Google Classroom vs Moodle comparison

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Google Classroom

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Moodle and Google Classroom compete in the learning management system category. Based on the comparison, Moodle seems to have an upper hand in feature richness and customization, while Google Classroom is favored for its ease of use and strong integration with Google tools.

Features: Moodle offers a robust exam question shuffle, extensive flexibility, and a wide range of plugins for customization and integration. Google Classroom stands out with its ease of use, seamless integration with Google’s ecosystem, and intuitive interface for educators and learners.

Room for Improvement: Moodle could enhance its user interface and ease of use for less technical users, along with improved documentation and support. Google Classroom may benefit from more organizational features and flexibility for advanced grading or sequential content delivery. Both could broaden their offerings by addressing these areas.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Moodle provides flexible deployment options across public, private, and on-premises environments but demands technical expertise for self-service setup, with a strong community for support. Google Classroom, being cloud-based, allows easy deployment and integration with Google tools, which suits institutions with limited IT resources. Google Classroom offers a straightforward setup but limited direct support.

Pricing and ROI: Moodle's open-source model presents cost advantages with free on-premises deployment, though additional support and cloud services can increase costs. Google Classroom is generally free for educational institutions with optional paid upgrades. Both solutions offer strong ROI by improving productivity and reducing administrative burden, though Moodle requires more initial investment in setup and customization.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Classroom vs. Moodle Report (Updated: July 2025).

Google Classroom vs. Moodle

July 2025

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Helped 865,295 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

Google Classroom

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Moodle

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category, the mindshare of Google Classroom is 3.4%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Moodle is 9.4%, down from 15.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Featured Reviews

Wafaa Salah

Professor at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

User-Friendly Platform with Valuable Features but Needs Improvement in Pool of Questions and Statistics

The integration with Google Workspace is great because we have many tools such as Google Meet, Google Sheets, and Google Drive. However, the space is very limited. We purchased extra space until it reached 100 gigabytes. I have been using Google since having a Gmail account in 2001 when I was a student. Google Classroom allows me to make quizzes and assignments for students with random ordering, but I would appreciate having a pool of questions feature. For example, having 1000 questions and extracting 20 for each student would allow every student to have a different version. Currently, while using quizzes, every question appears to every student, though the order might differ. Adding the pool of questions would be beneficial. Having statistics while students take their exams would be helpful - showing how many students submitted, how many are in progress, and how many have not started the quiz. Having a log file to track students who opened documents would be valuable. In Moodle, I can see which students opened files, downloaded them, or watched videos. This feature is not available in Google Classroom, which is why I prefer other applications with more powerful statistics to trace student performance.

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Agnes Mindila

Director School of Computing and Information Technology at JKUAT

Offers customized features that allow us to see whether students visited the platform and watched the provided videos

An improvement would be to have it support physically challenged students, who we think should be able to participate in some of our courses. If the learning management system could support blind students or students with learning disabilities, it would expand the reach of education by providing tools that support challenged learners. In future releases, I'd like to see more features that support challenged students, as I just mentioned above. This is because of the university's goal to make education accessible to all groups without discrimination. If we can have more tools that support students who are challenged, that would be very good. If AI could help, that would be nice. We want to support learners who are remote and provide learning to disadvantaged learners or certain groups of people. AI would come in very handy if Moodle had such capabilities.

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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

"The most valuable feature of Google Classroom is its clouds based. It can be accessed anywhere. Additionally, the GUI is good, we have not had any complaints and the platform has built-in security. For example, email has protection."

"I like that Google Classroom is free and integrates with the entire Google Suite, which includes Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, etc. I also like its flexibility, which makes it perfect for synchronous, asynchronous, and blended courses, and including live and archived webinars, as well as other kinds of content."

"The most valuable features of Google Classroom are the meetings, mark book, and assignments."

"Google Classroom is very effective for communication and excellent for assigning homework and resources."

"Company-wise, the most important feature is that it is a product of Google. It is a part of Google Suite. With Google Classroom, you can easily embed a Google Sheet, Google Doc, or Google Form. You can easily create a quiz in Google Form. It is integrated with Google Drive. So, everything is on Google Drive, and you can easily use it. With single sign-on, you can use it with Google Apps as well."

