Canvas LMS
E-learningA learning management system developed by Instructure, released under AGPL-3.0 for self-hosting.
Open-source alternative to:

What the free edition leaves out
Scroll sideways to view all columns →The official pages do not say enough about the free edition to give a verdict. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Not confirmed | No official page states whether the free edition includes this. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Not confirmed | No official page states whether the free edition includes this. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Not confirmed | No official page states whether the free edition includes this. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Not confirmed | No official page states whether the free edition includes this. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Not confirmed | No official page states whether the free edition includes this. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Not confirmed | No official page states whether the free edition includes this. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Not confirmed | The production guide sends installation questions to the community mailing list and IRC; no paid support terms found. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Institutions with Ruby and PostgreSQL operations staff who want to run a Canvas instance themselves.
Why choose it over Blackboard
The code is AGPL-3.0 and developed by Instructure, so you can run it on your own servers without a license fee for the software.
Where it falls short
Production setup is a multi-step process involving Apache with Passenger, Redis, a job daemon and asset compilation, and the guide assumes experience with Rails and Postgres. The guide recommends at least 8GB RAM and points to community channels for installation help.
Open-source alternative to
- Blackboard — Canvas is a learning management system, the same kind of product as Blackboard.