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Best Open Source LMS for Creating Online Course and e-Learning Websites

A Learning Management System (LMS) helps you automate and document the learning programs. It is suitable for individual educators, small-scale educational programs and university-level learning programs.

Of course, even corporate training programs can be organized using a learning management system.

While it has a lot of use-cases, having a transparent platform for your Learning Management System should be a benefit for any organization.

While there are that allow you to focus on creating courses, having a self-hosted LMS gives you more control on all aspects and could even save you money. Hosting and managing could be a hassle, though.

So, in this article, we will be listing some of the best open source LMS.

Top Open-Source Learning Management Systems

To ensure that you have a transparent and secure platform that comes with community and/or professional support, open-source LMS solutions should be a perfect pick.

You may self-host these software on your own cloud servers or physical servers. You can also opt for managed hosting from the developers of the LMS system themselves or their official partners.

Key Features:

• Simple user interface
• Plugin availability to extend options
• Collaboration and management options
• Administrative control options
• Regular security updates

Moodle is a popular learning management platform. It features one of the most extensive set of options among any other learning management system out there. It may not offer the most modern and intuitive learning user experience, but it is a simple and feature-rich option as a learning platform.

You get most of the essential options that include calendar, collaborative tools, file management, text editor, progress tracker, notifications, and several more.

Unfortunately, there’s no managed hosting solution from the team itself. So, you will have to deploy it by yourself on your server or rely on certified partners to do the work.

2. Forma LMS

• Tailored for corporate training
• Plugin support
• E-commerce integration
• Multi-company support

Forma LMS is an open-source project tailored for corporate training.

You can add courses, manage them, and also create webinar sessions to enhance your training process remotely. It lets you organize the courses in the form of catalogs while also being able to create multiple editions of courses for different classrooms.

E-Commerce integration is available with it as well that will let you monetize your training courses in return for certifications. It also gives you the ability to utilize plugins to extend the functionality.

The key feature of Forma LMS is that it allows you to manage multiple companies using a single installation.

3. Open edX

• A robust platform for university-tailored programs
• Integration with exciting technology offerings for a premium learning experience

If you happen to know a few learning platforms for courses and certifications, you probably know about edX.

And, Open edX lets you utilize the same technology behind edX platform to offer instructor-led courses, degree programs, and self-paced learning courses. Of course, considering that it is already something successful as a platform used by many companies, you can utilize it for any scale of operation.

You can opt for self-managed deployment or contact the partners for a managed hosting option to set up your LMS.

4. ELMS Learning Network

• A suite of tools to choose from
• Distributed learning network

Unlike others, ELMS Learning Network offers a set of tools that you can utilize to set up your learning platform as per your requirements.

It is not an LMS by itself but through a collection of tools it offers in the network. This may not be a robust option for degree programs or equivalent. You will also find a demo available on their website if you’d like to explore more about it.

You can also check out its GitHub page if you’re curious.

5. Canvas LMS

• Fit for small-scale education programs and higher education
• Plenty of integration options

Canvas LMS is also a quite popular open-source LMS. Similar to Open edX, Canvas LMS is also suitable for a range of applications, be it school education programs or university degrees.

It offers integrations with several technologies while empowering you with an API that you can connect with Google Classrooms, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and others. It is also an impressive option if you want to offer mobile learning through your platform.

You can opt for a free trial to test it out or just deploy it on your server as required. To explore more about it, head to its GitHub page .

6. Sakai LMS

• Simple interface
• Essential features

Sakai LMS may not be a popular option, but it offers most of the essential features that include course management, grade assessment, app integration, and collaboration tools.

If you are looking for a simple and effective LMS that does not come with an overwhelming set of options, Sakai LMS can be a good option to choose.

You can try it for free with a trial account if you want a cloud-based option. In either case, you can check out the GitHub page to self-host it.

6. Opigno LMS

• Security features
• Authoring tools

Opigno LMS is a Drupal-based open-source project that caters to the needs of training programs for companies.

In case you didn’t know, Drupal is an open-source CMS that you can use to create websites. And, with Opigno LMS, you can create training resources, quizzes, certificates. You can also sell certification courses using this learning platform.

A simple interface and essential features, that’s what you get here.

7. Sensei LMS

• WordPress plugin
• Easy to use
• WooCommerce’s integration support
• Offers WooCommerce extensions

Sensei LMA is an impressive open-source project which is a plugin available for WordPress. In fact, it is a project by the same company behind WordPress, i.e. Automattic .

Considering that WordPress powers the majority of web – if you already have a website on WordPress, simply install Sensei as a plugin and incorporate a learning management system quickly, it is that easy!

You can manage your courses, and also sell them online if you need. It also supports multiple WooCommerce extensions to give you more control on managing and monetizing the platform.

You also get cutting-edge features like AI-based content generator and quiz builder integrated into your LMS with the Tutor AI plugin .

Wrapping Up

Most of the LMS should offer you the basic essentials of managing learning programs and courses along with the ability to sell them online. However, they differ based on their 3rd party integrations, ease of use, user interface, and plugins.

So, make sure to go through all the available resources before you plan on setting up a learning management system for your educational institute or company training.

Did I miss listing any other interesting open-source LMS? Let me know in the comments down below.

A passionate technophile who also happens to be a Computer Science graduate. You will usually see cats dancing to the beautiful tunes sung by him.

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Open edx overview:.

Built to showcase the latest in learning sciences and instructional design, the Open edX learner platform is driven by our community of developers, technology providers, research teams, and users.

The Open edX Learning Management System (LMS)

Learners, course teams, and instructors use the LMS throughout the duration of a course.

Instructor View

Instructors can publish courses, post discussion boards, manage teams and cohorts, edit grades, and communicate with learners.

