025

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Helped 853,682 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

Canvas LMS

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

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

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Virtual Training (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category, the mindshare of Canvas LMS is 5.3%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cornerstone Learn is 5.0%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Featured Reviews

James Phelps

Adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University

Intuitive, easy to learn, and easy to adapt to various teaching methodologies

It is scalable. There must be 20,000 people using it on that campus. We run a medical college, a public health department, and the hard sciences department. We also have a lot of things that are spread out across the state of Florida through Canvas. So, it is pretty scalable. In terms of our plans to increase its usage, I don't know what the university is going to do, but right now, the university is saturated with Canvas. Even if you're doing classes in a regular standard classroom, all of your exams, all of your quizzes, all of your practicals, and all of your teaching are recorded and loaded into the Canvas system for future review by accreditors. So, it is pretty well saturated on that particular campus.

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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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"They have a more extensive support base in terms of infrastructure."

"The assessment tools in Canvas significantly contribute to educational outcomes by allowing instructors to create and manage assessments effectively."

"The product's flexibility is exceptional."

"It's easy to follow. It flows well, and it's easy to use."

"The solution is easy to access."

"Its easy adaptability to whatever form or methodology you are using to teach is valuable. It tends to be seamless, and it is very much a self-intuitive product. It requires almost no instruction, and you can be fully up to speed and ready to run on it. You can bring someone in who has never worked with any online learning or LMS system, and in a week's timeframe, they would almost be fully functional because Canvas is so simple to use."

"We have been using Canvas LMS, and overall, it has served our needs well for managing courses and general settings."

"The integration with Zoom is a notable feature. It allows for seamless access to live class sessions directly from Canvas after authentication, enabling quick entry into Zoom calls. You can also schedule Zoom calls or private recordings directly within Canvas, making it convenient, especially for situations like self-recording exams. Additionally, Canvas excels in collaboration and discussion capabilities. Users can engage in discussions on various topics, and there's the option to create custom groups for more focused interactions. These groups provide a level of privacy and isolation from the broader class, which is a significant advantage."

More Canvas LMS pros

"The most valuable features of Cornerstone Learning are the welcome page and the learner's home. It is user-friendly and graphically appealing."

"It's better than the previous learning solutions we had. We liked that it was global. We liked that you don't have to be logged into the company network to be able to use it. Those were really big benefits for us."

"Its user-friendly interface is most valuable. You can configure your welcome page and design it the way you want on your own."

"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 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."

"There are new releases every three months that keep up with industry standards and meet the needs of the customer."

"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."

"Their integration features with other platforms are valuable. It is also relatively easy to use. Their library of training modules is fairly robust as well."

More Cornerstone Learn pros

Cons

"The solution could be upgraded and improved."

"It would be nice to be able to do more real-time comprehensive reporting with Canvas LMS."

"The product could be integrated with a talent management system."

"In our working, we are encountering many challenges with Canvas LMS. One of the major area is their business model which is having a very different pricing structure. The structure is made in such a way that the license fee is needed to be paid for the complete year even if the student has been enrolled for a programme of short duration. This structure is not conducive with our needs and hence, in the past few years, been increasing our costs manifold. Along with this, Canva LMS also lacks many functionalities such as notifications and adaptive learning. There is a specific issue with the licensing model that affects us in continuous education. The inability to reuse a license for the same course in different terms hinders our cost efficiency. For instance, if a program runs from January to April, we are required to pay for the license twice within the same academic year. This contrasts with other platforms like Hyper, where reusing a license is possible, allowing us to use the same license multiple times in different terms. Along with the use, we are exploring the integration of artificial intelligence into our processes, and Canvas LMS falls short in this regard. While some platforms allow connections with external AI services, Canvas does not currently offer built-in artificial intelligence capabilities, a feature we find valuable for enhancing the learning experience."

"Integrating more AI capabilities for the product could enhance its functionality, particularly in automating repetitive tasks and personalizing learning experiences."

"It would be good to be able to do teleconferencing within the LMS."

"There are a couple of areas that could be improved. Firstly, the discussion feature is not very interactive and can be slow to respond, making it less intuitive at the moment. This is an aspect that needs substantial improvement. Another point to consider is related to the cost of the LMS system. It's perceived as relatively expensive, which has led to discussions about transitioning away from Canvas, potentially to a more cost-effective alternative. This cost-related aspect is a significant factor to consider when implementing such a system."

