Moodle vs Canvas

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Our analysts compared Moodle vs Canvas based on data from our 400+ point analysis of LMS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

Moodle is a customizable, open-source training solution used by corporate organizations, K-12 schools and higher educational institutions. From interactive lessons for K-12 to complex courses at large campuses, it lets you create tailored learning experiences to suit your students’ unique needs.

You can track student progress using analytics and reports, and integrate with third-party video conferencing tools like BigBlueButton. Out-of-the-box capabilities include course creation, calendars, dashboards, text editing, SCORM compatibility, reporting, learning paths and group management.

Moodle is an excellent choice for small businesses with technical expertise or access to IT resources. Its open-source nature allows for significant customization, making it a cost-effective solution for those who can manage their hosting and support.

User reviews praise its flexibility, user-friendly interface, interactive features and cost-friendliness. However, its sharp learning curve and lack of certain capabilities, like video conferencing, could be improved.

Moodle’s starter plan with up to 50 users costs $130 per year, while more advanced plans range from $400 to $1,730 per year.t

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Canvas helps you create and deliver engaging courses to your students and track their progress in real time. It allows you to post course materials, assignments, quizzes and grades. Students can access these resources, submit their work and communicate with other team members.

You can host discussions through discussion boards and chat rooms, provide personalized feedback using SpeedGrader and track student progress with built-in analytics. Canvas integrates with third-party apps like Zoom, Webex and GoToMeeting, and offers three mobile apps, one each for teachers, students and parents.

User reviews about Canvas praise its smooth interface, real-time collaboration tools and course creation capabilities. Since pricing details aren't mentioned online, you can contact the vendor directly for more information.

