Is Claroline or Skilljar better?

Neither clearly leads. Claroline starts at Free and Skilljar at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Claroline or Skilljar?

Claroline has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Claroline and On request for Skilljar.

Does Claroline or Skilljar run on more platforms?

Claroline runs on Web, Linux. Skilljar runs on Web, iOS, Android.

Can I use Claroline for free?

Yes. Claroline has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Skilljar 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 Skilljar is typically brought in for.

What can Claroline do that Skilljar cannot?

Claroline covers Workspaces, Resource model, Learning paths, Quizzes and evaluation. Skilljar covers Branded course catalogue, CRM data write-back, Certification with expiry, Domain and theme control.

LMS · head to head

Claroline vs Skilljar

Claroline

LMS

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

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Skilljar

LMS

Customer education platform that treats training completion as a commercial signal in the CRM

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

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.; Skilljar pricing is an enterprise annual commitment, so a first certification pilot costs more than it can demonstrate and teams should prove the programme elsewhere first.
They diverge on capability: Claroline covers Workspaces, Skilljar covers Branded course catalogue.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Claroline and Skilljar actually diverge.

Attributes where Claroline and Skilljar differ
Attribute	Claroline	Skilljar
Starting price	Free	On request
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	quote
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web, Linux	Web, 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 Skilljar

Branded course catalogue
CRM data write-back
Certification with expiry
Domain and theme control
Self-paced and instructor-led
Engagement analytics

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 Skilljar
A public body required to keep learner data on European infrastructure under an open licence it can audit.not Skilljar
A training provider assembling learning paths from a shared library of reusable resources across many client workspaces rather than duplicating courses.not Skilljar
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 Skilljar

Skilljar

A software company whose support ticket volume is driven by customers who were never trainednot Claroline
Customer success teams that want training engagement visible next to renewal risk in Salesforcenot Claroline
Partner certification programmes where credentials must expire and be renewednot Claroline
Reducing time to first value during onboarding by giving customers self serve training before implementationnot 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.

Skilljar

Pricing is an enterprise annual commitment, so a first certification pilot costs more than it can demonstrate and teams should prove the programme elsewhere first.
The commercial value depends on the Salesforce integration being properly configured, and companies with messy CRM data get engagement reporting joined to accounts that do not reflect reality.
It is built for external audiences, so using it for internal employee compliance means paying for capability that internal training does not need.
Content authoring is not a strength, so most customers licence an authoring tool separately and run two content workflows.
Attribution remains contested. The platform shows that trained accounts renew better, but establishing that training caused the renewal rather than that engaged customers train more is a problem the reporting cannot solve for you.

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

Skilljar

On request

Skilljar$undefined/year
- Annual enterprise contract, quoted
- Entry point sits well above self-serve course platforms
- Implementation and integration services quoted separately

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 Skilljar if

You need branded course catalogue.
You work on Web, iOS, Android.
You also want crm data write-back.

Skilljar review

Questions people ask

Is Claroline or Skilljar better?: Neither clearly leads. Claroline starts at Free and Skilljar at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Claroline or Skilljar?: Claroline has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Claroline and On request for Skilljar.
Does Claroline or Skilljar run on more platforms?: Claroline runs on Web, Linux. Skilljar runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Claroline for free?: Yes. Claroline has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Skilljar 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 Skilljar is typically brought in for.
What can Claroline do that Skilljar cannot?: Claroline covers Workspaces, Resource model, Learning paths, Quizzes and evaluation. Skilljar covers Branded course catalogue, CRM data write-back, Certification with expiry, Domain and theme control.

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.

Skilljar: How is Skilljar different from a corporate LMS?

A corporate learning platform reports on employees for compliance. Skilljar reports on customers for retention and expansion, and writes that activity into the CRM so account teams see it.

Claroline: Is it still maintained?

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

Skilljar: Do learners need accounts before they can browse?

No. Catalogues can be public so prospects and customers browse and enrol without a sales conversation, which is a large part of the self serve onboarding case.

Claroline: Is it free?

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

Skilljar: Is it worth it for a small customer education team?

Usually not at the start. The contract floor assumes an established programme, so prove the value on a cheaper platform and move once retention or revenue evidence exists.

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.

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.

Claroline vs Skilljar

Claroline

Skilljar

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Claroline

Only in Skilljar

What people use each for

Claroline

Skilljar

Where each one falls short

Claroline

Skilljar

Pricing, plan by plan

Claroline

Skilljar

Which should you pick?

Choose Claroline if

Choose Skilljar if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Claroline

More on Skilljar

Keep looking

Other head to heads