GradingPen vs Grammarly

GradingPen

GradingPen is built for teachers who already grade against rubrics and want a first pass done in seconds rather than hours, with Google Classroom and batch upload so it fits an existing workflow. The free plan is a real if small allowance of 10 grades a month, and paid teacher plans are now monthly grade quotas with rollover rather than one annual unlimited plan.

Pros

• +Grades against a teacher-supplied custom rubric, not a generic scale
• +Reads handwritten submissions in 15+ languages
• +Integrates with Google Classroom and other classroom platforms
• +Free plan keeps 10 real grades a month with no expiry, and unused paid grades roll over

Cons

• −Teacher plans are capped by grades per month, so a heavy marking week can exhaust the quota
• −Student tutoring and teacher grading are billed as separate plans
• −AI-detection flags are a vendor feature with no published accuracy figures

Grammarly

Still the default for catching mistakes inside other people's software, but the free tier has quietly become an AI-prompt meter and the honest price is $30 unless you commit to a full year.

Pros

• +Runs inside the apps people already write in rather than as a separate editor
• +Free tier still covers spelling, grammar and tone detection with no time limit
• +Pro folds in plagiarism and AI-text detection that rivals charge for separately

Cons

• −The $12 headline is the annual rate; paying monthly costs $30
• −Free AI allowance is 100 prompts a month and depletes quickly
• −No public API, so it cannot be embedded in another product
• −Enterprise pricing is not published anywhere on the site

Is GradingPen cheaper than Grammarly?

On published entry prices, GradingPen starts lower — $7.99/mo against $12/mo for Grammarly. Entry price is the lowest paid plan as we last verified it; what each plan includes differs.

Does GradingPen or Grammarly have a free tier?

Both: GradingPen has a free tier, and Grammarly has a free tier.