Absorb LMS
Absorb LMS is a learning system for training employees, partners, customers, suppliers and contractors in one place. Absorb added a set of AI assistants called Aura in May 2026. Absorb publishes no price and tells buyers to talk to sales. Its agreement renews every 12 months, and user counts cannot be decreased during a term.
A learning system used by more than 3,500 organisations and 37 million users. Its AI layer launched in May 2026.
You need training records, expiring certificates and automatic re-enrolment. You train people who work away from a desk. You run ADP, Workday, UKG Pro, Dayforce or SAP SuccessFactors and want its data to flow in.
You want a price before you talk to sales. You may need to cut your user count during the term. You need learners to use the AI assistant in a language other than English.
Quote only. Fees come from user subscription fees in an order form, billed in advance annually unless the order form provides otherwise. Extra services cost $200 to $275 an hour.
Absorb runs your training and records, and its AI assistants are new
Absorb reports more than 3,500 organisations and 37 million users. One Absorb system can train employees, partners, customers, suppliers and contractors. The core is broad. Absorb plays standard e-learning course files, such as SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, AICC, xAPI and HTML5. It runs live classes taught in sessions. Its ready-made course libraries run from over 500 courses to over 20,000 from more than 100 publishers.
The AI layer is newer. Absorb launched Aura on 19 May 2026. Aura is a set of assistants, and each one serves a different group. Administrators get Aura Admin Assist. It answers their questions and pulls data for a set of report types. Administrators who build courses get Aura Create. It builds a draft course from a prompt, an uploaded document, or a connected SharePoint or OneDrive source. Learners get the Aura Learner Agent and Aura Rehearse. The Learner Agent answers questions from content you choose and recommends courses. Rehearse lets learners practise a conversation with an AI persona and get a score with written feedback.
Two other tools sit beside Aura. Intelligent Assist lets administrators type a request in plain language and start standard admin tasks. Its results follow the administrator’s role and permissions. Absorb Skills recommends learning paths from learner goals, self-assessments and skill gaps. Absorb Skills is a paid feature. Some Aura features also use a pool of usage units, so part of your bill moves with use. The money section has the detail.
Records, frontline access and HR system links are its strengths
Completions stay on the record, and certificates can expire
That matters when someone asks who was trained and when. A completion is never revoked and stays on the learner’s transcript. Absorb keeps enrolment records, scores, completions and history, and makes them available to administrators. Certificates can be set to expire, and Absorb automates enrolment for certification and recertification. Its e-signatures are valid for use under 21 CFR Part 11, a US rule on electronic records.
It reaches staff who work away from a desk
Workers can start training from a phone. The Frontline App lets them sign in with a phone number, personal email or employee ID. It works on phones, tablets and kiosks. Learners can download lessons, work offline and sync their progress later. You can buy Frontline App on its own with Absorb LMS built in.
Changes in your HR system can flow into Absorb
If you run one of seven HR systems, Absorb can take people data from it. Connectors cover ADP, Workday, BambooHR, Namely, UKG Pro, Dayforce and SAP SuccessFactors. A connector detects changes in the HR system and pushes them to Absorb. You send an initial list of people, then change files, by FTP, a standard way to move files between systems. Connectors are an added feature that costs extra. Staff can also log in with their work account.
You can read learners’ AI chats, and some AI features can be switched off
Administrators can view and export the Aura chats of the learners they manage. They cannot delete or modify the chats. Aura reaches learners only when your organisation has enabled it and granted access. Aura Rehearse is on by default for eligible portals. Aura Admin Assist is enabled by default for some customers. Create AI can be turned off. Intelligent Assist cannot. Ask which AI features are switched on in your portal from day one.
Round-the-clock support is included, and Absorb has a SOC 2 Type 2 report
Support does not cost extra. Premium support is included at no cost, with web, email and phone support around the clock. Absorb completed a SOC 2 Type 2 examination, an outside security audit, for security, availability and confidentiality. Absorb also reports 99.99% uptime over the previous 12 months.
Customers report results in field service, clinics, car washes and insurance
Many of the results Absorb publishes come from field, clinic and site-based teams. Others come from compliance completion. Each figure below is the customer’s own report.
Field technicians at Whirlpool and Vivint
Whirlpool reports a 14% improvement in First Call Completion, which means fixing the fault on the first visit. It also reports an 8.2% rise in customer satisfaction after technician learning paths. Whirlpool reports a 21% cut in training costs year over year. It used blended eLearning and virtual instructor-led training. Vivint reports eLearning hours of 8 to 10 for field technicians. Before, they took 24 to 25. Vivint also reports that time to production fell from 68 to 39 days.
