Open Syllabus
Open Syllabus is a non-profit organization that aggregates and analyzes 32.9 million academic syllabi from thousands of higher education institutions, offering free tools for curriculum exploration, course transferability, and visual mapping of anglophone higher education.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
Open Syllabus firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Open Syllabus
- Legal name
- Open Syllabus
- Website
- https://opensyllabus.org
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Open Syllabus is a non-profit organization that aggregates and analyzes 32.9 million academic syllabi from thousands of higher education institutions, offering free tools for curriculum exploration, course transferability, and visual mapping of anglophone higher education.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Open Syllabus industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Educational Data Analytics
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Libraries and Archives (51921)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Higher Education Digital Courseware & Modules (EDAGAEAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Core Digital Curriculum & Courseware (Full Programs & Units) (EDAFACAA), MOOC & Open Course Platforms (EDAFAIAA)
Keywords
Where Open Syllabus is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Open Syllabus business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Print Store Sales: Physical merchandise sales of large prints featuring top-assigned titles in 11 fields, grouped into beautiful galaxies. Sold through a Shopify e-commerce storefront.
- Free Tools / Non-profit Model: Most tools are free to use as a non-profit organization supporting open education. Revenue model relies on non-commercial funding rather than product monetization.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free Access to Core Tools |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
Open Syllabus product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Open Syllabus collects, aggregates, and analyzes academic course syllabi from thousands of higher education institutions, building an archive of 32.9 million syllabi. It provides free web-based tools — Analytics, Course Matcher, and Co-Assignment Galaxy — for exploring teaching materials, identifying transferable courses, and visualizing the higher education curriculum. It also sells physical prints of top-assigned titles through an online store.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Open Syllabus Analytics Web-based platform for exploring teaching patterns across millions of syllabi from thousands of schools, providing top-down views of curricula to support curricular innovation, lifelong learning, and student success.
Companies that use Open Syllabus
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Open Syllabus technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Open Syllabus partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Open Syllabus competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Cengage: Cengage is a major educational publisher with higher-ed course materials and analytics capabilities. It is a broad incumbent competing in the same end market with a commercial, scaled distribution model.
- Chegg: Chegg is a broad student-services platform with textbook rental, tutoring, and study resources. Its course-materials ecosystem overlaps with Open Syllabus's higher-education audience, though Chegg is a publicly-traded commercial incumbent.
- Course Hero: Course Hero aggregates course-specific study materials including syllabi uploaded by students and educators. It is a much larger, commercial incumbent operating in an adjacent syllabi-sharing category.
- College Board: College Board operates large-scale higher-education data and assessment infrastructure (AP, SAT). Its data resources and institutional reach make it an adjacent incumbent in the same broader higher-education information ecosystem.
Direct peers
- MERLOT: MERLOT is a free, peer-reviewed collection of online learning materials. It is comparable to Open Syllabus as a non-commercial open-education resource that aggregates and curates teaching content for higher education.
- Coursicle: Coursicle offers course catalog, schedule, and transfer-equivalency tools across colleges. Its course transfer functionality directly mirrors Open Syllabus's Course Matcher and serves the same higher-education student audience.
- OER Commons: OER Commons is a digital library of open educational resources for K-12 and higher education. It overlaps with Open Syllabus on the open-education mission and OER-curation workflows.
- OpenStax (Rice University): OpenStax publishes free, peer-reviewed open textbooks and is regularly covered in Open Syllabus's OER updates. It is a non-profit peer in the open-education ecosystem serving the same higher-education curriculum space.
Emerging players
- Niche: Niche provides college data, reviews, and rankings. It serves the same college-selection and decision-making audience as Open Syllabus, particularly students evaluating institutions and curricula.
Others
- JSTOR / ITHAKA: JSTOR/ITHAKA is a non-profit digital library providing academic content and research tools. It is comparable as a non-profit educational data steward serving researchers and institutions, though focused on scholarly content rather than syllabi.
Market position
Customer concentration
Open Syllabus social profiles
Digital presenceOpen Syllabus financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Open Syllabus leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Open Syllabus funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Open Syllabus M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Open Syllabus
What does Open Syllabus do?
Open Syllabus collects, aggregates, and analyzes academic course syllabi from thousands of higher education institutions, building an archive of 32.9 million syllabi. It provides free web-based tools — Analytics, Course Matcher, and Co-Assignment Galaxy — for exploring teaching materials, identifying transferable courses, and visualizing the higher education curriculum. It also sells physical prints of top-assigned titles through an online store.
Is Open Syllabus a public or private company?
Open Syllabus is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Open Syllabus founded?
Open Syllabus was founded in -1. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Open Syllabus based?
Open Syllabus is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Open Syllabus make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Print Store Sales are the primary driver. The others are free Tools / Non-profit Model.
Who are Open Syllabus's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Cengage, Chegg, Course Hero and College Board. Direct peers are MERLOT, Coursicle, OER Commons and OpenStax (Rice University). Niche is listed as an emerging player. JSTOR / ITHAKA is listed as an others.
Does Open Syllabus have an API?
No public API is recorded for Open Syllabus.
What industry is Open Syllabus in?
Open Syllabus's product category is Educational Data Analytics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAGAEAB, Higher Education Digital Courseware & Modules, with a secondary code of EDAFACAA, Core Digital Curriculum & Courseware (Full Programs & Units). Its NAICS code is 5192 and its SIC code is 8200.