What users are saying about
74 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.6 out of 100
Based on 74 reviews and ratings
211 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.3 out of 100
Based on 211 reviews and ratings
Feature Set Ratings
- Brightspace ranks higher in 1 feature set: Learning Management
Learning Management

9.4
Brightspace
94%
7.7
Moodle
77%
Brightspace ranks higher in 10/11 features
Brightspace ranks higher in 10/11 features
Course authoring

9.4
94%
9 Ratings
8.5
85%
19 Ratings
Course catalog or library

10.0
100%
6 Ratings
7.3
73%
20 Ratings
Player/Portal

9.7
97%
7 Ratings
7.2
72%
20 Ratings
Learning content

9.4
94%
9 Ratings
9.5
95%
18 Ratings
Mobile friendly

9.7
97%
8 Ratings
7.1
71%
20 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications

9.4
94%
9 Ratings
7.5
75%
22 Ratings
Assignments

9.7
97%
9 Ratings
8.6
86%
23 Ratings
Compliance management

8.0
80%
1 Rating
7.1
71%
17 Ratings
Learning administration

9.7
97%
8 Ratings
8.3
83%
21 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics

9.7
97%
9 Ratings
6.5
65%
19 Ratings
Social learning

8.4
84%
9 Ratings
7.0
70%
20 Ratings
Attribute Ratings
- Brightspace is rated higher in 2 areas: Likelihood to Recommend, Support Rating
- Moodle is rated higher in 5 areas: Likelihood to Renew, Usability, Performance, Online Training, Implementation Rating
- Brightspace and Moodle are tied in 2 areas: Availability, Product Scalability
Likelihood to Recommend

9.2
Brightspace
92%
44 Ratings
9.1
Moodle
91%
59 Ratings
Likelihood to Renew

9.0
Brightspace
90%
25 Ratings
10.0
Moodle
100%
21 Ratings
Usability

6.4
Brightspace
64%
11 Ratings
9.3
Moodle
93%
7 Ratings
Availability

9.0
Brightspace
90%
2 Ratings
9.0
Moodle
90%
8 Ratings
Performance

9.0
Brightspace
90%
4 Ratings
10.0
Moodle
100%
4 Ratings
Support Rating

10.0
Brightspace
100%
11 Ratings
7.0
Moodle
70%
29 Ratings
Online Training

4.0
Brightspace
40%
2 Ratings
6.0
Moodle
60%
1 Rating
Implementation Rating

1.6
Brightspace
16%
6 Ratings
9.8
Moodle
98%
4 Ratings
Product Scalability

9.0
Brightspace
90%
1 Rating
9.0
Moodle
90%
3 Ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
Brightspace
If you're an educational institution (K-12, Higher Ed, etc.), this is an amazing tool, and it will provide you all the functionality to support anything you may want and need it to do.If you are looking at Brightspace as a tool for corporate training, I'm not sure exactly how good or bad it will be for you. My guess would be that it likely depends on your organization's size. Along that line, what I can speak to is how we use it for our customized training and in-house professional development/training, and it works fantastically for that. While we primarily use it for normal higher ed coursework, we regularly do training and professional development for all of our employees and I manage those along with our HR department. Because we use it for many other things as well, all of our employees are familiar with the product, which makes our trainings go that much smoother and makes my job that much easier.
Director of Teaching Excellence
Minnesota State College SoutheastHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Moodle
Moodle is great for any environment where a class or other learning activity needs to be completed in an asynchronous manner. It can be used to post information, create interactive threads for discussion, issue quiz and exam work with grading, track and grade progress, and keep track of attendance. It is an overall wonderful solution for managing asynchronous learning.
Director Of Information Technology and HIPAA Privacy Officer
Continuum of CareHospital & Health Care, 501-1000 employees
Pros
Brightspace
- Allowing users to embed content links from YouTube or Google Drive enables learners to experience a richer lesson.
- Providing a powerful editor that allows developers to also include content from Adobe Stock as well as textbook publishers and cloud storage companies gives more power and creative ability to instructors.
- Providing scaling for mobile and traditional computer systems ensures students will not have issues on the go.
- The customization of home pages and groups enable courses to be used for small training sessions with breakout groups, large courses with separate sections, and even just more engaging courses that present themed icons and logos.

