Moodle alternative
A Moodle alternative
for teachers who sell what they teach.
Moodle is a free LMS, but you still pay to run it: hosting, updates and your time. MoodleCloud, Moodle’s own hosting, costs $500 a year before you can sell through Stripe.Knola builds your course, slides, narrated video lessons, sales page and checkout with AI.Pay once and your course stays online.
One paymentYour course stays online30-day money-back
Moodle MoodleCloud Small · a year of bills
Every year$500
Knola Studio · your receipt
One payment
$197
Next bill: none
Your course stays online.
The short answer
Knola vs Moodle in 30 seconds
If you only read one part of this page, read this.
- Knola is an AI course platform for independent teachers, lecturers, tutors and trainers, and you pay for it once: $97 for Solo or $197 for Studio. Moodle is free, open-source LMS software. You either host it yourself, or pay for MoodleCloud from $170 a year ($500 a year to sell courses through Stripe).
- Moodle is built for schools, universities and training teams: deep grading, SCORM and thousands of plugins. It can take payment for a course, but it has no sales pages, funnels, order bumps or coupons. Knola is built to sell. It drafts the whole course from your notes, turns each lesson into slides with a speaker script, and narrates them into a video lesson.
- Choose Moodle if you run training for an organisation with IT support. Choose Knola if you teach on your own and want to build and sell a course without running a server.
Knola vs Moodle, side by side
Start with what each one costs. Then see what each one does.
| Cost | Knola | Moodle |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | KnolaOne payment. Solo $97, Studio $197. | MoodleFree software, paid hosting. MoodleCloud from $170/yr, or $500/yr to sell via Stripe. |
| Keeping your course online | KnolaPay once and your course stays online. No monthly fee to keep it there. | MoodleStop paying for MoodleCloud and your site closes at the end of the billing year. Self-hosted, it stays online only while you pay for hosting and keep it updated. MoodleCloud’s terms |
| Fees on your sales | Knola0% with your own checkout. 7.5% on Knola checkout, or 0% on Knola Pro ($37/mo). | MoodleNo Moodle fee. You pay Stripe or PayPal processing. |
| Running it | KnolaNothing to install, host or update. | MoodleSelf-hosted: you run the server, updates and backups. MoodleCloud does this for you, without plugins. |
Moodle prices and fees are from Moodle’s own pages, checked 24 Sept 2026. See every Moodle plan.
What you get
Everything a course business needs, and what each platform includes.
| Feature | Knola | Moodle |
|---|---|---|
| Create your course | ||
| AI course outline | Via AI subsystem, set up by an admin | |
| AI writes every lesson | Text generation in the editor, set up by an admin | |
| AI slides with a speaker script | ||
| Narrated video lessons, nothing to record | ||
| Narration in your own voice | ||
| AI ebooks, worksheets and checklists | ||
| Video hosting | Uploads count against 1–50 GB storage | |
| Sell your course | ||
| No monthly fee | Free software; hosting is a yearly bill | |
| Sell ebooks and digital downloads | Only as files inside a paid course | |
| AI-written sales pages | ||
| Sales funnels | ||
| Checkout | Enrolment on payment; Stripe on Small plan and up | |
| Order bumps and upsells | ||
| Coupons and payment plans | ||
| Teach your students | ||
| Quizzes | ||
| Completion certificates | ||
| Drip lessons | ||
| Student progress tracking | ||
| Included in full | 18 of 18 | 4 of 18 |
IncludedLimited or higher plans onlyNot included
From Moodle’s public product and pricing pages, checked 24 Sept 2026. Tell us if something changes.
Moodle pricing in 2026: what you actually pay
The Moodle software is free to download. To put it online you pay for hosting: your own server, a Moodle partner, or MoodleCloud. These are MoodleCloud’s plans, from Moodle’s own pricing page, in US dollars.
Moodle MoodleCloud Starter
$14.17 /month
Billed yearly: $170 a year
50 users · 1 GB storage · no Stripe selling
Moodle MoodleCloud Mini
$22.50 /month
Billed yearly: $270 a year
100 users · 2.5 GB storage · no Stripe selling
Moodle MoodleCloud Small
$41.67 /month
Billed yearly: $500 a year
200 users · 5 GB storage · sell via Stripe
Moodle MoodleCloud Medium
$100 /month
Billed yearly: $1,200 a year
500 users · 20 GB storage · sell via Stripe
Moodle MoodleCloud Standard
$175.83 /month
Billed yearly: $2,110 a year
750 users · 50 GB storage · sell via Stripe
- MoodleCloud bills once a year, in Australian dollars. Monthly figures here are the yearly price divided by 12.
