Canvas LMS vs Google Classroom comparison

Instructure and Google are both solutions in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category. Instructure is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0, while Google is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3. Instructure holds a 5.3% mindshare in LMS, compared to Google’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Instructure users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Google users who would recommend it.

Canvas LMS

Read 10 Canvas LMS reviews

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466 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Google Classroom

Read 25 Google Classroom reviews

1,974 Views
758 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Canvas LMS

Google Classroom

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Canvas LMS and Google Classroom are two leading e-learning platforms, with Canvas LMS offering more robust customization and flexibility, while Google Classroom is known for its simple user interface and seamless integration with Google Apps.

Features:Canvas LMS provides advanced customization, integration with Zoom, and powerful analytics tools, making it ideal for complex educational needs. Google Classroom offers seamless integration with Google Suite, allowing effortless use of Google Docs, Sheets, and more alongside intuitive usability, making it perfect for quick adoption and use in diverse settings.

Room for Improvement:Canvas LMS could enhance its user interface to reduce complexity for novice users and improve real-time collaboration features. Google Classroom could benefit from offering more advanced grading tools and better analytics, along with enriching offline accessibility options to enhance usability in varied teaching environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:Google Classroom is favored for its easy deployment, leveraging existing Google Suite familiarity to quickly transition users online. Canvas LMS, while more complex, offers extensive customer support to assist with its deeper feature set and integration options, ensuring smooth implementation.

Pricing and ROI:Google Classroom is free and fits seamlessly within the Google ecosystem, resulting in minimal costs and immediate value. Canvas LMS, with its higher initial costs, justifies the investment for larger institutions through its extensive features and potential for high returns on educational deliverables, catering to more comprehensive institutional needs.

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

Buyer's Guide

Canvas LMS vs. Google Classroom

April 2025

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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

Canvas LMS

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Google Classroom

Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)

3rd

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 Canvas LMS is 5.3%, up from 5.2% 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

James Phelps

Adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University

Intuitive, easy to learn, and easy to adapt to various teaching methodologies

It is scalable. There must be 20,000 people using it on that campus. We run a medical college, a public health department, and the hard sciences department. We also have a lot of things that are spread out across the state of Florida through Canvas. So, it is pretty scalable. In terms of our plans to increase its usage, I don't know what the university is going to do, but right now, the university is saturated with Canvas. Even if you're doing classes in a regular standard classroom, all of your exams, all of your quizzes, all of your practicals, and all of your teaching are recorded and loaded into the Canvas system for future review by accreditors. So, it is pretty well saturated on that particular campus.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I used a lot of other systems in my IT career and Canvas LMS truly has everything that I would look for in an enterprise system."

"We have been using Canvas LMS, and overall, it has served our needs well for managing courses and general settings."

"The product's flexibility is exceptional."

"They have a more extensive support base in terms of infrastructure."

"It's easy to follow. It flows well, and it's easy to use."

"The assessment tools in Canvas significantly contribute to educational outcomes by allowing instructors to create and manage assessments effectively."

"Its easy adaptability to whatever form or methodology you are using to teach is valuable. It tends to be seamless, and it is very much a self-intuitive product. It requires almost no instruction, and you can be fully up to speed and ready to run on it. You can bring someone in who has never worked with any online learning or LMS system, and in a week's timeframe, they would almost be fully functional because Canvas is so simple to use."

"Canvas LMS is user-friendly. Its assessment tools help to find the weaknesses and strengths of students."

More Canvas LMS pros

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"The most valuable feature of Google Classroom is the ability for the lecturer to put in work. Additionally, the work can be graded after completion, and there can be feedback provided through the system which has a good interface."

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

More Google Classroom pros

Cons

"In our working, we are encountering many challenges with Canvas LMS. One of the major area is their business model which is having a very different pricing structure. The structure is made in such a way that the license fee is needed to be paid for the complete year even if the student has been enrolled for a programme of short duration. This structure is not conducive with our needs and hence, in the past few years, been increasing our costs manifold. Along with this, Canva LMS also lacks many functionalities such as notifications and adaptive learning. There is a specific issue with the licensing model that affects us in continuous education. The inability to reuse a license for the same course in different terms hinders our cost efficiency. For instance, if a program runs from January to April, we are required to pay for the license twice within the same academic year. This contrasts with other platforms like Hyper, where reusing a license is possible, allowing us to use the same license multiple times in different terms. Along with the use, we are exploring the integration of artificial intelligence into our processes, and Canvas LMS falls short in this regard. While some platforms allow connections with external AI services, Canvas does not currently offer built-in artificial intelligence capabilities, a feature we find valuable for enhancing the learning experience."

