Open-source Blackboard Learn alternatives

Open edX Platform is the core code of the Open edX project, which provides an LMS, where learners take courses, and Studio, where course authors build them. The maintainers describe it as powering education sites around the world, and it is aimed at institutions and companies that run their own online courses.

The repository is a Python backend service released under the AGPL-3.0 licence, with named releases such as the Birch release. The project website could not be read when this entry was written, so details beyond the repository description are limited. Deployments are typically operated by the organization or by a hosting provider, rather than as a single downloadable application.

Moodle is an open-source learning platform used by universities, schools, companies and other organizations. It is designed so that educators, administrators and learners can create personalized learning environments within a single integrated system.

The project is written in PHP and released under the GNU GPL v3. The Moodle site is the hub for a community that includes spaces for educators, administrators and developers, along with Moodle Moot events, developer meetings and the Moodle User Association. User documentation, developer documentation and a demo site let you evaluate it before committing.

You can download Moodle and run it on your own web server, or work with one of the Moodle Partners. Hosting is also offered through MoodleCloud and the partner network, so organizations without technical staff have a managed route.

Sakai is a freely available suite for learning, teaching, research and collaboration, developed by a diverse and global adopter community. The repository contains the source for the Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment, with the master branch tracking the most current development release, Sakai 24. It is written in Java and is an Apereo Foundation project.

Building from source needs Java 1.8 and Maven, or the included wrapper. Sakai runs on Apache Tomcat 9, and the README warns that it does not work with Tomcat installed from a distribution package manager, so it must be configured by hand following the wiki guide. After startup, which takes around thirty seconds, the portal is reachable on port 8080 of the local machine.

Sakai is licensed under the Educational Community License version 2.0. Bugs are filed in the project's Jira, the community runs nightly servers for testing the latest builds, and a developer mailing list is available. Branches other than master correspond to currently or previously supported releases, and the README describes the release plan and support schedule.

Tutor is the official Docker-based distribution of Open edX, the open-source learning management platform. Its goal is to make Open edX easy to deploy, customize, upgrade and scale, both for production and local development, and the project says it is used to run hundreds of Open edX platforms around the world.

Everything runs in Docker, with a quick one-command installation and upgrade path, and it can also be deployed on Kubernetes. A plugin architecture handles extensions, and batteries-included options cover theming, SCORM, HTTPS, the mobile app and custom translations. The documentation includes a user guide, developer guide, command-line reference, hooks, a template patch catalog and an FAQ.

Tutor is written in Python and licensed under AGPL-3.0, and it is self-hosted on your own servers. For organizations that want help, Edly offers professional assistance with Open edX installation and management as a paid service, separate from the software itself. Tutor suits universities, training companies and course providers that want to run their own learning platform.

Canvas is a modern, open-source learning management system developed and maintained by Instructure Inc. It is released under the AGPLv3 license for use by anyone interested in learning more about or using learning management systems. The codebase is written in Ruby, and the repository topics describe it as a mirror of the Gerrit-based development work.

The README itself is short and defers to the project's wiki for detailed installation and configuration instructions. It points to a quick start path for trying Canvas and a separate production start path for real deployments, and it directs readers to the main wiki page for more information about the product.

Canvas suits institutions and organizations that want to run a learning management system from source. Instructure also offers Canvas as a commercial hosted service, though the repository does not describe that offering or its pricing.

Chamilo is an open-source e-learning platform, also called a learning management system, for publishing courses and tracking learners. It is released under the GPL-3.0 license and aims for ease of use and accessibility for teachers, trainers and administrators. The current major version in the repository is Chamilo 3.

The feature list covers announcements, assignments that can be created, submitted and graded, with AI-assisted co-grading and plagiarism checking integrations, and attendance tracking with reporting and signing. Calendar events support reminders and subscriptions. Course administration includes creating, publishing, exporting and importing courses, including content coming from Moodle, and there is a course catalogue with an e-commerce module and filtering by user groups.

Chamilo also offers content management pages and menus, document management with OnlyOffice integration for viewing and collaboration, and support for multimedia learning modules. An API lets it connect to HR systems, student information systems, ERP tools and online shops. The application is built with PHP and Twig templates.