iSpring Suite Reviews

Pros

Cost effective and simple to use vs the competition.

Cons

XLIFF translations. Web based creation tools are less developed than Articulate - but that does depend on you need and use case.

Pros

Thoughtful features nicely integrated into PowerPoint to enhance content for courseware.

Cons

Expensive, especially for a subscription. They should have a simpler, much-less-expensive version that can be used by non-devs to record audio into the PPT. Else a floating license that can be easily switched between computers with no limit to the amount of re-licensing.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Captivate

Reasons for Switching to iSpring Suite

Much easier to use than Captivate, much larger feature set than Presenter. Excellent support.

Pros

user-friendly interface, ease of use, simple steps

Cons

cannot have multiple users working on the same file in real time

Pros

The options offered for engagement and interest level.

Cons

If you do not repurchase this software yearly via their maintenance program, you get no support. No chat, no email, no online knowledgebase. I can't even begin to describe how disappointed I am. To me, that is unethical. A company that does not support all versions of its software does not deserve to be in business. I checked my copy of Articulate 360, and they provided support to Articulate 13 released in, you guessed it, 2013. My version of iSpring is less than 2 years old. I'll be converting all of my elearning lessons to Articulate360 BECAUSE of their amazing support.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Captivate

Reasons for Switching to iSpring Suite

iSpring ran better on our LMS, but now that there is no support, we will switch to Articulate 360 which supports ALL versions of its software, and it is over 10 years old.

Pros

Powerpoint Integration. The new illustrated characters are on the mark. Keep them up. Don't like the human cutouts (not just ISpring versions but that style overall across eLearning). I like how they are not exaggerated caricatures/cartoons but reflect 'people in professional contexts.'Could build out this line of characters with more variety of poses. Sitting, walking, using tools, Side, back, 3/4 etc as these more active poses work in scenarios. The existing library of 'gestures' are fine but they are limited in storytelling for workplaces. These illustrated characters really work well with the Powerpoint animation tools.

Cons

Separate modules/Widgets for interactions. limited customisation parameters.Audio integration a bit fiddly.

Pros

everything. All is great. The Customer support, the simplicity to use it, the features it has. The more I work with it the more I learn how to create even better courses and they become amazing

Cons

Here and there there are tiny things that could be easier. For example choosing more than one slide template at a time during course creation. Would be good to have an opportunity to have text to speech option in normal mode not only in interaction But this is so tiny compared to all the great things it has that I even feel bad talking about them.

Pros

Customer service is out of this world, I absolutely love the product

Cons

Nothing everything is perfect , I love it

Pros

Tech support is great. 24/7 help. No question left unanswered. Really help with every little setting. Great if you are new to this product. They really listen and help immediately.

Cons

I have yet to test the integration with my current LMS - so cannot comment on that. Only issue is with the tablet view - it doesn't use the same background as computer view which is a bit annoying for design purposes. They should fix that.

Pros

I like that QUIZZES make the learning course interactive by enableing the creator to add audio files to each answer.

Cons

Using Ispring Suite for the first time I would have found it useful to see much more examples of ideas for QUIZ solutions on YouTube.

Pros

Easy to use. MS PowerPoint plug-in. If you can use PowerPoint, you can use iSpring. Lots of resources.

Cons

Actually nothing. In the time of AI, developers might want to include AI into product in the future upgrades.

Pros

I really like the tools, they are very intuitive and do not require much advanced technical knowledge, I can add videos and more all with just a few clicks.

Cons

Well, sometimes I have encountered small technical problems that required searching for solutions in the documentation or contacting customer support.

Pros

The ease of use is what I like the most! I have been able to train people easily on how to use it, and it is intuitive. I also appreciate the recent prompt support that I had as some videos were exporting funny. It was all resolved within 24 hours of opening the ticket over the weekend.

Cons

The only piece that I don't like from this software is how the interactions and quizzes are not cloud-based. We are a cross functional team that collaborate on courses, and this impacts our workflow.

Alternatives Considered

Articulate 360

Reasons for Switching to iSpring Suite

I trialed both iSpring and Articulate at the same time when selecting an authoring tool. Articulate created more errors, and is also not great for a cross-functional teams. Based on this, and the price point - iSpring Suite was the best value

Pros

Its perfect integration with PowePoint makes the creation of an interactive online lecture easy and a joy. Compared to other products, the learning curve for iSpring is days rather than months. It's under interface is extremely intuitive, the functionality is near complete - hard to find any other option which might be necessary.
The customer service is brilliant, responsive and supportive.

Cons

I think that some functionality is not necessarily needed for a single author (like collaboration) and some might not be worth the annual subscription (content library). It is unfortunate that even with a lifetime licence, I cannot get regular maintenance updates without subscribing to the full package. It would be a bit better if subscription options could be better optimized for individual needs.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Learning Manager

Reasons for Switching to iSpring Suite

PowerPoint integration and ease of use, offered all functionality I needed

Pros

It is an all encompassing, seamlessly integrated product with all the features to create and deliver eLearning Solutions.

