Chamilo

What is Chamilo?

Chamilo is an open source learning management system (LMS) that institutions and companies use to deliver online courses, run assessments, and track learner progress. It’s built in PHP on the Symfony framework, released under the GNU GPL v3+ license, and fully self-hosted. The project started in 2010 and reports more than 40 million users worldwide.

What is Chamilo best for?

Schools, universities, and corporate training teams that want a straightforward LMS without a steep setup. Reviewers consistently single out Chamilo’s ease of use and quick implementation as its main strengths, making it a good fit when you need to launch courses fast and don’t need the deep plugin customization that a heavier platform like Moodle offers.

What can Chamilo do?

• Build and deliver courses with documents, learning paths, and SCORM content — and import existing courses from Moodle
• Create quizzes with 20+ question types, including AI-assisted question generation
• Set assignments with plagiarism-check integration, and run a gradebook that issues badges and certificates
• Track attendance and progress with learning analytics and Qualiopi-ready reporting
• Collaborate through forums, live chat, and videoconferencing
• Stay standards-compliant: SCORM, xAPI, LTI, and QTI, plus GDPR features and 60+ language translations

Is Chamilo free?

Yes — Chamilo is fully free and open source under the GNU GPL v3+ license, with no paid tier or per-seat fee. You only pay for the server it runs on, and it’s light: the project suggests around 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM to start. If you’d rather not self-manage, paid hosting and support are available from BeezNest (which now leads the project) and third-party providers.

Where does Chamilo fall short?

• Its plugin and extension ecosystem is far smaller than Moodle’s, so deep customization and third-party integrations are more limited.
• Independent reviewers have flagged weaker collaboration features — chat and videoconferencing in particular — compared to dedicated tools.

FAQ

Is Chamilo open source? Yes. Chamilo is released under the GNU GPL v3+ license, so the full source is public and free to use, modify, and self-host.

Can I self-host Chamilo for free? Yes — the software is free and there’s no license cost. Your only expense is the server it runs on, which can be modest since Chamilo is lightweight.

Is Chamilo a good Moodle alternative? For teams that prioritize ease of use and fast setup, yes. Moodle wins on plugins and customization, while Chamilo is simpler to learn and run. Chamilo can also import courses from Moodle if you migrate.

What do I need to run Chamilo? A server with PHP 8.2 or 8.3, a MariaDB 10+ (or MySQL) database, and a web server such as Apache — roughly 2 vCPUs, 4 GB of RAM, and a few GB of disk to get started.