The best Moodle™ plugins: top picks by job and how to install them

Moodle™ plugins are how a standard site becomes your site: a course layout learners can find their way around, certificates that issue themselves, reports a manager will actually read. The catch is that there are well over a thousand to choose from, quality varies, and many “top Moodle plugins” lists still recommend add-ons that were abandoned years ago or have since become part of Moodle itself.

This guide gives you one current list of the best Moodle plugins, grouped by the job they do, with an honest caveat wherever one applies. It also covers how to choose plugins wisely, how to install them, and what changes when someone else hosts your site.

What Moodle plugins are and where to find them

A Moodle plugin is a self-contained package of code that adds or changes a feature without altering the core software. You will also see plugins called Moodle addons, extensions or, in older articles, Moodle modules. Strictly speaking, a module is just one plugin type: an activity such as Quiz or Forum. Other plugin types include blocks, themes, course formats, question types, authentication and enrolment methods, reports and admin tools.

For years the place to get them was the Moodle plugin directory at moodle.org/plugins. Moodle has since announced that the Plugins Directory is now Moodle Marketplace. The free community plugins are still there, now alongside paid plugins and integrations, and Moodle’s documentation says old directory links redirect to the Moodle Marketplace where possible.

Check what is already in Moodle core

Several features that older lists describe as plugins now ship with Moodle. Start here before installing anything.

The reverse also happens. Moodle 5.0 removed the Atto editor, Chat and Survey from the standard package, so the old Atto add-ons are no longer worth installing and anyone searching for a Moodle chat plugin should plan around BigBlueButton, messaging or forums instead. The Moodle releases page shows which versions are currently supported.

The best Moodle plugins by job to be done

Each plugin below had a live Marketplace listing when we reviewed it. Where the listing had not yet been updated for the newest Moodle versions, we say so.

Course presentation and user experience

• Tiles format: shows each topic as a tile in a grid, with an icon or photo. Good for learners who find long course pages overwhelming. Caveat: course formats sit close to core code, so test Tiles on staging before every major upgrade.
• Onetopic format: puts each section in its own tab and keeps the learner on that tab when they return from an activity.
• Accessibility Page Options: the rewritten Accessibility block. Users can change text size, pick a colour scheme and have pages read aloud. It complements an accessible theme but does not replace one.
• Themes: a theme changes the look of the whole site. Moove is a clean, widely installed free option. Our guide to choosing a Moodle theme compares the alternatives.

Engagement and gamification

• Level Up XP: awards experience points for learner activity, with levels and a leaderboard. It is free and widely used. Caveat: team leaderboards and some other options belong to the commercial XP+ version, and leaderboards do not suit every audience, so pilot it first.
• Game: turns existing questions and glossaries into hangman, crosswords, sudoku and other games. Best as low-stakes revision, not as assessment.
• Checklist: a teacher builds a checklist, or generates one from the course activities, and learners or teachers tick items off. It works well for onboarding and practical sign-offs.
• Completion Progress: a colour-coded bar showing each learner what is done and what is due, with an overview that helps teachers spot people falling behind. Caveat: it only works if activity completion is set up properly.
• Questionnaire: builds custom surveys and is a common alternative to the core Feedback activity. Use it for opinions and course evaluations, not graded tests.

Assessment and integrity

• Grade Me: a block listing submitted assignments and manually graded quiz questions that still need marking, limited to the teacher’s own groups. Caveat: its listing had not been updated beyond Moodle 4.5 when we checked.
• STACK: a question type for mathematics and related subjects that checks answers with computer algebra. It is one of the strongest Moodle quiz plugins for STEM, but it needs server-side setup and authors willing to learn it.
• Turnitin: adds similarity reports and feedback to assignments, forums, quizzes and workshops. Caveat: it requires a Turnitin licence. Our guide to plagiarism plugins for Moodle covers the alternatives.
• HotPot: runs Hot Potatoes quizzes in Moodle. Only worth installing if you already own a library of that content; for new material use the core Quiz or H5P.

Communication and virtual classroom

• Zoom meeting: creates and syncs Zoom meetings and webinars as course activities, with grading and backup support. Caveat: you need a Zoom account with API access.
• Quickmail: lets teachers email selected learners, groups or roles from inside a course, with attachments, drafts and signatures. Caveat: its listing had not been updated beyond Moodle 4.5 when we checked.
• Scheduler: teachers publish appointment slots and learners book one. Useful for coaching, oral exams and assessor visits.
• Reengagement: emails learners who have not completed an activity after a set time, and can release content on a timer. Caveat: its listing stopped at Moodle 4.4 when we checked, so test it on your version first.
• Pulse: automated notifications with completion logic for building course workflows. The free version covers the basics; the automation engine is a paid Pro feature.

