Seamlessly built into your MIS, Arbor AI can turn your requests into actions and make your everyday tasks even easier. As your collaborator and assistant, Arbor AI shows up right where you need it, freeing up your time for the tasks that only you can do.
This article explains how your Arbor AI Monthly Free Allowance works, what to expect if you’ve used up your allowance, and how you can pay to upgrade to extended Arbor AI access.
Monitoring Your Usage
You can monitor your usage allowance via the Arbor AI Dashboard, which can be found in the navigation under School -> Arbor AI.
- Free Monthly Allowance - This is the amount of free monthly AI usage allowance remaining for the month. If your school uses up your monthly allowance, you can either pay to upgrade to AI Subscription for uninterrupted access or wait until the allowance resets at the start of the next month.
- Purchased AI Credits - This shows the amount of AI subscription credits that are remaining. You will only use your purchased AI credits when your monthly usage allowance for that month runs out. The following month, you will continue to use your free monthly allowance before your AI credits are used again.
Usage Notifications
When you are approaching the limit of your free monthly allowance, Arbor will:
- Send your Head Teacher and Data Manager an email letting them know
- Send your Head Teacher and Data Manager a notification in the MIS.
The notifications will be available in the Notifications popout in the sidebar, and on the 'Alerts' section of your homepage.
FAQs
What is my monthly free allowance of Arbor AI?
We believe every school should benefit from AI. That’s why we’re giving your school free access to our standard Arbor AI features. Your school will get a free allocation of AI usage credits each year, based on your Arbor package and school phase.
You’ll be able to see how much you’ve used at any time via your Arbor AI dashboard. When you hit certain thresholds, we’ll send you automatic alerts so you know your free allowance is running out.
Why do we have a Monthly Free Allowance Policy?
We believe every school should benefit from Arbor’s time-saving AI features. That’s why your MIS now includes a built-in monthly allowance of free AI usage.
Within this allowance, you can use the following features at no cost:
- Ask Arbor - your AI assistant for instant answers to school and student questions.
- Suggest Email - your AI assistant that helps you draft your emails, letters, and SMS.
- Student Summary - your AI assistant that helps teachers build instant student reports.
- Suggest formula - your AI assistant that turns your descriptions into new tables and formulas.
The Monthly Free Allowance Policy gives every school a generous amount of AI usage at no cost. If your usage goes beyond that allowance, your standard AI features will be paused for the month and you’ll have the option to purchase an AI Subscription. Since each AI interaction carries a cost, limits are essential to keep our tools high-quality, fair, and sustainable for all schools.
The good news? We’ve set your Monthly Free Allowance such that most schools will never use it all up. But if you do, it’s a strong sign that your team is embracing Arbor AI in a meaningful way. You’re saving time, streamlining admin, and using Arbor in exactly the way we hoped it would be used!
Which products are included in the free allowance?
Your Monthly Free Allowance covers our standard Arbor AI features: Ask Arbor, Suggest Comms, Student Summary, and Create Formula. We’ll be adding more over time.
What happens if I approach my monthly free usage limit?
You can track your usage via the Arbor AI dashboard in your MIS
- At 80% usage: Your Headteacher is notified via email and in-app notifications.
- At 90% usage: Your Headteacher and your Partnership Manager are notified via email and in-app notifications.
- At 100% usage: Your Headteacher and your Partnership Manager are notified via email and in-app notifications. Your Arbor AI features will be paused for the month. You can either pay to upgrade to AI Subscription to keep using them, or wait for your allowance to refresh next month.
How much usage do I get?
Monthly Free Allowance:
| School Type | Your monthly free allowance gives you roughly… | Over the school year, your free allowance gives you roughly… |
| Special | 20–50 messages/interactions a month* | 240-600 messages/interactions* |
| Primary | 20–100 messages/interactions a month* | 240-1200 messages/interactions** |
| Secondary | 20–200 messages/interactions a month* | 240-2000 messages/interactions** |
If you use up your whole monthly allowance, you won’t be able to use Arbor AI until the following month, unless you choose to buy an AI Subscription.
Paid AI Subscription:
If your free allowance runs out, your school can buy an AI Subscription. This gives you a much larger allowance for all standard Arbor AI features.
