Gradescope vs PrairieLearn

Gradescope is an assessment platform for instructors who administer and grade work completed online or in class. It handles variable-length assignments, including problem sets and projects, as well as fixed-format worksheets, quizzes, bubble sheets, and exams. Instructors can grade with flexible rubrics, provide detailed feedback, and revise rubric decisions on work that has already been graded. For programming work, students can submit code from GitHub or Bitbucket; instructors can use autograders or add inline comments during manual grading. Gradescope also offers question- and rubric-level statistics, with grade and data exports. Its AI can group similar responses for instructor review on some question types; Answer Groups and AI-assisted grading require an Institutional license. That license also enables integrations with Blackboard, Brightspace, Canvas, Moodle, and Sakai. Without it, rosters can be imported by CSV and grades downloaded for LMS upload. The free Basic plan is listed at free. Android and iOS apps support student submissions and grade viewing, not instructor workflows.

PrairieLearn is an online assessment and learning system for instructors creating educational resources, assignments, practice, and tests. Instructors write questions as code; the system can generate and grade variants automatically and provide real-time feedback. Students can continue trying new variants until they achieve mastery. Supported response formats include numerical, multiple-choice, checkbox, dropdown, graphical, code, and ordered-block answers. The platform is described for in-class activities, homework, practice, proctored tests, and bring-your-own-device tests. It connects with learning management systems through LTI 1.3 for assignment linking and grade syncing, with integration primarily designed and documented for Canvas; its importer accepts QTI 1.2 content. PrairieLearn is open source and can be run or modified on institutional or individual infrastructure. The free plan covers instructors and courses with up to 20 students in each term. For larger courses, Basic costs $8, paid once per student and Premium costs $16, paid once per student. Local development is supported on macOS, Linux, or Windows inside WSL 2; Windows without WSL 2 is not supported for local installation.