Cons

Would be great to be able to comment on each slide in iSpring Space when doing quality Assurance with team members.

Alternatives Considered

Articulate 360

Reasons for Switching to iSpring Suite

The fact that it has an LMS and a Publishing Suite. The ease of use within PowerPoint was the deciding point as the level f expertise required to get an employee trained to use iSpring Suite is minimal. One can then concentrate on the more advanced features in order to get a team fully functional to produce awesome courses.

Pros

Ease of use, good technical support and the fact that it links to PowerPoint means the development process is not too daunting.

Cons

It's clearly set up as a course full of quizzes. However, we uses this to develop language training activities. This requires constant adjustment (removing reference to quizzes, as an example).
I'd like to see a facility to allow more than one muliple choice and True/False question per page for listening-based activities.
I'd also like to see a facility in the Dialogue Simulations that would allow the learner's voice to be recorded so they can hear back their voice on and compare to a model.

These features would strengthen Ispring in terms of becoming a very useful authoring tool for language training course development.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Learning Manager

Reasons for Switching to iSpring Suite

Because of the variety of quizzes which we can customise as activities.

Pros

Uses the familiar PowerPoint interface and structure, making it easy to quickly generate content. Allows for recorded narration with second view of recorded presenter and set animation timings. Good flexibility with quizzes to make them look professional and not take a long time to generate. Custom behavior for pass/fail conditions. Their support is excellent and the maintenance package is a no brainer at least for the first year while you get started. That being said, I have renewed it for the 2 years (so far) that I have used it since they roll out helpful and thoughtful updates. I also appreciate that they offer a non-profit and educational rate which was the deciding factor for our office.

Cons

iSpring is not as flexible as other options like captivate since you are working within the framework of PowerPoint. I'm happy to make that concession because it makes it easier to learn and use existing presentations from lectures and seminars. I wish it was better integrated with working from MS OneDrive as well. Their exporting functionality can be clunky for when you want to move things around.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Captivate and Articulate 360

Reasons for Switching to iSpring Suite

PowerPoint platform for easy learning curve and non-profit organization discount option.

Pros

Knowledge experts can provide content in PowerPoint. No hassles of importing PowerPoint into another software. Look and feel is not lost. Collaboration is easy , Knowledge experts and Q.C. Department can work on the same PPT source file instead of working on a copy.

Cons

Nothing much but a few add-on's like animation timeline, layers and basic triggers would make the product still more awesome.

Alternatives Considered

Articulate 360

Reasons for Switching to iSpring Suite

Output Quality, No need to import the slide decks. collaborative environment

Pros

This product offered us an affordable, easy to use tool to convert powerpoint lectures and audio files into formats best suited for offering our online courses. It has worked very well and produces high quality HTML5 files that render well across all devices. Initially, they also had excellent customer support during the sales/trial period and during the one -year of tech support included. more on that later...

Cons

At the end of our first year of use, the tech support that was included with the software expired. That was no problem at first as we knew how to use the software and it was working great. However, when we went to use the software after the IT expiration, iSpring was gone from our toolbar. We were prompted to purchase a ridiculously expensive subscription for ongoing tech support. The smallest plan given was substantially higher than the great price we got on a LIFETIME licenses. When I wrote customer support to find out how to continue using the product and why it had disappeared since I purchased LIFETIME licenses, they repeatedly told me they couldn't answer my question since I had not purchased the extended tech support plan. "What?! I purchased LIFETIME licenses, I don't need tech support, I need your product to continue working as it has." Eventually after much frustration, someone told me I had to reload the software with my license key. Seriously bad sales strategy.

Pros

What I love most about iSpring Quite is how robust it is. There is an option for every scenario when it comes to deployment. Whether it's quiz grading/scoring, complete/incomplete, SCORM versions, allowing the learning to skip around or required to view sequentially, there is an option for everything! The ability to customize the GUI to match any corporate branding standards is very nice. Finally, the HTML5 deployment method allows for a single publish that will work on PC, Mac, any mobile device, tablets, etc.

Cons

Because the tool is so robust, there are options everywhere. While they are group well according to what you're working on, sometimes, it's difficult to find a one tick box that does a very specific thing. I would also like to see more collaboration tools. We have a specific preset of branding standards and options that we like to use, but we are a team of three. So, getting all three developers to use the exact same settings can be cumbersome.

Pros

1) Ease of use, even for the production of didactic presentations with very complicated scripts and instructional designs.

2) Flexibility to "pack" the same interactive audiovisual object for all types of devices and operating environments with "1 click".

