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Comparison · EdTech
Brilliant vs ILIAS
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Brilliant and ILIAS — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Brilliant vs ILIAS: at a glance
What is Brilliant?
Brilliant launches Koji, a graphical AI tutor — its first product move in 15 months.
Brilliant ships infrequent, essay-style blog posts that read as much like product manifestos as changelog. The most recent post announces Koji, framed as a graphical AI tutor — the first new headline product in this ten-entry window. The rest of the timeline is course-design philosophy around algebra, programming, and learning-game evals.
What is ILIAS?
ILIAS ships synchronized security patches across versions 9, 10, and 11 on a monthly maintenance cadence.
ILIAS is running a stable multi-branch maintenance cadence, releasing security and bug fix patches simultaneously across three major versions (9.x, 10.x, 11.x) on a regular schedule. The September 2026 releases (11.4, 10.11, 9.23) all contain security fixes. The August releases (11.3, 10.10, 9.22) followed the same pattern. This is characteristic of a mature open-source LMS with a long institutional tail — universities and enterprises that can't immediately update to the latest major version still receive security coverage.
Brilliant vs ILIAS: editorial side-by-side
Brilliant
3.8EDTECH
Brilliant launches Koji, a graphical AI tutor — its first product move in 15 months.
◆ Current state
Brilliant ships infrequent, essay-style blog posts that read as much like product manifestos as changelog. The most recent post announces Koji, framed as a graphical AI tutor — the first new headline product in this ten-entry window. The rest of the timeline is course-design philosophy around algebra, programming, and learning-game evals.
◆ Where it's heading
The throughline across these posts is the same: lean on visual, game-like interaction and use AI to scale the tutor-style feedback loop the team keeps writing about. Koji is the first concrete productization of that thesis after a long stretch of essays describing the approach. Cadence remains slow, which suggests Brilliant publishes only when something is meaningfully different.
◆ Prediction
Expect Koji to roll out across more subjects following the same algebra-then-CS pattern earlier posts described, and for future entries to attach Koji-specific course launches rather than announce new products from scratch.
ILIAS
5.0EDTECH
ILIAS ships synchronized security patches across versions 9, 10, and 11 on a monthly maintenance cadence.
◆ Current state
ILIAS is running a stable multi-branch maintenance cadence, releasing security and bug fix patches simultaneously across three major versions (9.x, 10.x, 11.x) on a regular schedule. The September 2026 releases (11.4, 10.11, 9.23) all contain security fixes. The August releases (11.3, 10.10, 9.22) followed the same pattern. This is characteristic of a mature open-source LMS with a long institutional tail — universities and enterprises that can't immediately update to the latest major version still receive security coverage.
◆ Where it's heading
ILIAS is in maintenance-and-stability mode across its installed base. The multi-branch simultaneous release pattern is designed for institutional customers with slow update cycles. Feature development is happening, but it's not visible in these changelog entries — the product's institutional audience prioritizes stability and security over feature velocity.
◆ Prediction
The next releases will continue the monthly patch cycle. A major feature announcement would likely come separately through the ILIAS community process (docu.ilias.de), not through these version-bump releases.
Alternatives to Brilliant and ILIAS
Other EdTech products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Brilliant or ILIAS.
Code.org
Code.org ships daily deploys as Sprite Lab migrates to the Lab2 framework
TAO Testing
TAO Testing ships rapid v56.x patches driven by NYSED client work, security remediation, and localization fixes.
Blackboard Learn
Blackboard Learn 4001.0 enters test/stage ahead of September 2026 production rollout.
Scribe
Scribe's Optimize agent deepens org-context grounding as core capture holds steady
Docebo
Docebo doubles down on agentic AI for L&D, positioning itself as a skills operating system.
See all Brilliant alternatives → · See all ILIAS alternatives →
Recent activity from Brilliant and ILIAS
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 13d agoILIASILIAS 11.4: Security maintenance release
- 13d agoILIASILIAS 10.11: Security maintenance release
- 13d agoILIASILIAS 9.23: Security maintenance release
- 1mo agoILIASILIAS 11.3: August security maintenance release
- 1mo agoILIASILIAS 10.10: August security maintenance release
- 1mo agoILIASILIAS 9.22: August security maintenance release
- 3mo agoBrilliantBrilliant introduces Koji, a graphical AI tutor ⚡
- 1y agoBrilliantWhen “almost right” is catastrophically wrong: Evals for AI learning games
- 1y agoBrilliantHand-crafted, machine-made: How we make learning games with AI
- 1y agoBrilliantProgramming in 2025: A preview of our upcoming CS courses
- 1y agoBrilliantOne subject, three lenses: A multifaceted look at Algebra
- 1y agoBrilliantGame on: Solving for x-citement with interactive Algebra
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Brilliant and ILIAS?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. ILIAS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 3.8), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Brilliant better than ILIAS?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ILIAS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 3.8), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other EdTech products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Brilliant?
Top Brilliant alternatives in EdTech are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Brilliant alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/brilliant for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to ILIAS?
Top ILIAS alternatives in EdTech are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ILIAS alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ilias for the full list with editorial commentary on each.