Open-source software an education business can actually use

What you need

Free for commercial use only

12 projectsCommercial useMaintainedSetupCost

Commercial use: Yes; GPL-3.0. You can host it and charge for courses without restriction. If you distribute a modified version, it must stay under the GPL.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-03. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Moderate; You set up the web server, PHP and a database (PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB) yourself. The official guide has eight steps. The exact PHP version is in the release notes for each version.
Cost: Low; The software is free. The stated minimum is a 1 GHz CPU and 512 MB of RAM; dual core and 1 GB or more is recommended. Plan for 5 GB of disk plus your course content.
What to watch out for: "Moodle" is a registered trademark. Without written permission you cannot use the name to sell hosting, training, support or customization; that permission usually goes to official partners only. Saying your own organization runs Moodle is fine.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Conditions; Apache-2.0. The README adds its own terms: copyright notices in the pages and the code must stay, including the "Designed By PlayEdu" mark and the link to the official site, and code changes must be documented in the code.
Maintained: Slowing; Last push on 2026-05-19. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Easy; Install Docker, clone the code and run one docker compose command. The docs list Ubuntu 22.04/24.04, CentOS 7/8 and Debian 10 to 12. For a domain and HTTPS, add Caddy as the docs describe. The docs are in Chinese.
Cost: Moderate; The software is free. The stated minimum server is 4 cores, 8 GB RAM, 40 GB disk and 10 Mbps; the recommendation is 8 cores, 16 GB, 200 GB and 50 Mbps.
What to watch out for: The open edition covers departments, learners, video lessons and progress tracking. Exams, document preview, learning tasks, anti-skip and the WeCom, DingTalk and Feishu integrations are in the paid enterprise edition, according to the README.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Conditions; Apache-2.0 plus additional terms: commercial use needs the author’s written consent. To sell courses on it you email a request for commercial authorization, which the terms say is free. The domain must have a Chinese ICP filing under the same entity, and a new domain needs a new request.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-09-14. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Easy; The Docker route in the README is three steps: copy the env file, generate and fill in two secrets, then start docker-compose. The docs also cover installing through the BT panel.
Cost: Low; The software is free. The stated minimum server is 2 cores, 4 GB RAM and 5 Mbps; the recommendation is 8 cores, 16 GB and 20 Mbps.
What to watch out for: The open edition does recorded video and course sales. Live classes, exams, the mini program and mobile apps are in the commercial edition, according to the README. The backend runs on PHP 7.4 and Laravel 8, both older versions. The README warns that leaving the two secrets empty or at example values allows unauthorized access.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Conditions; AGPL-3.0. Running it unmodified adds no obligations. If you change the code and let learners use it over a network, you must offer those users your modified source.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-09. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Easy; There is an official install script: download it and run one command with your email and domain. The README says it takes about five minutes. You need a domain with its A record pointing at the server first.
Cost: Free software; The docs give no server requirements for self-hosting. If you would rather not run it yourself there is the official hosted service, Frappe Cloud; its pricing has not been checked here.
What to watch out for: The live class feature in the README creates Zoom meetings from inside the system, so you need Zoom. Whether that works well from mainland China is something to test yourself.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Conditions; AGPL-3.0. Running it unmodified adds no obligations. If you change the code and let learners use it over a network, you must offer those users your modified source.
Maintained: Slowing; Last push on 2026-04-30. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Hard; The official production guide has nineteen sections. You install Ruby 3.4.1 or later, Node 20, PostgreSQL 14 or later and Redis 6 or later, then configure Apache and Passenger. The guide is written for Ubuntu 22.04.
Cost: Moderate; The software is free. The guide recommends at least 8 GB of RAM when everything runs on one server.
What to watch out for: The rich content editor is a separate service you deploy yourself, and the guide says the production branch requires it. The GitHub repository has had no pushes since late April 2026; the reason has not been checked here.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Yes; MIT. Commercial use, modification and closed-source use are all allowed; keep the copyright notice.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-07. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Easy; There are official installers for Windows, Debian/Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi, macOS and Android, and it can also be installed with pip.
Cost: Low; The software is free. For the machine acting as server, the docs recommend 1 GB of RAM on Linux or 2 GB or more on Windows, and a 1 GHz CPU.