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Product Insights

  • Simplifies Data Exchange: Moodle uses open industry standards to support integration and content usage from third-party sources. It allows authentication via protocols like LDAP, direct database lookup, Shibboleth, IMAP and FirstClass. It also supports content import using SCORM, AICC and IMS Content Packaging standards.
  • Offers Key LMS Features: For those seeking an all-in-one LMS solution, Moodle is an excellent choice. Our analysis indicates that it delivers 82% of essential LMS functionalities straight out of the box, with only 5% of key features missing. Supported features include collaboration, mobile capabilities, reporting and dashboard, user management and gamification, and compliance.
  • Award-Winner: In the 2024 SelectHub Awards, our research analysts awarded Moodle best-in-class honors for assessments, collaboration, compliance, learning delivery, mobile capabilities, user management, gamification, and integrations and extensibility. it also achieved an 'excellent' rating as a user favorite.
  • Easily Accessible: Moodle offers features like text-to-speech tools and accessibility checkers to support learners with disabilities.
  • Provides Greater Customization: You can customize to fit a varied range of learning needs, no matter how specific or unique. Modify the source code or add functionality from a library of over 1,600 plugins.
  • User-Friendly: In our testing, we found that Moodle's interface is modern, intuitive and user-friendly, making navigation effortless. For organizations with learners unfamiliar with LMS platforms and limited training budgets, Moodle offers an accessible solution. The layout is designed to display all key features prominently, and all team members can effortlessly locate and access courses, resources and tools without the need for additional support.
  • Top-Performer: With an analyst rating of 85, Moodle stands out as our top LMS product, comparable to top-tier systems like D2L Brightspace and LearnUpon. It offers a comprehensive set of features, including collaboration, compliance, reporting and dashboard, and user management and gamification, all of which are fully supported.
  • Supports Collaborative Learning: Moodle supports social constructionist pedagogy, a teaching method that focuses on collaboration and active learning. It encourages students to interact with the course material and each other to create a more engaging and participative learning environment. Students can work together on projects, share ideas and engage in discussions and more.
  • Facilitates Community-Building: Attend online conferences broadcast worldwide to gain and share knowledge amongst Moodle users. MoodleMoot Global is an annual event where Moodle enthusiasts from around the world gather to share ideas, collaborate and learn from one another. This event is perfect for both newcomers and experienced Moodle users, and offers a chance to connect with like-minded individuals and contribute to the future of education and lifelong learning.
  • Provides Insights into Key Training Activities: Our testing revealed that Moodle offers extensive reporting features, allowing you to generate custom reports on nearly every aspect of your training. It offers insights into comments, backups, configuration changes, event lists, antivirus failures, logs, live logs, performance overviews, question instances, security checks, system status and theme usage.
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  • Ensures Continuous Learning: Experience minimal disruptions with a 99.9% uptime. Say goodbye to unexpected crashes and keep your educational ecosystem reliable and accessible at all times.
  • Enriches Learning with Unlimited File Size: Upload as much audio, visuals and video content as you need to courses. File size is not limited, so you can provide comprehensive and engaging materials without worrying about storage constraints.
  • Strengthens Collaboration: If you’re looking to create collaborative learning experiences for your team, Canvas is the perfect LMS for you. Based on our analysis, it provides a variety of collaboration tools fully out of the box, such as discussion boards, content sharing, group chat, two-way messaging, and notes and annotations.
  • Ensures Consistency in Evaluations: Create centralized repositories of questions at account levels. For instance, you can create sub-account question banks to store assessments like basic grammar rules across various courses. This ensures consistency in evaluations across different classes, making it easier to access and administer assessments. 
  • Offers a Flexible Pedagogy: Enable instructors to design classes around their preferred learning methods. That could mean standards-based grading, traditional grading, flipped learning, project-based learning and more.
  • Streamlines Corporate Training: Use Bridge LMS, Canvas’ corporate training solution, to meet your employee training needs. Create and track training programs, use built-in performance tools, integrate with HR systems and more.
  • Award-Winning LMS: Canvas ranks among our top 10 LMS software, alongside LMS giants like LearnUpon, Absorb LMS and Moodle. In the SelectHub Awards 2024 for the LMS category, it won best-in-class honors for assessments, collaboration, compliance, user management, gamification, and integrations and extensibility.
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  • Course Development: Create courses from scratch or upload existing ones to the system. The course builder tool allows you to:
    • Add name, category, start and end date, ID number, summary, number of sections, cover image, participants, tags, groups and other specific details.
    • Insert resources like checklists, files, forums, quizzes, wikis and more into sections. You can also set up virtual classroom sessions via BigBlueButton.
    • Add questions, files, competencies, course completion conditions, add-on apps and badges.
    • Generate reports to analyze competencies, log actions, live logs, training activities and course participation rates.
    • Import, back up, restore, copy and reset courses to reuse them.
    • Enable learners to request new courses and download course content.
  • Assignments: Use the assignment activity module to communicate tasks, collect tests and quizzes, and provide grades.
