Comparison
Alternatives to CoGrader, EssayGrader and GradingPal, and what changes when you switch
Each of the three gives you something the others don’t: 150 free submissions a month, LMS sync on the free plan, or handwritten math. Before you switch, know which one you’d be giving up.
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 | Free plan | Handwriting | Your rubric | Grades go to | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisk | Free, no count | Not stated | Generator; scoring opt-in | Docs, Canvas, Schoology, Classroom | Custom, schools |
| Class Companion | Free, no count | Yes, photos | Import, generate or build | Students; CSV; LMS on school plan | Free; schools on request |
| CoGrader | 150 submissions a month | Yes, on the free plan | Upload as is; 500+ library | Classroom; CSV; Canvas on school plan | $19 a month |
| EssayGrader | 100 essays a month | Scans; no plan named | Upload; 800+ on Pro | Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, free | $14.99 a month |
| Gradescope | Basic, free; no count | Yes, scanned exams | Dynamic rubrics | Export; LMS Institutional | Quote, institutions |
| GradingPal | 50 submissions a month | Yes, every plan | Upload or generate; 500 on Lite | Classroom; Canvas on school plan | $14 a month, annual |
| Graidable | First class free, without a card | Yes, scans | Your key; draft to approve | PDFs and a spreadsheet | $9.99 a month |
| MagicSchool | Free, limited generations | Not stated | Generate; upload not stated | Docs; LMS on Enterprise | $12.99 a month |
| TimelyGrader | Free to try | Yes, essays | Customizable; generator | Canvas, D2L | $12 a month |
Brisk
- Free plan
- Free, no count
- Handwriting
- Not stated
- Paid from
- Custom, schools
Class Companion
- Free plan
- Free, no count
- Handwriting
- Yes, photos
- Paid from
- Free; schools on request
CoGrader
- Free plan
- 150 submissions a month
- Handwriting
- Yes, on the free plan
- Paid from
- $19 a month
EssayGrader
- Free plan
- 100 essays a month
- Handwriting
- Scans; no plan named
- Paid from
- $14.99 a month
Gradescope
- Free plan
- Basic, free; no count
- Handwriting
- Yes, scanned exams
- Paid from
- Quote, institutions
GradingPal
- Free plan
- 50 submissions a month
- Handwriting
- Yes, every plan
- Paid from
- $14 a month, annual
Graidable
- Free plan
- First class free, without a card
- Handwriting
- Yes, scans
- Paid from
- $9.99 a month
MagicSchool
- Free plan
- Free, limited generations
- Handwriting
- Not stated
- Paid from
- $12.99 a month
TimelyGrader
- Free plan
- Free to try
- Handwriting
- Yes, essays
- Paid from
- $12 a month
In this article
You use CoGrader, EssayGrader or GradingPal and want to know what else does the same job. This page lists the nine tools that come up in the same searches: Brisk1, Class Companion2, CoGrader3, EssayGrader4, Gradescope5, GradingPal6, Graidable7, MagicSchool8 and TimelyGrader9, alphabetical, and for each of the three it names the thing you’d be giving up. Graidable is ours. Every cell comes from the vendor’s own pages, read on 3 November 2026.
Most “alternatives” lists compare features. Switching is usually about three plainer things: what the free plan counts, whether the tool reads the paper your students hand in, and where the grades end up. The table under the title is built on those.
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 inside Google Docs and your LMS.
- Free plan counts
- Free for teachers; no count stated
- Handwritten work
- Not stated
- Your rubric
- An AI rubric generator; rubric scoring in feedback is opt-in; uploading your own is not stated
- Grades go to
- Feedback in Google Docs; Brisk works inside Canvas, Schoology and Google Classroom through its extension
- Price
- No paid plan for one teacher; Premium and Intelligence for schools and districts have custom pricing
- The free plan is a Chrome and Edge extension. Rostering and custom data agreements are on the school plans.
- Its plans page says Brisk does not sell student data.
Class Companion
Students answer in the app and get feedback at once.
- Free plan counts
- Free Teacher plan; no count stated
- Handwritten work
- Photos of handwritten responses, on the free plan
- Your rubric
- Any rubric: import it, generate one with AI, or build it; a public library of 500+ rubrics
- Grades go to
- Students, at once or when you choose; CSV export on the free plan; Canvas, Schoology and Google Classroom passback on the school plan
- Price
- Free for teachers; schools and districts book a demo
- Students can dispute a score, and you accept or overrule it.
