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LMS · head to head

Claroline vs Sana

Claroline logo

Claroline

LMS

Open source French-language learning platform, now developed as Claroline Connect

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 Claroline has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Claroline two products share the name and the abandoned original, last released in December 2021, dominates search results, so institutions regularly install unmaintained software believing it is current.; 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: Claroline covers Workspaces, Sana covers Sana Agents.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Claroline and Sana actually diverge.

Attributes where Claroline and Sana differ
AttributeClarolineSana
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, 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 Claroline

  • Workspaces
  • Resource model
  • Learning paths
  • Quizzes and evaluation
  • Competency framework
  • Planning and events
  • Self-hosting
  • SaaS option

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.

Claroline

  • A French or Belgian training organisation that needs a francophone platform where the interface and support are French-first rather than translated.not Sana
  • A public body required to keep learner data on European infrastructure under an open licence it can audit.not Sana
  • A training provider assembling learning paths from a shared library of reusable resources across many client workspaces rather than duplicating courses.not Sana
  • An institution already running the abandoned Claroline 13 line that needs to plan a migration onto the maintained Connect codebase before its dependencies become unsupportable.not 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 Claroline
  • A Workday customer wanting learning and an internal assistant on the same employee record rather than a separate LMS contractnot Claroline
  • Onboarding at a fast-growing company where content goes stale faster than the training team can rewrite coursesnot Claroline
  • Sales enablement where reps need an answer about a product or a contract term during a call, not a course to complete next weeknot Claroline

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Claroline

  • Two products share the name and the abandoned original, last released in December 2021, dominates search results, so institutions regularly install unmaintained software believing it is current.
  • The community is small compared with Moodle, so plugin choice, third-party integrations and the pool of people who can administer it in production are all thin.
  • Documentation and community discussion are French-first and English coverage is partial and inconsistent, which raises the effort for any non-francophone team.
  • The commercial hosting is offered by a small operator rather than a large partner network, so an institution depending on paid support has concentrated supplier risk.
  • The workspace and resource model is different enough from a conventional course-based LMS that staff moving from Moodle or Canvas have to relearn how content is organised, and migrations do not map cleanly.

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

Claroline

Free
  • Claroline ConnectFree
    • GPL licence, no fee
    • Full source on GitHub
    • You provide Symfony and PHP hosting and operations
  • Hosted distribution$undefined/year
    • Managed hosting, maintenance and updates
    • Support from the commercial operator
    • Quoted by user count

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 Claroline if

  • You need workspaces.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux.
  • You also want resource model.
Claroline 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 Claroline or Sana better?
Neither clearly leads. Claroline 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, Claroline or Sana?
Claroline has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Claroline and On request for Sana.
Does Claroline or Sana run on more platforms?
Claroline runs on Web, Linux. Sana runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Claroline for free?
Yes. Claroline has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sana starts at On request.
What is Claroline best used for?
Claroline is most often used for a french or belgian training organisation that needs a francophone platform where the interface and support are french-first rather than translated., a public body required to keep learner data on european infrastructure under an open licence it can audit., a training provider assembling learning paths from a shared library of reusable resources across many client workspaces rather than duplicating courses., an institution already running the abandoned claroline 13 line that needs to plan a migration onto the maintained connect codebase before its dependencies become unsupportable.. Of those, a french or belgian training organisation that needs a francophone platform where the interface and support are french-first rather than translated. and a public body required to keep learner data on european infrastructure under an open licence it can audit. are not what Sana is typically brought in for.
What can Claroline do that Sana cannot?
Claroline covers Workspaces, Resource model, Learning paths, Quizzes and evaluation. Sana covers Sana Agents, Sana Learn, Enterprise search, Live collaborative sessions.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Claroline: Which Claroline should I install?

Claroline Connect, the Symfony and React codebase currently on version 15. The original PHP Claroline stopped at 13.1.3 in December 2021 and should not be deployed.

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.

Claroline: Is it still maintained?

Yes. Point releases in the 15.0 line continued into 2026 with active commits on GitHub.

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.

Claroline: Is it free?

The software is GPL and free. Hosted distribution with maintenance and support is a paid service from the commercial operator.

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.

Claroline: Does it work in English?

The interface has English, but documentation and community support are French-first, so a non-francophone team will hit gaps.

Sana: How is it priced?

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

Claroline: How big is the ecosystem compared to Moodle?

Much smaller. If you need a wide plugin market or an easy administrator hiring pool, Moodle is the safer open source choice.

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