Compliance completion at ATI Physical Therapy, POOL/PACT and CAPTRUST
ATI Physical Therapy reports 100% compliance for dry-needling services across 850 clinics. POOL/PACT is a non-profit public agency insurance pool with over 750 courses and nearly 25,000 registered users. It reports an 87% completion rate among 13,000 learners. CAPTRUST reports that within months of launch 99% of employees logged in. It also reports that HR compliance training reached a 73% completion rate.
Mister Car Wash trains at scale
Mister Car Wash runs training for 7,000+ users on Absorb LMS. The company has over 400 locations in the United States.
Mojo Moments, OpsWerks and Trojan Storage report faster starts
Mojo Moments is a start-up that provides learning experiences built on the science of motivation. It reports launching Absorb LMS in under two weeks. OpsWerks reports onboarding cut from three days to one. Trojan Storage reports onboarding time cut from up to three months to weeks.
The AI is English only in places, and data stays in one of five regions
Most Aura assistants work in English only
The Aura Learner Agent is available only in English. Aura Admin Assist is only available in English. Aura Create can generate a course in a chosen language, but its own interface is English only. The Lightcast skills library behind Absorb Skills is English only. If your learners work in other languages, ask which AI features they can use.
Absorb’s pages disagree on what the admin assistants do
Absorb’s help article on Aura Admin Assist says it does not complete actions for an administrator. Its AI programme overview says Aura Assist may help administrators complete certain tasks. Its AI features page says the AI can perform simple and complex day-to-day admin tasks. Ask for the exact task list before you rely on any of them. Admin Assist also caps report results at 100 records per query.
Aura Create has set limits
Aura Create does not support several authors working together or formal approval steps before publishing. A course can be based on a PDF or on an external knowledge source, but not both. Aura Create needs at least one seat in Absorb Create, the course-writing tool, and a System Admin to enable it.
Synced documents follow Absorb’s permissions, not the source’s
Aura can answer from SharePoint, Google Drive, Confluence, Dropbox, Box and OneDrive. Absorb permissions, not source-level permissions, decide who sees that content in Aura. Each connection has a 5 GB sync limit. Aura does not detect course changes by itself, so someone must extract the course again. Check which folders you connect before you switch this on.
AI data is kept for 90 days, and the chats for the whole term
Absorb stores generative AI inputs and outputs for up to 90 days for auditing and monitoring. It keeps conversation history, prompts and AI outputs in the LMS for the term of the agreement. Absorb does not use client inputs, files, content or AI output to train third-party foundation models. These are the large AI models built by outside companies. It may use limited prompt and interaction data to improve its own AI. Aura Assist prompts are de-identified before they go to the model now. Future releases may send personal data to the model.
Outside companies handle the AI work
The Aura Learner Agent uses Google Gemini, OpenAI and AWS Cloud. Microsoft Azure hosts Absorb’s AI functionality. AWS managed AI inference, Amazon’s AI service, may process personal data in prompts and outputs. Clients may ask for a different provider where a feature supports it. Check this list against your data protection rules.
Your data stays in one of five regions, and two regions need two portals
Absorb hosts on AWS in Canada Central, USA East, Ireland, Australia and China. Client data and backups stay in the region you select. Client data may be accessed from outside that region for support and sub-processing. A client that must host data in two separate regions needs two separate LMS portals. Absorb does not deploy the LMS in AWS GovCloud.
Go-live time depends on which Absorb page you read
Absorb’s performance page puts a live portal at as little as four weeks. Its professional services page puts standard onboarding at eight weeks. That page also asks for at least one dedicated LMS administrator or project manager. For connectors, Absorb’s connector page puts set-up at a few business days at a fixed cost. Its connector FAQ puts it at hours. Ask for a dated plan.
Accessibility conformance is supported on one browser and screen reader
Absorb’s accessibility conformance target is WCAG 2.2 Level AA, a common web accessibility standard. Absorb supports that target only in Chrome with the NVDA screen reader.
Absorb sells by quote on a 12-month term you cannot shrink
Pricing models depend on features, programme size and support needs. Absorb asks for your learner count when you request a price.
One public record gives a figure. The US Department of Health and Human Services placed a $67,827.83 delivery order for Absorb LMS subscriptions. The order went to Koman Environmental Assessment Services, LLC. Treat it as one buyer’s order, not your own quote.
