Shared infrastructure
Schools use the same maintained learning platform rather than each commissioning a separate installation.
How we keep the price competitive
One platform. Many schools. No per-person meter.
We make the courses once for the academic year and spread the platform costs across the schools that use them. That is a different model from selling one training place at a time.
The short answer
More learners do not mean the same costs repeated 860 times.
A school with 800 pupils and 60 staff pays £1,999—not £999—for an academic year. The £999 package covers up to 600 pupils and 40 staff.
Once a course has been written, assessed and published, allowing another pupil to complete it does not require another trainer or another hour in a classroom. Hosting and support do grow with use, but much more slowly than a per-person training bill.
That is why we can charge a school-level licence. Schools share the cost of the platform and the annual rewrite; each school does not pay to create and operate the whole thing from scratch.
What we keep lean
The economics are deliberately simple.
Reusable course design
The expensive work is researching, writing and updating a strong course. That work is shared across every school using the annual edition.
Online, self-paced delivery
There is no trainer-day, travel bill or room limit each time another group starts. Staff and pupils complete the learning online.
The self-hosting alternative
Moodle is free. Running Moodle is not.
A school can download Moodle without paying a software licence. It would still need to own the service around it.
Build and configure it
Provide a web server, database and file storage; configure the domain, HTTPS, email, scheduled tasks and permissions.
Keep it dependable
Monitor capacity and errors, maintain backups, test that those backups restore, and respond when pupils or staff cannot sign in.
Keep it secure
Apply operating-system and Moodle security updates, review plugins, protect personal data and plan upgrades before old versions fall out of support.
Build the actual learning
Hosting gives you an empty learning platform. The school still needs to research, write, assess, review and update the staff and pupil courses.
Run it through the year
Create accounts or integrations, organise cohorts, answer support questions, track completion and prepare useful records for leaders.
Moodle’s own installation guidance calls for a web stack and ongoing configuration of cron, backups, email and security. Those are operational jobs, not optional extras. Read Moodle’s installation guidance
A sensible cost check
Separate the server bill from the cost of owning the service.
Low-cost Moodle-compatible hosting can start below £200 a year. That is useful server space, not a finished online safety programme.
At the other end, published managed-Moodle prices show what happens when hosting, maintenance and support are included. Current public examples for roughly 1,000 users range from £4,740 a year for managed hosting to £12,915 for a broader fully managed service. These are reference points, not like-for-like alternatives to OSA.
The honest comparison is therefore not “free Moodle versus £1,999”. It is the cost of hosting, staff time, security, upgrades, support and course production versus buying the finished annual programme.