Reporting and analytics

• Configurable Reports: the long-standing Moodle configurable reports plugin. Administrators and teachers can build custom reports without knowing SQL. Caveat: core Report builder now covers many of the same needs, so try that first.
• Ad-hoc database queries: administrators write SQL once, then run it on demand or on a weekly or monthly schedule and download the results as CSV. It is powerful and assumes someone who knows the Moodle database.
• Zoola Analytics: our own reporting and analytics product for Moodle and Totara, for teams that need dashboards and scheduled reports beyond what Moodle report plugins offer.

For a fuller comparison, see our guide to Moodle reporting features and how to get more from them.

Certificates and compliance

• Custom certificate: the widely installed Moodle custom certificate plugin. You design PDF certificates in the browser and learners download them once they meet the conditions you set.
• Workplace certificate manager with Course certificate: a free pair from the Moodle Workplace team. Templates are managed centrally, certificates carry a verification code or QR code, and the activity issues them automatically. Choose this pair for central control, or Custom certificate if teachers design their own.
• Course recompletion: clears course and activity completion on a schedule so learners can retake recurring training such as annual recertification. Caveat: it is listed on the Marketplace as a paid annual subscription.
• Attendance: records attendance per session with configurable statuses, optional grading, learner self-recording and exportable reports.
• Face-to-face: manages bookings for classroom sessions, with confirmations and reminders for participants and their managers. Caveat: its listing had not been updated beyond Moodle 4.5 when we checked. Our face-to-face plugin guide explains setup and the alternatives.

Administration and productivity

• Sharing Cart: a block that copies activities and resources between courses in a couple of clicks. A time-saver for teachers who run several similar courses.
• SAML2 single sign-on: connects Moodle to your identity provider, with user creation and field mapping configured inside Moodle and no separate SAML application to run. Caveat: you still need someone who understands your identity provider’s metadata and certificates.

AI

Start with core. Moodle 4.5 added an AI subsystem with provider plugins for OpenAI and Azure AI and placements in the text editor and in courses; Moodle 5.0 added an Ollama provider and support for several provider instances. Moodle AI plugins from the community build on that base:

• AI Chat Block: a chat assistant block with a configurable persona that uses whichever AI provider you have set up.
• Gemini API provider: adds Google’s Gemini models to the core AI subsystem.
• AI Manager: a central layer for managing several language models, with usage statistics and credit limits.

Caveat for all three: most AI providers charge for usage and process prompts outside your site. Settle your privacy position and budget before switching anything on.

Older favourites we no longer recommend

If you arrived from an older list, these are the changes to know about:

• Certificate: no longer receives new features. Use Custom certificate.
• Progress Bar: we recommend Completion Progress instead.
• VeriCite: its plugin has had no release since 2018.
• Active Quiz, Team Builder and Quizventure: no releases for current Moodle versions when we checked.
• Dialogue: still listed, but its own page says core messaging is the official replacement.
• Email-based self-registration with admin confirmation: no release in several years.
• Mootivated: we could not find a Marketplace listing. Level Up XP covers the same ground.
• Collapsed Topics and the Adaptable theme: we could not open a Marketplace listing for either when we checked. If you depend on one, confirm with its maintainer where new releases are published before you upgrade.

How to choose Moodle plugins wisely

Every plugin is code you now have to keep working through each upgrade. Most are written and maintained by volunteers or small teams, so before you install one, check the following.

• Maintenance. When was the last release? If a plugin has gone more than a year without one, assume it may not be maintained.
• Version support. Does the listing name your Moodle version, and the version you plan to upgrade to next?
• Maintainer track record. Who is the lead maintainer, what else have they published, and do they answer comments and issues?
• Adoption. A plugin running on thousands of sites is more likely to be fixed quickly. A new plugin with few installs is not automatically bad, but it needs closer testing.
• Security and privacy. What data does it store or send to an outside service? Does it need its own account, API key or licence?
• Performance. Blocks that appear on every page and reports that query large tables can slow a busy site. Test with realistic data.
• Upgrade cost. One plugin that is not ready can hold back a whole Moodle upgrade. Be most careful with plugins your courses cannot run without.

