A note from our CEO & Founder, Himal Randeniya
I'm Himal, Mana's founder. I started Mana because I wanted educators to have tools that help give children an extraordinary start to life. I'm writing because something important is changing, and I wanted to explain it properly.
The Mana free plan is winding down. If you're already on a Room, Centre, or Enterprise plan, nothing changes for you: your access continues as normal.
As Mana has grown, it has become a platform built around how whole services operate, with oversight, shared practice, and the team accountability that safe ECEC practice requires. In early childhood education, children's documentation needs to sit within a licensed service where there is organisational oversight and consent. Individual accounts operating outside a service create a gap in that protection, and that's not something we can continue to support.
This isn't about anything you've done wrong. It's about keeping children safe. And, it's about where Mana can do its best work and that's when a whole service is using it together.
If you have a free team alongside a paid Mana team, only the free team will be affected. Your paid team and login are unaffected.
We didn't make this decision lightly, and we want to help you find the right path forward. We have included more detailed information below on what's changing and recommended next steps.
What is changing?
The Mana free plan is winding down. Here's the timeline:
From 4 July 2026, AI requests will be turned off for free plan teams. You'll still have full access to your documentation and everything else in Mana. You will see "0" AI requests in your account from this date.
From early October 2026 (exact date to be confirmed), free plan teams will be completely blocked. You'll still be able to log in but won't be able to access your documentation until you upgrade to a paid plan.
After the block, your team and all its data will be permanently deleted on a date to be confirmed. We'll give you plenty of notice before that happens.
Why are we making this change?
Two honest reasons. The first is child safety. In ECEC, children's documentation should sit within the governance of a licensed service, where there's organisational oversight, team accountability, and the consent processes that local regulations require. Individual accounts operating outside a service create a gap in that protection.
The second is that Mana has evolved into a platform designed to support whole services, with features around oversight, compliance, and consistent practice that only work when Mana is used with a service's permission and support. We're changing our access model to reflect that.
What this means depending on your situation
I'm on a free plan and this is my only Mana team.
From 04 July 2026, AI requests will be turned off for your team. You'll still have full access to your documentation.
From early October, your team will be completely blocked. This means you'll be able to log in but won't be able to access your content until you upgrade.
I'm on a free plan but I'm also part of a paid Mana team.
Only your free team will be affected. Your login and your paid team are not affected. You can still access your paid team as normal by switching teams in the app.
I'm on a Room, Centre or Enterprise plan.
Nothing changes for you. You can keep using Mana exactly as you do today.
Recommended next steps
Option 1: If you are on a free plan, talk to your centre or service about getting Mana set up for the whole team.
When a service is behind Mana, staff get better support, oversight is built in, and the platform works the way it was designed to. It's a conversation worth having with your leadership.
Option 2: Upgrade directly to a team-based plan from your account settings for you and your team.
The process is self-service, and we have a guide prepared on how to do this.
Option 3: Download your documents/content and close your account if the timing isn't right.
If Option 1 or Option 2 are not available to you, use the download button in either individual journeys or in specific documents to download PDFs (pictured below).
Thank you all for your support of Mana and our mission to transform early childhood education.