Rehearsal vs Skylar: Internal Practice Platform or Trainer-Owned Roleplay?

Short answer: Pick Rehearsal if you run an internal enablement or L&D team and want AI roleplay plus recorded video practice, mentor review, mobile access, SCORM/LMS delivery, SAML SSO and a public API. Pick Skylar if you are a sales coach or training company who must carry your own methodology, client context and brand across separate engagements.

Both tools run AI roleplays. They are shaped for different buyers. Here is what ELB Learning publishes about Rehearsal, what Skylar is for, and how to choose.

Rehearsal vs Skylar at a glance

What Rehearsal is

Rehearsal is developed by ELB Learning. ELB positions it across sales enablement, customer support, leadership development, onboarding and education. For sales enablement specifically, the use case is messaging and objection handling.

The product combines two forms of practice. Learners rehearse with AI, and they record video and audio responses. ELB says the AI roleplay gives immediate feedback, and that scenarios are dynamic rather than fixed scripts.

The features page adds detail. ELB describes AI avatars as dynamic and judgement-free, tailored to the scenario. It says analysis covers patterns such as pace, sentiment and key phrases, drawn from transcripts, and that mentors can review performance data. There are guided practice paths, and support for 50+ languages. These are ELB’s own published claims, not independently verified results, so treat them as a starting point for your own evaluation.

One mode worth calling out is Hot Seat: a single-attempt exercise. Anyone who has run live practice sessions will recognise the intent. You do not get a second take, which is closer to how a real call works.

How Rehearsal is delivered and administered

This is where Rehearsal shows its enterprise L&D roots.

The knowledge base documents creating and testing Roleplay SCORM packages, learner access through an LMS, report review, mentor feedback, Android and iOS guides, and release notes. Those documented workflows are especially relevant if Rehearsal needs to fit an existing learning stack. Note that this documents Rehearsal’s own capabilities; it is not a broad directory of third-party integrations.

For identity, the SSO overview describes SAML 2.0 support covering user information, group membership and mentor/mentee relationships, with automatic user provisioning available as an option. That last part matters: the mentor/mentee structure can be driven from your identity provider rather than maintained by hand.

For data, ELB publishes public API documentation for both Rehearsal and Roleplay, including a guide for pulling session data into Power BI. API keys are provisioned by Rehearsal.

On pricing, the pricing page asks buyers to contact ELB to purchase or learn about savings. No public currency price or tier was confirmed. It does advertise a free trial, so you can look before you talk to sales.

What Skylar is

Skylar is built for a narrower job. It serves independent sales coaches, trainers and training companies who deliver their own methodology across multiple client engagements.

That difference drives everything. A coach does not need one platform for one team. They need their method to travel: from one client to the next, with different products, different buyers, and a different sales process each time.

Skylar’s custom roleplays use the trainer’s framework and assessment criteria, then adapt to each client’s products, buyers and sales process. You keep the method and change the context.

Skylar also offers white-label. Your logo, your colours, your domain. Clients see your brand, not ours.

The real difference: one learning stack vs many client engagements

Rehearsal is built to live inside an organisation’s learning system. SCORM packages, LMS access, SAML groups, mentor hierarchies and API exports all assume there is one stack, one admin team and one set of users.

A training company works the other way round. Six client programmes mean six sets of buyer context, six sales processes, and often six different learning systems that are not yours to configure. What stays constant is your framework and your brand.

The reviewed ELB material does not describe a coach-specific multi-client or white-label delivery model. That is not the same as saying it cannot be done. If you are a training company weighing Rehearsal, ask ELB directly how client separation, branding and per-client scenario libraries would work for you.

Neither shape is better. They answer different questions.

Choose Rehearsal if

• You run an internal enablement or L&D team rather than a client-facing practice.
• You want AI roleplay and recorded video and audio practice in the same product.
• Mentor review matters: you have people who will watch submissions and coach on them.
• You deliver learning through an LMS and need documented SCORM workflows.
• You need SAML 2.0 SSO with group membership and mentor/mentee mapping, and optional automatic provisioning.
• You want to pull session data out via a public API, including into Power BI.
• Your learners practise on mobile, and across many languages.

Choose Skylar if

• You are a sales coach or training company, not an internal enablement team.
• You deliver your own methodology and want it to stay front and centre.
• You need white-label so clients see your brand, not a vendor’s.
• You work across several clients and need roleplays that adapt to each one’s products, buyers and sales process.
• You want a setup built for sales trainers rather than adapted from an internal-team tool.

Frequently asked questions

Is Rehearsal or Skylar better for a sales training company?

Skylar is built for that job: coaches and training companies delivering their own methodology across multiple clients, with white-label branding. Rehearsal is positioned for organisations training their own people. If you are a training company, ask ELB how multi-client delivery would work before you decide.

What does Rehearsal do?

Rehearsal by ELB Learning combines AI roleplay with video and audio practice. ELB says it offers dynamic scenarios, immediate feedback, mentor coaching, a Hot Seat one-attempt mode, transcript-based analysis and 50+ languages. Its sales enablement use case is messaging and objection handling.

How much does Rehearsal cost?

ELB does not publish a currency price or tier on the Rehearsal pricing page. It asks buyers to contact ELB to purchase or learn about savings. A free trial is advertised, so you can try it before speaking to sales.

Does Rehearsal integrate with an LMS?

ELB’s knowledge base documents creating and testing Roleplay SCORM packages and giving learners access through an LMS. It also publishes public APIs for Rehearsal and Roleplay, with a guide for session data in Power BI. Confirm the specifics for your own LMS with ELB.

Does Rehearsal support SSO?

ELB documents SAML 2.0 SSO covering user information, group membership and mentor/mentee relationships, with automatic user provisioning as an option.

Does Rehearsal support white-label delivery for trainers?

The reviewed ELB pages and documentation do not describe a coach-specific multi-client or white-label delivery model, so confirm this with ELB directly. Skylar publicly offers white-label with your own logo, colours and domain.

Can Skylar roleplays follow my own sales framework?

Yes. Skylar’s custom roleplays are built on your framework and your assessment criteria, then adapted to each client’s products, buyers and sales process.

The short answer, again

If you are training one internal workforce and need AI roleplay, video practice, mentor review and a documented path through your LMS and identity stack, Rehearsal is the stronger fit. If you are a coach or training company who must carry your own framework and brand across separate client engagements, Skylar is built for you.

Want to see what that looks like in practice? Start with Skylar for sales trainers.