Effective as of September 30, 2026
Instructure, Inc.'s (and our affiliate(s), referenced as "Instructure", "us", "we", or "our") Canvas Lite Terms and Conditions (the "Terms") governs each individual end user's (referred to as "you" or "your") use and access to Canvas Lite (the "Service"). Instructure's privacy policies explain how we collect and use your information (collectively the "Privacy Policies").
Please note: if you are a student user, parent user, or parent/observer user using the Service, the Instructure Marketing Privacy Policy does not apply to you.
Instructure does not advertise or market to students, parents, or authorized student observers.
BY USING THE SERVICE, YOU'RE AGREEING TO USE THE SERVICE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THESE TERMS, AND TO REVIEW THE PRIVACY POLICIES.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS OR DISAGREE WITH OUR PRIVACY POLICIES, YOU SHOULD NOT AND MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE TERMS AND THE PRIVACY POLICIES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
1. Eligibility; Accounts. In order to use the Service, you must register for an account. The Service is available only to: (a) individual educators employed by, or teaching on behalf of, a K–12 school, school district, college, university, or other accredited educational institution; (b) individual educators engaged in homeschool instruction or other small-group, non-commercial educational settings; and (c) School Personnel as defined in Section 1.2 (collectively, “Eligible Users”). The Service is not available to employees, contractors, or agents of for-profit businesses, not-for-profit organizations, or government agencies acting in their professional capacity, except to the extent such individuals independently qualify as Eligible Users under (a) or (b) above. By registering for an account, you represent and warrant that you are an Eligible User.You may be asked to provide a password in connection with your account. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account or password. You agree that the information you provide to Instructure, whether at registration or at any other time, will be true, accurate, current, and complete. You also agree that you will ensure that this information is kept accurate and up-to-date at all times. You are solely responsible for all accounts you create, invite, or authorize through your account, including student accounts and any other sub-accounts (collectively, “Linked Accounts”). You represent and warrant that each Linked Account will be used solely by an individual who is a student, parent, or other participant in the educational setting for which you use the Service. You may not create or authorize Linked Accounts for individuals who are not bona fide participants in your educational activities. You are responsible for all activity occurring under your Linked Accounts and for ensuring that all users of Linked Accounts comply with these Terms.
If you have reason to believe that your account is no longer secure (e.g., in the event of a loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure or use of your account ID or password), then you agree to immediately notify Instructure at support@instructure.com. You may be liable for the losses incurred by Instructure or others due to any unauthorized use of your Service account.
1.1 Child User. If you are under the age of 13 (a "Child User"), you may not create or register an account for the Service without consent and approval from your legal parent or guardian, or from your school as provided in Section 1.2 (School Use). If you are under the age of 18, you represent that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf. Except for accounts created for School Use as provided in Section 1.2 (School Use), a Child User that begins the registration process for himself or herself without a Parent User (as defined below) may have the registration process restricted until a parent approves the Child User account.
A Child User may use the Service if registered through certain educational organizations or, in certain cases, by School Personnel (defined in Section 1.2 below), so long as the education organization has obtained parent or guardian consent under applicable law.
1.2 School Use. Instructure may make available the Service that permit users registered as teachers, school leaders, aides, or other similar school personnel ("School Personnel") to work with students and other users through the Service to provide such students with education-related services as part of the school's curriculum, and to review and evaluate educational achievement and progress of such students. If you are School Personnel accessing the Service on behalf of a school, school district, or other similar educational institution (an "Institution"), the following terms apply to you:
1.2.1 Limitations on Use. The Service is provided to you solely for non-commercial, educational purposes as part of a school or educational institution’s curriculum or instructional program. You must use the Service in compliance with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations. You may not use the Service for corporate training, employee onboarding, professional development unrelated to academic instruction, commercial course delivery, or any other purpose that is not directly related to teaching or learning within an educational setting. School Personnel are responsible for ensuring that any accounts created for or on behalf of students or other users of the Service are used exclusively for educational purposes within the scope permitted by these Terms. School Personnel may not use the Service, or permit others to use accounts created through the Service, for any commercial, organizational, or non-educational purpose.
1.2.3 Responsibility for Consent and Notices. You and/or the Institution agree to obtain consent from parents or guardians of Child Users prior to such Child Users accessing the Service, and to provide appropriate disclosures to student users (“School Users”) and their parents regarding the School Users' use of the Service, these Terms, and our Privacy Policies. You agree to be bound by these Terms on behalf of the School User, for so long as the School User account is not transferred to or assumed by a valid Parent User account or personal account for a student of eligible age.
