Quick answer. Skilljar is a learning platform for external training: customer academies, partner programs and certifications. Gainsight bought it in April 2025, and it is now sold as "Skilljar by Gainsight". Teams look around when reports feel limited, when small changes need a support ticket, or when they don't want their academy tied to the Gainsight suite. Thought Industries and Intellum are the nearest like-for-like platforms. Trainn is a lighter option with public prices. Cor (getcor.ai), an AI onboarding agent for B2B software, is not an academy at all; it works with new customers one by one on live calls.
Who buys Skilljar
Skilljar's buyer is a customer education or enablement team at a B2B software company. Most have a CRM to connect, a backlog of product courses and a goal like fewer tickets or more product use. Plans include unlimited seats and courses. Higher plans add more academy sites and admin single sign-on (Gainsight pricing page).
The ownership change matters here. Gainsight bought Skilljar in April 2025 (GeekWire). It had already bought Northpass in July 2023. So two well-known academy platforms now share an owner. If you're leaving Skilljar to get away from Gainsight, Northpass is not the way out.
How Skilljar prices
The Skilljar pricing page lists Essentials, Professional and Enterprise, each with "Let's talk pricing". On 4 Nov 2026 it explained the model:
- You pay a yearly plan fee plus a fee for active learners.
- An active learner is someone who takes a lesson. Each person is counted once a month, however often they log in.
- The per-learner rate falls as volume rises. The rates are not published.
- Priced add-ons: Content Syndication $10k, a Data Connector from $25k, Language Packs from $10k for 5 languages.
Vendr's Skilljar page shows a median of $38,972 a year across 235 purchases, from $23,000 to $99,951. That's past deal data, not a quote.
What Skilljar customers push back on
Via search summaries of G2 and SoftwareFinder:
- Reports. G2's summary says reporting is limited and deeper analysis often means exporting data. Reviewers mention no push reports and few custom report options.
- Customization without code. Reviewers say detailed changes need technical skills. One says bulk actions and some link settings mean asking support or your CSM.
- Add-ons add up. The data connector alone starts at $25k, which is the usual fix for the reporting gap.
Three other academy platforms
Thought Industries: the most direct swap
Thought Industries sells a customer and partner academy with commerce and certifications, much like Skilljar.
- Price (4 Nov 2026): the Thought Industries pricing page shows academy plans by learner cap with no prices: Starter up to 500, Professional up to 2,000, Enterprise up to 5,000. A separate product called Lens has public prices: Free, Pro $499 a month and Pro+ $999 a month.
- Ask about: how learners above your cap are charged.
Intellum: if staff training belongs in the same system
Intellum runs academies for customers, partners and employees from one platform. It lets you send learning data into your own data warehouse, which speaks to Skilljar's reporting gap.
- Price (4 Nov 2026): intellum.com/pricing is a demo form with no prices. Vendr shows a median of $40,997 a year.
- Ask about: what the warehouse export includes on your tier.
Trainn: a smaller, video-led academy with list prices
Trainn builds product videos, guides and a customer academy in one tool. It suits teams without a full-time course designer.
- Price (4 Nov 2026): the Trainn pricing page lists Creator $19 a month, Launch $2,400 a year, Scale $10,000 a year (up to 100 academy MAUs) and Enterprise $39,900 a year (250 MAUs). Scale and Enterprise are sold through sales.
- Ask about: the learner limits. They are low next to Skilljar's, so check them against your real numbers.
Where Cor fits
An academy works for customers who come to learn. Many new customers don't. They just want the product set up so they can use it.
Cor is built for them. Obi, Cor's AI agent, works directly with every new customer. It builds a plan for their setup, gets on a live call, sees their screen and guides them through it in their own account. It can also do steps for them where you allow it, and it follows up on its own between calls. It learns from your help content and examples of good onboarding calls. Your team can run it from Cor's platform, or from Claude or ChatGPT.
- Price: Launch $750 a month, Growth $1,750 a month, Scale custom. A platform fee plus credits. Seats are unlimited. (getcor.ai)
- Not a fit if: you need courses, certificates, a partner program or paid training. Cor has none of those.
Picking one
- You want a like-for-like academy without Gainsight: Thought Industries or Intellum.
- Your program is small and video-heavy: Trainn, after checking its learner caps.
- The academy exists to get new accounts live: compare first-month academy logins with new accounts. If few log in, add Cor.
FAQ
What are the best Skilljar alternatives?
Thought Industries and Intellum for a full customer academy. Trainn for a smaller, video-led program with published prices.
What are the best Skilljar alternatives for customer education?
The same three. Skip Northpass if your reason to leave is Gainsight, because Gainsight owns Northpass too.
Is Skilljar owned by Gainsight?
Yes, since April 2025. It is now sold as Skilljar by Gainsight.
How much does Skilljar cost?
It's quote only: a yearly plan fee plus active learners. Vendr's median is $38,972 a year (estimate).
All prices read from vendors' own pages and Vendr on 4 Nov 2026; confirm before you buy.