vs. SCORM Cloud
SCORM hosting with no overages. Ever.
If you've been hit by a SCORM Cloud overage bill, you're in the right place.
The short version
| OpenSCORM | SCORM Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat monthly | Per-registration + overages |
| Overage charges | Never | Yes, when you exceed plan |
| Annual billing | 10% discount | Monthly only |
| Open source | AGPL v3 | Closed |
| Self-host option | Yes | No |
| SCORM standards | SCORM 1.2 + xAPI | 1.2, 2004 + xAPI |
| No-LMS delivery | Yes | Yes |
Tier pricing, side by side
The two platforms price on different axes. OpenSCORM charges a flat monthly fee by course and learner capacity. SCORM Cloud charges per registration, with overage fees once you pass your monthly allotment.
OpenSCORM
Flat-rate, no overages
| Tier | Monthly | Courses | Learners |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 | 10 |
| Mini | $30 | 3 | 100 |
| Starter | $60 | 10 | 200 |
| Small | $130 | 25 | 500 |
| Medium | $360 | 100 | 2,000 |
| Large | $900 | 300 | 5,000 |
Annual billing saves 10%. All plans month-to-month, cancel anytime. No overage fees on any tier.
SCORM Cloud
Per-registration, overages apply
| Tier | Monthly | Regs/mo | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | $0 | 10 | n/a |
| Tester | $40 | 10* | n/a |
| Little | $90 | 50 | $3.60 |
| Medium | $180 | 100 | $3.60 |
| Big | $360 | 300 | $0.40 |
| Bigger | $1,100 | 4,000 | $0.25 |
| Mega | $2,000 | 10,000 | $0.12 |
| Ultra | $5,000 | 50,000 | $0.10 |
*Tester registrations are resettable. Pricing from the Rustici SCORM Cloud pricing page, verified June 2026. A registration is counted when a learner is first associated with a course.
Why the comparison isn't straightforward
SCORM Cloud charges per registration. Every learner-course enrollment counts against your monthly allotment. OpenSCORM charges a flat monthly fee based on your course and learner capacity. You pay the same amount whether 10 people take training this month or 200.
Overage pain concentrates at SCORM Cloud's Little and Medium tiers, where a single spike month can more than double your bill. On the Little plan at $90/month with a $3.60 overage rate, 100 extra registrations adds $360 in overages alone.
Both platforms offer a free tier, and neither requires a credit card. SCORM Cloud's free trial includes 10 registrations. OpenSCORM's free tier includes 1 course and 10 learners, with no expiry and no storage cap.
What an overage bill actually looks like
Consider a small training operation: 8 active courses, about 150 total learners, and around 75 new course registrations in a typical month. Three months a year, that number spikes to 150 (onboarding waves, compliance refreshers, annual recertifications).
SCORM Cloud (Little plan, $90/month)
The Little plan includes 50 registrations. After that, each registration costs $3.60.
| Registrations | Base | Overages | Monthly total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical month (x9) | 75 | $90 | 25 x $3.60 = $90 | $180 |
| Spike month (x3) | 150 | $90 | 100 x $3.60 = $360 | $450 |
| Annual total | $2,970 |
The same plan. The same platform. A spike month costs 2.5x a typical month. The overage charge in a spike month ($360) is four times the base price ($90).
OpenSCORM (Starter plan, $60/month)
The Starter plan includes 200 users and 10 courses. No registration cap. No overage fees.
| Users | Courses | Monthly total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every month | up to 200 | up to 10 | $60 |
| Annual total | $720 |
Annual savings: ~$2,250 (76% less).
Same courses. Same learners. One bill that never changes.
With annual prepay (10% discount), OpenSCORM Starter drops to $648/year. SCORM Cloud does not offer monthly plans with annual discounts at the Little tier.
These numbers use a hypothetical organization with a common usage pattern. Your costs depend on your actual volume. The assumptions are transparent so you can plug in your own numbers.
Why teams switch from SCORM Cloud
The overage bill caught up with them
A $360 plan bills $432 in a busy month. Or $1,100 because they jumped a tier. Predictability beats absolute price.
They're paying for a peak that doesn't happen most months
A Bigger plan at $1,100 to cover the worst month, when most months only use a quarter of that. Flat-rate, by plan, lets you pay for the average.
Built for the person running training, not IT
No API integration required. Upload your SCORM package, send learners a link, track completions. The person who owns training can manage it without filing a support ticket.
Already delivering at scale
5,000+ active learners. 11,000+ course enrollments. 200+ courses delivered. Real organizations run real training on OpenSCORM today.
Moving is straightforward.
Your SCORM packages work as-is. Upload them, swap your launch URLs, and you're live. Start with the free tier or a month-to-month paid plan. No annual contract required. The migration guide walks through the details.
FAQ
Is OpenSCORM cheaper than SCORM Cloud?
For most realistic profiles, yes, especially when overage charges hit. The exception is the course-library-publisher case (very few users, many courses). For that profile, SCORM Cloud's per-registration billing is genuinely cheaper, and we don't pretend otherwise.
How hard is it to migrate?
Re-upload your SCORM packages and re-issue learner links. Most customers do it in an afternoon. See the migration guide.
What about reliability?
OpenSCORM runs at 99.9% uptime. We don't commit to enterprise SLAs you wouldn't actually get on SCORM Cloud's lower tiers either, but for the price difference, the math works.
What if I outgrow your largest plan?
Custom plans are available. Get in touch and we'll work it out.
Do you have a Dispatch equivalent?
No. OpenSCORM doesn't have a Dispatch equivalent. If dispatches are core to your model, talk to us.
Can I self-host?
Yes. The code is AGPL v3 and self-hostable. We don't yet publish a formal install runbook; if you're seriously planning self-hosting, contact us.
Do you have SOC 2 or ISO 27001?
Not yet. Security is a priority but we haven't completed formal certification.
Try the math on your own usage
Free tier, no credit card. Re-host your existing SCORM packages and see the bill stop moving around.