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Annual SaaS subscription at one flat per-student rate: 24 SAR per student per year, with every school's first 100 students free forever. Designed to scale from a 50-student private school to a national network of public schools. Live in production at balqalam.com; piloted with King Fahad Schools — the founding member of the MENA-10 free pilot cohort. For commercial process see Sales; for the pilot motion see Pilot; for the unified go-to-market see GTM.
Subscription tiers
| Tier | Price | Best for | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| FREE | 0 SAR, forever | Small schools, evaluation | Up to 100 students and 10 teachers, 1 GB storage, community support, core features |
| PRO | 24 SAR/student/year beyond the first 100 (≈ $6.40) | Growing schools | Unlimited students and teachers, hosting, support by WhatsApp and email (Sunday–Thursday), updates, custom branding, advanced analytics, parent push notifications |
| ENTERPRISE | 24 SAR/student/year — the same rate | Over 1,000 students, networks, government contracts | Dedicated contract, dedicated AM, 99.9% SLA, SSO (SAML/OAuth), white-label, unlimited storage and API, custom integrations |
Annual price = (students − 100) × 24 SAR. No bands and no jumps: the price moves by exactly 24 SAR per student (≈ 2 SAR a month). Every school also gets a full 3-month free trial.
| Students | Billable | Annual price | Per month (equivalent) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 SAR (free) | 0 SAR |
| 150 | 50 | 1,200 SAR ($320) | 100 SAR ($27) |
| 250 | 150 | 3,600 SAR ($960) | 300 SAR ($80) |
| 300 | 200 | 4,800 SAR ($1,280) | 400 SAR ($107) |
| 500 | 400 | 9,600 SAR ($2,560) | 800 SAR ($213) |
| 1,000 | 900 | 21,600 SAR ($5,760) | 1,800 SAR ($480) |
Prices exclude VAT (15% in Saudi Arabia). They are quoted in SAR; the pricing page also shows USD, SDG (Sudanese pound) and EGP at the live daily exchange rate. At the time of writing, 24 SAR ≈ 6.40 USD ≈ 3,265 SDG (official rate) ≈ 335 EGP. The single source for every number on the site is src/components/saas-marketing/pricing/rates.ts.
Why 24 SAR per student
The anchor is 6,000 SAR a year for a 250-student school. Spread evenly, that is 24 SAR per student per year. Flat bands made a 100-student school pay 60 SAR a head; a flat per-student weight instead makes the bill grow in exact proportion to enrolment, one student at a time.
| Benchmark | Per student per year |
|---|---|
| Classe365 | 24–60 SAR |
| Europe, off-the-shelf systems | ~20–65 SAR |
| India | ~2–27 SAR |
| Balqalam | 24 SAR (first 100 free) |
24 SAR sits mid-market: at the floor of Classe365, the low end of Europe and the top of India's range. Infrastructure costs about 2.4–3.5% of the fee without video. Video LMS bandwidth is the main cost risk — watch it on any school that leans on recorded lessons.
Billing and payment
One annual price. There is no monthly plan, no monthly minimum, no monthly/yearly discount and no metered billing.
| Instalment | When | Share | 250 students | 500 students |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | At signing | 50% | 1,800 SAR | 4,800 SAR |
| 2 | Month 3 | 12.5% | 450 SAR | 1,200 SAR |
| 3 | Month 6 | 12.5% | 450 SAR | 1,200 SAR |
| 4 | Month 9 | 12.5% | 450 SAR | 1,200 SAR |
| 5 | Month 12 | 12.5% | 450 SAR | 1,200 SAR |
Multi-year terms are negotiated for government contracts.
Payment methods: bank transfer (schools, enterprise and government), Stripe for card payments (no metered subscriptions), and regional gateways (bankak, tap, mobile money) for MEA.
Revenue streams
| Lumos | Share | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Per-student subscriptions | ~85% | Recurring revenue from annual per-student contracts |
| Enterprise contracts | ~10% | Multi-school + government deals, same per-student rate |
| API overage | small | Usage-based billing above tier limits |
| White-label licensing | small | Custom domain + complete rebranding fee |
| Professional services | small | Implementation, migration, training |
| Marketplace (future) | — | Commission on third-party integrations |
Unit economics
500-student school (PRO)
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual revenue | 9,600 SAR ($2,560) — (500 − 100) × 24 SAR |
| Monthly equivalent | 800 SAR ($213) |
| Cash at signing | 4,800 SAR ($1,280), then 1,200 SAR ($320) at months 3, 6, 9 and 12 |
| Customer acquisition cost | ~$500 |
| Payback period | At signing — the 50% upfront covers CAC |
| Gross margin | 80%+ (infrastructure ≈ 2.4–3.5% of the fee without video) |
5,000-student network (ENTERPRISE)
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual revenue | 117,600 SAR ($31,360) — (5,000 − 100) × 24 SAR, priced as one contract |
| Monthly equivalent | 9,800 SAR ($2,613) |
| Cash at signing | 58,800 SAR ($15,680), then 14,700 SAR ($3,920) at months 3, 6, 9 and 12 |
| Customer acquisition cost | ~$3,000 |
| Payback period | At signing |
| Gross margin | 85%+ |
Market opportunity (MEA)
| Region | 2024 size | Projected | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|
| MEA EdTech | $14.4B | $33.0B by 2030 | ~14.6% |
| Middle East EdTech | $11.3B | $27.0B by 2033 | ~9.1% |
| GCC EdTech | $3.02B | $4.47B by 2030 | ~6.74% |
K-12 holds 44% of the EdTech market — the largest revenue-generating sector. Total K-12 TAM in MEA exceeds $6B by 2030.
