Moodle™ is a free, open-source learning management system (LMS) that schools, universities, companies and associations use to build online courses, enrol learners, deliver content and assessments, and track results. It runs in a web browser and through a mobile app. Because the code is open, you can host it yourself or pay a provider to run it, and you can change almost anything about how it looks and behaves.
What is Moodle, who owns it, how does it work and what does it really cost? This guide answers those questions and sets out what to decide before you commit. If you already know you want it and need someone to run it for you, go to our Moodle LMS page. The rest of this article is a plain explainer.
An LMS is software for organizing and delivering learning. It holds courses, controls who can access them, records what each learner did and reports on it. Moodle does all of that, and it is one of the most widely deployed LMS platforms in the world. At the time of writing, Moodle's statistics page lists more than 145,000 registered sites in over 230 countries and more than 500 million users. That figure only counts sites that have registered with Moodle.
The name began as an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. "Modular" is the part that still matters. Nearly everything in a Moodle site, from a quiz type to a login method, is a module that can be switched on, switched off or replaced.
Moodle was created by Martin Dougiamas, who began trialling prototypes in 1999 and released Moodle 1.0 in August 2002. Development is led today by Moodle Pty Ltd, the Australian company usually called Moodle HQ, which also owns the Moodle name and logo as trademarks.
The code itself is open source. Moodle is distributed under the GNU General Public License (version 3 or later), with copyright held by Martin Dougiamas and the many people who have contributed to it. In practice that means:
Moodle HQ ships two major releases a year, in April and October, and designates some of them long-term support (LTS) releases. Moodle is currently in its 5.x series. The official releases page shows the current version and how long each one is supported.
A Moodle site is a web application backed by a database. Learners, teachers and administrators all sign in to the same site and see different things depending on their role. Five building blocks explain most of how it behaves.
A course is a space made of sections, usually one per topic or week. Courses are grouped into categories, such as departments, programs or client organizations, so a large site stays navigable and permissions can be handed out by area.
Teachers fill each section with resources (files, pages, links, video) and activities (assignments, quizzes, forums, workshops, H5P interactive content, SCORM packages). Activity completion and access restrictions let you release content only when a learner has finished an earlier step or reached a grade, which is how learning paths are built in Moodle.
Accounts can be created by an administrator, by self-registration, or through an external system such as LDAP, OAuth 2 or Shibboleth. A user is then enrolled in courses manually, by self-enrolment or automatically from another system. Roles decide what each person can do. The standard set includes site administrator, manager, course creator, teacher, non-editing teacher, student and guest, and you can adjust any of them or create your own.
Plugins add or replace functionality: new activity types, question types, enrolment and authentication methods, reports, integrations. The community publishes them in the Moodle Marketplace, which has replaced the old plugins directory. Our guide to the Moodle plugins worth installing covers the ones we see used most.
A theme controls layout, colours, fonts and navigation. Moodle's standard theme is Boost, and most organizations either configure it with their branding or install a custom one. See how to choose a Moodle theme for the options.
Everything in this table is part of the standard download unless noted. The official features list on MoodleDocs has the full inventory.
| Area | What Moodle includes |
|---|---|
| Course building | Sections, drag-and-drop file upload, a built-in text editor, embedded media, and H5P interactive content created in the content bank |
| Assessment | Quizzes with automatic marking, assignments with in-browser annotation, rubrics and other advanced grading methods, peer and self assessment through the Workshop activity, and a gradebook |
| Communication | Forums, messaging, notifications, a calendar and a dashboard timeline of deadlines. The BigBlueButton virtual classroom activity ships with Moodle but is disabled until an administrator turns it on |
| Tracking and reporting | Activity and course completion, logs, course and site reports, and a custom report builder |
| Skills and recognition | Competency frameworks, learning plans and Open Badges |
| Standards and integration | SCORM 1.2 packages, LTI tools, web services for connecting other systems, and a wide choice of authentication and enrolment methods |
| Mobile | A responsive web interface plus the Moodle app for iOS and Android, with offline access to course content and push notifications |
| Accessibility and language | Moodle HQ describes the interface as WCAG 2.2 AA compliant, and users can view the site in their preferred language |
| AI tools | An AI subsystem, introduced in Moodle 4.5, lets administrators connect a provider such as OpenAI, Azure AI or Ollama so users can generate text and images in the editor or summarize and explain course content |
The built-in reports answer course-level questions well. For what is available and where it stops, read our overview of Moodle reporting features.
