Scratch vs Oppia
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted learning & courses options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Scratch
Programming language to create your own interactive stories, games,
VS
Oppia
Create interactive lessons that teach through exploration
| Feature | Scratch | Oppia |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Learning & Courses | Learning & Courses |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,811 | ★ 6,758 |
| First released | 2023 | 2014 |
| Replaces | — | Khan Academy |
Why pick each one
Choose Scratch if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (4.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Choose Oppia if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.8k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Scratch or Oppia better?
Neither is universally better. Oppia has the larger community, while Scratch is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Scratch and Oppia free and open-source?
Yes. Scratch is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Oppia under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Scratch and Oppia with Docker?
Scratch: check the project docs for container support. Oppia: yes.