Looking for a platform to document your business policies, processes, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) in a single source of truth? You may have stumbled upon two seemingly great options: Trainual and Whale. 

There are quite a few similarities between the Trainual and Whale platforms. But more importantly, there are crucial differences that will impact the way these softwares will support your team. So, as you evaluate the capabilities and limitations of each tool, consider all the need-to-haves that are important to you (and all the nice-to-haves that would make your work life even easier).

👉 So, which is better: Trainual or Whale?

If you’re looking for a one-sentence answer, you’ll want to go with Trainual.

Trainual is a more comprehensive tool for company knowledge and training with features that Whale doesn't have, like role and responsibility documentation; employee directory and org chart builders; public content sharing for freelancers, applicants, and prospects; and the ability to add e-signature requirements to policies — all at a lesser cost. Plus, they have many additional resources, like implementation support, and an award-winning customer service team that’s only an email or chat away. Sound like what you’re looking for? Start a free 7-day trial now.

Trainual vs. Whale: What’s the same?

Before we get into the specific differences between platforms, let’s get a high-level picture of what they do. Both Trainual and Whale give business owners, operational managers, and other organization leaders the opportunity to document company information, making it accessible to the whole team. 

Both tools offer a wide range of features to help businesses streamline their training processes. You’ll find similar experiences with the following features, available in both Trainual and Whale:

• Unlimited documentation. This is the most important feature in your business playbook. After all, your playbook is the manual that outlines how your business does what it does. And the one thing you need for that: space to document all of it.
   
• Bulk-content assignment. Making sure everyone has the training they need is easiest when you can dish it out in bulk — based on the groups each employee is a part of. You can add an employee to a group (like Customer Support) and they’re automatically assigned everything they need for their role in both Trainual and Whale.
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• In-app AI that generates content. Trainual Compose and Whale’s AI Assist can both do all the heavy lifting for you by *composing* your entire first draft of a policy or process for you. Bonus in Trainual: There are in-line smart tools that can make your content shorter or longer, change the tone, translate it to another language, fix your grammar and spelling, or even finish it up if you're drawing a blank.
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• Giphy and stock photos. If you don’t want your training to be boring, you need to include some fun GIFs and visuals. And nothing makes it easier than in-app options for both.
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• In-app screen recording. Nothing helps break up a big block of text better than a video that lets your team sit back, relax, and soak up the information in a different way. Both competitors have in-app video recording options. You can create a quick intro video before diving into an SOP, or you can even record your screen as you show how to carry out a process in real time. 
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• 1000+ app integrations. You want your new software to play nice with the other tools you use. And both platforms have plenty of connection possibilities, including Zapier, which can act as a go-between for your business playbook and tons of other tools. 
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• Custom branding. If you’d like the added touch of picking accent colors, fonts, and other options that reflect your brand, you’re in luck! Both competitors offer easy ways to make your platform unique to your equally unique business.
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• Single sign-on (SSO) options. Trainual offers Google, Microsoft Azure, and Okta SSO. Similarly, Whale offers Google and Microsoft SSO (they’re just missing the Okta option).

• Content translation. Trainual offers the ability to translate content as you are building it using AI. Similarly, Whale offers an auto-translate feature.

• Groups and permissions. You can add your employees to different groups (like departments, teams, locations, and roles) and assign them app permission levels as needed in both Trainual and Whale.

• Set the order of training content. In Trainual, you can set the order that you'd like content to show up as your employees complete their training. Similarly, Whale offers training flows.

Now with the big similarities out of the way, let’s take a dive into the larger variations between the two that may make one better suited for your small-to-medium-sized business than the other.

Trainual vs. Whale: What’s different?

It’s worth noting that there are some features that technically both Trainual and Whale have, but where the experience varies drastically (often, in favor of Trainual). Here are some examples:

• More in-depth progress tracking and reporting in Trainual.
  Keeping your team accountable for completing their training is one of the most important features you need in your business playbook platform. In Whale, you get pretty basic stats (like how many people viewed training and quiz results). Unfortunately, that’s about it. But in Trainual, you can see your entire team’s progress at a glance and in-depth training reports for individual employees.
  
