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LMS · head to head

UpLearn LMS vs Sakai

UpLearn LMS logo

UpLearn LMS

LMS

UpLearn LMS 7.0 — Enterprise LMS for corporate learning

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Sakai logo

Sakai

LMS

Open source learning management system governed by the Apereo Foundation

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Sakai has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: UpLearn LMS no prices are published for any deployment option; the site directs every enquiry to a demo or the sales team (checked November 2026).; Sakai the zero licence fee is misleading: running Sakai needs Java operations, database administration and upgrade testing capacity, and universities that costed only the hardware have ended up paying a hosting partner anyway.
  • They diverge on capability: UpLearn LMS covers Cyberwisdom CPD Engine, Sakai covers Course sites.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 12 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which UpLearn LMS and Sakai actually diverge.

Attributes where UpLearn LMS and Sakai differ
AttributeUpLearn LMSSakai
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Mobile web, On-premiseWeb, Linux, iOS, Android
Founded1998Unknown

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 UpLearn LMS

  • Cyberwisdom CPD Engine
  • Course builder
  • Blended and classroom training
  • Assessment and exam engine
  • Training Centers
  • Certificate and licence tracking
  • SCORM and AICC conformance
  • Reporting and statistics

Only in Sakai

  • Course sites
  • Tests and Quizzes
  • Gradebook
  • Lessons
  • Assignments
  • Forums and messaging
  • LTI support
  • Self-hosting

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

UpLearn LMS

  • Tracking CPD hours against Hong Kong regulator and professional body rules for licensed staffnot Sakai
  • Producing audit-ready training records for banks and insurersnot Sakai
  • Running blended classroom and online training for large front-line workforcesnot Sakai
  • Separating training data for subsidiaries or branches inside one group-wide LMSnot Sakai
  • Organisations that must keep training data on-premise or in a dedicated private cloudnot Sakai
  • Commissioning bespoke compliance courseware delivered into an existing LMSnot Sakai

Sakai

  • A university whose data protection policy or national regulation requires student coursework to stay on institution-controlled infrastructure inside a specific jurisdiction.not UpLearn LMS
  • An institution that has been repriced twice by a commercial LMS vendor after ownership changes and wants a platform with no owner to sell it.not UpLearn LMS
  • A university with an existing Java and Tomcat operations team, where the marginal cost of running one more Java application is genuinely low.not UpLearn LMS
  • A consortium of institutions sharing one deployment and one set of local integrations rather than each paying separate per-student licences.not UpLearn LMS

Where each one falls short

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

UpLearn LMS

  • No prices are published for any deployment option; the site directs every enquiry to a demo or the sales team (checked November 2026).
  • Built around Hong Kong and Asian regulated sectors. The CPD Engine's positioning, guides and reference clients are almost entirely Hong Kong, mainland China and Southeast Asia, so fit elsewhere is unproven on the site.
  • No self-serve trial. Even the standard SaaS tier is sold through a six-phase implementation with kickoff, discovery, configuration and soft launch.
  • Integrations are described only in general terms (ERP, HRMS, SSO and APIs); no named connectors or public API documentation are published.
  • The product pages describe no AI features such as course generation or recommendations, which several competing enterprise LMSs now market heavily.

Sakai

  • The zero licence fee is misleading: running Sakai needs Java operations, database administration and upgrade testing capacity, and universities that costed only the hardware have ended up paying a hosting partner anyway.
  • The third-party teaching tool ecosystem builds and tests for Canvas first, so Sakai adopters do their own LTI integration work and occasionally wait for a vendor to certify against a platform it does not prioritise.
  • Because governance is a foundation of member institutions rather than a company, a feature only gets built if some institution funds an engineer to build it, so roadmap commitments are weaker than a vendor contract provides.
  • The interface, while improved through the version 20 to 25 cycle, still reads as older than Canvas or Brightspace, and academic staff who have used a commercial LMS elsewhere notice it immediately.
  • Adoption is concentrated in specific regions and sectors, so the pool of people who have run Sakai in production is small, making it harder to hire an administrator than for Moodle or Canvas.