Two habits help: try every new plugin on a staging copy of your site first, and remove plugins nobody uses.

How to install Moodle plugins

Before installing anything, confirm the plugin supports your Moodle version, take a backup of the site, and test on staging. If you are still setting up the site itself, start with our Moodle installation and setup guide.

Download the ZIP and upload it in site administration

This is the method Moodle’s Plugins FAQ describes.

1. Find the plugin on the Moodle Marketplace and download the ZIP for your Moodle version. Free plugins download straight away; paid plugins download after purchase.
2. Log in as an administrator and go to Site administration, then Plugins, then Install plugins.
3. Upload the ZIP file and install it.
4. Visit the admin Notifications page to complete the installation, then review the plugin’s settings.

Older guides describe a button that installed plugins directly from the directory; Moodle’s documentation says that flow has not been carried over to the Marketplace. ZIP upload also needs the web server to have write access to the code folders, which Moodle no longer recommends for security reasons, so many production sites use the next method instead.

Install on the server

1. Unzip the plugin on your computer and check the folder name. It should be the plugin’s own name, not something nested such as pluginname-master/pluginname.
2. Copy the folder into the Moodle plugins folder for its type: mod for activities, blocks for blocks, theme for themes, course/format for course formats, local for local plugins, auth for authentication, question/type for question types, report for reports and admin/tool for admin tools.
3. Log in as an administrator and open the Notifications page, or run the command-line upgrade script admin/cli/upgrade.php as the web server user.

Moodle 5.1 introduced a public directory and changed where code sits, so check the upgrade notes for your version before copying files.

Update or uninstall a plugin

Updating follows the same steps with the newer version. To uninstall, use the plugins overview in site administration or the command-line script admin/cli/uninstall_plugins.php, which runs as a dry run unless you add the run option. Uninstalling deletes the plugin’s data, so back up first, then remove the folder from the server.

Plugins when someone else runs your site: MoodleCloud and managed hosting

Where your site is hosted decides how much freedom you have. On your own server you can install anything, and you own every consequence.

MoodleCloud. Moodle’s support documentation states that individual MoodleCloud site administrators cannot install their own plugins. You get standard Moodle plus a small selected set, which includes Attendance, Custom certificate and BigBlueButton. If you need anything else, you have to move to a self-hosted or partner-hosted site. Our MoodleCloud overview covers the other trade-offs.

Managed hosting. A managed host normally installs plugins for you after reviewing them: checking the code and maintainer, testing against your Moodle version, and planning updates alongside core upgrades. That is slower than clicking Install, and it keeps one stale plugin from taking down a production site. On our managed Moodle hosting, we review and test plugins before they go onto a client site.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Moodle plugin directory?

The Moodle plugin directory used to live at moodle.org/plugins. Moodle has replaced it with the Moodle Marketplace at marketplace.moodle.com, which lists the free community plugins alongside paid plugins and integrations. According to Moodle’s documentation, old directory links redirect to the Marketplace where possible.

Are Moodle plugins free?

Many are, but not all. The Moodle Marketplace supports both free and paid plugins, and some free plugins connect to a service that needs its own licence or subscription, such as Turnitin or Zoom. Even a free plugin has a cost: someone has to test it, update it and check it before every Moodle upgrade.

How do I install a Moodle plugin?

Download the plugin’s ZIP file from the Moodle Marketplace, then go to Site administration, Plugins, Install plugins, upload the ZIP and visit the admin Notifications page to finish. If your server does not allow uploads into the code folders, copy the unzipped folder into the correct plugin-type folder on the server and run the upgrade.

Where is the Moodle plugins folder?

There is no single plugins folder. Each plugin type has its own location in the Moodle code: activities go in mod, blocks in blocks, themes in theme, course formats in course/format and local plugins in local. From Moodle 5.1 the code layout includes a public directory, so check the documentation for your version.

Can I install plugins on MoodleCloud?

No. Moodle’s support documentation says individual MoodleCloud site administrators cannot install their own plugins. MoodleCloud provides standard Moodle plus a small selected set of extras. If you need a plugin outside that set, the options are to host Moodle yourself or to use a hosting provider that installs and maintains plugins for you.

Choosing well matters more than choosing many: a short list of maintained plugins that match real needs will serve learners better than thirty you have to nurse through every upgrade. If you would like help reviewing the plugins on your site or planning an upgrade around them, book a call with Lambda Learning.