Kohortly vs Moodle Workplace
Moodle can do almost anything, with a partner. Kohortly is ready to run.
Moodle is the world's best-known open-source LMS, and Moodle Workplace is its edition for company training, sold and hosted through certified partners on quote. It's flexible and has a huge plugin ecosystem, but needs someone to set it up, host it and maintain it. Kohortly is a hosted platform for training organisations, with cohorts, community, attendance and fees ready to use.
The short answer
Choose Moodle Workplace if
- You want open source and full control of the code and data.
- You have a partner or in-house team to host and maintain it.
- You need a specific plugin from Moodle's ecosystem.
Choose Kohortly if
- You want a hosted platform you don't have to maintain.
- 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 installable app under your own name, without plugins.
Moodle Workplace and Kohortly at a glance
- Price
- Moodle Workplace: Quote only, through Moodle partners
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Hosting
- Moodle Workplace: A partner or your own servers
- Kohortly: Hosted for you
- Best for
- Moodle Workplace: Customisable company training
- Kohortly: Cohort programmes
- Community
- Moodle Workplace: Forums
- Kohortly: Feed, chats, squads and channels
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | Moodle Workplace |
|---|---|---|
| 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 programs |
| 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 | Report builder |
| 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 | Multi-tenancy |
| 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; branded on request |
| 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 Workplace details as of November 2026, from Moodle Workplace and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Moodle Workplace's site before you decide.
Flexibility versus running it yourself
Moodle's strength is that almost anything can be added: thousands of plugins, full access to the code and the option to host it anywhere. Moodle Workplace adds multi-tenancy, dynamic rules and reporting for company training, sold through certified partners.
That flexibility comes with work: someone has to install, host, update and support it, and most features beyond courses come from plugins of varying quality. Kohortly is hosted and maintained for you, with cohorts, community, attendance, fees, certificates and WhatsApp reminders built in.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Moodle has payment plugins for card checkouts, but no built-in fee accounts for offline or instalment 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 Workplace is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Moodle Workplace does these things better than Kohortly:
- Open source, with full control of code and data.
- A huge plugin ecosystem and a large community.
- Can be hosted anywhere, including on your own servers.
Moving from Moodle Workplace 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 Moodle Workplace cost?+
Moodle Workplace is sold on quote through certified Moodle partners, who also host and support it. Moodle LMS itself is free to download, but hosting and maintenance cost money.
Is Moodle good for cohort programmes?+
Moodle has cohorts and an attendance plugin, but admissions, offline fees, WhatsApp reminders and a modern community need plugins or custom work. Kohortly includes them.
What's a Moodle alternative for training organisations?+
If you want a hosted platform where admissions, cohorts, community, attendance, fees and certificates work together without plugins, Kohortly is built for that.
Other comparisons
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