Learning Management Systems: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

TalentLMS leads the Learning Management Systems category with 39.7% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, ahead of Docebo at 38.1%, a 1.6-point gap. This month's move was significant for nearly every tracked brand: coverage rebounded sharply from August's compressed levels, with TalentLMS climbing 32.3 points (from 7.4% to 39.7%) and Docebo climbing 30.7 points (from 7.4% to 38.1%) — reversing August's dip rather than extending a longer decline.

Measured against the July 2026 baseline, no brand recorded a significant increase in valid recommendation coverage. Blackboard (Anthology) recorded the largest baseline decline, falling 11.8 points from 17.8% to 6.0%, and is one of three brands — along with Canvas (Instructure), down 8.5 points, and Moodle, down 10.2 points — classified as significant decliners against the July baseline. All three of those significant decliners nonetheless moved up from August 2026's compressed readings. The remaining seven brands, including leader TalentLMS, are classified stable relative to baseline despite each sitting below its July starting level.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the number of canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. August 2026 recorded a compressed 6.3% recommendation-shaped answer share and 8.5% valid recommendation shortlist share before the September 2026 recovery.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Learning Management Systems

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The following table shows how observations moved through the research stages.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. AI Market Discovery Methodology

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned, regardless of recommendation status.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the first three recommendation positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive minus negative mention tone, divided by total mentions, ranging from -1 to 1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

All ten brands rebounded from August 2026 to September 2026, with every brand recording a significant single-month increase. TalentLMS rose 32.3 points from 7.4% in August 2026 to 39.7% in September 2026, Docebo rose 30.7 points from 7.4% to 38.1%, and Moodle rose 23.8 points from 5.8% to 29.6%. That single-month rebound accounts for most of the gap between August's compressed readings and September's standings, but it did not fully offset the baseline declines recorded by the three significant decliners.

Largest Decline: Blackboard (Anthology)

Blackboard (Anthology) fell 11.8 percentage points, from 17.8% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 6.0% in September 2026. This decline moved in step with the brand's top-three rate, which fell from 9.0% to 1.2% over the same period, while presence rate held nearly steady at 51.1% in September 2026, down from 51.2% in July 2026. Presence held steady while recommendation outcomes collapsed, indicating a conversion problem rather than a visibility problem.

Significant Decliners: Canvas (Instructure) and Moodle

Canvas (Instructure) fell 8.5 points from 34.7% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 26.2% in September 2026, with top-three rate down 8.8 points from 20.8% to 12.0% and rank-one rate down 8.5 points from 16.5% to 8.0%. Moodle fell 10.2 points from 39.8% to 29.6% over the same period, with top-three rate down 5.6 points from 16.9% to 11.3%. Both brands recorded sharp single-month recoveries from August 2026, with Moodle rising 23.8 points and Canvas (Instructure) rising 21.3 points, though neither recovery was large enough to close the gap to its July baseline.

Category Leader: TalentLMS

TalentLMS holds the lead at 39.7% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, followed by Docebo at 38.1%, a 1.6-point gap that leaves the top position tightly contested. The leader position was stable this month: TalentLMS also led the July 2026 baseline at 44.8%.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Placement rates reveal whether a brand appears early in recommendation shortlists or farther down.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. TalentLMS and Docebo sit within 1.6 points of each other on valid recommendation coverage, yet Docebo's rank-one rate of 9.9% in September 2026 exceeds TalentLMS's 9.1%, inverting the coverage order at the first position.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

In September 2026, all qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation class, where users asked for direct brand suggestions.

The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery specifically and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing or multi-brand comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI assistants surface and recommend brands across major AI and search surfaces. This neutral industry benchmark measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment for tracked brands in each category.

• AI Market Discovery Index
• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards

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