We performed a comparison between Canvas LMS and CYPHER Learning based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Learning Management Systems (LMS) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
"Its easy adaptability to whatever form or methodology you are using to teach is valuable. It tends to be seamless, and it is very much a self-intuitive product. It requires almost no instruction, and you can be fully up to speed and ready to run on it. You can bring someone in who has never worked with any online learning or LMS system, and in a week's timeframe, they would almost be fully functional because Canvas is so simple to use."
"The solution is easy to access."
"It's easy to follow. It flows well, and it's easy to use."
"The product's flexibility is exceptional."
"The integration with Zoom is a notable feature. It allows for seamless access to live class sessions directly from Canvas after authentication, enabling quick entry into Zoom calls. You can also schedule Zoom calls or private recordings directly within Canvas, making it convenient, especially for situations like self-recording exams. Additionally, Canvas excels in collaboration and discussion capabilities. Users can engage in discussions on various topics, and there's the option to create custom groups for more focused interactions. These groups provide a level of privacy and isolation from the broader class, which is a significant advantage."
"They have a more extensive support base in terms of infrastructure."
"I used a lot of other systems in my IT career and Canvas LMS truly has everything that I would look for in an enterprise system."
"We have been using Canvas LMS, and overall, it has served our needs well for managing courses and general settings."
"When I do a survey, CYPHER Learning is helpful because then I can more quickly peruse students' responses. I don't have to go through question by question. Grading-wise, it has certainly helped, when giving a survey, to streamline my grading for that assignment."
"It is very easy for educators to communicate with students using CYPHER Learning. The entire community is on the platform and we all know the process. There is fluid, fast, and effective communication that consists of sources that give us what we need to continue our educational processes."
"Compared to other platforms, it is very user-friendly and intuitive, and both teachers and students can easily find what they need and use the functions without extensive training."
"For as long as I have been working with MATRIX (for a few years now), they have the social aspect with groups. The thing that they did not have for years, until earlier this year, was a reply-all feature. I had been asking for that for years and they finally added it this year. That has been helpful because now our students are less frustrated."
"E-commerce is still one of the exotic features, meaning that not all LMS providers offer it. It is critical for us. We have had no trouble implementing payment gateways with this system and it works out-of-the-box without any special tricks."
"It is a platform that has everything. It is very powerful and intuitive. And because it is so user-friendly, it allows anyone without any knowledge of LMS platforms to make a course, publish it, and monitor it."
"I have many students in my charge and thanks to the automation provided by CYPHER Learning, it is possible to apply any class to any classroom and, in that way, replicate the same content for all classrooms."
"It brings students together in one place with teaching materials. Also, it has a social capability to it by way of forums and groups. That is definitely important for our programs. There has been a lot of engagement in our programs."
"It would be good to be able to do teleconferencing within the LMS."
"The high-tech interactivity with other software, like ArcGIS or RSA Archer, can be better. It is not as easily compatible with them. You can put apps in it that the students can then access, but the routing of apps through the Canvas system slows down functionality on the other types of products."
"There are a couple of areas that could be improved. Firstly, the discussion feature is not very interactive and can be slow to respond, making it less intuitive at the moment. This is an aspect that needs substantial improvement. Another point to consider is related to the cost of the LMS system. It's perceived as relatively expensive, which has led to discussions about transitioning away from Canvas, potentially to a more cost-effective alternative. This cost-related aspect is a significant factor to consider when implementing such a system."
"The solution could be upgraded and improved."
"It would be nice to be able to do more real-time comprehensive reporting with Canvas LMS."
"In our working, we are encountering many challenges with Canvas LMS. One of the major area is their business model which is having a very different pricing structure. The structure is made in such a way that the license fee is needed to be paid for the complete year even if the student has been enrolled for a programme of short duration. This structure is not conducive with our needs and hence, in the past few years, been increasing our costs manifold. Along with this, Canva LMS also lacks many functionalities such as notifications and adaptive learning. There is a specific issue with the licensing model that affects us in continuous education. The inability to reuse a license for the same course in different terms hinders our cost efficiency. For instance, if a program runs from January to April, we are required to pay for the license twice within the same academic year. This contrasts with other platforms like Hyper, where reusing a license is possible, allowing us to use the same license multiple times in different terms. Along with the use, we are exploring the integration of artificial intelligence into our processes, and Canvas LMS falls short in this regard. While some platforms allow connections with external AI services, Canvas does not currently offer built-in artificial intelligence capabilities, a feature we find valuable for enhancing the learning experience."
"The product could be integrated with a talent management system."
"The learning curve is not steep, but it is intermediate."
"We manage a huge number of registered users and also offer a large number of courses on our platform, and our courses are offered via a large number of organizations. It's a very complex setup, but CYPHER Learning did an excellent job of fixing the initial speed issues we had."
"As an administrator of our LMS, there are a lot of things that could be improved, but these are not seen by students or professors. One is the admin features for adding students."
"There is a great feature that enables self-registration for a user and it comes with an access code. Unfortunately, there is only one access code and it works for all portals. We would appreciate a dedicated access code for different portals."
"Perhaps there is room for improvement in the gamification part. I have used it but it has not been very clear to me. It may be my responsibility for not asking about it in the training sessions, but the way you use it is not so clear."
"I would also like CYPHER Learning to constantly give training days for all the institutions that work with them. We recently had face-to-face training, but this could be done more frequently."
"The search function needs to be improved; it isn't currently working correctly and has no value to us at this point, but it should be of great value. To my knowledge, CYPHER Learning is presently working on this issue."
"The parents' training was not adequate. Parents say that it wasn't user-friendly for them."
"One thing I find annoying is that the system is quite limited when it comes to roles. I was used to our old system where I could create custom roles to cater to specific users and that's not available in CYPHER Learning."
Canvas LMS is ranked 6th in Learning Management Systems (LMS) with 8 reviews while CYPHER Learning is ranked 1st in Learning Management Systems (LMS) with 50 reviews. Canvas LMS is rated 8.6, while CYPHER Learning is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Canvas LMS writes "Intuitive, easy to learn, and easy to adapt to various teaching methodologies". On the other hand, the top reviewer of CYPHER Learning writes " Rules engine allows us to automate aspects of our training, and we get full visibility into individual students' progress". Canvas LMS is most compared with Google Classroom, Schoology Learning, Moodle, Brightspace and Kajabi Course, whereas CYPHER Learning is most compared with Moodle, TalentLMS, Google Classroom, Cornerstone Learning and Blackboard Learning Management. See our CYPHER Learning vs. Canvas LMS report.
See our list of best Learning Management Systems (LMS) vendors.
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