Alternatives & comparisons
An honest look at how The Marking App compares to the tools most educators already use - and when each one is the right choice.
Most marking teams start with whatever tool is most accessible - a spreadsheet, a Word document, or the built-in rubric in their LMS. These tools work at small scale, but they share a common limitation: they weren't built for the specific workflow of university marking.
The most common pain points we hear from educators switching to The Marking App: spending too long retyping the same feedback, feedback quality varying between markers on the same course, and no way to understand which student mistakes are most common across the cohort.
Below we've compared The Marking App honestly against the tools educators most commonly evaluate - including the cases where another tool might actually be the better choice.
Spreadsheets are a natural first step - free, flexible, and familiar. But they were built for numbers, not for managing a feedback library that a team of markers can use in real time inside an LMS.
Spreadsheets (Excel / Google Sheets)
The Marking App
Bottom line
Spreadsheets work for solo markers with small loads. The moment you have a team of markers who all need the same library, or you want to insert feedback faster than copy-paste allows, a dedicated tool pays for itself quickly.
Your LMS rubric tool is designed for structured scoring - assigning numeric marks against predefined criteria. It's great for what it is. But most educators find it weak for the qualitative written feedback that actually helps students improve.
LMS built-in rubrics (Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard)
The Marking App
Bottom line
Use your LMS rubric for scoring. Use The Marking App for the written feedback that rubrics can't capture. The browser extension means both tools work together without friction.
Turnitin Feedback Studio's QuickMark feature lets markers save inline comments for reuse. It's useful, but QuickMark sets are typically per-user - there's no way to create a shared team library from the same source of truth.
Turnitin Feedback Studio
The Marking App
Bottom line
If your institution already pays for Turnitin, use Feedback Studio for originality checking and inline markup. Add The Marking App on top for team-shared qualitative feedback and analytics - the browser extension works inside Turnitin.
Many academics keep a Word doc or Google Doc of frequently used comments. It's the zero-overhead option, and it works - until it doesn't. Keeping it updated, shared, and findable becomes a maintenance burden quickly.
Word / Google Docs comment templates
The Marking App
Bottom line
Document-based comment lists are a workable solo solution. They break down for teams and don't integrate with any marking tool. Once you try inserting comments from a proper library directly into Canvas or Moodle, going back to copy-paste is genuinely painful.
Build your personal comment bank for free. No credit card required. Upgrade to a team plan whenever you're ready to share with your marking team.
No. The Marking App is designed to work alongside your LMS, not replace it. The browser extension lets you insert feedback from your comment bank directly into Canvas SpeedGrader, Moodle, Blackboard, Turnitin, and most other marking interfaces.
Most markers can set up a basic comment bank in under an hour. Existing comments can be typed in or pasted. There's no data migration tool, but the manual process is quick for most comment libraries.
Individual use is free with no time limit. For teams, paid plans start from NZD $15/month. Most teams find the time saved across a semester is worth many times the subscription cost.
Yes. Sign up for a free individual account and build your own comment bank. When you're ready to share it with your team, upgrade to a Group or Department plan.