Freedom251 › Learning Management Systems
SWAD
What SWAD is
SWAD is a free, open-source educational platform for face-to-face and blended teaching. Teachers use course workspaces for materials, schedules, guides, bibliographies, syllabi, links, FAQs, and assessment information. Assessment tools include assignments, projects, exam calls, questions, self-assessment tests, exams, games, and rubrics. Users can manage course documents, private and shared files, submitted assignments, marks, and a personal virtual drive. Communication includes announcements, course notices, discussion forums, internal messaging, and email to students. The platform provides utilization figures, course indicators, surveys, and course or global access statistics. One installation can organize multiple institutions through countries, institutions, centers, degrees, courses, and groups. OpenSWAD is available to educational institution teachers, students, and administrative staff worldwide; SWAD-UGR also serves University of Granada members. SWAD supports web, Android, iOS, API, and self-hosted deployments, with source code and installation instructions. The SWAD / OpenSWAD plan is free.
Who it suits
SWAD suits educational institutions needing course management, communication, assessment, and file storage. OpenSWAD is for teachers, students, and administrative staff worldwide; SWAD-UGR also serves University of Granada members.
What it does well
- Free and open source
- Course workspaces and assessments
- Forums, messaging, and email
- Web, Android, and iOS access
- Self-hosting instructions provided
What to know first
- Enrollment requests need staff review
- Some main features are Android-only
- iOS app is described as planned
- Designed for educational institutions
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| SWAD / OpenSWAD | Free educational platform; available to educational institutions; self-hosting instructions and source code provided | Free |
As swad.ugr.es lists them, read 12 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Verdict
SWAD covers teaching, assessment, communication, files, and institutional organization in one open-source platform. Its free educational offering supports hosted or self-hosted use, with enrollment controlled by teachers or administrators.
Facts from SWAD's own pages
- Access and eligibility
- The guide says educational institution teachers, students and administrative staff worldwide can use OpenSWAD; University of Granada community members can also use SWAD-UGR. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Account access limit
- Course enrolment requests are reviewed by a teacher or administrator before users are enrolled. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Analytics
- The platform includes system utilization figures, course indicators, surveys and course and global access statistics. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- API
- The OpenSWAD site provides a SWAD API page with API documentation. · openswad.org, 12 Oct 2026
- API access
- Yes · github.com, 21 Sept 2026
- API and plugins
- SWAD documents a SOAP web service API for external plugins and lists SWADroid for Android as the currently available plugin. · openswad.org, 12 Oct 2026
- Assessment
- Assessment tools include assignments, projects, exam calls, questions, self-assessment tests, exams, games and rubrics. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Communication
- Communication features include announcements, course notices, discussion forums, internal messaging and email to students. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Course information
- Course pages can include teaching guides, schedules, bibliographies, syllabi, FAQs, links and assessment information. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Course spaces
- Teachers can use course workspaces to host materials and manage and communicate with students. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Course tools
- It provides course information, document storage, student and teacher records, forums, assignments, interactive self-assessment tests, and individual grade consultation. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Files
- Users can manage course documents, private and shared files, submitted assignments, marks and a personal virtual drive. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- History
- The user guide says SWAD has been developed and used at the University of Granada since 1999 and offered free to other educational institutions through OpenSWAD since 2012. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Institution hierarchy
- A single SWAD platform can contain one or more institutions organized through countries, institutions, centers, degrees, courses and groups. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- Teachers, students, and administrative staff at educational institutions can use OpenSWAD; SWAD-UGR is also available to University of Granada members. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Languages
- The user guide says SWAD is available in nine languages. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Mobile
- The official guide says some main features are available in an Android application and that an iOS app is planned for the future. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Mobile app
- Yes · github.com, 21 Sept 2026
- Mobile apps
- The UGR site links to Android SWADroid and iOS iSWAD apps. · swad.ugr.es, 12 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- For SWAD-UGR, the University of Granada is the data controller, and the stated purposes include managing academic online participation, follow-up, tutoring, and assessment. · swad.ugr.es, 12 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- SWAD is a free educational platform for supporting face-to-face and blended teaching, with social networking features. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Self-hosting
- SWAD provides source code download and an installation procedure for installing the software. · openswad.org, 12 Oct 2026
- Support
- The UGR site lists [email protected] for questions and problems. · swad.ugr.es, 12 Oct 2026
Where SWAD stands on Freedom251
- Learning Management Systems#24 of 111