CYPHER Learning vs Google Classroom comparison

CYPHER LEARNING and Google are both solutions in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category. CYPHER LEARNING is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while Google is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.1. CYPHER LEARNING holds a 4.5% mindshare in LMS, compared to Google’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of CYPHER LEARNING users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Google users who would recommend it.

CYPHER Learning

Read 55 CYPHER Learning reviews

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460 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Google Classroom

Read 25 Google Classroom reviews

1,787 Views
744 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

CYPHER Learning

Google Classroom

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

CYPHER Learning and Google Classroom are competitors in the learning management systems (LMS) category. CYPHER Learning has the upper hand with its advanced features and deployment options, but Google Classroom maintains a strong position due to its ease of use and integration with G Suite.

Features: CYPHER Learning offers advanced capabilities like gamification, personalized lessons, and a rule engine that automates training processes. Its customizable content and in-depth analytics suit various learning contexts. Google Classroom is known for its seamless integration with G Suite, providing simplicity and ease of use for basic classroom management, though it lacks advanced analytics.

Room for Improvement: CYPHER Learning could improve its language translation frameworks and expand reporting options to enhance user experience for non-technical educators, as well as improve integration with external resources and mobile usability. Google Classroom could benefit from better organization features, robust grading systems, and enhanced communication and assignment tracking, along with simpler navigation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CYPHER Learning excels with flexible deployment options across public, private, and hybrid clouds, offering extensive support channels and highly rated customer service. Google Classroom, operating on the public cloud, is praised for its simple setup though lacks the variety of deployment options of CYPHER Learning and could improve in customer service.

Pricing and ROI: CYPHER Learning offers competitive pricing based on active users with flexible plans, resulting in efficient ROI through reduced training costs. Google Classroom's free or cost-effective paid options make it accessible for organizations with limited budgets, but its lack of advanced features might not meet the needs of larger enterprises for significant ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed CYPHER Learning vs. Google Classroom Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CYPHER Learning vs. Google Classroom

April 2025

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Helped 852,649 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

CYPHER Learning

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

1st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Google Classroom

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category, the mindshare of CYPHER Learning is 4.5%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Classroom is 4.5%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Featured Reviews

Roland Lorenzo M Ruben

Philosophy Professor at De La Salle University - Dasmariñas

Offers flexible learning and saves printing costs; it has been excellent for us

There is room for improvement in the CYPHER Learning mobile application because my students have given feedback that they are not using the mobile app as it takes time to open. I also use the app. For me, it is easier to use than using the browser, but some of the students do not use it because it takes a very long time to open. Most of our students are using smartphones. Some students do not have laptops, so if the mobile app is more responsive, it would be a great help for us. The peer feedback feature is not user-friendly. Some of our faculty members were very happy when CYPHER gave the news that there is already a peer feedback feature because we were asking for it, but when they used it, they found it complicated and not user-friendly. They were disappointed with the peer feedback feature. When students submit their outputs, we want their classmates to give feedback as well, but that is not very easy to use. After I tried it, I also did not find it very friendly to use. They have this assessment type where we can group our students. We create groups, and they can work and collaborate with the group. While grading the submissions of the groups, although we can see that the students are separated by groups, we still have to grade them one by one. We would like a way to grade the group as one. For example, if there are five members in a group, currently, we give each member a grade. It would be easier to be able to give the same grade to all the members of the group. The team assessment feature could be improved to allow grading the group as one.