    • Allow students to submit any type of digital content, such as documents, spreadsheets, images or audio and video clips, or type text directly into the text editor.
    • Use assignments to remind students of offline tasks without having to make digital submissions.
    • Let students submit work individually or as a group. When reviewing, leave feedback comments and upload files like marked-up submissions, commented documents or audio feedback.
    • Grade assignments using numerical scales, custom scales or advanced methods like rubrics. Record final grades in the gradebook.
  • Forums: Use forums to encourage students to socialize, make course announcements, discuss learning content, host face-to-face sessions online and more.
  • Checklists: Allow teachers to create checklists and help students track tasks and to-do lists.
  • HTML5 Packages: Upload and add HTML5 Packages (H5P) to the platform. H5P allows you to integrate interactive content like presentations, videos, quizzes, games and more into course materials. Automatically grade questions attempted in H5P activities and record them in the gradebook.
  • Calendar: Log important events like assignment deadlines, upcoming meetings, and course start and end dates and more on the company calendar.
  • BigBlueButton Integration: Integrate with BigBlueButton and conduct live online classes, virtual office hours or group collaborations. Use features like audio, video, chat, slides, screen sharing, a multi-user whiteboard, breakout rooms, polling and emojis in real time. Record sessions for playback later.
  • Feedback: Design surveys with multiple-choice, yes/no or text-input questions to gather participant input. Keep responses anonymous if needed, and decide whether to share results with participants or restrict them to teachers only.
  • Notifications: Track updates and alert users when a new event occurs. Enable triggers for new course additions, upcoming deadlines, published grades, schedule changes and more.
  • Course Tracking: Monitor course progress and the number of activities completed by each learner. View their completed assignments, course start and end times, achievements and other details for each course.
  • Quizzes: Create assessments with various question types, such as multiple-choice, matching, short-answer and numerical questions, and include them in course exams, topic tests, practice sessions and more.
    • Configure options for multiple attempts, randomize question order from the question bank and set time limits.
    • Automatically grade each attempt, excluding essay questions and record results in the gradebook.
    • Customize when to display hints and feedback and correct answers to students.
  • Multi-Device Support: Access the site from any device via the free mobile app for Windows, iOS and Android. It's compatible with mobile layouts and can be used in any browser for a consistent experience.
  • Plugin Management: Manage all plugins from one interface for quick access. Provides plugins for different types of educational needs (e.g., universities). Connect with MS Office 365 and Google Apps.
  • Personalized Dashboards: Organize and access training information like checklists, badges, latest announcements, timelines and course overviews on a customizable dashboard.
  • User Management: Add new users, set user preferences, define user profile fields, upload user pictures and more.
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  • Course Creation: Create new courses using built-in interactive tools. Add specific details like name, course code, due date, language, grading scheme, modules and sections, description and more.
    • Announcements: Share key course information with everyone. Remind students of dates and tasks, point them to valuable resources, celebrate achievements and highlight events. You can include text, multimedia and files.
    • Grades: Show grades as points, percentages and complete/incomplete. Filter and arrange Gradebook entries, automatically apply grades for missing/late work, and hide grades until you're ready to release them.
    • People: Depending on permissions, add students, teachers, assistants and observers. Create student groups for group assignments, discussions and file sharing.
    • Pages: Create interactive content like weekly updates, collaborative wikis or resource lists. Include text, multimedia and links, and allow students to contribute to specific pages.
    • Files: Easily insert files into modules, assignments, discussions or pages. Share files with students or lock them until ready for download.
    • Quizzes: Use the New Quizzes engine for diverse question types. If unavailable, use Classic Quizzes to achieve your objectives.
    • Modules: Organize content by weeks and units. Add files, discussions, assignments, quizzes and more. Set prerequisites or lock modules until specific dates.
    • New Analytics: Use the New Analytics tool to monitor who has viewed content and participated in assignments and identify students needing extra support.
  • Dashboard: View published/unpublished courses, access the calendar and upcoming events, start new courses, view grades, enable notifications and more.
  • Assignments: Include quizzes, graded discussions and various online submissions (files, images, text, URLs media). Assign to everyone or set different due dates for specific groups. Organize assignments into groups, weigh them by percentage, and enable Peer Review for student feedback.
  • Gradebook: Easily input and distribute grades using various methods, such as points, percentages, pass/fail, GPA scale and letter grades.
    • Use SpeedGrader to assign grades and provide feedback efficiently.
    • Automatically create columns in the Gradebook for assignments, discussions, quizzes, surveys and attendance tracking.
    • View grades by grading periods, sort by due dates or student names, and apply specific filters for streamlined management.
    • Download and grade assignments offline and calculate totals.
    • Monitor grades across all courses, notify students of graded assignments and manage grade history.
    • Customize grading curves, message students based on assignment status, leave private comments and excuse assignments when necessary.
  • Rubrics: Set custom or outcome-based assessment criteria to communicate quality expectations. Use rubrics to align learning outcomes, assess submissions in SpeedGrader and support non-scoring assessments for comprehensive grading.
  • Canvas Catalog: Integrate with Canvas Catalog to streamline course offerings.
