Selecting the right test management system for your institution or network can be vital in supporting a transition to effective digital assessment. As part of this, you may be exploring a range of proprietary testing systems—but are you up to date with how open-source test management is evolving? Understanding this fast-moving tech sector could be the key to bringing low-cost, efficient digital assessment to your schools.
That’s why we’ve put together this run-down of what you should know about open-source test management tools, saving you valuable time and energy in understanding the sector so you can move forward with confidence.
Key Takeaways
- Test management tools allow teachers to design and deliver assessments, including creating and assigning tests securely, grading and returning feedback, and gathering data.
- Online test management tools make it possible to deliver digital assessments at scale, gathering rich data to inform strategic decisions.
- Compared to proprietary systems, open-source test management tools have publicly available source code, which can cut costs, increase flexibility, improve integration with other software, and allow you to access communal support.
- As tech becomes increasingly important in education, open-source software seems an ideal choice for many leaders, especially in enabling open ecosystems.
- As technology develops, open-source platforms can also help you stay ahead of the pack without waiting and paying extra for new editions of software.
What Are Test Management Tools and Why Do They Matter?
Test management tools help teachers, managers, and assessment specialists design and deliver assessments. Unlike assessment-only platforms, which focus on test creation and delivery, comprehensive test management tools usually cover the whole testing cycle, including:
- Creating tests, including individual questions
- Delivering tests (online, offline, or hybrid)
- Monitoring for cheating and non-compliance
- Marking, scoring, or grading
- Providing feedback for students
- Gathering data on student performance
Modern, digital test management tools may include useful features such as:
- Online question libraries (often with tagging to allow easier test-building)
- Adaptive capabilities, meaning the platform selects questions at a harder or easier level depending on student performance
- Multimodal questions, including images, video, drag-and-drop, and simulations
- Accessibility features like dictionaries, text-to-speech, and speech-to-text
- Digital security features, such as AI detection, plagiarism filters, and online proctoring
- Reporting dashboards and data analytics
- Integration with other software systems, such as learning management systems (LMSs)
The right test management system can help you design varied assessment types that can be adjusted to fit your organisation’s needs—essential when you’re looking to drive up standards. For example, you may want to adapt the assessment to English language learners (ELLs) if you have a larger group in your community.
Furthermore, you can deliver digital assessments at scale to hundreds, thousands, or even more students, with consistency, compliance, and security. If your region adheres to particular standards of data privacy, choosing the right test platform can help you manage this. You can also question design ties in with your curriculum standards.
Finally, the detailed data you can gather can be used to inform institutional decision-making. For example, you could segment the data to understand how students from different demographics are performing, allowing teachers to adjust their work to address any gaps. You could also track performance over time, which could even allow you to make predictions about which students need extra intervention.
Key Differences Between Open Source and Proprietary Test Management Solutions
On a basic level, open-source test management tools are those with publicly available source code, released under an open source licence. Proprietary systems are commercial platforms licensed by a vendor; the source code is not available unless you purchase a licence.
This leads to several key differences between the models:
Pricing
Open-source software tends to be much cheaper than proprietary solutions, or even completely free, because the source code is publicly available. With a proprietary vendor, you may be locked into an ongoing subscription, especially if you want software updates over time. Proprietary systems may also charge more for scaling up, adding custom modules, or porting data between platforms.
Flexibility
With access to the source code of open-source software, you can adapt the program to your needs. Proprietary software is not usually customizable unless you pay high fees to the vendor.
Integration
If open-source software adheres to open standards—such as the Question and Test Interoperability (QTI) standard—then information can be easily transferred across different platforms, or other software can be plugged in. With proprietary systems you usually need to use software from the same vendor.
Community Support
You may need your own tech team to install and adapt open-source software, but you can also benefit from open communities of other users who can provide support. Proprietary systems may provide dedicated tech support, but this will often come at an extra cost.
Why Education Leaders Are Shifting to Open Source in 2025
Looking at open source vs proprietary software, there are a few obvious reasons why education leaders might prefer the former. Several key advantages make it appealing for 2025:
Cost control
Budgets remain tight across the education sector, and setting up a test management system can be costly, especially at scale. Open source options drastically reduce cost, both at initial set-up and on an ongoing basis (as you aren’t locked into subscriptions and expensive updates). For example, TAO’s open source core product is available for free.
Open source also helps you avoid annoying in-contract price rises or penalties for scaling. This can help keep budgets manageable and predictable over time.
Open standards
As you add more digital solutions to your toolkit, you want them to work together seamlessly. Your institution or network might use an LMS, a library of open educational resources (OER), an HR system, data dashboards, etc. Open-source software compliant open standards can seamlessly integrate with your other platforms, making it easy to transfer information. A great example of this is TAO’s QTI standard framework, which allows you to integrate the testing platform with a range of other software, including your LMS.
Customization
You will probably want to customize your testing platform to suit your needs, whether that’s adding a custom interface and branding, or making sure it adheres to your district’s educational standards. With open-source software, you can commission this directly, without needing to go through a slow and expensive process with a proprietary vendor.
Agility
Many leaders in 2025 are tired of “vendor lock-in,” where they are tied into long contracts with one provider and can’t break free, even if there’s a pressing need. With open-source software, you can change your platform, plug in modules from other providers, and adapt the size and scale as needed. All of this comes without the high price tag.
Improving equity
Many open-source platforms support accessible assessment and adhere to standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Integration with question and resource libraries (containing OER) through the QTI standard can also unlock a range of more accessible and multimedia content to suit your students. OER makes it easy for educators to exchange question types and build community around creating assessments for different student needs, such as those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Finally, open-source software often comes with multilingual capabilities, like TAO’s localization to 30 languages, making it suitable for a range of educational contexts.
How Open Ecosystems Future-Proof Testing Programs
As technology advances, open-source software can also help you stay ahead of the pack. In a proprietary system, you may have to wait a long time for the vendor to release new developments. These may be branded as “premium upgrades,” incurring extra costs.
With open-source software, the user community is often quick to experiment with and integrate new ideas and tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI). Additionally, as a member of the community yourself, you can work with others to shape the development of the software instead of waiting for the vendor. This gives you a powerful strategic advantage and means you can remain open to new technological ideas without needing to purchase an entire new platform.
It’s also important to consider data security and ethics in relation to online testing. For example, proprietary systems may give limited visibility into how student data is stored and secured. Open source platforms, on the other hand, give more transparency through visible code, helping ensure compliance with data security standards. As AI tools become more integrated into assessment platforms, it’s likely that security standards will need to evolve—and open source can help you keep apace.
Taking the Next Steps
Finding the right test management tool is an important step in bringing the power of digital assessment to your institution. Open-source test management tools enable you to design, deliver, grade, and analyse tests at scale, in online, offline, and hybrid contexts. What’s more, they can drastically cut costs and allow for greater flexibility when compared to proprietary systems.
You may be interested in exploring real-life examples of testing using open-source software as a next step. Additionally, understanding how open standards can enhance assessment can help you appraise which testing software is right for you.
Explore Open Source Digital Assessment
TAO’s open-source testing platform provides an all-in-one solution for free, with the ability to operate at significant scale and customize according to your needs—whether that’s adjusting for accessibility, ensuring equity across your student community, or meeting your region’s standards. Open-source technology also helps you avoid being locked into one vendor. To find out more about whether the open source option is right for you, schedule a demo.
