HowNow

HowNow is a workplace learning platform for organisations that want employees to find role-relevant learning and company knowledge alongside formal training. It is strongest for L&D teams connecting content, skills, and delivery; buyers must request custom pricing before judging the cost.

Overview

HowNow combines learning management with a learning experience platform, giving employees a personalised feed of learning opportunities and internal knowledge relevant to current and future roles. Unified Search brings connected sources into one search experience, while the AI Skill Graph links learning resources, pathways, and internal experts to organisational skills. This breadth could help teams make learning easier to find and relate it to skills, but the fit depends on how well those mappings match the organisation’s own skill framework and workflows.

Guru AI Coach can teach, coach, challenge, reinforce, and adapt using an organisation’s knowledge. That makes the product relevant to teams seeking AI-supported guidance grounded in internal material, rather than a standalone course library. HowNow Plus adds curated learning from providers including Skillsoft and MindTools in one subscription.

Key features

Content creators can combine text, images, video, GIFs, code snippets, quizzes, and SCORM files. SCORM and xAPI support, assessments, and certificates suit organisations with structured programmes as well as self-directed discovery. Session scheduling, attendance tracking, and virtual classroom integrations extend the platform to online and in-person learning; teams focused only on distributing content may not need that management layer.

Employees can move between Slack, the web, and the mobile app, with offline learning supported. The browser extension places learning alongside work apps, and listed integrations include Microsoft Teams, Workday, HiBob, Google Drive, Notion, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning. The range is useful for organisations whose knowledge and learning already span those services, though buyers should verify that their required systems and workflows are covered.

HowNow states that it holds ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials credentials and supports GDPR requirements. Its Trust Center describes in-transit encryption using RSA and elliptic-curve algorithms and full-disk AES-256 encryption at rest. SSO and provisioning are supported across Azure, Google, Okta, OneLogin, and JumpCloud, making the product a more plausible fit for IT teams with established identity controls.

Pricing

HowNow is paid, with custom pricing. The pricing page offers an investment and ROI calculator and directs prospective buyers to connect with an expert, rather than publishing a price or plan limits. There is no free plan or public tier comparison to use for a quick budget decision; organisations will need a pricing conversation to establish cost and scope.

Platforms

HowNow supports web, Android, iOS, macOS, and a browser extension. Its mobile app is listed for iPhone and iPad, and the platform says learning can continue offline and across Slack, web, and mobile. That mix suits teams spanning desktop and mobile work, especially where employees need to learn away from a reliable connection.

Who it's for

HowNow is aimed at modern L&D and HR teams and organisations that want to connect learning with skills and business results. Its combination of discovery, content creation, skills mapping, AI coaching, and session administration is best suited to employers seeking one platform for several parts of the learning workflow. Smaller teams or buyers who mainly need a low-cost course library may find the custom quote process and broad feature set harder to justify.

Pros and cons

Pro: Personalised feeds, unified search, skills mapping, and AI coaching bring discovery and role relevance together.

Pro: SCORM and xAPI, assessments, certificates, and session tools support both structured programmes and informal learning.

Pro: Mobile and offline access, a browser extension, and integrations with workplace and learning services provide multiple routes into learning.

Pro: Published security credentials, encryption practices, and SSO options address important enterprise security and identity needs.

Con: Custom pricing and absent public plan limits make it difficult to compare costs or assess a smaller deployment before contacting the vendor.

Con: The value of its AI and skills tools depends on how well organisational knowledge and skill definitions support them.

Alternatives

For a free starting point, LearningStone has a forever-free plan with one collaborative training or coaching space and a maximum of five members; choose it when that small cap is enough and a free plan matters more than HowNow’s wider platform scope. Leemons also offers a free plan, with three paid plans listed as coming soon, and supports self-hosted deployment; consider it if those deployment and cost characteristics suit your needs.

Looop by 360Learning is a paid alternative with plans for up to 50 or 250 users as well as an Enterprise plan; it may suit teams that want user-count bands to frame their choice. Valamis Learning Platform is another paid option, with a Foundation plan that includes AI-powered content creation, AI-insights reporting, skills, and event-management tools. LinkedIn Learning is a better fit for teams seeking a paid learning service with a published annual team price: its Teams plan costs $379.88 a year, billed annually.

AgenticLXP is worth considering when a monthly-active-user model and a defined MAU allowance are priorities: its Basic plan is €880 a month and includes 250 MAU. Kriatix Lead Qualification Chatbot is a paid alternative with a free trial. Capabl is another paid option.

Verdict

Choose HowNow if your organisation wants one platform to connect employee learning discovery, skills, internal knowledge, AI coaching, and formal training delivery, with mobile access and enterprise-oriented security controls. Its main advantage is that breadth; its main drawback is that custom pricing leaves buyers unable to judge cost and plan limits before engaging the vendor. Look elsewhere if you need a free or clearly priced starting point, or if your learning needs are narrower than the platform’s combined scope.