1.2.4 School Consent. If you are School Personnel and you register an account for a Child User or direct a Child User to create an account for school use, you represent and warrant that you have either received express consent from such Child User's parent or legal guardian or that you (or your institution) have complied and will comply with all applicable parental consent requirements, including pursuant to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) , necessary for you to register the Child User for the Service and for Instructure to collect personal information from the Child User as described in Instructure's COPPA Privacy Policy (available here).
Specifically, you agree, individually and on behalf of the Institution, that:
- You are familiar with and agree to comply with all applicable requirements under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the US Department of Education's implementing regulations at 34 CFR Part 99 (collectively, "FERPA"), and all other applicable laws, rules or regulations concerning the collection, use, and disclosure of personally identifiable information about School Users in your Institution (collectively, "Applicable Privacy Law").
- You will provide appropriate notices and disclosures to students using the Service for classroom use and their parents regarding Student User's use of the Service, our Terms, and the Privacy Policies, including Instructure's COPPA Privacy Policy (available here) and any additional notices required by Applicable Privacy Law.
- You agree to obtain consent on behalf of parents or guardians of Child Users required under COPPA in connection with the Service and collection of personal information of Child Users by Instructure in connection therewith. You represent and warrant to Instructure that, prior to creation of Child User accounts for School Use, you have either obtained all necessary parent or guardian consents.
We refer to this as "School Consent". If a Parent User does not consent or rescinds such School Consent, School Personnel or the Institution shall immediately notify Instructure to discontinue that Student User's access to the Service and ensure that such Student User's information is no longer accessible through the Service.
2. License Grant. These Terms provide to you a personal, revocable, limited, non-exclusive, and non-transferable license to use the Service solely for non-commercial, educational purposes conditioned upon your continued compliance with these Terms. Instructure reserves all rights not granted herein. Any use of the Service for commercial purposes, including but not limited to paid training programs, commercial content delivery, or revenue-generating activities, is strictly prohibited and constitutes a material breach of these Terms.
3. Data Processing. We host the Service in the United States of America. By registering and using the Service, you understand and consent to our hosting, storing, and processing of Your Content (defined below) and your personal data, and/or personally identifiable information in the United States or other locations as we determine necessary to deliver the Service.
Where you use the Identity Verification Feature (as defined in Section 12A below), your Biometric Data will be transmitted to and processed by Instructure's IDV Partner (as identified in Section 12A.1(c)). The IDV Partner processes data in the European Economic Area (Estonia) and, for certain verification checks, may access third-party data sources in other jurisdictions.
4. Your Content and Your Permissions.
4.1. When you use our Service, you provide us with things like your files, content, messages, etc. ("Your Content"). Your Content is yours. You represent that you have all necessary right, power, and authority to use the Service and share Your Content and will comply with all applicable laws when doing so.
4.2. These Terms do not give us any rights to Your Content except for the limited rights that enable us to offer the Service. We need your permission to do things like host Your Content, back it up, or share it when you ask us to. This permission extends to our trusted third parties we work with. You therefore give us, and third parties (with whom we work) permission to use, display, host, share, and back up Your Content. By submitting Your Content, you also permit us to identify you by your username and as the contributor of Your Content.
4.3 Limits. The Service is subject to the following limits: 500MB of data storage and five (5) active, published courses with a maximum of fifty (50) students enrolled per course. Instructure reserves the right to delete Your Content that exceeds applicable limits. You acknowledge that the Service does not include API token access and may omit other features available in Instructure's commercial offerings.
