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A Moodle™ site rarely works alone. Learners sign in with the same account they use for email, enrolments arrive from an HR or membership system, sessions run on video conferencing, purchases come through a storefront, and managers want results in their own dashboards. Integrations are what make Moodle part of your systems rather than another login.
This guide covers the main types of Moodle integration, how each one works, and how to plan them so they survive upgrades.
How Moodle integrates with other systems
Moodle connects to other software in five main ways:
- Authentication plugins for single sign-on and directory accounts.
- Enrolment plugins that create course enrolments from another system.
- Web services and REST APIs that let other systems read and write Moodle data.
- LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) for connecting external tools inside courses, and for publishing Moodle activities to other platforms.
- Activity and block plugins that embed third-party services such as video conferencing.
Each integration is code that has to keep working through Moodle’s two major releases a year, so fewer, well-chosen integrations are easier to run than many small ones.
Single sign-on (SSO)
Single sign-on lets learners use their existing work, school or member account instead of a separate Moodle password. Moodle supports several methods:
| Method | Common use |
|---|---|
| SAML 2.0 | Enterprise identity providers such as Microsoft Entra ID, Okta and ADFS |
| OAuth 2 and OpenID Connect | Microsoft, Google and other identity services |
| LDAP | Active Directory and other on-premise directories |
| CAS and Shibboleth | Higher education federations |
Plan which user fields the identity provider will send (name, email, department, member ID), how new accounts are created on first login, and what happens when someone leaves. The SAML2 single sign-on plugin is widely used for SAML connections.
HRIS and membership systems
An HR or membership system integration keeps Moodle accounts and enrolments in step with the system of record. Typical flows:
- New employees or members get a Moodle account and are enrolled in onboarding courses automatically.
- Department, location or job role updates move people into the right cohorts and courses.
- Leavers are suspended, so they stop counting against your active users.
- Completions flow back to the HR system for training records.
Workday and similar HR platforms usually connect through scheduled data exchanges or APIs. Associations often connect an association management system so membership status controls access and pricing.
CRM integration
Connecting Moodle to a CRM such as Salesforce or HubSpot gives sales and account teams visibility of training activity: which customers have completed onboarding, which partners are certified and which accounts are inactive. It also lets marketing trigger campaigns from learning events, such as a course completion or an expiring certification.
Video conferencing
Live sessions run inside Moodle courses through activity plugins:
- BigBlueButton ships with Moodle and needs a BigBlueButton server.
- Zoom connects through the Zoom meeting plugin, which creates meetings as course activities.
- Microsoft Teams connects through Microsoft’s own integration options and LTI.
For classroom and in-person sessions, see our guide to the Moodle face-to-face plugin.
Content libraries and LTI tools
LTI lets you add external content and tools to a Moodle course without leaving the platform: content libraries such as LinkedIn Learning, publisher content, simulations, coding environments and assessment tools. Moodle supports LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage, which can pass grades and roster information securely.
Moodle also plays SCORM 1.2 packages natively, while xAPI tracking relies on additional plugins and a learning record store.
Ecommerce
To sell courses, Moodle needs a commerce layer. Core Moodle includes payment gateways for paid enrolment in individual courses. For catalogues, bundles, memberships, discount codes, invoices and B2B seat sales, a dedicated storefront is more practical. Lambda Store connects natively to Moodle for this.
Reporting and analytics
Moodle’s built-in reports and Report builder cover course-level questions. When you need cross-course dashboards, time spent learning, or LMS data combined with HR, CRM or finance data, a reporting integration takes over. Read our guide to Moodle analytics and reporting, or see Zoola Analytics, our reporting platform built for Moodle and Totara.
Other common integrations
- Plagiarism checking such as Turnitin. See our Moodle plagiarism plugin guide.
- Health care systems, where training records connect to clinical or workforce systems such as Epic.
- Cloud storage such as Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive through Moodle’s repository plugins.
- Calendars through iCalendar export.
How to plan Moodle integrations
- Start with the system of record. Decide which system owns user accounts, which owns enrolments and which owns completions.
- Map the data. List every field that moves, in which direction and how often.
- Prefer standards. SAML, OAuth, LTI and documented APIs are easier to maintain than custom scripts.
- Test on staging. Run every integration on a copy of the site before each Moodle upgrade.
- Assign an owner. Someone needs to notice when a scheduled sync fails.
- Check your hosting. MoodleCloud does not allow plugin-based integrations. Self-hosted and managed Moodle hosting do.
Frequently asked questions
Does Moodle support single sign-on?
Yes. Moodle supports SAML 2.0, OAuth 2 and OpenID Connect, LDAP, CAS and Shibboleth, so learners can sign in with Microsoft, Google, Okta, Active Directory and other identity providers. Some methods are built in and others use widely installed plugins.
Can Moodle integrate with Salesforce?
Yes. Moodle can exchange data with Salesforce through its web services and APIs, typically to share course completions, certifications and activity with account records. The details depend on which data you need and how often it should sync.
What is LTI in Moodle?
LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) is a standard for connecting external learning tools to an LMS. In Moodle it lets teachers add tools and content libraries to a course, with secure sign-in and grade passback, and lets Moodle publish its own activities to other platforms.
Can I add integrations on MoodleCloud?
Only those that work without installing plugins, such as LTI tools and API access. Integrations that need a plugin or server configuration require self-hosted or managed Moodle hosting.
Lambda Learning connects Moodle to identity providers, HR and membership systems, CRMs, commerce and reporting for organizations across North America. See our managed Moodle LMS or book a call with our team to map your integrations.
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