- AI and plagiarism detection and the district data agreement are on the school plan.
CoGrader
Essays and constructed responses, typed or on paper.
- Free plan counts
- 150 submissions a month on Starter, free every month
- Handwritten work
- Handwritten assignments are listed on the free Starter plan; paper essays from your phone or the copier
- Your rubric
- Upload any rubric or mark scheme as it is; an AI rubric generator; 500+ state-aligned rubrics
- Grades go to
- Google Classroom for all users with two-way sync; a gradebook CSV; Canvas and Schoology are listed under Starter, and the FAQ says they need a school plan
- Price
- Individual $19 a month, or $15 a month billed annually, for 350 submissions a month; schools and districts by size
- Its home page says it grades in any language and that AI models can’t use student data for training.
- AI and plagiarism detection are listed on Individual; the FAQ says AI detection is on school plans.
EssayGrader
Essays and papers, with an LMS behind them.
- Free plan counts
- 100 essays a month on Basic, each up to 1,000 words
- Handwritten work
- The home page says you can scan handwritten essays, one PDF per class; no plan is stated
- Your rubric
- Upload your own, or choose from 800+ standards-aligned rubrics (the 800+ library is on Pro)
- Grades go to
- Google Classroom, Canvas and Schoology on the free plan, with grades synced back; Google Drive, Dropbox and Box
- Price
- Pro $14.99 a month for 350 essays of up to 3,500 words; Premium $34.99 for 800 essays; an annual discount of up to 30% is shown without figures
- AI and plagiarism detection are on Pro and Premium, not on Basic.
- The pricing page says student submissions are never used to train AI models.
Gradescope
Paper exams and problem sets at universities.
- Free plan counts
- Basic is free; an Institutional trial for one term, then Basic continues at no charge; no count stated
- Handwritten work
- Students upload PDFs or photos; you upload scanned exams on Basic
- Your rubric
- Dynamic rubrics on both plans; AI-assisted grading and answer groups are Institutional
- Grades go to
- Data export on Basic; LMS integration is Institutional and not in the trial
- Price
- No price listed; Institutional is quoted by form; no paid plan for one instructor
- Built around scanned paper: you grade the scans question by question, and the AI groups similar answers on the Institutional plan.
- Programming assignments, bubble sheets and code similarity are Institutional only.
GradingPal
Essays, worksheets, handwritten math and lab reports.
- Free plan counts
- 50 submissions a month, no card; one shared monthly allowance
- Handwritten work
- Handwritten and photographed work on every plan, handwritten math named; splits a scanned class-set PDF into students
- Your rubric
- Upload your rubric or generate one with AI, on every plan; a library of 500 curated rubrics from Lite
- Grades go to
- Google Classroom on every plan; Canvas and Schoology on the school plan; printable reports and a class summary export
- Price
- Lite $14 a teacher a month billed annually ($168 a year) for 250 submissions; Pro $26 ($312 a year), unlimited; monthly billing costs about 26% more and is not priced on the page
- Quizzes, exams, worksheets and problem sets need Pro or a Lite add-on.
- Its home page says student work is not used to train AI models.
GraidableOur tool
Handwritten or typed tests, graded from your own key.
- Free plan counts
- Your first class is free without a card: up to 35 students within 30 days, once your email is confirmed; the first plan then starts with 10 free gradings
- Handwritten work
- Handwritten, multi-page scans, question by question
- Your rubric
- Your own answer key or rubric, points or levels; it can draft the criteria from your task for you to approve
- Grades go to
- You: feedback PDFs and a spreadsheet of each student’s points per question, after you approve every grade
- Price
- Student $9.99 and Professional $24.99 a month (10 and 60 students graded a month); schools get a price on request
- Each score shows where on the student’s page it comes from, and doubtful items get a “Check closely” flag with the reason.
- The data processing agreement, DPIA material and sub-processor list are public pages.
MagicSchool
A set of teacher tools, writing feedback among them.
- Free plan counts
- Forever Free plan with limited generations; no number stated
- Handwritten work
- Not stated
- Your rubric
- Generate a custom rubric; class writing feedback is based in your rubric; upload not stated
- Grades go to
- Exports to Google Docs and Slides on Free; Canvas and Schoology integration on Enterprise
- Price
- Plus $12.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed annually ($99.96 a year), for unlimited generations
- Class writing feedback gives feedback on written assignments in batches, for you to review and send.