5. Acceptable Use Policy. Our Service lets you share Your Content with others, so please think carefully about what you share. By using the Service, you agree to do so responsibly and to not misuse the Service or help anyone else do so. This includes, but is not limited to, not doing, or trying to do any of the following in connection with the Service:
- store, transmit or create libelous, obscene, deceptive, defamatory, pornographic, racist, sexual, hateful, unlawful, tortious or otherwise objectionable content (except as necessary for legitimate instructional purposes, but in all cases in compliance with applicable laws and regulations);
- modify, translate, adapt, merge, make derivative works of, disassemble, decompile, reverse compile or reverse engineer any part of the Service except to the extent the foregoing restrictions are expressly prohibited by applicable law;
- harm, harass, threaten, or impersonate any person or violate the rights of any third party;
- probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any system or network;
- interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service;
- attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its related systems or networks;
- introduce viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware, or other such malicious code into the Service;
- breach or otherwise circumvent any security or authentication measures;
- access, tamper with, or use non-public areas or parts of the Service, or shared areas of the Service you haven't been invited to;
- access, search, or create accounts for the Service by any means other than our publicly supported interfaces (for example, creating accounts in bulk);
- use robots, spiders, scripts, software or any manual or automatic device, tool, or process designed to data mine or scrape the content, data or information from the Service, or otherwise use, access, or collect the content, data or information from the Service using automated means;
- send unsolicited communications, promotions or advertisements, or spam;
- send altered, deceptive or false source-identifying information, including "spoofing" or "phishing";
- promote or advertise products or services other than your own without appropriate authorization;
- sell or re-sell the Service unless specifically authorized to do so;
- copy, reproduce, distribute, republish, download, display, post or transmit in any form or by any means any part of the Service unless specifically authorized to do so;
- remove or destroy any copyright notices or other proprietary markings contained on or in the Service;
- use the Service for the development of any software program, including, but not limited to, training a machine learning or artificial intelligence system or algorithm; or
- violate the law in any way, including by storing, publishing or sharing material that is infringing, fraudulent, defamatory, misleading, or damaging to Instructure in any way;
- use the Service for any commercial purpose, including but not limited to corporate training, employee onboarding, professional certification programs, or any form of paid or revenue-generating course delivery;
- use the Service on behalf of, or for the benefit of, a for-profit business, not-for-profit organization, or government agency, except where such use is solely in connection with academic instruction as an Eligible User under Section 1;
- sublicense, share account credentials with, or otherwise permit access to the Service by any person who is not an Eligible User;
- use the Service to develop, market, or distribute commercial educational content or courseware to third parties;
- create or authorize Linked Accounts for individuals who are not bona fide participants in your educational activities, or permit any Linked Account to be used for purposes other than those permitted under these Terms.
6. Your Responsibilities.
6.1 You must provide all equipment necessary to access the Service and are responsible for all fees incurred when accessing the Service. Additionally, you're responsible for your conduct and Your Content and your compliance with these Terms. Content in the Service may be protected by others' intellectual property rights. You therefore agree that you won't copy, reproduce, create derivative works of, decompile, upload, download, share, or otherwise exploit third party content unless you have the right to do so.
6.2 We may review your conduct and Your Content for compliance with these Terms and remove content from the Service at any time and without notice. However, we have no obligation to do so. We aren't responsible for the content people post and share via the Service. You agree also to safeguard your password to the Service, make sure that others don't have access to it, and keep your account information current.
7. Third-Party Websites. The Service may contain links to third-party websites that are not under Instructure's control. Instructure is not responsible for such third-party websites. Any links provided within the Service are offered solely for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by Instructure of any third-party website, its content, products, or services. Your use of any linked third-party website is at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions and privacy policies of that third-party website. Instructure assumes no obligation to review, monitor, or update any third-party website or its content.
8. Our Property. The Service is protected by copyright, trademark, and other US and foreign laws. These Terms do not grant you any right, title, or interest in the Service or others' content in the Service, in Instructure's trademarks, logos, or other brand features, or in any other content made available through the Service by Instructure or other users. All rights not expressly granted under these Terms are reserved by Instructure.
We welcome feedback, suggestions and ideas regarding the Service. If you provide any such feedback, you acknowledge that Instructure may use, reproduce, modify and incorporate such feedback into the Service or other products and services without any obligation to you.
9. Infringement. We respect the intellectual property of others and ask that you do too. We respond to notices of alleged infringement after receipt of a proper notice that complies with the law and is received by our designated agent. We reserve the right to delete or disable content alleged to be infringing and terminate accounts of repeat infringers. If you believe that any content in the Service in a way that constitutes infringement, please provide our designated agent with the following information:
- an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the rights owner;
- a description of the content you claim is being infringed;
- a description or link to the location of the material claim is infringing;
- your physical address, telephone number and e-mail address;
- a statement that you have a good faith belief that the content is not authorized by the rights owner, its agent or the law;
- a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act on behalf of the owner.
Contact information for Instructure's designated agent for notice of claims of infringement is:
Instructure, Inc. Attn: Chief Legal Officer 6330 South 3000 East, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, UT 84121, USA Or via email to copyright@instructure.com
Instructure may also take any appropriate action in the event it receives a proper counter-notice under the law.
10. Termination & Right To Suspend. You are free to stop using our Service at any time. We also reserve the right to suspend or end the Service at any time at our discretion and without notice. For example, we may suspend or terminate your use of the Service and remove Your Content if you're not complying with these Terms, or using the Service in a manner that may cause us legal liability, disrupt the Service, disrupt others' use of the Service or, in our sole opinion, reason, cause harm. Without limiting the foregoing, Instructure may immediately suspend or terminate your account and all Linked Accounts if Instructure reasonably determines that you do not meet the Eligible User requirements or that accounts created through your use of the Service are being used for purposes not permitted by these Terms.
