Zoora versus Adobe Connect
Adobe Connect has kept classes running at Iranian universities and training centers for years. If you are looking for an Adobe Connect alternative, this page says where Connect is still the right call and where a product built in Persian and right-to-left makes your everyday work simpler: an online class with no software to install, and quizzes and grades in the same place the class is held.
Where Adobe Connect is the better choice
If you already hold a Connect license, your colleagues have worked with it for years, and your classes are built on saved layouts, breakout rooms, and an archive of recordings, moving gains you nothing. Connect is a mature product when it comes to the live room: multi-layer layouts, up to 20 breakout rooms, and a room whose content stays where you left it between sessions. Zoora either does not have these or has a simpler version of them. Come to us when you do not need them, or when the cost, the absence of Persian, and being left without support are making your day-to-day work harder.
| Zoora | Adobe ConnectAdobe Connect | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface language and right-to-left support | ZooraThe whole product is in Persian and right-to-left, from the classroom to the invoice, with Persian numerals and an English version alongside it. | Adobe ConnectIts interface ships in twelve languages, and Persian is not one of them. Adobe support has also stated that right-to-left languages are unsupported. |
| Joining a class without installing software | ZooraEverything opens in the browser, on computer and phone, and installing anything is optional. | Adobe ConnectParticipants can join from the browser, but some of the host and presenter tools, such as remote control and optimized video sharing, are only available in the desktop app. |
| Breakout rooms | ZooraNot available. A live class is one room, and grouping has to be done by creating separate sessions. | Adobe ConnectUp to 20 breakout rooms with their own layout and content, and the option to rotate groups between rooms. |
| Quizzes and question bank | ZooraQuestion bank, online quizzes, assignments, and AI-assisted grading of written answers, all inside the same class. | Adobe ConnectIt has polls and Q&A inside the room. A real quiz has to be built outside it, in Captivate or as a SCORM package, and then uploaded into the training module. |
| Quiz anti-cheating | ZooraPer-student shuffling of questions and options and question text delivered as a noisy image, both enforced on the server. Leaving the page and unusually fast answers are only reported, and nobody is blocked. | Adobe ConnectAt the course level you can limit the number of attempts and the time window. There is no separate proctoring tool. |
| Attendance and the gradebook | ZooraTime spent in the live room is recorded for each person, and automatic attendance, quiz, and assignment columns land in that same class's gradebook. | Adobe ConnectAttendance and course grade reports are in Connect Central, but most of that is tied to a license for the training module. |
| Session recording and archive | ZooraCloud recording kept for up to 365 days depending on the plan, in that training center's own storage. | Adobe ConnectIt records, and newer versions produce MP4 files directly. In older versions the MP4 has to be created on the host's computer while the recording plays back. |
| Deployment and maintenance | ZooraA multi-tenant cloud service. Updates and maintenance are on us, and we have no version you install on your own organization's server. | Adobe ConnectBoth cloud and on-premises. The on-premises version runs on Windows Server and SQL Server, and maintaining and updating it is your own technical team's job. |
| Price and how you pay | ZooraIn toman and based on the number of students, with a Persian invoice. | Adobe ConnectA dollar-priced license per host, with separate add-ons for larger room capacity. Adobe has stated that because of sanctions it cannot make its products and services available in Iran. |
Where Zoora and Adobe Connect differ in everyday work
A product written in Persian from the ground up
One of the questions managers ask most often is whether a Persian version of Adobe Connect exists. The short answer is no. Connect offers its interface in twelve languages and Persian is not among them, and Adobe's own support has stated that right-to-left languages are unsupported. The result is what every training center manager in Iran has seen: English menus, Persian text that sometimes comes out backwards, and instructions that have to be given from scratch to every new teacher. Zoora is Persian and right-to-left from the first page through to the invoice, and the numerals are Persian too, because the product was built for this market rather than translated into it. If you need English somewhere, the English version is right there and switches with a single control.
Quizzes and grades are not built somewhere else
In Connect, the live room and assessment are two separate worlds. Inside the room you have polls and Q&A, but a real quiz has to be built outside it, in Captivate or as a SCORM package, and then uploaded into the training module. That module carries a separate license of its own. Zoora does the same work in one place: you build a question bank, draw the quiz from that same bank, written answers get a suggested grade with a reason, and the teacher's own grade always has the final word. Attendance from the live room and quiz scores land directly in that class's gradebook. For a training center, the practical difference is that nobody has to carry grades from one system to another every week.