Several things cost extra. Connectors are bought as an added feature. Absorb Skills is a paid feature. Content libraries are subscriptions. Extra training costs $200 an hour. Customisation costs $275 an hour and consultation $200 an hour. Onboarding fees cover initial implementation and are charged once. Using Absorb’s backups on your own costs $200 an hour. Premium support is included, and an Elite Support upgrade adds services beyond standard support.
Some Aura features use a pool of usage units. Every client gets a starting pool and can buy more. Admin Assist chats are free. Aura Create uses 700 units when a course preview is first generated. A completed Rehearse attempt uses 10 units by text and 20 by voice. On 27 October 2026, three things stop using units. These are Course Extraction, Learner Agent chats and Aura Create chat. Course Extraction is the step that reads a course into Aura. When the pool runs out, free Aura features carry on. New course previews are blocked until more units are available. You can buy more. You get Aura features if you have signed the required AI terms or are on Absorb’s latest Terms and Conditions.
Fees cannot be cancelled or refunded, and the user count cannot drop mid-term
Payment obligations are non-cancellable and fees are non-refundable. User counts cannot be decreased during the term. The agreement renews automatically for 12-month periods unless you give 30 days’ notice. Subscription fees are billed in advance annually unless the order form provides otherwise.
A price rise needs only 30 days’ written notice
The per-unit price stays the same on renewal unless Absorb gives 30 days’ written notice of an increase. Users added during the term cost the same rate as existing subscriptions, prorated for the rest of the term. Users added mid-month are charged for the full monthly period and the remaining monthly periods of the term. Overdue charges carry late interest of 1.5% of the outstanding balance per month.
Absorb can amend the agreement, and the agreement can move to a new owner
Under Absorb’s terms, Absorb can amend the agreement. It gives notice of material changes at least ten days before they take effect, and continued use counts as consent. Either party can assign the agreement to an affiliate without the other’s consent. The same holds in a merger, acquisition, reorganisation or sale of substantially all assets not involving a direct competitor. Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a private equity firm, acquired Absorb in 2021.
The uptime promise is an effort, and liability has a cap
Absorb’s terms commit to commercially reasonable efforts to make the service available around the clock, with exceptions. The target response time is 2 hours for a level 1 support request. A level 1 request means the service is not functioning or is materially unavailable. Absorb’s liability is capped at one-twelfth of the total amount you paid in the twelve months before the incident.
When you leave, Absorb returns or destroys your data at your written request. Clients can export data on termination and ask for deletion within 30 days, and backups are deleted after 30 days. Custom data exports are requested through your Client Success Manager and arrive by email or secure FTP. Absorb also offers data migration help when you switch to it.
You could also run training steps with agents built on your own systems. We have mapped what that looks like. The HR Agent Map
What to ask before you sign
- What will the first-year order total at our learner count? Show onboarding, connectors, Skills and libraries as separate lines. Good answer: One written figure, with every extra as its own line.
- Will you give written notice of any price rise at least 60 days before our cancellation date? Good answer: Yes, written into the order form.
- Can the order form let us lower the user count at renewal and hold the per-unit price? Good answer: Yes, in writing.
- Is Aura Assist the same product as Aura Admin Assist? Good answer: A plain yes or no, with the product name that appears in our order form.
- Which tasks can Aura Admin Assist and Aura Assist complete, and which only give answers? Good answer: A written task list for each product.
- Which AI features can our learners use in languages other than English? Good answer: A list by feature and language, with dates for anything still coming.
- How many Aura usage units come in our starting pool, and what does the next block cost? Good answer: A number for the pool and a price for each extra block.
- Which outside company handles our learners’ data in each Aura feature, and can we pick a different one? Good answer: A list by feature, and a written route to change provider.
- Will you tell us in writing before Aura Assist starts sending personal data to the model? Good answer: Yes, before any release that does.
- How do we limit who sees synced documents in Aura, given that Absorb permissions decide? Good answer: A named permission setting for each connection.
- What does Elite Support add, and what does it cost? Good answer: A written list of services and a yearly price.
- Which go-live date goes into the order form, four weeks or eight? Good answer: A dated plan, and the name of the Absorb person who owns it.
- What happens to our agreement if Absorb is sold? Good answer: A right to end the agreement without penalty after a sale.
Alternatives to Absorb, including buying nothing
If Absorb does not fit, look at TalentLMS. Buying nothing yet is a second route.
