LMS · head to head
Chamilo vs Echo360
Chamilo
LMS
Open source learning management system with no licence fee and a Latin American and francophone user base
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Echo360
LMS
Lecture capture, video management, polling and exam authoring for universities
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Chamilo has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Chamilo version 3.0 has been in beta since 2024 while production deployments stay on the 1.11 branch, so anyone planning a multi-year deployment is choosing between an ageing stable line and an unfinished rewrite.; Echo360 no pricing is published for any component, so institutions cannot benchmark before entering a procurement, and the eventual figure depends on negotiated enrolment bands that vary widely between comparable universities.
- They diverge on capability: Chamilo covers Course and learning paths, Echo360 covers Scheduled lecture capture.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Chamilo and Echo360 actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (LMS).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Chamilo
- Course and learning paths
- Assessments
- Gradebook and certificates
- Attendance tracking
- Sessions and multi-tenancy
- Wide interface translation
- Plugins
- Low hosting requirements
Only in Echo360
- Scheduled lecture capture
- Automatic transcription and search
- Engagement analytics
- EchoEngage polling
- EchoExam
- GoReact video assessment
- LMS integration
- Student notes and interaction
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Chamilo
- A Latin American university that needs an LMS with no per-student licence fee and Spanish-language support from people in a compatible time zonenot Echo360
- A ministry or NGO delivering vocational training over poor connectivity, where a lightweight PHP application on cheap hosting beats a heavyweight platformnot Echo360
- A francophone institution in West Africa or Belgium where French interface and documentation quality decides adoption more than feature countnot Echo360
- An organisation that requires the LMS to run entirely on its own infrastructure with no data leaving the countrynot Echo360
Echo360
- A university with a legal obligation to caption teaching material, where automatic transcription across every recorded lecture is cheaper than commissioning captions per modulenot Chamilo
- A department wanting to see which students stopped watching recordings before a failure point, and to act on it before the examnot Chamilo
- A teacher training or nursing programme that needs time-stamped assessor feedback on student performance video, which GoReact is built fornot Chamilo
- An institution replacing an ageing clicker estate and wanting polling on the same contract as lecture capture rather than a second vendornot Chamilo
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Chamilo
- Version 3.0 has been in beta since 2024 while production deployments stay on the 1.11 branch, so anyone planning a multi-year deployment is choosing between an ageing stable line and an unfinished rewrite.
- Governance moved to BeezNest Belgium, a commercial company that also sells Chamilo hosting and services, which concentrates roadmap decisions in a vendor with a direct commercial interest in the support market.
- The English-language community and documentation are noticeably thinner than the Spanish and French, so an anglophone institution will find fewer answers, fewer contributors and fewer consultants than the project size implies.
- No licence fee is not no cost: hosting, upgrades, security patching, backups and integration work all fall on the institution or a paid partner, and that ongoing labour usually exceeds what a small institution would have paid for a hosted commercial LMS.
- The third-party plugin ecosystem is small compared with Moodle, so integrations with proctoring, publisher content and student information systems often have to be commissioned rather than installed.
Echo360
- No pricing is published for any component, so institutions cannot benchmark before entering a procurement, and the eventual figure depends on negotiated enrolment bands that vary widely between comparable universities.
- The catalogue is assembled from mergers and acquisitions including Turning Technologies and GoReact, so the bundle is not one product: components differ in codebase, support and roadmap attention, and integration between them is uneven.
- Room capture hardware and installation are priced separately from the software licence and often exceed it in year one, which is regularly missed in budget submissions that only cover the subscription.
- Private equity ownership through Centre Lane Partners means roadmap and pricing decisions answer to an investment thesis, and universities on multi-year contracts have limited leverage if the strategy changes mid-term.
- Automatic transcription accuracy on technical lecture content, accented speakers and poor room audio falls well short of what an accessibility obligation strictly requires, so institutions relying on it for compliance usually still pay for human correction on a subset of courses.