Learner View

Learners can access their profile, check their enrollment status, and browse courses via their learner dashboard.

• Available for desktop, iOS and Android versions, the LMS provides access to course content and supporting infrastructure (schedules, discussion boards, collaboration tools, student administration, certificate generation, messaging, and more).
• Equally supports online courses, online campuses, and online degree programs.
• Customizable learner experience reflects your unique brand identity and preferences.

Cutting-edge authoring with Open edX Studio

Open edX Studio empowers learning and development through custom experiences powered by the latest in instructional design.

• Author courses and evolve your content while live with learners
• Manage your course schedule, course team, and grading policy
• Utilize documented and open XML standards (OLX) for import/export of courses.
• Easily import content and manage content across platforms.
• Access rich 3rd-party tools or add additional building blocks

Learner engagement data & analytics with Open edX Insights

Open edX Insights provides intelligent, learner-centric analytics to help instructors understand how learners engage with course material.

• Designed to support millions of users, Open edX Insights scales along with your learning program.
• Built-in reports help instructors and course teams manage online content for cohorts of any size.
• Learning teams can leverage existing data to build custom adaptive content and store data in a warehouse or learning record store (LRS).

Rich eCommerce capabilities

Open edX eCommerce capabilities support a large set of catalog items, products, and bundles, including multi-payment options such as PayPal.

Explore solutions that best meet your needs

Learn more about the Open edX technical architecture here

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Gibbon - The Flexible School Platform

Created by teachers, Gibbon is the school platform which solves real problems encountered by educators every day.

Being free, open source and flexible Gibbon can morph to meet the needs of a huge range of schools.

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Gibbon is used by many different schools around the world, including international schools, public schools, home schools, and refugee schools.

We’re creating a map of schools to discover where and how Gibbon is being used. Visit the map to learn more and feel free to add your school to the map.

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Our language options are made possible by the many volunteers who have worked to translate Gibbon into their language. Learn more about our available languages and collaborative translation tools .

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Gibbon’s guides and documentation are open source, written by fellow users and developers. If you can’t find the answer in the docs, you can also ask members of the Gibbon community in our support forums .

Open Source

“ Como escuela, nos ha impresionado Gibbon ya que es muy flexible, amigable y contiene todos los módulos requeridos en una escuela, recomiendo esta herramienta para toda institución educativa ya que provee una facil instalación, y un ambiente de trabajo no visto en otras plataformas desarrolladas con el mismo objetivo. ” Adolfo Cabrera, System Administrator, Colegio Citalá, El Salvador

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“ As an experienced educator, I can tell you that if your school or district is looking for a school platform, the search should begin, and will end, here. ” Christopher Whittum, Educator & Writer, energizeeducation.org

“ I teach ICT and coordinate the school’s IT, and can not think of a better system than Gibbon – smart, intuitive, flexible, inspiring, one platform for all - to introduce to supercharge the whole school community. ” Victor Datsyuk, ICT Coordinator, Myanmar International School

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“ Gibbon is the best school management software system I have seen, even after heavily researching school software for more than a year. It is a real gem of an open-source project that outshines many commercial alternatives. It is very fast, reliable, and intuitive—not to mention aesthetically pleasing! ” Father Vlasie, IT Director, SPOTS, California, www.spots.school

“ It is great to have a one-stop-shop for everything within the school. We are able to access student data quickly and easily. Our admissions process is now streamlined, freeing up time and energy. It is great to move our school away from a dependency on paper and archaic systems. ” Adam McGuigan, Principal, Kyoto International School, Japan

Screens That Eat Children A book for educators and parents from Ross Parker, Founder of Gibbon. Based on the same values as Gibbon, Screens That Eat Children invites readers to consider how we can live better in an age of attention and surveillance. Learn more.

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Install Gibbon in a local dev environment to test it out, or get your school up and running on a remote server. Read the installation guide for system requirements and instructions.

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Virtual Classroom Software

BigBlueButton is a purpose-built virtual classroom that empowers teachers to teach and learners to learn.

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T.I.P. has used BigBlueButton for hosting over 150,000 online classes. We evaluated other products and concluded that BigBlueButton empowers our teachers to provide the best virtual classroom experience for their students.

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A wide variety of educational institutions and organizations across the world have adopted BigBlueButton as their virtual classroom.

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BigBlueButton is the perfect tool for designing effective virtual learning experiences.

“BigBlueButton’s engaging teaching tools helped our tutors connect with their students online. Students’ consistent connections with their tutors is key to their future success, and BigBlueButton helps tutors maintain those connections.”

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“There are some functionalities that others don’t have , such as breakout rooms, whiteboard, and broadcasting of YouTube videos to all the participants. We also added a support for sharing videos from PeerTube, a French-developed, open-source YouTube equivalent. The academic community appreciated these functionalities. That’s why we made this choice to use BigBlueButton.”

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Bigbluebutton: built for teachers.

BigBlueButton was developed by the Technology Innovation Management (TIM) program at Carleton University’s Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization in Ottawa, Canada, in 2007.

Educators appreciate the intuitive nature of BigBlueButton’s feature set, including tools that make it easier for teachers to focus students on the lesson. Features like screen sharing, a multi-user whiteboard, breakout rooms, easy group polling, and so much more foster collaboration and keep students engaged.

As a result, BigBlueButton has been deeply embedded into major learning management systems used worldwide. It has been adopted by Canvas, Moodle Cloud, Sakai, Jenzabar, D2L, and Schoology as their default virtual classroom. Together, these vendors comprise more than 75% of the worldwide market for LMS systems. Every day, millions of educators, and learners around the world, in over 65 languages, use BigBlueButton for their online classes. At 8:30 am, the world starts teaching with BigBlueButton.

