10 Best Online Learning Apps for 2024

Whether you're pursuing new skills or looking for new ways to train your team, finding an app you can rely on is always an essential option. That's why we've prepared a list of the best online learning apps available today – so you can discover key features that fit your needs or get your team the best possible learning experience. 

What is an online learning app?

An online learning app is a technology-based elearning tool that allows instructors to create, host, and distribute learning materials that their learners can access anytime through their mobile devices. Unlike traditional learning media, online learning apps allow learners to engage with the elearning content directly on their smartphones. Overall, they offer different advantages, including cost-effectiveness, convenience, and ease of use.

What are the must-have features of an online learning app?

Currently, you can find different online learning apps available on the market. Before you start narrowing down your list of options, here are some of the must-have features that you should look for in apps for online learning.

• User-friendly interface - One of the most important features that you should note is how easy to use a tool is. Take a look at whether or not the app runs smoothly and if the experience is intuitive. This can help both your instructors and learners use the tool more comfortably. 
• Interactive elements - A good online learning app allows learners to engage with lessons through interactive elements like games, quizzes, videos, and simulations. 
• Cloud-based hosting - This feature helps teams make sure that their learning content is saved on the cloud and can be accessed by any of their team members whenever and wherever they are. 
• Social learning options - Apps with social learning features like forums, chats, and online discussion tools allow learners to share knowledge with and seek help from one another.
• Tracking and reporting analytics - It's important for teams to keep track of any learning gaps and address them right away. Online learning apps should be able to gather all the necessary information from the learning materials accessed by learners and create detailed reports.

Now that you have a better idea of what to look for, here are some of the best educational apps on the market.

1. Training by SafetyCulture

SafetyCulture's Training is a comprehensive online learning app tailored to effectively give every learner a fun and flexible learning experience. You can gain plenty of mobile learning benefits from its mobile-first, microlearning approach that delivers highly targeted lessons in short time bursts. This feature lets learners easily digest important concepts and complete their courses in a few minutes at the time and place of their choice. 

One of its key features is its creator tool, which houses over 80 interactive templates you can use to efficiently create mini-lessons without the need for a coding or graphic design background. You can enhance your training methods by implementing videos, images, quizzes, games, and assessments.

You can also use the platform’s AI Create feature to make course creation much easier and quicker. Why sit through long hours of brainstorming and research when you can head straight into generating high-quality lessons? Simply type in the topic that you want your course to cover, and the tool will automatically generate the lessons for you. That way, you can save up to two hours of course creation time, streamline your workflow, and focus on other important tasks.

And if you're not feeling confident in your design abilities or lack time to do the course yourself, SafetyCulture's training also offers content creation assistance. This option allows you to work with expert instructional designers to help make your game-changing bite-sized lessons. 

All you need to do is share your content in any format so the design team can build the course for you. After it’s done, you can review it to make sure it's the perfect fit for all your needs. And when everything’s all set, you can deliver the expertly designed workplace materials that your team will love.

You can also stray away from your usual monotonous learning routines, as learning through the app feels less like a chore and more like a fun activity. Training by SafeyCulture also has built-in gamification features to help boost learner engagement and motivation, which contains game-based elements like quizzes, challenges, and leaderboards. It's an excellent way of improving retention of essential work-related information and raising completion rates to 90% or better.

Cost: Free

Key Features: 

• Mobile-first microlearning approach
• 1000+ free and highly-customizable courses
• User-friendly creator tool with 80+ interactive templates
• AI Create
• Cloud-based translation tool (100+ languages)
• In-built quiz-making and spaced repetition tools
• In-built gamification with rewards and leaderboards
• Analytics dashboard
• Supports peer and social learning
• Virtual classroom platform (supports Zoom and Microsoft Teams)

Start using the best online learning app today! Sign up for SafetyCulture's Training for free.

2. Kahoot!

If you're looking for an app that focuses on gamified lessons, Kahoot! might be one of the best options out there. It's a game-based online learning app helpful for making learning more engaging and exciting. You can make a learning game or trivia quiz about any topic in the language of your choice, host a live game with questions on a big screen, share a friendly contest for distance learning, or join a "Kahoot" with a PIN and answer questions on your device. 

If you want to use it for work, you can create "Kahoots" as an individual challenge for team members to complete at their own pace. Kahoot! also has reports and analytics to help identify areas where learners may need more help and give feedback. 

Cost: Free, paid plans

Key Features:

• Interactive game-based format
• Multiple game templates
• Live group participation or self-paced
• Reporting & analytics

3. Quizizz

Like other e-learning apps, Quizizz is another great platform if you're up for an interactive and engaging learning experience. This e-learning app has a customizable course library and offers dynamic classroom sessions with live presentations, quizzes, and polls. Quizizz also has assessment and e-learning tools that make room for better retention and supplies insights and reporting to help admins track learner progress.

