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Articulate Rise 360 vs. Articulate Storyline 360: Pros, Cons, And Best Uses

Articulate Rise 360 and Articulate Storyline 360 are two powerful eLearning authoring tools that enable developers and instructional designers to create custom, interactive courses. 

Although both are eLearning authoring software, there are key differences between the two when regarding formatting, customization, and capabilities. Take the following pros of both platforms for example:

Rise Pros:

  • User-friendly
  • Quick development time 
  • Engaging built-in interactions (e.g., flashcards)

Storyline Pros:

  • Highly customizable
  • Opportunities to be creative
  • Built-in design tools

Both Rise and Storyline are award-winning eLearning authoring platforms that come with a wide variety of unique features, but which is better suited for your organization’s eLearning program needs?

We’re here to help you find out! 

Read More: What Is eLearning? Everything You Need To Know

This article will explore the unique functions of Articulate Rise 360 and Articulate Storyline 360, explain the best uses for each software, and provide four tips to ensure you succeed using these platforms. 

What Is Articulate Rise 360?

Rise 360 is a web-based eLearning course builder that allows instructional designers to develop online courses for any device. Rise’s intuitive features can be utilized in a web browser with no need to download software. 

Articulate Rise comes with many pros and cons to consider before determining if it’s the right authoring tool for your organization’s eLearning course needs. 

Pros:

  • User-friendly — Rise provides an intuitive user interface that only requires a minimal learning curve. Rise utilizes simple tools that can make the most amateur instructional designer look like a pro. 
  • Quick development time — The time it takes to develop an eLearning course depends on many factors, but Rise typically requires significantly less time to create a course. With its user-friendly interface, simplicity, and straightforward tools, it will likely take authors less time to develop a course. 
  • Engaging built-in interactions (e.g., flashcards) — Rise comes with a selection of authoring tools, including text, video, interactive graphics, and multiple choice capabilities. Developers can work off of pre-loaded course outlines that can be rearranged and enhanced with built-in features. 

Cons:

  • Limited ability to customize — Between Rise and Storyline, Rise has a limited ability to customize. Although it offers customization features, they aren’t as extensive as Storyline. 
  • Limited formatting abilities — Rise has fewer formatting abilities, meaning developers have less control over the layout of their project.
  • Limited opportunities for creativity — Unlike Storyline, Rise has limited capabilities when it comes to creativity because courses are often built off of pre-loaded materials. 

Best Uses For Articulate Rise 360

The best use for Rise is when a developer is working with course content that is made up of a lot of material for the user to read. Rise is best for developers working with a lot of reading material because the user interface is set up like a website, making it user-friendly for beginner developers.

For example, Rise is more suitable than Storyline for an annual compliance training or anything regulatory that requires a significant amount of on-screen text. Compared to Storyline, Rise’s interface has more available space to input and fit text on screen. 

Read More: 6 Super-Creative Uses for Rise 360

What Is Articulate Storyline 360?

Storyline 360 is a cloud-based eLearning authoring tool that enables instructional designers to create custom, interactive courses. In Storyline, creators have access to a variety of eLearning functionalities, including quizzing, screen recording, and software simulation. 

Storyline has a unique set of built-in features that allow developers to add one-of-a-kind, custom features into their eLearning course, including animations, interactions, media, simulations, and assessments. 

Read More: 5 Tips To Build In Storyline Like A Pro

Storyline comes with a variety of advantages and disadvantages. 

Pros:

  • Highly customizable — Storyline utilizes built-in features with preloaded content that can be customized. Authors can change the appearance of objects, add effects, control triggers, and modify features to work in different ways. 
  • Opportunities to be creative — Developers can be creative in Storyline by customizing and adapting built-in features to their preferred look and function for their course. Authors can be creative with the content itself, like graphics, animations, and knowledge checks, as well as how the content appears and is interacted with. This is a major advantage of Storyline as compared to Rise, as users have limited opportunities for creativity with Rise. 
  • Built-in design tools — Instead of wasting time learning advanced developing techniques, simple built-in features, like states and buttons, make authoring in Storyline easier and more convenient. 

Cons:

  • Not user-friendly for beginners — Authors may feel overwhelmed with all the features offered in Storyline. From orienting objects to motion paths to drag-and-drop interactions, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the complex features Storyline offers. 

Best Uses For Articulate Storyline 360

Virtually any training that doesn’t need learners to physically touch something can be developed in Storyline. Storyline is best for developers looking to create highly customizable programs with more creative freedom.

At the end of the day, Storyline is way more robust than Rise. Unless learners need a program that involves physical, hands-on activities, Storyline can be an effective program to work through. For hands-on, experiential learning, we recommend a blended approach for the best results.

The Best Of Both Worlds

Believe it or not, an instructional designer could use both platforms for one single project. Rise has built-in interactions that aren’t possible to create (not easily or without script anyway) in Storyline. A Storyline file can be imported into Rise and then published to Rise as a Rise course.

Read More: Rise 360: Use Storyline Blocks to Embed Storyline 360 Courses

Regardless of which software you choose to develop in, we recommend the following four steps to ensure you succeed: 

  1. Join user groups 
  2. Participate in eLearning challenges and review previous ones for inspiration 
  3. Sign up for Articulate’s newsletter
  4. Attend webinars

Cost Of Articulate Rise And Storyline

Price-wise, Rise and Storyline can be purchased together as part of a subscription plan with access to multiple Articulate tools. Plans differ in pricing for businesses, freelancers, and academic individuals and institutions. 

For example, the cost per user under a Business or Freelancer Team’s Plan is $1,299 annually. Under a Freelancer’s personal plan, the annual cost is $999 per user annually

Take Command Of Your Authoring With Articulate

In this article, we’ve uncovered the unique features of two Articulate software: Rise 360 and Storyline 360. As we’ve discussed, there are differences between both regarding their interfaces, customization options, and capabilities. 
We hope that this article has helped you understand the unique benefits and disadvantages of Rise and Storyline. For more resources on all things eLearning, check out our resources page or start designing your own eLearning program today.

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