Terms of Service
The terms and conditions governing your use of the GradingPen platform.
Effective Date: February 19, 2026 | Last Updated: February 19, 2026
1. Acceptance of Terms
By creating an account or using GradingPen ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you are using the Service on behalf of a school or district, you represent that you have the authority to bind that organization to these Terms.
2. Account Responsibilities
- You must provide accurate and complete information when creating your account.
- You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials.
- You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.
- You must notify us immediately at support@gradingpen.com if you suspect unauthorized access.
- You must be at least 18 years old or an authorized representative of an educational institution.
3. Acceptable Use
GradingPen is designed for educational purposes only. You agree to:
- Use the Service only for grading and providing feedback on student work
- Not submit content that is offensive, discriminatory, or illegal
- Not attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or exploit the Service
- Not use the Service to process data unrelated to educational assessment
- Not share your account credentials with unauthorized users
- Comply with all applicable laws, including FERPA, when submitting student data
4. Intellectual Property
Your Content
Teachers own their rubrics, assignment prompts, and instructional content. By uploading content to GradingPen, you grant us a limited license to process it solely for the purpose of providing the grading service.
Student Work
Student work remains the property of the student and/or school. We claim no ownership over student submissions or AI-generated feedback.
Our Platform
The GradingPen platform, including its software, design, branding, and AI algorithms, is owned by GradingPen. You may not copy, modify, or distribute any part of the platform without written permission.
5. AI Grading Disclaimer
AI provides feedback assistance — teachers make final grading decisions.
- GradingPen's AI generates suggested grades and feedback based on the rubric criteria you provide.
- AI-generated grades are suggestions, not definitive assessments.
- Teachers are responsible for reviewing and approving all grades before assigning them to students.
- We do not guarantee that AI-generated feedback will be error-free or perfectly aligned with every educational standard.
- The Service is a tool to assist educators, not a replacement for professional judgment.
6. Payment Terms
- Free trial: New accounts receive a limited free trial with no credit card required.
- Subscription billing: Paid plans are billed annually. Payment is processed securely via Stripe.
- Refund policy: We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on all paid plans. If you're not satisfied, contact us within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
- Cancellation: You may cancel your subscription at any time. Access continues until the end of the billing period.
- Price changes: We will provide at least 30 days' notice before any price increases take effect.
7. Data Ownership
Teachers and schools own student data. GradingPen is a data processor, not a data owner.
- All student education records submitted to GradingPen remain the property of the school or district.
- We process student data solely as directed by the teacher for the purpose of providing grading services.
- We do not sell, license, or share student data with third parties for any purpose other than providing the Service.
- Upon request, we will export or delete all data associated with your account.
8. FERPA Compliance
GradingPen is committed to full FERPA compliance:
- We act as a "school official" with a legitimate educational interest under FERPA
- Student education records are used solely for providing the grading service
- We do not use student data for advertising, marketing, or AI training
- We maintain a Data Processing Agreement for schools and districts
- We support data access, amendment, and deletion requests as required by FERPA
For our complete privacy practices, see our Privacy Policy.
9. Service Availability
- We strive to maintain high availability and provide the Service on a best-effort basis.
- We do not guarantee 100% uptime and may perform maintenance as needed.
- Enterprise customers may negotiate a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with guaranteed uptime.
- We will make reasonable efforts to notify users of planned downtime in advance.
10. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:
- GradingPen is provided "AS IS" without warranties of any kind, express or implied.
- We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Service.
- Our total liability to you shall not exceed the amount you paid for the Service in the 12 months preceding the claim.
- We are not responsible for grading decisions made by teachers based on AI-generated suggestions.
11. Termination & Data Deletion
- You may terminate your account at any time through your Account Settings.
- We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.
- Upon account termination, all student data, assignments, rubrics, and analytics will be permanently deleted within 30 days.
- You may request immediate data deletion by contacting support@gradingpen.com.
- We will provide a data export option before deletion upon request.
12. Governing Law
These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes shall be resolved in the courts of Delaware.
13. Changes to Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes via email at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.