Overview

The Business School is a live business simulation for classes that want to explore strategy through competing firms in a shared market. It is strongest for teachers seeking a single-lesson, curriculum-linked team exercise; schools needing immediate access or a clear purchase price should look elsewhere.

Key features

Teams make decisions about pricing, hiring, borrowing, VAT, crises and deals, with the effects playing out in the simulation. This gives students a way to consider how business choices interact, rather than treating each topic as a separate exercise. Sessions accommodate 6 to 32 students in up to eight firms of three or four, so the format is designed for a class-sized group and does not suit larger sessions without dividing the class.

Teachers can pause or resume phases, trigger a crisis, inspect firm activity and project a live leaderboard. Those controls make it possible to steer the lesson and introduce a disruption at a chosen point. Students can download private reports; the teacher receives a curriculum-mapped class report by email within 48 hours. Knowledge Check questions cover 23 business courses, including AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas, WJEC, Cambridge, BTEC and IB, giving the activity a direct connection to a range of course curricula.

Students join in a browser using a six-digit PIN and a team label or first name, without student accounts or email addresses. That reduces the setup students need, while keeping participation tied to a live class session rather than individual accounts. Session data is stored server-side in an EU database in Frankfurt. The company says it does not sell data or use it for advertising, and teachers can end session data at any time. TBS Education Ltd Oy states that it is registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office under ZC133810. Support is answered within 24 hours by a person who knows the material.

Pricing

The Teacher demo is free: free, with no credit card required. It has no PIN or licence and is a six-step demo, so it provides a way to see the format but not a licensed classroom session.

The School licence uses one annual fee with custom pricing after the pilot. It includes unlimited sessions and classes, permits up to 32 students per session and is priced per school, never per seat. That structure suits schools expecting repeated use, though the lack of a published fee makes budgeting difficult. The MAT licence has custom pricing after the pilot and covers trust schools under one agreement with a single point of contact, a more consolidated option for multi-school trusts.

The Autumn 2026 pilot cohort is full at 30 of 30 schools, with a waitlist open. That makes the demo the immediate option for prospective users, while a school or trust licence depends on the post-pilot offer.

Platforms

The Business School runs on the web. Browser-based student access avoids requiring student accounts or email addresses, but no other platform is described.

Who it's for

This is a good fit for business teachers who want a controlled, team-based classroom simulation with curriculum-linked questions and follow-up reporting. Its 32-student session limit and live lesson format make it less suitable for larger cohorts, self-paced individual learning or schools that need to begin using a paid licence immediately.

Pros and cons

Pros: Teacher controls, a live leaderboard and crisis triggers support active lesson management rather than a hands-off simulation.
Pros: Private student reports and a curriculum-mapped teacher report connect the activity to review after the session.
Pros: PIN-based browser access avoids student accounts and email addresses.
Cons: Sessions stop at 32 students, requiring a different arrangement for larger classes.
Cons: School and trust licences have custom pricing, so costs cannot be assessed before requesting a quote.
Cons: The pilot cohort is full, limiting immediate access to the free demo and waitlist.

Alternatives

Business Simulation Software is the broader category for comparing this type of classroom tool. Choose GoVenture if Linux, macOS or Windows support matters alongside web access; it has a free trial but no free plan. Forio is worth considering when API or self-hosted deployment is important, and its Epicenter Personal plan is free with unlimited projects but no end-user authentication or authenticated projects.

MonsoonSIM offers Android and iOS as well as web access, and its single-course plan costs 20.00 USD per once, billed USD 20 / learner / 6-month, with fixed class size. Cesim Business Simulations is another paid, web-based option with a free trial. ExtendSim suits readers comparing a Windows-capable tool with a defined individual licence: Analysis RunTime costs 495.00 USD per once and includes the first year of Maintenance & Support Plan.

OrgSimulator offers free professor access with teaching materials and course management tools, while student access costs 50.00 USD per simulation run. Revas Business Simulation Games offers an annual Mini subscription with 50 school licence keys, 50 university licence keys and one of 19 simulations. SimVenture is an option for a personal-use licence across macOS, web and Windows; its Evolution Personal License costs 50.00 GBP per year and includes 12 months of remote maintenance and technical support.

Verdict

The Business School is best for business teachers running a class-sized, curriculum-linked strategy lesson who value instructor control and post-session reporting. Its strongest reason to choose it is the combination of team decisions, teacher intervention and class reporting in one format. The main reasons to look elsewhere are the full pilot cohort, custom licence pricing and the 32-student ceiling.

	FlexSim	The Business School
Free plan		Yes
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Paid from		Free
Platforms	Web, Windows	Web
Scenario focus	operations	strategy
Scenario customization	advanced
Deployment	desktop	web
Free plan		No
Learner capacity		32 learners
Multiplayer mode		Yes
Instructor dashboard		Yes
Assessment tools		Yes

FlexSim vs The Business School

FlexSim

The Business School