Google Classroom vs Moodle comparison

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Google Classroom

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

Moodle and Google Classroom are two contenders in the educational platform sector. Moodle excels with its modular flexibility and extensive features, while Google Classroom stands out for its ease of use and integration with the Google Suite.

Features: Moodle offers advanced quiz options like randomizations, a robust plugin community for customizations, and supports legacy integrations like LTI and H5P. Google Classroom integrates seamlessly with Google tools, supports easy communication and material sharing, and offers features like Google Forms for quizzes.

Room for Improvement: Moodle's complex UI and lack of intuitiveness for non-technical users can be challenging. It also lacks built-in multi-tenancy support and robust analytics. Google Classroom could improve its organization and assessment features. Its interface sometimes confuses young students, and it lacks detailed grading capabilities for advanced educational settings.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Moodle offers flexible deployment options, supporting both on-premises and cloud setups, requiring technical expertise. Its customer service relies on community support unless users opt for paid support. Google Classroom is cloud-based with a simpler onboarding process through the Google ecosystem and lacks direct technical support but benefits from dedicated resources for common issues.

Pricing and ROI: Moodle is open-source, making it cost-effective, with free and paid options. Google Classroom offers a free solution integrating with Google tools, and its paid version provides additional functionality. Both provide good ROI, especially Moodle with its expansive feature set and open-source foundation.

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

Google Classroom vs. Moodle

November 2025

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Helped 872,869 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 November 2025, in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category, the mindshare of Google Classroom is 2.8%, down from 7.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Moodle is 5.8%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Moodle	5.8%
Google Classroom	2.8%
Other	91.4%

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

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

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

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

"Google Classroom is easy to use and intuitive, and it's not difficult to set up."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its performance."

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

"The product is easy to use."

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

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 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."

"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."

"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."

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

"This is a scalable solution. We have had 30,000 students using the solution. During COVID, we were able to accommodate a 500% increase in traffic."

"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."

"It doesn't take long to learn how to use it and to set up basic courses and things like that."

More Moodle pros

Cons

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

"The initial setup of Google Classroom is straightforward. The deployment took us two to three months because we had to train the faculty."

More Google Classroom cons

"Setting up groups and allocating privacy settings to different groups is quite complicated."

"Moodle should improve the interface. You can download plugins, such as templates, and use them in Moodle, but they're limited. The interface component in Moodle can improve for students because we always have to train every student on how to use some of each feature. The solution overall could be more user-friendly."

"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."

"The solution architecture could be improved."

"We have needed to complete many customizations for Moodle to use it in all of our relevant organizations. We have found many issues with the competencies as we cannot assign many sub competencies to competencies."

"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."

"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 multi-tenancy system within Moodle could be improved. IOMAD is what makes the multi-tenancy possible but this comes with many issues."

More Moodle cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Google Classroom is a free solution."

"The tool is available for free."

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

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

"Google Classroom is free to use."

"The solution is affordable."

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

"The product offers a yearly based license."

More Google Classroom pricing and cost advice

"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 a free solution."

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

"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 offer a 14 day free trial and then requires payment."

"It is open source, and it has a lot of free documentation. It can be by far the least expensive option, but it depends on how one decides to use it. It can be free if you download it and host it on-prem, and you don't count your time as being worth anything. So, it can be almost free, or it can be very expensive just depending on if you get a package with a provider and if it is a huge solution."

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

"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

25%

University

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Performing Arts

Comms Service Provider

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Educational Organization

10%

University

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	11

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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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Google Classroom product report

Google Classroom

October 2025

Download Moodle product report

October 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