If your user account is inactive for six (6) months or more after the date of registration, we reserve the right to delete Your Content, your account information, and your account credentials. All provisions of these Terms, which by their nature should survive, will survive termination of the Service.
10A. No Support. The Service is provided without any support services from Instructure. Instructure will not provide technical support, customer service, or troubleshooting assistance in connection with the Service. Instructure will continue to process data subject access requests submitted to privacy@instructure.com in accordance with applicable law and our Privacy Policies.
11. SERVICE "AS IS". INSTRUCTURE AND ITS PARTNERS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ABOUT THE SERVICE. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS." WE DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. ANY CONTENT DOWNLOADED OR ACCESSED FROM THE SERVICE IS ACCESSED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
INSTRUCTURE DOES NOT MONITOR THE SERVICE FOR TRUST AND SAFETY PURPOSES AND ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR USER-GENERATED CONTENT OR INTERACTIONS WITHIN THE SERVICE. YOUR CONTENT MAY NOT BE RETRIEVABLE IF THE SERVICE IS DISCONTINUED, SUSPENDED, OR OTHERWISE BECOMES UNAVAILABLE, AND INSTRUCTURE SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY LOSS OF YOUR CONTENT IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, INSTRUCTURE MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION REGARDING THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR PERFORMANCE OF ANY IDENTITY VERIFICATION FUNCTIONALITY WITHIN THE SERVICE, INCLUDING THE ABILITY OF SUCH FUNCTIONALITY TO CORRECTLY VERIFY OR REJECT ANY INDIVIDUAL'S IDENTITY. IDENTITY VERIFICATION RESULTS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS.
12. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. YOU EXPRESSLY ABSOLVE AND RELEASE INSTRUCTURE FROM ANY CLAIM OF HARM RESULTING FROM A CAUSE BEYOND INSTRUCTURE'S CONTROL. YOU FURTHER AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT SHALL INSTRUCTURE AND ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OTHER THAN DIRECT DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF USE, DATA, BUSINESS, OR PROFITS. THIS WILL BE REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT INSTRUCTURE OR ANY OF ITS PARTNERS HAS BEEN WARNED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. INSTRUCTURE AND ITS SUPPLIERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR MORE THAN ANY AMOUNTS RECEIVED BY INSTRUCTURE FROM YOU AS A RESULT OF YOUR PERSONAL USE OF THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING YOUR CLAIM.
IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID INDIVIDUALLY ANY AMOUNTS IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING YOUR CLAIM, INSTRUCTURE'S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE LIABILITY SHALL BE NO MORE THAN $50. INSTRUCTURE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE LOSS OR FAILURE TO STORE YOUR CONTENT, AND YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT BY USING THE SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY AND THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION RELATED TO USE OF THE SERVICE OR BREACH OF THESE TERMS.
12A. Identity Verification Services.
12A.1 Definitions. For purposes of this Section 12A:
(a) "Biometric Data" means facial geometry data, liveness detection data, facial recognition templates, and any other biometric identifiers or biometric information (as those terms are defined under applicable law) collected from you in connection with the IDV Feature.
(b) "IDV Feature" means any identity verification functionality within the Service that uses automated document authentication, facial recognition, liveness detection, or similar technologies to verify your identity.
(c) "IDV Partner" means the third-party identity verification provider engaged by Instructure to perform the automated verification processing. The current IDV Partner is Veriff OÜ ("Veriff"), with registered office at Niine 11, Tallinn 10414, Estonia.
(d) "Verification Results" means the verification decision, confidence scores, check results, and any related outputs returned by the IDV Feature for a given verification session.
12A.2 Biometric Data Collection and Consent. The IDV Feature involves the collection and processing of Biometric Data from you. Before you access the IDV Feature for the first time, you will be presented with a separate biometric consent disclosure that identifies: (a) the IDV Partner by name; (b) the specific purpose for which your Biometric Data is collected; (c) the retention period applicable to your Biometric Data; and (d) your right to decline biometric verification. You must affirmatively accept this disclosure before the IDV Feature activates your device camera. Your acceptance constitutes your informed, written consent (including for purposes of 740 ILCS 14/15(b)) to the collection and use of your Biometric Data as described in the disclosure.
