Skip to content
repoly

Search tools

Category

Open source learning and courses

Tools and software to help with education and learning. Repoly tracks 16 open-source learning tools, each scored nightly from its repository activity and ranked by that score alone. INGInious leads at 90/100 with 125 commits in the last 90 days and 243 stars, followed by Chamilo LMS (82) and ILIAS (81). 8 of the 16 score 70 or above, 2 publish a Docker image, and the median health is 67. AGPL-3.0 is the most common licence, carried by 6 of them. Between them they stand in for Moodle Cloud and Duolingo. The score weighs commits in the last 90 days, release recency, stars, archive status and Docker support; a low number means low measurable activity, not low quality, so a finished, stable tool can legitimately sit lower down.

updated Oct 2026 16 tools ★ 19k stars 2 with Docker median 67

Best for…

  • Most starred

    edX

    8,212 stars on GitHub, the largest community in the category.

  • Most active

    Chamilo LMS

    1,632 commits in the last 90 days, the fastest-moving codebase here.

  • Most permissive

    Helium

    MIT licence with health 59/100: the strongest option if you need to embed or fork commercially.

Ranked by health

Table view

How the learning tools compare

INGInious edges Chamilo LMS 90 to 82, and most of the difference is Docker support: a Docker image against no Docker image. Chamilo LMS is the busier codebase, though, with 1,632 commits in 90 days to 125. edX has the largest following at 8.2k stars, yet ranks #9 of 16, held back mostly by release recency (named-release/birch from 11.7 years ago).

The most recent release is Open eClass Release_4.4.3, published 7 days ago. Helium, OpenOLAT, RELATE and 1 more publish no tagged releases, which costs up to 25 of the 100 points. Canvas LMS scores under 40, so check recent activity before adopting it. By stack, PHP (9), Python (4) and Nodejs (2) are the most common. Helium, OpenOLAT and RELATE are permissively licensed; INGInious, Chamilo LMS, ILIAS and 10 more are copyleft. Moodle and QST are not hosted on a forge Repoly can read, so they have no measured score yet.

Learning and Courses: common questions

What is the best open source learning tool?

By Repoly's GitHub health score, INGInious at 90/100 (125 commits in 90 days, v0.9.3 from 2 months ago). Chamilo LMS is next at 82; INGInious's lead comes mostly from Docker support. The score measures maintenance, not features, so shortlist the top few and try them.

Which learning tools are the most actively developed?

Chamilo LMS (1,632 commits in 90 days), OpenOLAT (1,193 commits in 90 days) and ILIAS (559 commits in 90 days). Commit activity is 35 of the 100 health points, the largest single term.

Which learning tools can I run in Docker?

2 of 16 publish a Docker image or Compose file, led by INGInious and Helium.

Which learning tools have a permissive licence?

3 of 16: Helium (MIT), OpenOLAT (Apache-2.0), RELATE (MIT). 13 are copyleft.

Which paid products can open source learning tools replace?

Moodle Cloud (Chamilo LMS ranks highest here) and Duolingo (Gibbon ranks highest here).

Recently updated in Learning and Courses

Replace a paid tool