Google Classroom

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Google Classroom

A curated collection of the 1 best self hosted alternatives to Google Classroom.

Google Classroom is a cloud-based learning management system from Google that helps educators create, distribute, and grade assignments, organize class materials, communicate with students, and integrate with Google Workspace tools for streamlined classroom management.

Alternatives List

#1
Moodle

Moodle

Moodle is a learning management system for creating and delivering online courses, assignments, quizzes, grading, and learning analytics with extensive plugins and integrations.

Moodle screenshot

Moodle is a widely used learning management system (LMS) for building and running online courses for schools, universities, businesses, and public-sector training. It provides course authoring, learner interaction, assessments, grading, and reporting in a modular platform with extensive plugin and integration support.

Key Features

  • Course management with activities/resources (assignments, quizzes, forums, lessons, SCORM packages, etc.)
  • Assessment engine: question bank, timed quizzes, grading workflows, rubrics, and feedback
  • Gradebook with categories, aggregation methods, and export options
  • Roles and permissions (RBAC) with fine-grained capability control
  • Built-in messaging and notifications; forums and collaborative activities
  • Learning analytics and reports (including completion tracking and logs)
  • Extensive plugin ecosystem (activities, question types, themes, authentication, enrolments, admin tools)
  • Integrations for authentication/SSO (e.g., LDAP, SAML via plugins) and external tools (LTI)

Use Cases

  • University and school e-learning portals for blended or fully online teaching
  • Corporate training and compliance programs with quizzes and completion tracking
  • Community or continuing-education course delivery with forums and assignments

Limitations and Considerations

  • Feature depth and UI/UX depend heavily on configuration, themes, and selected plugins
  • Plugin compatibility can vary by Moodle release; upgrades may require testing in staging

Moodle is a mature, extensible LMS suited to organizations that need robust assessments, role-based administration, and a large ecosystem of plugins and integrations. It is commonly chosen when full control over course structure, grading, and authentication is required at scale.

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Why choose an open source alternative?

  • Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running