Built For You

BigBlueButton’s ease-of-use adapts seamlessly to online teaching, office hours, and facilitating group collaboration.

Document Upload

Upload documents such as PowerPoint, Word, PDF and images

Use the virtual whiteboard for highlighting content​

Breakout Rooms

Get students engaged in collaborative learning​ with breakout rooms

Play video in low, medium, and high-resolution video options 

Communicate with your classroom in public and private chat​s

Test your students knowledge with polling

Multi-User Whiteboard

Encourage creative thinking with the multi-user whiteboard

Shared Notes

Use shared notes for easier group collaboration​

Screen Share

Intuitive screen sharing that keep students engaged

Provide feedback during class by virtually raising your hand

Express yourself through our wide range of emojis​

Webcam Video

Share your webcam video during class and use custom backgrounds

MARC MATTHES

Director of computer networking programs and program developer, distance learning department, iowa central community college.

Open Source Project

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Red Hat Research Quarterly

Open source education: from philosophy to reality.

about the author

Danni Shi is a senior software engineer at Red Hat leading the development effort for the Open Education (OPE project). She is dedicated to advancing open source education and improving the accessibility of technology for all.

Article featured in

In this issue

“That’s what open source is all about”: A short history of collaboration, innovation, and education in research

Shaun Strohmer

Meet CCO: a scalable multicloud cost optimizer for complex workloads

Ilya Kolchinsky

Tuning Linux kernel policies for energy efficiency with machine learning

Perspectives

Research perspectives: Focus on open hardware 

Ahmed sanaullah.

Ulrich Drepper

A data-driven approach for analyzing Common Criteria and FIPS 140 security certificates 

Jaroslav Řezník

Petr Švenda

Research perspectives: Focus on clouds and research IT

Heidi Dempsey

Gagan Kumar

Research perspectives: Focus on testing and operations

Daniel Bristot de Oliveira

Research perspectives: Focus on security, privacy, and cryptography

Lily Sturmann

Research perspectives: Focus on AI and machine learning

Sanjay Arora

Researchers, interns, and industry engineers have joined forces to create an open education platform using Red Hat OpenShift Data Science.

Open source technology has transformed many industries, and education is now poised to be the next frontier. Open Education (OPE), an innovative project initiated by Boston University professor Jonathan Appavoo, is revolutionizing how education is delivered and consumed. OPE aims to put education on a path to open source, empowering educators in any discipline to create, publish, and collaboratively develop high-quality educational materials that students can access with just a web browser.

In collaboration with Red Hat Research, OPE leverages modern open source technologies to create an open environment and platform for education. Education has traditionally been a closed system, with students required to pay hefty fees for access to materials and classes. This has created significant educational barriers. OPE is helping to break down these barriers by making learning resources freely available to all, enabled by changes in cloud computing, open source technology, and education trends:

• The widespread adoption of cloud computing platforms provides scalable and cost-effective infrastructure for running data science workloads.
• The increased availability of open source technologies like Jupyter Lab, GitHub, and machine learning tools has facilitated the development of educational content and resources that can be created and shared in a cost-effective way.
• The demand for remote online learning resources is increasing, motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the drive for educational equity.

In addition to increasing access, OPE facilitates a more collaborative and efficient approach to learning. By sharing resources, teachers and students can learn from each other and build on each other’s ideas, leading to a better educational experience. The platform also prioritizes ease of use and simplicity in its interface and functionality, so people with varying levels of technical expertise can use it. 

The open ownership model of OPE starts with high-performance, open datacenters that provide the necessary hardware resources. The project exploits Linux to enable the use of cloud platforms, serving as the foundation for a rich environment of tools and services that support a novel approach to educational material. The current framework uses container infrastructure, Git, and JupyterLab, and is hosted on a Red Hat OpenShift Data Science (RHODS) platform. Using RHODS allows OPE to leverage the platform’s scalability and security to provide a reliable, consistent environment. This allows OPE to focus on creating educational content while RHODS handles the underlying infrastructure and platform management.

The OPE Template consists of several independent core branches: 

• A base container branch that provides an interface for specializations
• A tooling branch that offers support for building course content, publishing content, customizing containers, and publishing containers to a repository
• A test book branch that tests various components to ensure the preservation of compatibility across updates

Three tracks to success

The OPE project team, consisting of BU professors, teaching assistants, and Red Hat engineers and interns, has been working on several simultaneous tracks to make OPE a success:

The first track investigates generating engaging educational experiences using technologies produced by open source communities centered on JupyterLab. Arlo Albelli, a BU graduate student, led the summer 2022 OPE effort. He is the author and editor of the Under the Covers open source textbook (github.com/jappavoo/UndertheCovers) and a course instructor. Arlo is directly engaging with BU Computer Systems 210 course content and identifying prioritized tasks and features based on class feedback. 

Educators in any discipline can create, publish, and collaboratively develop high-quality educational materials that students can access with just a web browser

As part of the OPE project, the team also integrated RISE (Reveal.js Jupyter/IPython slideshow extension) in the JupyterLab environment and developed a slide layout extension. RISE is a Jupyter extension that transforms Jupyter notebooks into interactive presentations with live code, visualizations, and narrative text ( see a demo and documentation ). The slide layout extension allows users to create custom slide layouts, enabling more complex or customized presentations. Yiqin Zhang, an software engineer intern from BU, led the development of these extensions.

The second track is building custom Jupyter container images to provide more infrastructure options. Abirami Dhayalan, an intern from the University of Texas—Dallas, focused on the development of base OPE container images with the necessary software and packages installed to support the Jupyter environment and authoring tools. She standardized the container-source-to-image (S2I) building process and developed Fedora and Ubuntu-based multistage image builds.