Anti-cheating that states its own limits
Connect has no proctoring tool. What it does give you is a limit on the number of attempts and on the time window, set at the course level. Zoora has two kinds of tools and deliberately draws a line between them. The first kind runs on the server and is definite: the order of questions and options differs for every student, and the question text reaches the browser as a noisy image rather than as text, so the wording cannot be copied. The second kind is reporting only: leaving the quiz page, unusually fast answers, and several people signing in from the same location all get flagged, and nobody is blocked. We are not saying cheating goes away. We are saying which part the server guarantees and which part is only a signal for you to judge.
Cost, renewal, and someone who answers the phone
Connect is sold per host and priced in dollars, and larger room capacity is a separate add-on of its own. For a training center with ten teachers running classes at the same time, that number grows quickly. Adobe has said plainly that because of sanctions it cannot make its products and services available in Iran. You can see the result in practice: most Connect installations in Iran are stuck on old versions, with no clear path to renewal, updates, or official support. Zoora's price is calculated in toman based on the number of students, its invoice is issued in Persian, and its support is a phone number staffed during Iranian business hours. This difference is not a technical one, but it makes itself felt in the middle of a term.
If you decide to move
The best time is the gap between two terms. You do not have to switch Connect off overnight. You can keep both running side by side for a term and then decide from your own experience. Moving the data is done with Excel files, and if you would rather go through the first round with someone beside you, our team will walk it with you.
- 1
Move one real class to Zoora for a term, ideally with a teacher who has the patience to try things out, and leave the rest of the classes where they are.
- 2
Export the user and enrollment reports from Connect Central and put them into Zoora's sample file. The users file needs name, username, and role columns, and the password is optional. Wherever it is left blank, the system generates one. The built-in Manager, Teacher, Staff, and Student roles are already defined.
- 3
Upload the file. Processing runs in the background, and each sheet takes up to 5000 rows. At the end you receive an output file that says, for every single row, whether it was created, skipped, or failed and why. Generated passwords live only in that file and are deleted after 24 hours, so download it the same day.
- 4
Import the classes and their members the same way: one file with a Classes sheet holding the class name, the teacher's username, a description, and the capacity, and a Members sheet holding the class name and each member's username. This one's output reports row by row as well.
- 5
Export your old recordings from Connect as MP4. In newer versions the MP4 file is ready directly, and in older ones it has to be produced with the Make Offline option on the host's computer, which takes as long as the session itself. So go after only the recordings that will genuinely be watched again.
- 6
Publish those same MP4 files as offline classes in Zoora, so the archive of earlier terms sits in the same place as the student's current class.
- 7
Upload the slides, handouts, and files from your Connect rooms into that class's files, so the next teacher does not have to go hunting for them.
- 8
Build the quizzes once in Zoora's question bank. SCORM packages and Captivate files are not imported, but depending on your plan you can hand over the course's PDF handout to have questions drafted, then approve or correct them yourself. That same bank comes in useful again for later years' quizzes.
- 9
Plan around the end date of your Connect license, and keep read access to the old archive open until that day. Do not delete anything before the move is complete.
Try one class for one term
Book a short demo and see Zoora with your own real classes. If we conclude afterwards that Connect is the one that works for you, we will say that honestly too.
09999931289Common questions about Zoora and Adobe Connect
No. As long as your Connect works and someone is there to keep it running, there is no rush. What we suggest is running one class on Zoora for a term and making the comparison with your own real class rather than with a feature list. The manual work is also lighter than people assume: users, classes, and class members are imported from Excel files, and the output of each upload says row by row what was created and where something went wrong.
No. The online class opens in the browser with nothing to install, on computer and phone, and installing anything is optional. In Connect, participants can also join from the browser, but some of the host and presenter tools are still tied to the desktop app.
Not yet. A Zoora live class is one room, and if simultaneous group work is an inseparable part of how you teach, Connect is ahead of us on this one point with up to 20 breakout rooms. Our answer today is creating separate sessions for each group, which we know does not work for everyone.
Zoora does not import SCORM packages, and the questions have to be built once in Zoora's question bank. In return, that is a one-time job and the same bank comes in useful again for later quizzes, and depending on your plan you can have the questions drafted from your own PDF handout.
The price is calculated in toman based on the number of students, and the invoice is issued in Persian. For setup and for training your teachers, our team is available during business hours: Saturday to Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Run your next class on Zoora
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