CoGrader alternatives for teachers: 7 AI grading tools compared

Last updated: November 2026

EssayGrader, a rubric-based AI essay grading platform for K-12 and higher-education teachers, publishes this page and is one of the seven tools. Every statement about another tool comes from that vendor's own pages, checked in October 2026 unless a different date is given.

To choose a CoGrader alternative, compare three things: how many essays the free plan covers, which LMS the tool connects to, and what the paid plan costs. The seven tools, in this order, are EssayGrader, Brisk, MagicSchool, NoRedInk, Writable, Class Companion and EnlightenAI, and each section notes where the tool works from your rubric. These tools do different jobs, so the right one depends on what you grade.

What CoGrader offers

CoGrader grades student essays against a rubric and returns feedback for each criterion, and the teacher reviews every score before students see it.

According to CoGrader's pricing page (October 2026), the free Starter plan covers 150 student submissions a month. It includes rubrics, Google Classroom integration, Canvas and Schoology integration, handwritten assignments and FERPA compliance.

According to CoGrader's pricing page (October 2026), the Individual plan costs $15 a month billed annually, or $19 a month. It covers 350 submissions a month and adds grammar checking, a class dashboard, AI detection and plagiarism detection.

According to CoGrader's pricing page (October 2026), the Schools and Districts plan is priced by quote. It lists unlimited submissions, shared rubrics, bulk user management and training.

CoGrader reports that its scores were within one point of official Texas raters in 98.5% of 600 STAAR responses (June 2026). CoGrader describes this as a technical report that is not peer reviewed.

CoGrader's pricing page (October 2026) lists Canvas and Schoology on the free Starter plan, and its FAQ places them on school and district plans. CoGrader's own pages differ, so confirm your plan with CoGrader before you rely on either integration.

EssayGrader reports a different measure on a different sample, so do not compare the two figures directly.

CoGrader alternatives at a glance

Here are the seven alternatives side by side, with CoGrader as the reference row.

Each tool counts usage differently (submissions, essays, tool runs), so compare limits by what you grade in a month.

EssayGrader: rubric-based essay grading

EssayGrader scores each essay against your rubric and returns a score and written feedback for each criterion.

According to EssayGrader's pricing page (October 2026), the Basic plan is free and grades 100 essays a month, with essays of up to 1,000 words. It includes native Google Classroom, Canvas and Schoology integrations and a rubric library.

According to EssayGrader's pricing page (October 2026), Pro costs $14.99 a month billed annually, or $19.99 monthly. It covers 350 essays a month with essays of up to 3,500 words, and it includes AI-writing detection and plagiarism detection. Oral exam and video grading are on Pro.

According to EssayGrader's pricing page (October 2026), Premium costs $34.99 a month billed annually, or $49.99 monthly, for 800 essays a month. The School District / Higher-Ed plan is for 25 or more users and is quoted on request. The Basic plan is FERPA, COPPA and CCPA compliant.

EssayGrader's AI Grader page (October 2026) says you approve every grade and that it grades handwritten exams. You grade a class set against your own rubric in one pass, then review each score.

According to EssayGrader's AI Grading Accuracy Center (July 2026), the AI score matched, or landed within 1 point of, the official human score on 94% of rubric criteria across 22,000+ comparisons from 8 assessment programs. EssayGrader says to read this as an upper bound on alignment, not a class average.

See how accurate the grading is
EssayGrader's scores matched or landed within 1 point of official human scores on 94% of rubric criteria across 22,000+ comparisons (July 2026).

Brisk: feedback inside your browser

Brisk is a browser extension that adds AI feedback and writing tools inside Google Docs, your LMS and other sites you already use.

Brisk's plans page (October 2026) lists a free plan for teachers with glow and grow feedback, next steps feedback, rubric criteria feedback and batch feedback, with an upload limit on the free plan.

According to Brisk (October 2026), it works inside Canvas, Schoology and Google Classroom without a separate integration, and schools and districts buy Premium or Intelligence plans at custom prices.

Brisk fits a teacher who wants feedback tools next to Brisk's other teacher tools, working in documents the students already share.

MagicSchool: a teacher toolkit with batch writing feedback

MagicSchool is a teacher platform with 80+ tools, and one of them gives batch feedback on written assignments.

MagicSchool's pricing page (October 2026) lists "Class Writing Feedback": review, personalize and send AI-generated feedback on written assignments in batches, based on your rubric.

According to MagicSchool's pricing page (October 2026), the Free plan is for individual teachers, which makes MagicSchool free for teachers on that plan. The same page lists the Plus plan at $8.33 a month billed annually, or $12.99 monthly. The Enterprise plan is quoted and adds SIS and LMS integration (Clever, ClassLink, Canvas, Schoology) and single sign-on.

MagicSchool fits a teacher who wants lesson planning, worksheets and quizzes plus occasional writing feedback in one place. Grading essays is one tool among many.

NoRedInk: writing and grammar practice with a grading assistant

NoRedInk is a writing and grammar practice platform for grades 3 to 12, and its Premium plan includes an AI-powered Grading Assistant.

NoRedInk's Premium page (October 2026) says Premium gives schools its skills exercises and writing prompts, guided composition tools, reporting, originality detection and the AI-powered Grading Assistant. Grading Assistant is NoRedInk's own name for its feature.

