GoSkills Alternative for Workplace Skills Training
If you are looking for a GoSkills alternative, the first question is not which product is better. It is what your people need to learn. GoSkills is a library of courses on business subjects. Skill5 is a set of five-minute lessons on workplace behaviour. They solve different problems, and many small teams need only one of them.
What GoSkills is
GoSkills is an online learning platform for business and professional skills. Its own site lists subjects such as Microsoft Office, leadership, project management, sales and career development. The lessons are described as short and bite-sized, and learners can use them on a laptop, a phone or a tablet.
For organisations, it offers a learning management system. It lets an organisation manage courses, track progress and read reports. Teams can also build their own courses with a course builder. Individuals can buy a plan for themselves.
This is a serious product. If your team needs to learn a spreadsheet program, or you want a project management course with a clear syllabus, a library like this is the right shape. You pick a course, you work through it, and the platform records that you did.
Where it does not fit
A course library asks the learner to choose, plan and commit. That works for someone who has set aside time to study. It works less well for the person who runs a front desk, a small shop or a delivery route and has ten spare minutes between tasks.
Here are three situations where a library is a weak match.
- The skill is a habit, not a subject. Nobody needs a course to learn what "being reliable" means. They need to see a realistic situation, pick the right action and try again tomorrow.
- The team is small and the owner is the trainer. There is no learning department to choose courses, send reminders and read reports. The owner needs something that works the day it is opened.
- People will not open a course. A long course sits in the list. A lesson that takes five minutes gets finished.
None of this is a fault in GoSkills. It is a different job.
What five-minute lessons do instead
Skill5 teaches one idea per lesson, in about five minutes, on a phone or in a browser. Each lesson has short slides, a spoken presenter, and a few questions at the end so the learner can check what they took in. Lessons are grouped into tracks, so a learner who finishes a track has covered one skill from several sides.
Take the track "Professional Behaviour". Its lessons are:
- What professionalism looks like at work.
- Reliability, respect and good judgment.
- Professional boundaries and workplace norms.
- Handling mistakes professionally.
- Building a reputation people trust.
Here is a worked example. Say Agnieszka starts on a Monday at a small accounting office. She is asked to send a report by Thursday. On Wednesday she sees that she will miss it. A course on time management would teach her planning methods. The lesson on reliability teaches one thing: tell the person on Wednesday, not on Friday, say what you will deliver and when, and then deliver it. That is a habit she can use the same day.
Next week the same Agnieszka spots a wrong number in a report she already sent. The lesson on mistakes gives her the order to follow: say it at once, say what is wrong, say what you will do to fix it. She writes three plain sentences to her manager. The manager is not angry. The manager now knows Agnieszka will tell her bad news early, and that is worth more than a perfect record.
The lessons are written in plain language for people who did not study management and for readers whose first language is not English. They use the objects of ordinary work: the shared inbox, the Thursday deadline, the meeting that ran over.
Side by side
| GoSkills | Skill5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Main format | Courses made of short lessons | Five-minute lessons in tracks |
| Best for | Learning a subject in depth | Building one workplace habit at a time |
| Subjects | Software, leadership, project management, sales and more | Workplace behaviour, communication, teamwork, productivity |
| Device | Laptop, phone, tablet | Phone first, also in a browser |
| Language level | Varies by course | Plain language, written for second-language readers |
| Who chooses what to learn | The learner or an administrator | The learner follows a clear path |
| Team tools | Dashboard, reporting and own courses | Team plans with invite links |
| Price model | Individual plans and organisation plans | Individual plan and team plans |
Check each provider's own site for plans before you decide. Prices and limits change.
Who should pick which
Pick GoSkills if you need to teach a defined subject, such as a software program or a project management method, and you want a structured course with an administrator who tracks completion.
Pick Skill5 if your problem is how people behave and communicate at work: how they handle mistakes, how they talk to colleagues, how they earn trust. It also fits if you have no training department and want something people will actually finish on a break.
Pick both if you have both problems. A person can learn a spreadsheet program from a course and learn to report a mistake early from a five-minute lesson. They do not compete for the same hour.
Learn this in five minutes
The Skill5 track "Professional Behaviour" has lessons of about five minutes each. They practise reliability, respect, boundaries, handling mistakes and building a reputation people trust.
Questions people ask
Is GoSkills good for small teams?
It can be. It has organisation plans and tools to manage learning and track progress. It suits teams that want a course library and have someone to manage it. Teams that want one short habit lesson at a time may find a library too large.
Can five-minute lessons replace a full course?
Not for a deep subject. A five-minute lesson cannot teach a whole spreadsheet program. It can teach one useful behaviour well, and a track of lessons covers a skill from several sides.
Do I need a training manager to use Skill5?
No. A learner opens the app and follows the track. A team owner can use a team plan and send an invite link.
Should I compare it with other platforms too?
Yes. Read our guide to the best soft skills training apps for small business, or see how it compares with GoodHabitz and LinkedIn Learning.