Best open source LMS in 2025

Finding an appropriate open source learning management system means finding a versatile solution that combines convenience for faculty and students, as well as security and data protection measures. In this article, we have listed the 8 best open source LMS available this year.

1. Moodle

Moodle is one of the best open source LMS used for online courses, distance education, and learning activities in schools, colleges, and universities. This learning management system is designed to provide educators, administrators, and students with a single reliable, secure, and integrated system.

In Moodle, educators create courses for each student group or department, where anything like text, presentations, videos, forums, blogs, wikis, and activities can be added. It’s also possible to organize tests and check homework or projects and give grades. Moodle provides statistics and logs to track user’s progress and activity.

The functionality of the platform can be extended with plug-ins. In the library of plug-ins, you will find many services for video calls, creating certificates, building quizzes, tracking analytics, etc.

For example, the ONLYOFFICE plugin helps you view, edit and share office documents in popular formats (including DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX) in Moodle using ONLYOFFICE Docs. It allows you to avoid downloading documents, modifying them, and then uploading a new version to the platform again. In addition, the whole team can work in one file in real time.

Besides, ONLYOFFICE Assign Submission plugin enables students to create, edit, and fill out templates for Moodle assignments and submit them directly within Moodle. Teachers can open these documents without downloading them, provide comments, and assign grades—all in a single interface.

The ONLYOFFICE DocSpace plugin for Moodle builds a dedicated document collaboration hub where Moodle users can create shared rooms for working on educational materials. Educators and students can store course-related files in an organized and accessible environment.

2. Chamilo LMS

Chamilo LMS is a free and open source learning management system. It is used to create and deliver online courses and training and manage the learning process. Chamilo is used in educational institutions, organizations, and private companies providing training.

Chamilo LMS has all the features of a modern LMS. They include creating and managing students, teachers, courses, content, grades, and scores. Chamilo LMS also supports e-commerce, allowing you to sell courses and products through the platform. Chamilo allows you to generate reports, obtain statistics, and precisely know the activities of your users on the portal.

Chamilo pays attention to data security and has built-in security features to protect user data. These features include support for SSL encryption, password protection, and role-based access control.

To enable you to work on your documents in the secure Chamilo space, the ONLYOFFICE Docs plugin is available. It allows you to create, edit and work in teams on text documents, tables, presentations, and forms.

Chamilo developers often organize workshops and conferences to talk about their LMS, new releases, and technical aspects.

3. OpenOlat

OpenOlat is an e-learning platform that offers a wide range of features for both instructors and learners.

There is the ability to create courses consisting of quizzes, knowledge transfer tools, and administrative functions. Collaborative features allow learners to work together on projects and chat in forums and chat rooms to connect and share resources. For instructors, it makes easier to manage courses and track student progress by tracking learner progress and assessing student performance. Testing provides statistics about student understanding of the course.

It offers a wide range of integrations with other educational technologies. For example, ONLYOFFICE Docs is available for OpenOlat as an additional functionality.

4. Canvas LMS

Canvas is an open source learning management system for teachers.

The platform lets you create and manage content, assignments, tests, and video conferences. You can also personalize learning with learning pathways, outcomes, and standards-based assessment sheets. Students can track their grades, participate in collaborative discussion forums, and complete assignments.

Canvas also has a suite of mobile apps that make it easy to access content on the go. Finally, Canvas integrates with third-party apps, so you can use all your favorite tools in one place. A “free for teachers” account allows you to use Canvas’s core features for free.

5. Open edX

The Open edX platform is an open source LMS for teaching and learning. The Open edX software is used by universities, companies, countries, and NGOs around the world to provide online learning solutions.

Features of the Open edX learning platform include online discussion groups, collaborative wiki learning, course-by-course assessment, course and student analytics, course-specific content and discussions, digital course certificates, online labs, etc.

6. Forma LMS

Forma LMS is a learning management platform specifically designed to meet the online training needs of businesses. It helps train employees through online webinars, live courses, self-paced courses, and instructor-led training sessions.

You can add courses, manage them and also create webinar sessions to enhance your distance learning process. It allows you to organize courses in a catalog format while having the ability to create multiple editions of courses for different classes.

The main feature of Forma LMS is that it allows you to manage multiple departments with a single installation.

7. Claroline

Claroline is an open source LMS that focuses on online collaboration and blended learning. It enables organizations and educational institutions to create learning environments where instructors can design course materials, set up discussion forums, and manage student interactions.

Claroline provides various tools for monitoring student progress, scheduling tasks, and managing exams. It supports multiple languages, making it an accessible platform for global use. The platform’s flexibility and scalability allow it to adapt to different educational and training needs.

8. LearnPress

LearnPress is a free LMS plugin for WordPress that allows users to turn their WordPress site into an educational platform. It supports creating and managing courses, quizzes, and lessons. With various add-ons available, users can extend LearnPress with certificates, payment integrations, and student management tools.