TAO
Capellen, Luxembourg
What it is
TAO is an online assessment platform for creating, delivering, and managing digital assessments. Authors can create tests manually, convert existing exam files, draft with AI assistance, or import QTI packages. It supports question formats such as Choice, Extended Text, File Upload, Hotspot, and Text Entry, along with automatic or manual scoring, partial credit, weighted responses, cut scores, and branching logic. Results tools include session and test-taker reports, custom reports, CSV results, Data Explorer, and TAO Insights. TAO supports QTI 2.2 and QTI 3.0 and promotes interoperability through QTI and LTI. Assessments can be delivered online, through an LMS, at test centers, with local proctoring, or through cloud-hosted and self-hosted setups. TAO Cloud offers shared or private hosting using providers including AWS, Google Cloud, and Linode. The free Starter plan is intended for solo authors, small classroom assessments, or pilots, not team programs at scale. Paid plans start at $149 a month; custom options are also listed.
For and against
For
- Supports manual, AI-assisted, and QTI-import authoring
- Offers automatic and manual scoring options
- Includes reporting tools and CSV results
- Supports QTI 2.2, QTI 3.0, and LTI
Against
- Starter is not designed for team programs at scale
- Ignite lists proctoring and Data API as optional add-ons
The verdict
TAO combines assessment authoring, delivery, scoring, and reporting with support for established QTI and LTI standards. Its free options cover individual or self-hosted use, while larger programs may need paid or custom plans.
Who it suits
TAO suits educators and organizations that need to create and deliver digital assessments across online, LMS, test-center, cloud, or self-hosted settings. Its free Starter plan is aimed at solo authors, small-scale classroom use, or piloting.
Plans and prices
TAO Starter
1 author seat · 3,000 monthly AI credits · 50 monthly learner test attempts · QTI tools
Read 15 Oct 2026 · taotesting.com
TAO Author
1 included author seat, up to 5 authors · 10,000 monthly AI credits · 50 monthly learner test attempts · shared item bank
Read 15 Oct 2026 · taotesting.com
TAO Ignite
5 included author seats, up to 25 authors · 10,000 monthly AI credits · 1,250 monthly learner attempts · branded URL
Read 15 Oct 2026 · taotesting.com
TAO Community Edition
Self-hosted · access to and extension of source code · community forum and user guide support
Read 7 Oct 2026 · taotesting.com
TAO Elevate
10 included author seats, up to 50 authors · 10,000 monthly AI credits · 5,000 monthly learner attempts · AI API and Data API
Read 15 Oct 2026 · taotesting.com
TAO Enterprise
Custom author capacity · custom AI credits and learner volume · custom connectors and platform configuration · enterprise support and account management
Read 15 Oct 2026 · taotesting.com
On the record
- AI features
- The free Starter plan includes AI-assisted item generation, AI tagging, semantic search, summaries and AI quality or audit tools.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Analytics
- TAO Insights offers customizable reports, dashboards, data export and APIs for third-party analytics integration.userguide.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- API and extensibility
- TAO exposes APIs, LTI 1.3 connectivity and an extensible architecture for learning platforms, identity systems and other tools.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Assessment lifecycle
- The platform combines authoring, content management, secure delivery, scoring, grading and reporting in one environment.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Authoring
- TAO provides a WYSIWYG editor, drag-and-drop multimedia authoring and more than 20 built-in question types.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Cloud hosting
- TAO Cloud uses providers including AWS, Google Cloud and Linode and offers shared or private cloud hosting.taotesting.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Company founding
- The company was created in 2013 when TAO spun off into Open Assessment Technologies S.A.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company legal name
- Crunchbase identifies the maker as Open Assessment Technologies S.A., a private for-profit company founded by Marc Oswald and Patrick Plichart.crunchbase.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company size
- LinkedIn lists Open Assessment Technologies as having 51–200 employees and headquarters in Capellen, Luxembourg.linkedin.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Delivery
- TAO supports online scheduling, session management, monitoring, automated scoring and learner result reporting.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Delivery and scoring
- The platform supports online assessment delivery, test-session management, scoring and results reporting.taotesting.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Developer SDK
- The public GitHub organization provides a TAO Frontend Core SDK installable with npm as @oat-sa/tao-core-sdk.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- The online user guide covers administration, importing and exporting, session security, monitoring, scoring, delivery, reporting and experimental features.userguide.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Free-plan limit
- TAO Starter is intended for solo authors, small-scale classroom assessment, or piloting and is not designed for team-based programs at scale.taotesting.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Human grading
- TAO Grader supports rubrics, multi-trait scoring and asynchronous team scoring for manually scored responses.userguide.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Listed integrations include Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, GeoGebra, Proctorio, MathType, Wiris and Texthelp.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Item banks
- Shared item banks let teams organize and reuse assessment content across authors.taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Licence
- TAO Community Edition core components are released under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPLv3).taotesting.com · read 15 Oct 2026