- Selling courses through Stripe needs the Small plan or higher. Card processing is paid to Stripe or PayPal. Moodle adds no fee on sales.
- MoodleCloud does not let you install plugins. A custom domain is included on Standard, or an extra AU$160 a year on Medium.
- Self-hosted Moodle is free software, but you pay for the server, backups and updates, and you do the upkeep yourself.
- Checked 24 Sept 2026 on MoodleCloud pricing.
What Moodle costs you, against Knola
Move the sliders to match your business. Knola’s own fees are included.
Moodle MoodleCloud Small
$500 a year, billed yearly
$1,000
Knola Studio
One payment, your own checkout (0% to Knola)
$197
Knola Studio + Pro
One payment + $37 a month, 0% platform fee
$1,085
Over 24 months, Knola costs you $803 less than Moodle MoodleCloud Small.
Illustration using public prices checked 24 Sept 2026. Card processing (about 2.9%) applies on every platform and is not included. Per-sale fees assume a $100 average order. Knola prices are today’s prices.
From an idea to a course that sells
On Moodle you build each activity by hand and record your own videos. On Knola, you bring the knowledge and review each step.
01
Describe what you teach
Type a few lines, or upload your notes, PDFs or videos. Knola drafts the outline and every lesson.
How the AI course builder works
02
Turn a lesson into slides
One click makes a branded deck with a speaker script for every slide.
See the AI presentation maker
03
Let Knola narrate the video
Review the narration, hear a preview, then Knola makes the video lesson. Nobody records anything.
04
Turn lessons into ebooks
Make an ebook, worksheet or checklist from your lessons. Sell it on its own, or add it to the course.
See the AI ebook creator
05
Get your sales page written
AI writes the sales page from your actual course. Rewrite any section in one click.
See the AI sales page builder
06
Build the funnel
Join your pages, checkout and follow-up offers into one buying journey.
Explore course sales funnels
07
Take payments
A checkout with order bumps, upsells, coupons and payment plans. Buyers get access straight away.
How Knola checkout works
08
Check what stuck
Knola writes quiz questions from each lesson. Students finish with a certificate.
See quizzes and certificates
09
Follow every student
See who is watching, how far each student got and who has finished.
Explore student analytics
The AI is optional
Already made your course? Just host it on Knola.
The AI is there when you want it, never required. Bring the course you built, arrange it your way and sell it, for the same one-time fee, with no monthly Moodle bill.
- Upload your own videos, PDFs and files
- Write and arrange every lesson yourself in the editor
- Add quizzes, certificates and drip release
- Sell it with a checkout, order bumps and upsells
- Pay once and your course stays online.
Nothing missing
The Moodle basics you teach with are here too.
Moving to Knola does not mean giving up the teaching tools.
- Course hosting and brandingYour school, with your logo and colours.Included
- Video lessons with transcriptsHosted video, captions and clickable transcripts.Included
- Quizzes and certificatesGraded quizzes and completion certificates.Included
- Student progressSee who is stuck and who has finished.Included
- AI sales pagesWritten from your course, edited by you.Included
- Sales funnelsPages, checkout and follow-up offers, joined up.Included
- Ebooks and digital downloadsSell them on their own, or bundle them with a course.Included
- Checkout, bumps and upsellsPlus coupons and payment plans.Included
- Sales and funnel analyticsRevenue, conversions and the offers that earn.Included
Stay with Moodle if…
- you run training for a school, university or company, with IT support behind you,
- you need deep grading, SCORM packages or Moodle’s plugin ecosystem,
- you want full control of your own server and data.
If you teach on your own and want to sell what you teach, you are running an LMS built for an institution.
Knola is built for you
Join other creators building & selling courses
People just like you turning what they know into a sellable course they own with Knola.
“I believe Knola is the future platform of online education: powerful, intelligent, accessible, and created with both the teacher and the learner in mind.”
Joy Hauʻoli Sutherland
Co-Founder of LVH Brands
“What I love most about Knola is how easy it makes the course-creation process, but even more importantly, the support. When I have a question or need help figuring something out, I feel like there are real people who want to help, not just a support ticket system.”
Lori Kantor
Universal Educational Services“What sold me wasn’t just the platform, it was the people. I asked a question expecting to wait days and got a real, helpful answer within the hour. You can tell Knola is built by people who actually want you to succeed, not just take your money.”
