Moodle alternativeA Moodle alternative for selling scheduled courses.
Moodle is an open-source LMS that runs on your own server, on MoodleCloud or through a Moodle partner. Selling dated courses to the public and to companies on it means adding plugins for Stripe, attendance and certificates. Cademy has booking, payments, company invoicing and certificates built in.
Self-hosted, MoodleCloud or a Moodle partner.
Moodle LMS is open source. Moodle says this “allows anyone to download the entire software for free and customise how it works.” A self-hosted site needs a web server with PHP and a database, and in return you “have complete control over your data, including how and where you store it.” Your IT team or a Moodle Certified Partner runs the server and its plugins.
MoodleCloud is the version Moodle hosts for you. Plans run from Starter for 50 users to Standard for 750 users, billed annually. Selling through Stripe starts on the Small plan, for 200 users. Administrators cannot install their own plugins and work with a pre-installed set, which includes Attendance and Custom certificate.
Every Cademy plan, Free included, has the course builder, booking, LMS, training CRM and scheduling.
What a paid classroom course needs on Moodle.
On a self-hosted site, each of these is a plugin or setting to add before the first booking.
- 1
Standard Moodle takes card payments through a PayPal gateway. Stripe is a separate plugin.
Cademy's checkout takes Stripe, PayPal or Klarna. On Teams it can also take a deposit or monthly installments.
- 2
Registers on the day run on the Attendance activity, a contributed plugin with its own maintainers.
Every course date has an attendance register.
- 3
Certificates in Moodle LMS need the Course certificate and Certificate manager plugins.
A certificate is emailed when the learner is marked attended or completes, with an expiry date.
- 4
Enrollment on payment charges whoever enrolls. Moodle's page for it describes no way to buy places for a team.
A booker buys several places and adds the names later. On Pro and Teams they can also pay by invoice, with their PO number on it.
When Moodle is still the right choice.
Stay on Moodle if
- You are a school, college or university that relies on the gradebook, competency frameworks and learning plans.
- You need plugins or custom code, from Moodle's directory of more than 2,000 open source plugins or from your own developers.
- You want full control over where learning data is stored, on your own server or a private cloud.
- Your learners use the Moodle App. Every MoodleCloud plan includes the Moodle App Premium plan.
Choose Cademy if
- You sell dated courses, in person or live online, to the public and to companies.
- Company clients book places for their staff and ask for an invoice with their PO number.
- Certificates should go out when the register is taken, each with an expiry date.
- You want bookings to come through your own website, using embeds or a branded booking site.
What is included, payments and the plugins you would add.
Moodle details are from moodle.com, moodlecloud.com and Moodle's own documentation.
| Cademy | Moodle | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Professional training providers | Education, enterprise and public sector organizations |
| What a plan includes | Course builder, booking, LMS, training CRM and scheduling on every plan, Free included. No platform fee on Pro and Teams | The core LMS. Hosting, support and plugins for payments, attendance and certificates are arranged by you or a Moodle partner |
| Volume included | 1,000 registrations a year on Free and Pro, 5,000 on Teams | MoodleCloud plans from 50 users (Starter) to 750 users (Standard) |
| Taking payments | Stripe, PayPal or Klarna, with deposits and installment plans on Teams | PayPal gateway as standard. Stripe as a plugin, or on MoodleCloud Small, Medium and Standard |
| Company bookings | The booker buys places, adds attendees later and sees their progress and certificates | Not listed on their site |
| Certificates | Issued on attendance or completion, with expiry dates. Custom templates and CPD points from Pro | Course certificate and Certificate manager plugins. Custom certificate pre-installed on MoodleCloud |
| Extending it | Zapier from Pro. Xero, API and webhooks on Teams | More than 2,000 open source plugins. MoodleCloud administrators cannot install their own |
Checked November 3, 2026 on Moodle's own pages: MoodleCloud plans, MoodleCloud specifications, Plugins on MoodleCloud, Moodle LMS features, Open source, Payment gateways, Certificates, Attendance plugin.
Moving your learners and courses from Moodle.
You can run the import yourself on any Cademy plan, Free included. Our team helps with the move on Teams, and on Enterprise we carry out the whole migration.
Download your users
Bulk user actions in Moodle downloads user data as a text, ODS or Excel file. Add any enrollment or payment records you need as spreadsheets.
Import into Cademy
Your contacts, organizations, courses, dates, registrations and orders load from those files, and each contact links to their company by email domain.
Rebuild the courses
Add lessons, video, downloads and quizzes with a pass mark in the course builder, or upload your SCORM 1.2 packages on Teams. Then set dates, venues and certificates.
Point your website at Cademy
Drop Cademy's calendar or course list embed into your website and connect Stripe, PayPal or Klarna.
You can keep Moodle running for learners who are partway through a course. New Cademy courses are private until you publish them.
Before leaving Moodle.
What does Cademy include for the price?
Cademy hosts the platform and the training tools for you, where Moodle says a self-hosted site means you “need to find your own resources for hosting and support.” Pro is £99 ($129) a month billed yearly, with booking, the LMS, certificates with expiry dates, company invoicing with PO numbers, the training CRM and scheduling, and no platform fee. Teams adds SCORM 1.2, Xero, an API, webhooks and premium support.
Can I bring my Moodle courses into Cademy?
Yes. SCORM 1.2 packages upload on Teams. Other content is rebuilt as lessons, video, downloads and quizzes. Learners, courses, dates, registrations and orders load from spreadsheets on every plan. Our team helps with that migration on Teams and runs it for you on Enterprise.
How does Cademy connect to my other tools?
Zapier is on Pro, and Teams adds Xero, an API and webhooks. Cademy also syncs with Google and Outlook calendars and creates a Zoom meeting for each live online date.
Can I run Moodle and Cademy side by side?
Yes. You can move your paid, scheduled courses first and leave the rest on Moodle.
Plan your move from Moodle.
Say which courses move first and which stay on Moodle. Imports are self-serve on Free and Pro, our team joins in on Teams, and Enterprise moves are run by us.
No card needed. See every plan on the pricing page.