    • Easily bundle multiple courses into programs and enable registration for community education and professional development.
    • Create branded sub-catalog listings for specific departments or organizations.
    • Customize page templates for FAQs, contact info and individual course landing pages.
    • Set up personalized certificates and automate their distribution.
    • Allow students to track their progress with customized dashboards.
    • Generate reports on course progress, registrations, revenue and enrollment trends.
    • Offer hassle-free self-registration and self-paced courses with automated enrollment, payments and certificate distribution.
    • Build, manage and customize courses and programs.
  • SpeedGrader: Quickly grade student submissions in one place with SpeedGrader. Use a simple point scale or detailed rubrics to assign grades, and accept various document formats and URLs to mark up assignments directly for feedback. Sort submissions by student, hide names for anonymous grading and track your progress. Easily view submission details, handle resubmissions and manage moderated assignments.
  • Intelligent Insights: Enhance teaching and learning effectiveness with Intelligent Insights, a premium analytics solution tailored for admins.
    • Use AI and analytics to gather actionable data.
    • Leverage conversational AI for quick ad hoc data requests and pre-built analytics for tracking goals such as course effectiveness and student success.
    • Customize insights to pinpoint best practices, optimize LTI usage and address learning needs.
    • Build custom dashboards and automate SQL queries to streamline data management and improve learner support.
    • Identify courses that need improvement, notify instructors promptly and foster continuous improvement across teams.
  • Roll Call Attendance: Manage attendance in courses using the Attendance (Roll Call) tool, an external LTI app suitable for both online and face-to-face classes. Enabled at the account level, users can access it across all courses within your Canvas account.
  • Discussions: Communicate about course topics anytime. Create graded or casual discussions for idea exchange and problem-solving. Use threaded discussions for detailed topics and focused discussions for short exchanges.
  • Assessments: Administer assessments in the form of assignments, quizzes and discussions.
  • Assignments
    • Allow students to submit assignments online through text entry, file uploads, media recordings, external tools, URLs or Canvas pages.
    • Assign to individual students, groups or sections.
    • Include a due date for Not Graded assignments, without providing points or grades.
  • Discussions
    • Grade student responses to discussion topics.
    • Assign to individual students, groups or sections.
  • Quizzes
    • Conduct surveys or assess student comprehension of course content through quizzes.
    • Assign to individual students or sections, but not to groups.
  • Collaboration: Teachers can communicate with individual students, groups or the entire class through messaging, audio notes, video and more. Students can work together via chat groups, video and other messaging tools.
  • Mobile App: Provide equal access to curriculum and instruction with native mobile apps for students, teachers and parents on iOS and Android devices.
  • Canvas Student: Enables students to access courses anytime, anywhere. They can:
    • View grades and course content.
    • Submit assignments.
    • Keep track of coursework with a to-do list and calendar.
    • Send and receive messages.
    • Post to discussions, take quizzes and watch videos.
    • Receive notifications for new grades and course updates.
  • Canvas Teacher: Helps teachers manage their courses anywhere, both in and out of the classroom. This app offers quick access to three main tasks:
    • Browse submissions and give feedback to students with the enhanced mobile SpeedGrader.
    • Send announcements and messages (like "Message Students Who..."), and join course discussions quickly.
    • Change due dates, publish assignments and correct misspellings directly from your phone.
  • Canvas Parent: Allows parents to see their child's educational details easily at a glance. They can:
    • View assignment descriptions and due dates
    • Set reminders for assignments
    • View assignment and course grades
    • View course announcements
  • Outcomes: Set and track learning goals. Focus on skills and activities, not just grades. Assess progress using the Learning Mastery Gradebook. Import existing outcomes and align them with course rubrics.
  • SIS Imports: Upload and integrate data from SIS using CSV files or through the Canvas API. Manage users, accounts, courses, enrollments, logins and more. Use IMS Enterprise Specification XML zip files or Banner Grade Exchange Results XML for automated imports.
  • Canvas Studio: Create, deliver and organize video content in various formats within your media library using Canvas Studio.
    • Upload videos directly from devices or integrate them from YouTube into courses.
    • Monitor student engagement by tracking views, duration and interactions.
    • Connect with platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Hangouts.
    • Engage students with interactive video quizzes, real-time feedback and integrated Gradebook.
    • Provide personalized feedback using SpeedGrader and customize learning paths with MasteryPaths.
    • Encourage student participation through video creation and peer feedback.
    • Integrate instruction, assessment and additional learning opportunities directly into the video experience.
  • Conferences: Integrate with BigBlueButton to host lectures, office hours and group meetings. Broadcast audio/video, share slides, and demonstrate applications and resources.
  • ePortfolios: Create ePortfolios to display and discuss your students’ submissions and experiences. Allow them to collect and document educational projects, assignments and more. Keep ePortfolios private or share them with peers, instructors and future employers.
  • Video Assessments: Create engaging video quizzes where students answer questions as they watch. Give instant feedback and automatically submit grades to the Gradebook. Review videos and provide comments. Use SpeedGrader to apply rubrics and offer quick, personalized feedback.
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Product Ranking

