Every great educational journey starts with a blueprint.
Educational institutions, from K-12 schools to universities, face the challenge of balancing administrative efficiency with exceptional student experiences. Free learning management systems (LMS) software can provide the blueprint you need to design a personalized learning experience.
By implementing free LMS software, schools can provide engaging e-learning content, manage student records, and potentially save significant costs. This guide will explore the best free LMS options specifically designed for educational institutions, helping you find the perfect fit for your campus.
At G2, we rank software solutions using a proprietary algorithm that considers customer satisfaction and market presence based on authentic user reviews. Our market research analysts and writers spend weeks testing solutions against multiple criteria set for a software category. We give you unbiased software evaluations - that's the G2 difference!
We don’t accept payment or exchange links for product placements on our list. Please read our G2 Research Scoring Methodology for more details.
The list below contains real user reviews from the best free LMS software category page. It’s important to note that in the context of this list, software that requires payment after a free trial is considered free. To be included in this category, a solution must:
This data was pulled from G2 in 2024. Some reviews may have been edited for clarity.
Canvas LMS is a user-friendly and flexible LMS designed to make teaching and learning easier. It offers communication tools such as announcements, discussions, and messaging to keep students and instructors connected. What’s more, Canvas LMS comes with features like analytics, grading, calendars, scheduling, LMS training and more.
Pros of Canvas LMS |
Cons of Canvas LMS |
|
User-friendly interface |
Reported to have issues with quizzes |
|
Customization features for personalized learning experiences |
Challenging integrating with other software systems |
|
Hands-on project-based learning simulations |
Difficult learning curve |
"I like how the assignments build the calendar for you; you don't have to include them in your syllabus. It also gives assignment reminders to the student and grading reminders to the instructor. You can move assignments around on the calendar, and it adjusts the due dates for you! They have published a terrific online user guide that answers almost any question you might have, so I have never had to use customer support. I like how many external applications are compatible with Canvas, such as Zoom, Edpuzzle, and Yellowdig."
- Canvas Review, Lisa D.
“While functional, the product lacks the ability to be customized or personalized to meet individual preferences or needs.”
- Canvas Review, Linda B F.
Blackboard is a scalable, reliable foundation for delivering world-class learning experiences. It offers flexible learning solutions that increase engagement and optimize learning outcomes. Educational institutions and organizations use Blackboard to provide effective online education and course material.
Pros of Blackboard |
Cons of Blackboard |
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Easy-to-use process for creating online courses |
Performance issues leading to slow loading times |
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Simplified student tracking progress |
Difficulty in uploading assignments |
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Seamless lecture integration |
Complex and outdated user interface |
“The student-facing interface and the admin panel are very user-friendly. Over the years, Blackboard has made significant changes that have improved how we build and deliver the courses to multiple classes. The most important feature for us is the ability of the system to allow granular copies of content from a different set of courses, which is useful.”
- Blackboard Review, Rahul K.
“Blackboard Ultra still has a learning curve for both students and faculty. The gradebook is also a bit challenging to set up for faculty, and faculty must ensure that every module and piece of content is available to students in the course.”
- Blackboard Review, Brooks W.
TalentLMS is a user-friendly, cloud-based LMS designed to provide a comprehensive learning experience for employees, partners, and customers. It offers various features to create, manage, and deliver real-time online training courses, ensuring organizations can efficiently train their teams and enhance their learning outcomes.
Pros of TalentLMS |
Cons of TalentLMS |
|
AI content generation capabilities for efficient course creation |
Challenging system integration |
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Robust assignments engine |
Limited comprehensive report generation |
|
Rich communication tools facilitate interaction between learners and instructors |
Limited customization options |
“For me, as a first-time LMS user with no background in managing an LMS platform, the implementation was easy and smooth. The features for uploading various contents in different formats were excellent. The custom report function was also helpful as it is not complicated at all, plus customization to the brand is also available, which is great. Customer support is always helpful. They are ready to sort things out when you face some challenges.”
- TalentLMS Review, Maria Clarice C.
"The UX is not very good, and it's built on old and out-of-date technology that requires users to adjust their browser settings for the learning experience to work as expected. Users do not like to turn on "cross-browser tracking," but it must function correctly. Arbitrary file size limits make it impossible to host larger SCORM / XAPI files."
- TalentLMS Review, Roland S.
More than just an LMS, D2L Brightspace is a learning innovation platform designed to reshape education. With powerful tools, flexible customization, and unparalleled support, Brightspace surpasses traditional learning management systems. It empowers educators to create personalized learning experiences at scale and unlock students' full potential.
