Moodle.org and Moodlecloud. What they are and how they differ.
Moodle™ is, without a doubt, the most used learning management system (LMS) in the world, and will continue to be so for quite a while. A recent statistic estimated the number of users during 2022 at three hundred million (300).
The owning company, Moodle HQ, offers it in two variants.
The first, and the most well-known, is the original Moodle™, known as open-source Moodle™, which is the one that runs on most self-hosted eLearning websites. This is the Moodle™ platform that most people are familiar with.
The second is MoodleCloud, which may sound less familiar to you. It is a cloud-hosted version of Moodle™ that Moodle HQ has offered for some time.
If you are a Moodle™ novice and want to decide which option suits you best, please read on.
What is Moodle™?
What is Moodle™ Cloud?
How do both versions compare?
Which of them would be a better option for you?
This article tries to help you choose which suits you best.
What is Moodle™?
Moodle™ (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a type of software called a learning platform whose purpose is to allow us to build virtual learning environments (VLE).
Any web server compatible with the PHP language can be used to install and use Moodle. It is compatible with various operating systems and needs an SQL-type database, which we can choose from several compatible options, although the most used is MySQL.
If you are not familiar with the web-related information technology part, all this can sound quite confusing at first, but don't worry. In reality, all you need to know is that Moodle™ is a platform that allows you to teach online courses.
Moodle™ is a complex application, that allows access for teachers, administrators and students and each finds what they need. That is, it is a specific, reliable, secure and integrated solution to build customised learning environments. You have two options: download the program and install it yourself on your own web server or request the help of a professional.
Today, Moodle™ is the learning platform of many organisations of all kinds. From Moodle™ courses are started, exams are managed, users are controlled and much more is done. Worldwide, Moodle™ is the engine behind , literally, hundreds of thousands of learning environments.
The social constructivist approach that has guided the development of Moodle™ for many years has resulted in a solid collection of student-centred tools and collaborative learning environments that facilitate teaching and learning.
Moodle™ is simple and clear to learn, if you take your time to familiarise yourself and learn it. There are many options to practice its use and a lot of documentation to consult. The cost saving (it is free), flexibility and other benefits of using Moodle™ are available to anyone who wants to adapt, extend or adjust it for both commercial and non-commercial businesses without paying any licence.
It is completely customisable and can be adjusted to the needs of any user because it is open source. Developers can create plugins and include additional applications to achieve customised functionalities thanks to its modular architecture and extensible design. Using plugins and publicly accessible Moodle™ plugins, what Moodle™ can achieve can be extended almost without limits.
For both blended learning (face-to-face and online) and fully online courses, Moodle™ offers the most adaptable set of tools. You can configure Moodle™ by activating or deactivating fundamental elements, and you can include almost any type of educational functionality you can think of simply by choosing from the very numerous range of built-in functionalities, including third-party collaboration platforms such as forums, wikis, chat rooms and blogs.
For some time now, and following a general trend in Internet computing, security controls are continuously updated and incorporated into the innovation process and Moodle™ software to protect against unauthorised access, data loss and data theft. Moodle™ puts quite a lot of effort into preserving data security and user privacy. For maximum control, Moodle™ can be easily deployed in the cloud or on a private and secure server.
What is Moodlecloud?
Simply put, MoodleCloud is a cloud-hosted LMS platform ready to use. If you need a Moodle, without complicating yourself too much, without having to hire hostings and install softwares, or if you just want to try Moodle™, then MoodleCloud can be a good solution.
Being in the cloud, as its name indicates, it is not necessary to download it. As an obvious result, MoodleCloud makes creating your own Moodle™ site very fast and simple, there is nothing to think about or resolve. In addition, it counts on the guarantee of being a service set up by the very company that created Moodle™.
After a brief and simple registration and configuration process, via web and fully guided, you can start your journey towards e-learning distribution with this free or economical hosting solution for a simple but fully operational Moodle™ site.
Moodle Cloud is designed for organisations that want to know about Moodle™, due to its focus on simplicity and speed. MoodleCloud can be a good option for you if you have few users and simply want to provide quickly and easily basic e-learning content to your students. However, it offers less flexibility than a self-hosted platform.
Moodle Cloud gives you access to all the basic features of Moodle™, but it does not allow you to install extensions or change the graphic image beyond a certain choice of colours and logos.
You can use a simple brand image on your website, which could be in the form of colours and logos, and you can generate some very basic statistics, such as how many students have enrolled and how much content you have published.
Moodle HQ will take care of updates and maintenance once your site is configured, allowing you to focus on what is really important. Depending on the package you choose, sites can host between 50 and 1,000 people.
