Tool roundup · Updated June 2026

Best marking and feedback tools for university educators

An honest comparison of the most common tools university markers use - from dedicated comment bank software to LMS built-ins and spreadsheets. We'll tell you who each tool is right for and where it falls short.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	Team sharing	LMS integration	Analytics
The Marking App Top pick	Teaching teams
Spreadsheets	Solo markers (small loads)
LMS rubrics	Numeric scoring
Turnitin Feedback Studio	Inline markup + originality
Word/Docs templates	Ad-hoc individual use

In-depth tool reviews

1. The Marking App

Top pick

Dedicated comment bank & feedback tool

Price: Free for individuals; paid team plans from NZD $15/month

Pros

Purpose-built for university marking workflows
Shared comment bank across the whole marking team
Works inside any LMS via browser extension
AI-assisted feedback improvement
Analytics on student feedback patterns
Comment variants and dynamic placeholders
Free plan for individual markers

Cons

Web-based (requires internet connection)
Newer product with growing feature set

Our (potentially biased) verdict

The best option for university teaching teams who want to standardise feedback quality, onboard new markers quickly, and get analytics on student performance patterns. The browser extension means it works alongside any existing LMS without disrupting your marking workflow.

Start free with The Marking App View team plans

2. Spreadsheets (Excel / Google Sheets)

General-purpose office tool

Price: Free (Excel) / Free (Google Sheets)

Pros

Free and universally available
Flexible - can be structured any way you like
Easy to share via email or Drive

Cons

Manual copy-paste workflow for inserting comments
No LMS integration
Hard to keep in sync across a marking team
No analytics or usage tracking
Comments are plain text - no formatting, variants, or placeholders
Version control problems when shared

Our (potentially biased) verdict

Fine for a solo marker who grades 20 submissions per semester. Becomes painful at scale and breaks down entirely when a whole team needs to work from the same library.

3. LMS built-in rubrics (Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard)

LMS feature

Price: Included with your LMS licence

Pros

Already in the platform your institution uses
Integrates with gradebook natively
Useful for structured rubric scoring

Cons

Poor support for free-text qualitative feedback
No shared comment bank across markers
Feedback not reusable between assignments
No analytics on feedback quality
Variation per LMS - features differ between Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard

Our (potentially biased) verdict

Good for capturing numeric rubric scores. Weak for the qualitative written feedback that students need most. Best used alongside a dedicated comment bank tool rather than instead of one.

4. Turnitin Feedback Studio

Assignment submission & grading tool

Price: Institutional licence required (contact Turnitin for pricing)

Pros

Originality checking built in
QuickMark sets allow reusable inline comments
Widely used in universities

Cons

QuickMark libraries are typically per-user, not team-shared
Limited ability to organise and manage a large comment bank
No AI-assisted feedback improvement
Requires institutional licence
No analytics on comment usage patterns

Our (potentially biased) verdict

Turnitin Feedback Studio is useful for institutions already paying for Turnitin. For consistent team-wide feedback, you'll still want a dedicated comment bank that all your markers share.

5. Word / Google Docs comment templates

Document templates

Price: Free / included in Microsoft or Google subscription

Pros

Familiar tool most academics already use
Can be shared via email or Drive
Offline access

Cons

No structured organisation - comments live in an unstructured document
No LMS integration - everything is copy-paste
Team sharing is error-prone and hard to keep current
No search or filtering
No analytics

Our (potentially biased) verdict

A common starting point for many markers. Works for individuals but doesn't scale to teams and doesn't integrate with LMS marking tools in any meaningful way.

Ready to try the top-rated marking tool for university teams?

The Marking App is free for individual markers. Team and department plans start from NZD $15/month.

Start free See how we compare in detail

Frequently asked questions

What should I look for in marking software?

For individual markers: a searchable, organised comment library and easy LMS integration. For teams: shared libraries, group management, and analytics. For departments: scalable plans, moderator oversight, and the ability to standardise feedback language across courses.

Can I use more than one tool - e.g., Turnitin and The Marking App?

Yes. The Marking App's browser extension works inside Turnitin Feedback Studio, Canvas SpeedGrader, and other marking interfaces. You can use your LMS or Turnitin for rubric scoring and submission management, and The Marking App for qualitative written feedback.

Which tool is best for large university marking teams?

For large teams, you need a tool with genuine team sharing, group management, and moderator oversight. The Marking App's Group and Department plans are designed for exactly this use case.