How to Choose an eLearning Development Company (And When to Build In-House)

How to Choose an eLearning Development Company (And When to Build In-House)

By

Amy Vidor

Learning and Development Evangelist at Synthesia

Create engaging training videos in 160+ languages.

It's nearly impossible to give you a list of the "best" eLearning development companies with zero context about your company and your needs.

If you're here, it's because you're trying to evaluate whether or not to hire a vendor for support. Perhaps you're lacking the internal capacity or capability to manage something in-house. Or maybe you're dealing with budget cuts, and although you lost FTEs, somehow still have contract funds available.

Whatever your situation, here's my guarantee: I'll help you make a more informed decision about whether to hire a third party at all. I include vendor recommendations based on my experience and recommendations from my network, but the final call is yours.

Vendors in this guide

This list is curated to include vendors who have the capacity to support global enterprise projects. There are many fantastic boutique agencies and regional specialists I can recommend depending on your scale and budget.

Getting started

The first thing you need to do is find out how procurement works in your organization. You may have a team that partners with you throughout this process, or a more laissez-faire approach where you manage your own sourcing.

If you don't have a standardized approach to working with vendors, here's what I recommend. Draft a statement of work that includes the anticipated scope of the eLearning project, including performance expectations and deadlines, even if they're tentative. Don't be afraid to get picky. If you need a vendor who is experienced with a certain LMS or requires someone who can support localization into a specific language, note it.

Then, identify any evaluation criteria. Depending on the project, that may include:

I recommend using an LLM to turn your specific requirements into an evaluation rubric. The more time you invest in this part of the process, the more realistic estimates you'll get back from vendors.

Selecting a vendor

Because eLearning development can be anything from a one-off compliance course to a global onboarding program, I've organized this list into four categories:

Learning design studios

Learning design studios, or agencies, typically manage an experience end-to-end. This includes the instructional design but also how the experience fits into the broader audience journey. If you're looking for creative thought partners, this is the type of vendor you need.

Managed learning services

If you've inherited a stale content library, or have been tasked with building a scalable one, you're likely looking for managed learning services. These providers work well with structure. They can help with high volume production and ongoing maintenance.

Program providers

If you're looking for someone to design eLearning as well as facilitation and reinforcement, you probably want a program provider. You're vetting them for facilitation expertise as much as instructional design.

Production specialists

Sometimes you need a specific skillset, like localizing a set of courses into Mandarin. In that case, you need a specialist. These vendors can focus on anything from accessibility to animation and even simulations.

Managing in-house

Sometimes, L&D teams will go through this process and realize they should manage the eLearning development in-house. Sticker shock is real, but so is the overhead of managing a vendor when you don't have the capacity for it.

If you come to that conclusion, think through what it would take to manage the work internally, whether that's deprioritizing something, reallocating work, or even bringing on a contractor for additional support.

Start by assessing your annual strategy and roadmap to see how you can plan out the work. Then consider whether your tech stack supports your needs or if you need to source another tool.

Frequently asked questions

What is an eLearning development company?

An eLearning development company is a vendor that designs and produces digital learning content. They can be full-service studios or agencies that build tailored programs or specialists focusing on a single capability, like accessibility.

What should enterprises ask before selecting an eLearning development partner?

I recommend creating a structured evaluation criteria based on the scope of your project. This should include considerations such as technical requirements as well as budget, but also should incorporate how updates and revisions are handled. Finally, be sure to ask about evaluation. How is success measured by the vendor (and does it align with your goals)?

When should I hire an eLearning development company vs. use an AI tool?

Hire an agency when you don't have the capability or capacity to manage the work in-house. This is usually the case for programs that require stakeholder discovery, instructional design expertise, or a level of interactivity your team can't produce on their own.

Use an in-house tool when the work is primarily production. Think video-based content, compliance updates, onboarding, or anything that needs to be updated and republished regularly.

Can AI replace eLearning development companies?

That depends on the scope of your project and your internal capabilities. I only feel confident recommending AI as a replacement for expertise when you have someone on the team who can be responsible for maintaining the quality of AI output. Having a human-in-the-loop is essential for any AI use, but especially if you’re looking to have it support instructional design or program architecture.