If your school uses up your subscription, you have the option to reach out and renew the subscription. You will be able to track your subscription usage in the AI dashboard as well.
| School Type | Price | Over the school year, your subscription gives you roughly… |
| Small School Subscription | £150 | ~2,000-25,000 messages/interactions* |
| Standard School Subscription | £500 | ~5000-80,000 messages/interactions* |
| Large School Subscription | £1,000 | ~10,000- 200,000 messages/interactions* |
* All usage estimates provided are approximate.
Your school’s actual consumption of AI credits may vary based on the complexity, length, and structure of your queries and requests. More complex or multi-step questions typically use more AI credits behind the scenes, meaning you’d use more of your free allowance in one go.
We recommend monitoring your usage via your Arbor AI dashboard to understand how your school is using your free allowance each month.
Can I manage user and school permissions?
Yes. You can control who accesses Arbor AI features by setting permissions in Arbor. This helps make sure staff use Arbor AI features in a way that suits your policies and needs. You can find more information about which business roles Ask Arbor will be enabled for on this help centre article.
By default, teachers and pastoral staff are excluded from your standard Arbor AI tool access. They can be switched on manually, but you’ll see a warning that this may use up your allowance more quickly.
If your school purchases an AI Subscription, you can extend access to teachers and pastoral staff as well, so they benefit from the tools as well.
What If I use up my Monthly Free Allowance?
You can upgrade to an AI Subscription to continue using Arbor AI features if you use up your free allowance.
| School Type | Price | Over the school year, your free allowance gives you roughly… |
| Small School Subscription | £150 | ~10,000-25,000 messages/interactions* |
| Standard School Subscription | £500 | ~30,000-80,000 messages/interactions* |
| Large School Subscription | £1000 | ~60,000- 200,000 messages/interactions* |
* All usage estimates provided are approximate.
Your school’s actual consumption of AI credits may vary based on the complexity, length, and structure of your queries and requests. More complex or multi-step questions typically use more AI credits behind the scenes, meaning you’d use more of your free allowance in one go.
If you don’t use up your full AI Subscription after 12 months, it will expire and you’ll need to buy it again (or you can just use your monthly free allowance instead).
We recommend monitoring your usage via your Arbor AI dashboard to understand how your school is using your free allowance each month.
How do we purchase an AI Subscription?
If you’re close to your limit, you’ll receive automated threshold notification emails at 80% usage, 90% usage and 100% usage. Simply respond to those emails and our team will get in touch to help you purchase an AI Subscription quickly so you don’t lose access.
What happens once we buy an AI Subscription?
If you buy an AI Subscription, you’ll still continue to receive your free allowance each month. After you’ve used that up, your school’s Arbor AI usage will automatically switch to use your AI Subscription balance instead.
If you don’t use up your full AI Subscription after 12 months, it will expire and you’ll need to buy it again (or you can just use your monthly free allowance instead).
Does AI Subscription expire?
If you don’t use up your full AI Subscription after 12 months, it will expire and you’ll need to buy it again (or you can just use your monthly free allowance instead)
Will new AI features be included in Monthly Free Allowance and AI Subscription?
We plan to keep adding new standard Arbor AI features to your MIS which will be included in your AI Subscription, unless stated otherwise.
Is Auto Absence included in my Monthly Free Allowance and AI Subscription?
No. Auto Absence is handled differently from standard Arbor AI features. Read more about it here.
Why Am I Using Up My Monthly Allowance?
Your school’s actual consumption of AI credits may vary based on the complexity, length, and structure of your queries and requests. More complex or multi-step questions typically use more AI tokens behind the scenes, meaning you’d use more of your free allowance in one go.
We recommend monitoring your usage via your Arbor AI dashboard to understand how your school is using your free allowance each month .
Glossary of Terms
For example:
- Ask Arbor – answers questions about your school or students.
- Suggest Comms – helps you draft emails, letters, and SMS.
- Student Summary – generates quick reports about a student.
- Create Formula – turns your descriptions into tables or formulas.
AI Subscription: A paid plan that gives your school a larger and continuous AI usage allowance. It ensures you don’t lose access to Arbor AI even after your free allowance runs out.
Think of them like minutes on a phone plan. Every interaction “uses up” a small portion of your allowance.
Examples:
- Asking “Show me attendance for Year 9 this term” = 1 interaction.
- Asking “Write a letter to parents about the school trip” = 1 interaction.
- 80%: Heads-up notification
- 90%: Second warning
- 100%: AI access pauses unless you buy a subscription
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