Learning management systems (LMS) are edtech tools designed to organize, store, and distribute online curriculum content to learners. They are extensively used by schools, teachers, administrators, universities, online education websites, and students to organize classwork and track course progress, and by businesses to guide employees through onboarding, training, or professional development. Learning management systems are used by local and state governments to support certain community initiatives that require e-learning components. They enable edtech stakeholders to create effective online courses without hiring edtech app developers or software engineers to build an LMS from scratch.
Learning management systems are most often associated with asynchronous learning models, meaning students access course materials on their own time rather than together with a class. However, as more learning management systems add video chat and in-platform messaging functionality to their feature set, more students and teachers can leverage LMS platforms as virtual classrooms to allow synchronous learning to occur, too.
While versions of learning management systems date as far back as the 1990s, 2020 saw a spike in learning management system adoption. Recent edtech statistics are eye-opening. Research posits the LMS industry will reach $28.1 billion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.5%, and many LMS providers experienced triple-digit growth in 2020. For instance, Instructure Canvas, a widely adopted learning management platform in North America, saw downloads spike 682% in August 2020, representing the massive market opportunity of such edtech.
To meet demand, in addition to larger established LMS providers, many emergent LMS players are offering tailored features and functionality to serve the growing number of schools, universities, and businesses seeking online learning solutions for their students, teachers, and employees.
Learning Management System Features Include:
- Customizable layout and content management
- “White-labeling” options to make schools or brands stand out
- In-platform messaging between learners and teachers/support staff
- Focused discussion threads
- Scalability to support user increases
- Interoperability with external websites, portals, or platforms
- Video conferencing capabilities or integration for synchronous learning
- Analytics and reporting to track learner usage and progress
- Customer service support
- Custom certifications
- Gamification
- And more!
Here is a comprehensive list of learning management systems organized by free, open-source, or paid options to help provide an overview of the LMS landscape.
Free Learning Management Systems
For larger organizations, finding a genuinely free, proprietary (i.e. not open source) learning management system will be challenging, as most platforms that offer free options cap a certain number of users. Plus, free LMS options may also contain limited features, with premium functionality provided at a price. However, for skeleton teams and small classes that don’t anticipate much future growth, these learning management systems may be a good solution.
Coggno
Coggno is a training platform targeted at businesses. The LMS has thousands of courses already built into the platform, making it easy for administrators to choose pre-built classes. Coggno also offers free lessons, and users can build their curriculum from this selection.
Pricing:
When users subscribe or purchase select courses, they can access Coggno’s LMS for no extra charge.
CourseSites
A free version of Blackboard — the feature-rich educator learning management system used by hundreds of school systems and universities — CourseSites efficiently engages students with clear course objectives, a responsive interface, and deep insights into academic engagement and course performance.
Pricing:
Free
Google Classroom
Part LMS and part virtual classroom, Google Classroom is a free resource used by myriad education institutions. It is a portal for teachers to house class materials, readings, assignments, curriculums, and more. Google’s Meet video chat enables students to gather synchronously for class lectures and discussions as well. The company’s G Suite for Education includes Google’s other products, such as calendars, Gmail, Drive, and more.
Pricing:
Free for eligible institutions
Kiddom Classroom
The free version of Kiddom’s comprehensive virtual classroom/learning management system for teachers, Kiddom Classroom allows administrators to send class announcements, create flexible lesson plans, view student progress, record video and audio, and start 1:1 or group chats from a student roster. Upgrades for Kiddom’s full product suites are available, too.
Pricing:
Free, with paid upgrades for full features available.
LatitudeLearning Forever Free LMS
Free for up to 100 users, LatitudeLearning’s “Forever Free” LMS version requires no software download and has no time limits. LatitudeLearning is typically used for employee training, and it includes essential functionality such as content, course, and people management.
Pricing:
Free
TalentLMS
TalentLMS prioritizes easy content uploading and rapid implementation to make managing trainings and courses simple. The platform is popular with businesses to provide continuing education and onboarding resources for their workforce. Administrators can choose to add a gamification element to TalentLMS via badges, certifications, points, and leaderboards.
Pricing:
Free up to five users and ten courses; paid options available.
Thinkific
A slick B2B2C platform aimed at entrepreneur educators who want to develop online courses (think: fitness courses, cooking classes, business skills, etc.), Thinkific’s basic free plan includes unlimited students, quizzes and surveys, and video, images, and PDF content uploading.
