Canvas vs. Google Classroom

Canvas

305 Reviews and Ratings

Google Classroom

282 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Canvas	Score8.6 out of 10	N/A	Instructure is an educational software company based in Sandy, Utah. It is the developer of the Canvas learning management system, which is a comprehensive software package that competes with such systems as Blackboard Learning System, SumTotal and Saba.	N/A
Google Classroom	Score8 out of 10	N/A	N/A	$0 per month

Pricing

Canvas

Google Classroom

No answers on this topic

Education Fundamentals: $0
per license/per month
Google Workspace for Education Standard: $3
per student/per year
Teaching and Learning Upgrade: $4
per license/per month
Google Workspace for Education Plus: $5
per student/per year

Pricing Offerings
Canvas	Google Classroom
Free Trial
Yes	Yes
Free/Freemium Version
Yes	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

No setup fee

No setup fee

Must contact vendor for pricing information.

Education Fundamentals Version - 30-day free trial for qualifying institutions.

Community Pulse
Key User Insights
	Canvas	Google Classroom
Considered Both Products	Instructure William Hazevoets Student at Thomas More (E-Learning, 10,001+ employees) Chose Canvas Canvas is in the experience way better than Google Classroom. Canvas has a more robust agenda system that also allows adding in new personal deadlines. [Assignments] can be submitted past [the] deadline (if allowed), Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Canvas Canvas takes the better parts of both Skyward and Google Classroom and combines them to work pretty seamlessly - grading, assignments, attendance, document/file sharing - all integrated into one platform. In addition, the internal communication feature makes communication … Incentivized Helpful? Danielle Healey ESOL Teacher at Howard County Public School System (Education Management, 10,001+ employees) Chose Canvas Canvas has some unique features that are superior to Google Classroom, but I prefer Google Classroom because of its ease of use. It does have some of the same problems as Canvas though in terms of assigning work to particular students. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Canvas Canvas is very similar to Schoology. Built on collaboration, both Canvas and Schoology have a very social media-esque feel. Both platforms offer a variety of tools and features that take the normal classroom above and beyond what can be done in Google Classroom or other LMS … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Canvas Canvas is the most robust choice available when comparing LMS platforms. When looking at other platforms used by K-12, such as Edmodo and Google Classroom, Canvas has far more features, support, and has a higher level of user ease. The customer service provided by Canvas is one … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Canvas Google Classroom and Canvas are very similar. We feel that Canvas is better suited for our older students and so we begin to introduce it at the middle school level. We utilize Google Classroom with our younger students as it is somewhat easier to navigate and understand for … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Canvas I believe Canvas is worse than all of them. In my experience, it is harder to use, uglier to look at. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Canvas Canvas is a powerful learning management tool that combines so many key elements of an actual classroom and allows teachers to mirror their classroom environment into a virtual platform. It is simply amazing what can be done on Canvas. Grading systems/analysis, progress … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Canvas I believe Canvas out does all of these because of its robustness. It allows for more design opportunities including HTML and HTML5 and has many built-in features that are not offered by all of the other LMSs. Some of those features are discussions, assignments, pages, quizzes, … Incentivized Helpful? Sarah Ciras Rousseau High School Special Educator at Landmark School (Education Management, 51-200 employees) Chose Canvas Canvas is the most advanced and most versatile of the products I have used in the past. It has more features and is better able to be customized by the user. Programs like Classroom, Moodle, and Edmodo are geared more toward younger users and therefore do not have the same … Incentivized Helpful? Robert Gibson MS, MBA, EdD Director, Learning Technologies in Information Technology at Emporia State University (Higher Education, 501-1000 employees) Chose Canvas Really no comparison. We did a thorough analysis of other products. Never looked back. Incentivized Helpful?	Google Rosemary Reynolds High School Faculty at Polk County School Board (Education Management, 10,001+ employees) Chose Google Classroom Canvas has a MUCH steeper learning curve than Google Classroom does. Although it has the capacity to maintain a more detailed gradebook, the tradeoff for having an easier-to-use learning management system is worth it. Google Classroom doesn't require much instruction to learn … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Google Classroom With so many schools using Google apps, Google Classroom becomes an integral part of the classroom learning experience. Overall, Classroom gets the job done. If you are looking for something simple this is it. It isn't a full-blown LMS but it keeps everything organized in one … Incentivized Helpful? Sarah Ciras Rousseau High School Special Educator at Landmark School (Education Management, 51-200 employees) Chose Google Classroom Google Classroom does not have all the capabilities of Canvas or Blackboard, but is a great choice for those who need an introductory digital platform. It is a great way to begin going digital, and has some great features, like the ability to share posts between classes/years. … Incentivized Helpful?
	Would buy again
	88% Would buy again 21 Answers	97% Would buy again 37 Answers
	Delivers good value for the price
	95% Delivers good value for the price 18 Answers	100% Delivers good value for the price 37 Answers
	Happy with the feature set
	88% Happy with the feature set 21 Answers	89% Happy with the feature set 34 Answers
	Lived up to sales and marketing promises
	100% Lived up to sales and marketing promises 13 Answers	95% Lived up to sales and marketing promises 19 Answers
	Implementation went as expected
100% Implementation went as expected 14 Answers	100% Implementation went as expected 29 Answers