Pricing, plan by plan

UpLearn LMS

On request
  • Bebox Corp (standard SaaS)$undefined/custom
    • Multi-tenant cloud for small and medium organisations
    • No IT infrastructure required
    • Dedicated client service team
  • Bebox Enterprise (private cloud)$undefined/custom
    • Dedicated servers, database and middleware
    • AWS, Microsoft Azure, Alibaba Cloud or client data centre
    • Managed by Cyberwisdom's cloud support team
  • On-premise$undefined/custom
    • All data stored inside the enterprise
    • Customisation down to source-code level
    • Deep integration with internal systems

Sakai

Free
  • SakaiFree
    • Educational Community Licence, no licence fee
    • Full source on GitHub
    • Community support through Apereo lists and Jira
  • Commercial hosting and support$undefined/year
    • Provided by Apereo affiliates such as Longsight
    • Hosting, upgrades, backups and support
    • Quoted per institution, commonly by student headcount

Which should you pick?

Choose UpLearn LMS if

  • You need cyberwisdom cpd engine.
  • You work on Web, Mobile web, On-premise.
  • You also want course builder.
UpLearn LMS review

Choose Sakai if

  • You need course sites.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, iOS, Android.
  • You also want tests and quizzes.
Sakai review

Questions people ask

Is UpLearn LMS or Sakai better?
Neither clearly leads. UpLearn LMS starts at On request and Sakai at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, UpLearn LMS or Sakai?
Sakai has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for UpLearn LMS and Free for Sakai.
Does UpLearn LMS or Sakai run on more platforms?
UpLearn LMS runs on Web, Mobile web, On-premise. Sakai runs on Web, Linux, iOS, Android.
Can I use Sakai for free?
Yes. Sakai has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. UpLearn LMS starts at On request.
What is UpLearn LMS best used for?
UpLearn LMS is most often used for tracking cpd hours against hong kong regulator and professional body rules for licensed staff, producing audit-ready training records for banks and insurers, running blended classroom and online training for large front-line workforces, separating training data for subsidiaries or branches inside one group-wide lms. Of those, tracking cpd hours against hong kong regulator and professional body rules for licensed staff and producing audit-ready training records for banks and insurers are not what Sakai is typically brought in for.
What can UpLearn LMS do that Sakai cannot?
UpLearn LMS covers Cyberwisdom CPD Engine, Course builder, Blended and classroom training, Assessment and exam engine. Sakai covers Course sites, Tests and Quizzes, Gradebook, Lessons.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

UpLearn LMS: What is UpLearn?

UpLearn is Cyberwisdom's enterprise learning management system, now at version 7.0. It covers course authoring, enrolment and approval, course delivery, online assessments, progress tracking, course evaluation, reporting, and CPD tracking when the Cyberwisdom CPD Engine is deployed.

Source
Sakai: Is Sakai still actively developed?

Yes. Version 25.0 shipped in 2025, 25.1 followed in November 2025, and further maintenance releases in the 25 line are planned, with commits continuing through 2026.

UpLearn LMS: Can UpLearn be deployed on-premise?

Yes. UpLearn is offered as standard SaaS (Bebox Corp), a dedicated private cloud (Bebox Enterprise) on AWS, Azure, Alibaba Cloud or your own data centre, or fully on-premise on your own infrastructure.

Source
Sakai: Who owns Sakai?

No company does. Governance sits with the Apereo Foundation, a membership organisation of institutions, and the code is under the Educational Community Licence.

UpLearn LMS: Can the CPD Engine handle different rules for different professional bodies?

Yes. It sets rules by role, grade and professional body, so different requirements run side by side in one organisation, and it credits hours from e-learning, classroom sessions and declared external activities.

Source
Sakai: What does it actually cost to run?

The software is free. The cost is Java hosting and staff, or a commercial hosting agreement with an Apereo affiliate such as Longsight, typically quoted by student headcount.

UpLearn LMS: Does the CPD Engine work with an LMS we already run?

Yes. It runs inside UpLearn and can also be integrated with an existing LMS.

Source
Sakai: How does it compare to Moodle?

Moodle has a far larger plugin ecosystem and installed base; Sakai has a cleaner assessment and gradebook model and is more common in research-intensive universities. Moodle is easier to hire for.

UpLearn LMS: Does UpLearn support SCORM and AICC?

Yes. UpLearn conforms to SCORM and AICC, so content built with iSpring, Camtasia, Captivate, Articulate and Lectora imports without conversion.

Source
Sakai: Can we migrate off it later?

Yes, but course content export fidelity through Common Cartridge is imperfect, so budget for manual rebuilding of assessments as you would leaving any LMS.

UpLearn LMS: Where is Cyberwisdom based?

Cyberwisdom Asia Ltd. is headquartered at 3/F, New Timely Building, 497 Castle Peak Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong, with regional headquarters in Singapore and Guangzhou. It was founded in 1999.

Source
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