GitHub Classroom alternative
Moving on from GitHub Classroom
GitHub Classroom closed on 28 August 2026, deleting classrooms, assignment names, tests kept outside repositories and LMS rosters. If you used it to set and autograde coding exercises rather than to teach Git, The Skill Site does that in the browser, with no repositories or GitHub accounts, and with your cohorts and grades in the same place.
Last checked
Your options
Classroom 50
Free and open source, from the Fifty Foundation, and one of the two replacements GitHub names. It keeps the GitHub workflow: repositories, starter code and autograding in GitHub Actions. It needs a GitHub organisation on the Team or Enterprise plan, free for verified teachers.
Codio
The other replacement GitHub names: a commercial coding platform with browser environments and autograding, at $10 per active learner a month for bootcamps and workforce training.
The Skill Site
Autograded coding in the browser with no Git or GitHub accounts, inside a platform that also runs your cohorts, attendance and reports. For training providers, colleges and courses for adults.
Sources: GitHub's notices that sign-ups stopped and that Classroom was retired, its recommended replacements, Classroom 50's documentation and Codio's pricing, read on 29 October 2026.
If teaching Git and GitHub is part of your course, Classroom 50 keeps that workflow, and you can still use The Skill Site for the rest of the cohort. If your learners struggled more with Git than with the exercise, a browser-based tool removes that step.
Moving an assignment across
- Keep your repositories: they survived the shutdown. Copy each assignment's starter code and instructions into a new coding question.
- Turn each test into a test case: the input and the output expected, or a few lines of test code that call the learner's functions. Mark the ones learners should not see as hidden, and give each its points.
- Add learners from a CSV file straight into a batch, or connect your LMS through LTI 1.3.
- Put the questions in a quiz for the batch, as practice, graded or a timed exam, with an opening and closing time.
See coding assessment for what a question can include.
What you gain, and what you give up
- Gain: no Git setup for learners; grades soon after they hand in; a replay of how each answer was written and a similarity check; AI hints you control; attendance and reports beside the grades.
- Give up: real Git history for each learner, pull requests and code review in GitHub, and unit-test frameworks run in GitHub Actions.
Questions and answers
When did GitHub Classroom close?
GitHub stopped new sign-ups on 26 May 2026 and retired Classroom on 28 August 2026. Classroom and assignment names, tests defined outside repositories and LMS-linked rosters were deleted; GitHub accounts, organisations and repositories were kept.
Do learners need GitHub accounts on The Skill Site?
No. Learners sign in with a password or Google, write their code in the browser and hand it in there. Nothing needs Git, a repository or a local install.
Can we bring our autograding tests across?
There is no importer, so each test is entered again in the question editor. Input and expected-output tests keep their content; tests that call functions can become test code in Python 3, JavaScript (Node.js), TypeScript, PHP and Ruby. Unit-test suites such as pytest or JUnit, and tests that were deleted with Classroom, need writing again as tests of these kinds.
Does it work with our LMS like Classroom did?
Yes, through LTI 1.3: instructors add a coding quiz to an LMS course and grades return to its gradebook. It is tested with Moodle 4.5.
Is there a free option for a single instructor?
Yes. After the 30-day trial, the free plan keeps 1 staff member and up to 10 learners with every feature except your own address and white-label, at no cost and with no support promise. Larger classes need a subscription, priced by active learners a month.
Try it with your next cohort
Start a 30-day free trial with up to 10 learners and no card, or tell us what you teach and we will show you The Skill Site with your own exercise.