# What Claude (Anthropic) with web search answered for student information systems (colleges) on 2026-10-19

## In short

On 2026-10-19, Claude (Anthropic) with web search was asked "best student information systems for colleges". It named 20 brands; the first six, in order, were Fedena, Infinite Campus, Alma, K-12, Workday and Workday Student.

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Question | best student information systems for colleges |
| Asked on | 2026-10-19 |
| Engine | Claude (Anthropic) with web search |
| Model | claude-opus-5 |
| Brands named | 20 |
| Sources cited | 8 |
| Audience | colleges |
| Coverage | Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included. |
| Last verified | 2026-10-19 |

Page: https://bikoosh.com/answers/s/student-information-systems-colleges-2026-10-19
Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.

## The answer, as recorded

Asked on 2026-10-19 through Claude (Anthropic) with web search (model claude-opus-5).

> Searched - worth flagging one thing up front: the generic "best SIS 2026" listicles rank **openSIS, Fedena, Infinite Campus, Alma**. Those are K-12/private-school products. They don't handle credit hours, degree audit, Title IV financial aid, or IPEDS reporting, so ignore them for a college. The real higher-ed SIS market is about eight vendors.
> 
> ## What I'd actually name, in order
> 
> **1. Workday Student** - my default recommendation for any institution making a net-new choice today. Named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner MQ for higher-ed SIS (second year running), with 200+ institutions on the journey, and it's the only product consistently *taking* share from everyone else. The real argument: if you already run Workday HCM or Financials, the student module shares one data model, which eliminates the integration layer that eats most SIS budgets. Caveat - implementations run 3-5 years and are expensive; Miami University started in 2024 and finishes Fall 2026.
> 
> **2. Ellucian Banner** - the incumbent leader at ~24% share, and the safest pick for large, complex publics with heavy state and federal reporting. Deepest functional coverage, largest consultant and hiring pool, and most peer inst

## Brands named, in the order the engine gave

| Position | Brand | How it was named |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fedena | mentioned |
| 2 | Infinite Campus | mentioned |
| 3 | Alma | mentioned |
| 4 | K-12 | mentioned |
| 5 | Workday | recommended |
| 6 | Workday Student | recommended |
| 7 | Ellucian | mentioned |
| 8 | Ellucian Banner | mentioned |
| 9 | Banner | mentioned |
| 10 | Ellucian Colleague | mentioned |
| 11 | Colleague | mentioned |
| 12 | Populi | mentioned |
| 13 | Jenzabar One | mentioned |
| 14 | Oracle | mentioned |
| 15 | Oracle PeopleSoft Campus Solutions | mentioned |
| 16 | Anthology | mentioned |
| 17 | Anthology Student | mentioned |
| 18 | Tribal SITS | mentioned |
| 19 | Classter | mentioned |
| 20 | UK | mentioned |

## Sources the engine cited

- https://listedtech.com/blog/north-american-sis-highered-market-share-january-2025-update/ (other)
- https://campustechnology.com/articles/2026/01/05/ellucian-officially-acquires-anthologys-sis-and-erp-business.aspx (other)
- https://erp.today/ellucian-completes-anthology-sis-and-erp-acquisition-adding-260-higher-education-customers/ (other)
- https://itbrief.com.au/story/workday-expands-anz-student-systems-push-after-gartner-nod (other)
- https://miamioh.edu/workday-info/news-events/2025/08/town-hall-1-review.html (reference)
- https://listedtech.com/blog/which-products-is-workday-student-replacing/ (other)
- https://www.g2.com/products/jenzabar-sonis (review)
- https://www.softwareadvice.com/student-information-system/ (review)

The question page: https://bikoosh.com/answers/q/student-information-systems/colleges

Alerts and membership: Answer Watch Pro, 79 USD per month: https://bikoosh.com/answers. Bikoosh is monitoring assistance, not complete protection.

Answer Watch records what one AI answer engine said on one date, nothing more. Each page names the engine and the model, carries the date the question was asked, and lists the brands that appeared in the answer in the order the engine gave them, with the sources it cited. It is a measurement, not a ranking, not a recommendation and not a claim about the world. Brands that did not appear in an answer are not named on any public page. Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.