Verified User
Professional in Professional Services
Higher Education Company, 10,001+ employeesMoodle
- Moodle's grade book works well. Assignments are integrated so the grades are recorded automatically.
- Moodle is customizable by administrators, so our version only gives us the options we need. NO Clutter.
- The discussion board offers several options for instructors that help with grading. I use "sum of points", but there are other options as well.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Rockingham Community CollegeHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Cons
Brightspace
- One can feel a bit rushed on the Brightspace platform during the log-out period. Security requirements may require this, but it makes end-users more conscious about getting through content than taking notes.
- From my experience, there is not a direct connection between the platform and Outlook.
- Some content on the platform can feel redundant.
Process Optimization Analyst
QuadPrinting, 10,001+ employees
Moodle
- The interface is not very intuitive. You must know what you are looking for in order to navigate effectively.
- Although installation of Moodle is easy, it is a little more difficult to configure it with your other Learning tools. As an example, LDAP synchronization is a little difficult.
- The interface is a little dated, even though new releases keep coming out (which is great!) none of them really add value to the appearance of the platform.

Verified User
Project Manager in Research & Development
Higher Education Company, 201-500 employeesPricing Details
Brightspace
General
Free Trial
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—Brightspace Editions & Modules
—
Additional Pricing Details
Must contact vendor for pricing information. 30-day free trial is available.Moodle
General
Free Trial
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Entry-level set up fee?
Optional
Starting Price
$10 per month
Moodle Editions & Modules
Edition
Starter | $1101 |
---|---|
Mini | $2001 |
Small | $3701 |
Medium | $8201 |
Large | $1,4501 |
- per year
Additional Pricing Details
—Likelihood to Renew
Brightspace
Brightspace 9.0
Based on 25 answers
I would never give any system a perfect score. In the technology environment today we need to be constantly looking at ways to improve the user experience and LMS companies like Desire2Learn need to know that we have options today with other systems and they need to stay current with features and listen to their customers.
Director, Distance Learning
Johnson County Community CollegeHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees
Moodle
Moodle 10.0
Based on 21 answers
We use it because it is what have committed to back in 2011. Perhaps Moodle will evolve and advance in a positive way that will alleviate most of our user-based gripes? Perhaps it will not appear to be as cost effective given the need for a certain level of engineering and support staff to maintain it at a future level of sustainability? It's hard to say. As an enterprise scale critical application, we like it, but don't love it. Our instructors don't particularly like it at all.
Instructional Designer/Rich Media Specialist
Granite State CollegeHigher Education, 51-200 employees
Usability
Brightspace
Brightspace 6.4
Based on 11 answers
Overall, the learning environment works as expected. However, there are plenty of bugs. For example, for a few versions, trying to print out a PDF from the Content screen in several browsers would produce a blank page. We inform D2L support about these issues, most of which are known issues. However, they are very slow to respond. D2L seems to spend more time selling than actually coding and testing their product. Most of the issues are not major -- however, there have been a few that are unbelievable. In fact, this past week we had a sudden issue where the "Submit" button in quizzes would not appear if users had a certain browser/operating system combination. This is a major problem, if students cannot submit their exams! D2L is slow to respond to these kinds of situations, which do occur more often than I would like.