Moodle started in universities, but the same software now runs very different kinds of programs:
It also supports face-to-face teaching: many organizations use a Moodle course as the home for materials, sign-ups and follow-up assessment around classroom sessions.
Ten reasons come up repeatedly with the teams we work with.
Moodle is not the right fit for everyone, and most disappointments trace back to a handful of predictable issues.
Yes, the software is free to download and use, and Moodle has said it will stay that way. A common comparison is a free puppy: no purchase price, but it needs looking after. A realistic budget covers:
On pricing: there is no price list for the software itself. The prices you will find are for hosting and services, such as MoodleCloud plans, quotes from hosting providers, or Moodle Workplace, which is priced on the hosting and services you need. Those figures depend on user numbers, storage and support level, so compare a three-year total cost for each option, including your own staff time.
These are the questions we ask organizations that are considering Moodle. Clear answers make every later decision easier.
| Option | What it is | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosting | You download Moodle and run it on your own servers or cloud account | Organizations with in-house system administration skills |
| MoodleCloud | Moodle HQ's ready-to-use hosted service, with the standard feature set | Individuals and small organizations with standard needs |
| Managed Moodle hosting | A provider runs the infrastructure, upgrades, backups and support for your own Moodle site | Organizations that want the flexibility of Moodle without running servers |
| Moodle Workplace | A licensed enterprise edition with added tools for workplace learning, available only through Moodle's Premium Certified Partners and Service Providers | Larger employers with complex training structures |
| Totara | A separate enterprise learning platform aimed at workplace training and compliance | Corporate and public-sector learning teams |
For more detail, see our article on what MoodleCloud includes and who it suits, and our comparison of self-hosting versus a managed service.
Moodle software is a free, open-source learning management system for creating online courses, enrolling learners, running assessments and tracking progress. It is web-based, has a mobile app, and can be extended with plugins and themes. Schools, universities, companies and associations use it for online, blended and classroom-supported learning, either self-hosted or run by a hosting provider.
It is the full name Moodle HQ gives its core product: the free, open-source learning management system that most people simply call Moodle. The longer name separates it from the company’s other offerings, such as Moodle Workplace, MoodleCloud and the Moodle app. When someone says “Moodle”, this is almost always what they mean.
Yes. Moodle is free to download, use and modify under the GNU General Public License, and there are no per-user fees. Running it is not free, though. You will pay for hosting, maintenance, support, setup work and course development, either through your own staff time or through a hosting and services provider.
The Moodle name and logo are trademarks of Moodle Pty Ltd, the Australian company known as Moodle HQ that leads development. Moodle was founded by Martin Dougiamas. The software is open source under the GNU General Public License, so anyone can use, change and share the code.
The Moodle software costs nothing. Your actual cost is hosting, administration, support, plugins that rely on paid services, theme and integration work, and content development. Hosted options such as MoodleCloud and managed hosting are priced by users, storage and service level, so ask for quotes and compare the total over about three years.
Moodle is used to deliver and manage learning online. Common uses include university and school courses, employee onboarding, compliance and safety training, professional development for association members, customer and partner education, and blended programs where a Moodle course supports classroom sessions with materials, sign-ups and assessments.
Moodle supports SCORM 1.2, and its documentation states that it passes the ADL conformance tests for that version. SCORM 2004 is not supported natively, although some packages may appear to work. AICC content is supported, and xAPI is available through third-party plugins. Check the Moodle SCORM FAQ before buying content.
Moodle rewards organizations that plan for the work around the software as well as the software itself. If you would rather have someone host, migrate or set it up for you, Lambda Learning does that work: see our managed Moodle learning management system service.