--- title: "Brightspace Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra" description: "Is Brightspace the right Higher Education solution for you? Explore 237 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/122854/Brightspace/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" publication_date: "2026-09-29" --- Brightspace 4.2 (237) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/122854/Brightspace/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated September 29th, 2026 # Reviews of Brightspace Ease of use 4.1 Customer Service 4.1 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews KK Kanika K Technical ManagerEducation Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It offers a smooth and well-structured learning management environment that makes it easy to handle courses, assignments, grading, and communication in one place.“ May 7, 2026 KK Kanika K Technical ManagerEducation Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “At times, the interface may also feel slightly inconsistent across different modules, which can affect the overall user experience.“ May 7, 2026 KK Kanika K Technical ManagerEducation Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The platform is also very easy for instructors to use when managing courses, tracking student progress, grading students and sharing learning content.“ May 7, 2026 LA Louis A Adjunct InstructorHigher Education, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Everything I need to do takes way too long, too many clicks and then it makes such a mess on the student end of things because it is full of bugs and no one at D2L cares.“ July 31, 2025 KK Kanika K Technical ManagerEducation Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Overall, Brightspace provides a reliable and flexible platform for effective online and hybrid learning.“ May 7, 2026 SA Sameer A StudentEducation Management, Self-employedUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “Its not for the website but the app does not show number grades or all the different days where the things are posted.“ October 3, 2025 JN Jean-Pierre N Instructional DesignerHigher Education, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I like the fact that D2L is user-friendly, including mobile and PC users, and accommodates the accessiblity to all users. “ December 22, 2025 EB Erika B Massage TherapistAlternative Medicine, Self-employedUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “It seemed like it was glitchy at times, my log in occasionally needed to be updated more than it seemed like it should because my credentials weren’t recognized.“ October 14, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 237 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Heather W. Student E-Learning Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Hands down the best learning software to date " January 5, 2023 5.0 My other experience with this software it has made me love to learn again maybe love school again it’s so easy to use. It’s so user-friendly I can’t say that enough it is hands-down, the best learning software there is. Pros Everything about this software is super user-friendly they think about the student when they made this it’s not hard to years. It’s not hard to follow as long as you do the tutorials and follow what they say. At the beginning you can’t go wrong there’s nothing negative I can say about it. I’ve never had any issues using this and I’ve used this software at two different colleges. Hands down the best. Cons There’s only one thing that I kind of don’t really understand is the virtual classroom thing I’ve still not understood why some places use the virtual product classroom and sign the right space software and some don’t but I think that’s more of a college preference instead of a software preference to bright space Review Source GT Geeta T. Administrative Support E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Functional & Aesthetic " January 9, 2025 5.0 Daily usage, it is such a pleasure to work with as it is a well designed interface that is very easy to navigate Pros So user friendly, easy to navigate, aesthetic but also functionally designed Cons Email system is a little archaic, could be changed to a chat system Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) Ease of use and functionality, so much easier to navigate, great design, not overwhelming or "boring" Review Source PS Paulina S. Lecturer Education Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Not recommended " March 2, 2025 1.0 Awful too many clicks to add anything to course . Course material is blunt and lacks the depth , difficult for students to navigate Pros Nothing , hard to find anything good about this platform Cons Everything . Such time consuming platform. Have used many but this is by far the worst most time consuming one. It does not make my already busy schedule less busy, too many clicks and not well through. Switched from [Class for Web](https://www.capterra.com/p/141222/Blackboard-Collaborate/) Because of my company what can I say other. You make it even worst I. This form so we don’t leave bad reviews Review Source CR Carol R. Adjunct Professor E-Learning Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "User friendly!" February 4, 2025 5.0 Logical and easy to use, especially coming off of programs like Canvas and Blackboard. Pros It's easy to add content and grade. Organization of a course is logical, and it doesn't require a lot of training to use, whether from an instructor or student standpoint. Cons Zeros are entered automatically for quiz and test questions that must be manually graded, which causes my students to stress at their initial grades. Keeping the initial grade hidden until those questions can be addressed would be nice. Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) My college chose to move from Blackboard to Brightspace due to better functionality and features. Review Source AK Amber K. Administrative Specialist Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "D2L LMS Review" November 1, 2021 5.0 My overall experience with D2L is a great experience. I enjoy using this product as a staff, as well as a student. There are also many tutorial videos out there to search through when having an issue. Pros What I like most about this product is the ease of navigating each feature of the product. There are quite a few features, all of them being outstanding and easy to use. Cons There seem to be quite a few bugs for us with this product. However, the product has been integrated going on two years, so there is bound to be some issues going forward. Alternatives considered [Canvas](https://www.capterra.com/p/127214/CANVAS/) Reason for choosing Brightspace Brightspace was cheaper than others, with a much better quality. Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) The other LMS was going away, and we had to look for a new product, also one that was cheaper. Review Source RN Razi N. Professor Higher Education Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Worst Learning Management System" November 17, 2024 1.0 This is the worst LMS I have experienced as a teacher or student, considering four different systems that I have used. It is not intuitive and the simplest thing takes many steps. It is very poor in organizing what you see on the screen. Pros Nothing. See comments below about experiences. Cons Everything. See comments below about experiences. Switched from [Canvas](https://www.capterra.com/p/127214/CANVAS/) Higher management decision, faculty had no choice. Review Source NB Nathan B. Principal E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Aesthetically Pleasing and Easy to Use" June 11, 2021 5.0 We have been able to boost productivity consistency, and quality using Brightspace. It is easier to build out courses and map them in a simple hierarchy. Course templating allows us to ensure consistency when building copies of courses or new versions. Brightspace has also allowed us to automate a number of functions we would normally need to perform in terms of student management, which has freed up personnel for other tasks but also removed human error from the equation. Pros Brightspace is very intuitive; users can jump into the LMS and figure out what they need to do with little to no instructions. I like the power it gives admins to build in automation and customize how students work through the course. This is done via intelligent agents and release conditions. Brightspace just looks great. Is the most aesthetically pleasing LMS on the market as far as I have seen. Cons The platform seems more geared toward traditional schooling systems rather than asynchronous models at times. For example, there is no easy way for students to add their own due dates to assessments; they can only be added for the entire course, which does not work when students are all pacing differently. Brightspace for Parents is also not as strong as I would have expected. There seems to be limited features and out parents are just not really interested in using it. Alternatives considered [Edsby](https://www.capterra.com/p/122855/Edsby/)[Canvas](https://www.capterra.com/p/127214/CANVAS/)[Schoology](https://www.capterra.com/p/128481/Schoology/) Reason for choosing Brightspace We felt Brightspace packed in the most functionality and also looked (and felt the best). Switched from [Moodle](https://www.capterra.com/p/80691/Moodle/) We were looking for something that worked well out of the box. D2L manages all of the updating of the system, hosting, etc. Using something like Moodle requires at least one person on the team with a strong tech background. Brightspace can be run with little to no tech experience. Review Source SR Shanyce R. student Medical Practice Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "One of the Best Softwares to Use as a Student" May 24, 2022 5.0 Pros What I liked most was the simple and effective organization. It was a software that was definitely created in mind to set students up to succeed. Firstly, the way the Chapters, sections, topics, and individual assignments were organized on the side was something that was consistent for each of the subjects I was studying. Then on the top bar, you were able to click on pages that would essentially "filter" the types of class material. You could see all the assessments in one place, all the assignments in one place, and your grades. On top of that, every single thing was linked back to the corresponding item. For example, if you couldn't recall what "assignment 2" was when looking at it in the gradebook, you were able to click it and redirect it to the original post. There was also notifications for when assignments were open and reminders for when exams and homework was due. As someone who has used canvas, blackboard, google classrooms, and a few other softwares for school, these functions were not common. There were also times where it would be extremely hard and confusing to navigate. However I never ran