Adobe Captivate

4.5 (193)
Smart authoring tool with VR and 360° eLearning design

Overall rating

4.5 /5
(193)
Value for Money
4.0/5
Features
4.3/5
Ease of Use
3.9/5
Customer Support
3.9/5

88%
recommended this app
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193 Reviews

Mercury
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

The Most Practical LMS

Reviewed on 17/02/2019

More overall experience of Adobe Captivate was great considering all that it offered including the price. This is an LMS with a company that is constantly updating to meet a scalable population.

Pros

This LMS is one that you can open up and start using immediately.

Cons

I would've liked the ability of more social collaboration.

Jordanne
Overall rating
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Exciting Product but not quite as intuitive as you would want

Reviewed on 06/02/2019

Pros

I love all of the features of this software. You really can do a lot with it such as create responsive learning modules, VR modules, and knowledge check videos among other things. Once you master the authoring aspect I really do think you can make amazing learning modules. I like that you can make e-learning modules that really span the entire gauntlet of what online learning can be, from simply uploading powerpoints to be viewed online, to creating incredibly immersive and engaging online modules.

Cons

It's not really as intuitive as Adobe would have you believe. They pitch it as software that you really use "out of the box" as it were, but that is only true if you are trying to do things that are really really simple like a software simulation or an instructional video. However if you are imagining that you can buy this and almost immediately make engaging modules with quizzes and games and quiz videos, I think you will be disappointed especially since the customer support from adobe is also not the best.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Information Technology & Services
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

Creating courses

Reviewed on 15/02/2021

not a great experience but it might be enough for some to just to have a tool for .

Pros

we can create course content based on videos, slides, and interactive courses and track user progress, quick and final exam results.

Cons

it requires much more features and advancements and needs to make it much easier for users to achieve what they need.

Rollan
Overall rating
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Using Adobe Captive for delivering interactive E-learning content

Reviewed on 18/11/2022

Pros

Offers a way to use your old powerpoint presentations and convert them into interactive modules and upload it into your LMS of choice. Lots of assets available and other features such as screen capture and 360 simulations

Cons

The price is a big factor, it is a bit expensive. Not much updates since 2019.

Alternatives Considered

Articulate 360
Jeffrey
Overall rating
  • Industry: Biotechnology
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Beautiful design software

Reviewed on 22/08/2019

For English/Art History projects in an academic setting.

Pros

I used captivate to create my projects for English class. Eventually, I was able to create a booklet with great detail inspired from some of their beautiful template designs. I think this is a great software to use for advanced graphic designers or folks who really want to include breadth instead of simplicity for their artwork.

Cons

Sometimes dragging out template sizes can be a bit annoying. Also found it hard to juggle between different layers.

Shorouk
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

Adobe Captivate is not the best option

Reviewed on 29/11/2022

Pros

I liked that Adobe Captivate is user-friendly and it exports my projects as mp4 videos which are easy to share. Also, the automatic backup feature is really amazing.

Cons

I was totally disappointed because the software is super buggy and it slows my laptop.

Julie
Overall rating
  • Industry: Entertainment
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for Free Trial
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Amazing for creating courses for e-learning!

Reviewed on 09/06/2022

Pros

An amazing software for creating coursework and courses for e-learning

Cons

Like all Adobe Products, it takes some getting used to. There are many features that can be useful, although I do believe there is quite a learning curve when it comes to Adobe Products.

Doug
Overall rating
  • Industry: Telecommunications
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Great software for making demo videos!

Reviewed on 09/03/2021

I was looking at other software and Adobe just checks all the boxes. Minor annoyances but a great piece of software and it just works.

Pros

I love how easy it is to capture video/audio for user demo videos. Videos are easy to export and upload to Youtube. It just works. I use Adobe Premiere Rush for the actual output videos. I haven't tried all the other features but I'm sure I'll get around to it.

Cons

Minor gripes. I wish I could save my settings so when I screw up my recording I can start over quickly. I'm always having to stop it and restart and select all the settings again.

