Capsim is the category leader and rebuilt its platform in 2025. Here is a factual, side-by-side look at how Pro Forma compares on price, transparency, and academic-integrity features, for anyone evaluating both before a contract.
Capsim is the category leader in business simulations for higher education, with a long track record and, as of May 2025, a rebuilt platform: real-time recalculation and richer visualization. It also runs its own AI chat tutor, CapsimTutor. None of that is in question here; this page compares two specific things a department actually has to plan around, price transparency and a short list of documented features, not overall product quality.
Capsim does not publish a per-seat price on its own site. Getting a number requires a sales contact or a review-copy request, the same pattern as Marketplace Simulations, the other major vendor in the category that withholds public pricing. That is a normal enterprise sales model, but it means a department cannot compare cost without a call.
Pro Forma's price is public: $29.95 per student seat, listed on our pricing page, no sales call required. Every course gets a free 3-round evaluation before anyone pays, and the demo is playable with no account. Every formula running the market is published in-app in the Spec Book, and the fairness-calibration results behind that economy are printed, unedited, on our method page on every release. On AI coaching specifically: Capsim has its own tutor, CapsimTutor, so we are not claiming to be the only vendor with an AI coach. What we can document is that Pro Forma's coach conversations are visible to the instructor as a transcript, alongside per-student exam worlds so there is no shared answer key, and LTI 1.3 grade passback into your LMS.
| Feature | Capsim | Pro Forma |
|---|---|---|
| Per-seat price | Not published; requires sales contact | $29.95, public |
| Price public, no sales call | No | Yes |
| Free evaluation tier | Not found in vendor materials; review-copy request only | Free 3-round evaluation |
| Playable no-account demo | Not found in vendor materials | Yes |
| Published formulas | Not found in vendor materials | Yes, in-app Spec Book |
| Calibration proof published | Not found in vendor materials | Yes, on the method page |
| AI coach | Yes, CapsimTutor | Yes |
| Instructor-visible AI transcripts | Not found in vendor materials | Yes |
| Per-student exam worlds | Not found in vendor materials | Yes |
| LMS integration with grade passback | Yes, native integrations marketed | Yes, LTI 1.3 |
| Runs on phones | Web-based, responsive claimed | Yes, browser-based |
"Not found in vendor materials" means our research did not turn up a public claim either way, not that the feature is confirmed absent. Capsim's 2025 platform rebuild and CapsimTutor are documented on Capsim's own site.
No cost, no sales call, no card required to start.
Choose an edition and format, set the season clock, and generate a join code, in under 15 minutes.
Run the founding phase, the first decisions, and the first results day before it touches your syllabus.
Capsim does not publish a per-seat price on its site. Getting a quote requires contacting sales or requesting a review copy. Pro Forma publishes its price, $29.95 per student seat, with no sales call required.
No. Capsim shipped a platform rebuild in May 2025 with real-time recalculation and richer visualization, and it is the category leader by tenure and adoption. That is a real, recent modernization, not a legacy product standing still.
Yes. Capsim offers an AI chat tutor called CapsimTutor. Pro Forma also has an AI coach, and the specific difference we can document is that Pro Forma's coach conversations are visible to the instructor as a transcript; we did not find published detail on transcript visibility for CapsimTutor.
Pro Forma is a business strategy simulation built for college courses with a public $29.95 per-seat price, a free 3-round evaluation, published formulas, and academic-integrity features such as per-student exam worlds. It is new in 2026 and currently in an instructor beta.
Play the no-account demo, then create a free instructor account and run the free 3-round evaluation with a real or test class. Setup typically takes under 15 minutes and no payment is required to evaluate.