❓What Is an LMS… Really? And How Do LRS and LCMS Fit In?

That’s a great point—and yeah, LXPs (Learning Experience Platforms) can be part of the conversation!

The key difference is that most LXPs stay outside the scope of standards-based eLearning—they usually don’t launch AICC, SCORM, or xAPI/cmi5 content. That’s what keeps them out of LMS territory from a functional perspective.

But the moment an LXP does start using one of those standards?
It takes on LMS responsibilities, whether it markets itself that way or not.

So if we’re talking about LXPs that don’t use standards—yep, they’re a different class of platform. But without any standards in place, you can't really use an LXP with any eLearning authoring tools.

Once an LXP starts launching standards-compliant content and recording structured learning data that's built to an LMS specification, they’ve essentially crossed into LMS territory. Marketing labels aside.

So if an LXP ingests and uses an eLearning standard, and has an LRS, I'd classify it as an LMS/LRS hybrid. No eLearning standards used? Then it'd be an LXP/LRS hybrid!