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Employee development has evolved from a “nice-to-have” to a business necessity. In today’s fast-paced, hybrid workplaces, learning and upskilling are key to retaining talent, boosting engagement, and driving performance. But while the need for learning is growing, traditional training approaches often struggle to keep up.
Face-to-face workshops or static eLearning modules lack the flexibility today’s workforce demands. They’re time-consuming to update, difficult to scale across remote or global teams, and often fail to capture learner engagement.
That’s where online learning platforms come in. They make learning accessible, measurable, and adaptable to modern business needs. Among these, Learning Experience Platforms (LXPs) have gained popularity for their focus on personalization and learner engagement.
But what exactly is an LXP? How does it differ from a Learning Management System (LMS)? And which is the better choice for your organisation’s learning strategy?
Let’s explore.
A Learning Experience Platform (LXP) is a digital learning solution that empowers employees to take charge of their own learning journey. It curates content from multiple sources, internal libraries, third-party providers, and even user-generated materials, to create an experience tailored to everyone’s personal goals and preferences.
Think of an LXP as the “Spotify of learning”. Instead of following a rigid curriculum, learners can explore recommended topics personalised to their preferences, join discussions, and share resources, all in one place. LXPs can also leverage AI to surface relevant learning based on a person’s interests, skills, or job role.
This flexibility specified to job roles and skills makes learning more accessible, continuous, and engaging, qualities that appeal to modern learners used to on-demand content in their personal lives.
Ultimately, an LXP’s goal is to create a learner-centric culture, one where development happens every day, not just during scheduled training sessions.
LXPs are designed to make learning engaging, intuitive, and highly personalised. Here are some of their key features, and why they appeal to today’s organisations:
LXPs offer significant advantages, particularly in engagement and accessibility. LXPs give employees autonomy, letting them explore what interests them most. This autonomy increases engagement and helps embed learning into daily work life. They also make knowledge sharing easier, so when an employee discovers a helpful resource, they can instantly share it with colleagues.
However, they also come with limitations that organisations should consider before investing, as the freedom that LXPs provide, can create challenges. Without consistent oversight, learning can become fragmented and difficult to measure. Businesses that need to track compliance, certification, or ROI from learning often find that LXPs don’t provide the necessary data or controls.
| Pros | Cons |
| Highly engaging and learner-driven: LXPs put learners at the centre of the experience, allowing them to explore content that matches their interests, pace, and learning style. With interactive quizzes, gamified modules, LXP’s can increase learner engagement and motivation to complete learning. | Limited compliance and audit capabilities: Some LXP’s don’t have the same robust reporting capabilities at an LMS. This will cause issues for organisations in regulated industries to demonstrate compliance. |
| Supports personalised and continuous learning: Some LXPs use AI and analytics to recommend content based on a learner’s previous activity, skill gaps, or career goals. With learning personalised to a particular role, it’s going to encourage engagement, leading to continuous development. | May lack structured, role-based learning paths: LXPs are learner-driven, which is great for personalisation, but sometimes employees need guided, role-specific training paths. Without careful planning, critical skills for specific roles might be overlooked, leading to skill gaps or inconsistent performance. |
| Encourages social and peer learning: Most LXPs integrate discussion forums, communities, or content sharing, letting employees learn from peers and experts. This social aspect builds knowledge-sharing culture, strengthens teamwork, and often leads to faster problem-solving. | Harder to manage consistency across teams: When learners choose their own paths, it can lead to variations in knowledge levels within teams. Teams may have uneven skill distribution, making standardization or onboarding more challenging. |
| Aggregates diverse content types: LXPs can integrate internal courses, external content, videos, articles, podcasts, and microlearning modules in one platform. This reduces the friction of switching between systems, making learning more seamless, increasing engagement. | Can lead to content overload without curation controls: If the platform isn’t carefully managed, learners may feel overwhelmed or distracted by irrelevant material which can reduce engagement instead of increasing it. |
| Ideal for fostering a learning culture: By being intuitive and flexible, LXPs encourage employees to take ownership of their learning journey. This helps organisations can shift from a compliance-only mindset to one that actively promotes innovation, adaptability, and skill growth. | Often lacks advanced reporting and insights: Many LXPs focus on engagement rather than analytics, which means limited insights into skill progression, ROI, or learning outcomes. Therefore, managers and L&D teams may struggle to measure impact and make data-driven decisions. |
While LXPs and LMSs both deliver learning, they’re built around different philosophies. Understanding their differences helps identify which one suits your needs best.
