Instructure analysed usage data from 19.5 million users: Gemini, the most widely used AI tool, is used by just 87,788 people, far behind McGraw Hill and Zoom.
Instructure, publisher of the Canvas learning platform, published for the first time a ranking of external tools that American higher education institutions connect to. The EdTech Top 40 report is based on anonymized data from 19.5 million users collected between September 2025 and April 2026.
The podium is occupied by historical actors: McGraw Hill reaches more than 11.3 million users, followed by Watermark (course evaluations), Zoom, Kaltura and Panopto. The most common dedicated AI tool, Google Gemini, is not even in the top 100, with 87,788 users in 211 establishments. For Ryan Lufkin, vice-president of Instructure, universities sign campus-wide agreements with AI publishers but do not yet integrate them into their courses.
Teachers with little training
Instructure also notes that only 11% of teachers in the superior have received full AI training. Thirty-six of the 40 most widely used tools (90%) have been designed specifically for higher education, and half are for content, collaboration or video. According to the company, the large-scale adoption of AI will require more stringent criteria than just a pilot: accessibility, data confidentiality, interoperability and evidence of efficiency.
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