LMS · pricing
Canvas pricing
No tier breakdown is published on the record we hold for Canvas. Below is what is on record, and how it compares with the lms tools listed alongside it.
As of 30 August 2026, Canvas pricing is $5/student-year. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- $5/student-year
- Model
- Not recorded
- Tiers
- -
- Free tier
- Not on record
What is on record
The Canvas catalogue entry carries a starting price of $5/student-year, but no tier breakdown. The category comparison below is still useful, and the Canvas review carries the full feature record.
What the product covers
The full Canvas feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Course management
- Assignment submission
- Gradebook
- Discussion forums
- Quizzes
- Mobile app
- Video conferencing
- Analytics
Integrations
- Zoom
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Workspace
- Turnitin
- SIS systems
- LTI tools
Platform
- Web support
- IOS support
- Android support
- API support
People bring Canvas in for online courses, blended learning, course management, student assessment. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Canvas are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in LMS
Too few lms tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canvas (this page) | $5/student-year | - | - | |
| Weet | Free, then $24/month | Per creator per month | - | vs Canvas |
| Claroline | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Canvas |
| Whatfix | On request | quote | - | vs Canvas |
| Skilljar | On request | quote | - | vs Canvas |
| Chamilo | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Canvas |
| Sana | On request | quote | - | vs Canvas |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Canvas badges page.
Before you pay for Canvas
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: not published on the record we hold. With no free tier on record, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to compare Canvas against the tools that do have one before committing.
Canvas runs on web, ios, android, and is published by Instructure of Salt Lake City, Utah. The full record is on the Canvas review, and the rest of the category is under best lms tools.
Canvas pricing questions
- How much does Canvas cost?
- Canvas starts at $5/student-year. No tier-by-tier breakdown is published on the record we hold.
- Does Canvas have a free plan?
- Not on the record we hold. Whether a free trial is offered is not something this record captures, so check the vendor's site.
- Which lms tools can I use without paying?
- 3 of the 8 lms tools listed alongside Canvas have a free tier: Weet, Claroline, Chamilo.
- What am I actually paying for with Canvas?
- The record lists 18 features across 3 areas: other, integrations, platform. In practice it is brought in for online courses, blended learning, course management.
- Does Canvas charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Canvas prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Canvas against before paying?
- The closest lms tools in this directory are Weet, Claroline, Whatfix, Skilljar. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Canvas covering price, platforms and features.