Canvas vs. Open LMS

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Canvas
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Instructure is an educational software company based in Sandy, Utah. It is the developer of the Canvas learning management system, which is a comprehensive software package that competes with such systems as Blackboard Learning System, SumTotal and Saba.N/A
Open LMS
Score 5.0 out of 10
N/A
Open LMS (formerly Moodlerooms) is an open source learning management system for educational institutions, formerly supported by Blackboard, and now part of the Learning Technologies Group.
$999
per year
Pricing
CanvasOpen LMS
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Innovator
$999
per year
Professional
4,599
per year
Enterprise
Contact for custom quote
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CanvasOpen LMS
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMust contact vendor for pricing information.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CanvasOpen LMS
Features
CanvasOpen LMS
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Canvas
9.8
Ratings
18% above category average
Open LMS
9.2
Ratings
11% above category average
Course authoring9.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Course catalog or library9.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Player/Portal9.80 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Learning content9.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile friendly9.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications9.80 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Assignments9.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Compliance management9.80 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Learning administration9.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics9.80 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Social learning9.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Gamification9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning9.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
CanvasOpen LMS
Small Businesses
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 9.7 out of 10
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 9.7 out of 10
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CanvasOpen LMS
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CanvasOpen LMS
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have a school you can let teachers easily create new deadlines which [automatically] get shown in the calendar. Teachers can also [temporarily] hide deadlines [until] they've given the explanation about the tasks. [Besides] that the teacher can also choose what should be uploaded, should it be a link, file, pdf, link,...
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I currently use, talk about and promote all educators using Moodlerooms. The functionality that Moodlerooms provides is unmatched in most software. It is well suited in all educational realms. Teachers that teach all online electronic courses could use this to post assignments online, separate the classes and post a variety of assignments, tasks, and activities. Additionally, in blended situations where some students are face to face and sometimes working at home, the Moodlerooms makes it easy to education and be a hands-on teacher and a hands-on learner. Less appropriately, I find using Moodlerooms in some of the private sector industries could be tougher. Moodlerooms provides people and content management, and to use it in advertising or marketing and accounting, it could be difficult to find an easy use and function for it.
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Pros
  • Learning management - Even as the educational landscape rapidly shifts due to current events, Canvas is a great LMS for providing a consistent learning environment for students.
  • Mobile accessibility - Students can access their courses on Canvas from a variety of devices, including their smartphones.
  • Rich content - Instructors have the ability to create dynamic and engaging content for their courses.
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  • Something that Moddlerooms does very well is that it allows teachers to structure their online classroom as one focused curriculum.
  • Moodlerooms also allows for customization of the layout. Being able to add and remove certain functions that Moodlerooms can perform definitely helps.
  • Moodlerooms is able to add different types of activities to the rooms for increased interaction.
  • Moodlerooms provides large chat opportunities to all students that are online at the same time.
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Cons
  • Their integration with Big Blue Button was a bust for distance learning. Would be great to see them collaborate with Zoom or Google Meets.
  • Their "feature request" process is slow and cumbersome at times because it relies on user "up votes" to get ideas addressed by the developers.
  • They seem to have a lot of turn-over with their staff. We get a new Customer Success Manager far more frequently than with other vendors.
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  • Easier to change permissions.
  • Adding the ability to tweet.
  • Decrease bandwidth to improve back end loading times.
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Likelihood to Renew
Several factors contribute to my "10" rating. First, our university just made an enormous switch to Canvas, after we were with Blackboard for almost a decade. So garnering buy-in was critical, and not something we took lightly. After nearly 18 months (start to finish) of training faculty, educating stakeholders, and migrating courses, I am not looking to make a change again anytime soon. But I am happy with the result and the product overall and that is also demonstrated in my rating.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
The functions in Canvas are well integrated and consistent across the application, and mostly intuitive. Overall navigation and setup is streamlined through integrated features and navigation. The feedback we've gotten from our program participants is that it is easy to learn to use. It also integrates well with third party software like Google Docs and Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing software
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
I do not personally use Canvas support since we have a central office that helps us. However, our central office always has the answers we need and are always able to solve our issues - so I would assume that get great support from the Canvas team on their end. They also offer great training, which uses materials directly from Canvas
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No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
The training sessions were broken down into several days as well as different levels depending upon the knowledge of the user
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
The online tutorials and videos are very clear and addressed the issues/questions that I had about using the system.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Once you purchase and sign the contract there is nothing to install or hardware to buy. You can almost immediately start using it and have courses up and going within weeks. We signed in December and had pilot courses online ready to go for the start of school in January
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Canvas is in the experience way better than Google Classroom. Canvas has a
more robust agenda system that also allows adding in new personal
deadlines. [Assignments] can be submitted past [the] deadline (if allowed),
this isn't allowed by Google [Classroom], If you're too late you can't
submit anything anymore. In Classroom [assignments], presentations/theory, and [announcements] are all put in 1 feed instead which gets confusing way
faster.
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I would select Moodlerooms over many competitors as a result of what it offers in terms of functionality and control. Google classrooms has a definite place in education; however, Moodlerooms provides significantly more control for authors. As the owner and manager of the content, and as someone familiar with technology, I can incorporate a lot more functions and create different layouts with functionality boxes
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Return on Investment
  • Teachers have consolidated their content onto one platform which has decreased reliance of students on so much support staff assistance to access content.
  • Canvas has helped make technology transitions more seamless for the school community.
  • Once teachers have set up their page, Canvas really takes care of it all- they have much more time to focus on content creation and synthesis rather than the actual learning management system.
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  • Moodlerooms has given classes of mine a positive ROI because it improves the educational experience for all students. It has helped all of our students, and with this, we can even help students who can not get to the classroom for some reason.
  • It helps to improve student scores, GPAs, and college attendance.
  • The positive impact can be directly correlated with the improvement of grades for students. Being able to access work in person and via Moodlerooms helps students to learn anywhere and any time. Grades have improved, and that is due to Moodlerooms.
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