Microsoft Learn is free, and an MSP can use its Plans to assign Microsoft training and see progress. Keep it for Microsoft product skills. Add Empath Learn when you want those assignments beside technician onboarding, your SOPs and the rest of your staff training, with one place for managers to follow up. The Microsoft lessons still open on Microsoft's site.
Empath makes Empath Learn. See what Microsoft Learn looks like inside Empath on the Microsoft Learn catalog page.
The second choice keeps Microsoft's tools; Empath adds an MSP staff program around them. Empath Learn is paid, while Microsoft Learn training is free.
| Staff training feature | Microsoft Learn with Empath Learn | Microsoft Learn on its own |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft product lessons and certification preparation | ●Included | ●Included |
| Microsoft Learn Plans, group invitations and progress reports | ●Microsoft Plans remain available | ●Documented by Microsoft |
| Plan milestones and automated nudges | ●Microsoft Plans remain available | ●Documented by Microsoft |
| Assigned Learn completion beside all MSP staff training | ●After setup, assigned progress syncs daily | ○Microsoft has its own reports, not Empath's combined staff view |
| MSP role paths and your own SOP lessons and quizzes | ●Included | ○No equivalent MSP course builder in cited Microsoft Learn pages |
| Public YouTube playlist into a course | ●One lesson per video | ○No playlist-to-course import established |
| Included non-Microsoft courses, labs and AI roleplays | ●Included in Empath Learn | ○No equivalent to Empath's included catalog established |
| ConnectWise PSA weekly training tickets | ●Available after setup with limits | ○No equivalent workflow in cited Microsoft Learn pages |
● Documented ◐ Partial or conditional ○ No credit for this precise feature from cited evidence; absence is not proved. For YouTube, full means a public playlist becomes a course with one lesson per video; half means a single video or link can be added to a course, lesson or path.
Microsoft Plans work in either choice. The empty mark for a combined dashboard does not deny Microsoft's own reports.
Empath Grow is separately priced. Microsoft Learn does not offer the same MSP client-training model.
| Client training feature | Empath Grow | Microsoft Learn on its own |
|---|---|---|
| Each client has its own tenant that your MSP creates, manages and bills | ●Included in Empath Grow | ○This MSP client billing model is not established by the cited pages |
| Client admins, selected catalog and their own reports | ●Included in Empath Grow | ○This combined client-admin, catalog and reporting model is not established by the cited pages |
| Your price, revenue and margin per client in one view | ●Included in Empath Grow | ○This MSP client billing model is not established by the cited pages |
Microsoft Learn training is free. It covers Microsoft's products, roles and certifications. A technician can study Intune or Defender directly on Microsoft's site without an Empath seat. Microsoft also supplies more than a list of lessons: Plans let a manager create or copy a plan, invite a learning group, set milestones, send nudges and review each learner's progress or download a detailed report.
Partner Center's Microsoft Learn report also shows linked learners' modules and learning paths. These tools may cover a Microsoft-only program.
Every Empath Learn staff seat includes Microsoft Learn items. Your employee opens the lesson on Microsoft's site, then returns to the MSP's wider training program in Empath. A manager can assign Microsoft Learn courses, set course due dates and see assigned completion beside other training. Microsoft Learn courses can also sit inside an Empath learning pathway.
For a new help-desk hire, assign Microsoft Intune learning beside Empath's Introduction to Tickets and Triage and your escalation SOP. Five ready-made templates cover Tier 1, Account Manager, Project Delivery Basics, Cybersecurity Fundamentals and New Hire Onboarding. The Built for MSPs catalog also has Ticket Escalations 101.
An Empath Admin connects the MSP's Microsoft 365 tenant through Entra ID. The learner signs in to Microsoft Learn with the same work identity used for the Empath assignment. After setup, Empath requests Microsoft Learn completion data once every 24 hours and applies it to matching assigned lessons or courses. Managers can see completion status and Microsoft's estimated time in Empath's progress reporting.
The setup guide spells out the limits: assigned content only, no earlier activity, and daily updates. Assign the work first and have technicians use their linked work accounts.
Your technicians' Microsoft work can help build toward a Solutions Partner designation. Link employees' Microsoft Learn profiles to your organization in Partner Center and focus on the qualifying intermediate or advanced certifications for your solution area. Microsoft awards skilling points for those certifications, not for course or module completions or Learn XP. A designation needs at least 70 of 100 partner capability points, with points in each required metric. Its performance measure includes eligible new customers over a trailing 12-month period, so training alone cannot earn the designation.
