CodeGrade vs CodeRunner: A Moodle Plugin vs a Full Autograding Platform

CodeRunner is an open-source Moodle quiz question type that lets you grade code inside a Moodle quiz. It is used by a lot of CS departments and it works. The single most important thing to know about it is that it is a Moodle plugin and only a Moodle plugin. CodeGrade does the same job inside Moodle and also runs natively in Canvas, Blackboard, and Brightspace, with a visual autograder, JPlag-based plagiarism detection, and an AI feedback assistant. The rest of this post is the honest comparison.

What CodeRunner is

CodeRunner is a Moodle quiz question type, maintained primarily by the University of Canterbury and used across a large community of CS instructors. You add a programming question to a Moodle quiz, the student types code into the question, CodeRunner runs the code against test cases, and the result is recorded in the Moodle gradebook the same way any quiz question would be. It is open source. If you want to read the code, change the code, or self-host the whole thing, you can.

What CodeGrade is

CodeGrade is a full assignment-grading platform for programming courses. It integrates natively with Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and Brightspace, so the same workflow shows up wherever your students go. You build assignments with a visual autograder, students write code in a code editor inside the LMS, you give inline feedback, and JPlag-based plagiarism detection runs in the same product. There is an AI assistant for feedback and a peer feedback workflow built in. Courses up to 50 students are free; institution plans cover larger deployments.

Where they overlap

Both tools run student code against test cases and show automated feedback. Both stay inside the LMS for Moodle users so students do not have to jump out to a separate site. Both support many programming languages. If your sole requirement is "grade short code snippets inside a Moodle quiz," both will do it.

Where CodeRunner wins

CodeRunner is the right tool if your institution is Moodle-only and you want grading to live inside the Moodle quiz engine itself. Because it is a question type, it plugs straight into the existing Moodle quiz and gradebook plumbing. You do not add a new tool to your LMS estate; you add a question type to a tool you already run. The open-source license means you have full control of the runtime and the code, and at the codebase level it is free. (Hosting and ops costs are on you.)

For short, auto-graded code questions on quizzes and tests inside a single Moodle-only institution, that is a strong fit.

Where CodeGrade wins

CodeGrade wins on a few axes that matter once a course gets larger or a program gets more complex.

LMS reach. CodeGrade is native in Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and Brightspace. If your institution runs more than one LMS, or your program has any chance of moving LMSes in the next few years, your grading tool stays the same.

Autograder UX. CodeGrade has a visual autograder where you build test steps directly: run a script, compare output, score by rubric, give partial credit, attach feedback. You do not write a Moodle question class extension or maintain a template. When you want to tweak a test, you edit a step.

Code editor for students. Students write code in a real code editor inside the LMS, not in a textarea inside a quiz. For an assignment that is more than a few lines of code, that is the difference between a smooth submission and a frustrating one.

Plagiarism detection. JPlag is built in. You do not have to install a second tool or set up a separate workflow.

Peer feedback. The peer feedback workflow is part of the product.

AI assistant. There is an in-product AI feedback assistant for instructors and students.

Pricing. Free up to 50 students per course, with institution plans for larger deployments.

Side-by-side

A simple decision rule

If you are a Moodle-only institution, you are happy running the ops, and you want short auto-graded code questions inside quizzes, CodeRunner is fine. If your institution runs more than one LMS, if your courses need a real code editor and richer autograder workflow, or if you want plagiarism detection and AI assistance without running the ops, CodeGrade is the better fit. Plenty of departments run both: CodeGrade for the programming-major courses and CodeRunner for the quick auto-graded quiz items in intro service courses. They are not mutually exclusive.

How to try CodeGrade inside your existing Moodle course

CodeGrade is free up to 50 students. You can set up one assignment inside your existing Moodle course and keep everything else where it is. We are not asking you to move off Moodle. If the workflow fits and you want to roll it out further, there is an institution plan when you are ready. Start free.