Comparison
Nine AI grading tools that grade with your own rubric, and how each one takes it
A grader that follows your rubric gives the points your rubric gives, criterion by criterion, and nothing it made up. The tools differ in how your rubric gets in, whose points end up on the page, and when students see them.
The Graidable team
Published
Graidable makes one of the tools compared here. Every claim about another tool links to that vendor’s own page.
| Tool | Rubric in | Per criterion | Your points | You approve | Free option |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisk | Upload | Feedback per criterion | Not stated | You approve first | Free for teachers |
| Class Companion | File, paste, build | Yes | Yes | Instant or your choice | Free plan |
| CoGrader | Upload or paste | Yes | Yes | You approve first | 150 a month |
| EssayGrader | Upload or build | Yes | 0 to 100 | You approve first | 100 a month |
| Gradescope | Built per question | You apply it | Yes | You publish | Basic plan |
| GradingPal | Upload, paste, build | Yes | Yes | You approve first | 50 a month |
| Graidable | Upload with the task | Yes | Yes | You approve first | First class free, without a card |
| MagicSchool | Build or upload | Yes | Yes | You approve first | Free plan |
| TimelyGrader | Build, import, upload | Yes | Yes | You approve first | Free to try |
Brisk
- Rubric in
- Upload
- Your points
- Not stated
- Free option
- Free for teachers
Class Companion
- Rubric in
- File, paste, build
- Your points
- Yes
- Free option
- Free plan
CoGrader
- Rubric in
- Upload or paste
- Your points
- Yes
- Free option
- 150 a month
EssayGrader
- Rubric in
- Upload or build
- Your points
- 0 to 100
- Free option
- 100 a month
Gradescope
- Rubric in
- Built per question
- Your points
- Yes
- Free option
- Basic plan
GradingPal
- Rubric in
- Upload, paste, build
- Your points
- Yes
- Free option
- 50 a month
Graidable
- Rubric in
- Upload with the task
- Your points
- Yes
- Free option
- First class free, without a card
MagicSchool
- Rubric in
- Build or upload
- Your points
- Yes
- Free option
- Free plan
TimelyGrader
- Rubric in
- Build, import, upload
- Your points
- Yes
- Free option
- Free to try
In this article
This page compares what nine AI grading tools do with a rubric you already have: Brisk1, Class Companion2, CoGrader3, EssayGrader4, Gradescope5, GradingPal6, Graidable7, MagicSchool8 and TimelyGrader9. Graidable is ours. Every cell comes from the vendor’s own pages, read on 4 November 2026.
Most of these tools will also write a rubric for you; we compared that in a separate article. This one is for the teacher whose rubric is done and who wants to know four things: how it gets into the tool, whether each criterion gets its own score, whether the points are yours or the tool’s, and what happens before a student sees any of it.
The rule that shows whose rubric is grading
Here is a one-question rubric we wrote, with two rules a grader working from its own idea of a good answer would never apply on its own: the method point stands when the final answer is wrong, and spelling costs nothing (Figure 1). The answer under it has the right formula, an arithmetic slip and a misspelled word.
A runner covers 150 m in 12 s. Find her average speed. (3 points)
Two points of three. A grader on its own criteria gives this answer less: the answer is wrong, so the working looks wrong too, and a point goes for the spelling. Both are reasonable rules. They are just not yours, and a class set graded on them comes back with points you then have to argue with one by one.
So the table under the title asks how your rubric gets in before it asks the price, and the last section gives you five rules to plant in a test rubric.
The nine, in alphabetical order
“Not stated” means the pages we read didn’t say. It doesn’t mean no, so ask the vendor.
Brisk
Feedback as comments inside Google Docs and your LMS.
- Your rubric gets in
- Uploaded rubrics or state standards guide the feedback; the pages don’t name a file format
- Score per criterion
- Feedback aligned to each rubric criterion; rubric scoring in feedback is an opt-in on its plans page
- Your points
- Not stated
- Before students see it
- Comments stay in draft until you approve them for posting
- Free option
- Free for teachers; batch feedback has an upload limit
- Price
- Premium and Intelligence plans on custom pricing
- Its FAQ says you can generate a rubric with Brisk, then upload it to use for feedback.
- Its essay-grader post says feedback covers argument, evidence, clarity, grammar and alignment to the task.
Class Companion
Practice with instant feedback and retakes.
