Train Space vs the free vendor academies

Checked 4 November 2026

The vendor academies are free and good at one thing: their own product. Microsoft Copilot Academy teaches Copilot, OpenAI Academy teaches ChatGPT and Anthropic Academy teaches Claude. Most companies run two or three of these tools at once. Train Space covers them in one place, scores a check on each skill, and shows a manager who is current today.

	Copilot Academy, OpenAI Academy and Anthropic Academy	Train Space
Tools covered	Each covers its own vendor's tools only	Copilot today; Claude, ChatGPT and Codex, and Gemini in preparation, plus general AI skills
Price	Free (Copilot Academy needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 or Viva licence)	AI essentials is free; the rest is per seat per year after a free evaluation
Kept current	OpenAI says it updates courses as its products change; Microsoft and Anthropic don't say	Each course is dated, vendor release notes feed a review queue, and a lesson whose source has expired fails the build
Proof of skill	Completion certificates and quizzes; OpenAI's certificate is "not an OpenAI Certification"	A check scored on the server after each lesson, on your own work, and a credential when a program is done
Records for your company	OpenAI offers completion reporting to organizations; others not stated	Who is current, as of any date, with an export
Written for your company	Generic	Lessons name your own tools and channels

Pick Copilot Academy, OpenAI Academy and Anthropic Academy if

You run one AI tool and only need people to learn its basics.
Your budget is zero and nobody asks for evidence of training.

Pick Train Space if

Your teams use more than one AI tool, or you expect to switch.
A manager, auditor or customer will ask who has been trained and when.
You want people practising on their real work, not watching videos.

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Questions

Is Microsoft Copilot Academy free?

Microsoft made Copilot Academy available to Microsoft 365 users with a qualifying Microsoft 365 or Viva licence in May 2025, so it no longer needs a Copilot licence. It teaches Microsoft Copilot only.

Does OpenAI Academy give a certification?

OpenAI Academy gives a completion certificate for its free courses. OpenAI's own help page says that certificate is not an OpenAI Certification.

Can Train Space sit alongside the vendor academies?

Yes. Some companies keep the vendor course as reading and use Train Space for the parts the academies don't do: one place for every tool, a scored check, and a record of who is current.

Sources

Facts about other products come from their own pages. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.