Best Free Themes For Moodle-Based LMS — 2020 Summer Cut Update

Welcome to yet another exciting time for Open Source Beauty lovers!

How did your favorite theme stacked up this year? Let’s find out!

Important notice: Halted Themes

Despite being among the most popular, we strongly advise against using the following themes due to the long time since they were last updated.

It is troubling to see that, despite showing their development halted by a year if not longer, they still continue to be the default theme in hundreds or thousands of sites. They are often installed in later versions of Moodle, for which they are officially compatible, leading to glaring functionality and security issues.

• “Aardvark“ Last updated: October, 2017 (Moodle 3.3) Active on 3,474 sites
• “Bootstrap“ Last updated: August, 2016 (Moodle 3.1) Active on 3,316 sites
• “Contemporary“ Last updated: August, 2017 (Moodle 3.4) Active on 1,221 sites
• “Eduhub“ Last updated: January, 2017 (Moodle 3.2) Active on 918 sites
• “evolve-D“ Last updated: September, 2015 (Moodle 2.9) Active on 1,149 sites

Back to Top

The 10 most active themes on live, active, registered sites

1. Adaptable: 10,967
2. Essential: 9,652
3. Academi: 4,796
4. Klass: 4,429
5. Moove: 4,068
6. Fordson: 3,860
7. Eguru: 3,791
8. Aardvark: 3,474
9. Bootstrap: 3,316
10. Campus: 1,372
11. Enlightlite: 1,223
12. Contemporary: 1,221
13. Evolve-D: 1,149
14. Snap: 1,135
15. Roshnilite: 1,123
16. Eduhub: 918
17. Boost Campus: 664
18. Trema: 398
19. Waxed: 320
20. Degrade: 171

Back to Top

The 20 most downloaded themes in the last 12 months

1. 64,463

   Adaptable
2. 34,037

   Essential
3. 31,643

   Eguru
4. 29,739

   Moove
5. 27,981

   Fordson
6. 27,091

   Klass
7. 26,528

   Academi
8. 12,559

   Enlightlite
9. 9,460

   Aardvark
10. 6,951

    Campus
11. 6,731

    Snap
12. 4,736

    Boost Campus
13. 4,372

    Roshnilite
14. 3,637

    Bootstrap
15. 3,555

    Trema
16. 2,717

    Contemporary
17. 2,619

    Eduhub
18. 2,340

    evolve-D
19. 2,280

    waxed
20. 2,183

    Degrade

Back to Top

The best themes of 2019 so far
(All Moodle 3.7 compatible)

#10. “waxed”

by Richard Oelmann

A dependable theme by a dependable Moodler, which now got more stable and better performing thanks to a PHP upgrade. “waxed” has earned the “Early Bird” badge for being readily available after each new Moodle release 5 releases in a row.

theme_waxed

---

#9-7. “Academi,” “Klass” and “Eguru”

by The LMSACE Team (formerly Nephzat)

The ‘eGuru’ Of Free Moodle Themes Brings Color, Responsiveness, And Multilingualism

Responsive, multilingual, highly configurable and all around sleek, these offerings are testament to the reliable work by the Open Source EdTech team from Tamil Nadu, India. Together they account for a near third of all top theme downloads in the year.

Check these themes in the flesh (demos)

• Academi
• Klass
• Eguru
• Englightlite

theme_academi

---

#6. “Boost Campus”

by Kathrin Osswald, Alexander Bias and the Ulm University IT Team

The ‘Boost Campus’ Theme For Moodle Gets The Academic Experience Into Shape

The weapon of choice across European campuses continues to deliver on a clean, no-nonsense experience. “Boost Campus” is perhaps the most often updated theme, with enhancements just early in July already logged.

theme_boost_campus

---

#5. “Enlightlite”

by The LMSACE Team

Try The ‘Enlightlite’ Theme For Moodle For A Different Spice

Were it not enough with 3 spots on this list, this theme is one of the fastest growing among active sites, with 12% in the last quarter. It is proof of the quality work of LMSACE, which develops its themes in tandem to guarantee the same level of functionality; as well as the general consistency of free Moodle themes.

theme_enlightlite

---

#4. “Adaptable”

by Fernando Acedo, Jez H & Manoj Solanki

‘Adaptable’ Theme, Adapted To Moodle 3.9

The most popular theme from the most popular LMS of all time, and the theme of choice in one out of every active and registered sites, the team behind “Adaptable” is ready to defend its title. It tracked a 3% growth in terms of active sites, which seems a lesser feat compared to others in this list. But actually, they recorded the second largest number of active sites in the quarter.

theme_adaptable

---

#3. “Fordson”

by Chris Kenniburg

The Fordson Theme for #moodle puts blocks in a collapsible curtain and provides 3 columns for teachers to organize blocks for students. #openedtech #opensource https://t.co/UTbCf7WfPN pic.twitter.com/miEFFUy55l

— Chris Kenniburg (@kennibc) July 9, 2019

There is always something new and innovative from the Moodler’s Moodler, a theme trailblazer and a reason to be excited about the future of open learning technologies. Kenniburg’s closeness to real K-12 educators is one of “Fordson”‘s sources of strength. Catch him this summer at MountainMoot and the Dearborn Moot, where he plays host.

“Forsdon” Pulse

theme_fordson

---

#2. “Trema”

by Trevor Furtado & Rodrigo Mady

Who Wore It Best? CSS In Open Source LMS Plus Theme And Design Update Roundup

It’s been a frantic pace for “Trema”, who’s breathtaking login page based on procedurally generated particle animation (see demo) swept our readers and the Moodleverse by their feet. Few themes have reached the thousand-site mark so quickly, let alone the over 3,500 downloads and already the default look of hundreds of Moodle sites. One of two great examples, among many, of why the future of open learning technologies lives on emerging markets, Brazil in particular.

theme_trema

---

#1. “Moove”

by William Mano Araujo

Another summer of glory for Brazil! Is this a Moodle theme ranking, or la Copa América?

A series of outstanding achievements make of “Moove” the strongest offer among Moodle themes today. With a record 387 new active sites for the quarter, this solo operation and the only donationware on the list already has 10% of the share among themes. What makes “Moove” the best theme available? A leap ahead in focus, intuitiveness hours behind carefully crafted pages, blocks and elements.

theme_moove

Back to Top

Other notable stats (top 20 only)

Themes with the largest raw gains in active sites, Q2

1. Moove: 387
2. Adaptable: 359
3. Fordson: 336
4. Enlightlite: 131
5. Trema: 125
6. Boost Campus: 113
7. Eguru: 109

Themes with the largest percentage gains in active sites, Q2

1. Trema: 46%
2. Boost Campus: 21%
3. Enlightlite: 12%
4. Moove: 11%
5. Fordson: 10%

Themes with the largest drops in active sites, Q2

It is somewhat of a relief that all the halted themes dropped users. In fact, they were the biggest losers with the exception of “Essential”‘s massive site setback. A surprising development, as it is for “Roshnilite”‘s drop, in a less significant magnitude but higher as a percentage.

1. Essential: 252 (-3%)
2. Aardvark: 75 (-2%)
3. Contemporary: 59 (-5%)
4. evolve-D: 56 (-5%)
5. Roshnilite: 53 (-5%)
6. Bootstrap: 40 (-1%)
7. Eduhub: 35 (-4%)
8. Campus: 15 (-1%)

Back to Top