Best AI Grading Tool by Task
Prices and limits below come from each provider's official pricing or help pages, checked on October 15, 2026. We have not benchmarked grading accuracy, and we don't rank by commission.
AI Grading Tools Compared
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Paid plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoGrader | Rubric-based essay grading, Google Classroom | Up to 150 submissions/month; handwritten assignments supported | Individual $15/month billed annually (350 submissions/month) |
| EssayGrader | High-volume essay grading with a rubric library | 100 essays/month, 1,000 words per essay | Pro $14.99/month (350 essays); Premium $34.99/month (800 essays) |
| Brisk Teaching | Feedback on student work in Google Docs | $0 teacher plan with feedback tools | School/district plans, custom pricing |
| MagicSchool | Batch writing feedback based on your rubric | Free plan includes Class Writing Feedback | Plus $8.33/month billed annually or $12.99 monthly |
| Gemini in Classroom | Drafting private-comment feedback in Google Classroom | Rubric creation on all editions | Feedback suggestions need Education Plus or the Teaching & Learning add-on |
| Gradescope | Scanned exams, problem sets, question-by-question grading | Basic plan is free (no AI grouping) | AI-assisted answer grouping on the Institutional plan |
| ChatGPT / Claude for Teachers | Feedback drafts with your own rubric and prompts | Free for verified U.S. K–12 educators | — |
Plans change often. Use the official links in each section to confirm limits before you roll a tool out to a whole department.
1. CoGrader
Best for: English and humanities teachers who want an AI first pass on essays against a rubric, with Google Classroom import.
CoGrader's Starter plan is free for teachers for up to 150 student submissions a month. It includes rubric building and sharing, handwritten assignment support and Google Classroom. The Individual plan is $15 a month billed annually and raises the cap to 350 submissions a month, adding grammar checks, a class performance dashboard, and AI and plagiarism detection. School and district plans offer unlimited submissions.
Privacy: CoGrader states it is FERPA compliant and SOC 2 Type 1 certified.
Watch for: the pricing page lists Canvas and Schoology for all plans, but its FAQ says those integrations are for school and district accounts. Confirm before you rely on them.
Check CoGrader's current plans.
2. EssayGrader
Best for: teachers grading a lot of essays who want ready-made rubrics and LMS integrations on the free plan.
EssayGrader's free Basic plan grades 100 essays a month, up to 1,000 words each, with writing and grammar reports, a rubrics library and integrations with Google Classroom, Canvas and Schoology. Pro costs $14.99 a month for 350 essays (3,500 words each), 800+ aligned rubrics, citation checks (MLA, APA, Harvard) and grading of oral and video submissions. Premium costs $34.99 a month for 800 essays (8,000 words each) with automatic AI-writing and plagiarism detection.
Watch for: the 1,000-word cap on the free plan rules out longer research papers.
Check EssayGrader's current plans.
3. Brisk Teaching
Best for: teachers who give feedback directly inside students' Google Docs.
Brisk's teacher plan is $0. Brisk offers several feedback styles (Glow & Grow, Rubric Criteria, Next Steps and Targeted), and you can generate a rubric or upload your own. Its "Inspect Writing" feature replays a student's writing process in Google Docs, showing edits and pasted text. Brisk lists targeted feedback and whole-class batch feedback among its premium features, and new sign-ups get 14 days of premium access before moving to the free plan.
Privacy: Brisk says it is FERPA, COPPA and SOC 2 compliant and does not store the underlying student work it processes.
4. MagicSchool
Best for: teachers who already use MagicSchool for planning and want rubric-based feedback in the same place.
MagicSchool's free plan includes Class Writing Feedback, which the provider describes as reviewing, personalizing and sending AI-generated feedback on written assignments in batches, based on your rubric. Plus costs $8.33 per user per month billed annually, or $12.99 billed monthly, and adds unlimited generations and student tools.
Watch for: MagicSchool marks Class Writing Feedback as "Standard Access" on both plans and does not publish a numeric limit for free users.
Check MagicSchool's current plans.
5. Gemini in Google Classroom
Best for: schools on Google Workspace for Education that want AI help without adding another app.
Gemini in Classroom is available with all Google Workspace for Education editions, and rubric creation has no edition requirement. Suggested feedback on written assignments is different: Google says it needs Education Plus or the Teaching & Learning add-on. In private comments, the teacher selects "Help me write" and Gemini drafts feedback based on the student's work, grade level and a focus area the teacher chooses. The teacher reviews and edits it before the student sees it.