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Susan Nash

Director of innovation at AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS

It's free and integrates seamlessly with many tools

When students don't have Gmail accounts, it creates a lot of hiccups, but the main issue is that the interface is somewhat primitive. It’s intuitive and you can be up and running in no time at all. However, it is not very attractive. But that may be because I installed it myself and I'm not using any fancy templates. It's primitive because that's how I've been able to get it going. I would like to see a better user experience, a prettier interface, and more templates. Google could make templates readily available or users could design and share them. As it is, you’ll only get a basic framework when you create a new course. You don't have different themes to choose from like you do in Moodle. Most learning management systems also have a dashboard. It would be useful to have a dashboard with blocks on the side that lets you navigate all of your courses. It would like to have the ability to navigate at a glance and breadcrumbs. By breadcrumbs, I mean it should be designed to leave you a trail like you would use to find your way out of a forest. Go back to where you were and pick up where you left off. So, instead of going back, it shows you where you were. Moodle does something like this, but you don't see it in Canvas or Blackboard. I think that that would be a big advantage. And then, a dashboard would just be when you go to the front page, in addition to having your courses listed there, you would have something like other activities, as well. Further, the dashboard would include your calendar, you could have a calendar there, you could have different productivity apps.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"One of the most valuable features is the ability to use private external portals through which we can sell our courses, which is enormous. This feature is one of the primary reasons we stitched from our previous LMS, as it allows us to grow and create customization. We can customize the portals within CYPHER Learning for specific clients, and that's huge."

"In terms of the user availability, there is access to the platform 24 hours. So, we don't need to determine a specific time for training. We just give them a link, password, and period for them to complete, e.g., four days, then it is up to them. What is important is they pass the minimum requirements needed to pass the exams and certification process."

"One of the features that is very good is the automation for setting trigger rules that show or hide specific class sections or assignments."

"One of the things that we are really excited about is being able to tie the state or national standards as competencies. Then, when students complete a course, they are awarded certain competencies or standards that we have aligned with the course. This shows schools evidence that students are meeting standards. Right now, we are not tying any of our courses with how schools are testing and assessing students. However, our company goals are to provide access to STEM for all students and help schools engage with communities to develop the STEM talent and workforce, which then impacts a community's economic development."

"The way that CYPHER Learning tags classes and assignments with competencies helps me see what a student has done."

"I am able to monitor the classes: who has entered, who has not entered yet, and who has viewed the classes. If we are working on an assignment it allows me to upload an assessment rubric where they can see and learn about their progress."

"Initially, I was very excited about the automations. But when we started using the actual courses, I found that the ability to sync content and settings from parent courses to child courses is what I value the most. But both the automations and syncing are at the top of the list."

"Most LMSs have a fixed template for all the courses and the whole school uses it. When it comes to younger ages, they need fewer features so there won't be a lot of hassle for the teachers and parents. That's what we can do using CYPHER Learning: Just turn off anything that we don't need in a specific course."

More CYPHER Learning pros

"The product is easy to use."

"I find Jamboard to be a great tool for supporting classroom activities."

"The customer service and support are very good."

"Google Classroom is simple to use."

"When a teacher uploads material, all students connected to that class will receive the same information at the same time. I have found this to be a valuable feature. I also like that the material remains in Google Classroom until the teacher removes it. The UI is user-friendly, and you don't have to have prior experience to use the solution."

"What I like about Google Classroom are the video lessons. I enjoy using it because it makes my life easier, for example, I can easily change my class and my lecture notes."

"Assigning a unique copy of Google Classroom to students and giving out information is what the solution excels at."

"The product's initial setup phase was easy."

More Google Classroom pros

Cons

"The system should help us more in the area of evaluation. I don't think CYPHER Learning has exploited this topic enough. I can upload rubrics for evaluation, but there are no additional information sources or other instruments for student evaluation."

"Due to the complexity of our business, we would welcome more options for access rights management."

"Some of our faculty members were very happy when CYPHER gave the news that there is already a peer feedback feature because we were asking for it, but when they used it, they found it complicated and not user-friendly."

"I think it would be helpful if the resources were more structured in a how-to format."

"I would like to see an improvement in peer bonding and the possibility for students to share knowledge among themselves regarding the work that they do. That would greatly help in that it wouldn’t be a one-to-many communication format."

"Most of our wish list for CYPHER Learning has already been addressed. One that we are still asking them for is to include competencies from different industries, since they have industry partners. These would be the competencies that these industries need so that we can make sure that we are developing our students toward those competencies or skill sets."