12A.3 Right to Decline. Use of the IDV Feature is voluntary. You may decline biometric verification at any time. If you decline, you will not be able to access or use the Service or portions of the Service that require identity verification, and no alternative verification method will be available to you.
12A.4 Data Retention and Destruction. Biometric Data collected through the IDV Feature is retained by the IDV Partner for the periods set forth in Instructure's Biometric Data Retention Policy, available at the following link: https://www.instructure.com/policies/biometrics-privacy-policy. You may request deletion of your verification result at any time by contacting privacy@instructure.com..
12A.5 Restrictions on Use. Neither Instructure nor the IDV Partner will sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from your Biometric Data. Neither Instructure nor the IDV Partner will use your Biometric Data, or data derived from biometric processing, to develop, train, improve, or enhance any machine learning or artificial intelligence model.
12A.6 Verification Accuracy. The IDV Feature uses automated technologies, including artificial intelligence, to process identity verification. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT: (A) VERIFICATION RESULTS MAY CONTAIN ERRORS, INCLUDING FALSE POSITIVE OR FALSE NEGATIVE IDENTIFICATIONS; (B) INSTRUCTURE DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR CORRECTNESS OF ANY VERIFICATION RESULTS; AND (C) VERIFICATION RESULTS SHOULD NOT BE USED AS THE SOLE BASIS FOR ANY DECISION THAT HAS LEGAL, EDUCATIONAL, FINANCIAL, OR OTHER SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON ANY PERSON. IF THE IDV FEATURE FAILS TO VERIFY YOUR IDENTITY OR ACCESS IS DENIED AS A RESULT OF A VERIFICATION FAILURE, NO RECOVERY OR ALTERNATIVE RECOURSE METHOD IS AVAILABLE.
12A.7 IDV-Specific Limitation of Liability. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERAL LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IN SECTION 12, INSTRUCTURE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR: (A) THE ACCURACY OR CORRECTNESS OF VERIFICATION RESULTS; (B) ANY DECISION OR ACTION TAKEN BY YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY BASED ON VERIFICATION RESULTS; (C) VERIFICATION FAILURES CAUSED BY THE UNAVAILABILITY OR INACCURACY OF THIRD-PARTY DATA SOURCES (SUCH AS GOVERNMENT IDENTITY DOCUMENT REGISTRIES); OR (D) YOUR ERRORS IN SUBMITTING VERIFICATION DATA (SUCH AS POOR-QUALITY PHOTOGRAPHS OR EXPIRED IDENTITY DOCUMENTS).
12A.8 Age Restriction for IDV. The IDV Feature is not available to users under the age of 18. If you are under 18, you may not access the IDV Feature.
12A.9 Accessibility. The IDV Feature is provided by the IDV Partner and may not conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 or other accessibility standards applicable to the Service. Instructure makes no representation that the IDV Feature meets any particular accessibility standard.
12A.10 Geographic Availability. The IDV Feature and the Service may not be available in all countries or jurisdictions. If the Service is not available in your country or jurisdiction, you may not access or use it. Instructure reserves the right to restrict access to the Service or the IDV Feature from any jurisdiction at any time.
14. Modifications. These Terms are current as of the effective date set forth above. We may change these Terms from time to time, so please be sure to check back periodically. If a revision meaningfully reduces your rights, we will provide notice to you (by, for example, sending a message to the email address associated with your account). By continuing to use or access the Service after the revisions come into effect, you agree to be bound by and subject to the revised Terms.
15. Entire Agreement. These Terms govern your use of the Service and supersedes and replaces any other prior or contemporaneous agreements applicable to the subject matter of this Terms. These Terms create no third-party beneficiary rights. These Terms shall inure to the benefit of Instructure and its respective legal representatives, successors, and assigns.
16. Waiver, Severability & Assignment. Instructure's failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of its right to do so later. You may not assign any of your rights under these Terms, and any such attempt will be void. Instructure may assign its rights to any of its affiliates or subsidiaries, or to any successor in interest of any business associated with the Service. If any provision of these Terms is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be contrary to law, such provision shall be changed and interpreted to best accomplish the objectives of the original provision to the fullest extent allowed by law and the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and effect.
17. Controlling Law. These Terms and your use of the Service will be interpreted, governed, and construed by the laws of Delaware except for its conflicts of laws principles, unless otherwise agreed in a separate written agreement with Instructure or as required by a mandatory law of a competent jurisdiction.
18. Notices. For any notices relating to these Terms, you may contact us by sending an email to legal@instructure.com or you may write to us at: Instructure, Inc., attn: Chief Legal Officer, 6330 S 3000 E, Suite 700, Salt Lake City Utah 84121.