Pros of D2L Brightspace |
Cons of D2L Brightspace |
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Variety of courses to cater to diverse learning needs |
Confusing navigation |
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Intuitive and efficient design |
Challenging grading system |
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Customizable templates |
Weak customer support |
“The layout is easy to read and simple to navigate. Our implementation team was so helpful and worked through the transition with us to make it seamless.
Customer support has been great when faculty or admins have questions. The array of tools and features make this LMS fun for our faculty to use, and they are enjoying adding new features to their courses each semester! Our external tools integrate well with the LMS, making it a valuable resource full of enrichment activities for our students!”
- D2L Brightspace Review, Melinda S.
"Simple operations often take too many clicks. The main examples of this that come to mind are setting up a grade item, linking a grade item to an assignment, and reordering assignments in THREE different places if a change is made: the grade book, the assignments section, AND the content area. A simple adjustment can take many minutes, and it's often not obvious how to do this."
- D2L Brightspace Review, Kate R.
As an award-winning LMS, Absorb LMS is tailored to efficiently create and deliver learning programs for online training, instructor-led training, and blended learning programs. It is built to enhance the learning experience and optimize organizational training efforts. Its user-centric design drives business growth enhances compliance and maximizes the return on learning investment.
Pros of Absorb LMS |
Cons of Absorb LMS |
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Provides AI-powered solutions |
Poor functionality |
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Intelligent administrative tools |
Insufficient reporting capabilities |
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Extensive content libraries to support diverse learning needs |
Unsatisfactory customer care services |
“Absorb LMS has robust reporting capabilities - any data we can think to pull about our courses and users is readily available. The LMS is reliable. I rarely need to contact customer support; they are generally very responsive when I submit tickets. A dedicated client success manager is helpful, and our CSM, Olga, is very responsive and explains things clearly. Integrating with our member database and using plugins such as the connection to Zoom has been very useful for our organization.”
- Absorb LMS Review, Laura C.
“The inability to add more data to the dashboard widgets and not being able to add more than ten widgets. When using enrolment keys, there is an inability to make the learner inactive until approved. When we first signed up, we were not informed of the different packages and add-ons and were not advised or shown what was included in our package. Unable to schedule future course enrollment by user or group.”
- Absorb LMS Review, Marcia P.
Moodle is a robust, open-source LMS that provides educators, administrators, and learners with a single secure integrated system to create personalized learning environments. It is used globally by educational institutions, corporations, and organizations to impart effective and cost-effective online learning.
Pros of Moodle |
Cons of Moodle |
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Secure and scalable LMS |
Glitchy functionality |
|
Automated email and mobile alerts for timely communication |
Challenging user interface |
|
Easily customizable |
Complicated enrollment process |
“The amount of customization you can do to your site and courses is a huge benefit. Being able to add plugins and other integrations makes each course a great landing site for our students.”
- Moodle Review, Jeremy H.
“Does not have all of the functionality of more robust LMS systems, doesn't offer many customization tools, layout is a bit archaic; importing and exporting courses take several steps and the process is very clunky. Customer Support is lacking and takes a great deal of time to get answers for issues.“
- Moodle Review, Ester R.
360Learning is a collaborative learning platform custom to engage experts, trainers, and learners, allowing them to co-create courses quickly and efficiently. It enables organizations to create a global digital culture and continuously improve their training initiatives.
Pros of 360Learning |
Cons of 360Learning |
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Optimizes workflows for increased efficiency |
Difficult to integrate with other systems |
|
Offers automation tools to manage administrative tasks |
Not easily customizable |
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Training programs to develop employee skills |
Insufficient metrics provided for data-driven decision-making |
“360Learning is easy to use and 100% collaborative. You can easily co-create the courses, share them with everyone as you decide, and make the content easily accessible. The administration part is complete; you can manage the course subscription and engage the team with reminders and short quizzes. 360 Learning provides a lot of educational content about e-learning, which is useful; their training academy is very rich and well-developed. And the team is nice, always available and helpful.”
- 360Learning Review, Véronique C.
"Its live session feature has A LOT to be desired, especially compared to some of its competitors which offer Events pages, easy signup and registration, Zoom integrations, and more. The other item on my list that floats at the bottom of 'things 360Learning does not do well' is its automatic timeout feature when learners consume content. The feature resets learner progress after 15 minutes of inactivity. Reset, not pick back up where you left off. This is a major pain point for us if we have a video or exercise longer than 15 minutes."
- 360Learning Review, Rory S.
LearnWorlds is an advanced, yet user-friendly platform designed to help educators, entrepreneurs, and businesses create, market, and sell online courses. It offers reliable tools to build interactive, engaging, and professional online schools, providing a complete e-learning solution for learning experiences.
