ManageBac review

ManageBac is a learning platform for international schools, run by Faria Education Group and now branded ManageBac+. It grew up around the IB Diploma Programme and covers curriculum planning, assignments, a gradebook, report cards, attendance and messaging. It handles the paperwork DP coordinators deal with every year, such as exam registration, CAS and the Extended Essay. Schools running British, Cambridge, IGCSE, A level or AP courses alongside the IB can use it too.

Who it’s for

ManageBac fits IB schools, and DP schools most of all. If your coordinator spends February chasing CAS reflections, approving Extended Essay proposals and checking exam entries in IBIS, ManageBac puts those jobs in one place. It also suits international schools that run more than one curriculum, for example the MYP in the middle years and A levels or the DP at the top, because it can hold different frameworks side by side.

It is less suited to a state school with no IB programmes. The DP tools are the main reason to choose it, and a general LMS such as Canvas or Google Classroom covers assignments for a broader range of schools.

What it does well

The DP workflow is the strongest part. ManageBac connects directly to IBIS, so coordinators register anticipated and full Diploma candidates from the student records they already keep. They complete each student’s plan worksheet first, and ManageBac can produce personal exam calendars for students. Portfolio coursework can move from ManageBac to IBIS without students uploading files again.

Extended Essay supervisors review and approve proposals, record interview notes, set deadlines and collect drafts through a Turnitin integration. Students track CAS activities against the IB’s requirements, and advisors can see who is behind before the end of Year 12 rather than in the last month of the programme.

Planning covers all four IB programmes. Teachers build units against more than 600 built-in standards, and coordinators can see coverage across a department. Assignments feed the gradebook, and report card templates pull from it, so a DP report with criterion grades and teacher comments comes out of the same data teachers marked against.

The mobile app serves every role. Students check deadlines and build portfolios. Parents see grades, teacher comments and report cards, and can submit attendance excusals. Teachers mark tasks, annotate coursework, take attendance and record behaviour. Messaging runs through KeyChat.

The AI writing assistant helps teachers draft comments and messages, and schools switch it on in school settings, so leadership decides whether staff can use it.

Where it falls short

The interface is dense. Teachers coming from Google Classroom will meet far more menus and settings, and new staff need a proper induction rather than a quick tour. App Store reviewers say the mobile app is harder to navigate than the web version and report bugs, so test it with a few parents before you make it the main way families get reports.

Some features sit in other Faria products. Online exams for MYP and DP come through AssessPrep, and Faria sells bundles that combine several services. Check what your quote includes before you assume a feature is part of the core subscription.

The DP tools have limits worth knowing. DP Course students cannot be registered for the Extended Essay, TOK or CAS through ManageBac, so coordinators still do those in IBIS.

Pricing

ManageBac does not publish prices. Its help centre says ManageBac+ is sold as an annual subscription priced on the total number of students, and quotes come from the sales team. Invoices are based on student count, subject to a minimum student number set in your agreement, and schools can lower the count by archiving inactive users. Ask for the minimum in writing before you sign, especially if enrolment might drop.

Privacy and data

ManageBac+ runs on AWS, according to Faria’s subprocessor list. Faria says ManageBac follows ISO/IEC 27001, complies with GDPR and China’s Cybersecurity Law, and offers a GDPR data protection addendum. Ask which AWS region will hold your school’s data.

On AI, Faria says ManageBac+ does not share personally identifiable information with third-party language models, and that prompts and responses are not used to train models. It also says the service hosting the model keeps data for about 30 days, and that trained staff can read logged queries and responses to improve prompts. Schools can turn the AI features off. Our student data privacy checklist lists what else to ask for.

Verdict

ManageBac is a safe pick for established IB schools, especially those with a large Diploma cohort, because it handles IBIS registration, CAS and the Extended Essay better than general platforms. Expect a steeper learning curve for teachers than with newer tools. PYP-heavy schools that care most about planning and portfolios should compare it with Toddle, and schools without IB programmes will get more from a general learning management system.

See the best ManageBac alternatives