Kohortly vs Moodle
Moodle is free to download. Running it is the work. Kohortly is ready to use.
Moodle LMS is the world's best-known open-source learning platform, used by schools, universities and training providers everywhere. The software is free; you pay for hosting, upkeep and plugins, or use MoodleCloud, Moodle's own hosting, reported from about $160 a year for 50 users and offered up to 750 users. Kohortly is hosted and maintained for you, with cohorts, community, attendance, fees and WhatsApp built in.
The short answer
Choose Moodle if
- You want open source and full control of the code and data.
- You have someone to host, update and support it.
- You need a particular plugin from Moodle's ecosystem.
Choose Kohortly if
- You don't want to host or maintain software.
- You want a modern community, not only course forums.
- Learners pay by bank transfer, mobile money or through an employer.
- You want WhatsApp reminders and an app under your own name, without plugins.
Moodle and Kohortly at a glance
- Price
- Moodle: Free software; MoodleCloud reported from about $160 a year for 50 users
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Hosting
- Moodle: Your own server, a partner or MoodleCloud
- Kohortly: Hosted for you
- Best for
- Moodle: Schools and teams who want full control
- Kohortly: Cohort programmes
- Community
- Moodle: Forums
- Kohortly: Feed, chats, squads and channels
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | Moodle |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | Forums | |
| Courses, lessons and progress | ||
| Points, levels and leaderboards | Badges and plugins | |
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | BigBlueButton and plugins |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | Plugins |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | Cohorts and groups |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | Attendance plugin |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | Groups |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Reports and plugins |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Plugins |
| 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 | Moodle 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 |
Moodle details as of November 2026, from Moodle LMS, MoodleCloud pricing, Capterra: Moodle pricing and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Moodle's site before you decide.
Free software, paid in time
Moodle's appeal is real: free, open source, and able to do almost anything with plugins. A school with an IT team can run it for years.
The cost moves to people: installing, updating, backing up and securing a server, choosing plugins of varying quality and keeping them working after each upgrade. MoodleCloud removes the hosting, but caps users and plugins. Kohortly is hosted and maintained for you, with admissions, cohorts, attendance, fees, certificates, community and WhatsApp built in.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Moodle has plugins for card enrolment, but no fee accounts for instalments or offline payments. 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.
Reaching people where they already are
Moodle sends email and app notifications; WhatsApp needs custom work. Kohortly sends class reminders on WhatsApp with "I'll be there" and "Can't make it" buttons, and the answers appear on the attendance list. Announcements can go by email, WhatsApp, SMS and the in-app bell at once.
Learners can also add your community to their home screen as an app under your own name and logo, so they open your programme, not someone else's brand. The Kohortly phone app keeps all their communities under one sign-in.
Where Moodle is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Moodle does these things better than Kohortly:
- Free and open source, with full control of code and data.
- A huge plugin ecosystem and a large community.
- Can run on your own servers, even offline on a local network.
Moving from Moodle 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
Is Moodle really free?+
The software is free to download. Hosting, maintenance, backups and support cost money or staff time. MoodleCloud, Moodle's own hosting, is reported from about $160 a year for 50 users; check moodlecloud.com for current plans.
Is Moodle good for a training business?+
It can do a lot with plugins, but admissions, offline fees, WhatsApp reminders and a modern community all need extra work. Kohortly includes them, hosted for you.
How is this different from your Moodle Workplace page?+
Moodle Workplace is the paid edition for company training, sold through partners. This page compares the free Moodle LMS and MoodleCloud.
Other comparisons
Bring your next cohort to Kohortly
Request a community today. We review every request by hand.