Arbor School MIS vs Gradelink

Arbor School MIS is a cloud-based management information system for schools of all sizes, including primary, secondary, special schools, alternative provision settings, and pupil referral units. It brings together attendance, exams, SEN tracking, document management, admissions, payments, communications, and reporting. Visual dashboards can compare results with DfE and Ofsted benchmarks and provide live benchmarking against Arbor schools. Arbor AI includes Ask Arbor, student summaries, drafted emails, letters and SMS, and formula suggestions. API integrations include Wonde, Groupcall, ParentPay, CPOMS, LGFL, OTrack, Cunninghams, Classcharts, Studybugs, and Scopay. Schools can review what data an API app may access; approved write integrations can edit Arbor data. MIS data is hosted on AWS London servers, stored in the UK, and encrypted at rest and in transit with AES-256. Staff controls include role-based permissions, password controls, and two-factor authentication. The product is available on web, Android, iOS, and API. Pricing uses a school-phase base fee plus a per-pupil fee and is available on request.

Gradelink is a student information system combining school management, teaching, and learning tools. Academic features include attendance, class scheduling, gradebooks, lesson plans, report cards, standards-based grading, and transcripts. Student records can include demographic, medical, and photo information, as well as IEP tracking. Billing covers accounts receivable, billing statements, lunch and incidental billing, and multiple tuition rates. Listed integrations include Apple School Manager, FACTS Tuition Management, Google Classroom, Microsoft School Data Sync, and NCEA reporting. Google Classroom grade syncing is available at no additional charge, and ClassLink syncs rosters automatically. Gradelink includes personalized phone and email support, staff training, help-site access, and automatic software updates. It says school data imports and setup of report cards, GPA, attendance, terms, gradebooks, and transcripts take 5–10 business days after requested materials are received. The SIS subscription starts at $106/mo, with a $275 one-time setup fee shown. Its Student/Parent app for iOS and Android requires Gradelink Standard Service.