Differences between versions?

General
1

Hi. I have installed Tao Community version. Is there a detailed list of the differences between that version and the version you get in e.g. Tao enterprise? I have seen the list on https://www.taotesting.com/products/ but I’m looking for a more detailed list of the specific technical differences. Thanks.

2

Hi Martin,

Thanks for raising this. The list of differences between TAO Community Edition and our Enterprise offering may not yet be fully exhaustive, and we are actively working to reduce the gap over time so Community Edition can support as many features as possible.

At a high level, one important distinction is architectural: our SaaS Enterprise offering relies on a number of cloud-based services, while for Community Edition we need to provide open-source alternatives or service emulators. That means some differences are simply bugs or temporary limitations that we expect to address, while others are feature gaps that are more complex to solve in the short term.

Based on our current review, the main areas where Enterprise may still differ from Community Edition include:

  • Built-in reporting capabilities

  • AI Labs

  • Custom data access control on the item bank

  • Item statistics and item usage data

  • Import of item statistics

  • Remote lists management

  • Public sessions / anonymous tests

  • Email notifications for test takers

  • SSO / MFA

  • Newer features introduced in TAO since the 2025.10 release line

A few important nuances:

  • Some features are available in the codebase but are not enabled by default in Community Edition. This applies in particular to test batteries, custom rebranding, and some beta capabilities such as Data Explorer.

  • Some differences are due to temporary bugs rather than intentional product limitations. For example, text-to-speech accessibility support has been affected by a bug rather than being a permanent gap.

  • Some features available in Enterprise rely on cloud-based services, while Community Edition depends on open-source alternatives or equivalent setups, which can make parity more challenging in the short term.

So while there are still differences today, the picture is evolving, and we are continuously improving Community Edition.

Patrick