Numbas
Browser-based maths e-assessment system that compiles exams to SCORM 2004
The facts
- Licence
- Apache-2.0 — OSI approved
- Pricing
- Open source Price source for Numbas, opens in a new tab
- Deployment
- Self-hosted
- Platforms
- Command line · Web
- Vendor
- Newcastle University
- Headquarters
- United Kingdom
- Documentation
- docs.numbas.org.uk/en/latest/ — opens in a new tab
- Source code
- github.com/numbas/Numbas — opens in a new tab
Standards support
Every line says where the claim came from. We do not test conformance ourselves and we issue no badge of our own.
| Standard | Supported | Provenance | Checked | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCORM 1.2 | No | editor-checked · 24 Aug 2026— source, opens in a new tab | There is no 1.2 code path. scorm-storage.js sets the wrapper version to 2004 unconditionally, so an LMS that only offers the 1.2 API will not connect. | |
| SCORM 20043rd edition | Yes | editor-checked · 24 Aug 2026— source, opens in a new tab | The bundled manifest declares '2004 3rd Edition' and includes the IMS Simple Sequencing schemas. The runtime binds to window.API_1484_11 with the pipwerks wrapper pinned to version '2004'. | |
| xAPI | Not stated | — | — | — |
| cmi5 | Not stated | — | — | — |
| AICC | Not stated | — | — | — |
| LTI | Not stated | — | — | — |
- Claimed
- — the vendor states it. We have not confirmed it.
- Checked
- — an editor confirmed it on the date shown.
- Verified
- — an official registry lists it, and we link to the entry.
Editor's notes
Numbas is an e-assessment system built at Newcastle University for mathematics and cognate subjects, and it is the strongest open-source option in that niche by some distance. Questions are randomised from parameterised templates, answers are marked by algorithms rather than pattern matching, and the whole exam runs client-side, which makes it viable for formative practice at scale as well as summative tests.
For this directory the relevant fact is what the compiler emits. A Numbas exam builds into a SCORM 2004 3rd Edition package with sequencing schemas included, mapping questions to cmi.objectives and parts to cmi.interactions — genuinely detailed reporting, not just a final score. What it does not emit is SCORM 1.2, and that is worth confirming against your LMS before committing, because a good deal of corporate LMS estate is still 1.2-only.
It is not a general authoring tool. Nobody should choose Numbas to build compliance modules; the interaction vocabulary is mathematical, and the effort goes into marking algorithms rather than presentation.
Maintenance is as good as open source in education gets: version 10.0 released June 2026, a fifteen-year history, institutional backing, an issue tracker with labelled first issues, and a documented ecosystem of editor, extensions and LTI provider. The main adoption cost is deciding which pieces of that ecosystem you intend to host.
Listed on scorm-tools.com
Maintainers and vendors are welcome to show the listing badge in a README or on a product page. It is free, it does not require a claim, and there is nothing to buy.
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