What to watch out for: It solves teaching without reliable internet; it is not a storefront for selling courses. Disk space depends on how much content you import.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Conditions; AGPL-3.0. Running it unmodified adds no obligations. If you change the code and let students use it over a network, you must offer them your modified source. The vendor sells editions with a commercial license; the community edition does not include one.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-09. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Easy; The backend runs as a single jar on JDK 1.8 with PostgreSQL 12 (a MySQL version lives in a separate repository). The docs describe three ways to deploy, including docker-compose. The docs are in Chinese.
Cost: Free edition; The community edition is free and the docs give no hardware requirements. For a commercial license and more features, the listed prices are 3,000 CNY for the standard edition and 8,000 CNY for the advanced edition (source code).
What to watch out for: The community edition has no teacher app, question import or video lessons; those are in the paid editions. It is built on Spring Boot 2.1.6, JDK 1.8 and Node 16, all older versions.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Conditions; Mostly AGPL-3.0 with additional terms: the "Powered by Hydro" footer and link must stay, and modified source must also be released under AGPL-3.0. If you need closed source, the README says to contact the authors for a separate license.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-09. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Easy; A one-command install script. The README recommends Debian 12 and supports x86_64 and arm64. The script does not support CentOS and warns if it detects the BT panel; use a clean system.
Cost: Low; The software is free and the README says it runs on a Raspberry Pi. If you would rather not host it, there is a free hosted version. Server requirements were not found here.
What to watch out for: The install script states up front that it includes system telemetry about the operating system and platform; turning it off means reading the source. Importing problems from Luogu requires a separate license from Luogu.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Yes; LGPL-3.0. You can host it for paid classes without restriction. If you modify its own code and distribute it, those changes must be open.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-08. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Hard; It needs a clean, dedicated Ubuntu 22.04 server that does not share ports 80 and 443 with another site, a domain with a valid SSL certificate (browsers will not grant camera and microphone access without one), and UDP ports 16384 to 32768 open. Installation is through the official bbb-install.sh script.
Cost: High; The software is free; the server is the cost. The stated production minimum is 8 cores, 16 GB RAM and 250 Mbps symmetrical bandwidth, with 500 GB of disk if you record sessions or 50 GB if you do not.
What to watch out for: What 250 Mbps of symmetrical bandwidth costs on a Chinese cloud has not been checked here; get a quote before deciding. The docs also ask for both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Yes; GPL-3.0. Schools and institutions can host and use it without restriction. If you distribute a modified version, it must stay under the GPL.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-09. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Easy; Download and unzip, copy the files to your server, open it in a browser and follow the installer: five steps in the official guide. It needs Apache or Nginx, PHP 8.0 or later and MySQL 8.0 or later.
Cost: Low; The software is free. For a small school the docs suggest 2 CPUs, 4 to 8 GB of RAM and 50 GB of disk; for a large one, 4 CPUs, 16 GB and 300 GB.
What to watch out for: Interface translations are maintained by volunteers, so check how complete your language is after installing. The docs are in English.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Yes; BSD-3-Clause. Commercial use, modification and closed-source use are all allowed; keep the copyright notice.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-08. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Moderate; It needs a Linux server, Python 3.10 or later, Node.js, a domain and a TLS certificate. The official Docker image contains only the Hub with no configuration; you set up login and how each student’s environment is started.
Cost: Per user; The software is free. The small official distribution gives a formula: memory = concurrent users × memory limit per user + 128 MB, starting from 40% to 60% of class size as concurrent users. The server needs at least 1 GB of RAM to install.
What to watch out for: By default users log in with system accounts on the server, and allowing several users means running it with root privileges. Anything else takes more configuration.

See sources Website

Commercial use: Yes; GPL-2.0. An institution can install and use it in its own labs without restriction. If you distribute a modified version, it must stay under the GPL.
Maintained: Active; Last push on 2026-10-07. The repository is not archived.
Setup: Easy; There is an installer for Windows 10 and 11 with a silent mode, which suits rolling it out to many machines. Linux support covers Debian 10, Ubuntu 20.04 and newer. Student machines can skip the teacher component.
Cost: Low; The software is free and needs no server. Each computer needs at least 2 GB of RAM, and a multi-core CPU is strongly recommended.
What to watch out for: All computers must be on a TCP/IP network together, and gigabit networking is recommended for more than 10 machines.

See sources Website

Your industry is not here?

Tell me the industry and what you need solved. I will look at it next.

Message @dceniac on X