Arbor Pricing 2026: Plans, Pros & Cons

Overview

Arbor is a cloud-based management information system (MIS) for schools in the UK, part of The Key Group and headquartered in London^[18]. In UK usage the MIS performs the role that an SIS does in the US: pupil records, attendance, behaviour, assessment, timetables and the statutory census returns that schools submit to government.

Arbor says more than 12,500 schools and trusts use its software and describes itself as the UK’s most popular MIS^[18]. Its product range is organised by customer type: Arbor School MIS, Arbor MAT MIS for multi-academy trusts, Arbor Local Authority MIS, Arbor Independent School MIS, and Arbor for Wales^[18]. Around the core MIS the company sells Arbor Finance (accounting for local-authority schools), SAMpeople for HR, TimeTabler for timetabling, workflow automation, an AI assistant and add-ons including school payments, SMS messaging, absence automation and a data warehouse connector^[18].

Arbor’s own user surveys report that 81% of users agree it has improved how they use data; these are company-reported figures^[18]. The vendor publishes no prices and refers buyers to a demo or brochure. Its focus is the UK; schools outside the UK and international schools will find iSAMS or Veracross more relevant.