A designation brings Microsoft partner benefits and can help meet requirements for incentive programs, some with co-op marketing funds. Each program has its own rules. Empath connects to Partner Center and shows assigned Learn course progress and completion beside other staff training. Partner Center holds the capability score, designation progress and certification records; Empath does not display them.
Microsoft Learn teaches Microsoft products. Empath Learn also covers running an MSP. Its course authoring tools let a Content Admin paste a ticket SOP into a text lesson, add a quiz with feedback, build a course and assign it in a pathway. A public YouTube playlist can become a draft course with one lesson per video. Microsoft Plans can curate Microsoft learning with milestones, but the cited pages do not describe that SOP course workflow.
Every Learn seat also includes the Curated Collection with more than 14,000 courses as of October 2026, more than 40 labs and hundreds of AI roleplays. Those are separate from Microsoft Learn. Microsoft's old free Learn sandboxes have ended, according to its training FAQ, but Applied Skills still uses lab-based assessments. Check the specific practice your staff needs in either catalog.
After setup, Empath's ConnectWise PSA integration can create weekly training tickets for assigned courses and add tracked time to the previous week's ticket if it still exists. Learner and ConnectWise member emails must match exactly, and one Empath tenant connects to one ConnectWise company. The ticket is an Empath training workflow, not a direct Microsoft Learn-to-ConnectWise connection.
Clients can use Microsoft's free site to learn Microsoft products. If your MSP needs to run training for clients, Empath Grow is a different, separately priced offer. The MSP creates, manages and bills a separate tenant for each client, with its own admins and selected catalog. Client managers have their own reports; the MSP can resell eligible courses and see its price, revenue and margin per client in one view. Microsoft Learn is not included in Grow; free access to it does not grant resale rights.
Microsoft Learn's training is free. Microsoft Plans and Partner Center reports may be enough if you are managing only Microsoft education. Empath Learn has a paid staff price for the combined program: Microsoft Learn assignments, MSP-made courses, the Curated Collection, labs, roleplays and authoring. You are paying for those additional tools and training, not for a new copy of Microsoft's lessons. Empath Grow has a separate price for client training.
Use Microsoft Learn and its Plans alone when official Microsoft training and Microsoft reporting cover the job. Add Empath Learn when you need to assign Microsoft work alongside MSP role paths, your own SOPs and other staff courses, then review progress in one manager view. The existing Microsoft Learn sync is the reason this pairing works; there is no need to treat Microsoft as an outside content subscription.
For other providers, Empath can iframe content in a lesson only where that provider permits framing, or your MSP can request an API integration through the feature-request process. A second paid subscription rarely pays off when Empath covers most MSP skills. Work with Partner Success if a gap makes another provider worth considering. Book a demo with the roles you train and the Microsoft assignments you already use.
Earlier Microsoft Learn history stays with Microsoft. Empath does not import prior completions.
If you are moving your own SOP courses from another LMS, Empath's business development and Partner Success teams can help or give you a migration plan. Some packages include professional services; ask your account executive. Microsoft completion history still stays in Microsoft.
Yes. Microsoft Learn training is free on Microsoft's site. You can study its product lessons and use its own Plans without an Empath Learn seat. Empath is a paid MSP staff training program that includes Microsoft Learn items along with MSP courses and other training. See Empath pricing for current plans.
Yes. Microsoft Plans let you invite learners, assign learning, set milestones and nudges, and view progress reports. Partner Center also has a report for linked partner learners. Empath adds course due dates and shows assigned Microsoft Learn completion alongside the MSP's SOPs, role paths and other staff training after setup.
After an Empath Admin connects the Microsoft 365 tenant, assigned items completed with the matching work account sync once a day. The sync does not pull work done before setup or activity on unassigned items. Learners still open the lessons on Microsoft's site. See Empath's setup guide for the steps.
No. Course completions, modules and XP do not by themselves earn partner skilling points. Qualifying intermediate or advanced certifications from employees linked to the organization can count under Microsoft's rules. A Solutions Partner designation also needs the required points in performance and customer success. Partner Center shows the score and certification records; Empath shows assigned training progress.
Use Microsoft Learn and Plans for a Microsoft-only program. Add Empath Learn when those assignments belong beside MSP training and your SOPs. Bring your current learning list and job roles to a demo.