The third track focuses on developing an automated test framework for OPE content that could potentially become part of the supported Red Hat OpenShift Data Science platform (RHODS). Xinyi Wu, a co-op master’s student from Northeastern University, worked on the test book, designing it to be a sampler book for the current and future courses. She also incorporated a RHODS testing framework with OPE test cases. Her work has enabled us to automate the testing process, making it more efficient and improving our development cycle. In the spring of 2023, intern Griffin Heyrich is improving test coverage and adding new test cases to OPE. Our goal is to make the OPE test framework usable and ensure that the builds and run processes are reliable.

Danni Shi is the Red Hat Research regular staff responsible for mentoring and communication work. She provides guidance and support to interns on each of the three tracks, helping them build the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their tasks. This includes providing feedback on their work, offering suggestions and recommendations, and helping troubleshoot any issues. 

OPE goals for 2023

With new interns joining the team, OPE has set new goals for 2023 to develop its tooling and systems further. These enhancements aim to improve the user experience and make it easier for individuals and organizations to use and extend the open education project and test framework. One of the primary tasks for OPE in 2023 is to make container image builds more reliable and faster. The OPE team is focused on reducing the container image size by using lightweight base images and multistage builds. Intern Isaiah Stapleton is leading the effort to minimize container image size, which will help speed up the image-building process and ensure that builds are completed quickly and efficiently.

OPE is helping to break down barriers by making learning resources freely available to all, enabled by changes in cloud computing, open source technology, and education trends.

Another important goal for OPE in 2023 is to concentrate on book content and interactive elements, ensuring that books have integrated assignments and that the content is well-structured and easy to follow. In addition, OPE will make information about templates easier to find and use. This includes providing a basic content template for users just starting to create books. Ke Li, an intern from BU, is working on developing command-line tools to integrate OPE features. This will normalize the process of creating, publishing, and working on a book. It will also provide templates for features such as tables, making it easier for users to incorporate these elements into their books. As OPE continues to evolve and grow, these new goals and tasks will play a crucial role in ensuring that the framework remains accessible, user-friendly, and effective for those who want to use it to create and publish open education resources.

Continual improvement

By providing the necessary tooling and support, OPE makes it easy for educators to utilize the power of open source to build and publish their materials. The project also enables community contribution, review, and verification of the educational content. This ensures that the materials are constantly improved and updated based on the collective efforts of the community. With OPE, educators have first-class support for collaboration, replication, and continual improvement of open source educational content.

Dr. Appavoo has already used the OPE framework to develop lecture notes and lab guides for the BU CAS CS210 course. The response from students and fellow educators has been overwhelmingly positive. The team is now working on making the framework more universal to encourage more lecturers to participate, offer courses, and assist students. 

The OPE project is making significant strides in transforming education and making it more accessible and convenient for both educators and students. The combination of open source technologies and a community-driven approach to development and verification ensures that OPE remains at the forefront of educational innovation. With the continued development of OPE, we may see a future where education is more accessible, engaging, and inclusive for all.

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A guide to free and open source education

Opensource.com

Nearly every week, if not every day, there are more and more open source and open educational resources available and accessible to us. It's impossible to ignore. It also seems impossible to keep pace with the sheer volume.

Despite this, I will attempt here to give a comprehensive listing of many helpful, accessible, amazing open education resources. (There will inevitably be some left out, but here goes!)

To begin, it's good to understand that t here are open resources for almost every age, grade, and subject:

• elementary, middle, and high school students
• higher,  tertiary, and vocational education
• special needs and gifted students
• public or private school students
• homeschoolers or unschoolers
• parents, teachers, and administrators

Where open education is being used

Prime Minister David Cameron announced in February 2013 that more UK universities are joining Futurelearn , the UK's first provider of free, open online courses (with the British Library). In both the UK and US, there are hundreds or thousands of free, open online courses being used; increasingly we are seeing other countries, like Brazil and India , start to become  heavy users and hotbeds for open source and open educational resources too.

Unesco has advocated for the use of open source and open educational resources worldwide. And, in December 2012 a UN trade group said that governments should seize open source opportunities  and become less reliant on large-scale software manufacturers.

Why open source?

All educators and administrators, and hey, students too, should read and pass along this short note on Why should open source software be used in schools?  Information like this helps begin the process of understanding, gets people on board, and can make the difference between action and talking.

Open education resources

OSS Watch  provides tips for selecting open source, or for procuring free or open software.

SchoolForge and SourceForge are good places to find, create, and publish open software. SourceForge, for one, has millions of downloads each day.

Open Source Education Foundation  and  Open Source Initiative , and other organization like these, help disseminate knowledge.

Creative Commons  has a number of open projects from  Khan Academy  to  Curriki  where teachers and parents can find educational materials for children or learn about Creative Commons licenses. Also, they recently launched the School of Open that offers courses on the meaning, application, and impact of "openness."

Numerous open or open educational resource databases and search engines exist. Some examples include:

• OEDb : over 10,000 free courses from universities as well as reviews of colleges and rankings of college degree programs
• Open Tapestry : over 100,000 open licensed online learning resources for an academic and general audience
• OER Commons : over 40,000 open educational resources from elementary school through to higher education; many of the elementary, middle, and high school resources are aligned to the Common Core State Standards
• Open Content : a blog, definition, and game of open source as well as a friendly search engine for open educational resources from MIT, Stanford, and other universities with subject and description listings
• Academic Earth : over 1,500 video lectures from MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale
• JISC : Joint Information Systems Committee works on behalf of UK higher education and is involved in many open resources and open projects including digitizing British newspapers from 1620-1900!