Pros of LearnWorlds |
Cons of LearnWorlds |
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Quick and responsive customer support |
Customization options are limited |
|
User-friendly interface |
Missing features such as anonymous evaluation forms |
|
Easy to edit course content |
Creating complex course structures can be difficult |
"LearnWorlds is so powerful and still manageable for someone just learning to create websites and courses. The help area is robust and thorough without being overwhelming - I hardly ever need help from a real person, but when I do, I get a quick response! With how cutting-edge LearnWorlds is, I'm so impressed that it's not glitchy, slow, or overly complicated. It's so flexible, and I can make my site exactly what I want. I'm loving it more the more I use it!"
- LearnWorlds Review, Sara S.
“The course structure can be a challenge as you can only make a section and then all the activities, which can make it quite long. It could be good to add sections, modules, and lessons so that it breaks down a bit further.”
- LearnWorlds Review, Lisa P.
For digital content creators and businesses, Gurucan is an all-in-one platform. It allows users to create and sell online courses, run live sessions and webinars, manage memberships, and even create mobile apps. With its simple and user-friendly interface, Gurucan helps creators launch and manage their digital products efficiently.
Pros of Gurucan |
Cons of Gurucan |
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Enables users to create and manage online courses efficiently |
Limitations in embedding videos |
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User-friendly features, making it easy to navigate |
Lacks advanced customization options in the landing page builder |
|
Offers a functional app for on-the-go access and management |
Inextensive design options |
“The best thing about Gurucan is that it takes the technical aspect of building a program or course away and makes it easy for non-techy people (like me) to create something which helps me deliver my lessons.”
- Gurucan Review, Rob D.
“There is a lack of integration. And the UI/UX could be improved too.”
- Gurucan Review, Savan V.
LearnUpon is an LMS tailored to centralize training management within organizations. It empowers businesses to create, deliver, and track engaging learning experiences for employees, customers, partners, and members. Through a user-friendly interface, LearnUpon facilitates developing and managing diverse learning content, including courses, assessments, and certifications.
Pros of LearnUpon LMS |
Cons of LearnUpon LMS |
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User-friendly and easy to navigate |
Course management functionalities could be improved |
|
Boasts an intuitive interface |
Customization options are restricted |
|
Proactive support team |
Limited range of features |
“The ability to create groups and implement dynamic rules within those groups has allowed us to automate much of the learning experience. The product has been very easy to use, and the training materials they supply to you and the implementation consultant made it an enjoyable process. We had not used an LMS before LearnUpon, so it was easy to set it up from scratch and learn best practices.”
- LearnUpon LMS Review, Shawn B.
“Limited course authoring options, need to use a external tool”
- LearnUpon LMS Review, Sam O.
If you feel overwhelmed by the wealth of information about free LMS software, this comparison table will help you with all the important aspects:
|
Software name |
G2 rating |
Free plan |
Paid plan |
|
Canvas LMS |
4.4/5 |
Free trial available |
Contact vendor for custom pricing |
|
Blackboard |
3.9/5 |
Free trial available |
Contact vendor for custom pricing |
|
D2L Brightspace |
4.5/5 |
Free trial available |
Contact vendor for custom pricing |
|
TalentLMS |
4.6/5 |
Free trial available |
From $69 onwards |
|
Moodle |
4.1/5 |
Available |
Free to download |
|
Absorb LMS |
4.6/5 |
Free trial available |
Contact vendor for custom pricing |
|
360Learning |
4.6/5 |
Free trial available |
From $8 onwards |
|
LearnWorlds |
4.7/5 |
Free trial available |
From $29 onwards |
|
Gurucan |
4.5/5 |
Free trial available |
From $99 onwards |
|
LearnUpon LMS |
4.6/5 |
Free trial available |
Book demo for pricing details |
Upgrade paths and pricing structures differ among LMS providers. Each platform offers different tiers of service, often based on features, support levels, and user capacity. Research the available upgrade options and compare costs to determine the best fit for your organization's budget and needs.
Most free LMS platforms support sharable content object reference model (SCORM) compliant content to some extent. However, the level of compatibility and the ease of integration can vary. Check the specific LMS's documentation for details.
Free LMS platforms are generally designed to handle a moderate number of concurrent users. However, performance can degrade under heavy load. If you anticipate high usage, consider the platform's scalability and potential for future upgrades.
Yes, many modern LMS platforms offer offline capabilities. This is particularly beneficial for learners in areas with unreliable internet connections or those who prefer to access learning materials without constant connectivity. However, some tools may have limitations in terms of content available offline.
LMS is transforming the way we interact with educational content. This comprehensive list of free LMS serves as a centralized hub for delivering educational courses, training programs, and other learning materials.
We hope this list took you one step closer to finding the right solution!
Create compelling courses with the best corporate learning management systems in 2025. Cover all tasks related to brainstorming, developing, and launching a curriculum.
Edited by Monishka Agrawal