Watch for: Gemini in Classroom is English-only, and a school administrator has to turn it on.
Google's Gemini in Classroom requirements.
6. Gradescope
Best for: math, science and computer science teachers grading paper exams, worksheets and problem sets.
Gradescope's Basic plan is free and includes dynamic rubrics, question-by-question grading, student- and instructor-uploaded PDF assignments, assignment statistics, regrade requests and data export. Its AI-Powered Grading, which groups similar answers so you can grade them together, is only on the Institutional plan (pricing by quote).
Watch for: the AI grouping that saves the most time needs a school or district license.
7. ChatGPT for Teachers and Claude for Teachers
Best for: teachers who want full control over the rubric and wording, or who grade work the dedicated tools don't handle well.
OpenAI says ChatGPT for Teachers is free through June 2028 for verified U.S. K–12 educators. Anthropic says verified U.S. K–12 educators who sign up by June 30, 2027 get a full year of Claude for Teachers free. Neither is a gradebook, but both can draft rubric-based feedback when you paste the rubric and an anonymized student response.
See our guides to ChatGPT for Teachers and Claude for Teachers, or build a ready-to-paste feedback prompt with the AI Prompt Generator for Teachers.
Best Free AI Grader for Essays
If you only need essays graded and don't want to pay, compare the free caps against your class size. A teacher with 5 classes of 30 students has 150 students, so one essay per student per month is 150 submissions:
| Free plan | Monthly cap | Covers 150 essays a month? |
|---|---|---|
| CoGrader Starter | 150 submissions | Yes, exactly |
| EssayGrader Basic | 100 essays (≤1,000 words) | No, 50 short |
| Brisk / MagicSchool free | No published number | Unclear; test with one class first |
Two essays per student a month (300 submissions) fits CoGrader Individual (350 a month, $15/month billed annually) or EssayGrader Pro (350 a month, $14.99/month).
Can AI Grade Handwritten Work?
Yes, with limits. CoGrader's free plan lists handwritten assignment support, and Gradescope is built around scanned PDFs of paper work. Clear, dark handwriting scanned flat gives the best results. Check the transcription before trusting the grade, especially for math notation.
How to Grade With AI Responsibly
- Start with a clear rubric. AI feedback is only as specific as the criteria you give it. Our free Rubric Generator makes an editable 3–5 level rubric you can paste into any of these tools.
- Remove personal details. Use tools your school has approved, and don't paste student names or ID numbers into general chatbots.
- Treat the AI score as a draft. Read the work, check a few scores against your own judgment and adjust. You are responsible for the grade.
- Calibrate on a small sample. Grade 5 papers yourself, run the same 5 through the tool, and compare before you use it on a whole class.
- Tell students and families. Explain that AI helps draft feedback and that a teacher makes the final decision.
Free Prompt for AI Essay Feedback
If you use ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini directly, a structured prompt gives more consistent results:
Once you have scores, the Grade Calculator turns points into a percentage and letter grade, and the Weighted Grade Calculator combines categories.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free AI grading tool for teachers?
For essays, CoGrader (150 submissions a month) and EssayGrader (100 essays a month) have the clearest published free limits. Brisk and MagicSchool include AI feedback in free teacher plans, and Gradescope Basic is free for question-by-question grading without AI grouping.
Can AI grade essays accurately?
AI can produce useful first-draft scores and feedback when it has a clear rubric, but it can misread arguments, miss context and be inconsistent on borderline work. Use it as a draft and review every grade before it reaches students.
Does Google Classroom have AI grading?
Google Classroom can draft suggested feedback on written assignments with Gemini, but only for Google Workspace for Education Plus or the Teaching & Learning add-on. Gemini rubric creation is available on all education editions. Google doesn't describe it as automatic grading; teachers review and edit the feedback.
Is it OK for teachers to use AI to grade?
Many schools allow AI-assisted feedback, but policies vary. Check your school or district policy, use approved tools, protect student data and keep the final grading decision with the teacher.
Are AI grading tools FERPA compliant?
Some providers say so: CoGrader states FERPA compliance and SOC 2 Type 1, and Brisk states FERPA, COPPA and SOC 2 compliance. Your district's data-privacy agreement process is the real test, so check before uploading student work.
Can ChatGPT grade essays?
ChatGPT can draft rubric-based feedback and a suggested score if you paste the rubric and the essay. It doesn't connect to your gradebook like a dedicated grader. Verified U.S. K–12 teachers can use ChatGPT for Teachers free through June 2028.