  You can see each team member’s training progress, including the details of what’s overdue, in progress, not started, completed, and even test results. Plus, you can view e-signed documents and full reports, ready to download with a click.

• More robust templates in Trainual.
  While Whale houses about 100 generic content starters, Trainual provides 300+ robust and fully-built templates — including policies, processes, and roles (descriptions and responsibilities included).
  
  This gives the ultimate jumpstart you need for your playbook documentation. Just give them your personal touch, and they’re ready to share with the rest of your team.
  
  👉 Check out some of Trainual’s most popular templates:
  
  ◦ Anti-discrimination Policy
  ◦ Customer Escalations Process
  ◦ Customer Payment Collection Process
  ◦ Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Policy
  ◦ Equal Opportunity Policy
  ◦ Feedback Training Process
  ◦ Noncompete Policy‍
  

• Powerful Trainual Chrome extensions (including a Google Doc importer and process capturing tool).
  At first glance, the Whale Chrome extension and the Trainual Chrome extension are super similar. They both surface the processes, policies, and business knowledge related to the specific websites you work on. 
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  But there’s an important feature that Trainual has that Whale doesn’t: a Google Doc importer. If you have a Google Doc with existing company documentation, you’re already on your way to getting it migrated over to Trainual. With the Trainual Chrome extension, you can transform your Google Doc into a Trainual process or policy in a couple of clicks! Yup, images included.
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  Even better? The Whale competitor has a second tool: the Trainual Capture Chrome extension. When you use Trainual Capture, you can literally capture what you're doing as you do it — making process documentation nearly 2x faster.
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  All you have to do is click start, run through your process, and click finish. And just like that, your step-by-step process will be 100% documented — complete with screenshots and written descriptions for every action you took.
  

• Cutting-edge tech in Trainual: NFC tags.
  In Whale, you can generate QR codes that help employees gain quick access to digital how-tos and processes in real life. But Trainual takes this a step further with adhesive tags equipped with cutting-edge near-field communication (NFC) technology. AKA, tech that allows for two-way communication with phones.
  Tap your phone to an NFC tag to pair it with an important SOP, policy, or process. Then anyone (like a team member, customer, or prospect) can tap the tag with their phone and pull up the content in a fraction of a second.
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  Tags one-up QR codes because you can stick them anywhere:
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  ◦ Around the office. Think office equipment that’s complicated or needs instructions to operate.
  ◦ In the field. Stick tags on the company vehicle dash, mobile supplies, and other out-of-office equipment.
  ◦ At events. At a conference or trade show? Put tags on your booth table, brochures, or even the back of your phone to teach about your products or services.
  ◦ On products. Adhere tags to your devices used in clients’ homes and businesses for quick troubleshooting tips in a tap. 
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  You could probably try printing a Whale QR code and taping it somewhere for easy access, but that might not look the most professional. Plus, QR codes can’t be paired to content with a simple tap of your phone, or re-paired to different content with another quick tap when needed. There’s also limited use for Whale QR codes since the platform’s content is only accessible to employees with an account — not freelancers, customers, prospects, and others outside of your account. (More on that later.)

• More unlimited testing options in Trainual.
  These serve as great retention checkpoints as your employees onboard and train. Whale only has multiple-choice question options while Trainual has both multiple-choice and open-answer test options.

Now, let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this comparison: The crucial feature differences. What Trainual has that Whale doesn’t (and vice versa). 

Trainual and Whale both offer powerful features to help businesses grow and scale, but Trainual stands out with several value-adds like customizable SOP templates, progress tracking analytics, automatic bulk-content assignment options, and team connectivity — just to name a few. With these advantages at hand, let's take a closer look at the features of Trainual.