"The most valuable feature of Google Classroom is the ability to share my lectures with many students, assign tasks to be completed, and overall student engagement."

"A teacher can send assignments and upload results using the product."

"The product is easy to use."

More Google Classroom pros

"They have made it really easy for you to see the flow on the forums. The information is well organized and the UI is fairly easy to navigate."

"Since it's an open-source product, you can integrate it with many other things."

"The most valuable features of Moodle are the ability to create assignments, divide them into teams, and the course delivery. In Cornerstone, I need to reach out to the team, and it is not as simple, a little more involved. Additionally, the solutions is easy to manage."

"The ability to insert a variety of tools, create and organize course content, and share large volumes of materials, written, audio, or visual, is very valuable."

"The number of permissions that are available and different ways to report and get the information out are the most valuable features. We have been able to get precise bits of information out, and we have also been able to delegate a lot."

"It is relatively easy to use to build processes for establishing and conducting work within the templates that are used. It is not that hard to follow along or use, and it is pretty simple to pick it up and run with it."

"The most valuable feature of Moodle is the exam question shuffle. Students in the classroom will all have different question list numbers. For example, one student's question one will be another student's question ten."

"The customization features of Moodle significantly enhance the learning experience for our users."

More Moodle pros

Cons

"The initial setup is not very easy. It has modern complexity."

"It would be useful if this solution had its own online teaching platform with an integration with a Google video conferencing tool."

"Google Classroom could improve by having better integration with other platforms, such as Google Meet."

"Initially, the product's initial setup phase may not seem user-friendly."

"We found that Google Classroom is it is missing a lot in current engagement. We know it has got guardian access, where it sends the reports to the guardian at the end of either the week or the month, depending on how you set it. However, it lacks collaboration between the teacher, student, and parents. The engagement is mostly between the student and the teacher. If you have a school similar to ours, where you're dealing with little children where the parent is supposed to be engaged, you need a system that can engage them as well. It's good for senior students, but not for our students."

"It would be helpful to add voice or audio capabilities to the classrooms instead of text only."

"There are certain things that I can do on PowerPoint that I cannot do on Google Presentations and Google Slides, such as using PowerPoint's animation feature, I have found that PowerPoint is generally more feature-rich and offers a wider range of tools that I can use to prepare and enhance my presentations."

"The product should provide features that allow teachers to be on video while taking the class."

More Google Classroom cons

"The solution could be improved if support was an integral part of the whole solution. There are a few challenges in terms of performance due to Moodle being a free-to-use platform but these can be overcome with the use of their support team."

"An improvement would be to have it support physically challenged students, who we think should be able to participate in some of our courses."

"Moodle is missing a subscription-based system where learners can subscribe to available courses and make the payment for those courses."

"For a first time user, especially someone who is non-technical, Moodle is difficult for them to understand and they often need assistance."

"They need to have a better way to illustrate competencies so that, when people go through the programs, they can actually show they are competent in the subject matter."

"It would be good to have a feature that would ensure that students are the ones performing the given assessment."

"Moodle's weakest point is the user interface."

"The solution should continue to allow and foster the ability to integrate with cloud services."

More Moodle cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product offers a yearly based license."

"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."

"The price of Google Classroom has been reasonable."

"The solution is affordable."

"The product is free."

"Google Classroom is free to use."

"My child's school made payments on a subscription-based model to use Google Classroom."

"We are an educational institution, and it is free of charge for us. Normally, if you are a private company, you have to pay a lot of money to get this service, but they are giving it for free to schools."

More Google Classroom pricing and cost advice

"This solution offers a free-to-use version which can be deployed only on-premises and is what we are using. Moodle also offer support based and cloud based subscriptions. Organizations can select the appropriate package based on their needs. Moodle offer reasonable pricing for the use of their solution."

"Moodle is a free online learning platform, but it also offers a paid version of it."

"Moodle is free. It should probably stay free. There isn't really any support for Moodle unless you pay an astronomical amount, which is weird."

