LON-CAPA vs MadCap Create

LON-CAPA is a course management, learning content management, and assessment system made for education. It provides course materials, discussions, announcements, a grade book, lab scheduling, portfolio space, and assessment tools for homework, clickers, tests, and exams. Online content can be reused across courses and semesters, with access rights managed within the system. Campus options include Shibboleth or Sentinel single sign-on and password verification through Kerberos, LDAP, or Active Directory. Integration features include XML exchange for course creation and population, directory integration, and portal token exchange. Users can access it with most browsers on most platforms, but the server software runs on Linux. Supported distributions include Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Debian, Ubuntu, and AlmaLinux. The free self-hosted software requires ongoing maintenance; the maker recommends a dedicated Linux server, a static IP with working reverse DNS, and open ports 80 and 5663. Cluster members handle updates, access controls, and protection of shared resources. Commercial hosting and support are available, with no price listed.

MadCap Create has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.