TrustRadius Insights
	Canvas	Google Classroom
Highlights	Research Team Insight Published July 15, 2020 Canvas and Google Classroom are both academic learning management systems. They are used across all sizes of educational institutions for course management, including assignment creation and grading. The difference between Canvas and Google Glassroom is that Canvas is primarily used by higher education institutions, while Google Classroom is primarily used by primary education institutions. While Canvas does have a K-12 offering, it’s core use is for colleges and universities. It serves primarily as an assignment management and gradebook system, with additional features like discussion forums. In contrast, Google Classroom is more commonly found in earlier education, such as middle schools and high schools. It’s free for schools to use and is included in G Suite for Education, making it a low cost, accessible LMS platform. Features Canvas and Google Classroom both have unique focuses tailored to their target user bases. Canvas better serves the more administratively-focused needs of higher education. It excels at document management, including assignment creation and management. The flexibility in assignment creation makes Canvas more appealing to higher ed institutions that encompass a very wide range of course content. It also has robust gradebook management for scalability with large universities. In contrast, Google Classroom excels as a more accessible option in terms of price and usability. Its ease of use makes it accessible for younger students in remote or in-person situations, such as independent work in the classroom. Since Google Classroom is free for schools, it makes an attractive offer for schools and institutions that lack the budget for additional administrative or IT overhead. Limitations Canvas and Google Classroom also have some limitations and cases where they would be less ideal options. For instance, Canvas is not as user-friendly as Google Classroom. It comes with more of a learning curve, and lacks as intuitive an interface. This difficulty can limit its usability among younger students, or even schools that lack the IT support to administer the platform. Since Canvas is not a free tool, it also comes with more of a financial burden than free options. In contrast, while Google classroom is easier to use at face value, there are some more complex mechanisms and processes that can cause problems. For instance, integrating and interacting with other applications in the G Suite, such as Docs or Slides, have caused confusion for student users. For instance, managing permissions and sharing documents across the classroom can be less intuitive of a process and take some learning by students and teachers alike, particularly in younger classrooms. Google Classroom’s gradebook capabilities are also relatively limited compared to paid alternatives. Pricing Canvas is priced by quote from the vendor. There is a one-time implementation fee and then an annual subscription cost. Google Classroom is free for schools to use, and is included in the G Suite for Education package as well.

Features

Canvas

Google Classroom

Comparison of Learning Management features of Canvas and Google Classroom
Feature	Canvas 9.0 42 Ratings 11% above category average	Google Classroom 7.4 60 Ratings 8% below category average
Course authoring	8.142 Ratings	8.752 Ratings
Course catalog or library	9.838 Ratings	7.639 Ratings
Player/Portal	9.932 Ratings	6.638 Ratings
Learning content	9.035 Ratings	8.141 Ratings
Mobile friendly	9.041 Ratings	7.757 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications	8.138 Ratings	7.244 Ratings
Assignments	8.142 Ratings	7.158 Ratings
Compliance management	9.033 Ratings	6.934 Ratings
Learning administration	9.037 Ratings	7.346 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics	9.039 Ratings	6.842 Ratings
Social learning	9.034 Ratings	8.751 Ratings
Gamification	9.62 Ratings	4.08 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning	9.03 Ratings	9.812 Ratings

