Kohortly vs Canvas
Canvas runs a university's courses. Kohortly runs a training organisation's programmes.
Canvas, by Instructure, is one of the most widely used learning management systems in universities and school districts: courses, modules, assignments, quizzes, a gradebook and a large set of integrations. Institutions buy it on quote, and individual educators can use a free Canvas Lite account. It's built around academic courses and grading. Kohortly is built for organisations that recruit learners into cohorts, take fees and keep an alumni community going.
The short answer
Choose Canvas if
- You're a university or district that needs a full academic LMS.
- Gradebooks, rubrics, outcomes and SIS integration matter most.
- You have staff to configure and support it.
Choose Kohortly if
- You recruit learners through applications or registration.
- You take fees, in instalments or from employers and sponsors.
- You want a community, squads and WhatsApp, not only course discussions.
- You want it running in days, without an implementation project.
Canvas and Kohortly at a glance
- Price
- Canvas: Quote only for institutions; free Canvas Lite for individual educators
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Best for
- Canvas: Universities and school districts
- Kohortly: Organisations running training programmes
- Setup
- Canvas: An implementation project with Instructure or a partner
- Kohortly: Set up for you
- Community
- Canvas: Course discussions
- Kohortly: Feed, chats, squads and channels
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | Canvas |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | Course discussions and announcements | |
| Courses, lessons and progress | ||
| Points, levels and leaderboards | Badges through Canvas Credentials | |
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | Conferences and video integrations |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | Course sections |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | Roll Call attendance |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | Canvas Credentials, sold separately |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | Groups |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Course analytics |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Not a payments tool |
| One payer for many learners | An employer or sponsor pays for several learners | |
| WhatsApp and SMS | WhatsApp and SMS reminders and announcements | |
| Email broadcasts and automatic sequences | Notifications | |
| Phone app | Installable web app under your own name and logo, plus the Kohortly phone app | Canvas Student app |
| Web address | kohortly.com/yourname, or your own domain | |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | Not a payments tool |
Canvas details as of November 2026, from Instructure: try Canvas (Canvas Lite), Capterra: Canvas and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Canvas's site before you decide.
An academic LMS versus a programme platform
Canvas is excellent at what universities need: modules, assignments, rubrics, quizzes, a gradebook, outcomes and integrations with student information systems and hundreds of learning tools. Rolling it out is usually a project, with configuration, training and support staff.
Training organisations rarely need a gradebook that deep. They need applications and admissions, intakes with seats and class times, fees, attendance across online and in-person days, certificates an employer can check, and a community that keeps alumni involved. Kohortly is built around those, and is set up for you.
Cohorts, not just a membership
Canvas organises learning by course and section, for students the institution has already enrolled. Kohortly starts from the programme: you open an intake with a start date, seats and class times, people apply, your team admits them, and they move through the cohort together until graduation.
Every learner has a record that follows them: which intake they joined, which sessions they attended, what they paid and which certificate they earned. When a funder or board asks how the last cohort went, the answer is already there.
If you only need an open membership that anyone can join with a card, Canvas may be all you need. If you admit people into programmes that start and finish, that structure is what Kohortly is for.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Canvas doesn't handle learner fees; Canvas Catalog sells courses by card at extra cost. Many of the organisations we work with are paid by bank transfer, mobile money such as M-Pesa, UPI or Pix, a company cheque, a card on their own machine (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or cash at the first session, often in instalments.
Kohortly records each payment against the learner's fee account, issues a receipt, shows the balance and reminds people before an instalment is due, by email, WhatsApp or SMS. Nothing is taken from what your learners pay: Kohortly charges 0%.
When an employer pays for ten staff, one payer covers all ten seats and gets one invoice, while each learner still has their own place in the cohort.
Where Canvas is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Canvas does these things better than Kohortly:
- One of the most complete academic LMSs, with deep grading tools.
- A huge library of integrations (LTI tools) and SIS connections.
- Widely known by university staff and students.
Moving from Canvas to Kohortly
- Request a community. We set it up with your name, logo and colours, at kohortly.com/yourname or on your own domain.
- Import your members from a CSV export, with their names, emails and phone numbers.
- Recreate your programmes and courses. Lesson videos can be uploaded or embedded, and we can help with the move when we agree your plan.
- Invite members to sign in. Their history starts in Kohortly from the next intake.
Questions
How much does Canvas cost?+
Instructure doesn't publish prices: institutions get a quote. Individual educators can sign up for a free Canvas Lite account. Check instructure.com for current options.
Is Canvas good for a training business?+
Canvas can deliver courses, but it has no applications, fee records or community feed, and selling courses needs Canvas Catalog on top. Kohortly includes admissions, fees, attendance, certificates and community in one plan.
What's a Canvas alternative for cohort programmes?+
If you run intakes that start and finish together, take fees and need attendance and certificates, Kohortly is built for that, with WhatsApp reminders and a community included.
Other comparisons
Bring your next cohort to Kohortly
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