Moodle™ Vs. Docebo: The Best LMS Platform for e-Learning ??

Kiran

When you decide to choose an LMS platform for your eLearning website, two popular names that will come across multiple times during your research are Moodle™ and Docebo. And there are multiple good reasons behind it.

Both of them are amazingly popular online eLearning platforms.

One of the most robust LMSes in the world, Moodle™  powers 68 million eLearning websites globally. 

Docebo is also popular enough as it’s ranked among the top 10 LMS platforms in the world (the exact number of its users is not known though). 

So when you hear about them again and again, it’s only natural to get confused in making the choice. You may be left wondering which one is the best eLearning platform for your needs.

But don’t worry – we’re here!! Let’s compare Moodle™ vs. Docebo for you make the right decision.

#1. Basics

First of all, let’s take a look at the basics. While Moodle™ is an open-source platform available for free to anyone who wants to build an eLearning website, Docebo is a proprietary cloud-based LMS solution. This difference plays a major role in determining which features are included in which platform, and how are they included in the platform.

Some common features of both platforms include asynchronous learning, synchronous learning, blended learning, gamification, learner portal, mobile learning, and SCORM compliance.

Unique features of Docebo:

• Certificate management (certificate life-cycle, certification templates, predetermined certification templates, etc.) 
• Compliance management  (certificate expiration notifications, expired certificate management, due date notifications, etc.)
• Self user enrollment with a pin or a survey
• Inbuilt shopping cart

Unique features of Moodle:

• Inbuilt authoring tool with full formatting functionality
• User authentication without login

Now, the thing is…. Almost all of the unique features of Docebo can be added to Moodle™ as well with help of 3rd party plugins. So in a nutshell, there is no clear winner when it comes to the basic features of both these platforms. 

Winner: no clear winner

Summary:

• Moodle™ is open-source; Docebo cloud-based proprietary.
• Both Moodle™ and Docebo have common eLearning features as well as some unique features, but Docebo’s unique features can be added to Moodle™ easily.

#2. Interface

Since Docebo is designed for large businesses, it’s no surprise that the company has done a lot of investment in its UI and user experience too. Therefore, the UI of this LMS platform is very well designed. Just a glance at its images can tell that it’s something sophisticated yet very well-designed. 

Moodle™, on the other hand, is very minimalist when it comes to UI. But its UI can also be customized to a large extent by the use of themes that are available for it (more on that in a minute). However, without any customizations here is what you get from both these LMS platforms:

Docebo

Moodle™

As you can see, Docebo has a cleaner and well-designed UI than Moodle™. So we can say that it has a slight upper hand over Moodle™ in this area.

Winner: Docebo

Summary:

• Moodle™ has a minimalist UI, while Docebo has a more polished and well-designed UI.

#3. Ease of use

The ease of use depends to a large extent on the UI of any software. Now, since the UI of Docebo is more polished than Moodle™.

It’s no surprise that using it is also easier than Moodle™. You can either find your way around its various functions on your own, or you can simply do that with a little bit of guidance. Either way, it doesn’t take too long. 

Moodle™, on the other hand, takes some time to be learned. And in addition to that, if your want to do something advanced then you need a good grasp of coding, HTML, and CSS. Otherwise, it’s not easy to find your way around it. But fortunately, new plugins are emerging to make this part easier. 

Winner: Docebo

Summary: 

• Docebo is easier to use than Moodle.
• New plugins are emerging to make using Moodle™ easier.

#4. Ease of customization

Moodle™ offers so many customization capabilities that you can alter almost any part of its design or functionality. 

If you don’t like the UI, just change the theme. A lot of themes are available for the purpose (i.e. Edwiser RemUI, Lambda, Edumy, New Learning). If you want to put up your own branding and colors, do that too. If you want to customize the features, play with its code. The possibilities are endless, but for that, you need to know a little bit of PHP, HTML, and CSS. 

Extra Reading– Edwiser RemUI vs Top Themeforest Moodle™ Themes

Docebo, on the other hand, allows you to customize nothing more than the colors and brand identity. You can put up your logo and brand colors, but you don’t have the option to play with its code and change the functionality or appearance altogether. 

In fact, nowadays many plugins are making it easier to make changes to Moodle™ without the need for coding. For example, the Edwiser Course Formats plugin allows you to add some custom course formats to Moodle™ without any coding. Nothing like that is possible with Docebo. 

Winner: Moodle™

Summary:

• Moodle™ is fully customizable if you know the right plugins and a little bit of coding.
• Docebo offers very limited customization capabilities.

#5. Grading

There’s not much difference between both Docebo and Moodle™ when it comes to grading and scoring. Both of them come with a full-fledged gradebook that’s not only well-designed but also provides complete control over the grading functionality. 

Features included in the gradebook are course history, multiple grading scales, audit trail, manual marking, and grade comments. In a nutshell, both of them are basically identical in this department. 

Winner: none

Summary:

• Both Moodle™ and Docebo offer a full-fledged gradebook to provide you total control over your grading system. 

