We performed a comparison between Canvas LMS and Moodle 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."We have been using Canvas LMS, and overall, it has served our needs well for managing courses and general settings."
"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."
"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."
"It's easy to follow. It flows well, and it's easy to use."
"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."
"The product's most valuable feature is the ability to import and export documents for courses, assessments, and questionnaires in any format."
"The most valuable features of Moodle are the ability to create assignments, divide them into teams, and the course delivery. In Cornerstone, I need to reach out to the team, and it is not as simple, a little more involved. Additionally, the solutions is easy to manage."
"What I liked most about Moodle was that I could create nice online quizzes. It takes very little time to do. You don't have to even read the paper, it automatically evaluates the quizzes. It gives the student grades and provides a lot of useful statistics. For example, it indicates which question was the hardest, easiest, and where students made the most mistakes. Everything is available to you. You couldn't do this in regular paper test hard copies. This was my first use case."
"Almost all the activity modules are available inside the courses, so that makes our training easier and more comfortable."
"The most valuable feature is the community. Moodle is a completely open source application and provides a lot of development knowledge. The other features we find valuable are the LTI tools, integrations and BigBlueButton."
"It is relatively easy to use to build processes for establishing and conducting work within the templates that are used. It is not that hard to follow along or use, and it is pretty simple to pick it up and run with it."
"The best thing about Moodle is that it is open source and has many useful plugins. It is a great solution for an organization that needs modifications and customization."
"This is a scalable solution. We have had 30,000 students using the solution. During COVID, we were able to accommodate a 500% increase in traffic."
"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."
"It would be nice to be able to do more real-time comprehensive reporting with Canvas LMS."
"The learning curve is not steep, but it is intermediate."
"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."
"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."
"The solution could be upgraded and improved."
"For a first time user, especially someone who is non-technical, Moodle is difficult for them to understand and they often need assistance."
"The UI and interface of Moodle could be greatly improved. There has been some improvement in recent releases by Moodle but there is still a lot to be improved upon. It is challenging to get buy-in from different stakeholders when they see what it looks like."
"Setting up groups and allocating privacy settings to different groups is quite complicated."
"The solution architecture could be improved."
"Sometimes, the gradebook can get broken if an incorrect formula is entered during creation."
"It would be a benefit if there was an easy single sign-on with social media services for Moodle. There are some plugins that I tried, but they didn't work seamlessly. it is a work in progress. Having the single sign-on with social media services would be appreciated because in my school we are using Google suite and the main reason why we use Google Classroom is that it is integrated seamlessly with the suite."
"The ability to input modified, individual, independent grades in a grade center component is not just hard. It almost always requires you to get tech involved. When you're dealing with a learning system where you have people in an open enrollment with all different levels of learning modes or methodologies, and as well as a worldwide student body, you end up with situations where you have to absolutely exempt somebody from a grade or an assignment and enter a new, different kind of assignment because of their skillset or lack thereof. You can't do that in Moodle. It is virtually impossible to do that in Moodle without having a tech do it for you, and when you have to have that level of tech support, it becomes problematic. They need to fix the grade book center. It is the part where you do evaluations. They need to fix it so that the individual professors can make changes directly without having to get a hold of tech support to do it for them."
"Moodle's weakest point is the user interface."
Canvas LMS is ranked 5th in Learning Management Systems (LMS) with 8 reviews while Moodle is ranked 2nd in Learning Management Systems (LMS) with 26 reviews. Canvas LMS is rated 8.6, while Moodle is rated 8.0. 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 Moodle writes "Inexpensive and pretty easy to use, but not easily adaptable for an individual". Canvas LMS is most compared with Google Classroom, CYPHER Learning, Schoology Learning, Brightspace and Kajabi Course, whereas Moodle is most compared with Google Classroom, SAP SuccessFactors Learning, CYPHER Learning, Chamilo LMS and Cornerstone Learning. See our Canvas LMS vs. Moodle report.
See our list of best Learning Management Systems (LMS) vendors.
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