Best Alternatives
	Canvas	Google Classroom
Small Businesses	Google Classroom Score8 out of 10	Teachable Score9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies	Schoology Learning Score8 out of 10	Schoology Learning Score8 out of 10
Enterprises	D2L Brightspace Score7.8 out of 10	D2L Brightspace Score7.8 out of 10
All Alternatives	View all alternatives	View all alternatives

User Ratings
	Canvas	Google Classroom
Likelihood to Recommend	9.3 (84 ratings)	8.1 (80 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	9.3 (5 ratings)	10.0 (4 ratings)
Usability	9.4 (10 ratings)	8.1 (11 ratings)
Availability	- (0 ratings)	9.0 (1 ratings)
Performance	- (0 ratings)	9.0 (1 ratings)
Support Rating	9.0 (11 ratings)	1.9 (14 ratings)
In-Person Training	10.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Online Training	8.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Implementation Rating	8.5 (2 ratings)	2.0 (2 ratings)
Product Scalability	8.0 (1 ratings)	10.0 (1 ratings)

User Testimonials
	Canvas	Google Classroom
Likelihood to Recommend	Instructure It is really well suited for school situations like knowing what [assignments] need to be done when, getting feedback, getting points, finding the slides that the teacher used for explaining an [assignment] or theory. I think It would be less suited in business situations because it's [primarily] made to be a [one-way] communication tool for schools. Businesses need more control on individual levels I think[.] Incentivized William Hazevoets Student Read full review	Google Google Classroom allows teachers to post for daily lessons and assignments. It also allows teachers to be able to communicate with students easily outside of class. Students are able to stay connected and know where to find all information and resources easily in a streamlined manner for all of their classes. Incentivized Verified User Read full review
Pros	Instructure Creativity options for teachers to create a virtual space that still has fun graphics and accessibility options. Canvas has versatility in viewing options for assignment due dates such as the calendar built in feature as well as the dashboard options to display upcoming and due assignments. Allowing teachers to create community with each other and collaborate in each-other's space. Discussion platforms within classrooms for students to communicate with each-other and with their teachers. Easy messaging portal within each virtual classroom. Incentivized Verified User Read full review	Google Student-teacher communication - I love using Classroom for this because my students can always go back and check what was on Classroom by looking through the stream. This way they don't have to go dig through emails to find what they're looking for. Posting to multiple classes - I can post the same announcement or assignment to multiple classes at once without having to repeat the process or send separate emails. Streamlining grading - when students turn work in on Classroom, it all goes to one place and then when I'm grading I can open their documents directly from Classroom or my Drive folder. This way, I'm not looking through emails and Google Doc shared files for their assignment. Incentivized Verified User Read full review
Cons	Instructure Their integration with Big Blue Button was a bust for distance learning. Would be great to see them collaborate with Zoom or Google Meets. Their "feature request" process is slow and cumbersome at times because it relies on user "up votes" to get ideas addressed by the developers. They seem to have a lot of turn-over with their staff. We get a new Customer Success Manager far more frequently than with other vendors. Incentivized Patrick Woessner Coordinator of Instructional Technology Read full review	Google The content management of the Classroom is not that good. The sub-section for notes, syllabus, or discussion is missing. It doesn't have parental control feature. It converts the excel output into a normal file. All the formulas and pivots got changed into plain text. AMIT SANPUI Marketing Executive Read full review
Likelihood to Renew	Instructure The other LMS tools have fallen behind. One reason is they are not able to update their systems, features, toolsets in a timely manner. While other LMS providers release bug fixes and new features several times a year, schools struggle to install and implement them in a timely manner. It is not uncommon for a school to take 6 months to a year to fully install and implement new releases on other LMS platforms. With Canvas, those features are released every 3 weeks, and there is nothing for a school to do other than choose to turn them on once released. This has allowed Instructure to innovate faster, and get new features and tools to customers quicker. Other factors include great pricing, customer support, and the innovative way in which LTI is implemented in the tool. Incentivized Kevin Reeve Director - Teaching and Learning Technology Read full review	Google Testing is particularly important in online learning, and Google Classroom falls far short of other learning management systems in this regard. Security is also a concern: while account control is reasonable for the account used with Google Classroom, the person controlling a particular account is often able to, for example, forward or download proprietary materials. H. P. Molloy Instructor Read full review