Sophie Richards
PeaceLoveSerenity
“I’d been sitting on my course idea for nearly two years, convinced I’d get around to it one day. I’d written a couple of books before but never sold an online course. I came across the Knola offer and my experience so far has been great. I wish I had found it sooner.”
Richard A
Business Owner
Moving from Moodle takes an afternoon.
Most of the work is done for you.
- 1
Download your files
Download your videos, PDFs, slides and page text from your Moodle courses.
- 2
Upload them to Knola
Knola transcribes each video and drafts the lesson text around it. You can also bulk-upload lessons.
- 3
Add a sales page with AI
Knola writes a sales page from your course. Adjust it, then add your checkout.
- 4
Bring your students with you
Export your participant list from Moodle and paste the emails into Knola. Knola enrols every student in your new course and emails each one an invite, in a couple of clicks.
Got a big course, or questions before you move?
Talk to us first. Tell us what you have on Moodle and we will help you plan the move.
Our promise
Pay once and your course stays online.
No monthly fee to keep it there, and no server to look after. That is the whole deal.
- One paymentSolo $97 or Studio $197. No hosting bill, whether you sell or not.
- Your course stays onlineWe don’t take courses down from people who paid for a licence.
- Your work is never locked inExport your content as PDF, HTML or Markdown at any time.
- 30-day money-back guaranteeIf Knola is not for you, tell us within 30 days and we refund every penny.
Questions about Knola and Moodle
Is Moodle really free?
The Moodle software is free to download. Running it is not: you pay for a server, backups and updates, or for MoodleCloud, Moodle’s own hosting, from $170 a year. To sell courses through Stripe on MoodleCloud you need the Small plan, at $500 a year.
Can I sell courses on Moodle?
Yes, with “enrolment on payment”: students pay through a payment gateway like PayPal or Stripe, then Moodle enrols them. There are no sales pages, funnels, order bumps or coupons built in. Knola gives you all of those, written with AI from your course.
What is a good Moodle alternative for independent teachers?
Knola is built for one teacher selling what they know, not for an institution. It is a one-time payment: $97 for Solo or $197 for Studio, with nothing to host or update. That costs less than a year of MoodleCloud Small.
Is Moodle good for selling online courses?
Moodle is very good at teaching: quizzes, grading, certificates and completion tracking. It is weaker at selling. You need a separate website or sales page, and on MoodleCloud you cannot add plugins to fill the gaps.
What happens to my course if I stop paying for MoodleCloud?
MoodleCloud’s terms say your access ends at the end of your billing cycle, and that it is your job to take your data off first. On a self-hosted site, your course stays online only while you pay for hosting and keep it updated. On Knola there is nothing to stop paying: pay once and your course stays online.
Can I sell ebooks and downloads, not just courses?
Yes. Knola is not only for video courses. Turn your lessons into ebooks, worksheets and checklists with AI, or upload your own files, then sell them on their own, as an order bump, or bundled with a course. Buyers get their download straight after checkout.
Can I move my Moodle course to Knola?
Yes. Download your videos and files from Moodle and upload them to Knola, and Knola transcribes the videos and drafts the lessons. Then paste in your student list: Knola enrols every student and emails them an invite. Got a big course? Get in touch through our help page and we will help you plan the move.
Does Knola support SCORM?
No. Knola does not import or play SCORM packages. If your courses depend on SCORM, Moodle is the better fit.
Do I have to use Knola’s AI?
No. The AI is there when you want it, never required. If you have already made your course, upload your videos, PDFs and files, write and arrange the lessons yourself, add quizzes and certificates, and sell it with Knola’s checkout. It is the same one-time licence, with no monthly Moodle bill: pay once and your course stays online.
Other Moodle alternatives worth knowing
Knola is our answer, but it is not the only one. Here is where the others fit.
Knola
One payment. AI builds the course, slides, narrated video lessons, ebooks and sales page.
LearnWorlds
A full course platform with SCORM and interactive video. Monthly plans, with a $5 fee per sale on Starter.
Knola vs LearnWorldsThinkific
A strong course builder for teams and group sales. Monthly plans, with an AI tutor only on its enterprise plan.
Knola vs ThinkificTeachable
Popular for selling courses with a mobile student app. Starter adds a 7.5% fee on every sale.
Knola vs TeachablePodia
Simple courses, downloads and email together. Monthly plans, with a 5% fee on Mover.
Knola vs PodiaKajabi
Courses, email, community and a mobile app in one. Monthly plans, built for marketers more than teachers.
Knola vs Kajabi
Pay once. Teach it, and sell it.
Bring what you know. Knola builds the course, the slides, the video lessons, the ebooks and the sales page around it, with no server to run.