"I have one team member who is in charge of monitoring and checking students' progress. She is very tech savvy and has really dove into the reporting feature in CYPHER Learning. If I had one complaint, it would be the reporting. It is so robust and detailed that it is hard to obtain some of the specific things that we want. That has been her response to me, and I have found the same thing. If I just want to know how many students have completed a course in a specific organization, then it is a little bit too daunting and difficult to obtain exactly what we use as our key indicators."

"As an administrator of our LMS, there are a lot of things that could be improved, but these are not seen by students or professors. One is the admin features for adding students."

More CYPHER Learning cons

"The solution's GUI is an area of concern currently that can be considered for improvement in the future."

"I would like to see a better user experience, a more engaging interface, and more templates. Google should develop templates or at least encourage developers to share them. You'll only get a basic framework when you create a new course. You don't have different themes to choose from like you do in Moodle."

"There's room for improvement in the offline functionality. When you're working with a class, you can't close the class or perform certain tasks when you're offline."

"The user interface of Google Classroom could improve by being more user-friendly."

"The product must provide different plans for different customers so that we can pay for only what we use."

"There are some websites where you can create activities and guide students to do them in a sequence. You can guide them to do an activity first and then go to the next one. You can automatically link activities, and there is a flow, but in Google Classroom, you don't have that feature. All you can do is put the material and tell students what to do. For example, I have an assignment, but I want my students to read a particular text before that. They need to tick it, or they need to click next before they start doing the activity. After that, I want them to do comprehension questions or something else. In Moodle, there are activities such as assignments, quizzes, etc. There is a lesson module in which you can put all of the activities in a flow. So, you can decide what they need to do first. If students answer a question incorrectly, you can decide and design to which page do they need to go next, and which part do they need to review. This is currently missing in Google Classroom."

"I would like to see a master list of documents with folder names so that it is more convenient for students to know whether they have submitted a particular document. At present, you need to go to each classroom to check what you have submitted."

"There are a lot of things that need to be fixed in order for it to be called a learning management system. I think that's where a lot of people are very confused in terms of what Google Classroom actually does. Google Classroom is not a learning management system. A learning management system allows teachers to grade with authenticity and doesn't provide only one grade for a particular document or assignment."

More Google Classroom cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"CYPHER Learning is more cost-efficient for us compared to others."

"CYPHER Learning's price is slightly higher than other solutions."

"The main reason we went for it was cost, which was very reasonable."

"We actually want to look at other systems or develop our own system because the cost point of MATRIX is so high. It doesn't feel like we get any value for it."

"I'm an instructional designer, and from a build or a designer standpoint, it would be nice to have a more user-friendly resource folder to access artifacts to pull into course modules. The second feature that I would love is that while editing any page inside CYPHER Learning, there should be more functionality to design it well."

"I am happy with it. It is very well priced."

"The system is not cheap but it's affordable. The pricing is fair... The cherry on top was that we received all the functionality with the simplest plan, the one with the minimal number of users. It couldn't be any better."

"When I first started, I wanted the enterprise package. We had to build up our student base to get up to the number of students that we needed to be in that enterprise package. Then, we had a 100% return on investment within the first year of using the program."

More CYPHER Learning pricing and cost advice

"The product offers a yearly based license."

"The solution is affordable."

"Google Classroom is a free solution. There is paid version that has more options, the cost is approximately eight dollars per student per month."

"For Google Classroom, you don't need to pay for its license because they offer free access to the platform."

"Google Classroom is a free solution."

"There are competitors that offer free solutions, making the price of Google Classroom high."

"The tool is available for free."

"If you do a certain size and build, it's like any Google solution. You have to pay for storage, but you don't need to pay extra to use the interface. There may be Google Classroom partners that provide more integrated solutions, but I don't know. I'm strictly DIY."