#4

among all
LMS Software

#10

among all
LMS Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

85
79
21
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93
82
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100
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Collaboration
Compliance
Mobile Capabilities
Platform Capabilities
Reporting and Dashboard
Collaboration
User Management and Gamification
Reporting and Dashboard
eCommerce
Content and Course Management

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Moodle
Canvas
+ Add Product + Add Product
AI-based Capabilities Assessments Collaboration Compliance Content And Course Management ECommerce Learning Delivery Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Dashboard User Management And Gamification 21 93 100 100 92 50 80 100 100 100 100 0 82 100 83 91 92 75 87 74 97 99 0 25 50 75 100
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

93%
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21%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 4011 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 5849 reviews
86%
of users recommend this product

Moodle has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 4011 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

91%
of users recommend this product

Canvas has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 91% when considering 5849 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

4.8 (12)
5.0 (11)
4.1 (398)
4.4 (1482)
4.3 (3249)
4.6 (3998)
4.5 (112)
4.5 (77)
4.1 (240)
4.5 (281)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Moodle and concluded it deserves the award for the Best Overall LMS Software available today and earns best-in-class honors for Assessments, Compliance, Mobile Capabilities, Platform Capabilities and Integrations and Extensibility.

Analysts' Pick Award
Assessments Award
Compliance Award
Mobile Capabilities Award
Platform Capabilities Award
Integrations and Extensibility Award

Canvas stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Customizability: According to 80% of users who reviewed this, Moodle lets users add custom HTML and CSS, integrate with third-party applications, and select modules related to rubrics and outcomes.
Ease of Use: 90% of users praise its intuitive interface which is easy to navigate, especially for students. Its simple and intuitive features make it suitable for beginners.
Advanced Feature Set: 75% of reviewers highlighted Moodle’s wide range of features, such as course creation, third-party integrations, notifications and feedback, and grading rubrics.
Mobile Compatibility: According to 60% of users who discussed this aspect, Moodle's mobile app is very user-friendly and offers all necessary tools to support on-the-go learning. It lets users access course content, connect with team members, download learning materials and more.
Affordability: 80% of reviewers who discussed costs appreciated that Moodle is free to download and use and offers flexible pricing models for various needs.
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User-Friendly Interface: According to 60% of users who mentioned this pro, Canvas offers an intuitive and navigable interface, and is easy to use for both instructors and students.
Mobile Accessibility: The Canvas mobile app, praised by 72% of users, offers a responsive design and on-the-go access on various devices.
Best-In-Class Integration Capabilities: 55% of users said Canvas integrates well with a wide range of third-party tools and services, and helps create a customized learning environment.
Effective Communication and Collaboration Features: 45% of users appreciate Canvas’ communication tools, specifically discussion boards, announcements and email.
Personalized Course Design: Canvas offers flexible course designs, allowing instructors to create personalized learning experiences for their students, said 40% of users.
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Steep Learning Curve: Regarding this, 45% of users said Moodle has a steep learning curve for administrators. They feel its interface can be confusing to explore since it has a lot of features, and users need to know what they’re looking for to use the platform effectively.
Lack of Video Conferencing: 45% of users who discussed this con point out Moodle's lack of built-in video conferencing capabilities, which are increasingly important for online learning.
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Technical Glitches and Bugs: Nearly 40% of users report experiencing technical issues, such as system crashes, data loss and bugs.
Steep Learning Curve for Complex Features: According to 30% of users, while the overall interface is user-friendly, more advanced features have a steep learning curve.
Rigid Due Date Policies: Some users mentioned that Canvas's rigid due date rules can be challenging for students who submit work late due to technical issues or other reasons.
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Moodle is an open-source LMS that's really popular among educational institutions like K12 schools and colleges. Its workplace version is designed to address various corporate training needs such as onboarding, compliance training and skill development.Moodle is packed with features – you can create courses, collaborate with learners, grade assignments and more. Plus, it works quickly on mobile devices so that learning can happen anywhere. We love how flexible it is, and it can be customized to your heart's content with HTML, CSS and third-party integrations.Its user-friendly interface is another highlight, and it is known for its intuitive navigation and ease of use, particularly for students. This makes Moodle a suitable choice even for those new to LMS platforms. A strong focus on social constructionist pedagogy emphasizes collaboration and active learning. And with Moodle’s large and active global community, you can get active support and contribute to its ongoing development.While its interface is great for instructors and students, we found that it may be complex for admins, and an extensive feature set can require time and effort to master. The lack of built-in video conferencing capabilities is another drawback, though the solution does integrate with virtual classroom tools like BigBlueButton.Being open-source, Moodle eliminates licensing fees, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious institutions. The availability of free plugins and themes further adds to its cost-effectiveness.Moodle is a fantastic choice if you're looking for a powerful and adaptable LMS, especially for education. Its multi-tenancy architecture supports various business structures and types, making it adaptable to different corporate environments. Its open-source nature, emphasis on collaborative learning, and scalability make it a viable option in the LMS market.

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Canvas is an eLearning solution used for online, in-person and hybrid learning in a variety of educational settings. Users praise its smooth interface, mobile accessibility and integration capabilities, while also highlighting some technical and usability challenges that may require attention.Users found the system easy to use and navigate, and were happy with its vast suite of features, especially the grading, assignments and assessment tools. Most reported that it’s budget-friendly and had positive experiences with customer service.On the downside, users said they encountered bugs and glitches in the program. They requested a more flexible due date policy and more ease of use in advanced features.All things considered, Canvas is a versatile LMS that provides a modern platform and industry-specific features to make learning more engaging and personalized. It may require some initial investment in training and customization, but it delivers a positive overall experience for both instructors and students.

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