Pricing, plan by plan
Chamilo
Free- Self-hostedFree
- GNU GPL licence, no per-learner fee
- Full source code
- Community support in Spanish, French and English
- Hosting and support from partners$undefined/year
- Managed hosting, upgrades and support sold by BeezNest and other official providers
- Priced per deployment, quoted
Echo360
On request- EchoVideo$undefined/year
- Lecture capture, transcription, streaming and analytics
- Institution-wide licence, quoted
- Room hardware and installation priced separately
- EchoEngage$undefined/year
- Polling and audience response including PointSolutions
- Quoted, sometimes with student-paid licences
- EchoExam and EchoInk$undefined/year
- Assessment authoring and interactive content
- Quoted as bundle components
- GoReact$undefined/year
- Video-based skill assessment
- Sold per programme or institution-wide, quoted
Which should you pick?
Choose Chamilo if
- You need course and learning paths.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Self-hosted, Linux.
- You also want assessments.
Choose Echo360 if
- You need scheduled lecture capture.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
- You also want automatic transcription and search.
Questions people ask
- Is Chamilo or Echo360 better?
- Neither clearly leads. Chamilo starts at Free and Echo360 at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Chamilo or Echo360?
- Chamilo has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Chamilo and On request for Echo360.
- Does Chamilo or Echo360 run on more platforms?
- Chamilo runs on Web, Self-hosted, Linux. Echo360 runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
- Can I use Chamilo for free?
- Yes. Chamilo has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Echo360 starts at On request.
- What is Chamilo best used for?
- Chamilo is most often used for a latin american university that needs an lms with no per-student licence fee and spanish-language support from people in a compatible time zone, a ministry or ngo delivering vocational training over poor connectivity, where a lightweight php application on cheap hosting beats a heavyweight platform, a francophone institution in west africa or belgium where french interface and documentation quality decides adoption more than feature count, an organisation that requires the lms to run entirely on its own infrastructure with no data leaving the country. Of those, a latin american university that needs an lms with no per-student licence fee and spanish-language support from people in a compatible time zone and a ministry or ngo delivering vocational training over poor connectivity, where a lightweight php application on cheap hosting beats a heavyweight platform are not what Echo360 is typically brought in for.
- What can Chamilo do that Echo360 cannot?
- Chamilo covers Course and learning paths, Assessments, Gradebook and certificates, Attendance tracking. Echo360 covers Scheduled lecture capture, Automatic transcription and search, Engagement analytics, EchoEngage polling.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Chamilo: Who owns and maintains Chamilo now?
The project has been governed by BeezNest Belgium since January 2026. The code remains under the GNU GPL, but roadmap stewardship sits with a commercial company that also sells Chamilo services.
Echo360: Does Echo360 publish pricing?
No. Every component is quoted, generally as an institution-wide annual licence banded by enrolment, with hardware and installation separate.
Chamilo: Is Chamilo 3 ready for production?
No. The 3.0 line has been in beta since 2024 and production installations remain on the 1.11 branch. Plan on 1.11 and treat the 3.0 migration as a future project.
Echo360: Is automatic captioning good enough for accessibility compliance?
Not on its own for high-stakes use. Automatic transcription handles search and general access well, but technical vocabulary and poor room audio degrade it, and most institutions budget for human correction where a formal accommodation exists.
Chamilo: Is there a licence fee?
No. Chamilo is GPL software with no per-learner charge. Costs are hosting, support and whatever integration work you commission.
Echo360: What did the Turning Technologies merger bring?
The polling and clicker business, now sold as EchoEngage and PointSolutions, which is why polling appears alongside lecture capture on one contract.
Chamilo: Where is it strongest?
Spanish-speaking Latin America, Spain, francophone West Africa and Belgium. Support and documentation quality in Spanish and French exceed the English.
Echo360: Is GoReact sold separately?
Yes. GoReact can be bought on its own for a programme such as teacher training, or as part of the wider Echo360 bundle.
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