WATCH OUT, at the time of writing this post you have access to 45 days of free trial but then you will have to pay.
Comparison of Moodle™ and MoodleCloud
Now that you have a basic knowledge of Moodle™ and Moodle cloud, we are going to compare the two.
Installation and configuration
The installation and deployment method is, of course, the main difference between Moodle and MoodleCloud. MoodleCloud is already installed and running on the Moodle HQ server, you do not have to worry about anything. You have to download and install Moodle yourself, or ask a professional to do it for you.
In MoodleCloud you can manage the functionality of your website through a simple user interface, but you cannot exercise total control over it in the same way you could with an installation on a local server.
Modifying the functionalities of your LMS can be tricky if you are a novice, unless you outsource it. Otherwise, perhaps the best option in this situation is Moodle Cloud.
As a counterpoint, MoodleCloud could be too limited for anyone who requires more control over their website than just some small Interface User adjustments here and there in the administration panel.
Technical Support
The support received for Moodle and MoodleCloud is totally different as a result of their very different natures. When using Moodle, you will depend mainly on your own knowledge, on public forums where other users may lend a hand or hire a Moodle expert. There is, of course, a large amount of documentation to study, but that will require time, and willingness.
The situation is radically different when it comes to Moodle Cloud. Since it is a commercial product, Moodle HQ offers expert support to its users. If you hire MoodleCloud you can write to the support team and your questions will be quickly and effectively answered.
Pricing
Another of the obvious differences is the cost. MoodleCloud is NOT free but offers a free trial period, which at the time of writing this post is 45 days. Moodle you can download for free but you will have to search for, and pay for, hosting to host it.
MoodleCloud, on the other hand, has variable prices based on the size of your site. You can create an unlimited number of courses for up to 50 users and 250 MB of storage with the free Moodle Cloud subscription. Once you have used the 250 MB of storage space or the 50 active users, you will have to switch to one of their premium plans, whose price ranges between 150 and 1,510 dollars per year.
Access Control and Security
Since both are based on the same code, both Moodle and MoodleCloud offer the same level of access control for user authentication and access control.
With a Moodle hosted on your own server you do, however, have much greater flexibility if you want to implement access control and authentication mechanisms that are not standard. For example, if you have an intranet or a corporate or training centre web portal you can install an extension that allows you SSO between said system and Moodle. Or in other words, if a user is already identified in your web portal, they could access Moodle directly without the need to retype credentials. This is not possible with MoodleCloud.
Therefore, Moodle is generally a better option to manage and control access permissions.
Customisation and ease of use
It is assumed that since they start from the same code, they should be similar in this aspect, but they are not. MoodleCloud presents a decisive limitation: the impossibility of installing Third-Party Moodle Themes and Plugins.
While Moodle allows complete customisation of the user interface and functionalities through the use of themes and plugins, this is not possible with Moodle Cloud. Even its most expensive plan prohibits the installation of themes and plugins.
This limitation has a significant impact. The user interface cannot be improved with a custom theme, no matter how much you want to. You have to make do with the user interface, themes and customisation options that MoodleCloud offers.
Furthermore, you cannot modify or improve elements that do not suit you using plugins or coding. And
Due to all these factors, MoodleCloud is much less adaptable and easier to use than Moodle.
Data Security
Both Moodle and MoodleCloud present good data security features, but it is essential that you know sufficiently these capabilities and tools to safeguard your server, or ask for help from a professional.
MoodleCloud will offer you considerably greater security than you can obtain on your own if you do not have too much idea because the network and cybersecurity specialists team of Moodle HQ takes care of managing it.
On the other hand, using self-hosted Moodle allows you greater flexibility if you know how to manage server security or have someone in your organisation for this purpose. This is because you will have total control over its code and could parameterise or modify it if necessary. If that is the situation, as everything is strictly under your control, your cybersecurity professionals team and you can take care of data security better than the Moodle team.
In general, for this criterion, we recommend Moodle because it gives you control over your codes and you are in charge of your security. If it seems complex to you, you can always contact our Moodle experts to help you.
Level of technical knowledge required
With MoodleCloud, very few. The only requirement to use Moodle Cloud is to be familiar with a web browser.
However, to administer Moodle™, users must have a certain level of technical knowledge. You must know how to configure a web server that works, how to upload files via FTP, how to install scripts, how to examine error logs, etc.
If you have the necessary technical knowledge, Moodle is the most suitable for you. If you do not have them yet, you can ask for help from professionals and learn on the go. In fact, our Moodle™ experts will be delighted to help you.