Features only in Trainual

Trainual is a comprehensive solution for entrepreneurs and leaders who want to grow and scale their businesses by generating reusable onboarding and training materials, making people-centric decisions, and documenting SOPs and processes so the company runs like a well-oiled machine. Its features uniquely crafted for small-to-medium-sized businesses make it the perfect tool for companies with anywhere from less than 10 employees, all the way up to 5K (though most teams that use it have between 25 and 100 employees). 

Let’s go over the features that this Whale alternative has over its competition.

Team connection in Trainual

When your small business composition is constantly changing (via hiring, promotions, role changes, and so on) you need to help your team members keep it all straight. So it’s no surprise that many small-to-medium-sized businesses want solutions in their business playbook.

While Whale is solely a documentation platform, Trainual offers more long-term strategies to success — AKA, systems that invest in your people. Here are some built-in resources Trainual uses to foster team connection:

• Role and responsibility documentation in Trainual.
  Only half of employees experience role clarity in the workplace. In other words, half of your team tackling their jobs today don’t really know what they’re being held accountable for on a day-to-day basis.
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  If you choose Whale, you don’t get a solution for that. But one thing’s for sure: You need somewhere to keep your team informed on what they (and their peers) own.
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  Trainual has a built-in role and responsibilities builder. Allowing managers and operational leaders to not only define roles across the organization, but assign responsibilities and training based on each person's role and strengths.
  
  The best part? This information is visible to the whole team in different areas of the platform — ensuring role clarity and accountability across all departments. 

• Trainual employee directory.
  Over half of employees say they’d trade some compensation for more meaningful relationships with colleagues.
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  The Trainual employee directory is a one-stop shop where team members can get to know each other both professionally and personally. Showing each employee who they work with, how they’ll work together, and what they have in common. Plus, giving everyone visibility into each other’s roles and responsibilities — increasing accountability and avoiding any confusion about who owns what across your org.
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• Trainual org chart.
  Organizational charts (org charts) show every person’s position in your company and who reports to who. In Trainual, this chart is interactive, so you can click on anyone in the chart to see more details. Like the person’s bio, role, responsibilities, and more!
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• Trainual role chart.
  A role chart maps out team members, reporting structure, and responsibilities by role (not by person like an org chart). In other words, it’s a quick snapshot of all the roles in your organization — who falls under each role, which roles report to each other, and what each role is responsible for.
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  A role chart can fill in any gaps in your org chart because there’s a perfect place for everyone — no matter how many departments they have their hands in. You can even use it to plan for future growth by adding roles that don’t exist yet.
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  Trainual is the only software on the market with a built-in role chart. Even better: It uses AI functionality to auto-generate a full role chart for you in one click. 

Public content sharing in Trainual

In Trainual, you have all the control. You can make any policy or process available to people outside of your account in your content settings. Just think of the possibilities:

• Send freelancers and contractors your brand and voice guides.
• Give interviewing candidates access to your core values, company mission, and vision.
• Prepare new hires with your dress code, parking info, and a first-day schedule before they’re officially onboarded.
• Share key policies with colleagues and peers (think things like "Work From Home” and "COVID Safety" policies).

If you’ll ever need to share company information with people outside your organization, you need public content sharing. 

Built-in e-signatures in Trainual

Part of the reason you’re going digital is so you can throw away your outdated paper forms. And Trainual takes that a step further, giving you documented, digital proof that your team understands and agrees to the policies that keep them safe, accountable, and aligned. 

When you require your team to sign on the (virtual) dotted line they’ll make your onboarding and training processes even smoother. Here’s how:

• You can automatically get written confirmation that employees understand and agree to all your important policies.
• New hires can agree to rules and guidelines as they learn about them when completing onboarding training.
• Team members can sign on the go using the Trainual mobile app so you can collect signed documents quicker than ever.
• Leadership can easily update policies that need to be re-signed, keep track of who’s signed what, and download copies of team members’ e-signed documents at any time.

If e-signatures are non-negotiable for you, this Whale alternative will be your best bet. 