More Google Classroom pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Government

Educational Organization

24%

University

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NEO LMS?

Creating courses for our resources is one of the best features of CYPHER Learning.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NEO LMS?

I did not negotiate the pricing, but from what I gathered, it was a significant purchase for us at West Music. We recognize its value and potential for growth, making it worthwhile.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NEO LMS?

The primary area for improvement is the reporting between courses and eCommerce, which currently use two separate reporting styles. Information can be accessed within the courses themselves, as wel...

See all answers

What do you like most about Google Classroom?

The product's UI is good and user-friendly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Classroom?

There is room for improvement in AI integration, specifically in the education sector. Google Classroom could benefit from tools that help correct coding errors for students, thereby enhancing lear...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Google Classroom?

We are using Google Classroom for assessments, homework, and providing resources to students. We also use it for tuition and online interaction, focusing on IT subjects such as computing and progra...

See all answers

Comparisons

Canvas LMS vs CYPHER Learning

Compared 36% of the time

Moodle vs CYPHER Learning

Compared 34% of the time

Cornerstone Learning vs CYPHER Learning

Compared 30% of the time

More CYPHER Learning Competitors

Moodle vs Google Classroom

Compared 56% of the time

Blackboard Learning Management vs Google Classroom

Compared 26% of the time

Canvas LMS vs Google Classroom

Compared 17% of the time

More Google Classroom Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CYPHER Learning

May 2025

Download CYPHER Learning product report

Buyer's Guide

Google Classroom

May 2025

Download Google Classroom product report

Also Known As

MATRIX LMS, NEO LMS

No data available

Overview

CYPHER Learning provides an AI-powered platform designed for efficient, personalized learning. It supports an ever-evolving educational and professional landscape with intuitive, comprehensive tools.

CYPHER Learning offers a unified learning experience, simplifying course creation and improving learner engagement through automation, gamification, and adaptive learning. Its intuitive design enhances communication and multimedia integration, making it suitable for trainers, educators, and HR professionals. Advanced analytics and customization options bolster its capabilities, positioning it as a leading choice for competency-based education and training.

What features define CYPHER Learning?

Gamification: Encourages engagement through game-like elements.
Adaptive Learning: Tailors content to individual learner needs.
Competency-Based Learning: Focuses on skill development and mastery.
Automation: Streamlines content delivery and administrative tasks.
Customizable Course Materials: Allows tailored content and pathways.

Why consider CYPHER Learning?

Enhanced Engagement: Keeps learners motivated with captivating experiences.
Improved Productivity: Increases efficiency for trainers and administrators.
Comprehensive Analytics: Provides insights into learner performance and engagement.
Seamless Integration: Integrates with external platforms for a unified experience.

CYPHER Learning finds applications in industries like health, insurance, and retail management, supporting technical training, onboarding, and professional development. Organizations leverage its customizable features for both self-paced and cohort-based learning, enriching their educational initiatives across sectors.

CYPHER LEARNING

Google Classroom is an online learning platform that allows teachers to create and manage virtual classrooms. With Google Classroom, teachers can easily distribute assignments, communicate with students, and provide feedback. Students can access their assignments, submit their work, and collaborate with their peers all in one place. The platform integrates seamlessly with other Google tools like Google Drive and Google Docs, making it easy for students to create and share their work. Google Classroom also provides a streamlined workflow for teachers, allowing them to save time and stay organized. Google Classroom is a user-friendly and efficient tool that enhances the learning experience of teachers and students alike.

Google

Sample Customers

Millions of users across business, academia, and entrepreneurs - worldwide.

Google Classroom is used in major urban school districts throughout the United States, including: * Los Angeles Unified School District * Chicago Public Schools * New York City Department of Education * Houston Independent School District * Miami-Dade County Public Schools * Dallas Independent School District * Broward County Public Schools * Clark County School District (Las Vegas) * Philadelphia School District

Buyer's Guide

CYPHER Learning vs. Google Classroom

April 2025

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