oh I fucking TOLD THEM SO god canvas is just the WORST.
this post was submitted on 09 May 2026
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Privacy
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Canvas is the best. It's entirely open source, under the agpl license.
https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms
They have generally been pretty good when it comes to adding features, and security practicws. But sometimes you just lose (to shinyhunters).
Huh. So the miserable UI, constant feature reversion, nightmare that is support, lack of integration tools and the historical total lack of action on reported security issues...?
Have used canvas for years. Canvas is just shitty software, and Instructure are utter bastards to anyone that aren't mormon and have gotten some incredibly shady contracts to force wide adoption. They're awful, and this breach just hilights their shit practices.
Neat that their software is available under aGPL tho, that really matters.
Do you use canvas as a teacher/institution?
I've used canvas, but only as a student student, and I really, really like it. The UI is excellent, and I do notice the addition of things like bigbluebutton.
Do you have more info about various shady practices?
You are in the minority opinion there. Had you had exposure to any other LMS or group collaboration tools prior to canvas?
what alternatives are there? I've only actually heard of google classroom, moodle (FOSS) and blackboard? Most people I've met who have tried one of those have liked canvas better.
I'ved used google classroom a bit but it sucks.
There's way too many for me to list them all and that's just some random site; but Blackboard is a decent all-rounder from the instructor side of things but sucks bcz proprietary. Personally I've been having pretty decent engagement with OpenLMS which is based off Moodle, but OpenEDX is also getting popular. Google classroom does suck, no argument, and Blackboard is corpo garbage with a slick UI so I can't really recommend it beyond "steal the UI".
Moodle is great if your IT group can support it though - super customizable and doesn't require the collection of obnoxious amounts of student info like with the alternatives. A little less robust but still much less rigid and soul-suckingly tedious compared to canvas.
But what makes canvas soul suckingly tedious? Why do we seem to disagree about canvas UX and UI?
Presumably because you are a different person to me and the vast majority of my students (seriously, canvas is the #1 source of complaints across the entire university. Every quarter complaints about canvas make up more than all other complaints put together. Parking, dorms, admissions, everything dwarfed by canvas woes). IDK how you can stand using it, but I'm glad you're able to be content with it.
Not surprised. My colleges used outlook and Canvas which even without a breach collects a plethora of information. I also always assumed my school WiFi had access to my internet habits