One-of-a-kind, customized customer care with Trainual

Trainual’s top-notch customer experience team provides every customer with a multitude of resources and ongoing support. Here are just a few of the unique levels of support they provide:

• Trainual setup support. Not sure where to start? Don’t let that keep you from diving into SOP documentation. Trainual gives every Scale account over a month of setup help. Including (but not limited to) help building, customizing, transferring, and organizing your content for you. Helping you get your business playbook up and running that much faster. While Whale claims to offer setup services, they’re super minimal compared to what the Trainual offers. 
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• Trainual University. The Trainual platform is ridiculously easy to use. But there’s just so much you can do in there! Not to worry — it’s all outlined in a free Trainual platform certification program that teaches content creators about all the features and functions of the platform in an easy-to-follow (and digest) format. Bonus: When you graduate, you get some sweet swag to show off.
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• Live webinars, workshops, and Trainual Q&A sessions. Trainual’s support coaches host live sessions several days a week to help the training and documentation leaders in your org as they first start to build content in your account (and continue to level things up). Webinars include everything from first-timer need-to-knows to best practices for after you know your way around the ropes.
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• Trainual’s award-winning customer support. That’s right — Trainual has over 50 “Best Relationship” and “Best Support” awards from G2 since 2019. Most of which are in Standard Operating Procedures, Knowledge Management, Training Management Systems, and Onboarding categories. And it’s no mystery why. They have a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) of 97.5 (out of 100!). Which is pretty impressive considering the average in the industry is 78. Plus, their typical chat and email response time is under 10 minutes. So if you’ve got a question, you can bet they’ve got an answer (and fast).
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• 1:1 success coaching in Trainual. If you need it, Trainual’s got it. Customer success is their top priority, and they’ll work with you to your heart’s content. 
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• Trainual’s DIY resources. Trainual keeps an up-to-date online help center and to-the-point training videos and tutorials. 

At the end of the day, from a perspective of resources and ongoing support Whale doesn’t even come close to the level of customized care Trainual offers every customer. So If customer care is important to you, Trainual is the clear winner here.

The Trainual mobile app

If your team ever works out in the field, you’ll want to give them access to processes, policies, and SOPs for information on the go. And with Trainual’s iOS and Android apps, they can search for business knowledge to quickly find the answers they need 24/7, wherever they are.

AI-powered searching

Ever wish you could ask a question about your policies or processes and have your business playbook pull up the exact answer you’re looking for — without wading through pages of results? This is possible with AI-powered searching in Trainual. You can just ask a question and Trainual AI will reply with the answer, based on the info documented in your account. Trainual search understands the actual meaning and intent behind what you’re searching for (not just the search terms), giving you accurate, relevant search results.

Pricing comparison between Trainual vs. Whale

The pricing comparison between Trainual and Whale is an important factor to consider when deciding which platform to choose. And deciding which platform (and plan) is right for your business requires careful evaluation of the features offered by each.

With Whale, you pay a specified price per user (per month or year), meaning your price will continually fluctuate as you add and remove seats from your account to reflect your changing team composition. With Trainual, you pay one set price for a range of users.

Let’s get into the pricing differences between Trainual and Whale.

👉 View Trainual’s pricing.

View Whale’s pricing model at https://usewhale.io/pricing.

After comparing plan options side by side, you’ll find that Trainual takes the cake with its all-around lower pricing and more feature inclusions per plan. But let’s get into the specific plans you’ll want to go with depending on your goals and ideal price point.

Let’s talk numbers.

You don’t want the fluff, you want the facts. We got you.

Trainual’s pricing adds up to $250 per month for up to 50 employees, and $417 per month for 51 to 100 employees (when you pay annually). You can also go unlimited if you have more than 100 employees (just talk to sales and they’ll give you a deal 😉). That means you’re looking at as little as $4.17 per month per employee for every feature Trainual has available. Trainual’s stance is: We want to give customers access to every feature we built so you they have the best business playbook possible — no sense in cutting off their access to certain features so we can squeeze more money out of them.