Verified User
Program Manager in Information Technology
Higher Education Company, 501-1000 employeesMoodle
Moodle 9.3
Based on 7 answers
Moodle can be used on a tablet, on a mobile phone, and on a PC. It is easy to navigate for learners and figure out for administrators. The learners can easily complete tasks and the administrators can easily track completion. The last thing about Moodle that one may not realize is that it somewhat resembles Facebook in its layout. This means that users are already familiar with the interface and therefore they are more comfortable using it.
Manager of Learning and Development
ACS Group (American CyberSystems)Information Technology and Services, 5001-10,000 employees
Reliability and Availability
Brightspace
Brightspace 9.0
Based on 2 answers
Both students and instructor enjoy the 24-hoiur access. After, all isn't that the point of online learning. As an instructor located in an Eastern time zone state it is great to connect with students located in a Pacific time zone state. I have gotten comments about the early hours I am in the course room grading assignments . . . 4:00 a.m. PST; 7:00 a.m. EST So, it's sleep time for my students and "first cup of coffee" time for me.
Online Course Professor
Trine UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Moodle
Moodle 9.0
Based on 8 answers
Yes, Moodle is always available. We are self-hosted and Moodle is always up and available. The only time that it is not available is when we are upgrading it each semester. It is then down for just a few planned hours. That is in-between semesters and we let the faculty and students know. We do it on a Friday evening and it is back up within a few hours.
Director of Electronic Learning
McNeese State UniversityHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees
Performance
Brightspace
Brightspace 9.0
Based on 4 answers
Easy to navigate; little to no delay from one section of the course room to another; actually fun to use after overcoming the learning curve.
Online Course Professor
Trine UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Moodle
Moodle 10.0
Based on 4 answers
Moodle is an excellent LMS in relationship to any other one that I have seen or used. The pages load quickly and the reports complete in a reasonable time frame. Moodle has taken on Respondus, StudyMate, BigBlueButton, Turning Tech, Turnitin2, Certificates, Attendance, Tegrity, Questionnaire, Virtual Programming Lab, and Badges. All of these programs work right in with Moodle and do not cause any issues. Instructors may also use Camtasia and Snagit software as well as using webcams, downloading videos from the Internet, adding into books, or any of the many other areas within Moodle. Our instructors use the grade books without many problems and really don't ask questions much anymore. We upgrade Moodle every semester and are currently on 2.9+. Our instructors have basically learned to use most of the resources and activities.
Director of Electronic Learning
McNeese State UniversityHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees
Support Rating
Brightspace
Brightspace 10.0
Based on 11 answers
I have had excellent support from Desire2Learn. Any ticket that I submit is acknowledged immediately and the correction is usually almost as quick. We use this for thousands of classes and it is pretty well liked by both faculty and students. We have been using it for almost 4 years now and most of our instructors have become pretty proficient with it.
Microcomputer Systems Specialist II
Southern Illinois UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees
Moodle
Moodle 7.0
Based on 29 answers
Moodle is open source, and must be evaluated in that context, but one also has to provide a fair comparison to competing products with commercial backing. Support varies depending on the component of Moodle. Bug reports in Moodle Core that affect security or stability are dealt with promptly. Functionality requests or features not working smoothly may or may not be addressed, depending on whether the functionality desired matches the "vision" of Moodle HQ. The user community provides excellent support for initial installation and configuration, but more complex questions may go unanswered, unless they are noticed by someone who happens to know the answer. The support forum feature at the Moodle site (the same feature used within Moodle itself) does not provide granular subscription to topic discussions, apparently by design, and Moodle HQ seems resistant to changing this feature.
Learning Management System Administrator (Moodle)
Granite State CollegeHigher Education, 51-200 employees
In-Person Training
Brightspace
Did not participate in the in-person training due to distance; training was completed online
Online Course Professor
Trine UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Moodle
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Brightspace
Brightspace 4.0
Based on 2 answers
The training provided online did not, necessarily, fit the version of the system that I was using. Screens were somewhat different and not all options were readily available. This could have been due to customization on the part of my institution however, I rather believe it was due to version changes and training materials not yet being updated.
Instructional Development Specialist
The Ohio State UniversityHigher Education, 10,001+ employees
Moodle
Moodle 6.0
Based on 1 answer
I have used a few sites and they were adequate but my best learning experience was face to face and hands on.