Other sources for open education resources

Universities

• The University of Cambridge 's guide on Open Educational Resources for Teacher Education (ORBIT)
• OpenLearn from Open University in the UK
• Unesco's searchable open database  is a portal to worldwide courses and research initiatives
• African Virtual University ( http://oer.avu.org/ ) has numerous modules on subjects in English, French, and Portuguese
• https://code.google.com/p/course-builder/ is Google's open source software that is designed to let anyone create online education courses
• Global Voices ( http://globalvoicesonline.org/ ) is an international community of bloggers who report on blogs and citizen media from around the world, including on open source and open educational resources

Individuals (which include OERs)

• Librarian Chick : everything from books to quizzes and videos here, includes directories on open source and open educational resources
• K-12 Tech Tools : OERs, from art to special education
• Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools : audio and video tools
• Web 2.0 Guru : animation and various collections of free open source software
• Livebinders : search, create, or organize digital information  binders by age, grade, or subject (why re-invent the wheel?)
• New Media Rights  is trying to help digital creators use public domain or open materials legally. They have guides on how to use free and open software materials in various fields.

Free, non-profit resources 

WatchKnowLearn  and  Good Sites for Kids  are examples of non-profit organizations that operate in an open way, but are technically not open source. Keep an eye out for them as well to help you along the open education way.

Related Content

Best online learning platform of 2024

Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE)

Best open source

Best for projects, best for pricing, best for integrations, best for google, best for entrepreneurs, best for streamlining, best for tools, best for social media, best for enterprises, best for training, how we test.

The best online learning platforms make it simple and easy to manage online courses for education and training.

1. Best open source 2. Best for projects 3. Best for pricing 4. Best for integrations 5. Best for Google 6. Best for entrepreneurs 7. Best for streamlining 8. Best for tools 9. Best for social media 10. Best for enterprises 11. Best for training 12. FAQs 13. How we test

Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) have become increasingly common, especially due to sweeping changes that became necessary due to the pandemic. 

While face-to-face learning has a place, increasingly learning and courses are being conducted through digital channels. This can be both cheaper and easier to manage for businesses, and for educators it means the ability to reach people from a distance. 

In a remote situation is where online learning platforms really come to the fore, as platforms for education make the most of modern technology. That’s not to say traditional means of education are about to be extinct, but academic institutions and businesses have identified that we can achieve plenty more through tech, such as smartphones and other internet-connected devices which can facilitate learning from any location.

Online learning also has its advantages for people who might not easily be able to access face-to-face learning. This can be especially relevant in remote areas, but also for people with disabilities whose mobility issues might prevent attending college or similar.

When comparing the different online learning platforms, we looked at what operating systems they were available on (Android and iOS), the app interface, integration with third-party software, and the overall quality. We also assessed the pricing plans and what kind of users each learning platform would be best suited for, among other things.  

Below we list what we think are the best online learning platforms currently available.

We've also featured the best online class sites .

Reader offer: 7 day free trial on Adobe Captivate

Adobe Captivate is a premier platform for crafting educational content, integrating various media sources such as images, screen captures, and PowerPoint presentations.  Try it for yourself.

Preferred partner ( What does this mean? )  

The best online learning platforms of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

1. Moodle LMS

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

While commercial software has its place, sometimes it is truly impressive what an open source project can achieve, such as in the case of Moodle LMS. This open source learning platform can be downloaded and used for free. While direct support is lacking (although an organization can engage one of 80 Certified Service Providers to remedy that deficit), there is still plenty here, including documentation such as guides on how to use this platform. 

Learners and teachers are sure to like the expansive feature set, such as interaction with multiple choice questions in the content, an integrated text editor , and support for 3rd party cloud storage providers, such as DropBox to submit assignments. It is also multi-language capable, and supports open standards such as SCORM. 

We also like that teachers can make comments on assignments, and the integrated all-in-one calendar . With so many features, it may be open source, but it hardly will feel like it, which explains why it has over 200 million users.

Read our full Moodle LMS review.

• ^ Back to the top

2. Adobe Captivate

Adobe Captivate is a professional platform for creating learning content. This can be incorporated from a variety of sources, including images that this software can edit, screen captures that can be done automatically, and by importing PowerPoint presentations. 

We are impressed with the support for VR projects, and users are sure to like the choice of acquisition options along with its use of templates to streamline project production, and provide consistency. Users do have issues with the stability of the app, the limited options for direct support and the cancellation fee for the monthly plan will undoubtedly irk some out there. 

Quibbles aside, Adobe Captivate is a mature piece of software that has endured with good reason, and is well worth a closer look via the 30-day trial that is longer than most of its competitors.

Read our full Adobe Captivate review.

3. Acorn LMS

For those that are looking for some upfront pricing, Acorn LMS- unlike some of its competition- answers that need. Rather than keeping potential users in the dark, Acorn LMS is upfront offering both a tier without content and another with content The company also offers a flat fee for the first 100 users and an additional student fee for each user thereafter. 

Beyond that, this platform has a number of strengths that impress us, such as the ability to make individualized student pathways via LinkedIn Learning content, the white label approach to foster customization of the site for consistent branding at an organization, and support for multiple tendencies allowing an administrator to easily manage multiple acorn LMS accounts via a single set of sign on credentials. 

While nothing is perfect, and we should point out the lack of an Android app in the Google Play Store, the dearth of user reviews, and that there are no advanced support options such as a forum or a FAQ, overall it is an attractive package worth the 60-day free trial.

Read our full Acorn LMS review .

4. Canvas LMS

The Canvas LMS is used by top institutions worldwide, and it can boast it has over 6 million users with an over 90% satisfaction rate. Users are sure to be impressed that it integrates well with popular apps that students use, such as those from Adobe, Google Workspace and Microsoft Teams . 