"It would be good to be able to do teleconferencing within the LMS."

"The product could be integrated with a talent management system."

"The high-tech interactivity with other software, like ArcGIS or RSA Archer, can be better. It is not as easily compatible with them. You can put apps in it that the students can then access, but the routing of apps through the Canvas system slows down functionality on the other types of products."

"It would be nice to be able to do more real-time comprehensive reporting with Canvas LMS."

"There are a couple of areas that could be improved. Firstly, the discussion feature is not very interactive and can be slow to respond, making it less intuitive at the moment. This is an aspect that needs substantial improvement. Another point to consider is related to the cost of the LMS system. It's perceived as relatively expensive, which has led to discussions about transitioning away from Canvas, potentially to a more cost-effective alternative. This cost-related aspect is a significant factor to consider when implementing such a system."

"Integrating more AI capabilities for the product could enhance its functionality, particularly in automating repetitive tasks and personalizing learning experiences."

"The solution could be upgraded and improved."

More Canvas LMS cons

"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."

"Students used to have points that were accumulated and the letter grades, such as A's, B's, C's, et cetera. Google Classroom should add a feature by which you can toggle in between both of them. It's more than only accumulated points, which are not going to mean that much for students unless there's a prize at the end or some type of reward for the effort. However, if there's a way to toggle in between allocating points versus allocating a grade, it would be nice."

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

"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."

"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."

"Google Classroom could benefit from tools that help correct coding errors for students, thereby enhancing learning."

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

More Google Classroom cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Canvas LMS is low-priced compared to other vendors."

"The platform can be expensive for smaller organizations with fewer students."

"The pricing of Canvas is satisfactory for my university. We have negotiated a good price, especially considering that we are a large university with twenty-six campuses across the country. Canvas offers a favorable pricing model for academic institutions, and the cost is reasonable. However, in continuous education, the challenge lies not in the price itself but in the business model. The requirement to pay for the entire year when our students may only use the license for a shorter duration creates challenges. The inability to adjust the licensing based on actual usage is a significant drawback for us, making the effective cost higher compared to other platforms like Hyper Learning"

"Canvas LMS is an affordable solution."

"The product is free."

"The product offers a yearly based license."

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

"I'm using a free version of Google Classroom, so it's a product I don't pay for."

"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."

"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."

"Google Classroom is a free solution."

"I use the free version of Google Classroom."

More Google Classroom pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

University

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

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 Canvas LMS?

We have been using Canvas LMS, and overall, it has served our needs well for managing courses and general settings.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Canvas LMS?

Integrating more AI capabilities for the product could enhance its functionality, particularly in automating repetitive tasks and personalizing learning experiences.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Canvas LMS?

I rate Canva LMS a nine out of ten.

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

CYPHER Learning vs Canvas LMS

Compared 20% of the time

Moodle vs Canvas LMS

Compared 15% of the time

Brightspace vs Canvas LMS

Compared 14% of the time

Totara Learn vs Canvas LMS

Compared 13% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors Learning vs Canvas LMS

Compared 12% of the time

More Canvas LMS Competitors

Moodle vs Google Classroom

Compared 56% of the time

Blackboard Learning Management vs Google Classroom

Compared 27% of the time

More Google Classroom Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Canvas LMS

April 2025

Download Canvas LMS product report

Buyer's Guide

Google Classroom

April 2025

Download Google Classroom product report

Overview

Canvas LMS is a comprehensive learning management system that enhances the educational experience. It offers a user-friendly interface that allows educators to create and manage courses, assignments, and assessments. Canvas enables seamless communication and collaboration between students and teachers. It supports various multimedia formats, making it easy to incorporate engaging content into lessons. Canvas also provides a mobile app, ensuring accessibility on the go. Its built-in analytics and reporting allow educators to track student progress and identify areas for improvement. Canvas LMS can integrate with other educational tools and platforms, enhancing its functionality. Canvas LMS is a powerful and versatile platform that empowers educators to deliver effective and engaging online learning experiences.

Instructure

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

Pragmatic Group, MRWED Training and Assessment, RedHill Education

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

Canvas LMS vs. Google Classroom

April 2025

Free Report: Canvas LMS vs. Google Classroom

Find out what your peers are saying about Canvas LMS vs. Google Classroom and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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