Canvas vs Alma SIS

Moodle

Blackboard

Schoology

PowerSchool

Skyward Student Management Suite

FACTS

Compare Canvas and Alma SIS based on features, pricing, verified reviews, integrations & more on GetApp. Find out which software is best for your business in 2026.

With hundreds of millions of users around the globe and translated into over 100 languages, more organisations choose Moodle to support their education and training needs than any other system in the world.

Help learners, instructors and institutions achieve their goals with Blackboard Learn by Anthology, a market-leading Learning Management System (LMS) that integrates with the world’s most holistic EdTech ecosystem.

Brightspace

Brightspace is a learning management platform designed to transform the learning experience. Brightspace empowers educators and trainers to create personalized learning experiences that inspire progress and achievement for all. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of intuitive tools to simplify course creation, foster engagement, and track learner progress.

Canvas is a modern, cloud-based LMS that helps organizations of all sizes deliver impactful learning. Whether you're teaching students, onboarding new hires, or running a training program, Canvas makes it simple to build, manage, and scale engaging learning experiences.

Academic/Education

Access Controls/Permissions

Activity Dashboard

Activity Management

Activity Tracking

Alerts/Notifications

Analytics

Assessment Management

Assignment Management

Asynchronous Learning

Attendance Management

Attendance Tracking

Audio/Video Recording

Benchmarking

Blended Learning

Block Websites/Applications

Built-in Course Authoring

Built-in LMS

Calendar Management

Certification & Licensing

Chat/Messaging

Classroom Management

Class Scheduling

Class Summary

Collaboration Tools

Commenting/Notes

Communication Management

Compliance Tracking

Conferencing

Content Library

Content Management

Corporate/Business

Course Authoring

Course Library

Course Management

Course Publishing

Course Tracking

Curriculum Management

Curve Scores

Customizable Branding

Customizable Questions

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Data Import/Export

Discussions/Forums

Document Management

Document Storage

Drag & Drop

eLearning Companies

Email Management

Employee Training

Engagement Tracking

Enrollments/Onboarding

Event Calendar

Faculty/Staff Management

Feedback Management

File Sharing

For Classroom

For Higher Education

For Schools

Gamification

Gradebook

Grade Calculations

Individualized Assessments

Instructor-Led Courses

Interactive Content

Interactive Learning

Interoperability

K-12

Learner Portal

Learning Management

Learning Paths/Tracks

Lesson Planning

Media Import

Media Management

Mobile Access

Mobile Learning

Multi-Language

Multimedia Support

Offboarding

Parent Portal

Progress Reports

Progress Tracking

Quizzes

Real-time Broadcasting

Real-Time Data

Real-Time Notifications

Real-Time Reporting

Reminders

Remote Access/Control

Report Cards

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Scheduling

School District

SCORM Compliance

Screen Sharing

Self-paced Learning

Self Service Portal

By industry, Canvas reviewers are most commonly professionals in education management (21%). The most frequent use case for Canvas cited by reviewers is higher education (41% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Reviewers appreciate the generous free version, which they say suits individuals and small teams. Some users report that paid plans and premium content can be expensive, and they find the pricing structure confusing and occasionally restrictive.

Value for money

The Canvas integrations most frequently cited by reviewers are: Google Docs (a document management product rated 4.7 out of 5 for its integration with Canvas), Google Drive (a cloud storage product, 4.7), and Zoom Workplace (a video conferencing product, 4.6).

Integrations

Canvas is a higher education program with key features that include course management, a student portal, tests and assessments, an activity dashboard, student information and records, alerts and notifications, and more.

Open Source

Canvas

iPad

Web-based

Android

iPhone

Windows

Chromebook

Basic

Adjunct Faculty

What I like most about canvas is the ability to create pages that allowed you to link items from various resources.

Technology Coordinator

The ability to schedule content and structure courses into clear modules has made it much easier to manage pacing throughout the semester.

Student

It is a very comprehensive LMS System that provides multiple user roles, instructure, Teaching Assistant, Student and each student will have record of his/her old courses enrolled, keeping track of everything in a course, all communication, grades, files and other things of a class organized in a clean easy to access web app and a mobile app

Tier III Technician

The clean and modern dashboard makes it very easy for both student and instructors, it allows instructors to also view a students point-of-view.

Clinical Office Manage

We use canvas as a training site, showing videos for training all in one platform for employees and managers.

My expirence with canvas is interesting is new easy and help me check my son anytime anywhere how his doing on each class and I receiving information fast everything is on correct management

Student Use Only

It allowed to easily manage my course work for each class and allowed for easy communication with my instructors.

