---
title: "Numbas"
description: "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."
canonical_url: "https://scorm-tools.com/tools/numbas"
last_updated: "2026-10-31T10:22:00.889Z"
---

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.