How AI Search Is Recommending Learning Management Systems: Monthly Trends

Executive Summary

Docebo and TalentLMS now share the lead in the learning management system category, each holding 7.4% valid recommendation coverage from 33 valid recommendations in August 2026. Both co-leaders declined sharply from July, when TalentLMS held the outright lead at 44.8% and Docebo followed at 40.9%. Moodle sits just behind the co-leaders at 5.8%, and the gap between the top of the category and the rest of the field narrowed as every tracked brand's coverage rate fell to single digits.

TalentLMS recorded the largest decline in the category, down 37.4 points from 44.8% to 7.4% valid recommendation coverage. Moodle fell 34.0 points, from 39.8% to 5.8%, and Canvas (Instructure) fell 29.8 points, from 34.7% to 4.9%. All ten tracked brands recorded declines large enough to exceed normal month-to-month movement, and no brand exceeded single-digit valid recommendation coverage in August.

The August result follows a July baseline in which six brands held coverage above 30% and TalentLMS led the category at 44.8%. The qualified observation count also moved, from 467 in July to 447 in August, alongside a change in the mix of AI surfaces sampled.

This report is based on 600 prompt-surface observations (461 unique questions) collected in August 2026 across the tracked AI search surfaces. Of those, 600 mentioned a tracked brand or competitor; 526 were judged relevant to the category, and 74 were excluded as irrelevant. Brand-level metrics are calculated on the 447 observations that qualified for public reporting.

Key Findings

Benchmark Context

The report separates the raw collection universe from the qualified analysis set. Brand-level recommendation percentages are calculated within the qualified benchmark set.

The qualified observation count fell from 467 in July to 447 in August, while the AI surface universe remained at six canonical families throughout the period.

Benchmark-Level Metrics

Both the recommendation-shaped answer share and the valid recommendation shortlist share fell sharply from July to August, tracking the same pattern recorded across all ten tracked brands' valid recommendation coverage.

AI Recommendation Trend

Leadership Compressed Into a Two-Brand Tie at Single-Digit Coverage

Docebo and TalentLMS now share the category lead at 7.4% valid recommendation coverage, with Moodle at 5.8% and Canvas (Instructure) at 4.9% close behind. Every one of the ten tracked brands recorded a decline large enough to exceed its own typical month-to-month movement, making August a category-wide reset in which no brand cleared single-digit coverage.

What Changed This Month

Docebo and TalentLMS: Co-Leadership at 7.4%

Docebo fell 33.5 points from 40.9% in July to 7.4% in August, while TalentLMS fell 37.4 points from 44.8% to 7.4%. Both brands now hold 33 valid recommendations in the qualified set of 447 observations, creating a tie for the category lead.

Docebo's raw mention presence dropped from 75.6% to 15.9% across the same period, while TalentLMS's fell from 79.7% to 16.6%. Both brands' top-3 rates declined as well, with TalentLMS down 20.4 points to 3.1% and Docebo down 18.2 points to 4.9%.

The distinction to notice: both brands remain the most recommended in the category, but the scale of recommendation activity has shrunk. Being the category leader at 7.4% coverage is commercially different from leading at 44.8%.

Highest-priority diagnostic: which prompts still yield recommendations for Docebo and TalentLMS, and whether the tie reflects a genuine two-brand preference or a category-wide reduction in recommendation-shaped answers.

Canvas (Instructure): Sharpest Top-3 and Rank-One Erosion

Canvas (Instructure) dropped 29.8 points from 34.7% in July to 4.9% in August valid recommendation coverage, its 22 valid recommendations down from 162 in July. The brand's rank-one rate fell 15.2 points from 16.5% to 1.3%, and its top-3 rate fell 18.8 points from 20.8% to 2.0%.

Raw mention presence dropped from 78.8% in July to 15.9% in August. Canvas was the strongest rank-one brand in July with 77 placements; in August it holds 6, while Docebo now leads the category in rank-one placements at 7.

The distinction: Canvas is still being recommended when mentioned, but it is being mentioned far less often, and it no longer holds the category's top rank-one count.

Highest-priority diagnostic: which surface families stopped surfacing Canvas in August, and whether the decline is driven by fewer recommendation-shaped answers or fewer brand mentions overall.

