ISG Research is happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well software providers’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Learning Content Platforms: ISG Research Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by ISG Research.
Learning Content Platforms (LCPs) have moved beyond the era of “more content
The market has bifurcated into two clear lanes: content-only services designed to plug into an LMS and platforms that pair content access with proprietary learner experience and analytics. The latter is where innovation is concentrated. Providers are investing in artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted tagging to enrich metadata, search engines that respect roles and skills and dashboards that reveal which providers, formats and topics deliver the most value. Increasingly, these platforms adopt an open stance—supporting standards and APIs—so buyers can consume content natively or route it into existing systems without friction. This evolution reflects a broader enterprise priority: reducing vendor sprawl while improving visibility into what works.
Historically, content strategy revolved around catalog size. Organizations licensed multiple libraries, often from different providers, and relied on LMS integrations to make content available. The result was predictable: uneven adoption, redundant assets and limited insight into effectiveness. The rise of LCPs marked a turning point. By combining content access with delivery and analytics, these platforms gave L&D teams a way to curate intelligently, personalize at scale and demonstrate impact without deploying a full LXP. Today, the conversation has shifted from “how much content do we have?” to “which content moves the needle on skills and business outcomes?”
Enterprises now expect more than access—they expect alignment. Leaders want proof that content investments support onboarding velocity, readiness for new tools and coverage of high-demand skills. L&D teams need platforms that reduce manual tagging, simplify curation and provide analytics that answer real questions: Which assets correlate with improved performance? Which formats drive engagement? Which providers justify renewal? For learners, the expectation is equally clear: relevant, personalized recommendations delivered in an intuitive interface, with the option to explore beyond assigned paths when curiosity strikes.
To meet these needs, successful LCPs must combine robust content ecosystems with intelligent delivery and measurement. That begins with metadata discipline and AI-assisted tagging to ensure content is discoverable by skill, role and level. Personalization should be transparent and explainable, guiding learners toward relevant resources without creating black-box experiences. Analytics must evolve from usage counts to actionable insights, enabling enterprises to retire underperforming assets and double down on what works. Interoperability is non-negotiable: Platforms must support SCORM, xAPI, and LTI standards, integrate cleanly with LMS and HCM systems and expose APIs for embedding content in portals and productivity tools. Skills frameworks and competency models should inform recommendations and reporting, ensuring alignment with job architectures and simplifying governance across regions. Finally, operational excellence matters—licensing visibility, renewal alerts and administrative ergonomics that reduce spreadsheet gymnastics are as critical as the learner experience itself.
The distinction between Learning Content Platforms and content marketplaces is important. Marketplaces focus on access and compatibility, offering catalogs intended to plug into an LMS or LXP without providing a native learner experience or robust analytics. LCPs, by contrast, pair the library with delivery, personalization and measurement. Many enterprises will use both, but they solve different problems: marketplaces expand choice, while LCPs make content actionable.
Looking ahead, expect pragmatic innovation. Credentialing and badging will gain traction where proof of progress matters. Video analytics will deepen insight into actual consumption behavior. Skills intelligence layers will become more precise, driving personalized delivery and informing workforce planning. Lightweight AI “copilots” will assist with discovery and summarization, provided they operate with transparency and avoid adding complexity. Meanwhile, the ability to incorporate creator-led catalogs and niche providers will remain a differentiator for enterprises with regional or specialized needs.
For buyers, the fit profile is clear. LCPs make sense for organizations seeking measurable engagement on licensed content, not just access; enterprises executing a skills strategy without deploying a full LXP; and mid-market firms that want a centralized home for content plus platform functions. Success stories share a common pattern: curated sets mapped to roles, self-directed exploration for those who desire it and analytics that inform continuous improvement. When tagging, search, recommendations and reporting work as intended, L&D can shift from manual curation to program design and stakeholder engagement—consistent with the “do more with less” reality that has made third-party content a durable extension of the team.
Enterprises evaluating LCP providers should prioritize platforms that deliver more than catalogs. Look for solutions that combine content access with delivery, personalization and analytics; support standards and integrations for interoperability; align recommendations with skills frameworks; and provide admin tools that simplify governance and licensing. In short, choose a platform that makes content not just available, but actionable—so learning investments translate into measurable capability and business impact.
The ISG Buyers Guide™ for Learning Content Platforms evaluates software providers and products in key areas like providing access to licensed or curated learning content combined with native platform capabilities. These platforms enable organizations to not only license content from external providers but also deliver, track, personalize and optimize it through embedded learner-facing features and analytics.
This research evaluates the following software providers offering products that address key elements of learning content platforms as we define it: BizLibrary, Cornerstone, Coursera, ELB Learning, LinkedIn, Pluralsight, Skillsoft and Udemy.
This research-based index evaluates the full business and information technology value of learning content platforms software offerings. We encourage you to learn more about our Buyers Guide and its effectiveness as a provider selection and RFI/RFP tool.
We urge organizations to do a thorough job of evaluating learning content platforms offerings in this Buyers Guide as both the results of our in-depth analysis of these software providers and as an evaluation methodology. The Buyers Guide can be used to evaluate existing suppliers, plus provides evaluation criteria for new projects. Using it can shorten the cycle time for an RFP and the definition of an RFI.
The Buyers Guide for Learning Content Platforms in 2025 finds Cornerstone first on the list, followed by Udemy and Skillsoft.
Software providers that rated in the top three of any category ﹘ including the product and customer experience dimensions ﹘ earn the designation of Leader.
The Leaders in Product Experience are:
The Leaders in Customer Experience are:
The Leaders across any of the seven categories are:
The overall performance chart provides a visual representation of how providers rate across product and customer experience. Software providers with products scoring higher in a weighted rating of the five product experience categories place farther to the right. The combination of ratings for the two customer experience categories determines their placement on the vertical axis. As a result, providers that place closer to the upper-right are “exemplary” and rated higher than those closer to the lower-left and identified as providers of “merit.” Software providers that excelled at customer experience over product experience have an “assurance” rating, and those excelling instead in product experience have an “innovative” rating.
Note that close provider scores should not be taken to imply that the packages evaluated are functionally identical or equally well-suited for use by every enterprise or process. Although there is a high degree of commonality in how organizations handle learning content platforms, there are many idiosyncrasies and differences that can make one provider’s offering a better fit than another.
ISG Research has made every effort to encompass in this Buyers Guide the overall product and customer experience from our learning content platforms blueprint, which we believe reflects what a well-crafted RFP should contain. Even so, there may be additional areas that affect which software provider and products best fit an enterprise’s particular requirements. Therefore, while this research is complete as it stands, utilizing it in your own organizational context is critical to ensure that products deliver the highest level of support for your projects.
You can find more details on our community as well as on our expertise in the research for this Buyers Guide.