Sakai

Community-built open-source LMS created by and for universities.

Open sourceSelf-hostableOnline course platforms

Verified facts: 3 of 3
Alternatives ranked: 5
Approved reviews: 0
Visits sent from here: 0

About Sakai

Sakai is an open-source learning management system developed by a community of universities and commercial affiliates under the Apereo Foundation. It provides course sites with lessons, assignments, tests and quizzes, a gradebook, forums, announcements and resources, plus research and collaboration sites that go beyond teaching. Because it is fully open source under the Educational Community License, institutions keep control of their student data and can't be forced onto a vendor's roadmap, a point the project stresses. It is smaller than Moodle and much smaller than Canvas, so there are fewer plugins, integrations and hosting options, and the interface is functional rather than polished. The software is free; hosting and support are available from commercial affiliates or run in-house. It runs in the browser on your own servers. Sakai suits universities that value community governance and data ownership.

Best for: Universities that want a community-governed LMS and full ownership of student data.

What works

Fully open source and community governed
Institutions keep ownership of student data
Supports research and collaboration sites as well as courses

Why people leave

Smaller ecosystem than Moodle or Canvas
Fewer hosting and support providers
Interface is functional rather than modern

Top Sakai alternatives

See all 5

1
Moodle
Larger open-source LMS with more plugins and partners.
66.5
2
Canvas LMS
Modern hosted LMS with an open-source core and broad integrations.
62.6
3
ILIAS
Open-source LMS with deep assessment tools and an active European community.
59.6
4
Open edX
Better for large-scale online programmes and MOOCs.
57.2
5
D2L Brightspace
Commercial hosted LMS with strong analytics and support.
55.3

Why people left Sakai

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Sakai: common questions

Is Sakai free?

Yes. Sakai is free, open-source software that you can host yourself.

Is Sakai open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at sakaiproject/sakai. You can also run it on your own server.

What platforms does Sakai run on?

Sakai is available for Web and Self-hosted.

What are the best alternatives to Sakai?

The highest-ranked Sakai alternatives right now are Moodle, Canvas LMS and ILIAS. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 5 Sakai alternatives

Sakai facts

3 of 3 verified

License: ECL-2.0; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “License: ECL-2.0 (Educational Community License v2.0).”
Open source: 100% open source; Checked Oct 25, 2026sakailms.org(opens source in a new tab); “COMMUNITY EDUCATOR-BUILT TOOLS Sakai is 100% open source.”
Data ownership: Institutions keep control of student data; Checked Oct 25, 2026sakailms.org(opens source in a new tab); “you can maintain control, possession, and ownership of your student data over the long term.” Dr.”