Marketing manager

The interface can feel dated, and the default notification settings often lead to an overwhelming flood of emails for minor updates.

Program Administrator TA

Configuring the class modules and adapting for different educational needs (grad vs. undergrad; online vs. in-person) can be time consuming.

Administraion Associate

Not only does it allow for me to organize learning content, but the announcement feature is a game changer.

I think the notification overload is a little annoying and it has to be configured correctly, you can receive both app notifications and email.

The UI needs a refresh, most of the navigation is just links, they need to make progress towards making the User interface more modern and follow a clean design system.

Built in functions like turn-it in and auto graders reduces time spent on cross checking or auto grading.

School counselor

Our school uses canvas and as a staff member I enjoy it for how easy it is to manage multiple student courses at once all in one place.

I appreciate Canvas as a valuable central repository. When an instructor utilizes it properly, it’s a model of efficiency that respects my time.

SDE Intern

The second best thing is that canvas calendar can be easily linked to Google calendar which helps with assignment due dates.

Teacher

Whenever assignments have different open, due, and/or close dates based on course sections, I have to assign it separately.  

Teaching Assistant

It can be challenging to create assignments and groups but since it is all on one platform, that makes keeping track of everything easy enough.

Digital marketer

The most thing I like about canvas is i can suggest or apply live without loosing track and the collaboration on bigger projects feel smooth and organized.

Scientist II

Through my mobile application, I am able to access a lot of courses which I learn from anywhere over the internet with the help of Canvas.

IST - Cybersecurity Student

Each teacher is able to customize their class as they best see fit which makes it a consistently unique experience.

Night Auditor

The system automatically grades assignments (unless the instructor changes the settings for manual grading).

Clinical Research Coordinator

It's intuitive design allows you to check your grades, review assignments from professors, and a great HUB for all the necessary tools you need to stay on top of your A-game for school.

graduate student

We can check our grades everyday and we can submit our homework online, we can learn through files and modules page which is clear and neat structure to follow as a student.

As a graduate student who frequently uses Canvas, the platform serves as a centralized hub where I can access course materials, submit assignments, communicate with instructors, and track my progress—all in one place.

I like CANVAS for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive tools ,the ability to access external resources, such as videos, articles, and interactive content, directly within the platform is incredibly convenient.

I like the way Canvas is set up, allowing students to manage their courses, communicate with professors, submit work, and manage their grades.

Instructional Design

Use it heavily in designing courses and integrating different learning tools.  

No customizability, the modules do not save your place or mark when you've already reviewed information, cannot remove old/unused classes, no customer support, highly complicated for professors.

I really enjoy using Canvas because it keeps all of your assignments organized and has a specific tab for all pending assignments that saves you time when completing them.

Civil engineer

It is a super tool, with many options when creating or designing, whether it is a project, a presentation, for a resume, advertising, there are so many options that it allows us to just let our creativity fly and make it a reality with CANVAS.

Assistant manager

One of the cons of CANVAS is its limited customization options for advanced design work. While it's user-friendly for basic designs, professionals may find it lacks the flexibility and precision of more robust design tools like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.

Graduate Student

It makes tracking assignments and grades across multiple classes easy and organized.

Engineering

Some of the things I don’t like about canvas is how buggy it can be where things won’t load and my app will crash.

Instructor

It includes ample customer support and video/audio is mostly free of bugs and issues.

The experience is entirely dependent on how well an instructor organizes the course; a poorly structured page is a nightmare to navigate.

Independent Contractor Instructor

It is easy for me to navigate my students progress, make an announcement, create a discussion board, messages students using the canvas inbox, and many more.

Canvas sometimas is not user friendly when it comes to creating flyers and their colors options and designs.

FMCHC, NBC-HWC, Certified Trauma-Informed Breathwork Facilitator

After learning and accepting the downfalls within the platform, I was able to use the platform to the best of my ability to educate myself and graduate from the program I was enrolled.

Sometimes there are graded assignments that don't show up on the dashboard but are due weekly in the modules.

The other platform that was used in the past, had too many updates which would lock people out of the system.

Software Suppport

Canvas can be a little annoying because of some restriction of viewing differences, like various types of accounts have different features, and that makes it hard to see and explain, and settings are hard, plus design could be improved.

Software Engineer

I didn't like how Canvas sometimes marked assignments that were simply placeholders or didn't count for any credit in a course would be labelled as "late" when nothing was submitted on a specified due date.

Instructional Technology Facilitator

When setting up grade pass back to automatically sync canvas to our LMS there are many steps teachers need to take and i wish it were easier to push this out on a global level.

Canvas vs Alma SIS Comparison (2026)

Canvas

Alma SIS

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives