Whale vs Zoho Learn

Whale

• Companies documenting SOPs and training staff on them in one tool
• Frontline and warehouse teams opening instructions by QR code or phone
• Organizations with many readers and only a few content creators
• Nonprofits, which get a 20% discount

Zoho Learn

• Companies that want SOPs and employee training in the same tool
• Small teams: the Free plan covers 5 users
• Organizations training customers or partners through branded portals

Whale

• The Free plan is capped at 10 members, 1 creator and 20 Playbook items, and has no PDF or Word export, version history or insights.
• Paid plans start at $249 a month billed yearly with 3 creators; extra creators on Scale cost $29 each a month, or $39 on monthly billing.
• Enforced SSO and the video editor need Advance, and API access, SCIM provisioning and approval flows are Enterprise only.
• Vendor pages disagree on members: the plan cards say limited on Scale and Advance, while the machine-readable pricing file says unlimited.

Zoho Learn

• The Free plan stops at 5 users, 3 spaces, 5 manuals and 5 courses, and has no external sharing, version history or PDF export.
• Article drafts, templates, verification reminders, mandatory reads, knowledge reports and a custom domain are limited to Professional.
• Custom portals are a paid add-on on Express, from $0.50 per portal user a month; Professional includes one portal with five portal users.
• The signup page offers a 7-day free trial, while the pricing FAQ describes a 30-day trial of the Professional plan.

Whale

AI SOP writer and importers

AI drafts new procedures, polishes wording and gives each SOP a health score, and existing PDF and Word documents can be imported and turned into editable SOPs.

Step and screen recorders

The Step Recorder captures a process on screen as a visual step-by-step guide, and recorded or uploaded videos are transcribed by AI into written SOPs.

Ask Alice

Members put questions to Alice, an AI assistant trained on the workspace's own content, to find an SOP or learn how to do something. Asking Alice does not use AI credits.

Training flows and quizzes

Training flows assign content by team and role, and AI generates quiz questions from Whale content. Scale includes 5 flows and 15 quizzes; Advance removes the limits.

Sharing where work happens

SOPs are shared by link, QR code or read assignment with a due date, opened in the iOS and Android apps, and consulted from the CoPilot browser extension.

Insights and access control

Paid plans add knowledge-use and team performance insights, user groups, user roles and version history. Approval flows are limited to Enterprise.

Zoho Learn

Spaces, manuals and articles

Knowledge sits in a built-in hierarchy: spaces for teams or departments, manuals for topics, and articles that can be grouped into chapters.

Collaborative editor

Several authors can edit an article at once and discuss it in inline comments. Articles take tables, embedded video, syntax-highlighted code blocks, drawings and flowcharts.

Verification and mandatory reads

Verification reminders prompt authors to review articles, and mandatory reads confirm that people have read them. Both are on Professional, which also keeps unlimited version history.

Course builder

Courses combine text, video and document lessons with quizzes and accept imported SCORM packages. Learning paths chain courses together, and certificates are issued on completion.

Zia AI assistant

Zia drafts an SOP from a single prompt, rephrases and summarizes articles, and generates course outlines, text lessons and assignment questions.

Custom portals

Branded public or private portals share manuals and deliver training to customers, partners and other people outside the organization.

Whale

• Free$0

  Up to 10 members, 1 creator and 20 Playbook items, with the step recorder, screen recorder, video-to-SOP converter and checklists.

• Scale$249

  per month, billed yearly ($399 billed monthly)

  3 creators included, with extra creators from $29 each a month, unlimited documentation, 5 training flows, AI quizzes and Whale MCP access.

• Advance$499

  per month, billed yearly ($799 billed monthly)

  5 creators included, with extra creators from $39 each a month, adding the video editor, AI voiceovers, enforced SSO and granular permissions.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Priced on request with yearly billing only. Adds approval flows, automatic redaction, SCIM user provisioning, HRIS integrations and API access.

Zoho Learn

• Free$0

  5 users, 3 spaces, 5 manuals, 5 courses, 2 learning paths and 1 GB of storage, with one question bank of 20 questions.

• Express$0.83

  per user / month, billed annually ($1 billed monthly)

  10 spaces, 50 manuals, 25 courses and 1 GB per user, plus password-protected external sharing, 30 days of version history and PDF export.

• Professional$2.50

  per user / month, billed annually ($3 billed monthly)

  Unlimited spaces, manuals and courses with 5 GB per user, plus assignments, article drafts and templates, verification and mandatory reads.

Whale

• Annual discount

  Save about 37% with yearly billing

  The pricing page marks yearly billing as saving 37%: Scale is $249 a month instead of $399 billed monthly, and Advance $499 instead of $799.

• Nonprofit

  20% off for nonprofits

  Whale's pricing FAQ says nonprofits get a 20% discount on all of its subscriptions.

Zoho Learn

• Annual discount

  Save 17% with yearly billing

  The pricing page marks yearly billing as saving 17%: Express drops from $1 to $0.83 and Professional from $3 to $2.50 per user a month.

• Nonprofit

  Special pricing for nonprofits

  The pricing FAQ says Zoho Learn has special pricing for non-profit organizations. No rate is published, so it has to be requested.

• Education

  Special pricing for educational institutions

  The pricing FAQ says Zoho Learn has special pricing for educational institutions. No rate is published, so it has to be requested.