MoodleCloud is Moodle’s ready-to-use hosted service. Moodle describes it as designed for individuals, small teams and growing organisations that want to start with Moodle without technical setup or server management, and positions it for individuals who sell courses or small organisations with basic training and onboarding needs.[2] It is sold as one of five fixed annual plans. Each plan sets a quota of active users and a quota of storage for the whole site, and the price is the plan price: there is no per-user overage and no separate storage purchase. For a licence manager the relevant questions are the size of the plan, the number of accounts that count toward it, the renewal date and the features that change with the plan.
Plans and prices
The plans page lists five plans, each billed annually, with prices shown in six currencies.[1] The page states that all plans are billed annually in Australian dollars and that country-specific taxes may apply.[1]
| Plan | Users | Storage | Annual price (AUD / USD / EUR / GBP / CAD / INR) | Notable inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 50 | 1GB | 230 / 160 / 150 / 130 / 230 / 15,470 | Premium Mobile App |
| Mini | 100 | 2.5GB | 380 / 270 / 240 / 200 / 380 / 25,560 | Premium Mobile App |
| Small | 200 | 5GB | 700 / 490 / 440 / 370 / 700 / 47,090 | Premium Mobile App; selling courses via Stripe |
| Medium | 500 | 20GB | 1,700 / 1,190 / 1,060 / 900 / 1,690 / 114,350 | Stripe; custom domain as an add-on |
| Standard | 750 | 50GB | 3,000 / 2,090 / 1,870 / 1,580 / 2,980 / 201,790 | Stripe; custom domain included |
Source for the table: the plans page.[1] The knowledge base adds that the billing system charges and invoices in Australian dollars only and that the foreign currencies on the website are an indication that does not take into account the bank’s exchange rate, transaction fees or taxes.[8]
The user quota
Moodle defines the quota precisely. The user quota is the maximum number of users that can have an active account and access the site at any given time, and suspended users do not count toward it.[3] A user is anyone who can log in to the site with a user account, for example students, administrators, teachers and managers.[3] Plan quotas range from 50 to 750 users.[3] To add more active users, the site must move to a larger plan.[3]
Several points follow from this definition:
- The metric is the account that can log in, whatever its role. Teachers, managers and administrators count in the same way as learners.
- The quota applies at any given time. The wording does not describe a count of unique people over a year or a count of concurrent sessions.
- Suspension is the supported way to stay within the quota. Moodle’s downgrade article describes suspended users as unable to access the site while their accounts and data remain on it.[6]
The catalog row for this metric is MoodleCloud user quota.
The storage quota
The file storage quota is the maximum storage allowance for the entire site, and plan allowances run from 1GB to 50GB.[3] Moodle’s storage article adds three rules. Files that Moodle converts to PDF count toward the limit. The only way to buy additional on-site storage is to upgrade the plan, because custom plans and storage add-ons are not offered. The individual file upload size limit is 250MB on all plans.[4] Organisations that need more than 50GB are directed to the sales team for Moodle Official Hosting options.[4] The article lists ways to keep disk use down, such as deleting unused media or linking files hosted elsewhere through a resource URL.[4] The related rows are MoodleCloud site storage quota and MoodleCloud individual file upload size limit.
Features that differ by plan
The product page lists unlimited courses and activities, integrated video conferencing for up to 100 users, self-service support through a knowledge base, and basic branding and custom domain options among MoodleCloud’s key features.[2] Features that vary by plan are:
- Selling courses. MoodleCloud can sell courses through Stripe and PayPal integrations, and the Stripe integration is available on the Small, Medium and Standard plans.[1]
- Custom domain. Medium and Standard plans can use a domain bought from a third-party provider. It is included in Standard and costs AUD 160 per year as an add-on for Medium, plus any country-specific taxes.[1] The knowledge base adds that the domain must be registered with a third-party provider, activation can take up to 10 business days, and users of the Moodle App must remove and re-add the site after a domain change.[9]
- Premium Mobile App. All MoodleCloud plans include support for the Moodle App Premium plan at no charge, a plan that Moodle normally values at EUR 499 per year.[1] See Moodle App plans.
- Plugins. To keep plan costs low and sites simple to manage, installation of plugins and integrations is not allowed. Moodle points customers needing custom solutions to its Premium Solutions team, and states that plugins can be installed on Moodle LMS or Moodle Workplace obtained through a Certified Partner.[1][2]
Billing, renewal and payment
MoodleCloud plans are available on subscription with the annual fee payable upfront. Subscriptions renew automatically each year, and the customer can opt out by stopping recurring payments in the portal.[3] Accepted payment methods are PayPal, Google Pay and Visa or Mastercard credit cards; single-use cards and American Express are not accepted, although an American Express card can be linked to a PayPal account.[8] A newly added credit card triggers a one-dollar verification charge that is refunded immediately.[8]
Each subscription is tied to one site. The portal is accessible only to the main site administrator and is where the subscription, account details, billing details, invoices and site usage are managed, and where another site or subscription can be added to the account.[10] The relevant row is MoodleCloud site subscription.
Free trial
Moodle offers a free trial plan for 28 days with up to 1GB of storage and 50 users and no credit card required.[1][3] The trial cannot be extended. Upgrading from a trial to a paid plan is by annual subscription, and BigBlueButton session recordings made during the trial expire on upgrade.[5]
Changing plans
Upgrading. A plan can be upgraded at any time in the customer portal. When moving from a smaller to a larger plan, only the pro-rata difference between the current and new plan is charged, based on the renewal date.[5] A suspended or cancelled plan can be reactivated by following the link in the banner, and payment in advance is not available.[5]
Downgrading. A downgrade is not possible through the portal. The customer asks the MoodleCloud team once the site fits within the quotas of the smaller plan; the pro-rata difference is applied as a credit toward the next subscription charge, and Moodle recommends asking at least two weeks before renewal.[6] Some downgrades only change quotas, while others remove features; features not included in the new plan are deactivated automatically.[6]
This asymmetry matters for budgeting. A site that grows into the next plan pays the difference at once, while a site that shrinks keeps the larger plan until it asks for a downgrade and receives a credit rather than a refund.
Cancellation and leaving MoodleCloud
Cancelling in the portal stops automatic renewal. The site remains live and fully accessible until the end date, and recurring payments are reactivated automatically if the customer updates payment details before that date.[7] Moodle recommends creating and downloading course backups before the period ends. Site exports are only for migrating a site to a Moodle LMS site and cannot be imported into MoodleCloud.[7] The page refers to the MoodleCloud Terms of Service for the cancellation terms.[7]
Terms of service and policies
Every user must accept the MoodleCloud Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and each user is prompted on first login or account creation. The Data Processing Agreement is part of the Terms of Service.[11] Site administrators cannot disable these policies for their users, but they can add their own policies, including in other languages.[11][12] The full Terms of Service document is hosted on moodlecloud.com, which answered the generic request used for this article with an access refusal, so its clauses are not summarised here.
Support
Moodle describes self-service support through its knowledge base on MoodleCloud plans, and priority help from Moodle HQ customer support when a site is down. Faster response times of up to 24 hours are associated with a Moodle Solution obtained from a Certified Partner rather than with MoodleCloud.[1][2]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Moodle Official Hosting delivered by Certified Partners, whose price and terms are set by quote, nor the MoodleCloud Terms of Service clauses on liability, data location and termination. It does not cover Moodle Workplace, the Branded Moodle App or taxes beyond noting that Moodle says local taxes may apply.