Every AI Tool for Teachers Grades Writing. We Grade Everything Else Too.
Scored against your rubric, with the reasoning shown for every mark. Free for 50 submissions a month.
We checked all five of the tools teachers ask us about, on their own websites, in August 2026. Every one of them marks written work. Not one of them lists maths, problem sets, worksheets, presentations or art as something it will score. That is the difference, and every figure below is sourced so you can check it.
One Company, Three Tools — Use the One You Need
Most AI tools for teachers are one product trying to do forty things. We build separate tools that each do one thing properly, and you can use one without the others.
GradingPal
Marking. Every kind of work you set, scored against your own rubric.
Free for 50 submissions a month
Alayna AI
Planning and differentiation. Fifty specialist agents, IEP goals, leveled resources and materials.
$9.99 a month or $99 a year
Alayna Slides
Standards-aligned slides from a topic, a PDF or a video — inside Google Slides.
Five presentations free to try
All three are built by Cues Technologies Inc. We say so here because we compare ourselves with other tools on this page, and you should know who is related to whom.
What Each Tool Will Actually Mark
Taken from each company’s own product and pricing pages, August 2026. Where a tool does not name an assignment type, we say so rather than guessing.
| Assignment type | GradingPal | CoGrader | EssayGrader | MagicSchool | Brisk | Gradescope |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essays & writing | Scored | Scored | Scored | Feedback | Feedback | Human-led |
| Maths & problem sets | Scored | Not named | Not named | Not named | Not named | Institutional |
| Worksheets | Scored | Not named | Not named | Not named | Not named | Via PDF |
| Quizzes & exams | Scored | Quizzes | Not named | Generates only | Generates only | Institutional |
| Presentations | Scored | Not named | Not named | Generates only | Generates only | Not named |
| Art & design | Scored | Not named | Not named | Not named | Not named | Not named |
| Spoken & recorded | Scored | Not named | Oral & video | Not named | Not named | Not named |
| Handwritten | All tiers | Yes | Cursive & print | Not named | Not named | PDF scans |
“Not named” means we could not find it stated on that company’s own pages. It does not mean the product cannot do it.
What a Year Costs
Compared honestly, which means comparing what you would actually buy.
| Plan | A year of cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| GradingPal Free | $0, no card | 50 submissions a month, scored against your rubric, every assignment type to try |
| CoGrader Starter | $0 | 100 submissions a month, essays and quizzes |
| EssayGrader Basic | $0 | 50 essays a month |
| MagicSchool Free | $0 | 80+ tools, batch written feedback based on your rubric, generation-limited |
| Alayna AI + GradingPal Free | $99/year | Planning, differentiation, IEP goals, materials, slides — and 50 marked submissions a month across every type |
| MagicSchool Plus | $99.96/year | 80+ teacher tools, 50+ student tools, unlimited generations, batch written feedback |
| GradingPal Pro | $26/month annual | Unlimited submissions, every assignment type, analytics |
| Brisk Premium | Not published | Rubric scoring is opt-in on the paid tiers; no price is listed on their site |
At the same money, one of these marks work across eight assignment types and the other writes feedback on writing.
Feature by Feature
Every cell below was read from that company’s own pricing or product pages in August 2026, and each column is footnoted with the URL. Where a company does not state something, we say “not named” rather than guess.
What it is
| GradingPal | CoGrader | EssayGrader | MagicSchool | Brisk | Gradescope | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Grading and feedback, specialist | Grading written work | Essay grading | Broad teacher suite, 80+ tools | AI layer inside your documents, 30+ tools | Institutional grading and assessment |
| Delivery | Web app | Web app + LMS extensions | Web app | Web app | Browser extension + web | Web app |
| Sold to | Individual teachers, schools and districts | Teachers, schools, districts, higher ed | Teachers; districts and higher ed at 25+ | Teachers and districts | Teachers and districts | Institutions |
| Scores, or writes feedback | Scores against your rubric | Scores | Scores | Writes feedback, based on your rubric | Writes feedback; rubric scoring opt-in on paid tiers | Speeds up human grading; AI grading is Institutional only |
Price
| GradingPal | CoGrader | EssayGrader | MagicSchool | Brisk | Gradescope | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 50 submissions a month | 100 submissions a month | 50 essays a month | “$0 Forever Free”, generation-limited | $0, unlimited teachers; batch feedback upload-limited | Basic, free after an institutional trial |
| Card to start free | Not required | Not named | Not named | Not named | Not named | Not named |
| Paid entry | $14/mo annual — 250 | $15/mo annual — 350 | $6.99/mo — 100 | $8.33/user/mo annual · $12.99 monthly | Not published | Institutional — custom |
| Unlimited tier | Pro, $26/mo annual | Schools & Districts | None — top tier is 800/month | Plus — unlimited generations | Premium and Intelligence | Institutional |
| Published price for rubric scoring | Yes — included free | Yes | Yes | n/a — feedback, not scoring | No — scoring sits on custom-priced tiers | No — Institutional only |
Sources, read August 2026: CoGrader · EssayGrader · MagicSchool · Brisk · Gradescope
When You Should Buy Something Else
If you are a university or a district already running Turnitin, and what you want is faster human grading rather than automated marking, Gradescope is built for that and we are not.
If you only ever mark essays and price is the deciding factor, EssayGrader’s paid tier starts at $6.99 a month. Ours starts at $14, because it also marks seven other kinds of work.
If your school runs Canvas or Schoology and two-way sync is non-negotiable today, CoGrader and EssayGrader both ship it on their paid teacher plans and we ship it at School & District. On Google Classroom we are level.
Planning and lesson materials are not a reason to buy elsewhere. That is what Alayna AI is for, and it is $9.99 a month.
See It Marked
Twenty-two worked examples: real assignments, the teacher’s own rubric inside the product, the graded submission with every mark explained, and the class dashboard with real denominators.
Real scores, including marks lost, and a real error caught in a citation. No competitor on this page publishes anything comparable.
The Individual Comparisons
Each one is a full table with the winner marked row by row, ties and losses included.
GradingPal vs CoGrader
The closest tool to ours, and the difference is what it will mark. Their free plan is larger than ours; ours takes eight kinds of work rather than two.
GradingPal vs EssayGrader
Both free plans give you fifty a month. Theirs are fifty essays, ours are fifty of anything a class hands in.
GradingPal vs MagicSchool
Eighty tools for planning, and written feedback on writing. It does not return a score against your rubric on photographed worksheets, maths working or recorded work.
GradingPal vs Brisk Teaching
Excellent inside a Google Doc. A photographed maths worksheet is not a Google Doc, and neither is a slide deck, a painting or a recorded oral.
GradingPal vs Gradescope
Built for institutions running faster human grading. If that is what you want, it is built for it and we are not.
How We Keep This Honest
Every competitor figure on this page was read from that company’s own pricing or product pages in August 2026, and every column is footnoted with the URL it came from. We re-read them quarterly. Where a company does not state something we write “not named” rather than guessing, and we never republish a competitor’s own statistic as though it were ours.
If we have got something wrong about your product, tell us and we will change it.
Mark One Set and Compare for Yourself
Bring a stack of work you have already graded. Fifty submissions a month on the free plan, every assignment type, no card.
Free plan, no credit card. 50 submissions a month, any assignment type.