Moodle

A learning management system for schools, universities and companies that you run on your own web server or use through MoodleCloud.

Open-source alternative to:

Blackboard

Visit Moodle GitHub Docs

GPL-3.0Self-hostedCloudNot confirmed

What the free edition leaves out

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The official pages do not say enough about the free edition to give a verdict. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.

Open-core feature checklist for Moodle
Feature	Free edition	Details	Source
SSO / SAML	Not confirmed	The authentication docs list LDAP, OAuth 2 and Shibboleth; SAML2 does not appear on that page.	Source ↗
Role-based access control	Free	The docs describe roles as permission collections assigned in contexts, plus standard and custom roles, with no edition limit mentioned.	Source ↗
Audit logs	Not confirmed	No official page states whether the free edition includes this.	Source ↗
Multi-user / teams	Not confirmed	No official page states whether the free edition includes this.	Source ↗
Backups and restore	Not confirmed	The install docs tell you to set up site backups and automated course backups; no edition detail.	Source ↗
API access	Not confirmed	The web services page describes web services but does not confirm a REST API in core.	Source ↗
Support SLA	Not confirmed	The README points to Moodle Partners and MoodleCloud; the MoodleCloud page says support is self-service, and 24-hour support applies to partner solutions. No SLA terms found.	Source ↗

Best for

Schools, universities and companies that want a self-hosted learning platform with courses, activities and a large plugin ecosystem.

Why choose it over Blackboard

The README says Moodle is free open source software under GPL version 3 that you can run on your own web server, with hosting available from MoodleCloud or Moodle Partners if you prefer not to.

Where it falls short

A full install needs PHP, a database, a cron job and a separate data directory, and the docs recommend at least 1GB of memory. MoodleCloud does not allow installing your own plugins. Hosted plans and partner solutions are separate commercial services.

Open-source alternative to

Blackboard — Moodle is a learning management system, the same kind of product as Blackboard.

Built with

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