Country focus
| Country | Size | CAGR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sudan | Emerging | — | Arabic-first primary market |
| Saudi Arabia | $2.32B | 12.77% | Largest MENA market |
| Egypt | $302M | 14.0% | 234 active EdTech companies |
| South Africa | $929M | 11.78% | 40% of Africa EdTech 50 |
Growth strategy
| Phase | Plan |
|---|---|
| 0. Free pilot cohort | MENA-10 — 10 free pilots, 3 months, feedback velocity → product polish |
| 1. Freemium | FREE tier for ≤100 students; convert as they grow |
| 2. Land + expand | Pilot → 30%-off PRO Year 1, demonstrate ROI, propose network-wide ENTERPRISE |
| 3. Government | RFPs, custom compliance, multi-year volume contracts |
| 4. Regional expansion | French / Spanish / Hindi / Mandarin locales; regional certifications |
See GTM for phase-gate logic — Phase 1 land-and-expand starts only after the cohort hits its conversion benchmarks. Free-pilot economics are intentional: ~$40 / pilot / month in infrastructure cost (Vercel + Neon + email), recovered if any single pilot converts at PRO 30%-off pricing.
Revenue projections
| Year | Schools | ARR | NPS / churn |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | $240K | 98% CSAT, < 3%/mo churn |
| 3 | 2,500 | $6M | 85+ NPS, < 1.5%/mo churn |
| 5 | 15,000 (50+ countries) | $36M | IPO-ready metrics |
Cost structure
| Category | Service |
|---|---|
| Hosting | Vercel (serverless), Neon (PostgreSQL serverless) |
| Storage / CDN | AWS S3 + CloudFront (cdn.databayt.org) |
| Email / SMS | Resend, Twilio |
| Payments | Stripe (2.9% + $0.30/transaction), regional gateways |
| Development | Core team + community contributors via shared economy |
| Compliance | Annual security audit, certifications |
Target margins
- Gross margin: 80%+ (cloud-native efficiency)
- Operating margin: 20%+ at scale
- LTV:CAC ratio: 10:1+
Professional services
| Service | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Platform setup | $5,000–$15,000 |
| Custom integrations | $10,000–$50,000 |
| Data migration | $15,000–$100,000 |
| Training (per day) | $2,500–$7,500 |
| Managed services (monthly) | $5,000–$25,000 |
Marketplace and partnerships
A future integration marketplace (70/30 partner/platform split) and reseller network are on the roadmap; not active today.
Template store (future)
A planned add-on revenue lumos: country-specific curriculum templates (Sudan curriculum, Saudi National Curriculum, IB MENA, Cambridge MENA, Azhar curriculum) sold to schools that adopt Balqalam. Pricing range $5–$50 per template with subscription bundles. Activation trigger: ≥3 pilots ship with a custom curriculum we can productize. Not active in 2026 — see GTM Phase 3.
Equity and revenue sharing
All employees receive equity (4-year vest, 1-year cliff). Open-source contributors earn through the shared economy framework.
See also
- GTM — three-phase go-to-market
- Pilot — free MENA-10 cohort
- Sales — B2B process and objection handling
- Marketing — positioning, content, channels
- Leads — discovery, follow-up, current pipeline
- Proposal — Free Pilot + Paid Conversion templates
- Case study — proof artifacts
- Pitch — partner-facing narrative
- Shared economy — contribution valuation framework
- PRD — product requirements
- Architecture — technical design
On This Page
Subscription tiersWhy 24 SAR per studentBilling and paymentRevenue streamsUnit economics500-student school (PRO)5,000-student network (ENTERPRISE)Market opportunity (MEA)Country focusGrowth strategyRevenue projectionsCost structureTarget marginsProfessional servicesMarketplace and partnershipsTemplate store (future)Equity and revenue sharingSee also