Softwr

LMS · head to head

Chamilo vs Sana

Chamilo logo

Chamilo

LMS

Open source learning management system with no licence fee and a Latin American and francophone user base

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sana logo

Sana

LMS

AI-native learning and knowledge assistant, acquired by Workday in 2025

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; Sana workday completed its acquisition on 4 November 2025, so Sana is now an HCM vendor's capability; if you do not run Workday, the roadmap will be shaped around a platform you do not use and standalone availability is not guaranteed long term.
  • They diverge on capability: Chamilo covers Course and learning paths, Sana covers Sana Agents.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chamilo and Sana actually diverge.

Attributes where Chamilo and Sana differ
AttributeChamiloSana
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, LinuxWeb, iOS, Android

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 Sana

  • Sana Agents
  • Sana Learn
  • Enterprise search
  • Live collaborative sessions
  • Content generation
  • Permission-aware retrieval
  • Analytics
  • Workday integration

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 Sana
  • A ministry or NGO delivering vocational training over poor connectivity, where a lightweight PHP application on cheap hosting beats a heavyweight platformnot Sana
  • A francophone institution in West Africa or Belgium where French interface and documentation quality decides adoption more than feature countnot Sana
  • An organisation that requires the LMS to run entirely on its own infrastructure with no data leaving the countrynot Sana

Sana

  • An organisation whose employees repeatedly ask the same policy and process questions in Slack and where the answer already exists in a document nobody findsnot Chamilo
  • A Workday customer wanting learning and an internal assistant on the same employee record rather than a separate LMS contractnot Chamilo
  • Onboarding at a fast-growing company where content goes stale faster than the training team can rewrite coursesnot Chamilo
  • Sales enablement where reps need an answer about a product or a contract term during a call, not a course to complete next weeknot 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.

Sana

  • Workday completed its acquisition on 4 November 2025, so Sana is now an HCM vendor's capability; if you do not run Workday, the roadmap will be shaped around a platform you do not use and standalone availability is not guaranteed long term.
  • Answer quality depends entirely on the state of your internal content, so an organisation with contradictory or outdated documents gets a confident assistant citing the wrong version, which is worse than not having one.
  • Permission-aware retrieval across many source systems is difficult to get exactly right, and a misconfigured connector can surface content to employees who should not see it, which makes the security review substantial.
  • Compliance-heavy training needs, such as certification tracking, regulator-mandated evidence and SCORM-based external content, are handled less thoroughly than in traditional learning management systems built for that purpose.
  • Pricing is unpublished and now negotiated in the context of a Workday relationship, which reduces a non-Workday buyer's leverage and makes a like-for-like comparison against a standalone LMS difficult.

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

Sana

On request
  • Sana$undefined/year
    • Per-employee annual subscription
    • Agents and Learn licensed together or separately depending on the agreement
    • Connector scope affects pricing

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.
Chamilo review

Choose Sana if

  • You need sana agents.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want sana learn.
Sana review

Questions people ask

Is Chamilo or Sana better?
Neither clearly leads. Chamilo starts at Free and Sana at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chamilo or Sana?
Chamilo has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Chamilo and On request for Sana.
Does Chamilo or Sana run on more platforms?
Chamilo runs on Web, Self-hosted, Linux. Sana runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Chamilo for free?
Yes. Chamilo has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sana 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 Sana is typically brought in for.
What can Chamilo do that Sana cannot?
Chamilo covers Course and learning paths, Assessments, Gradebook and certificates, Attendance tracking. Sana covers Sana Agents, Sana Learn, Enterprise search, Live collaborative sessions.

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.

Sana: Is Sana still an independent company?

No. Workday completed its acquisition on 4 November 2025 for approximately $1.1bn; the integrated experience begins rolling out in 2026.

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.

Sana: Is it an LMS or a search tool?

Both, but the emphasis is on answering questions from your existing content. Traditional course delivery and completion tracking are secondary.

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.

Sana: Does it work if we are not a Workday customer?

Currently yes, but the product direction now serves Workday's platform strategy, so weigh that in a multi-year commitment.

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.

Sana: How is it priced?

Per employee per year, unpublished, and increasingly negotiated as part of a Workday agreement.

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