3) The high quality standard is achieved for multimedia presentations considering that we can very suitably adjust the settings of images, videos, audio and effects.

4) The excellent service and quick response technical support team. It's wonderful people with great human qualities and strong technical knowledge.

5) Has a fair selling price. In addition, iSpringsolutions provides reasonable discounts for upgrades to new versions.

6) We use iSpring Suite fun in our daily work. It's fun to build serious and delicate objects of learning and interactive communication presentations in the field of higher education, professional development of leaders of private enterprises, and training for technicians governmental organizations.

Cons

"The bee flies because she does not know you can not fly" (morphology and design contradicts all principles of aerodynamics); likewise, iSpring Suite is so powerful that many times we bring our computers to extreme limits of performance developed very complicated presentations ... The problem is not iSpringsolutions; the problem is our irrational claim that 1Gb :) is the same as 1 byte.

Smile (believe it or not) we did not find points against the level of development that has come iSprinsolutions with iSpring Suite and see that they have reached an very high fence to overcome.

Pros

Much learning content was developped in any version of powerpoint. Due to iSpring solutions it was easy to reactivate these contents and to have them userfriendly aveliable for any device on a server. Really no headche with lenght and with of any devices in use, just publish the powerpoint with 4 clicks into the www.
The upgrade of powerpoint content by including rated questions and tests with the iSpring testing tool added much didactional value. I on't make use of the iSpring server, I run the content on my homepage only.

Cons

For my use of only 20% of the capacity of iSpring (interactive quizzes & ppt-slide publication for any device) I would like to pay less and only for the features I really use ore only the minimal time in a month, I am using this software. As a retired teacher I get an educational reduction on the full prize, but this is still quite a financial expense in the budget of an old man, whose quizzes and learning slides are for free for all students.

Pros

Easy to use, stable and reliable, inexpensive, built-it quiz results output, ability to collect and report additional user data

Cons

Needs more global formatting capability, e.g. master slides; inability to send e-mail results to quiz takers; and no built-in PDF certificate

Pros

Speed to build interactive audiovisual learning objects, useful for learning and strengthening professional skills in multiple fields of knowledge. Excellent technical support service and updates that constantly improve the product and help improve the performance of my business in the corporate education sector.

Cons

iSpring Solutions, Inc. has modified its policies for renewal of updates and technical support services with very high prices for small businesses like mine. They are reluctant to apply discounts to suit the economic circumstances of customers; even though, as in my case, having bought my first iSpring license 15 years ago.

Pros

It harneses all the power of Powerpoint, the output is much smaller than the original Powerpoint and publication in HTML5 makes it available on almost any platform, including iThings which cannot run Flash.
I use iSpring Suite 8 to make presentations of historical material, particularly of early printed books.
Separately, my organisation - to which I introduced iSpring some years ago - uses it to publish audio-visual educational material for physicians on the web for the benefit of doctors in many countries in addition to UK and to publish the slides and audio of presentations given to our History of Medicine Group.
For my own work I extend the use of some features beyond their original purpose; for example, I use the 'Outline' tabs to provide a simple search engine for some documents. I also use iSpring Flip as a means of producing galleries of images with thumbnails for navigation. This, published in HTML5, has replaced an earlier image gallery that I wrote in Flash.
The software is very easy to use at a simple level but is also capable of supporting considerable sophistication in using animation.
I have had to seek technical support on a number of occasions and have always had prompt and helpful responses - even on the rare occasions when a solution has not been found- I empasise these are rare, usually the problems have been solved.

Cons

I have very few complaints! I would like one or two additional features - more sophisticated text search in presentations and a search facility for the flipbooks.

Pros

I've been using iSpring (especially QuizMaker) for a long time to make tests and exercises (I'm a teacher). I'm very satisfied with this product.

Its first advantage is how easy iSpring is to use. Since I am familiar with PowerPoint, I had no problems when I started working in iSpring, everything was clear even at the very beginning. The design is pleasant, too.

Secondly, the possibilites are really impressive: anything is possible to create, be it a simple multiple choice test or a complicated exercise with all sorts of questions, levels of difficulty, etc.

Thirdly, it's convenient to publish the tests either on one's site (html, flash) or in a Word file. I use both ways, and enjoy them both. My students tested the exercises on their computers and mobile devices (Apple and Android). There hasn't been a single complaint: it works on different platforms and devices.

Another good point is the possibility to customize the looks of the test. Maybe it's not the most important feature, but still, it allowed me to make the exercise look very natural on my site, in the same style, in the same colours.

Last but not least, customer support is very good. All the issues that I had (there were very few, really) were efficiently resolved. None of my questions were left without attention.

All in all, iSpring makes it possible for me to realize all my teaching ideas, so I regard it as one of my best investments and I'm certain I'll go on using it for a long time.