How we compare
Global Admissions has offered a single profile for many programmes since 2015, free to students because partner universities pay. ApplyBoard built a large business routing students into Canada, the US, the UK and Australia. Both serve students coming from abroad. The gap we can evidence is narrower than "nobody has done this": a service that reads UK qualifications, runs on the UK school calendar and sells to the student rather than the university.
Scroll the table to compare all services.
| Capability | Graduate Anywhere (planned) | Global Admissions | UCAS | ApplyBoard | National portals (Studielink, uni-assist) | Education agents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary customer | UK student and family | International students; universities pay | UK applicants | Institutions and recruitment partners | Applicant (public service) | University commission, sometimes student fee |
| Direction of mobility | UK outbound | Inbound to partner countries, strongest in China, Malaysia, Germany | Into the UK | Into Canada, US, UK, Australia, Ireland, Germany | Into one country each | Mostly into the UK |
| One application, many universities | Yes, three per fee | Yes, one profile for many programmes | Yes, five choices | Yes, partner institutions | Within one country only | Varies |
| Fee to student | £49 introductory, plus third-party fees | Standard service free; paid Priority and Guaranteed tiers | £34.50 | Free; university fees apply | Portal or handling fees | Often four figures |
| UK qualification mapping (A-level, BTEC, IB) | Core of the service | General admission-chance tools | Not applicable | Not UK-outbound | Evaluation by the portal (uni-assist) or university | Varies |
| Human help with documents and deadlines | Named adviser, included | Flags missing documents; paid tiers add review | Via schools | Via recruitment partners | — | Yes |
| Verified traction | None yet; pilot 2027 | 3,832 students since 2015 (company claim) | 759,830 applicants, 2025 | Large, but 150+ roles cut in 2025 after visa-policy changes | National systems | Fragmented |
Sources, checked 13 October 2026: Global Admissions and its services page · UCAS 2025 cycle data · ApplyBoard (Wikipedia summary of reported valuation decline and 2025 layoffs) · Studielink · uni-assist · Raimo et al. on agent commissions. Competitor descriptions are our reading of their public pages and may change.
Our matrix translates A-levels, BTECs and IB into each university's stated requirements, and our timeline runs October to May, alongside UCAS. That is the part of the job no inbound platform has reason to build.
At launch the service fee is our only revenue. We plan to add flat per-enrolment fees from partner universities later. When we do, our commercial-independence policy will be published first: eligibility results never depend on partner status, partners are labelled, and ranking criteria are stated.
Sixth-form careers advisers are trained on UCAS and asked about Europe more each year. A free "studying abroad after A-levels" resource for schools is the acquisition channel, and the reason we can keep the service fee low.