Gaurav
Overall rating
  • Industry: Financial Services
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Still very strong despite Camtasia giving hard competition

Reviewed on 14/11/2022

Pros

Easy to use tool as compared to Camtasia - very intuitive and with some more features. You can edit videos, produce videos (software tutorials, marketing videos, sizzle reels, etc.) and also create interactive eLearning content by adding interactivities and quizzes within!

Cons

Not as many features and functionalities to edit videos and sound like Camtasia.

John
Overall rating
  • Industry: Graphic Design
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for Free Trial
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

I was captivated!

Reviewed on 14/05/2019

I was very happy to find a Mac-based alternative to Articulate Studio and it is working very well for my needs.

Pros

I liked that this was a Mac OS product.

Cons

No way to import Keynote slides with effects and transitions.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Feature-Rich Design and Development

Reviewed on 22/10/2019

I've preferred Captivate to Storyline throughout my career. Most orgs seem to lean toward Storyline because the UI is so similar to working in PowerPoint. I definitely prefer the more robust feature set that gets quality, regular updates/enhancements that comes with Captivate.

Pros

The ongoing updates and upgrades continue to make this software easier to use for those new to it, and also expedites building many of the interactions. Really enjoy the Assets feature as well when looking to switch things up a little - really helps with inspiration and new ideas. The online community is also really great with supporting each other and lending new ideas. The different preview options that are built in are fantastic and load so much faster than Storyline.

Cons

There are still a lot of work-arounds needed for some interaction types to meet digital accessibility needs, but that's to be expected with almost any software. When capturing video, you cannot capture device audio.

Felix Manuel
Overall rating
  • Industry: Mining & Metals
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Adobe Captivate saves time and money for you and your company

Reviewed on 27/03/2019

Since 2012 I'm using Captivate for make all the documentation and instruction manual for many software or website I've developed or I collaborated with, saving me and the companies a lot of time and troubles. This is very recommended for freelance developers and companies as well (companies of any kind that have employees using any software).

Pros

This software save you a lot of time on making your software documentation and/or how to teach the final user to use the software or website they need to do their work. Remember, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and I think a video is worth a thousand pictures.

This is special useful on companies that have many employees, or with employees distributed for all the country/world. Companies that needs to take working the new employees as soon as possible, with a minimum loss of time on teaching him/her the new employee on how to use the software needed for their job.

Cons

In my special case, I need to complement this software with one video-editing software, for take more advantage and do more things that final user of my software/web very appreciate. However, Captivate works just fine by itself.

Alisa
Overall rating
  • Industry: Information Technology & Services
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 3.0 /10

Almost non-existent customer support

Reviewed on 07/01/2020

Pros

It contains all the functions that we need.

Cons

Customer support is non-existent. The automatic bot will chat with you for a bit then maybe a CS person will send you a link to their help page. If you need more help, they will schedule a call with you and never show up.
Customer Service outsourced to India.

Alternatives Considered

BRIDGE

Reasons for Choosing Adobe Captivate

Outdated look, difficult administration.

Switched From

Accord LMS

Reasons for Switching to Adobe Captivate

Annoying selling strategy in Bridge.
Alan
Overall rating
  • Industry: Hospital & Health Care
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

You can do anything with it, but it takes lots of time.

Reviewed on 05/01/2021

I liked the software but I didn't like how long I had to spend on each project. What I did like was the versatility to do literally anything I wanted. I never had a challenge I could not find a solution! The problem was that finding that solution oftentimes meant a whole lot of research and contacting Adobe was just not something I found easy or convenient to do. They do have a lot of users though that were very open to helping when you reached out...and I did that often.

Pros

Variables that I could assign and use in the course.

Cons

It was very labor-intensive. Although you could do anything, it just took a lot of time. Especially if the course needed to be available on multiple platforms, such as desktops, tablets, and mobile.

Dave
Overall rating
  • Industry: Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Create online training content that's great with Adobe Captivate

Reviewed on 07/10/2019

I used Adobe Captivate to create and product online training courses for our company's online university. The software was detailed with a number of features, but something I was able to teach myself...very helpful considering I did not have an IT or software writing background.

Pros

After a normal learning curve, it's relatively easy to use to create content. I used it to create online training courses for a learning management system, and it really made our otherwise serviceable (but not too exciting) PowerPoint slides truly come to life! The software is powerful with what seems to be unlimited options for creativity.