You can also check out Quizizz For Work, where you can apply the app's innovative features and gamification elements that will appeal to your team. You can assign asynchronous e-learning so your team can choose the learning schedule that works for them.

Cost: Free, paid plans

Key Features:

• Customizable content
• Live engagement
• Assessment and e-learning
• Insights and reporting

4. Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a free online learning app that gives learners of all ages practice problems, video lessons, and a personalized learning dashboard so they can learn whenever and wherever they want. The platform offers a wide array of course materials in subjects like math, science, computer science, reading and language arts, art and humanities, economics, and life skills. 

Khan Academy uses video as the primary learning material, accommodating thousands of video lessons from professionals across different industries.

Cost: Free

Key Features: 

• 4,000+ courses
• Personalized learning dashboard
• Practice exercises
• Progress tracking
• Instructor-led video lessons

5. edX

edX is an online learning app offering access to over 3,000 courses on in-demand topics from top universities and organizations worldwide. In their wide-ranging course selection, you'll see video lessons on subjects like Math, Science, History, Social Science, and many more. It also gives an opportunity to gain certificates and degrees from some of the world's top universities, such as Harvard, Oxford, MIT, and Berkley. All that while offering a social learning experience where learners can connect with each other.

If you want to use it for workplace training, you can change your plan to edX For Business, which offers corporate learning content and professional certificates for career advancement.

Cost: Free, paid plans

Key Features:

• 3,000+ courses
• Quizzes after lessons
• Professional certificates and degrees available
• Supports 11 languages

6. Coursera

Along with edX, Coursera is regarded as one of the best learning apps where users can enroll in courses and get degrees from leading universities and companies around the world. Its most popular courses include computer science, data science, business, and information technology, but you can also explore plenty of other subjects according to your background and interests. 

Coursera practices a flexible learning approach, so you can learn anytime and anywhere. You can download videos, listen to audio-only supported lessons, and learn on any device with mobile-friendly courses. Plus, you can always pick up where you left off with saved coursework, quizzes, and projects across your devices.

You can also try Coursera For Business if you're aiming to upskill your team. They have hands-on, expert-led training programs and a skills dashboard to boost training effectiveness.

Cost: Free, paid plans

Key Features:

• 5,000+ courses
• Flexible learning
• Supports audio-only courses
• Quizzes and projects
• Skills dashboard
• Professional certificates and degrees available

7. Alison

If you're a job-seeker looking for an online learning app to guide your career development journey, you might want to consider using Alison. Alison is a career empowerment platform providing workplace skills training with over 4,000 free Certificate and Diploma courses and career growth tools. They add hundreds of new lessons monthly across categories such as Engineering, Business, IT, Health, and Marketing.

Alison also allows organizations to improve their workforce through Alison For Business. You can build personalized learning tracks for your team based on your organization's needs.

Cost: Free, paid plans

Key Features:

• 4,000+ courses
• Personal dashboard
• Certificates available

8. Skillshare

Skillshare is an online learning app with over 35,000 classes taught by industry leaders in design, technology, business, and more. With its vast library of courses, you can easily find classes that suit your needs and interests. Skillshare uses educational videos that usually last 30 to 40 minutes, so it's ideal for visual learners. It's also a good platform for learning something new and doesn't have to be for work-related purposes.

But if you want to use it for work or invest in your team's professional growth, you can opt to use Skillshare For Teams. It features a team management portal for a personalized experience, detailed reporting, and analytics.

Cost: Paid plans

Key Features:

• 35,000+ classes
• High-quality videos
• Suitable for creative and professional courses
• Easy-to-use team management portal

9. TED

Another online learning app you can think about is TED. It hosts over 3,000 carefully curated educational videos from remarkable speakers on business, science, technology, design, education, and global issues, with subtitles available in more than 100 languages. You can also watch a lesson via TED-Ed, customize it, and roam around the app's growing library of learning resources. Or you can listen to a collection of podcasts anywhere under the TED Audio Collective.

With thousands of talks available online for free, TED has become a go-to source for anyone seeking knowledge, inspiration, and a new perspective on the world.

Cost: Free, paid membership

Key Features:

• 3,000+ inspiring talks from experts
• Vast video and podcast library
• Subtitles with 100+ languages
• Personalized playlist options

10. Nearpod

Nearpod is a mobile learning app with more than 22,000 resources and tools for creating learning content that suits your team's training needs. They give real-time insights into learner knowledge using interactive lessons, videos, and gamified learning. Nearpod also features formative assessments and data-driven feedback, keeping instructors posted on any change in progress so they can determine learners who need more attention.

Cost: Free, paid plans

Key Features:

• 22,000+ learning resources
• Customizable lessons
• Interactive lessons and videos
• Gamification and activities