LMS · head to head
Claroline vs Echo360
Claroline
LMS
Open source French-language learning platform, now developed as Claroline Connect
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Echo360
LMS
Lecture capture, video management, polling and exam authoring for universities
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
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.; 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: Claroline covers Workspaces, Echo360 covers Scheduled lecture capture.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Claroline 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 Claroline
- Workspaces
- Resource model
- Learning paths
- Quizzes and evaluation
- Competency framework
- Planning and events
- Self-hosting
- SaaS option
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.
Claroline
- A French or Belgian training organisation that needs a francophone platform where the interface and support are French-first rather than translated.not Echo360
- A public body required to keep learner data on European infrastructure under an open licence it can audit.not Echo360
- A training provider assembling learning paths from a shared library of reusable resources across many client workspaces rather than duplicating courses.not Echo360
- 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 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 Claroline
- A department wanting to see which students stopped watching recordings before a failure point, and to act on it before the examnot Claroline
- A teacher training or nursing programme that needs time-stamped assessor feedback on student performance video, which GoReact is built fornot Claroline
- An institution replacing an ageing clicker estate and wanting polling on the same contract as lecture capture rather than a second vendornot 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.
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
Claroline
Free- Claroline ConnectFree
- GPL licence, no fee
- Full source on GitHub
- You provide Symfony and PHP hosting and operations
- Hosted distribution$undefined/year
- Managed hosting, maintenance and updates
- Support from the commercial operator
- Quoted by user count
Echo360
On request- EchoVideo$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 Claroline if
- You need workspaces.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Linux.
- You also want resource model.
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 Claroline or Echo360 better?
- Neither clearly leads. Claroline 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, Claroline or Echo360?
- Claroline has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Claroline and On request for Echo360.
- Does Claroline or Echo360 run on more platforms?
- Claroline runs on Web, Linux. Echo360 runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
- Can I use Claroline for free?
- Yes. Claroline has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Echo360 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 Echo360 is typically brought in for.
- What can Claroline do that Echo360 cannot?
- Claroline covers Workspaces, Resource model, Learning paths, Quizzes and evaluation. Echo360 covers Scheduled lecture capture, Automatic transcription and search, Engagement analytics, EchoEngage polling.
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.
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.
Claroline: Is it still maintained?
Yes. Point releases in the 15.0 line continued into 2026 with active commits on GitHub.
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.
Claroline: Is it free?
The software is GPL and free. Hosted distribution with maintenance and support is a paid service from the commercial operator.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Related pages
Other head to heads
- Claroline vs Sakai
- Claroline vs Moodle
- Claroline vs Docebo
- Claroline vs Chamilo
- Claroline vs Totara
- Claroline vs Canvas
- Claroline vs CYPHER Learning
- Claroline vs Google Classroom
- Claroline vs LearnDash
- Claroline vs Schoox
- Claroline vs Schoology
- Claroline vs Weet
- Claroline vs Cornerstone OnDemand
- Claroline vs D2L Brightspace
- Claroline vs Degreed
- Claroline vs Edmodo
- Claroline vs Edpuzzle
- Claroline vs Nearpod
- Claroline vs Sana
- Claroline vs Whatfix
- Echo360 vs Sakai
- Echo360 vs Moodle
- Echo360 vs Docebo
- Echo360 vs Chamilo
- Echo360 vs Totara
- Echo360 vs Canvas
- Echo360 vs CYPHER Learning
- Echo360 vs Google Classroom
- Echo360 vs LearnDash
- Echo360 vs Schoox
- Echo360 vs Schoology
- Echo360 vs Weet
- Echo360 vs Cornerstone OnDemand
- Echo360 vs D2L Brightspace
- Echo360 vs Degreed
- Echo360 vs Edmodo
- Echo360 vs Edpuzzle
- Echo360 vs Nearpod
- Echo360 vs Sana
- Echo360 vs Whatfix