"Moodle is a free open-sourced solution. This is one of the best aspects of Moodle."

"Moodle is an open-source solution that is free of cost."

"Moodle is a free solution."

"Moodle have a very robust licensing system that is user friendly. It's not very expensive."

"It is a free-of-cost solution."

More Moodle pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

26%

Manufacturing Company

11%

University

11%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

13%

Educational Organization

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Classroom?

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

What needs improvement with Google Classroom?

What is your primary use case for Google Classroom?

I'm not creating classrooms using Google Classroom, as I join courses that other professors have created. Our university works with Outlook and Teams, but I still use Google Classroom when joining ...

What do you like most about Moodle?

The customization features of Moodle significantly enhance the learning experience for our users.

What needs improvement with Moodle?

The customization of the interface could be improved. Although we can load and change themes, it still always looks like Moodle. We have not found a way to significantly alter its appearance.

What is your primary use case for Moodle?

We use Moodle to manage our students' information, the classes, and the course catalog, which are mainly related to education. It serves as a learning management system for teaching in class.

Blackboard Learning Management vs Google Classroom

Comparisons

Compared 25% of the time

Canvas LMS vs Google Classroom

Compared 12% of the time

EduWave vs Google Classroom

Compared 10% of the time

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SAP SuccessFactors Learning vs Moodle

Compared 14% of the time

Cornerstone Learn vs Moodle

Compared 10% of the time

LearnWorlds vs Moodle

Compared 8% of the time

Chamilo LMS vs Moodle

Compared 7% of the time

CYPHER Learning vs Moodle

Compared 6% of the time

More Moodle Competitors

Product Reports

Download Google Classroom product report

Google Classroom

August 2025

Download Moodle product report

August 2025

Overview

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

Moodle is an open-source LMS offering course management, community plugins, and comprehensive integrations. Its modular design supports extensive customization, making it suitable for education sectors and corporate training.

Moodle provides a robust platform for creating and managing educational content. It integrates seamlessly with tools like Zoom and Teams, enhances cheat prevention with exam question shuffling, and supports advanced customization and accessibility. While its flexibility caters to diverse educational and corporate environments, Moodle faces challenges with login issues, improving mobile functionality, and a cumbersome setup process. Efforts to enhance documentation and ensure ease of navigation are ongoing. Its integration capabilities with ERP systems and support for LTI tools further position Moodle as a valuable resource for both educators and learners.

What are Moodle’s key features?

Course Management: Enables the creation and organization of courses, assignments, and exams.
Community Plugins: Offers extendable features through a variety of plugins supporting collaborative learning.
Integration with Tools: Supports platforms like Zoom, Teams, and Google Suite for enhanced communication and collaboration.
Security: Ensures robust protection of data with advanced security measures.
Accessibility Options: Provides tools to make learning accessible to all users, including those with disabilities.
Document Import/Export: Easy management of course materials via import/export capabilities.
LTI Tool Integration: Seamless incorporation of Learning Tools Interoperability standards for broader resource access.

What benefits can users expect from Moodle?

Customization: Flexibility allows tailoring of the platform to specific requirements or objectives.
Ease of Use: Designed for efficient course administration and facilitation of learning.
Role-Based Access: Supports personalized user roles and permissions.
Cost-Effectiveness: Open-source nature ensures budget-friendly deployment and maintenance.
Wide Range of Plugins: Enhances capability through a supportive plugin ecosystem.

In educational and corporate industries, Moodle is implemented for exam scheduling, resource management, and online assessments. It facilitates instructor-student interactions and is adaptable for both on-premises and cloud deployments. Organizations leverage Moodle for customizing employee certifications and training programs, benefiting from its versatile access controls and management tools.

Sample Customers

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

Acacia University, Alliant International University, American University of Health Sciences, Anaheim University Online, Aspen University, Cal State University San Bernardino, California State University Los Angeles, Chattanooga Fire Training, City of Humble Fire Department, George Washington University, Georgia Institute of Emergency Medical Services, Michigan Online Classroom, Virginia Beach Sheriffs Office, Washington Post