CourseLit vs Frappe School
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted learning & courses options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | CourseLit | Frappe School |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Learning & Courses | Learning & Courses |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,267 | ★ 3,253 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Teachable, Podia | Teachable, Moodle |
What are CourseLit and Frappe School?
CourseLit
CourseLit is an open-source learning management system for creating, hosting, and selling online courses. It includes a course builder, payment integration, and a student dashboard.
- Course builder
- Payment integration
- Student dashboard
- Email marketing
Frappe School
This open-source learning platform built on the Frappe framework lets organizations deliver structured courses with lessons and quizzes. It tracks learner progress and issues completion certificates.
- Structured courses
- Quizzes and assignments
- Progress tracking
- Completion certificates
CourseLit vs Frappe School: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for CourseLit versus AGPL-3.0 for Frappe School. CourseLit is the more established project (first released 2020), while Frappe School arrived in 2022. Frappe School has the considerably larger community, at 3,253 GitHub stars versus 1,267.
Why pick each one
Choose CourseLit if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Choose Frappe School if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is CourseLit or Frappe School better?
Neither is universally better. Frappe School has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are CourseLit and Frappe School free and open-source?
Yes. CourseLit is licensed under MIT and Frappe School under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run CourseLit and Frappe School with Docker?
CourseLit: yes. Frappe School: yes.