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CYPHER Learning vs Totara Learn comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

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

CYPHER Learning
Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Totara Learn
Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)
17th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category, the mindshare of CYPHER Learning is 1.3%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Totara Learn is 1.0%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CYPHER Learning1.3%
Totara Learn1.0%
Other97.7%
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2620521 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Learning & Development at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
A game-changer solution that meets our needs and has top-notch customer service
The AI feature needs some fine-tuning or tweaking. They use Microsoft Copilot. I have had courses on and used the AI feature. I find myself having to correct a lot of mistakes that it has made. It is about 75% to 80 % correct when I put things through the AI feature. I have to go for a fine toothcomb. A lot of things are repeated. A lot of videos or pictures are repeated through several pages, and it takes me time to go through them. The AI feature of Articulate 360 is better because I am able to create courses quickly, and their AI feature is almost 100% accurate every single time. The AI feature would be my main criticism. I do not use its AI feature anymore because I find myself having to correct a lot of the things that it puts out. One thing that I wish was different was that it showed the full title in the catalog when I create something outside, such as in Articulate 360, and bring it in. When you go into the catalog title, it does not show you the whole title. If it is a long title, it will just have three dots. I wish it would just show the entire title, even if it goes into the next line so that people can see the whole title. Currently, they have to click on it to see the whole title. It does not give you enough characters to see the title. People look at the catalog and all these great courses. It says something like, "Dental University, How to ..." You do not know what the rest is unless you click on it. It should allow more characters for the actual title in the catalog so that we do not have to click on the title because most people do not. Most people just peruse through it. If it catches their eyes, they click on it, but if they do not know what the title is, they are not going to click on it to find out. Additionally, their course creation capabilities are static compared to alternative solutions like Articulate 360. You can only create very static learning courses. That may be fine for some industries where they want you to read and acknowledge that you took it. You can link to videos on YouTube, Vimeo, etc. However, when the video ends, there are advertisements. There is an application for that for sure. In fact, I was able to use that for this leadership video series that I put on TED Talk through YouTube, but they are still getting clicks and advertisements. The leadership training that we create through Articulate 360 is much nicer looking. We can put the text files, different flashcards, lists, etc. It is a better experience for the learner. This is why for course creation, I do not use much within CYPHER Learning. There is a night and day difference in the courses created in CYPHER Learning versus Articulate 360. CYPHER Learning is not even close. There is a better learning experience for the user in Articulate 360 than it is in CYPHER Learning. A user looking at the courses only in CYPHER Learning would not know any difference, but if you show them Articulate 360, they will find it great. You can put high-resolution pictures and videos. It is just a better experience for the learner.
SK
Developer, Tech Lead at iT corner
Plug-and-play LMS and allows for separate instances for different organizations or departments
The look and feel is not good. Totara Learn needs to improve its look and feel and make it easier to use and more user-friendly. The interface is okay, but sometimes it's messy. Totara needs to improve the UI part as well and make it easier to use for the admin side. AI capabilities are in beta phase. I think they have implemented some AI features in the model, but right now, I'm not aware of what AI features have been implemented. So, Totara also needs to implement some AI things in the model, like suggesting courses according to users' needs or interests.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Another feature that is great for me... is the learning outcomes feature... In CYPHER Learning, it's called the Mastery feature. The learning outcomes feature allows us to measure whether students have achieved competency, based on the encoded learning outcomes."
"One of the features that is very good is the automation for setting trigger rules that show or hide specific class sections or assignments."
"It is a platform that has everything. It is very powerful and intuitive. And because it is so user-friendly, it allows anyone without any knowledge of LMS platforms to make a course, publish it, and monitor it."
"There are several valuable features. One is the competency mapping. This helps us, as faculty members and developers of learning materials, track and monitor which competencies our students have acquired, based on the outcomes that we wanted them to have at the end of a particular module or term."
"Learning and development within this company have reached new heights."
"It is very easy for educators to communicate with students using the CYPHER Learning messaging system, which is imperative for our organization."
"Most LMSs have a fixed template for all the courses and the whole school uses it. When it comes to younger ages, they need fewer features so there won't be a lot of hassle for the teachers and parents. That's what we can do using CYPHER Learning: Just turn off anything that we don't need in a specific course."
"Thanks to this, our school has exceptionally high results on the Ministry of Education tests."
"The multi-tenancy features of Totara Learn are the most useful for training efficiency."
"The tool's deployment is not complex."
 

Cons

"If there is one area that I would like to see more improvement in, it would be around detailed reporting. There are some little things that they could add that would give us more insights and we'd like to access those things through the reporting."
"In terms of face-to-face education, a suggestion for CYPHER LEARNING is that it give more presence to CYPHER Learning as an entity in the school by teaching more about how to exploit the tools: how to create games, and more about the use of SCORM."
"Due to the complexity of our business, we would welcome more options for access rights management."
"I would also like to see them improve accessibility for younger kids. Perhaps they could enable us to customize folders in a more playful way."
"There is a section where you can create games and tools. I don't know if it is because I didn't have the training, but I couldn't use the gamification tools. I would like them to create a link with a tutorial explaining how to do this from the platform."
"One thing that has been a problem is that CYPHER Learning doesn't save the students' work while they are doing it."
"Some of our faculty members were very happy when CYPHER gave the news that there is already a peer feedback feature because we were asking for it, but when they used it, they found it complicated and not user-friendly."
"I do wish that there could be some formatting option so that I don't have to do some manual work in terms of translating the data into, for example, a PowerPoint presentation."
"The challenge was understanding the entire solution, particularly its capabilities for managing training within a distributed organization. As part of a group of companies, some with training hubs and others working differently, the need for different tenants arose. This helps organize the training offerings centrally, addressing the challenge of a multi-tenant solution, which wasn't fully grasped initially."
"Totara Learn needs to improve the look and feel, and make it easier to use, more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For our for-profit entities, CYPHER Learning is the perfect solution in terms of cost. It is not too expensive and is about the same as what other service providers charge."
"We are on a plan where we pay for 1,000 users every month. The pricing structure is pretty straightforward. It just depends on what you need. We are currently going with a monthly model because sometimes there are still months during the year where we will have a lot less students on the system, and we took that into consideration."
"Our satisfaction with the pricing is a 10 out of 10."
"The system is not cheap but it's affordable. The pricing is fair... The cherry on top was that we received all the functionality with the simplest plan, the one with the minimal number of users. It couldn't be any better."
"If you go for an open source solution, you're going to find out that the costs in the long run end up being a lot more, and the process is frustrating."
"The main reason we went for it was cost, which was very reasonable."
"We actually want to look at other systems or develop our own system because the cost point of MATRIX is so high. It doesn't feel like we get any value for it."
"It's a little bit more than I want to pay, but I'm okay with it."
"It's not expensive. It's user-based."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
15%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Construction Company
11%
Healthcare Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise6
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NEO LMS?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was easier, as we received our quote on time, and the pricing was not much of a hindrance, with setup costs based on our investment.
What needs improvement with NEO LMS?
One challenge I have experienced with CYPHER Learning is the availability of the internet, which is necessary for accessing the platform and content, especially during online training or video prog...
What advice do you have for others considering NEO LMS?
CYPHER Learning's governance and security are secure, as I have used it without any adverse effects or issues regarding data handling. The output of CYPHER Learning is clear, and since it is an...
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Also Known As

MATRIX LMS, NEO LMS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Millions of users across business, academia, and entrepreneurs - worldwide.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about CYPHER Learning vs. Totara Learn and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
921,665 professionals have used our research since 2012.