Articulate Rise 360 vs. Articulate Storyline 360: A Full Comparison Guide

Articulate 360 offers two eLearning authoring tools: Rise 360 and Storyline 360. Being both powerful and intuitive, these products have quickly become staples for course authors and instructional designers worldwide. How do you decide which tool is best for your eLearning course or training project?

We answer this and other questions in our comprehensive Articulate Rise 360 vs. Articulate Storyline 360 comparison guide. Plus, we reveal the best alternatives to Articulate that you can try in 2024.

You’ll learn:

The main differences between Storyline and Articulate Rise
Pros and cons for each tool
The best alternatives to Articulate 360

What is Articulate Storyline?

Articulate Storyline 360 is a slide-based eLearning authoring tool that boasts an interface similar to Microsoft PowerPoint.

What does it do?

Storyline 360 is effectively a blank canvas with impressive options for building custom eLearning interactions. You can also add action triggers to your learning content, such as providing feedback when a learner answers a quiz question incorrectly.

Storyline 360 has an intuitive timeline that makes creating appealing course content easy. This tool allows you to add a variety of elements to your training content, such as quizzes, animations, images, and texts. There’s also a built-in screen recorder and video editor.

With Storyline, you can build your own software simulations, games, and interactions from scratch. There’s also a wide range of downloadable customizing templates that you can tailor to your project to design attractive eLearning courses.

Since it’s similar to Microsoft PowerPoint, it’s relatively straightforward to use if you’re already a PowerPoint user. The slide templates speed up the development process and provide some ideas on how to lay out your courses.

What type of eLearning projects is it best for?

Thanks to numerous customization options, Articulate Storyline is great for building simulations, games, hotspots, and other complex interactions. This includes highly tailored branching scenarios. That said, longer development times mean it’s not the best option for building a large volume of eLearning materials from scratch.

Key Features of Storyline 360

Intuitive interface
Content library integration
Animations
Screen recording
Software simulations
20 interaction templates
Quiz maker with 20 question templates
Interactive videos
VR projects
Compatible with SCORM and xAPI
Work offline

This online course is a great (and very cute) example of a course made with Storyline 360.

What is Articulate Rise?

Articulate Rise is a web-based authoring tool that makes building outstanding course content from scratch quick and easy. It has a wide array of built-in templates and interactions to speed up the content development process.

What does it do?

Rise 360 consists of content building blocks that you can mix and match to create online courses. Learners scroll down through lessons, and you can break up content sections using buttons. A visually appealing progress bar appears on the side of the screen to let learners know where they are in the course.

Rise 360 has a menu bar that shows a learner’s progress in a course.

While you can customize interactions to some degree (changing background colors, adding images, etc.), you have much fewer customization options in a course created with Rise. However, this is an advantage if you’re not an experienced designer and want to stick to a tried-and-true layout in a more traditional eLearning authoring tool.

Rise is responsive on mobiles, desktops, and tablets, so you can be sure that your eLearning content looks good on any device.

Thanks to its simplicity, there’s next to no learning curve with Articulate Rise.

Key features of Articulate Rise

User-friendly interface
Responsive on different screen sizes
Library of content blocks (timelines, accordions, flashcards, sorting activities)
Quiz lesson with 4 question templates and a question bank
Team collaboration
Compatible with SCORM and xAPI
No installation required

What type of eLearning projects is it best for?

Rise is a good choice for beginners with little experience designing learning content or projects with a quick development timeline. In terms of content, it’s best suited to projects with a lot of texts, images, or audio-visual elements.

Here’s an example of a course made using Rise 360:

Articulate Rise demo course: Creating Social Change

Also read: The 50+ Best Instructional Design Software Tools and Resources

Rise vs. Storyline: What’s the Difference?

If you’re torn between Articulate Storyline and Rise, then keep reading. In this section, we break down the key differences between the two adaptive authoring tools, so you can choose the best option for your eLearning project.

We’ll weigh up the following criteria as we make our Storyline vs. Rise comparison:

Customization
Responsiveness
Navigation/user-friendliness
Development time
Application

Pros and Cons of Storyline

Let’s start by comparing the pros and cons of Storyline 360.

Pros

Highly customizable: authors can add effects and triggers, modify objects, and build a unique look and feel
Facilitates creativity: users have endless options to adapt built-in features to suit their vision
Provides a range of functionalities, including screen recording, quizzes, and software simulations
Offers a feature for offline development
Simple drag-and-drop interface
Authors can create personalized learning and enable learners to skip to specific sections
SCORM compliant

Cons

Vast range of features can be overwhelming for beginners
Courses are mostly restricted to desktops and laptops – no option to adapt content for mobile devices
The high level of features and customization tools lead to slower development times
Must be downloaded to a Windows computer – not suitable if you use multiple devices
The built-in video editor is basic compared to other tools

Pros and Cons of Rise

Now, here’s a look at the pros and cons of Rise 360.

Pros

Intuitive and user-friendly interface – next to no learning curve
The simple, templated format makes for fast development – you can clone blocks to reuse them in different modules
A solid range of built-in interactions, like flashcards, interactive graphics, video, text, and matching exercises
The review feature makes it easy to gather feedback or share drafts with stakeholders
Responsive on mobile devices
SCORM compliant
Web-based tool – can be used on multiple devices

Cons

Limited options to customize learning blocks to create personalized learning
Minimal branding options
Authors can’t build custom page layouts
No built-in video editor
Assessment features are quite basic
Limited version control features – not possible to revert to a previous version of a course

How to Choose Between Articulate Storyline and Rise

Choosing the right authoring tool for your eLearning project will ensure that the training is effective, tailored to your learning goals, and is completed within your timeframe. On the other hand, the wrong tool can grind content development to a halt or result in ineffective training that doesn’t meet your needs.

