Authoring tools: what they are, key features, and how to choose yours

Authoring tools are the software that L&D teams use to create e-learning courses independently, without relying on technical development. According to LinkedIn Learning’s Workplace Learning Report 2024, 90% of organisations consider internal content creation a strategic priority for the coming years. Understanding what they are, how they work, and what features set them apart is the first step to making the right choice.

What are authoring tools?

An authoring tool is software specifically designed to create digital training content: e-learning courses, assessments, interactive modules, and multimedia resources. Unlike generic tools such as PowerPoint or Word, authoring tools are optimised to produce pedagogical content exportable in standard formats (SCORM, xAPI) that integrate directly into learning management platforms.

In a corporate context, these tools allow an organisation’s own content experts — L&D managers, HR professionals, team leads — to create their own courses without any programming knowledge. The result is greater autonomy, shorter production timelines, and content that is more closely aligned with real business needs.

It is important not to confuse them with an LMS (Learning Management System): the LMS is the platform where courses are distributed and managed, while the authoring tool is used to create them. They are complementary, not interchangeable.

How do authoring tools work?

The workflow with an authoring tool is structured around three main phases:

1. Creation: the trainer designs the course from a visual interface (usually slide- or page-based). Text, images, videos, interactive elements, and assessments are added using predefined templates or from scratch.
2. Publishing: the content is exported in a format compatible with the organisation’s LMS. The most widely used standards are SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, and xAPI. Some tools also allow direct publishing as HTML5 or sharing via link.
3. Distribution and tracking: the exported file is uploaded to the LMS, which assigns it to users, records progress, and generates completion and results reports.

The most modern solutions have significantly streamlined this cycle: cloud-based tools like isEazy Author allow you to create, collaborate in real time, and publish directly from the browser, with no installation or manual exports required.

Key features of authoring tools

Not all authoring tools are equal. These are the features that make the difference between a basic solution and a professional tool built for corporate L&D teams:

Slide editor with an intuitive interface

The editor is the heart of the tool. It should allow you to lay out courses visually, with pre-designed templates and drag-and-drop elements, without requiring any design skills. An intuitive interface shortens the learning curve and allows anyone on the team to produce quality content from day one. The ability to create interactive learning — with clicks, drag-and-drop interactions, and embedded questions — makes a fundamental difference to learner engagement.

Resources to drive engagement

Training content is only effective if learners complete it and retain it. Leading authoring tools include interactive elements (multiple choice questions, drag-and-drop, branching scenarios), animations, embedded videos, and basic gamification. These resources turn a passive course into an active experience that improves knowledge retention.

Productivity features

Production speed is a critical factor for L&D teams with high content demand. Professional tools offer reusable template libraries, block-copy functions across courses, assisted translations, and built-in review workflows. These features can reduce course production time by more than 50% compared to traditional methods.

Cloud-based collaborative tool

In corporate environments, content is rarely created by just one person. Cloud-based authoring tools allow multiple team members to work simultaneously on the same course, with version control, comments, and approval workflows. This eliminates the typical bottlenecks of working locally and speeds up review cycles.

Accessibility

Accessibility is increasingly both a legal and an ethical requirement in corporate training. An accessible authoring tool must produce content that complies with WCAG 2.1 guidelines (at least level AA): adequate colour contrast, screen reader compatibility, alternative text for images, and keyboard navigation. In the UK, the EU, and many other regions, digital accessibility regulations are mandatory for the public sector and increasingly expected in the private sector. To go deeper on this topic, our guide on accessibility in e-learning covers all the relevant standards.

AI features in isEazy Author: create courses in minutes

Artificial intelligence has radically changed the way L&D teams create e-learning content. isEazy Author integrates a complete set of AI features that cover the entire production process: from automatic course generation to image creation, voiceovers, subtitles, and AI-powered avatar videos.

AI Autopilot: from a document to a complete course in minutes

The most powerful feature is AI Autopilot. Here’s how it works: you specify the topic of your course or upload your documentation (PDF, Word, PowerPoint), and the AI analyses the content, proposes a coherent pedagogical structure, selects the most appropriate interactive resources at each point — games, comparisons, videos, role plays — and generates a complete course ready for review and publishing.

Unlike other AI tools that simply generate text or presentations, AI Autopilot applies instructional design principles: it organises content into modules with clear learning objectives, distributes interactive resources with pedagogical intent, and maintains didactic consistency throughout the course. The result is not just a nicely formatted document — it is structured training ready to be deployed in corporate environments.

The trainer remains in control at all times: every slide is editable, you can adjust the proposed structure, add additional content, and apply your corporate branding (logo, colours, typography) automatically across the entire project.

