Ilios

Ilios is an open-source curriculum management platform for health professions education. It collects, manages, analyzes, and delivers curricular information for schools and institutions, with structures for programs, departments, schools, or institutions. Program tools cover year-by-year tracking, competency domains, content review workflows, and historic audits. Calendar features include search, mobile views, synchronization and downloads, direct access to online learning environments, and alerts about schedule, location, or content changes. Reporting supports curriculum mapping, teaching- and content-hours tracking, trend reporting, archiving, and accreditation work. An API connects external data sources, and Ilios complements online learning systems such as Moodle and Canvas. The project describes the software as community-based, with code available to fork on GitHub. Ilios 3 uses a Symfony PHP/SQL backend, with a LAMP stack on Linux recommended; institutions have also deployed it on Windows IIS. Hosted Ilios starts at $1,000 a month per school, with implementation, customization, and deployment fees separate. A live demo is available.

Ilios brings curriculum organization, tracking, calendar tools, and reporting into one platform for health professions education. Schools considering hosted service should account for the separate implementation, customization, and deployment fees.

Ilios is built for health professions schools and supports programs, departments, schools, and institutions. It suits teams managing complex curricula, tracking program requirements, or preparing accreditation materials.

Overview

Ilios is an open-source curriculum management system designed for health professions education. It is best suited to schools coordinating curricula across programs or departments; its broad tracking and reporting tools make it a strong institutional option, but not a low-overhead purchase.

Its appeal is the combination of longitudinal program oversight, calendar management, and accreditation-oriented reporting. Schools should weigh those capabilities against the implementation work and hosting costs, especially if they need a managed deployment.

Key features

Curriculum and program governance

Ilios can organize complex curricula at the program, department, school, or institutional level, with controls intended to protect data integrity, security, and intellectual property. Year-by-year tracking, competency domains, disciplines, content review workflows, and historical audits help schools follow how a curriculum changes over time. Approval workflows and version history reinforce that governance role. For a school maintaining a simple course catalog, this depth may be more system than it needs.

Calendar and reporting

Calendar tools include multi-modal search, mobile views, synchronization and downloads, access to online learning environments, and real-time alerts for changes to schedules, locations, or content. That is useful when learners and staff need to stay aligned as a program’s calendar shifts. Reporting covers teaching and content hours, curriculum mapping, trends, archiving, and accreditation support, with relational reporting through an API. These features favor institutions that must review coverage and document curricular activity over teams looking only for scheduling.

Integrations and deployment

An API connects Ilios with external data sources and systems, and the platform is designed to complement learning systems such as Moodle and Canvas. Its LTI components were updated to protocol 1.3 in the 2026 summer update, and its service and API token architecture was rebuilt for individual and business-to-business connectivity. These changes address security and connectivity needs, though integration work still calls for institutional technical planning.

Ilios is open source, with code that can be forked on GitHub. Ilios 3 uses a Symfony PHP/SQL backend and recommends a Linux LAMP stack, although institutions have also deployed it on Windows IIS. Native authentication is the default; Shibboleth 2.4, CAS, or LDAP can be configured. The available technical flexibility will matter more to schools with deployment expertise than to those seeking a turnkey tool.

Pricing

Ilios is paid software with no free plan. Hosted Ilios starts at $1,000 a month, billed per school. Hosting includes database and learning-material backups, additional storage, load balancing and failover, audit logs, and multi-zone redundancy. That managed service may suit schools that prefer hosted operations, but implementation, customization, and deployment fees are separate.

• LTI Component Activation: $500 one-time fee. This covers LTI component activation.
• Mirror test / stage environment: $10,200 a year, billed as $850/mo, for a test or stage environment.
• Core Hosting Services: $12,000 a year, billed annually, for core hosting services.
• One-time Implementation fee: $15,000, required.

The separate environment and implementation charges make the total commitment materially larger than the hosted starting price alone. Schools considering self-hosting can fork the open-source code, but should be prepared to manage deployment and technical operations themselves.

Platforms

Ilios supports API, iOS, Linux, self-hosted, web, and Windows. Its recommended Linux LAMP deployment and documented Windows IIS deployments give institutions more than one hosting route, while native authentication and configurable Shibboleth 2.4, CAS, or LDAP support address different institutional environments.

Who it's for

Ilios is aimed at health professions schools and supports programs, departments, schools, and institutions. It is most compelling for organizations that need longitudinal tracking, formal content review, curriculum mapping, and accreditation support in one platform. A school without staff or partners for implementation and deployment may find the operational demands difficult to justify.

Prospective users can request demo credentials and access instructions through [email protected], which gives institutional teams a way to evaluate the platform before committing.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Longitudinal tracking, competency domains, review workflows, and historical audits support curriculum governance across organizational levels.
• Pro: Calendar alerts, synchronization, and learning-environment access help keep participants current when schedules or content change.
• Pro: Reporting for teaching hours, content hours, mapping, trends, archiving, and accreditation serves institutions with substantial oversight needs.
• Pro: Open-source code and multiple deployment and authentication options give institutions technical flexibility.
• Con: Hosted service starts at $1,000 a month per school, with required implementation and separate customization and deployment fees.
• Con: Self-hosting entails a PHP/SQL deployment, with Linux LAMP recommended; this is a poor fit for teams without technical capacity.
• Con: Additional test or stage and core hosting services carry substantial separate annual charges.

Alternatives

Curriculum Management Software is the broader category to explore when comparing options across curriculum management needs.

• ExamSoft is a paid alternative for readers considering iOS, macOS, web, or Windows; its capabilities and add-on services depend on the customer’s order form.
• Modern Campus CMS is another paid option, with Android, API, iOS, self-hosted, and web platforms.
• Toddle is worth considering for schools focused on curriculum planning; it offers a free trial and user-tiered pricing for Planning Pro.
• OpenCurriculum suits readers seeking a free entry point: its free Teacher plan allows one user, 10 courses, and 200 MB of file storage, while its free Team plan allows up to 10 users, 50 courses, and 1.5 GB total storage.
• Atlas may suit schools that want a free standards library, with a paid Public Atlas Site option for a customized public page.
• Outcomap offers a free plan for a small mapping workload: one map, five AI map generations and edits per month, and PDF exports up to five pages.
• PeopleGrove Engagement Hub is another paid web-based option.
• Coursedog Curriculum Management is a paid option with API and web platforms.

Verdict

Choose Ilios if your health professions school needs institutional-scale curriculum governance, longitudinal tracking, calendar coordination, and reporting, and can support the implementation and deployment model. Its main reason to choose is the breadth of those tools in an open-source system; its main reason to look elsewhere is the significant hosted and implementation cost, particularly for schools that need a simpler planning tool or lack technical capacity.