- Its home page says it doesn’t use student or teacher data to train AI.
TimelyGrader
Instructors and TAs grading written work.
- Free plan counts
- Free to try with no card; a preview of AI grading; no count stated
- Handwritten work
- Handwritten essays are listed among the work it grades
- Your rubric
- Fully customizable rubrics and an AI rubric generator on the free plan
- Grades go to
- Canvas and D2L integrations; LMS API and accreditation export on the Institution plan
- Price
- Starter $12 a month, or $10 a month billed annually, for unlimited grading; institutions on request
- Quizzes and exams are on the Institution plan.
- Its pages list SOC 2 Type II and FERPA.
If you use CoGrader
What you’d give up is the count. CoGrader’s 150 free submissions a month is the largest recurring free allowance on this page, and handwriting is on that plan. GradingPal gives 50 a month with handwriting, EssayGrader 100 essays a month typed, with scanning on its home page and no plan named. Graidable’s first class is free, up to 35 students; after that you pay per student graded, so the bill follows the class size.
What the others list that CoGrader’s pages don’t: EssayGrader has Canvas and Schoology on its free plan, where CoGrader’s own FAQ sends you to a school quote. GradingPal names handwritten math, worksheets and lab reports, which CoGrader’s pages don’t. If your work is a scanned paper test rather than an essay, that is the line to read.
If you use EssayGrader
The thing to check first is the LMS. EssayGrader is the only tool here with Google Classroom, Canvas and Schoology on the free plan. CoGrader has Google Classroom for everyone and the other two on a school plan, GradingPal the same, and Class Companion puts Canvas and Schoology passback on its school plan. Brisk works inside all three through its extension, without a count on the free plan.
The word limit is the other thing. Basic stops at 1,000 words an essay. CoGrader and GradingPal count submissions, not words, so a long paper costs the same as a short one.
If you use GradingPal
You chose it for paper. Its pages name handwritten math and lab reports, photographed work on every plan, and a class-set PDF split into students. The tools that also read paper: CoGrader (handwritten assignments on its free plan, essays and constructed responses), Class Companion (photos of handwritten responses), Gradescope (scanned exams, graded by you, with AI grouping on the Institutional plan) and Graidable (handwritten, multi-page tests from your answer key). TimelyGrader lists handwritten essays. Brisk and MagicSchool state nothing about handwriting.
The price is the other difference. GradingPal shows annual billing only, $14 or $26 a month paid as $168 or $312 a year. CoGrader and MagicSchool list both monthly and annual prices, and Graidable charges by students graded.
Before you switch
Run this on one assignment you have already graded, in both tools, before you move a class.
Five checks before you switch grading tools
- Grade the same set in both tools and compare question by question. Totals hide errors that cancel out.
- Count what the free plan counts: submissions, essays, students or words. 100 essays and 100 submissions are not the same month.
- Open your rubrics in the new tool. If you built them inside the old one, export them first; CoGrader and EssayGrader both take an uploaded rubric as it is.
- Find where the grade lands: your LMS, a CSV, a PDF, or the student’s screen. Then find which plan that is on.
- Ask for the data agreement your school needs before the first real upload, and test on papers with the names removed.
A free plan that handles your first class set but not your handwriting won’t survive the first week of exams. That is what the second column of the table is for.
Graidable is the tool we make. This part is about it.
Where Graidable fits
Graidable is one of the nine, and it is ours. It is built for the paper your students hand in: you upload the scans with your answer key or rubric, it drafts points and a comment for each question, and you approve every grade before anything reaches a student. The first class is free without a card.
The same tools are compared by price in Free AI grading tools for teachers and by what they do with student data in What ten AI grading tools say they do with student data.
Sources
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Brisk Teaching, Plans and home page. Checked 3 November 2026. ↑
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CoGrader, Pricing, including its FAQ, and home page. Checked 3 November 2026. ↑
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EssayGrader, Pricing and home page. Checked 3 November 2026. ↑
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Gradescope, Pricing and home page. Checked 3 November 2026. ↑
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GradingPal, Pricing and home page. Checked 3 November 2026. ↑
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Graidable, Pricing; the tool is ours. Checked 3 November 2026. ↑
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MagicSchool, Pricing and home page. Checked 3 November 2026. ↑
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TimelyGrader, Pricing and plans and home page. Checked 3 November 2026. ↑