An honest look at how Pro Forma compares to GLO-BUS, on price, setup, and the academic-integrity features a 2026 course now has to think about.
GLO-BUS has been used in strategic management classrooms for decades and is a familiar tool for many departments, with instructors who already know its workflow and rubric. That familiarity is a real advantage, and switching a running course away from a known tool is a legitimate cost to weigh, not something to wave off.
GLO-BUS's own pricing page lists $44.95 per student, purchased by self-registration with a credit card; the only discount mechanic is a department direct-billing arrangement at that same per-seat price. We did not find a published free tier, a playable no-account demo, or a public breakdown of the underlying formulas anywhere in GLO-BUS's own materials, and we found no discoverable AI coaching, modernized interface, or mobile-specific design on the product.
Pro Forma is priced at $29.95 per student seat, public on our pricing page with 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. We built an AI coach with instructor-visible transcripts, per-student exam worlds so there is no shared answer key, and LTI 1.3 grade passback into your LMS.
| Feature | GLO-BUS | Pro Forma |
|---|---|---|
| Per-seat price | $44.95 | $29.95 |
| Price public, no sales call | Yes | Yes |
| Free evaluation tier | Not found in vendor materials | 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 |
| 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 | Not found in vendor materials | Yes, LTI 1.3 |
| Runs on phones | Not found in vendor materials | 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. GLO-BUS price and billing terms are drawn from GLO-BUS's own pricing page as of July 2026.
No cost, no sales call, no card required to start.
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Run the founding phase, the first decisions, and the first results day before it touches your syllabus.
GLO-BUS is a business strategy simulation used in strategic management courses, from the same publisher family as the Business Strategy Game, where student teams run a digital camera and wearable-camera company against classmates over a series of decision periods.
GLO-BUS's own pricing page lists $44.95 per student as of July 2026, purchased by self-registration with a credit card. The only discount path is department direct-billing at the same per-seat price.
We did not find a published free tier or evaluation mode in GLO-BUS's own pricing materials. Pro Forma, by contrast, gives every course a free 3-round evaluation and a playable demo with no account required.
Pro Forma is a business strategy simulation built for college courses at $29.95 per student seat, with published formulas, a free 3-round evaluation, and academic-integrity features such as per-student exam worlds and instructor-visible AI coach transcripts. It is new in 2026 and currently in an instructor beta.
Create a free instructor account, run the 4-step setup wizard, and generate a join code for your syllabus. Setup typically takes under 15 minutes, and the first three rounds of any course are free to evaluate before anyone pays.