We also like the robust community forum, with thorough answers for common user issues, and the multiple communication options covering the spectrum from messaging (individually and as a group), to audio, and video. Some areas we would like to see improved would be support for gamification, and some transparency in the pricing. Teachers will also be pleased to see the support for automated grading via integration with SpeedGrader.  While the opaque pricing is frustrating, we appreciate both the free 30 day trial, and also the lowest ‘Teacher Tier’ plan that is free long term for both teachers and students to allow for education of all.

Read our full Canvas LMS review .

5. Google Classroom

Google Classroom offers a cloud based learning environment to enable remote education for learners from pre-K through the university level. We appreciate that it pulls together a number of Google tools, such as Google Meet , Google Drive and Google Docs all in one place to enable learning. 

Teachers can put in assignments as all types of documents, including .doc and .pdfs, students get the notification, complete the assignment and submit it. Teachers then grade the assignment, keep a virtual gradebook and can give classroom style lectures via the Google Meet function. 

Google offers this via several tiers of features, but we can appreciate that the free tier is plenty powerful for budget conscious school districts. The platform is also cross platform to allow learners to function with it with whatever their device of choice is, including laptops, Chromebooks , and both smartphone platforms- although the Android one garners complaints from the users.

Read our full Google Classroom review .

6. Thinkific LMS

Thinkific is an online platform that has enjoyed meteoritic success as a relative newcomer to this space. It has useful functions, such as the ability for educators to build a website , and templates are provided to facilitate this for newcomers. 

We also like that this platform can be used to issue certificates of completion. It is used worldwide, and can accept payments from learners signing up for courses from over 100 countries. 

Some omissions, such as the lack of a direct phone number or email for support, and no smartphone apps for either Android or iOS show the immaturity of the platform. We also wanted to see more user reviews than what we found online. However, with a choice of tiers starting with a free one, and a track record that has already earned its experts over $650 million dollars, it is seriously hard to dispute.

Read our full Thinkific LMS review .

7. 360Learning

360Learning meets the challenge head on of streamlining the task of project creation. Users are sure to benefit from the integrated tools such as the video editing software , the included templates that are branded as ‘Cheat Sheets,’ and the option to include ten different types of questions to test learners. 

We also appreciate the free 30-day trial without credit card info, and the choice of tiered plans. However, we were less impressed that there are few options for direct contact, with some features reserved for the top plan (like support for course attachments), and that the Android app has a significantly lower rating than the iOS version. We also like the ‘Collaborative Authoring’ approach that lets even inexperienced users create a course in minutes, rather than months.

Read our full 360Learning review . 

8. Blackboard Learn

Blackboard Learn is a learning platform that is used for learners of all levels from pre-K to university and beyond such as in government and industry. It has some shortcomings such as the opaque pricing, the limited direct support options and the multiple bugs that users report in the apps, especially the Android version. 

Balance that against the integrated tools that some competing solutions charge for, such as a plagiarism checker to check student assignments against. Also factor in the accessibility tool to be ADA compliant, and the other items to foster communication between students and professors, and the tracker to keep students on track with submitting their assignments. Additionally, the 30-day trial is longer than most others, and the iOS app is highly rated, so organizations that need a full fledged solution will see quickly why this learning platform enjoys its popularity.

Read our full Blackboard Learn review.

9. Absorb LMS

The Absorb LMS is a learning platform that focuses on business. It is also especially adept at social aspects, as it can easily integrate with corporate social media accounts. 

We also like the social focus that continues on to allow learners to create social accounts on the platform. This then allows them to virtually interact with the other learners, and also display the awards and certificates that they accumulate for completed content. We also appreciate that certificates can be custom created, to be either downloaded or printed. However, some aspects frustrated us, such as the learning community that is not running yet, the opaque and ultimately high pricing, and the buggy smartphone apps on both the iOS and Android platforms that have users commenting they would be better off accessing content on a computer.

Read our full Absorb LMS review .

Targeting the enterprise market, Docebo takes an AI approach to a learning platform with an impressive list of Fortune 500 companies that use its service. Incorporated under the Docebo Suite are multiple products to create content, deliver it, and also to measure the metrics of its impact. This style of product is well suited to onboarding, and retaining new employees. 

There are some issues with the lack of support options as we would have liked to have seen some more direct choices, such as a direct phone number or a chat option. Also of concern is the completely opaque pricing as we could not even figure out the available tiers or options without direct company contact. However, users are sure to make good use of the robust interactions fostered by this service via the ‘Docebo Community,’ although this gets negated by the clunky, and low rated smartphone apps on both the Android and iOS platforms.

Read our full Docebo review .

11. iSpring Learn

iSpring Learn is one of the most popular learning management systems (LMS) and is mostly used by corporations to train their employees. It makes it easy to prepare and deliver educational content for corporate trainees. You can start with the content you already have, e.g., upload your PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, audio tracks, and video tutorials to the platform. This platform doesn’t impose limits on the size or number of files you can host.

One of the best things about this platform is its interactivity. You can use it to put together engaging educational content complete with illustrations, quotes, videos, etc. For example, you can divide your long articles into chapters so that users can explore the material step-by-step. If you wish, you can restrict navigation such that the user can not proceed to the next material without completing the initial one. You can also add self-test questions throughout the content to help users understand and retain information as they proceed through the course. 

This platform has a customizable design, so you can design your courses with the colors and fonts that are part of your corporate brand. There’s also direct integration with iSpring Suite , a tool that works within PowerPoint and lets you quickly develop quizzes, interactions, and simulations.

iSpring Learn doesn’t just let you build courses. It also gives you analytics to track how trainees are interacting with your courses and their progress. This platform is ideal for companies looking for a solution to deliver corporate training to their employees.

Read our full iSpring Learn review .

If you're interested in studying more online, we've also featured the best courses in:

• HTML , 
• Word , 
• Javascript .

