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Google Classroom vs Moodle comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

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)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Moodle
Ranking in Learning Management Systems (LMS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) category, the mindshare of Google Classroom is 4.8%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Moodle is 11.6%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
 

Featured Reviews

Susan Nash - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Ertan Aslan - PeerSpot reviewer
Plenty of modules, highly flexible, and advantageous different user types
It would be a benefit if there was an easy single sign-on with social media services for Moodle. There are some plugins that I tried, but they didn't work seamlessly. it is a work in progress. Having the single sign-on with social media services would be appreciated because in my school we are using Google suite and the main reason why we use Google Classroom is that it is integrated seamlessly with the suite. If I have the same seamless integration with Google suite with Moodle, I would use Moodle more often. I'm using it for myself, but school-wise, it's limited because of the ease of access. Google Classroom is very simple, and straightforward for teachers. It has many features with most being basic. It's easy for everyone to learn. Moodle has a lot of advanced features which can scare people who are not advanced users. If Moodle could improve user-friendliness or more people would use it. This includes the user interface and the overall user experience could improve. When comparing it to Google, it's a bit more difficult. For example, with Google Classroom, as long as you have a Google account any teacher can go there and create a classroom. However, with Moodle, it's a bit difficult. You need to have a system first. It has to be installed, and then you need to know how to create a classroom. You need to know how to use those tools. It requires some getting used to and some training.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Google Classroom is the ability to meet people and it is online."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"The most valuable features of Google Classroom are the meetings, mark book, and assignments."
"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."
"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."
"Google Classroom is very effective for communication and excellent for assigning homework and resources."
"Assigning a unique copy of Google Classroom to students and giving out information is what the solution excels at."
"What I like about Google Classroom are the video lessons. I enjoy using it because it makes my life easier, for example, I can easily change my class and my lecture notes."
"The customization features of Moodle significantly enhance the learning experience for our users."
"A really nice thing about Moodle is that it is very robust and flexible, and one of the big advantages of Moodle is that it is open source. It also has a lot of free documentation."
"The ability to insert a variety of tools, create and organize course content, and share large volumes of materials, written, audio, or visual, is very valuable."
"Since it's an open-source product, you can integrate it with many other things."
"It doesn't take long to learn how to use it and to set up basic courses and things like that."
"Almost all the activity modules are available inside the courses, so that makes our training easier and more comfortable."
"One of my biggest pet peeves is that many LMSs do not offer a course or site-level backup that is an industry-standard file. So, if you decide you don't like Moodle or some other LMS, you should be able to back up all your data and take it and go somewhere else. Moodle does offer that. There are several others that do that as well, but there are some LMSs that don't, which isn't a very good business practice because they hold their clients hostage. That's one of the things I really like about Moodle."
"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."
 

Cons

"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."
"It would be helpful to add voice or audio capabilities to the classrooms instead of text only."
"The initial setup of Google Classroom is straightforward. The deployment took us two to three months because we had to train the faculty."
"There can often be language barriers when you're not dealing with local technical support, which can be challenging."
"The solution's GUI is an area of concern currently that can be considered for improvement in the future."
"The product's UI needs improvement."
"There are some websites where you can create activities and guide students to do them in a sequence. You can guide them to do an activity first and then go to the next one. You can automatically link activities, and there is a flow, but in Google Classroom, you don't have that feature. All you can do is put the material and tell students what to do. For example, I have an assignment, but I want my students to read a particular text before that. They need to tick it, or they need to click next before they start doing the activity. After that, I want them to do comprehension questions or something else. In Moodle, there are activities such as assignments, quizzes, etc. There is a lesson module in which you can put all of the activities in a flow. So, you can decide what they need to do first. If students answer a question incorrectly, you can decide and design to which page do they need to go next, and which part do they need to review. This is currently missing in Google Classroom."
"The user interface of Google Classroom could improve by being more user-friendly."
"The solution architecture could be improved."
"It would be a benefit if there was an easy single sign-on with social media services for Moodle. There are some plugins that I tried, but they didn't work seamlessly. it is a work in progress. Having the single sign-on with social media services would be appreciated because in my school we are using Google suite and the main reason why we use Google Classroom is that it is integrated seamlessly with the suite."
"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."
"Its interface design could be more user-friendly."
"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."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Google Classroom has been reasonable."
"For Google Classroom, you don't need to pay for its license because they offer free access to the platform."
"The tool is available for free."
"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."
"There are competitors that offer free solutions, making the price of Google Classroom high."
"The product is free."
"Moodle offer a 14 day free trial and then requires payment."
"Moodle is an open-source solution that is free of cost."
"Moodle is a free solution."
"It is a one-time registration with the Moodle site. There isn't a yearly or monthly fee."
"Moodle is a free open-sourced solution. This is one of the best aspects of Moodle."
"The licensing cost is quite high and it operates on an annual basis."
"Moodle is a free online learning platform, but it also offers a paid version of it."
"This solution offers a free-to-use version which can be deployed only on-premises and is what we are using. Moodle also offer support based and cloud based subscriptions. Organizations can select the appropriate package based on their needs. Moodle offer reasonable pricing for the use of their solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
University
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
14%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
 

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?
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...
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...
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.
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Classroom vs. Moodle and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.