into that issue with D2L. Cons It is hard to find any qualms about D2L Brightspace, there is nothing negative I've noticed the entire time I have been using the software. Switched from [Class for Web](https://www.capterra.com/p/141222/Blackboard-Collaborate/) Not my choice, the school decided to switch to using Brightspace on their own. Review Source DM Danilo M. Digital Products Manager Latam E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A Canadian Masterpiece like a Lego with 3000 pieces" March 26, 2024 4.0 I used for almost ten years, in 2013 help me to replace a huge straming infra strutucture , sattelites and big antesnas, was update by caption, just me a web cam and my note could increase the opportunitties to offer content to k12 schools that we never dreamed before, after that we use almost all D2L portfolio. was amazing. Pros Very trustable Visibility of team productivity Helpful students reports Cons Hard to assemble Negotiation complicated Small support Review Source TD Teddy D. Director of Recruiting Education Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Alright There are better options" May 27, 2023 5.0 My experience with Brightspace has been somewhat positive although I would go researching more alternatives Pros One of the features I like most about Brightspace is the progress tracking. If a student is behind on an assignment or more than it highlights on their course. Cons At the time I was introduced to Brightspace, the previous learning environment stopped operations resulting in everyone having to adjust to Brightspace. One of the features I like the least about bright space is not being able to access Brightspace on mobile. It is difficult to view it on mobile and other classroom tools are able to view it on mobile Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) Blackboard was ceasing operations resulting in institutions to find an alternative within a short span of time. Review Source TS Terri S. Online Learning Coordinator E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ease of Use" March 28, 2025 4.0 My students used D2L through Virtual High School classes. Pros Easy for students to learn how to use and calendar feature is also really helpful for keeping track of upcoming deadlines and events. Cons The appearance isn't very sleek. Sometimes the layout can be confusing at times. everything can feels a bit scattered. Review Source SW Steve W. Contract Instructor Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Complicated work made simple!" December 20, 2024 5.0 Helps me keep a good grip on assignments my students have completed, as well as grades for the term at a glance. Easy to use and covers pretty much every function that a professor or instructor is likely to need. Pros Using the program means you don't have to re-invent the wheel. It's a great and well-designed educational program that I use as a university prof. Cons There are a few little things such as color coding for certain assignments that I still don't fully understand. But it's not critical. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Instructional Designer E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Top Tier LMS" August 14, 2021 5.0 Pros It’s extremely customizable, but no matter how each course might be built, there is a feeling of familiarity. I love the assessments, open ended plugins to embed for my faculty, user support, and the student experience. I really love the course builder. It’s an easy to use yet extremely effective tool. Cons I would say the fact that it is so customizable and open ended at first is daunting to faculty. However with proper training and support, my faculty have really excelled with the LMS. Review Source LL Lee L. Program Coordinator Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Brightspace, keeps users in the dark." December 16, 2021 4.0 I have taught online for over a decade and used multiple different platforms, and I am sorry to write that this is by far the worst program I have ever used. Editing tools are not named well. There is no instructor file or content repository for easy access. You have to drill down in multiple pages to make simple course edits, and guiding students is not easy. There is not a natural flow or progression where the student can easily move from one assignment to the next. Pros I know this is bad, but I can honestly say I haven’t found anything I like about the Brightspace program! The only good thing I can think of is the college has selected a bolt-on (Zoom) and it is important for live synchronous meetings. The recordings can be easily accessed from within the course tools. Cons Brightspace is not user friendly from an instructor’s perspective. Points have to be changed in multiple places. Constantly having to switch to the “student view” to see if instructions have loaded correctly or saved recent changes is not an efficient way to function or make course edits. You can’t add points when reading discussions, you have to go out to a separate page to enter points/grades. The list could go on and on. Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) The college administration made the change. Review Source CS Carolyn S. Faculty E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Brightspace" May 11, 2022 5.0 My overall experience with BrightSpace is positive. Learners also find the LMS easy to use and navigate. Pros The most impactful features of BrightSpace are discussion opportunities, auto-grading, and navigation. Cons The cost of the LMS is the only drawback. Switched from [Moodle](https://www.capterra.com/p/80691/Moodle/) Administrative decision. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Professor / Coordinator Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Poor excuse for a modern LMS" November 8, 2018 2.0 No benefits realized. Purely a frustrating experience having to use this LMS to manage my post-secondary classes. Pros Nothing at all. The LMS has a LONG list of features but nearly all of them are poorly designed and frustrating to use. I have moved back to old solutions that I used before I was given this piece of software. Clearly no teachers with any experience were consulted in the design of this. There was a huge opportunity for D2L when they moved from their old solution to a new Cloud based one. They missed the opportunity Cons The interface was not intuitive. There were very few clear best practices in the interface. The way that you complete tasks changes depending on which part of the interface you are using. Non-technical users will become quickly frustrated with the number of steps required to complete even the most basic of tasks. The interface feels like it was built by different groups of developers and designers who didn't communicate with each other. Every developer had their own idea about how to accomplish a task. Many default options are counter to what an actual teacher would need in their day-to-day tasks. Nothing in the interface saves you work. Every task prolongs how long it takes me to do something. After months of trying to use this tool I have given up and am now searching for alternative tools that make my life easier not harder. Review Source Response from D2L November 20, 2018 We're sorry to hear you're having problems with Brightspace and want to help. Please feel free to reach out to me directly so we can discuss the challenges you're having and get you some help. LW Lilian W. HR Manager Staffing and Recruiting Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Robust and diverse LMS for best results " March 6, 2019 5.0 I think this app is equally useful for both teachers and students. It is perfect for sharing files between users, it can keep people organized, and it also can provide with a high level of communication, as it has features that are not available in other platforms. Pros This app has everything students can use to avoid failing deadlines. It helps students to keep all critical data in one place, so it makes them more organized and aware of the education process. In Brightspace you can drag and drop all kind of files, as well as rearrange them, so new content can be easily seen. For teachers, it is also easy to create different types of tests or quizzes without spending much time or many resources. Brightspace is a well-known LMS and is used across our college as the learning management platform. It is used to distribute the different type of information, assignments tests, which makes the education process for both students and teachers more convenient. Cons This app lacks an intuitive interface. It is difficult to get used it, and it requires time to understand how to activate one feature or another. You need time to customize your interface; otherwise, it will be cluttered and even more complicated to use. There is an option to create discussions, but it is hard to organize them. It also would be nice to have a video chat option so that some lectures can be given online. Tech support can be improved, as it is not helpful and it usually blames users instead of fixing the problem. Review Source BD Brandy D. Student Accounting Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Very useful " June 13, 2023 5.0 Very easy to use Pros Easy to use, I can view all coursework and courses and grades Cons Overall I like it all, nothing found that I haven't liked yet Review Source DO Debbie O. Associate Professor Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "an unnecessarily complicated system" May 10, 2021 2.0 stressful Pros adding modules, changing the course image Cons The gradebook is a nightmare! Every semester its a nightmare. Something that should be so intuitive is so complicated on Brightspace. When I create an assignment it doesn't just go into the gradebook--I have to "link it". But then when brightspace duplicates a column in the gradebook I cannot just "delete" a column in the gradebook! You cannot do anything in the gradebook simply! I also cannot trust the gradebook's math because it will count somethings and not others! One semester it duplicated a whole assignment (but I only had ONE dropbox for it?!?!) and I could not get rid of it---all students ended up with duplicate grade for it. I loved the original D2L--so easy to use! This brightspace? a disaster.... Switched from [Moodle](https://www.capterra.com/p/80691/Moodle/) institution made the switch. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Preschool Teacher Consumer Services Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Good for online schooling" December 9, 2021 4.0 I like how easy it makes online courses. Pros I like that Brightspace is easy to use. In previous online courses, we had used another program, which was a hot mess. Brightspace is user-friendly and really easy to find what you're looking for. The useability, however, depends mainly on the professor/teacher/whoever that may set up the course. Currently, everything is laid out in weeks, so each "module" contains what is due that week. Very simple to use, from a student standpoint. Cons I have noticed that when posting/replying to a discussion board, there are no notifications. And by this I mean there are no "push" notifications, so it's sometimes hard to see if people are responding to my post. Once I log in on a desktop/laptop, I can easily see if people have responded. However, if I'm using the app on my phone, it doesn't necessarily "pop up" and say that someone commented or posted something new. I personally would like a notification when this happens. