Paid vs free LMS: Which one do you need?

Written By: Cudy

20th April 2023

Paid vs free LMS: Which one do you need?

The learning management systems (LMS) are the digital platforms that help you manage your online training courses. These are the digital platforms that help you in creating, designing and delivering your eLearning courses.

If you want to create a training course content for your employees or learner, then the eLearning development tools can help you make such a course. Once your system is ready, then it can be delivered through the LMS.

There are several free LMS options for those who do not want to invest any money in their LMS implementation. You can choose any of the option available to develop and deliver your training courses. However, several considerations need to be kept in mind while selecting a free learning management system over its counterparts that require payment.

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What is a Paid Learning Management System?

A paid learning management system is where you have to pay a specific price for using it. Most of the paid LMS's are either available as a hosted solution or installed on-premises. A hosted learning management system is one that you do not have to install on your server.

All you need to do is pay for the subscription plans of your choice and start using them. You can download a free trial version before choosing any of these paid options and start using it for your online training courses development process.

A SaaS (Software as a Service) based learning management system is when you have to pay a monthly subscription fee to use it. It allows unlimited users to access their system through its web interface or other software applications.

An on-premises learning management system is the one that has to be installed on your server and then used for developing and delivering your online training courses.

What is a Free Learning Management System?

A Free LMS is not only free but also has all the features that are required from an LMS. A free LMS option is not a stripped-down version of its paid counterparts. Many people think that most of the free LMS's are just a stripped-down version of the paid LMS's. However, this could be true for some of the free and paid LMS's however.

There are several high quality and feature-rich options available for those who want to go with a paid LMS without any investment. There are several free learning management system options available for those who want to jump into the e-learning industry without making any upfront investment in the current scenario.

Indeed, most of the free LMS's do not have all the features of their paid counterparts. However, you can still create content and deliver your training courses through these free LMS's. You can choose any of these options to develop and deliver your training plan and make your courses.

Moodle

Moodle is one of the most popular LMS available for free access. Moodle is one of the best options for those who do not want to invest in their LMS. Moodle is open source and has several features which are required to develop and deliver an e-learning course.

You can create hundreds of studies through Moodle LMS without any investment. It also allows you to create quizzes, assignments, forums and blogs through Moodle LMS. You can use course materials from different sources, including YouTube, Vimeo or Flickr, to make your eLearning courses.

You can manage your online training courses through the easy to use interface of Moodle. It allows you to add videos, documents and other course materials on the fly. The best thing about Moodle LMS is that it does not allow unlimited users to download or print a copy from it. Moodle makes sure that users are focused on completing their training tasks rather than downloading resources from them.

In Moodle, you can also upgrade it to a premium version as per your requirements. In Moodle, every course can have its team. You can give different roles to your users or instructors and allow them to manage the class. You can enable your users to add, edit, or remove Moodle content, and Moodle also allows you to create discussions in your courses and assign tasks to the learner.

You can also filter the systems which you have made through Moodle. It will enable you to create custom reports for your students. It can track the performance of the learner through it. You can also integrate Moodle LMS with several popular eLearning authoring tools, including Articulate, Captivate, Storyline 2 and 3, among other authoring tools.

You can incorporate Moodle with WordPress through a plugin called moodle-course-press plugin and use it as a standalone eLearning site. The best part about this integration is that it does not require technical knowledge from your end.  If you want to make sure that your online training courses are secure, Moodle LMS can help you.

You can integrate it with several security tools like Aardvark, Ambit, Netwrix and more. It also allows you to integrate it with your Google Apps account and create courses in your Google Sites. You can also manage the content of your system through the web interface of Moodle.

It can integrate with several external services and apps such as Google Calendar, Google docs, Zoho and more. You can also encrypt files that are uploaded through Moodle LMS using OpenSSL and other encryption tools. This encryption makes sure that your files are safe from any unauthorized access and data loss. 

 Edmodo

Similar to Moodle, Edmodo is one of the most popular learning management systems. It is available for free and has several features required to develop and deliver an e-learning course. Edmodo allows you to manage your online training courses through its web interface. It can integrate with other popular tools, including Google Apps, WordPress, Twitter and more.

You can also connect your Edmodo account with several social networking sites, including Facebook, Flickr or Instagram, as per your requirements. You can create courses through it by uploading documents, videos, or any other resources from different sources.

Edmodo is used by millions of learner across the globe for their training needs. The best part about this LMS is that it does not allow the learner to download or print documents from it, focusing on completing their tasks rather than downloading content. It will enable you to create reports for the learner through it.

You can integrate Edmodo with Google Calendar and create schedules on the fly in it. It allows you to filter the courses which you have created through it. It is one of the best options for those who want an LMS which is feature-rich and available for free. You can also make use of some premium features offered by Edmodo if you plan to upgrade it from its free version.

Which LMS is better- Moodle or Edmodo?

Both Moodle and Edmodo are great LMS options. It all depends on your requirements and budget. You can choose either of these two options to develop and deliver your training courses. Both Moodle and Edmodo are easy to use.

However, Edmodo does not allow you to add documents or other resources from your local computer into it. You can only upload documents or other resources from different sources through it. The best part about Edmodo is that you can manage your courses' content through the LMS web interface.

Moodle is feature-rich and easy to use as well. Moodle allows you to upload resources from your local computer as well as different sources in it. However, several bugs are present in the current version of Moodle, which need to be fixed before implementing it for your online training courses development process.

In conclusion, it all depends on your needs. Both Moodle and Edmodo LMS's are feature-rich and free to use. These are the best options for those who do not want to spend money on their LMS implementation. Paid LMS options offer better performance and scalability.

However, suppose you're going to create a training course for your learner or employees. In that case, you can also choose any of these free learning management systems to develop and deliver your training courses.

Want to know more about the learning management system? Browse our Cudy Blog for more articles and find your learning paths!


Written by

Cudy

Cudy is an online marketplace for real-time learning where students can achieve mastery over their subjects by learning live from educators who are passionate about providing the best learning experience for their students.

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