by Pupilfirst Pvt. Ltd.
Pupilfirst is at the vanguard of the digital transformation of Indian classroom education.
Pupilfirst is an open-source Learning Management System (LMS) built by Pupilfirst Pvt. Ltd. out of Kochi, Kerala. Founded in 2017, it takes a fundamentally different approach to online education — instead of passive video consumption, students learn by attempting focused tasks and receiving personalized written feedback from domain experts. The platform powers the LITE (Leadership in Teaching Excellence) program across 6 Indian states, 13 universities, and 100+ institutions. Key features include task-based curriculum design, AI-powered grading via ChatGPT integration, GitHub Actions automation for code submission testing, peer learning communities, and detailed student progress tracking. Teachers can efficiently review submissions and provide targeted feedback, reducing monotonous grading workload. The entire LMS codebase is open-source on GitHub (~960 stars, 285 forks), built with Ruby on Rails and React. Pupilfirst offers a free tier to create a school, with paid plans for institutions needing advanced features and support. The LITE program specifically trains faculty to implement NEP 2020 competency-based education with industry-relevant courses. This alignment with India's national education policy gives it a unique advantage no international LMS matches. Best suited for Indian universities implementing NEP 2020, coding bootcamps that need task-based evaluation, and educators who believe in learning-by-doing over lecture-watching. The platform is less suitable for corporate training or MOOC-style courses with thousands of passive learners — it's designed for active, cohort-based learning with human feedback loops.
Information updated 1 years ago
Pupilfirst Pvt. Ltd.
Hand-picked videos to help you get started — tutorials, demos, and reviews.
PupilFirst Platform Demo

Pupilfirst is a powerful Indian alternative to these international apps:
Yes, Pupilfirst by Pupilfirst Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian alternative to Coursera. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Coursera →
Yes, Pupilfirst by Pupilfirst Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian alternative to Canvas. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Canvas →
Yes, Pupilfirst by Pupilfirst Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian alternative to Blackboard. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Blackboard →
Yes, Pupilfirst by Pupilfirst Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian alternative to Moodle. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Moodle →
Think & Learn Pvt Ltd
BYJU'S is India's most well-known edtech, founded 2011 by Byju Raveendran in Bangalore. Offers animated video lessons, adaptive quizzes, and personalised learning for K-12 plus JEE, NEET, UPSC, CAT prep. Acquired WhiteHat Jr, Aakash, Great Learning, and Epic. Content mapped to CBSE, ICSE, state boards in English and Hindi. Note: company entered insolvency in 2024; main app was delisted from Google Play in May 2025. Best approached with caution.
Sanchhaya Education Private Limited
GeeksforGeeks is a Noida-built computer science learning platform run by Sanchhaya Education Private Limited, offering free programming tutorials, data structures and algorithms practice, interview preparation and paid courses. Widely used by Indian engineering students preparing for placements and by working developers brushing up on DSA.
PhysicsWallah Ltd
Physics Wallah (PW) is India's most affordable edtech platform for JEE, NEET, UPSC, and school board exam prep. Founded by Alakh Pandey in 2020, it offers live classes, recorded lectures, Saarthi AI doubt-solving, and test series — most batches priced ₹2,000–5,000. Operates 303 hybrid Vidyapeeth centers across 152 cities with 4.5M+ paying subscribers. Best for budget-conscious competitive exam aspirants.
Testbook Edu Solutions Pvt Ltd
Testbook is an Indian government-exam prep app for SSC, Railways, Banking, Teaching, Defence, UPSC and 250+ state exams. Is it free or paid? Both — free mock tests, live tests and daily current affairs cost nothing, while Testbook Pass (Rs 399/year, listed against Rs 1,199) unlocks 1,50,000+ mock tests, 30,000+ previous year papers and 24x7 AI doubt support. 5 crore+ Play Store downloads. Controlled by Classplus since 2022.
Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt Ltd
Unacademy is an Indian online learning app for UPSC, JEE, NEET, SSC, banking and state PSC exam preparation, founded in Bengaluru in 2015. Watch free lectures on YouTube and in-app, or subscribe to Plus and Iconic tiers for structured courses, live classes with doubt-clearing, mock tests and personal mentoring from top educators. Also runs Airlearn, a language-learning app for Indian users.
Vedantu Innovations Private Limited
Vedantu is a Bengaluru-based online tutoring platform offering LIVE interactive classes for K-12 (Class 1–12) and competitive exam prep (IIT-JEE, NEET). Founded in 2011 by Vamsi Krishna and team, it uses proprietary WAVE two-way whiteboard tech for real-time teacher-student interaction. Free content on YouTube plus paid group and 1-on-1 courses. A homegrown alternative to Physics Wallah, Unacademy, and BYJU'S.