Instructional Technology
Advanced Logic IndustriesE-Learning, 201-500 employees
Implementation Rating
Brightspace
Brightspace 1.6
Based on 6 answers
The D2L implementation team listened to our concerns and built a system based upon our needs. We wanted to keep them after the initial implementation.
Director, Distance Learning
Johnson County Community CollegeHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees
Moodle
Moodle 9.8
Based on 4 answers
Find a partner who will work with you during the implementation process. Be sure to provide ample training for veteran users on the changes and for newbies on the overall product.
Director of the Library
Dean CollegeHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Alternatives Considered
Brightspace
I have used Blackboard Learn 8 and 9. I am currently learning about Canvas. Blackboard is overall much clunkier and lacks the intuitive feel in some parts of D2L. Its grade book is much harder to control and manipulate than D2L's. Its navigation menu can be more radically modified from the default than D2L's, but this doesn't seem that useful to me. Discussions in Blackboard can be more easily reorganized than in D2L, but no grading of discussions is possible. Blackboard Assignments is a good innovation which allows markup directly in the students' submissions, but it displays student work in a confusing manner that doesn't allow for any customization, and its markup options need further tweaking. Furthermore, no rubrics can be used in Blackboard in any way to grade any kind of work (that I am aware of). Overall, I would choose D2L over Blackboard.
Instructional Academic Staff
University of Wisconsin-Eau ClaireHigher Education, 501-1000 employees
Moodle
Blackboard has clear advantages in rubric management, and offers a content management system of its own. The largest barrier is cost for smaller or financially-disadvantaged organizations. However, as in any IT project, adequate resources must be made for even "free" software.
Assistant Professor
The College of Saint RoseHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Scalability
Brightspace
Brightspace 9.0
Based on 1 answer
During my first semester working with Desire2Learn the integrated learning management system was more down than up. This meant reconfiguring assignment due dates, frustration for both the instructor, students, and help desk staff. After an upgrade, Desire2Learn has been reliable.
Online Course Professor
Trine UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Moodle
Moodle 9.0
Based on 3 answers
Well, I administer Moodle for a dozen of our divisions and there is a wide range of flexibility between offerings. I have course instructors who use every module i their course, chock full of videos, pictures, links to web tools for synchronous sessions within the asynchronous course. I also have others who are content with a syllabus, a few pdfs, links to podcast lectures and a few simple assignments. No matter if your organization is big or small, or if your requirements are strict for credentialing or non-existent (for internal know-how), Moodle can accommodate you.
eLearning Specialist, ITTS
American Library AssociationLibraries, 201-500 employees
Return on Investment
Brightspace
- I cannot speak to whether this system is less expensive than the more fully featured Blackboard, but employees are far less efficient, frustrated, and require frequent calls to the help center to set up fairly simple course templates.
- I have been asked to consider teaching courses which will be completely online at my current institution. I have done such online courses several times at other universities, but I have decided Desire2Learn is too frustrating and cumbersome to do so. I am now exploring using Google Drive to teach a course online. Otherwise, I will not teach online until required or I find an alternate system.

Verified User
Professional in Research & Development
Higher Education Company, 5001-10,000 employeesMoodle
- While it certainly takes more time to develop an online training vs a face-to-face we can offer the same content over and over again and meet a larger audience. There's no way we could have offered these trainings face-to-face to the same size audience. Economically it's just not feasible. Moodle allows us to share multiple trainings on a variety of topics over extended periods of time in a cost effective way.
- The impact on early interventionists is still being evaluated, but we do know that early interventionist now have more ways to access professional development than in the past. The ability to customize the registration page has allowed us to track which agencies in Virginia are having their staff participate and we can see which topics are favored above others.
- Other LMS's were far too costly. Aside from the monthly hosting fees (less than $200 a year), and the time it took to do the initial install and setup, Moodle is free. Once it's setup the only elearning costs are related to the development and creation of each training and then the setup of training on Moodle. This allows us to devote more time and money to the development and creation of more courses vs. the management of the system.
- Minimal tech support for the users is required and most requests are limited to lost/userid passwords. The course designer is able to manage tech support needs for the users because so few requests are received.
eLearning Specialist
Napa County Office of EducationHigher Education, 10,001+ employees