- Your rubric gets in
- Import a file or pasted text, build it from scratch, or pick one from a library of 500+
- Score per criterion
- Each criterion gets a score level picked from your own score definitions
- Your points
- Your points for each score, and a weight per criterion
- Before students see it
- Feedback and scores reach students instantly or at the end, as you set; you can hide the score, and overrule one with a comment
- Free option
- Free plan for individual teachers
- Price
- School and district plans by demo; no price shown
- Rubrics you make save to My Rubrics in its content library.
- Pasted-text detection on every plan; AI and plagiarism detection on school and district plans.
CoGrader
Writing assignments in K–12, graded from your rubric.
- Your rubric gets in
- Upload or paste any rubric or mark scheme as it is; or pick from a library of state-aligned rubrics
- Score per criterion
- A drafted score and feedback tied to each rubric criterion
- Your points
- Your exact criteria and scoring levels
- Before students see it
- You adjust any score or comment; nothing reaches a student without you
- Free option
- 150 student submissions a month
- Price
- Individual $15 a month billed annually, $19 monthly, 350 submissions; schools and districts by size
- A customized rubric can be saved for future assignments; a shared rubric library is on the school plan.
- Grammar and integrity checks appear as flags on its homepage; its pricing page and FAQ disagree on which plan has AI detection.
EssayGrader
Essays and longer papers, K–12 and higher ed.
- Your rubric gets in
- Upload your rubric files, or build one with levels within each criterion; a library of 800+
- Score per criterion
- A score per criterion, naming the criterion behind each point
- Your points
- Scores you set, from 0 to 100
- Before students see it
- Change any score, rewrite any comment or discard the report; nothing is released until you approve it
- Free option
- Basic: 100 essays a month, up to 1,000 words each
- Price
- Pro $14.99 (350 essays) and Premium $34.99 (800) a month; districts and higher ed on quote
- Writing and grammar reports come with every plan, the free one included.
- AI-writing and plagiarism reports go to you, never to students.
Gradescope
Instructors grading paper exams and homework.
- Your rubric gets in
- Built inside Gradescope for each question, as a list of rubric items or a grid; rubric items can be imported from your other courses
- Score per criterion
- You apply the rubric items yourself; on some question types the AI groups similar answers so one decision covers the group
- Your points
- Your point value on each rubric item; a change reapplies to work already graded
- Before students see it
- You grade, then publish the grades
- Free option
- Basic is free; AI-assisted grading is on the Institutional license
- Price
- Institutional license by quote
- Grid rubrics, rubric import across terms and rubrics made before submissions arrive are Institutional features.
- Bubble sheets are auto-graded against your answer key, and you confirm the marks.
GradingPal
K–12 science and math, graded from your criteria.
- Your rubric gets in
- Import a file from your computer or Google Drive, paste your criteria, start by hand, or reuse one; rubrics come in from Google Classroom too
- Score per criterion
- A level and points per criterion, with the evidence behind the score
- Your points
- Your levels and points; each level has points and a description
- Before students see it
- Pick a new level or type points on any criterion, with a reason; approving sends nothing to students, sharing is a separate step
- Free option
- 50 submissions a month, no card; custom rubrics and editable scores included
- Price
- Lite $14 and Pro $26 per teacher a month, or $168 and $312 a year; schools on request
- Grammar is an opt-in check that never changes the score, unless grammar is in your criteria.
- Shared rubric libraries are on Pro and school plans.
GraidableOur tool
Handwritten or typed work, graded from your own rubric.
- Your rubric gets in
- Upload it with the task and the students’ work, as a PDF or photo; the AI keeps your scheme and drafts the criteria from it for you to approve
- Score per criterion
- Points and feedback for each criterion in your marking guide
- Your points
- Points or levels, as your own scheme has them
- Before students see it
- You check each student’s points and approve; students don’t use the app
- Free option
- Your first class is free without a card: up to 30 students within 30 days, once your email is confirmed; the first plan then starts with 20 free gradings
- Price
- Student $9.99 a month (10 students graded) and Professional $24.99 (60); schools on request
- Each suggested point shows where on the student’s page it comes from.
- Anything the AI is unsure of says “Check closely” and why.
MagicSchool
A set of teacher tools, class writing feedback among them.
- Your rubric gets in
- Added when you set up class writing feedback: build it in the rubric builder or upload it; the pages don’t name a file format
- Score per criterion
- A score breakdown by rubric category
- Your points
- Your levels and point values per criterion, point ranges and 0 included
- Before students see it
- You adjust scores and edit feedback; approved feedback goes into each student’s Google Doc or OneDrive document
- Free option
- Free plan includes class writing feedback; no count stated
- Price
- Plus $12.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed annually
- Student essays come in from Google Drive or OneDrive; Canvas and Schoology import is on Enterprise.
