LTI vs API for LMS Integration: How to Pick the Right One Before You Build

Most edtech teams pick LTI because it sounds like the obvious choice. It's a standard, it works across LMS platforms, and everyone supports it. They start building. Three months in, they hit something LTI simply cannot do — and now they're either redesigning the product or bolting on a custom API integration they didn't plan for. The decision between LTI and a direct API integration isn't about which one is better. It's about what your product actually needs to do. Get this wrong at the start and you'll pay for it later. What LTI is good at LTI handles the launch. A user clicks a link inside their LMS, the LMS packages up their identity and course context, and your tool receives it. The user lands in your product already authenticated, already in the right context, without a separate login. On top of that, LTI Advantage adds three services that cover most standard edtech needs: Grade passback to the LMS gradebook (Assignment and Grade Services) Pulling the roster of who's in a course (