Crowdmark

Crowdmark is a web application for evaluating, discussing, and responding to exams, essays, lab reports, and other student work. Instructors can use existing paper assessments, create assignments, or set up exams with multiple-choice questions. They can scan and upload student work, while students can submit assignments using mobile phones. Grading tools support scores, graphical annotations, hypertext comments, mathematical notation, and reusable comments. Crowdmark reports student performance by question and offers an API for extracting insights. Its FAQ lists roster and grade synchronization with Canvas, Brightspace/D2L, Moodle, Blackboard, and Sakai. The Canvas integration can import courses, rosters, team members, and sections, then export grades. Crowdmark offers licensing for instructors, departments, enterprises, schools, and school districts, serving higher education and K–12. A trial is available, but there is no free plan. Subscription prices are quoted by Crowdmark based on the number of users. The Exam Matcher works on mobile devices through a browser and camera; the iOS and Android Exam Matcher apps are deprecated and no longer supported.

Crowdmark combines assessment workflows, detailed grading tools, and LMS roster and grade synchronization. Consider its quoted subscription pricing and the unsupported Exam Matcher apps when evaluating mobile access.

Crowdmark may suit instructors and education organizations in higher education or K–12 that need to grade and discuss student work. It supports course-based and annual licensing, with prices quoted based on user count.

Crowdmark is an assessment and grading platform for instructors and schools handling exams, essays, lab reports, and other student work. It is best suited to courses that combine paper and digital submissions and need detailed feedback or LMS synchronization. Its broad assessment workflow is compelling, but quoted subscription pricing makes cost comparison harder.

Overview

Instructors can bring existing paper assessments into Crowdmark, create assignments, or set up multiple-choice exams. They can scan and upload student work, while students can submit assignments from mobile phones. That flexibility suits courses using a mix of formats; it is less compelling for teams seeking a narrowly focused online quiz tool.

Grading goes beyond scores: instructors can add graphical annotations, hypertext comments, mathematical notation, and reusable comments. Those options suit work where students need to see how an answer went wrong, including visually or mathematically complex material. Crowdmark does not offer written-work OCR, so scanned pages are not automatically converted into recognized text.

Key features

Feedback and performance insight

Reusable comments can support consistent feedback across a class, while annotations and mathematical notation let instructors respond directly to the work. Crowdmark also reports performance by question, which can help instructors identify where students struggled. An API offers a route to extract insights for further analysis, useful for institutions with a reason to work with assessment data beyond the platform.

LMS integration

Crowdmark supports roster and grade synchronization with Canvas, Brightspace/D2L, Moodle, Blackboard, and Sakai. Its Canvas integration can import courses, student rosters, team members, and sections, then export grades to Canvas. That reduces the need to maintain course membership and grades separately for Canvas users; institutions using other supported systems should weigh the value of synchronization against their own workflow needs.

Mobile submissions

Students can upload assignments using mobile phones. The Exam Matcher works through a mobile browser and camera, but Crowdmark's iOS and Android Exam Matcher apps are deprecated and no longer supported. That makes the browser route the practical mobile option for Exam Matcher use, rather than relying on the discontinued apps.

Pricing

Both subscription plans use custom pricing, so buyers need a quote to compare costs. The course-based subscription is priced according to the number of users and is intended for a course-level arrangement; it is the more natural fit when licensing needs are confined to a course.

The annual subscription is also priced by user count and can be licensed at instructor, department, or enterprise level. Its broader licensing levels suit teams or institutions seeking a longer-term arrangement, while instructors who only need one course may find the course-based option a closer fit.

Platforms

Crowdmark supports web, Android, iOS, and API access. Mobile-device use includes student uploads and browser-based Exam Matcher access, but the deprecated Exam Matcher apps should not be treated as supported mobile applications. The API is relevant to teams seeking to extract assessment insights; no particular integration workflow beyond the stated LMS synchronization is implied by API access alone.

Who it's for

Crowdmark describes offerings for higher education and K–12, with licensing for instructors, departments, enterprises, schools, and school districts. It makes the strongest case for educators who grade varied student work and want structured feedback alongside LMS roster or grade synchronization. Schools that need OCR, a free ongoing tier, or clear prices before contacting a vendor should look elsewhere.

Crowdmark says it uses physical, technical, organizational, and administrative safeguards, and limits access to personal information to people who need it. Personal information may be processed and stored on servers outside Canada, including in the United States, a consideration for institutions evaluating data location. Support questions go to its Customer Success team at [email protected].

Pros and cons

• Pro: Multiple feedback formats, including mathematical notation and graphical annotations, suit work that needs more than a score.
• Pro: Question-level performance information and an API give instructors and institutions ways to examine assessment outcomes.
• Pro: Roster and grade synchronization across five named LMS platforms can reduce duplicate course administration.
• Con: There is no free plan, and both subscription options require a quote, limiting price comparison before contacting Crowdmark.
• Con: Written-work OCR is absent, so scanned assignments do not become searchable recognized text through OCR.
• Con: The Exam Matcher mobile apps are deprecated; users must rely on browser-and-camera access instead.

Alternatives

Gradescope is worth considering when a free entry point matters: its free Basic plan includes basic assignment types, dynamic rubrics, question-by-question grading, assignment statistics, regrade requests, and data export. Rubric Scorer is a more limited free option for a single class, with up to three rubrics; its premium subscription is monthly renewable.

UniRubric may suit a lecturer who needs a one-time, no-cost marking job: its free plan covers one lifetime job with rubric-anchored output, approval before release, and PDF export. GradeBoard offers a free web plan capped at 10 learner submissions per month, with basic analytics and 30-day data retention, making it a lower-volume alternative.

OpenRubric offers a free first event in exchange for sponsor recognition and permission for an anonymized case study. Pawtograder is free for instructors evaluating with its community instance, with ongoing use at scale requiring contact. Quick Rubric provides free web-based rubrics that remain publicly available, with reuse limited to non-commercial use. RubiStar is another free web option for educational use; rubrics may be deleted if used personally or commercially.

For category browsing, see Rubric Software and Automated Grading Software.

Verdict

Crowdmark is a strong choice for instructors and institutions that need flexible grading across paper and digital work, detailed feedback, and LMS synchronization. Its main reasons to look elsewhere are the lack of written-work OCR, unsupported Exam Matcher apps, and custom pricing with no free plan. Choose it when those grading and workflow strengths justify requesting a quote; choose a free alternative when upfront cost or a free tier matters more.