Moodle, packaged LMS or a custom platform
Moodle is open source, extensible and widely used, which makes it a sensible base for many schools and organizations. Packaged systems such as Canvas or Totara reduce operations work at license cost. A custom LMS makes sense when the learning experience is your product, with unusual pricing, cohorts, credentials or user journeys. Reporting needs and the sizes of cohorts should drive the decision.
We weigh required features against effort: enrolment rules, certificates, multi-tenant separation, mobile access, integration with HR or CRM. Often the best answer is Moodle plus custom plugins, which is cheaper than a ground-up build. A short discovery maps learner types, content formats, assessment rules and reporting duties. Corporate compliance training, university modules and paid consumer courses place very different demands on enrolment, certification and support, so the platform should be sized to the real audience.