What is an online learning platform?

It is simply a platform that is designed to offer students or trainees everything they need for their education in one place. It allows them to access course materials and interact with other students. It also makes it easy for tutors to monitor student progress.

Online learning platforms are mostly used by schools, colleges, and other educational institutions. However, it is also used by other types of customers, such as corporations that want to deliver training materials to their staff. You can use such platforms to create lectures, assignments, quizzes, etc., and issue certificates to people that complete the course.

Which online learning platforms are best for you?

The first thing to consider when you want to choose an online learning platform is your technical competency. If you have not used an LMS system before, it's better to start with a basic platform before migrating to a complex one such as Moodle. This gives you more chances to understand the platform you are using and maximize its features. Advanced LMS systems offer more features but are of no use if you can find it difficult to use them. A more basic tool will get you acquainted with the intricacies of a learning management system before switching to a complex one.

The size of your trainees or students also matters. If you’re tutoring just a few dozen people, it’s better to choose a basic platform that is easier to manage. On the other hand, if you have hundreds to thousands of students, a more advanced platform such as Moodle is better. 

Online learning platforms vs Learning Management Systems

There are three main categories of online learning platforms; open-source, free, and paid. Open-source refers to platforms where the source code is freely available for modification. Thus, anyone with sufficient programming skills can tweak the software to get just exactly what they want out of it. Moodle is currently the most popular open-source learning platform and is used by many colleges, schools, and companies. 

An open-source learning system is free to use and can be customized extensively. For example, you can use your organization's logo and its unique colors to make the platform feel familiar to users. Open-source systems are also very scalable, so you can start small and expand the platform as you add more students.    

There is a large community of developers behind popular open-source learning platforms like Moodle, and they are constantly building features that you can take advantage of. The drawback of using open-source software is that they are more complex to handle compared to regular free or paid software. You may need a dedicated technical staff to help you. 

The second main category is the free online learning platform. They come at no cost, but the source code behind them is not freely available and customizable like with open-source software. You can use these free platforms to host your educational content and deliver them to the intended users without paying. However, there may be some costs associated with hosting your content on an internal server or for additional features. The drawback of free platforms is that they don’t offer as much features as paid and open-source ones.

The third category is the paid online learning platform, which refers to most on this list. Here, you will need to pay upfront to host your educational content and distribute them to your students or trainees. Expect to pay a fixed fee for each user either monthly or annually, and it can add up to a considerable amount if you have a lot of students. The paid platforms are usually easy to use and navigate because customers expect user-friendliness for a platform they’re paying for. You can also access on-demand support if you run into any issues, unlike with free and open-source software. 

With a paid platform, you don’t need to spend money running your own server and setting up and managing the software. The provider does that for you, while you just pay and access it whenever you want. It is an ideal type to choose, but the disadvantage is that it can be expensive. 

Online learning platform vs online course websites

There are plenty of ways to receive education online these days. This can include anything from casual content, such as an educational YouTube Video, to more structured online education such as a series of videos, and in some cases supplemental content in the form of text or a downloadable PDF. While there are many websites to educate and impart content, they are not all online learning platforms.

An online learning platform goes beyond what an online course website offers, with additional content to support the education. While it will incorporate the elements of an online course website, it will include additional tools, which will all be combined into a single platform. These tools can be communication methods such as live video or messaging, the opportunity to have assignments, and a record of certificates of completed courses. Overall, an online learning platform provides content that will be more in depth, and organized in a more formal environment to promote greater learning.

Open source vs free vs paid online learning platforms

Learning platforms can be divided into three different categories based on the pricing model.

The first is free, which has the benefit of no cost. There are both services that offer this at no cost, or ones that have a free tier, with reduced features, that then hope to upsell the service to a paid tier, and use the free offering as a gateway to getting a paying customer. A downside of these free offerings is that the support tends to be minimal to nonexistent, such as only via an online community board.

Open source is another nice option for a learning management system. In this model the software is distributed for no cost. This can allow an organization to then run this off of its own server. However, there are still costs to doing this, and then this must be supported internally. Another downside is that then the software may not be as updated as frequently, exposing it to security vulnerabilities.

The final option is a paid offering. While this does have an upfront cost, and in most cases for each additional learner, it does have plenty of advantages. This includes that the provider can host the software as a cloud service, requiring no in house personnel to provide support. Also, there may be options for phone support, and also more features.

Is Zoom an online learning platform?

Made popular by the pandemic with remote meetings becoming commonplace, Zoom is a video communications platform. Other popular choices in this category are GoToMeeting , and Google Meet . Zoom and other video communication apps are used for online audio and video meetings for business, casual and educational use. Each also supports additional content to support the virtual meeting, such as sharing screens, or chat within the app.

However, Zoom is not specifically an online learning platform. While it can certainly be used to support education, it has no way to give assignments, grade them, or do quizzes for example. As an online learning platform it falls pretty short, with plenty of better options out there. Also, many of the better online learning platforms offer video chatting within the platform so Zoom as a standalone is not needed as the functionality is already incorporated in.

What are the pros and cons of an online learning platform?

There are plenty of pros for an online platform. This includes the instant availability of the education, and that learners are not limited by geography and can attend class anywhere- even from the comfort of home. The learning is also self-paced, as it can accommodate a variety of learning styles and learner needs as it is more flexible. There is also the benefit that learners don’t need to commute to the school reducing the cost and burden of education, which can also be a time saving benefit as well.

While there are certainly benefits, there are some downsides as well. Some students may prefer face to face learning with a teacher directly in front of them, that an online learning platform lacks. Also with no physical school to attend, there is less of a structured learning environment, which some learners may do better with. Furthermore, there is less or even no camaraderie between learners than at a physical school, which can all be part of the total educational experience, and is a missing component with an online learning platform.