Moodle: From Top-Tier to Mid-Pack

Moodle fell 34.0 points from 39.8% in July to 5.8% in August, its 26 valid recommendations down from 186. Raw mention presence dropped from 86.7% to 17.9%, the largest presence decline in the category.

The brand's top-3 rate fell 14.9 points to 2.0%, and its rank-one rate fell 4.9 points to 0.7%. Moodle's net sentiment score declined from 0.7 to 0.4, though sentiment shifts should be read cautiously given the much smaller observation base.

The distinction: Moodle remains the most-mentioned brand in August at 17.9% presence, while its valid recommendation coverage sits at 5.8%.

Highest-priority diagnostic: what the AI surfaces say about Moodle when they mention it without recommending it, and which competitor captures the recommendation instead.

Notable Gap: D2L Brightspace and TalentLMS

The coverage gap between D2L Brightspace and TalentLMS narrowed from 36.9 points in July to 6.7 points in August, a 30.2-point narrowing. Both brands fell, but D2L Brightspace's smaller absolute decline (7.2 points) means the distance between it and the category leader compressed even as D2L's own coverage stayed near the floor.

The same pattern holds for SAP Litmos and Cornerstone OnDemand against TalentLMS. These gaps narrowed not because the trailing brands gained ground but because the leader fell further, pulling the measured distance between them closer together.

Highest-priority diagnostic: whether the compressed gap reflects any genuine change in relative AI recommendation behavior or simply a category-wide reduction in recommendation activity.

Blackboard (Anthology) and D2L Brightspace: Near-Floor Coverage

Blackboard (Anthology) fell from 17.8% in July to 0.7% in August (3 valid recommendations), while D2L Brightspace fell from 7.9% to 0.7% (3 valid recommendations). Both brands sit at the effective floor of measurable coverage.

Blackboard's raw mention presence fell from 51.2% to 8.5%, and its top-3 rate fell from 9.0% to 0.0%.

The distinction: with only 3 valid recommendations each, these brands are effectively absent from August's AI recommendation landscape. Small counts mean these figures are sensitive to minor changes in the response mix.

Highest-priority diagnostic: which surfaces produced the 3 remaining recommendations for each brand, and whether those represent durable niche use cases or statistical noise.

Buyer-Intent Interpretation

In August, all 447 qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation cluster. The pricing and value and multi-brand comparison clusters were empty, as they were in July. The public benchmark therefore measures which brands AI systems recommend in direct response to buyer requests, but it cannot yet answer questions about how AI positions brands on price, value, or head-to-head comparison.

Brand Opportunity Summary

The benchmark identifies where attention is warranted across all ten brands; a company-level analysis is needed to explain why each brand moved as it did.

Evidence Behind the Benchmark

The aggregate metrics are built from prompt-level observations (query, surface, recommendation outcome, rank, sentiment, and citations where exposed). Company-level analysis can go deeper into prompt, competitor, surface, and evidence patterns. Source presence is not automatically treated as proof of causation.

About This Benchmark

This report is part of the LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery research program.

• AI Industry Market Discovery Benchmark
• AI Industry Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Industry Market Discovery Metrics
• AI Industry Market Discovery Standards

Report-Specific Interpretation Notes

• All ten tracked brands posted significant declines in August; this is a category-wide movement, and individual brand figures should be read in that context.
• Brand-level percentages are calculated within the qualified benchmark set of 447 observations, not the 600 total prompts collected.
• Small counts apply: brands with 3 valid recommendations (Blackboard (Anthology), D2L Brightspace) are at the effective floor of measurement and highly sensitive to response-mix changes.
• Directional analysis identifies movement worth investigating; it does not establish cause. The benchmark shows what changed, not why it changed.

Next Step

The Public Benchmark Shows Where a Brand Is Winning or Losing. A Company-Level Audit Shows Why.

Beneath each aggregate percentage sits a set of unanswered questions: which high-intent prompts are won, which competitor takes the recommendation when a brand loses, what attributes AI associates with each option, and which external sources shape those answers. In a month where every brand declined, understanding which prompts still convert, which surfaces still recommend, and which evidence sources drive those outcomes matters more than the headline movement.

A company-specific AI visibility audit maps those prompt, surface, competitor, ranking, sentiment, and evidence-source patterns into a prioritized visibility strategy. It answers why a brand holds or loses recommendation credit and where the next improvement opportunity sits.

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