specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Canvas LMS (Instructure)
providerId: canvas-lms
created: '2026-05-25'
modified: '2026-05-25'
reconciled: false
tags:
  - LMS
  - Education
  - EdTech
  - Canvas
  - Instructure
description: |
  Canvas LMS deployment options and pricing posture. Instructure does not publish
  per-seat list pricing on its website; institutional contracts are quoted by the
  Instructure sales team. The information below captures the three distinct
  delivery modes and the publicly stated entitlement differences.
sources:
  - https://www.instructure.com/canvas
  - https://canvas.instructure.com/
  - https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms
  - https://github.com/instructure/canvas-self-hosted
plans:
  - id: canvas-free-for-teacher
    name: Canvas Free for Teacher
    type: free
    description: |
      Free hosted Canvas tenant at canvas.instructure.com intended for individual
      teachers and learners. Includes the full LMS feature set with limits on
      storage, course enrollments, and certain integrations. No SLA, no SIS
      integration, no admin tier.
    url: https://canvas.instructure.com/register
    entries:
      - label: Per teacher
        name: teacher
        type: free
        metric: user
        limit: 1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Full Canvas LMS feature set (Courses, Modules, Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, Pages)
      - name: SpeedGrader and Gradebook
      - name: New Quizzes engine
      - name: Mobile apps (Student, Teacher, Parent)
      - name: REST API and GraphQL API access (developer key required)
      - name: LTI 1.1 / 1.3 tool installation at the course level
      - name: Storage quotas (default 500 MB per course / 50 MB per user)
      - name: No SIS Import API; no Data Access Platform; no production SLA
  - id: canvas-cloud
    name: Canvas Cloud (Institutional)
    type: contract
    description: |
      Instructure-hosted Canvas tenancy for K-12 districts, higher education
      institutions, and business/government customers. Includes the full
      Canvas LMS feature set, root-account administration, SIS Import, the
      Data Access Platform (DAP / Canvas Data 2), the Platform Notification
      Service, and 99.9% uptime SLA. Pricing is per-FTE / per-enrolled-learner
      and quoted by Instructure sales.
    url: https://www.instructure.com/canvas
    entries:
      - label: Per learner / FTE per year
        name: learner
        type: quoted
        metric: user
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: year
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: contact-sales
        userMultiplied: true
    elements:
      - name: Everything in Free for Teacher
      - name: Root-account administration and Sub-Accounts
      - name: SIS Import API (CSV provisioning)
      - name: Data Access Platform (DAP / Canvas Data 2)
      - name: Platform Notification Service (server-to-server webhooks)
      - name: SSO via SAML, CAS, LDAP, OpenID Connect
      - name: 99.9% uptime SLA and 24/7 support tiers
      - name: Custom domain and account-level branding (Brand Configs)
      - name: Blueprint Courses for curriculum scaling
      - name: Canvas Studio, Canvas Catalog, Canvas Credentials add-ons available
      - name: AI features (AI Conversations, AI Experiences, Smart Search) on supported tiers
  - id: canvas-self-hosted
    name: Canvas Self-Hosted (Open Source)
    type: open-source
    description: |
      AGPLv3-licensed Canvas LMS source code from github.com/instructure/canvas-lms,
      runnable on customer infrastructure. Free of license cost; customer is
      responsible for hosting, scaling, upgrades, support, and operational
      compliance. Instructure does not provide commercial support for self-hosted
      installs.
    url: https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms
    entries:
      - label: License
        name: license
        type: free
        metric: install
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: lifetime
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Full Canvas LMS source code under AGPL-3.0-or-later
      - name: Dockerized starting configuration via instructure/canvas-self-hosted
      - name: Bring-your-own Postgres, Redis, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, S3-compatible storage
      - name: No commercial support; community-supported via github.com/instructure/canvas-lms issues
      - name: No DAP / Canvas Data 2 (Instructure-hosted service)
      - name: No Canvas Studio / Catalog / Credentials add-ons
  - id: canvas-add-on-studio
    name: Canvas Studio
    type: add-on
    description: |
      Canvas Studio is Instructure's integrated video creation, hosting, and
      analytics platform. Sold as an add-on to Canvas Cloud subscriptions.
    url: https://www.instructure.com/canvas/canvas-studio
    entries:
      - label: Add-on subscription
        name: studio
        type: quoted
        metric: user
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: year
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: contact-sales
        userMultiplied: true
  - id: canvas-add-on-catalog
    name: Canvas Catalog
    type: add-on
    description: |
      Canvas Catalog is the public-facing course discovery, enrollment, and
      payments storefront. Sold as an add-on to Canvas Cloud subscriptions.
    url: https://www.instructure.com/canvas/canvas-catalog
    entries:
      - label: Add-on subscription
        name: catalog
        type: quoted
        metric: tenant
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: year
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: contact-sales
        userMultiplied: false
  - id: canvas-add-on-credentials
    name: Canvas Credentials
    type: add-on
    description: |
      Canvas Credentials (formerly Badgr, now part of Parchment after the 2024
      Parchment acquisition) issues and manages Open Badges 3.0 and W3C
      Verifiable Credentials.
    url: https://www.instructure.com/canvas/canvas-credentials
    entries:
      - label: Add-on subscription
        name: credentials
        type: quoted
        metric: user
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: year
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: contact-sales
        userMultiplied: true