A cloud-based LMS you can also run on your own server

What is a cloud-based LMS?

A cloud-based LMS is a learning management system that the vendor hosts and maintains, and that your admins and learners reach through a web browser or an app, with nothing to install. You will also see it called a cloud LMS or a hosted LMS. New to the category? Start with our guide to the learning management system.

The formal definition of cloud computing comes from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST Special Publication 800-145 opens its definition of software as a service (SaaS) with this sentence: "The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure." The full text of the definition adds that the consumer does not manage or control the underlying network, servers, operating systems or storage. Less work and less control arrive together.

We build LMS Advisor and sell it both ways: in our cloud, or self-hosted on your own server. Read our view with that in mind.

Cloud, self-hosted and on-premise in plain words

Vendor copy mixes these three terms freely. Each answers the same question: whose computer runs the LMS, and who looks after it.

• Cloud (SaaS). The vendor runs the software on infrastructure it manages. You log in, and updates arrive without any work on your side.
• Self-hosted. You install the software on a server you control. That server can be a rented VPS or a hosting account, so self-hosted does not have to mean a machine in your building.
• On-premise. A self-hosted install on hardware inside your own facility or private network.

The same NIST document lists four deployment models: private, community, public and hybrid cloud. A private cloud is "provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization" and, in NIST's words, "may exist on or off premises." So the word cloud on a sales page does not tell you whether you share infrastructure with other customers. You have to ask.

With LMS Advisor the product is the same in both models. In our cloud we run the servers, apply updates and take backups. Self-hosted, your team does that work on a PHP 8.1+ and MySQL server, using the migration, backup and system-health tools inside the app. Our self-hosted vs cloud LMS comparison covers the decision in full.

Where cloud helps and where it costs you

Cloud helps by removing server work, shortening the start and steadying the spend, and it costs you control over where data sits, when updates land and how easily you leave.

• No server work. Patching, updates and backups belong to the vendor.
• A quicker start. No hardware to buy and no hosting to prepare before the first course goes in.
• Steadier spending. One recurring fee replaces a hosting bill plus the staff time to run it.
• A smaller team. A training department can run the LMS without a system administrator.

The drawbacks usually get a single sentence. They deserve more room.

• Your data sits on someone else's servers. Location, staff access and backups are the vendor's decisions, which is why you want them written into the contract.
• Updates follow the vendor's calendar. A change can land in the week of your audit or exam window. Ask how releases are announced.
• Leaving takes planning. Course files are usually portable. Learner records, completions and issued certificates are harder, and many contracts say little about them.
• The recurring fee does not end. Over a long enough term the total can pass what your own hosting would have cost, so compare both models across the years you expect to use the system.
• Everything depends on a connection. A browser-based system is only as available as the vendor's hosting and your learners' internet. Offline apps soften this: the LMS Advisor iOS and Android apps can save video, audio and document lessons to the phone when your admin allows downloads.

What to ask any cloud LMS vendor in writing

Ask any cloud LMS vendor, in writing, where your data is hosted, how backups and restores work, what you can export, what uptime is committed, who can access your data and which certifications it holds. A sales call is not a commitment, so send the list below by email or in a security questionnaire and file the replies with the contract. Ask us the same things. We publish no standard hosting location, backup schedule or uptime figure for the LMS Advisor cloud, so we answer each of these in writing for your deployment before you sign.

SSO (single sign-on) lets people log in with the account they already use at work. SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management) is an IETF protocol for provisioning and managing identity data across systems, specified in RFC 7644. Our list of LMS RFP questions goes further on exit terms and provisioning.

Security is shared in both models

Moving to the cloud hands the server work to the vendor. Deciding who gets in stays with you. NIST's guide to building a cybersecurity and privacy learning program, SP 800-50r1, says the managers of such a program "must identify and manage the cybersecurity and privacy risks associated with processing learning data, including risks associated with learning management systems (LMSs) and reporting practices." No hosting model removes that duty.

In a cloud setup the vendor handles the server, the operating system, the network around it, product updates and backups. These stay yours in every model:

• Accounts. Who is invited, and who is removed on the day they leave.
• Roles and permissions. Who can see learner data, edit courses or export reports.
• Sign-in rules. Whether SSO, two-factor authentication or passkeys are required.
• Content and records. What you upload, how long you keep it and who receives it.

LMS Advisor gives you the controls for your half in both versions: SAML 2.0 SSO, SCIM 2.0 provisioning, two-factor authentication, passkeys, roles and permissions, audit logs and data retention settings. What we cannot hand you is a certificate. We hold no SOC 2, ISO 27001 or HIPAA certification or attestation. Our security page has more on the controls, and for a large organization the enterprise LMS page covers branches, departments and provisioning.

When self-hosting is the better call, and when cloud is

Self-hosting is the better call when a rule, and not a preference, decides where your data lives, and cloud is the better call when nobody on your team will own a server.

The rule is usually a regulator, a public-sector buyer or a customer contract that names the country, network or facility, or a security policy that requires your own access logs, backup storage and change calendar. A self-hosted LMS puts all of that in your hands, along with the work. Someone has to apply updates, watch disk space and test restores.

Stay with cloud when nobody on your team will own that list, when you need training running soon, and when a hosting location confirmed before you sign is enough for your reviewers. If neither model fits because your process needs something no product does, custom LMS development is the third route.

Moving an existing LMS into the cloud

If your courses sit in another system, this is what LMS Advisor can bring in.

• Moodle courses. Import course backups in the .mbz format.
• LearnDash courses. Import courses from a WordPress site that runs LearnDash.
• Packaged content. Upload SCORM 1.2 and 2004, xAPI and cmi5 packages, the formats that common authoring tools export.
• Another LMS Advisor install. Export a course from one install and import it into another, cloud or self-hosted.

Courses are the easy part. Learner histories, completion dates and issued certificates need a plan agreed before the old system is switched off, and it depends on what that system can export. Our LMS migration checklist lists the steps we follow and the ones vendor guides skip.

Shortlist on the product, then on the hosting

A cloud-based LMS with the wrong features is still the wrong LMS. Compare LMS software on exams, standards, sign-in and reporting first. Then send the eight questions above and see who answers in writing.

For LMS Advisor, the LMS platform page shows what is in the product, and pricing is quoted from three things: cloud or self-hosted, learner numbers and the modules you need. Tell us on the first call where your data has to live, and we will confirm where your instance would run before you sign.