Usability	Instructure The functions in Canvas are well integrated and consistent across the application, and mostly intuitive. Overall navigation and setup is streamlined through integrated features and navigation. The feedback we've gotten from our program participants is that it is easy to learn to use. It also integrates well with third party software like Google Docs and Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing software Incentivized Jeanne Rewa Online Instructional Designer Read full review	Google Simple design and seamless integration with Google tools and drive, but missing some key features. However, since it is limited in overall functions and ability to truly personalize / customize, it is quite user friendly and easy to set up and get going, other than sending out the code to your course or dropping students in via their gmail account. Users of Google Forms and sites will find the layout similar in design. Incentivized Verified User Read full review
Reliability and Availability	Instructure No answers on this topic	Google We have had very little trouble in accessing Google Classroom. Our issues, if any, have risen from our server and not the Google servers. Incentivized Verified User Read full review
Support Rating	Instructure I do not personally use Canvas support since we have a central office that helps us. However, our central office always has the answers we need and are always able to solve our issues - so I would assume that get great support from the Canvas team on their end. They also offer great training, which uses materials directly from Canvas Incentivized Ashley Milton Alumni Development Manager, College of Education Read full review	Google Since this platform is provided by Google, the technical support is better than any others, and we are not required to bother about the space constraints for adding the contents. If we have a good uninterrupted internet facility we can access Google Classroom without any delay or lag. They have app support in both Android and iPhone. Rahul Ajithkumar Assistant Professor Read full review
In-Person Training	Instructure The training sessions were broken down into several days as well as different levels depending upon the knowledge of the user Incentivized Bethany Cleveland, PhD Adjunct Professor Read full review	Google No answers on this topic
Online Training	Instructure The online tutorials and videos are very clear and addressed the issues/questions that I had about using the system. Incentivized Bethany Cleveland, PhD Adjunct Professor Read full review	Google No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating	Instructure Once you purchase and sign the contract there is nothing to install or hardware to buy. You can almost immediately start using it and have courses up and going within weeks. We signed in December and had pilot courses online ready to go for the start of school in January Incentivized Kevin Reeve Director - Teaching and Learning Technology Read full review	Google It was relatively easy to implement due to the simplicity of the platform. Even our more technology challenged teachers found it easy to get started with Google Classroom. Incentivized Verified User Read full review
Alternatives Considered	Instructure Canvas is more secure, has a cleaner design, and has more features. For the features, they have in common canvas still stacks up against [Smart school] by going for the extra mile. Besidfor e that, [the] canvas looks a lot more [professional] than [Smart school]. I didn't make the decision myself to get canvas instead of [Smart school] but I'm happy they did. Jarne Horemans Student Read full review	Google I haven't tested or evaluated another digital classroom website or application. I feel like Google Classroom is convenient for many reasons such as compatibility to Google docs, slides, etc. I also love the ability to link to YouTube and other sites. I don't know if there would be a site that is easier to maneuver. Incentivized Meredith Sanders Teacher Read full review
Scalability	Instructure No answers on this topic	Google It is very easy to push out this program across our buildings. Teachers are able to use it without much trouble. Incentivized Verified User Read full review
Return on Investment	Instructure Canvas has helped us provide a more robust online component to our courses. Canvas has helped us better adapt to a rapidly changing educational landscape. Canvas has reduced the time that we have to spend training faculty on how to use our learning management system. Incentivized Verified User Read full review	Google Students are able to continue learning in a remote environment Parents have a single, consistent organization structure to make it easy to track assignments and progress for multiple children Much better solution than the quickly assembled Zoom-and-gloom of the previous spring when school abruptly went remote with no planning Incentivized Gabrielle Wayman PTA Board of Directors Read full review
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