To help you decide, we’ve created a comparison table to see how each tool stacks up.

Articulate Storyline vs. Rise Comparison Chart

	Rise	Storyline
Customization	Limited options for customizing the pre-built blocks, but you can add Storyline blocks	Highly customizable – you can tailor every aspect of the learning experience
Responsiveness	Adapts layout to suit desktops, tablets, and mobile devices	Doesn’t adapt onscreen elements to different types of devices
Design	Clean, simple, and modern design; few options for custom branding	Slightly outdated, but authors can tailor the look and feel to their brand
Navigation/user friendliness	Easy-to-use scrolling navigation system; the simple menu bar allows learners to jump forward and backward through sections	Simple, slide-based navigation with plenty of options to personalize buttons and allow learners to move freely throughout the course
Development time	Short development time and the ability to save blocks as templates for future courses	Creating tailored interactions is time-intensive; not suitable for large eLearning projects
Application	Web-based tool that can be used on multiple devices	Computer-based tool; must be used on a computer running Windows
Price	$1,099/year (sold as a package)	$1,099/year (sold as a package)

The Best Articulate 360 Alternatives

When combined, Rise and Storyline cover a wide range of eLearning development requirements. However, they might not meet your unique training needs. And besides, they’re not the easiest authoring tools to navigate.

The good news is that there are many excellent alternatives to choose from. We’ve selected the top alternatives to Storyline and Rise.

Also read: Adobe Captivate vs. Articulate Storyline 360 vs. iSpring Suite

The best alternative to Storyline 360: iSpring Suite Max

An alternative to Storyline 360: iSpring Suite Max

iSpring Suite Max is a versatile eLearning authoring tool with an intuitive interface that facilitates the quick creation of interactive eLearning content.

iSpring Suite functions as a Microsoft PowerPoint add-in, making course development time fast and simple. On top of that, you can convert existing PowerPoint presentations into online courses in just a few minutes.

It comes with a built-in quiz maker, a video and audio editor, and a tool for building role-play simulations. Plus, it’s fully responsive on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.

iSpring has a fully stocked content library, a custom character builder, an extensive course portfolio creator, and a browser-based authoring tool that’s excellent for those working on Mac.

With content authoring capabilities that are similar to those of Storyline, it offers a more user-friendly solution with advanced collaborative authoring.

Example of an interactive course made using iSpring Suite:

Example of an interactive course made in iSpring Suite

iSpring Suite: Pros for educators and instructional designers

Let’s see how iSpring Suite measures up to our core criteria (including price).

	iSpring Suite Max
Customization	Advanced authoring capabilities: simulations, screen recording, video editing, high degrees of customization; ideal for developing personalized and highly branded learning experiences
Responsiveness	Fully responsive across all devices for an optimal user experience
Design	Sleek, modern design
User friendliness	Uses a super simple PowerPoint approach – next to no learning curve
Development time	Quick development time: the extensive library of templates, characters, and assets reduce creation time
Application	Computer-based tool that must be used on a Windows computer; Mac users can use an integrated web-based course creation tool
Price	From $970/year

Get a free 14-day trial today to start building impactful online courses.

The best alternative to Rise 360: iSpring Page

You can make beautiful, SCORM-compliant courses within minutes with iSpring Page.

An alternative to Rise 360: iSpring Page

If you like the simplicity of Rise 360 but want more customization options (and a lower price tag), try iSpring Page. It’s a lightweight, cloud-based tool that allows you to create courses, job aids, and manuals right in your browser.

You just need to paste your content from a document or web page, add your multimedia elements, and you’re ready to publish your course.

iSpring’s AI assistant does the heavy lifting of course creation for you by generating ideas, writing content, and improving course design.

The tool also supports collaborative course authoring for a seamless development workflow.

Here’s an example of a course made using iSpring Page:

iSpring Page: Create courses powered by AI

Here’s an overview of how iSpring Page performs based on our core criteria.

	iSpring Page
Customization	Brand customization: choose from preset authoring features, including images, text, flashcards, and multiple-choice questions
Responsiveness	Fully responsive across all devices for an optimal user experience
Design	Clean, modern design
User-friendliness	Incredibly simple interface – no learning curve
Development time	Rapid development with the help of an AI assistant that converts documents into interactive, LMS-ready courses
Application	Suitable for Windows and Mac users
Price	From $470/year

Try a 14-day free trial of iSpring Page to see how you can elevate your learning experiences.

FAQ on Articulate Rise vs. Storyline

What is the difference between Articulate Rise and Articulate Storyline?

The main differences between Storyline 360 and Rise 360 come down to responsiveness and customization. Rise is a highly responsive tool that facilitates fast content development but lacks the tools to build complex interactions and a tailored look and feel.

Conversely, Storyline enables you to build complex interactions from scratch. However, this can be too time intensive for large eLearning projects. It also doesn’t offer the same level of responsiveness as Rise.

Can you convert a Rise eLearning course to Storyline?

Yes, you can embed Rise courses into Storyline. To do this, you must first export the Rise 360 course as a web package and extract the zip file on your computer. Then, add the extracted folder to your Storyline project as a web object.