AI-powered editor: automate your most time-consuming tasks

For those who prefer to build their course slide by slide, isEazy Author also integrates AI into the editor to automate the most repetitive tasks:

• Image generation: write a description and the AI generates coherent, ready-to-use images for your course.
• Automatic games and exercises: generate interactive activities such as chats, quizzes, and grouping exercises from existing course content.
• Automatic voiceovers and subtitles: choose gender, language, and voice style, and the AI generates the complete narration. Subtitles for videos and audio are also generated automatically.
• AI presenter videos: add videos with AI-generated avatars in seconds, selecting the character, language, mood, and voice type. It is also possible to request a custom avatar of someone relevant in your organisation.
• Automatic translations: translate any course into another language automatically, without losing the design or structure.

Course distribution and e-learning content standards

Once the course is created, the authoring tool exports it in a standard format that ensures compatibility with any LMS. The main standards are:

• SCORM 1.2: the most widely used format, compatible with virtually all LMS platforms. Allows tracking of completion, scores, and time spent.
• SCORM 2004: an improved version with greater control over navigation sequences and more granular tracking data.
• xAPI (Tin Can API): the most modern and flexible standard.
• AICC: an older standard, progressively falling out of use.
• HTML5: allows direct web publishing without needing an LMS.

Comparison of the best e-learning authoring tools

The authoring tool market is wide and varied. Below you will find the five most widely used options in corporate environments, with their key features, so you can compare them and make an informed decision. For a more in-depth analysis, see our full comparison of authoring tools.

1. isEazy Author

isEazy Author is a 100% cloud-based authoring tool designed for corporate L&D teams that need to produce high-quality courses quickly and without any technical dependency. It stands out for its intuitive interface with professional templates, its generative AI features (AI Autopilot), real-time collaborative creation, and full compatibility with SCORM, xAPI, and AICC. It includes built-in WCAG accessibility and support in multiple languages. Explore all isEazy Author features.

2. Easy Generator

Easy Generator is a cloud-based authoring tool focused on enabling quick course creation by content experts without a technical profile. Its core value proposition is simplicity: it offers a very minimalist editor with a limited number of slide types. It is a suitable option for organisations that need fast production of basic content, though it offers less interactive depth and fewer AI features than solutions like isEazy Author.

3. Gomo

Gomo is a cloud-based authoring tool with a strong focus on multichannel distribution and responsive design. It allows courses to be published directly as a web app, in addition to standard SCORM formats. Its visual editor is accessible for non-technical profiles, though its template catalogue and interactive resources are more limited than other tools in the category.

4. Articulate Storyline

Articulate Storyline is one of the best-known authoring tools on the market, particularly valued by instructional designers with a technical background. It offers great flexibility for creating custom interactions and complex branching scenarios. Its main limitation is the steep learning curve: it is not the most suitable option for teams without prior e-learning design experience. It runs as a desktop application (Windows only), which involves local installation and manual project synchronisation for collaborative teams. Its licence price is among the highest in the market.

5. iSpring Suite

iSpring Suite is an authoring tool that works as a PowerPoint add-in, which makes adoption easier for users familiar with that environment. It allows existing presentations to be converted into SCORM courses with relative ease and includes features for creating assessments, role-play dialogues, and screen recordings. Its PowerPoint integration is an advantage for certain profiles, but it also limits design flexibility and the ability to create content from scratch with a modern aesthetic. It requires Windows installation.

How to choose your authoring tool?

Choosing the right authoring tool for your organisation depends not just on software features: it depends on your context, your team, and your training objectives. These are the key criteria to evaluate:

Evaluate its features

Before making a decision, always request a free trial or a guided demo. Verify that the tool includes the interactive elements you need (assessments, branching scenarios, gamification), that the export formats are compatible with your LMS, and that the interface is accessible to all team profiles. You can explore isEazy Author’s full feature set for a comprehensive reference of what a professional tool should offer.

Rely on customer reviews to help you decide

Product pages and demos always show the tool at its best. For a more realistic picture, check verified reviews on platforms such as G2, Capterra, or TrustRadius. Pay particular attention to comments about technical support, platform stability, and update frequency: these factors directly impact your long-term productivity.

How much does an authoring tool cost?

Prices vary depending on the licensing model and features included. Annual SaaS subscriptions are the most common in the corporate market and typically include updates, support, and cloud storage. Check isEazy Author’s pricing for a reference on typical investment levels for professional solutions.

Vodafone is a good example of the impact a well-chosen authoring tool can have. After adopting isEazy Author, the company tripled its productivity in e-learning content creation, drastically reducing the time needed to produce and update courses for their teams. Find out how they did it →

Still not sure which authoring tool to choose?

Choosing an authoring tool is a strategic decision for any L&D team. The right tool does not just improve content quality: it reduces production time, increases team autonomy, and improves the real business impact of training.

If you still have doubts, the best way to decide is to try. isEazy Author offers a guided demo with a specialist who will help you assess whether the tool fits your specific needs. You can also start creating courses for free and see for yourself the difference that working with a tool designed for corporate training teams can make.