Pricing:
Free for the basic package
Open-Source Learning Management Systems
Open-source learning management systems are suitable for those who want ultimate flexibility and control over their e-learning code. Open-source options allow developers to create optimal LMS for their unique needs. Other benefits of open-source systems include the ability to budget for the future (there will never be price increases), ownership of data, and the ability to immediately integrate new features and functionality.
ATutor
An open-source LMS platform, ATutor can create and manage online courses and distribute interoperable content. Features include custom learner profiles, in-platform inboxes, chat rooms, group blogs, content editors, and more. ATutor improves accessibility in learning management systems and contains additional features such as screen readers for blind students and text alternatives for visual elements.
Pricing:
Free and open source
Forma LMS
A free, open-source learning management system, Forma LMS is feature-rich downloadable software suitable for both businesses and teachers/students. In addition to responsive layout and flexible use cases, users can also integrate Forma LMS into most video conferencing software to host webinars and virtual classrooms.
Pricing:
Free and open source
Ilias
An open-source LMS based in Germany, Ilias enables educators to give exams, grade exams, manage and store course materials, and add personalized colors and branding. Importantly, Ilias can integrate into any website or intranet. The software is also wildly scalable: Whether educators have 100 users or 100,00 users, it reliably performs.
Pricing:
Free and open source
Moodle
Moodle is a free, open-source learning management system, and users can easily download Moodle and start building their course and curriculum immediately. It is a platform with no licensing fees. Advanced features such as in-platform messaging, tags, commenting, analytics, and more can be enabled, too.
Pricing:
Free and open source
Opigno
Opigno is a Drupal-based, open-source learning management system. Both individuals and organizations use this 2008-founded platform for e-learning creation and distribution, and features include adaptive learning paths, gamification, quizzes, multilingual management, and e-commerce. Opigno is updated frequently.
Pricing:
Contact Opigno for pricing
Sakai Free
The open-source version of Sakai’s cloud-hosted LMS, Sakai Free is a self-hosted learning management system that offers teaching and learning support, chatrooms, announcements, forums, grade books, tests, quizzes, and more.
Pricing:
Free and open source
Paid Learning Management Systems
Pricing models for turnkey paid learning management systems vary depending on the company. Many solutions are priced per active monthly user; others have a flat monthly subscription fee. Choose the pricing model that works best for your organization’s budget, users, and needs.
Blackboard Learn
Responsive LMS interface for educators and business administrators, Blackboard lauds personalization and flexibility to give teachers agency to cater class portals to their exact specifications. Users can integrate third-party tools and view student data on a classroom or school-wide level.
Pricing:
Contact Blackboard to get quotes on pricing
Instructure Canvas LMS
Instructure’s Canvas is a popular learning management system that integrates with other tools in the Instructure Canvas universe, including Canvas Studio and Canvas Catalog. Suitable for all grade levels, including higher ed, and businesses, Canvas is highly customizable, flexible, and intuitive to use.
Pricing:
A one-time implementation fee and an annual subscription fee based on your total number of users.
Docebo
AI capabilities and a beautiful layout make the cloud-based Docebo popular with enterprises tasked with training over 300 learners. The LMS platform is loaded with existing content and is available in over 40 languages to serve learners worldwide.
Pricing:
Pay for active learners per month
Continu
Continu is a modern learning platform built for enterprise organizations to save time and money by automating repetitive onboarding tasks, ramping up new hires much quicker, improving training ROI, and boosting learner engagement. Continu's deep integrations make it a breeze to create entire training courses, host virtual instructor-led training workshops, generate insightful reports on learner behavior, and deliver critical training materials.
Pricing:
Based on a custom quote broken down by the number of user seats
Mindflash
Mindflash is a versatile learning management system that eliminates the cost of in-person training and courses for businesses. It supports employee onboarding and training and has virtual classroom functionality for synchronous learning. Features include online course creation, quizzes and assessments, and reporting and analytics.
Pricing:
Tiered pricing; contact Mindflash for specific details
Participate
Boosting learning engagement is Participate’s chief goal. The company’s learning management system integrates community-building features into the platform to encourage participation, such as direct messaging, discussion threads, peer mentorship, and dedicated collaboration spaces.
Pricing:
$250 per month for the basic plan, with upgrades available to support more features
Rise
Rise is created for businesses seeking sleek training tools for their employees. The LMS platform contains features such as customizable domain names, prebuilt or from-scratch training modules, third-party integration capability, and analytics tools to view trainee progress, quiz scores, and more.
Pricing:
Starting at $399 per month, up to 100 users
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