What are the essential features of an online learning platform?

When choosing an online learning platform for your organization, be sure the choice is a good one. Here are some essential features to look for:

• Scalability: Nobody wants to outgrow their platform too soon, and have to transition to another one. Therefore, look for scalability that can grow as you need it to.
• Mobile presence: Today’s learners want to be able to learn when on the move. Therefore, look for an online learning platform that has well rated apps for both the iOS and Android platforms, that are highly rated.
• Tools for authoring: A flexible platform allows for content creation that is easy to use. This can include tools for text editing, and also video capture and editing from within the platform to streamline production.
• Easy to use interface: Nobody likes to use a clunky interface, so look for an easy one to use, that is well presented, and won’t distract or overwhelm users.
• Robust support: When the inevitable issues of a platform come up, users are going to need some help. Look for a platform that offers a variety of support choices, including options for direct support such as a direct email and phone number.

Read how to host your own learning management software with Moodle LMS .

There are plenty of choices in the online learning management software area, so there is sure to be one well suited for each organization.

A major differentiator is price. Some LMS’ are available for free, or have a low cost entry tier. Others offer more features, but at a higher price point. Pricing models are also different with some providers charging only by each student, while others having the price based on the plan, and then a lower additional cost for each additional learner. 

Another feature to look for are the mobile apps. Especially younger learners value these apps so that a learner can engage in education from anywhere, at any time. Be sure that the apps are available for both of the mobile platforms- Android and iOS . Also, check the ratings of the apps in their respective stores, as just because an app is available it may not be a great one with some low rated, glitchy ones out there.

Read how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar .  

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Brian has over 30 years publishing experience as a writer and editor across a range of computing, technology, and marketing titles. He has been interviewed multiple times for the BBC and been a speaker at international conferences. His specialty on techradar is Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, covering everything from office suites to IT service tools. He is also a science fiction and fantasy author, published as Brian G Turner.

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Tools Intro to Open Source

Start your open source journey here

Everything you need to know to understand the origins of open source work, how to become a contributor, a maintainer or a sponsor of an open source project and how to propel open source work into a career. Start with the basics including intro guides, how to find good first issues and basic open source vocabulary. Then begin to explore some of the best tools and thought leadership that will help you discover new ways of contributing.

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Resources below are outlined in the order we think will be most helpful. Start with the OpenSauced Intro to Open Source course, then explore additional resources from there including

• Content created by the GitHub DevRel team including Open Source Vocab videos, Open Source Guides and helpful articles on Dev.to
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• Gain inspiration from the ReadME Podcast, where we take a look behind the scenes of the most impactful open source projects and the developers who make them happen
• Finally, explore Student Developer Pack partners that can assist in building and contributing to open source projects.

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Intro to Open Source course

This course is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to contribute to open source projects. It offers engaging exercises to help you begin your journey towards becoming a successful contributor, and even provides an opportunity to get your first pull request merged.

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This course is designed to provide you with an introduction to how to become an open source maintainer and guide you through the process of creating your open source project, working with contributors, and more.

Why Open Source?

In this video by OpenSauced, you'll learn why you should even consider contributing to open source projects and how they can contribute to your career development goals.

Open Source Guides

Open source software is made by people just like you. Learn how to launch and grow your project with guides that cover how to start, maintain and manage open source projects, as well as how to connect to other open source creators.

Good First Issue

Lend your skills to an open source project focused on the Digital Public Goods (DPGs). From fighting climate change, to solving world hunger, your efforts will contribute to creating a better future for everyone.

DevRel approved open source articles

GitHub's very own DevRel @MishManners' curated series on all things open source.

Introduction to Open Source Vocabulary Part 1

Using the example of collaboration on apple pie recipes, we explain some of the foundational terms associated with open source and the GitHub workflow. We explain terms like repository, pull requests, merging a pull request, forking, branching, and contributors. Part 1 of 2.

Introduction to Open Source Vocabulary Part 2

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China Rallies Open-Source Software Efforts Advance Military Aims, US Defense Group Says

By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) - A Chinese nonprofit group with ties to the nation's government is coordinating efforts among China's biggest technology firms to develop open-source software with military applications, a U.S.-based defense policy group says.

A report circulated this week by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based defense policy group, said that China's OpenAtom Foundation is overseeing work on open-source operating systems developed by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. One of those operating systems called OpenHarmony is a variant of the Harmony operating system Huawei developed after U.S. sanctions forced it to cut ties with U.S. technology providers.

OpenAtom appears to be coordinating efforts among Chinese firms to develop a viable alternative to U.S. technologies, including for defense applications such as satellites. OpenAtom spearheaded work to make OpenHarmony suitable for use on Chinese satellites launched last year that can take high-resolution images at low cost, the report said.

Sunny Cheung, an associate fellow for China studies with the Jamestown Foundation, said OpenAtom appears to be a key player in carrying out China's strategy for technological self-reliance, with many of its leaders coming from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and more than 38% of staff having ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

China's foreign ministry declined to comment.

While most of OpenAtom's sponsor companies are Chinese firms such as Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, U.S. chipmaker Intel is also a sponsor.

"Intel fosters an open ecosystem strategy through its leadership in key groups and foundations around the world to build trust, deliver choice, and ensure interoperability for our industry," Intel said in statement.

The Jamestown Foundation's Cheung said that rather than focus solely on blocking China's technology efforts, U.S. officials examine whether the U.S. government should become involved in promoting its own open-source software priorities, which until now have been largely left to the private sector. Otherwise, Cheung said, China could develop a lead over the U.S. in open-source technologies.

"The U.S. should look into China's example and try to have their own doctrine and protocol to innovate on open source," Cheung said.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

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