Cons

As with probably any software worth anything, there's a bit of a learning curve to learn some of the tips and tricks for effective use. Where to find the various features is not always super-intuitive, but it's something I was able to work through.

Rachel
Overall rating
  • Industry: Computer Software
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Long time user

Reviewed on 17/10/2019

Captivate is a great tool. From a layout perspective it simply wasn't as intuitive as Storyline. However it's been a few years since I've used it last so perhaps this has improved.

Pros

This software is a great instructional design tool. Having used it since its inception (RoboDemo) I have seen it evolve a lot over the years. Nothing negative

Cons

Nothing negative. Simply I switched over to Storyline and found it way easier to use for advanced eLearning development.

Elaine
Overall rating
  • Industry: Newspapers
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Facilitator of various services

Reviewed on 07/01/2021

I use it daily and I get very good results.

Pros

Adobe is very good for a variety of jobs, such as signing and forming text, proofreading documents and more.

Cons

NO to negative criticism because it corresponds to everything it promises.

Michelle
Overall rating
  • Industry: Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Perfect for any size business

Reviewed on 31/03/2019

Used over and over again, never had any issues

Pros

Works with all programs I have used and perfect for any size business

Cons

The cost gets a little pricey when you have a fairly large company

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Retail
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 2.0 /10

not a great authoring tool

Reviewed on 22/10/2021

Pros

it's adobe, so that's about the real pro it has going for it.

Cons

besides being adobe in name, it mirrors no other adobe product on the UI side. it also isn't as intuitive as other authoring products and also doesnt really work with AICC compliant content

Cyndi
Overall rating
  • Industry: Insurance
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

E-Learning Developers dream!

Reviewed on 09/12/2019

When I want to create a more interactive E-Learning course, I turn to Captivate over other similar software like Lectora.

Pros

Captivate's features go above and beyond other software out there for E-Learning development. In today's world, most people we come across seem to adapt better to hands on learning. Captivate allows you to create interactive and intuitive learning.

Cons

I have not found anything that I really don't like about the software. Creating some of the interactive experiences can be tedious at times, but that's to be expected with similar software of its kind.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Consumer Goods
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Pdf reader

Reviewed on 09/09/2019

Pros

This has been of a great help to me in reading and editing out pdf documents.

Cons

It doesnt really have any drawbacks. I an satisfied using this software.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Hospital & Health Care
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Use Often

Reviewed on 16/07/2019

The perfect and most powerful course authoring tool.

Pros

So many features such as responsive design, screen recording and script writing.

Cons

I feel overwhelmed at times to keep up with latest editions.

Ronaldo
Overall rating
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Perceptions about Captivate

Reviewed on 18/07/2019

I use it to develop different materials for online and offline courses.

Pros

It has a variety of features very interesting for the area of courses and training, with the possibility of customization and programming.

Cons

It is very expensive in Brazil. The design power associated with Adobe products does not emerge with the product.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Consumer Goods
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10

To be honest, I expected better from Adobe

Reviewed on 20/03/2019

Captivate seems like the "black sheep" in Adobe's lineup. If it had more integrations with Adobe CC, it would be a great option, but unfortunately it doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Pros

One endearing quality of Adobe Captivate is their "Live Device Preview" Which allows you to preview your creation on an actual device.

Cons

Coming from Articulate Storyline, it's very difficult to get the same type of interactions and logic in Captivate without some considerable tinkering.

Kerron
Overall rating
  • Industry: Telecommunications
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

I love the possibilities, it's the learning that takes time.

Reviewed on 10/06/2019

It has been quite user-friendly, but there is a learning curve. I am not yet trained in Captivate, but once I am it will be key to getting our training program more fully developed.

Pros

What is possible with this product? Pretty much anything! This is what I'm learning with using Captivate. The more I learn the more I can create. This is a great program for my needs in building a training program. It's essential to where we are taking the company.

Cons

It's a little tricky to learn and remember where everything is. I am signed up for the Captivate Specialist program and want to get started. However, I cannot access the learning videos until 4 weeks prior to the learning summit. This for me is almost 4 months away and we want to start building our training program now!