| Aspect | LXP | LMS |
| Focus | LXP’s are more learner centric. They are designed to maximise engagement through personalised recommendations, social learning, and collaboration. They drive self-led learning. | An LMS is more organisation centric. They are built to support top-down learning initiatives, structured training programs and learning pathways that are aligned to organisational goals. |
| Content | Curated from multiple sources, including external and internal videos, podcasts, and articles. LXP’s also allow for user-generated content. | Content tends to be internally created or purchased. The content is then managed and assigned internally with organisational learning paths. |
| Learning style | LXP’s encourage more self-directed, social, and informal learning through the blend of formats such as communities, discussion threads and collaborative projects. | An LMS can be more focussed on standardized progression, supporting more formal and structured courses for compliance modules and CPD. |
| Compliance and reporting | LXP’s only provide basic tracking and analytics focussed on learner behaviour and engagement, but it does not provide indepth compliance reporting. | LMS’s provide robust reporting to allow compliance tracking, audit trails, certifications, and training completions. This supports organisations to stay on top of training and maintain compliance. |
| Best for | LXP’s are best used for skills development programmes, employee engagement, knowledge sharing communities and cross-functional learning. | LMS’s are best used for compliance training, onboarding programmes, technical certifications, continuous professional development and overall career development |
LXPs shine when the goal is to encourage self-led learning and knowledge sharing. They fit well in organisations focussed on innovation or skill growth where employees explore content at their own pace.
However, Learning Management Systems are the backbone of most structured training programs. They ensure employees complete mandatory training, provide clear reporting, and help L&D teams monitor progress across the organization.
The truth is, many businesses now need a blend of both approaches. And that’s exactly where modern LMS platforms like Kallidus Learn excel.
Modern LMSs have evolved beyond being just a system of record. They incorporate elements of the LXP experience, such as personalised learning paths, social learning, and user-generated content, while maintaining robust tracking and compliance tools. The result is a single, unified solution that delivers engaging and measurable learning outcomes.
For a deeper look into what makes a great LMS, explore our guide on LMS features.
The right choice depends on your learning goals, company size, and regulatory environment.
If your main priority is to foster engagement and create a culture of continuous learning, an LXP might be a good fit. But if like most organisations, you need to track learning outcomes, ensure compliance, and scale training effectively, an LMS will provide more structure and control.
The best option for most organisations today is a modern LMS that integrates LXP-style engagement features. This hybrid approach allows employees to enjoy autonomy while giving L&D teams the tools they need to manage and measure learning effectively.
Kallidus Learn combines an intuitive user experience with deep functionality: automated workflows, compliance dashboards, mobile learning, and content sharing, all designed to make learning frictionless and impactful.
To learn more about how creating a seamless learning journey can enhance adoption and outcomes, read our article on frictionless learning.
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What is a learning experience platform?
A Learning Experience Platform (LXP) is a learner-focused system that curates personalised content from various sources. It promotes self-directed learning through AI recommendations, social learning, and user-generated content.
What’s the difference between an LMS and an LXP?
An LMS is structured and compliance-driven, focusing on assigning and tracking mandatory learning. An LXP is more flexible, designed to encourage engagement and discovery. Many organisations now adopt LMSs that integrate both approaches.
What is an L&D platform?
An L&D platform supports learning and development across an organization. It may include features from both LMS and LXP systems, offering a centralised place to manage, deliver, and measure employee learning.
Which eLearning platform is best?
The best platform depends on your needs. For most organisations, a modern LMS like Kallidus Learn provides the perfect balance; engaging, scalable, and built for measurable business impact.
Claire Moloney is our Content Marketing manager at Kallidus, where she crafts strategy, thought leadership and narratives that connect learning and business impact. With over three years of experience in B2B content, learning technology and digital communications, Claire has built credibility in the L&D space by developing high-value educational content.
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