- Its June 2026 update added point ranges and a 0-point level to the rubric builder.
TimelyGrader
Instructors and TAs grading written work.
- Your rubric gets in
- Build it by hand, type your criteria and let the AI write the levels, or import it from your LMS; its August 2026 newsletter adds upload of a PDF or Word file, or pasted text
- Score per criterion
- A suggested score and its reasoning for each criterion
- Your points
- Your criteria, rating levels and maximum score per criterion; custom points between levels, decimals included
- Before students see it
- Never posts a grade without instructor approval; you edit, override or replace any part
- Free option
- Free to try, no card; no submission count given
- Price
- Starter $12 a month, or $10 a month billed annually; institutions on request
- Rubrics made on its Rubrics page save as templates for all your assignments and courses.
- Accepting its suggestions in Canvas fills only the criteria you haven’t graded yourself.
Three things to settle first
How much of your rubric survives the trip. Eight of the nine take the rubric as a file or pasted text. Only two name the format: TimelyGrader’s newsletter says PDF or Word, and Graidable takes a PDF or a photo. GradingPal says where the file comes from, your computer or Google Drive, and the rest say “upload”. Gradescope is the odd one out by design: you rebuild the rubric inside the tool, one question at a time, and reuse it from there.
If your rubric lives in a Word table with merged cells, test that file first, whatever the vendor’s page says.
Whose points. Seven keep your levels and point values. EssayGrader frames the scores you set as 0 to 100, so a 7-point rubric needs a look at how the total comes out. Brisk’s pages describe feedback per criterion, with scoring as an opt-in, and say nothing about whose scale. If your points feed a gradebook, this is the column to check before the free trial runs out.
Who else is grading. Several tools look at things your rubric didn’t ask for. EssayGrader includes writing and grammar reports on every plan, Brisk’s feedback covers grammar, and CoGrader shows grammar and integrity flags. GradingPal says in so many words that grammar never changes the score unless it’s in your criteria. For the rest, none of the pages we read says a flag changes a score, so ask, and then plant rule two below and see.
Five rules to plant in a test rubric
Before a class set, write a rubric for one short question and give it rules a generic grader would get wrong. Grade three answers with it and compare each criterion’s points to what you’d give.
Five rules to plant in a test rubric
- A method point that stands when the final answer is wrong. Does the tool give it?
- A line that spelling and grammar cost nothing. Does a misspelled word keep full points?
- A total that isn’t 10 or 100, say 7 points. Do the points come back out of 7?
- One criterion written as word levels (secure, developing) with no numbers. Does the tool keep the words?
- A rule that an error counts once, so a wrong value carried into the next part keeps its points. Is it penalized once or twice?
Where the points differ from yours, read the tool’s reason. If it followed your rubric and your wording let it, the fix is one line in the rubric. If it graded on something you never wrote, you know that before the class set, and so does the vendor when you ask.
Graidable is the tool we make. This part is about it.
Where Graidable fits
Graidable is one of the nine, and it is ours. You upload your rubric or answer key with the task and the students’ work; the AI keeps your scheme, points or levels, drafts the criteria from it, and you approve them before any student is graded. Each student then gets points and feedback per criterion, with every point tied to the place on the page it comes from, and you check and approve each one before anything goes out.
How the setup works is on the home page, and the same tools are compared on what they start a rubric from in Nine AI grading tools that draft your rubric.
Sources
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Brisk Teaching, Give feedback, FAQ, Plans and Brisk, the AI essay grader. Checked 4 November 2026. ↑
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Class Companion, How do I create a rubric?, How do I write criteria for my custom rubric?, Can I adjust the scoring on rubrics?, How do I adjust or overrule scores?, How do I create an assignment? and Plans. Checked 4 November 2026. ↑
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CoGrader, Home, AI rubric generator and Pricing. Checked 4 November 2026. ↑
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EssayGrader, Custom rubrics, Paper grader and Pricing. Checked 4 November 2026. ↑
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Gradescope, Grading submissions with rubrics, Get started, Home and Pricing. Checked 4 November 2026. ↑
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GradingPal, Build a rubric, Change a score, Review grades, Grade essays, Home and Pricing. Checked 4 November 2026. ↑
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Graidable, Home and Pricing; the tool is ours. Checked 5 November 2026. ↑
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MagicSchool, Class writing feedback, What’s new, June 2026, Canvas and Schoology integrations and Pricing. Checked 4 November 2026. ↑
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TimelyGrader, For instructors, Creating rubrics on TimelyGrader, How to grade submissions, August 27 update and Pricing and plans. Checked 4 November 2026. ↑