Tool profile
H5P: cost, fit and limits
H5P is an open-source framework for interactive HTML5 content, maintained by the H5P Group and its company Joubel AS, that lets teachers and trainers build interactive videos, presentations and quizzes in a browser and embed them in Moodle, Canvas, WordPress and other platforms.
What to know first
H5P exists in two forms: a free MIT-licensed framework that plugs into a site you run yourself, and hosted H5P.com plans for buyers who would rather not operate anything. The hosted Premium tier adds Smart Import, an AI feature that generates interactive content, and the top Enterprise tier removes the cap on authors. Hosted prices are not printed as fixed plans, and hosting is in the USA.
H5P at a glance
| Maker | Joubel AS (H5P Group is the trademark holder), Norway |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Free trial only |
| Entry price | Quote only |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Course Authoring Tools in 2026, rank 5 of 12 |
| Website | h5p.org |
Who H5P is best for
Moodle and WordPress site owners
The free framework installs as a plugin, so a school or small organization can add interactive video and quizzes without any license fee or procurement step.
Universities with an LTI-ready LMS
Hosted H5P.com connects to Canvas, Brightspace, Blackboard and Moodle, and Enterprise Premium adds student authoring and API access for larger deployments.
Teachers who share content
Content imports and exports between sites, so an activity built in one course can be moved to another without being rebuilt from scratch.
H5P plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Open source framework | Free (MIT licence) | The H5P framework and content types, which you install and operate yourself on a supported platform; no vendor support is bundled. |
| Premium | Not fixed; calculator example 1560 USD per year for 3 authors | All Pro features, plus Smart Import for AI-generated interactive content, multilingual generation, a layout builder and a WYSIWYG editor. |
| Enterprise Pro | Not published | All Pro features, plus single sign-on, premium support, a usage analytics dashboard and a dedicated Customer Success representative. |
| Enterprise Premium | Not published | All Enterprise Pro features, plus Smart Import with unlimited generative AI use under reasonable use, student authoring and API access. |
Checked November 2026.
What H5P does
- Smart Import
- The Premium tier turns source material into interactive content using generative AI, and a Layout Builder arranges that content on a page without code, both sold only inside the Premium tier and above.
- Interactive video
- Authors add questions, hotspots and branching to video inside the browser, and viewers answer within the video player on any device, which turns passive watching into a graded check.
- Embeds by iframe
- Any platform that accepts an iframe can show H5P content, and LTI connections to major LMS products carry the activities into the course page where learners already work.
- Portable content
- Activities export from one site and import into another, so a content library survives a change of host or LMS, though only if someone exports it before access lapses.
- Responsive output
- Content resizes for computers, smartphones and tablets, and can be viewed or edited with only a browser, so authors need no desktop installation or special hardware.
How H5P handles your data
The privacy policy says personal data is kept until the user requests deletion. H5P.com is hosted by Amazon in the USA, and h5p.org is hosted by DigitalOcean in the USA. The policy states the AI speech service may receive voice data for speech recognition when a user acts as an author, and says nothing definite about training AI models on customer content. No security certification is named on the pages opened. A self-hosted install of the open-source framework keeps data on your own server instead.
Where H5P falls short in practice
- Author caps on hosted plans. Premium and Pro tiers cap authors between 3 and 10, and only Enterprise Pro is unlimited, so a growing design team may be pushed into a quote.
- Trial ends hard. After a trial ends, users have 14 days to buy a licence or export content, and then activities become inaccessible unless they were exported, which makes a trial a real commitment to back up work.
- Reasonable-use and archiving rules. Students inactive for 30 or more days are archived automatically, and AI use in Enterprise Premium is described as unlimited only under reasonable use, a term the page does not quantify.
Works with
Alternatives to H5P
H5P: common questions
Is H5P really free?
The open-source framework is free under the MIT licence, and you can install it yourself on a supported platform. Hosted plans on H5P.com are a paid product, and AI features such as Smart Import belong to Premium and Enterprise Premium, so free use means running and maintaining the software without hosted support.
How much does hosted H5P cost?
The pages opened print no fixed entry price. A calculator example on the Premium page showed 1560 USD per year for three authors, labeled as an example rather than a plan price. Enterprise Pro and Enterprise Premium are not priced, and a free trial is offered before buying.
What happens to H5P content after a trial?
Users have 14 days after the trial ends to buy a licence or export their content. After that window, activities are no longer accessible unless they were exported first. Export a backup copy before the trial ends if a decision is still pending.
Does H5P export SCORM packages?
The pages opened did not name SCORM output. H5P content is embedded by iframe or through LTI, and the vendor lists support for Canvas, Brightspace, Blackboard, Moodle, WordPress and Drupal. A corporate LMS that only accepts SCORM zips should be tested during the trial.
Where is H5P content hosted?
H5P.com is hosted by Amazon in the USA and h5p.org by DigitalOcean in the USA, per the privacy policy. Europe-only hosting is therefore not offered on those pages. The open-source framework can be installed on a server of your own choice, including one in the EU.