LMS · head to head
Moodle vs Sana
Sana
LMS
AI-native learning and knowledge assistant, acquired by Workday in 2025
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Moodle has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Moodle self-hosted deployment requires significant IT resources and technical expertise; 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: Moodle covers Course management, Sana covers Sana Agents.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Moodle and Sana 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 Moodle
- Course management
- Quiz builder
- Forums
- Assignments
- Gradebook
- Badges
- Competencies
- Mobile app
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.
Moodle
- Online learningnot Sana
- Blended learningnot Sana
- Corporate trainingnot Sana
- Compliance trainingnot 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 Moodle
- A Workday customer wanting learning and an internal assistant on the same employee record rather than a separate LMS contractnot Moodle
- Onboarding at a fast-growing company where content goes stale faster than the training team can rewrite coursesnot Moodle
- Sales enablement where reps need an answer about a product or a contract term during a call, not a course to complete next weeknot Moodle
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Moodle
- Self-hosted deployment requires significant IT resources and technical expertise
- Managed hosting has higher costs for large institutions compared to self-hosting
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
Moodle
Free- Self-HostedFree
- Full feature access
- MoodleCloud Starter$200/year
- 50 users
- Managed hosting
Sana
On request- Sana$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 Moodle if
- You need course management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want quiz builder.
Choose Sana if
- You need sana agents.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want sana learn.
Questions people ask
- Is Moodle or Sana better?
- Neither clearly leads. Moodle 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, Moodle or Sana?
- Moodle has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Moodle and On request for Sana.
- Does Moodle or Sana run on more platforms?
- Moodle runs on Web. Sana runs on Web, iOS, Android.
- Can I use Moodle for free?
- Yes. Moodle has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sana starts at On request.
- What is Moodle best used for?
- Moodle is most often used for online learning, blended learning, corporate training, compliance training. Of those, online learning and blended learning are not what Sana is typically brought in for.
- What can Moodle do that Sana cannot?
- Moodle covers Course management, Quiz builder, Forums, Assignments. Sana covers Sana Agents, Sana Learn, Enterprise search, Live collaborative sessions.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Moodle: Is Moodle free or paid?
Moodle is free and open-source software. However, self-hosting requires IT resources and server infrastructure. Managed cloud hosting through MoodleCloud starts at $200/year for 50 users.
SourceSana: 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.
Moodle: What languages does Moodle support?
Moodle is available in over 160 languages, making it accessible to educators and learners worldwide.
SourceSana: 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.
Moodle: Is Moodle suitable for corporations and enterprises?
Yes, Moodle is suitable for K-12, higher education, vocational training, and corporate learning. Moodle Workplace is the enterprise edition with multi-tenancy and compliance tooling.
SourceSana: 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.
Moodle: What learning standards does Moodle support?
Moodle supports various e-learning standards including SCORM and Tin Can API for compatibility with other educational systems.
SourceSana: How is it priced?
Per employee per year, unpublished, and increasingly negotiated as part of a Workday agreement.
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