Totara

It trains outside groups, tracks due dates and works offline

It suits regulated training, certificates across countries, US government and smaller teams

Totara is used in healthcare, financial services, government and manufacturing. It helps manage mandatory training, certifications and reporting there.

Skills are new, AI costs extra and support keeps set hours

Base costs £21,300 a year at 500 users, then support and setup come on top

Totara prices three packages by user tier in its UK government listing. Each price covers a contract year. Base costs £21,300 at 500 users, £26,200 at 1,000 and £44,400 at 5,000. Premium costs £33,500 at 1,000 users and £51,700 at 5,000. Ultimate costs £44,000 at 1,000 and £62,200 at 5,000. Premium and Ultimate are not available at 500 users.

The package price is the start of the bill. A support package is mandatory at £3,900 for Bronze, £7,800 for Silver or £13,000 for Gold a year. The one-off implementation fee is £9,500 on Base, £14,500 on Premium and £19,000 on Ultimate. All customers start on Standard Use hosting, which the package price includes. High-use hosting adds a yearly fee, for example £28,980 at 500 users.

On the G-Cloud prices, Base for 1,000 users costs £39,600 in the first year. That includes Bronze support and the implementation fee. That is £26,200 plus £3,900 a year, plus £9,500 once, on Standard Use hosting and before any add-on.

Add-ons are priced as a share of the package price or as flat fees. A Talent Management Bundle is 25% on Base. Extra workflows cost £2,500 each on Premium and Ultimate. A Learner Record Store holds learning records sent between systems. It costs £29,100 a year at 500 users, plus a £30,000 one-off fee. Ready-made courses cost £10 a year per 10 learners for every 60 minutes of course time.

Two G-Cloud documents count users differently, so ask which count sets your tier. Totara’s G-Cloud pricing document defines an active user, for price banding, as someone who logs in during the contract year. Accounts are not recycled. Under its G-Cloud terms, Totara counts every account that existed in the past 12 months, on a rolling basis. That includes accounts suspended later. Totara’s product licence counts accounts that logged in during the preceding 12 months, even if deactivated later. Under the G-Cloud terms, use above 105% of your user cap moves you to a higher tier. That brings higher fees and a new invoice. Under the product licence, additional fees may be required if active users exceed the order.

The fee can rise at renewal. Under the G-Cloud terms, Totara may raise fees after the first anniversary. It must give at least 90 days’ notice and can do so at most once every 12 months. The rise is capped at the greater of 5% or UK consumer price inflation over the previous 12 months. In its G-Cloud listing, Totara offers 0% discount in every band of contract value.

Customers with an active Totara subscription can use a renewal-only G-Cloud service. It prices 500 users at £20,200 for Base, £27,100 for Premium and £37,100 for Ultimate.

Totara’s two contract sets renew differently, so check which one you sign. Under the G-Cloud terms, a service period renews automatically for twelve months, then for twelve months on each anniversary. Either party can end it at the next renewal date with written notice at least 60 days before. Fees are non-cancellable and non-refundable, unless the order form provides otherwise. Under Totara’s cloud terms, the subscription period is three or twelve months. It renews unless either party gives 30 days’ notice. Totara may amend the agreement on 30 days’ notice. A customer who ends the agreement in those 30 days gets a pro-rated refund of subscription fees paid. Totara keeps the fees paid if it ends the agreement because the customer is in default.

Your claim is limited under Totara’s cloud terms. The service comes “as is” and “as available”. Totara gives no guarantee that it will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free. Its liability is capped at the fees paid or payable in the twelve months before the liability arose. A one-time setup fee buys up to ten hours of remote technical help in the first 60 days. Separately, Totara’s G-Cloud service definition puts its track record at over 99.95% uptime, excluding planned maintenance. Ask for an uptime commitment in writing.

Leaving gets you a copy of your data. On G-Cloud, it gets you no software code. Under the cloud terms, Totara returns customer materials. It also gives a snapshot copy of the most current customer data in electronic form. On its G-Cloud service, Totara provides a copy of all user and site data. It decides the file format. It deletes the data one month after the copies are transferred.

What to ask Totara or its partner before you sign

1. Who signs our contract, Totara or a partner, and who answers when the site breaks? Good answer: One named company holds the contract and the support line.
2. What does a company outside UK public-sector buying pay, with every mandatory line? Good answer: A written quote in our currency with every line priced.
3. Which user count sets our tier, people who log in or every account that existed? Good answer: One definition, written into the order form.
4. What cap will you put on yearly fee rises? Good answer: A fixed cap, lower than the greater of 5% or inflation.
5. Can we see Totara Skills working today, and in which release? Good answer: A live demo and a release date.
6. Will Totara Perform keep getting development, and for how long is it supported? Good answer: A written support period.
7. Which AI features are in our quote, and what will OpenAI usage cost us? Good answer: A feature list with a price for each and an OpenAI estimate.
8. Is xAPI supported, and by which plugin? Good answer: A named plugin, with its supplier and cost.
9. Which response times apply to us, and in which time zone? Good answer: One table of targets in our own time zone.
10. In what file format do we get our data when we leave? Good answer: A named format, agreed before signing.

Alternatives to Totara, including buying nothing

Two alternatives answer the reasons to walk away. Look at Cornerstone if you want skills data, AI and performance reviews from one supplier. Look at LearnUpon if you want the supplier to help you set up. Buying nothing yet is a third route.

Totara has put Skills ahead of Perform. Cornerstone’s Skills Engine builds a skill profile for every employee. Its Learn+ package contains learning, a curated content subscription and AI experiences for learning. Its Elevate+ package adds performance management and a talent marketplace. Cornerstone licenses these packages per employee per year. Ask which package includes the Skills Engine.

Most Totara sales go through partners, and a support package and setup fee come on top. Every LearnUpon plan comes with an Implementation Consultant to help set up, connect and launch. LearnUpon for Employees starts from 100 users. Ask what the consultant covers and for how long.

Buying nothing yet is a real option. Base at 500 users costs £21,300 a year before the mandatory support package. If you track training another way today, set that cost beside this figure first. The market guide covers the rest of the market.