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Lecturer, Researcher Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good LMS but not all-encompassing" September 26, 2018 4.0 Brightspace by D2L was useful for implementing a live course's online material, but the program lacks important components that are necessary for online courses. Pros This Learning Management System is GOOD but not the best. It is great that D2L and Brightspace have an easy-to-use portal that differentiates between student, instructor, and even TAs. However, the options that come with competitors like CANVAS are far superior... Cons CANVAS, a competing LMS, provides more external resource use, such as Virtual Office Hours during Conferences, and even grouping students into smaller groups to use MS Office through Collaborations. Brightspace is user friendly for students but more difficult to manage for administrators/teachers. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Instructor of English Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "A platform for learning with its own learning curve" November 21, 2018 4.0 Brightspace has allowed our students to access course information online and in hybrid environments. The LMS is powerful and can produce quality courses that are highly customizable and interactive. I have used it for around six months now as an instructor and have noticed that while it is powerful, you might want to trial it out alongside a couple of other competitors to find one that fits you. Pros I like the complex features that are offered by this LMS. Course creators can embed external sources, create several nested modules and access plenty of documentation. Users can also access content on nearly all browsers and operating systems. Cons There is a steep learning curve, and it can be difficult to even access basic course information as a learner, or to even find out how to create a single module for students as an administrator. The issues related to mobile access, Safari, and flash are still present in this LMS as well. It will be difficult to access certain pages, and some external links do not allow you to access them either. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Instructor Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Course Building and Grading with D2L" March 17, 2019 4.0 Overall, D2L Brightspace is relatively easy to use and robust. It's not always intuitive, but that seems to be the case with all LMS I've used. Pros I use D2L, Moodle, and Blackboard in my multiple jobs. D2L is the most visually attractive of these, and the "drag and drop" functionality of course building makes things much easier than in Blackboard, for example. Cons When grading, I wish the rubrics appeared in the margin of same tab as the assignment, rather than a separate pop-up window, though this is already an improvement from earlier iterations. Review Source ER Elizabeth R. Course Coordinator Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Easy to use and wide variety of options" July 9, 2019 5.0 I love Brightspace! When it was first introduced I was skeptical because of the system we had been using so long and having to train everyone on new software is time-consuming and exhausting. But I found that it was an easier transition than I imagined, although there are so many features it can be a bit overwhelming for some. Overall, I really enjoy using the software and know that it benefits my students as well. Pros I really like the feature where you can open up quizzes or surveys for individual students. I use this when I have set a time/date for an item to close by and then students give me a valid excuse, then I can open it back up for them for whatever length of time I choose for them to complete the assignment. I also like that it is easy for a skilled user to navigate. Cons Even though I know how to navigate through the online set up now, it is sometimes troublesome for my students because there are just so many different options and different ways to navigate to the same thing. I usually have to do a short run through on how to use the software before the class begins and then I always have those that reach out with numerous questions regarding how to find something. This too has to do with the laziness of some students since I had no problem teaching myself how to use it. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Marketing Consultant E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Brightspace is user friendly from a faculty perspective" February 12, 2019 5.0 Pros The ease of use. Some of it may be how my university has set it up for the faculty, but I can jump right into a classroom and figure out what to do next. Grading is easy. Cons I think the Discussion area could be set up a little more user friendly. For instance, It's a little hard to see what discussions have been responded to and where I need to put my focus in responding back to students. 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