The same page says Premium is only available for purchase by schools and districts at this time, through a quote, so a teacher cannot buy Premium alone. It lists a free version with limited writing and grammar skills and prompts.

The page lists Canvas and Schoology integrations among Premium features: assignments are created from inside Canvas or Schoology, and NoRedInk scores sync to the gradebook.

NoRedInk fits a school that wants writing and grammar practice for students across the year, with grading help as one feature.

Writable: feedback while students write

Writable is a digital literacy program for grades 3 to 12 that gives teachers AI-suggested comments and score suggestions.

Writable's AI page (October 2026) lists AI-suggested comments, at paper and rubric-item level and in Spanish, and GradeAssist, which gives rubric-aligned AI-suggested scores that teachers adjust. The page says teachers get AI feedback on past or current student work, including Word documents and Google Classroom assignments.

The page offers a free account to try. Writable's Build Your Quote page (October 2026) says pricing starts at $1 per student per month, and that quotes are for information only until they become a cost proposal. The same page lists two-way sync with Classroom, Schoology, Canvas and Teams.

Writable fits teachers who run writing as regular assignments inside one program and want suggested comments while students write.

Class Companion: instant feedback for students

Class Companion gives students instant AI feedback and scoring while they write, with an AI tutor that helps them read the feedback.

Class Companion's plans page (October 2026) says students complete assignments inside the app, with multiple attempts and a score-dispute step that the teacher accepts or overrules.

The same page says the teacher plan is free and includes instant AI feedback, basic insights and a public library of 10,000+ assignments and 500+ rubrics. It says the School and District plan adds LMS integration (Canvas, Schoology, Google Classroom), AI and plagiarism detection and standards alignment.

Class Companion fits practice and revision with students, not a teacher grading a stack of finished essays.

EnlightenAI: train the AI on five graded essays

EnlightenAI grades student work against your rubric after you train it by grading five submissions together.

EnlightenAI's site (October 2026) describes three steps: describe the assignment with a rubric, grade five submissions with the AI, then bulk grade the rest and review. It offers on-demand AI feedback that students use to revise.

According to EnlightenAI's account changes post (January 2026), the Free Forever plan, for teachers at schools that are not EnlightenAI partners, includes 500 graded submissions a month and the core tools, without the "AI grade remaining" bulk feature. Partner schools and districts get unlimited submissions, admin dashboards and Clever.

EnlightenAI's site (October 2026) lists Google Classroom and Canvas, and says Canvas is set up by contacting EnlightenAI. Its FAQ says it works with digitally submitted work only.

EnlightenAI fits teachers who want the AI calibrated on their own scoring and who collect work digitally.

How to choose a CoGrader alternative

Answer five questions, then test your top two tools on the same five essays.

1. What do you grade: essays, exams, homework or short answers?
2. Who gives the feedback: the teacher, or the student's own revision?
3. Where do grades go: Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology or a spreadsheet?
4. How many essays do you grade a month, and what does that cost on each plan?
5. What does the vendor do with student work?

Run a pilot before you commit. Grade the same five essays in two tools, compare the scores with your own, and check that you edit every score. Use a class set you have already graded, so you know the right answer.

Ask about student data in writing. Ask whether the vendor trains its AI on student work, and whether it signs your Data Privacy Agreement. Compare the LMS connection on the plan you would buy, not the plan the vendor lists first.

Frequently asked questions

These are the questions teachers ask most when they compare CoGrader with other tools.

Is CoGrader free?

CoGrader has a free Starter plan with 150 student submissions a month, according to its pricing page (October 2026). The Starter plan includes rubrics, Google Classroom, Canvas and Schoology integration, handwritten assignments and FERPA compliance. The Individual plan costs $15 a month billed annually, or $19 a month, and covers 350 submissions a month. The Schools and Districts plan is priced by quote.

Which CoGrader alternatives are free?

All seven alternatives list a free option, and the limits differ. EssayGrader's Basic plan grades 100 essays a month. Brisk and MagicSchool list free plans for teachers. NoRedInk lists a free version with limited skills and prompts. Writable is free to try. Class Companion has a free teacher plan. EnlightenAI's Free Forever plan covers 500 graded submissions a month for teachers at non-partner schools, without bulk grading.

Which tools connect to Google Classroom, Canvas and Schoology?

Five tools list all three: CoGrader, EssayGrader, Brisk, Writable and Class Companion. The plan that includes them differs: EssayGrader lists them on its free Basic plan, and Class Companion lists them on its School and District plan. MagicSchool Enterprise and NoRedInk Premium list Canvas and Schoology, and EnlightenAI lists Google Classroom and Canvas. These are assignment and grade connections, not sign-in or roster sync.

Which tools use my own rubric for written work?

Seven tools say they use your own rubric for written work. EssayGrader and CoGrader grade against a rubric you choose. MagicSchool gives batch writing feedback based on your rubric. Class Companion says custom rubrics inform its feedback and scoring. Brisk offers rubric criteria feedback. Writable's GradeAssist gives rubric-aligned suggested scores. With EnlightenAI, you set the task and the rubric.