Free LMS Software for Institutions — Enterprise-Deployable, Self-Hostable, No Per-User Fees

OpenEduCat is software that institutions deploy on their own infrastructure — not a free Canvas, Moodle, or Google Classroom login for individual students or teachers. If you are a student or teacher trying to access your school's existing LMS, contact your school or college IT department for the correct login URL. This page is for IT directors, deans, and education groups evaluating a free LMS to deploy for their institution.

The Community Edition is LGPLv3 open-source with zero license fee, no seat cap, no time limit, no feature lock on core LMS functionality. The only costs are your hosting (a small VPS for a small institution, a proper cluster for a university) and, optionally, Enterprise support if you want an SLA. There is no catch — open source means open source.

Moodle is GPL PHP; OpenEduCat Community Edition is LGPLv3 Python on the Odoo framework. Both are fully free and self-hostable. Course delivery, SCORM, xAPI, and LTI are near-identical. OpenEduCat adds native integration with admissions, fees, library, hostel, and HR in one database — Moodle requires plugins, LTI, or external ERP for the same. Universities that want LMS plus ERP in one platform pick OpenEduCat; universities that only need pure course delivery often stay with Moodle.

Yes. A school with 500 students runs Community Edition on a $20-30/month VPS (4 vCPU, 8GB RAM) without breaking a sweat. Installation takes an afternoon with published Docker recipes. If your IT team is comfortable with Linux and PostgreSQL backups, you are the target deployer. If not, Enterprise managed cloud is available from $19/staff user/month — but is not required.

Yes. Reference universities run 20,000+ learners on Community Edition with standard PostgreSQL HA, 3-5 application nodes behind a load balancer, and object storage for assets. Horizontal scaling is standard Django-class Python deployment. Enterprise cloud adds managed ops and 99.9% SLA — but is not required for technical scalability.

Yes — all standards ship in Community Edition, not paywalled to Enterprise. SCORM 1.2 and 2004 import content from Articulate, Captivate, iSpring. xAPI (Tin Can) records learning activity. LTI 1.3 plugs in Turnitin, Proctorio, Kaltura, H5P. SAML 2.0, Shibboleth, OAuth2, Azure AD, and Google Workspace SSO all work in the free tier.

Compliance is largely a function of how you deploy, and because you self-host, you control that. Role-based access, audit logs, data-retention controls, and consent tracking are native. EU institutions deploy within EU regions or on-premises for GDPR residency; US institutions align FERPA via directory-information controls and role-scoped access. Self-hosting is the compliance story other LMS vendors cannot tell you.

Yes. Community-to-Enterprise upgrade is in-place (no data migration). Enterprise adds managed cloud, 99.9% SLA, premium modules (e.g., advanced analytics, deeper BI), and dedicated support. Pricing is per staff user starting at $19/user/month — not per learner. Students, parents, and alumni remain free.