Canvas Network vs Stepik
Canvas Network
canvas.netStepik
stepik.orgSide by side
| Figure | Canvas Network | Stepik |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | 2,900 RUB/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 5 |
| Spec score · MOOC Platforms | 9.1 (#6) | 8.7 (#11) |
| Spec score · Online Course Marketplaces | 8.6 (#15) | 9.3 (#4) |
| API authentication | Canvas API applications authenticate with OAuth2, with bearer tokens recommended over query-string tokens. | The API documents OAuth2 authorization-code, implicit, password and client-credentials flows with bearer tokens. |
| Audience | The courses support K–12 and higher education educators and focus on professional development. | Stepik says authors can run contests, training and professional development programs, and courses for employees or customers. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Headquarters | Salt Lake City, Utah, USA | The company information page lists a legal address in Saint Petersburg at 2 Kantemirovskaya Street, office 202. |
| Integrations | Canvas states that it integrates with more than 1,000 external tools and partners. | Courses can be embedded with an iframe, connected through OAuth 2, or integrated with external learning platforms through LTI 1.1. |
| Mobile apps | Canvas Student supports grades, assignments, calendars, messaging, discussions, videos and quizzes; separate Teacher and Parent apps are offered. | Stepik says learners can study on its website or in its mobile app. |
| Rating on Apple App Store | 4.7 out of 5 from 2.8 million ratings | 4.9 out of 5 from 907 ratings |
| Rating on G2 | 4.5 out of 5 from 1,839 reviews | 4.8 out of 5 from 3 reviews |
| Rating on Google Play | 4.5 out of 5 from 224,000 reviews | 4.8 out of 5 from 71.7K reviews |
| Self-hosting | The Canvas LMS repository provides installation guidance, including quick-start and production-start instructions. | The official material describes Stepik as a hosted cloud service and provides no supported self-hosting distribution. |
| Support | Course-specific help is provided through instructor materials or discussion forums, with Canvas Guides available for platform questions. | Stepik says its team can help authors create courses and provide help after launch and publication, including promotion. |
| System requirements | Instructure recommends current or previous major Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari releases, JavaScript and cookies enabled, a computer five years old or newer with at least 1 GB RAM, and at least 512 kbps internet. | Published minimums are a 1 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM, 1280x800 display and internet access, with support listed for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. |
| What it does | Canvas Network is an educator-focused catalog of free, open professional-development courses powered by Canvas LMS. | Stepik is a cloud platform for creating and distributing interactive educational content, especially computer-science learning, with automatically graded assignments and real-time feedback. |
Plans
Stepik
- BasicFree
- Free open coursesFree
- Pro2,900 RUB a month
- Enterprise500,000 RUB a year
- Paid coursesPriced on request
In their own words
Canvas Network
Canvas Network offers free professional development courses made by educators for K–12 and higher education educators. Subjects include teaching methods, technology skills for educators, student performance analysis, and leadership. Anyone with an email address can enroll, but learners need a separate Canvas Network account, even if they use another Canvas instance. Materials become available on or after the course start date; courses begin according to U.S. Mountain time. Learners can work through activities at their own pace, though an instructor may invite them to synchronous activities. Instructors or sponsoring institutions may provide completion certificates, but Canvas Network does not issue them. It also does not charge eligible institutions to offer courses. Powered by Canvas LMS, the service is available on the web, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its Android and iOS apps support course access, assignment submission, discussions, and grade viewing, though not every Canvas feature is available in the apps. Offline learning is available. Course settings may hide an individual course after it ends.
Stepik
Stepik is an educational platform and online-course builder with automatic assignment checking. Registered users can create public courses for free using videos, text, and automatically checked assignments. Authors can also run contests, training, professional development, or courses for employees and customers. Courses may be free or paid; paid courses include expanded functionality and built-in payment processing, with Stepik taking a commission and charging no plan or subscription fee. Courses can be embedded with an iframe, connected through OAuth 2, or integrated with learning platforms using LTI 1.1. Named LTI-compatible platforms include Moodle, Open edX, Coursera, Blackboard LMS, Canvas, and Sakai. Stepik says its site works through an API, and learners can study on its website or mobile app. Offline learning and completion certificates are listed. Free public course creation costs nothing. Stepik says its Enterprise plan has been unavailable to new subscribers since May 2023; that plan previously limited private courses to 1,000 learners each.