Google Classroom vs Moodle comparison

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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 865,164 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

"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."

"Google Classroom is simple to use."

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

"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 product's initial setup phase was easy."

"I can see all the submissions in a central place."

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

"I would rate the initial setup a nine out of ten. It is very straightforward."

More Google Classroom pros

"The valuable features of Moodle include its open-source nature, which makes it free to use, and the supportive community that assists with any issues."

"The most valuable feature is the community. Moodle is a completely open source application and provides a lot of development knowledge. The other features we find valuable are the LTI tools, integrations and BigBlueButton."

"The fact that it's modular means you can easily expand with thousands of plugins that you can freely download from Moodle headquarters, and adding or removing functionality is easy."

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

"The solution is stable."

"What I liked most about Moodle was that I could create nice online quizzes. It takes very little time to do. You don't have to even read the paper, it automatically evaluates the quizzes. It gives the student grades and provides a lot of useful statistics. For example, it indicates which question was the hardest, easiest, and where students made the most mistakes. Everything is available to you. You couldn't do this in regular paper test hard copies. This was my first use case."

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

"Moodle has a vast array of features which are really useful for the work our company does. Moodle hosts the courses through online systems and also offers quizzes and badges which our customers frequently use."

More Moodle pros

Cons

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

"The stability of the product is an area with certain flaws where improvements are required."

"The product's UI needs improvement."

"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."

"This feature is not available in Google Classroom, which is why I prefer other applications with more powerful statistics to trace student performance."

"Technical support from Google has been very frustrating in unrelated areas like Google Pay and Google Wallet. It has been quite challenging, with unresolved tickets and a lack of response creating lots of frustration."

"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."

More Google Classroom cons

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

"The ability to input modified, individual, independent grades in a grade center component is not just hard. It almost always requires you to get tech involved. When you're dealing with a learning system where you have people in an open enrollment with all different levels of learning modes or methodologies, and as well as a worldwide student body, you end up with situations where you have to absolutely exempt somebody from a grade or an assignment and enter a new, different kind of assignment because of their skillset or lack thereof. You can't do that in Moodle. It is virtually impossible to do that in Moodle without having a tech do it for you, and when you have to have that level of tech support, it becomes problematic. They need to fix the grade book center. It is the part where you do evaluations. They need to fix it so that the individual professors can make changes directly without having to get a hold of tech support to do it for them."

"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."

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

"Sometimes, discrepancies arise when the information is not updated or lacks precision, potentially leading to the model producing misleading or incorrect outputs based on its training."

"The UI and interface of Moodle could be greatly improved. There has been some improvement in recent releases by Moodle but there is still a lot to be improved upon. It is challenging to get buy-in from different stakeholders when they see what it looks like."

"One aspect that I found a bit confusing was the dual editing system, where you could edit the layout of the course separately from editing the content."

"The biggest area for improvement is the UI. They should also make the navigation simpler to understand. They've recently introduced a new way of having navigation work in Moodle, but they all look very similar."

More Moodle cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We did not need a license to use Google Classroom."

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

"The product is free."

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

"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."

"The price of Google Classroom has been reasonable."

"The solution is affordable."

"I use the free version of Google Classroom."

More Google Classroom pricing and cost advice

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

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

"It is a one-time registration with the Moodle site. There isn't a yearly or monthly fee."

"It varies depending on the partner you're going with. It depends on whether they are a certified partner or not. It also varies depending on the demand. Usually, with Moodle and other LMSs, there is concurrent licensing. It's hard to figure out the best way to do it at the company that is selling the LMS. Moodle is usually one of the most cost-effective LMSs you can get."

"In terms of cost, it is available at no charge."

"The licensing cost is quite high and it operates on an annual basis."

"This particular organization is a relatively small academic institution. It is a single campus, not very big, with 4,500 to 5,000 total students. It is not a big faculty. There are no hard sciences other than undergraduate-level hard sciences. So, Moodle is functional, and it is relatively simple because it is open-source software. It has sub advantages, and it is inexpensive. Small schools with small enrollment numbers just can't afford the more expensive ones."

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

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

10%

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.

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Product Reports

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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