#6. Integration

This particular criterion has almost always belonged to Moodle™ only, and unsurprisingly that’s the case here too. Moodle™’s library of 1900+ plugins is totally unparalleled. No other LMS comes even remotely close to it, and Docebo is no different. 

Thanks to its plugin library, Moodle™ can be integrated with Zoom, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Google Meet, and many other 3rd party services. And Docebo integrates with? Well, none of them. 

Winner: Moodle™

Summary:

• Moodle™ has a big library of plugins and 3rd party integrations. 
• Docebo doesn’t have any integrations. 

#7. Pricing

Moodle™ is a free LMS platform, simply because it’s an open-source solution. You can download it, install it on your server and start working right away. 

Docebo’s pricing, on the other hand, is a secret kept tightly under the wraps. The pricing page of the company requires you to submit your details so their sales team can connect with you and prepare a customized quote for your needs.

There’s no plan that can be purchased without doing that process, so we don’t know how much does this platform exactly costs! 

But looking at their target audience and the sort of clients that they have (i.e. Walmart, Amazon,  Uber, etc.) it’s something that may not be in the reach of most small business owners. So looking at that, Moodle™ comes out as a clear winner. 

Winner: Moodle™

Summary:

• Moodle™ is free of cost.
• Docebo is a high-cost premium LMS platform.

#8. Hosting

Being an open-source platform Moodle™ is hosted on your own server. Docebo, on the other hand, is hosted on someone else’s server (the Cloud). 

Depending on your requirements and preferences any of these two approaches may be favorable for you. In the case of Moodle™, you get greater control over the functionality and security of your LMS, but that also means your responsibilities for maintenance and security increase.  

With Docebo, your responsibilities reduce significantly as someone else takes care of routine maintenance and data security, but that means you don’t have full control over who accesses your server and who doesn’t.

Choose any of them, but choose wisely!

Winner: no clear winner

Summary:

• Moodle™ is hosted on your own server.
• Docebo is hosted in the cloud.
• Both approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages.

#9. Target audience 

Moodle™ and Docebo have very different target markets and origins. While Moodle™ started out as something meant for academic purposes, Docebo was designed specifically for business purposes. 

Eventually, Moodle™ evolved to suit the needs of everyone in the eLearning space, but that difference of origin and target market is still evident in many different areas of its functionality. It’s evident in pricing too, as you’ll see shortly in another section of this comparison. 

Docebo also makes it very clear on its website that who are its target customers.

According to FAQs mentioned on the company’s official pricing page, Docebo works for companies that are training more than 300 customers, partners, or employees on a monthly basis.

It’s definitely not something meant for small businesses. 

Summary:

• Moodle™ is meant for almost any kind of eLearning website.
• Docebo has been built for the mid-sized or big businesses.

#10. Implementation Technology

Since Moodle™ is an open-source platform, we know pretty much everything about its tech stack. We know that it’s built using PHP, and it follows a modular architecture in which just the basic functionality is built into the core while everything else is left for the modules (aka plugins). 

We can also determine many elements of the tech stack as per our convenience (i.e. the security systems, the server, etc.) because Moodle™ is hosted on our servers.

The case of Docebo is different because it’s a proprietary cloud-LMS platform.

So, the source code of the company’s LMS offering is not available for others to see. Comparison in this area is not really possible. 

We can simply say that Moodle™ is a better choice because at least it provides complete information regarding the technology involved, and also some degree of control over it. 

Winner: Moodle™

Summary:

• Moodle™ is built using PHP and a modular architecture. It’s open-source and self-hosted, so many elements of the tech stack can be customized.
• Docebo’s tech stack is not known because of its proprietary nature.  

#11. Support

Moodle™ is a free, open-source eLearning platform for students so it has built a community of developers and users who are always ready to fix it for you whenever something goes wrong. The vibrant community of forums, websites, and YouTube channels means that it’s easy to find help for Moodle™.

Docebo’s case is different. It doesn’t have a vibrant community like Moodle™.

But since it’s meant for large businesses, the company has managed to build a team of reliable support executives available to fix things via both email & phone.

The company has also made a massive knowledge base that can be used to learn about the LMS if you get stuck somewhere. 

In short, help is easy to find for both Moodle™ as well as Docebo.

Winner: No clear winner

Summary:

• Moodle™ offers help through its extensive documentation and vibrant community. 
• Docebo offers help through its highly skilled and professional support team. 

Conclusion: Which eLearning platform is best?

Phew!! That was a long list!

Finally, it’s time to wrap things up. And here’s what this comparison of Moodle™ vs. Docebo looks like:

As you can see, Moodle™ knocks down Docebo with a score of 4-2. There’s a reason why it stands tall among all top eLearning platforms. If you’re going to set up almost any kind of eLearning website, it will be a good choice. 

Even if you’re a big company, you can try Moodle™ as it has been used by major corporations as well as universities for their eLearning purposes (in fact, Moodle™ also has a paid offering for corporate customers). 

So, find your best pick and share your thoughts with us later!