Whale is more of a nickel-and-dimer, if you will. Offering four different plan options, and giving you more features the more you pay. Their cheapest paid plan is $6 per user per month (when you pay annually). Unfortunately, this plan doesn’t give you access to quizzes, content translation to other languages, integrations, and more — all of which you get on all Trainual plans. Their most expensive paid plan requires custom pricing (so you know it’ll be higher than $10 per user per month). And you’ll get way less features than you will with any of Trainual’s plans. (See the above feature list!)

If you want to spend nothing and get (almost) nothing.

Winner: Whale.

It’s important to note that at a first glance of Whale’s pricing page, you might assume that their Free plan is your best bet since, hey, it’s free. The catch? You only get up to five users and are limited on the amount of policies and processes you can document. Not ideal for growing teams that need to document everything about their business, keep track of who’s seen what, and send out quizzes to test knowledge retention. So let’s move on.

If you want all the bells & whistles at the cheapest price.
Winner: Trainual.

Whale’s “Essentials” plan ironically doesn't give you half of the bare minimum. AKA, you don’t get visibility of employee onboarding or training progress.

The problem is that Whale plans provide no accountability. You’re left wondering things like: “Did everyone see our new Work From Home Policy?” and “Did our support team read our Customer Escalations Process — or are they doing things the wrong way?” And unfortunately, you’d be out of luck. Because you need advanced tracking, in-depth reporting, and ideally e-signatures for team accountability (which are only available in Trainual).

When looking for an “essentials-only” playbook builder, you need unlimited documentation, plus testing, tracking, and reporting — at a minimum. And no matter which Trainual plan you choose, you’ll get each of those accountability-boosting basics — features that show your entire team’s progress at a glance, give in-depth training reports for individual employees, and multiple-choice and written response testing options. Not to mention, when you choose any Trainual plan, you get playbook-building add-ons beyond advanced testing, tracking, and reporting. You get a roles and responsibilities builder; a team directory; built-in screen recording; and even personalized setup support. Plus, the ability to share content with anyone, make content discoverable for the whole team, add e-signatures to policies, set due dates on assignments, and more!

Small-to-medium-sized businesses with 25 to 100 employees typically want to have as many features as are available. After all, if they’re going to put in the effort of building a business playbook, they want to get the most out of it. So they opt for a Trainual plan based on their team size. Which not only gives them more features than Whale’s top-tiered plan — but often offers them a lesser cost!  

Now that you understand the feature and pricing differences between Trainual and Whale, you have everything you need to make an informed decision about which platform to go with.

Which platform should you choose?

When deciding between Trainual and Whale, it’s important to envision what your business playbook will look like in each platform. And ask yourself if it will adequately meet the specific needs of your unique business. 

👉 Choose Trainual if:

• You’re looking for an easy-to-use platform to store policies, processes, business knowledge, and employee information.
• You’d like to document every role in your org and their associated responsibilities.
• You’d like to provide your team with an interactive org chart, role chart, and employee directory in the same place they’re consuming their training.
• You’d like to help your team connect and get to know each other better.
• You’d like to collect employee e-signatures for important policies (as insurance that they’ve read and understood them). 
• You want to make some company knowledge accessible to prospects, customers, applicants, freelancers, or others who won’t have a permanent seat in your account.
• You’d like robust template options to help you kickstart documentation.
• You value outstanding customer support in the products you purchase.

👉 Choose Whale if:

• You’re only looking to document policies, processes, and business knowledge in this software.
• Your team knows every detail of each others’ roles and responsibilities and wouldn’t benefit from having a resource with that information.
• Your team is familiar with reporting structure by person and by role (or this rarely changes).
• You already have a virtual role chart, org chart, and employee directory.
• You’re tech-savvy.

Ultimately, Trainual has way more features, provides better customer support, and has been intricately built to help you keep your whole team informed and connected. And again: It’s (astonishingly) often times the cheaper option.

Are you an entrepreneur, founder, manager, or operational leader looking to scale your business? Sign up for a free 7-day Trainual trial today.