Best AI paper graders for teachers
A teacher with a stack of papers to mark wants an AI paper grader that scores student writing against a rubric and returns feedback. The tools below do different jobs, connect to different learning management systems and charge in different ways. This list covers three of them in the order EssayGrader, Edcafe, MarkMyWords.
Each competitor fact below comes from that vendor's own website, read in October 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm each one on the vendor's site before you decide.
What to check in an AI paper grader
- Is grading student writing the main job, or one tool among many?
- Does the grader score against a rubric you control?
- Can it read handwritten papers?
- Which learning management system does it name?
- What does it cost, and is there a free way to test it?
1. EssayGrader: a grader built for rubric-based essay grading
EssayGrader (essaygrader.ai), a rubric-based AI essay grading platform for K-12 and higher-education teachers, does one job: grading student writing. EssayGrader says over 200,000 teachers have used it and that it has graded more than 3.5 million written assignments as of July 2026.
- Rubrics: a teacher picks from a library of 800+ rubrics or uploads the rubric already in use. EssayGrader grades each paper against that rubric.
- Feedback: every paper gets rubric feedback, a grammar report and a standards mastery report.
- Standards: all 50 U.S. states, AP, Common Core and IB.
- Handwriting: a teacher scans handwritten papers with a tablet, a smartphone or a school printer and uploads one PDF with the whole class. EssayGrader separates the papers and grades each one.
- Import: files come in from Google Drive, Dropbox and Box.
- LMS: native links to Google Classroom, Canvas and Schoology.
- Plans, checked October 2026: the Basic plan is free, with 100 essays a month. Pro is $14.99 a month and Premium is $34.99 a month.
The teacher approves every grade and comment before a student sees it.
2. Edcafe: a teaching-materials toolkit with one grader tool
Edcafe describes itself as an AI toolkit for teachers that generates, organizes and shares teaching materials. Its homepage lists many tools: a chatbot, quizzes, slide decks, flashcards, lesson plans, reading activities and an assignment grader. Grading is one tool in that list, not the main job.
The Edcafe pages do not state rubric support, handwriting recognition or accuracy figures for the assignment grader. Edcafe says its activities launch from Canvas, Moodle or Blackboard. Its free plan is $0 and includes 3 assignment graders. Pro is $7.99 a month billed annually and includes 20. Premium is $14.99 a month billed annually and includes unlimited assignment graders.
3. MarkMyWords: formative writing assessment for schools
MarkMyWords describes itself as a writing assessment and feedback platform for teachers. Its pages state formative feedback on handwritten or typed student writing, custom rubric integration, bulk upload of whole class sets and teacher review of all feedback. It also offers a QR code portal where students submit handwritten work from a phone.
MarkMyWords publishes two prices on its get-started page: "$15 per student" for Teacher Access and "$30 per student" for Student Access. The page gives no billing period. It does not name a free plan, and it offers trial access. It names no learning management system.
Comparison table
| Tool | Main job | Handwriting | LMS named | Price or free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EssayGrader | Rubric-based grading of student writing | Scan and upload one PDF for the whole class | Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology | Free plan with 100 essays a month; paid plans from $14.99 a month |
| Edcafe | Teaching materials, with one assignment grader tool | NOT stated | Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard | Free plan at $0 with 3 assignment graders; Pro $7.99 a month billed annually |
| MarkMyWords | Formative writing assessment and feedback | Handwritten or typed work | NOT stated | "$15 per student" and "$30 per student", period NOT stated; free plan NOT stated |
How to choose
If most of your marking is essays and papers, start with a tool whose main job is grading, and check that you control the rubric. If you also want slides, quizzes and lesson plans in one place, a materials toolkit may fit better. If your classes write by hand, confirm how each tool reads handwriting before you commit.
Whichever tool you try, run a class set you have already graded with the same rubric. Compare the scores with your own, criterion by criterion. Read what the vendor publishes about student data too. EssayGrader states that it is FERPA, COPPA and CCPA compliant and that student work is never used to train AI models. A free plan lets you run this test before you pay anything.