Look at the user count first. Absorb’s terms do not let the count drop during a term. TalentLMS bills on the unique users who log in each month. If your user count may fall, ask each vendor how that change would show on the bill.
Read our guide for companies whose HR system has its own learning product. The comparison page sets the products side by side.
https://www.absorbai.com/products/learning-management-system · Absorb LMS product page · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/company/newsroom/absorb-launches-mentoring-in-absorb-lms · Absorb newsroom, mentoring release, October 2025 · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/get-pricing · Absorb, get pricing form · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/features/content-libraries · Absorb content libraries · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/products/absorb-aura · Absorb Aura product page · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/features/lms-ai · Absorb AI in the LMS · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/features/scorm-compliant-lms · Absorb course file standards · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/features/integrations/zoom · Absorb Zoom connection · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/solutions/compliance-training · Absorb compliance training · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/features/observation-checklists · Absorb observation checklists · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/support/compliance/21-cfr-part-11 · Absorb 21 CFR Part 11 · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/support/compliance/soc-2 · Absorb SOC 2 · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/solutions/frontline · Absorb Frontline App · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/features/integrations/hcm-connectors · Absorb HR system connectors · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/features/integrations/apis · Absorb integrations and APIs · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/features/performance · Absorb performance and uptime · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/support/professional-services · Absorb professional services · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/support/switching-to-absorb-lms · Absorb, switching to Absorb LMS · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/company/newsroom/absorb-software-launches-absorb-aura · Absorb newsroom, Aura launch · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/company/newsroom/absorb-software-recognized-among-top-lms-lxp-by-independent-research-firm · Absorb newsroom, November 2021 release · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/trojan-storage · Absorb customer story, Trojan Storage · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/whirlpool · Absorb customer story, Whirlpool · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/vivint · Absorb customer story, Vivint · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/captrust · Absorb customer story, CAPTRUST · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/ati-physical-therapy · Absorb customer story, ATI Physical Therapy · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/pool-pact · Absorb customer story, POOL/PACT · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/mister-car-wash-decreases-turnover-rates-20-and-streamlines-training-absorb · Absorb customer story, Mister Car Wash · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/mojo-moments · Absorb customer story, Mojo Moments · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.absorbai.com/customers/case-studies/opswerks · Absorb customer story, OpsWerks · read 21 Oct 2026
https://discover.absorbai.com/rs/840-JWB-417/images/Absorb%20Software%20Inc%20-%20T%26C%20-%20Master.pdf · Absorb Software Inc. terms and conditions · read 21 Oct 2026
https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_75N90026F00002_7529_75N90025D00011_7529/ · US federal award record, Absorb LMS subscriptions · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/51336691767315 · Absorb Help Center, Aura Admin Assist · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/51080985313171 · Absorb Help Center, AI Program Overview · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500005078961 · Absorb Help Center, Intelligent Assist · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/52124951559955 · Absorb Help Center, Aura Create · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/51337854392851 · Absorb Help Center, Aura Learner Agent · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/51747854685971 · Absorb Help Center, Aura external knowledge · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015958127 · Absorb Help Center, hosting and sub-processors · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/27374658925203 · Absorb Help Center, Absorb Skills · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/55901389586195 · Absorb Help Center, Aura Rehearse · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/56494280655123 · Absorb Help Center, October 2026 release · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/53951137539603 · Absorb Help Center, Aura Chats report · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/53268024177555 · Absorb Help Center, enrolment records and transcripts · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409390829843 · Absorb Help Center, offline lessons · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/22952363478419 · Absorb Help Center, instructor-led sessions · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/14232811270291 · Absorb Help Center, certificate expiry · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/37078838224403 · Absorb Help Center, skills self-assessments · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/37657647133459 · Absorb Help Center, accessibility conformance · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/51445731797267 · Absorb Help Center, Aura Microsoft Teams app · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/51445965142291 · Absorb Help Center, Aura Chrome extension · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/17494587137043 · Absorb Help Center, connector syncing · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/53677872546323 · Absorb Help Center, data hosting · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/51458407323923 · Absorb Help Center, Aura usage allowance · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/51172628420115 · Absorb Help Center, Aura launch article · read 21 Oct 2026
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/115008003368 · Absorb Help Center, custom data exports · read 21 Oct 2026
https://www.talentlms.com/prices · TalentLMS pricing · read 21 Oct 2026