"The high-tech interactivity with other software, like ArcGIS or RSA Archer, can be better. It is not as easily compatible with them. You can put apps in it that the students can then access, but the routing of apps through the Canvas system slows down functionality on the other types of products."

More Canvas LMS cons

"There is a need for quite a bit of improvement. The reporting side of things definitely needs a lot of improvement. At the moment, it gives you a data dump. You have to open it up in Excel and filter out the bits that you don't want and need."

"A minus is that Cornerstone doesn't provide the admin the ability to create their own content for learning. So, you can just manage the content."

"There are some configuration elements that require Cornerstone engineering resources. It would be nice if we could self-serve. I would like the ability to manage the user interface or the navigation and layout of the pages that are displayed to end-users."

"In general, some of the portal pages have an outdated look and feel."

"The recruitment module needs to be improved in Cornerstone Learning."

"In the next release, I would like to see improvement in the dashboards and reporting."

"Cornerstone Learning can improve reporting. If they had a harmonization of the administration UIs it would be great."

"Cornerstone Learning could be improved with more e-learning content."

More Cornerstone Learn cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Canvas LMS is low-priced compared to other vendors."

"Canvas LMS is an affordable solution."

"The pricing of Canvas is satisfactory for my university. We have negotiated a good price, especially considering that we are a large university with twenty-six campuses across the country. Canvas offers a favorable pricing model for academic institutions, and the cost is reasonable. However, in continuous education, the challenge lies not in the price itself but in the business model. The requirement to pay for the entire year when our students may only use the license for a shorter duration creates challenges. The inability to adjust the licensing based on actual usage is a significant drawback for us, making the effective cost higher compared to other platforms like Hyper Learning"

"The platform can be expensive for smaller organizations with fewer students."

"Quality always comes at a cost. I would not rate it as expensive. It provides value for money."

"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 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."

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

"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."

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

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

"I would rate the price at four on a scale from one to five because it's a very expensive product."

More Cornerstone Learn pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

University

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

53%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Canvas LMS?

We have been using Canvas LMS, and overall, it has served our needs well for managing courses and general settings.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Canvas LMS?

Integrating more AI capabilities for the product could enhance its functionality, particularly in automating repetitive tasks and personalizing learning experiences.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Canvas LMS?

I rate Canva LMS a nine out of ten.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

CYPHER Learning vs Canvas LMS

Compared 21% of the time

Google Classroom vs Canvas LMS

Compared 16% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors Learning vs Canvas LMS

Compared 15% of the time

Moodle vs Canvas LMS

Compared 14% of the time

Brightspace vs Canvas LMS

Compared 13% of the time

More Canvas LMS Competitors

Workday vs Cornerstone Learn

Compared 23% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors vs Cornerstone Learn

Compared 12% of the time

Pluralsight vs Cornerstone Learn

Compared 10% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Cornerstone Learn

Compared 7% of the time

Skillsoft vs Cornerstone Learn

Compared 6% of the time

More Cornerstone Learn Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Canvas LMS

May 2025

Download Canvas LMS product report

Buyer's Guide

Cornerstone Learn

May 2025

Download Cornerstone Learn product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cornerstone Learning Suite, Saba Cloud

Overview

Canvas LMS is a comprehensive learning management system that enhances the educational experience. It offers a user-friendly interface that allows educators to create and manage courses, assignments, and assessments. Canvas enables seamless communication and collaboration between students and teachers. It supports various multimedia formats, making it easy to incorporate engaging content into lessons. Canvas also provides a mobile app, ensuring accessibility on the go. Its built-in analytics and reporting allow educators to track student progress and identify areas for improvement. Canvas LMS can integrate with other educational tools and platforms, enhancing its functionality. Canvas LMS is a powerful and versatile platform that empowers educators to deliver effective and engaging online learning experiences.

Instructure

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

Pragmatic Group, MRWED Training and Assessment, RedHill Education

Advantage Sales and Marketing

Buyer's Guide

Canvas LMS vs. Cornerstone Learn

April 2025

Free Report: Canvas LMS vs. Cornerstone Learn

Find out what your peers are saying about Canvas LMS vs. Cornerstone Learn and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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