This guide presents a comprehensive comparison table for the Crowdmark and Gradescope assessment grading platforms.
The biggest thing to consider is that while the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering currently provides a faculty-wide license for Crowdmark, it does not provide one for Gradescope. Although Gradescope is included in U of T’s Academic Toolbox, it is not covered by a faculty-wide license from FASE.
If you are planning to use Gradescope in your course, you would need to secure a license independently.
1. Crowdmark vs. Gradescope feature comparison
| Crowdmark | Gradescope | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of UofT Academic Toolbox | Yes; Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering provides license | Yes; 
 | 
| Integrated into Quercus | You can connect your Quercus course to Crowdmark, sync course roster and assessment grades. | Gradescope is not integrated into Quercus – you can’t sync course roster and grades. You will need to manually add students to Gradescope and assessment grades to Quercus. | 
| Access | Access Crowdmark directly from your Quercus course using the LTI connection. | Access Gradescope from gradescope.ca homepage | 
| Set Up | 
 | 
 | 
| Supported assessment types | Paper-based (Administered)– any question type students can respond to on paper (especially handwritten, calculations) 
 Online (Assigned) – assessment set up and administered fully online in Crowdmark. 
 | Paper-based and digital assessments– any question type students can answer on paper or annotate on the document using their device: 
 Online Assignments – assessment set up and administered directly in Gradescope. Students can submit responses in Gradescope interface. Programming assessment - students submit code projects and instructors can grade them automatically or manually. | 
| Assessment distribution | Paper-based assessment: instructor created question templates in Crowdmark and distributes physical copies of question booklets to students Online assessment: instructor creates assessment questions in Crowdmark and selects distribution option. Students receive link to assessment via email and submit it in Crowdmark | Paper-based and digital assessments: instructor creates a question template where students will print and write answers in a designated space or annotate on the document using their device Online assignments: instructor creates questions in Gradescope. Students log into Gradescope interface to access assessment Programming assessment: instructor creates assignment in Gradescope. Students log into Gradescope interface to access assessment | 
| Grading | 
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| Adding Assessment Grades to Quercus Gradebook | Sync assessment grades with Quercus from the Assessment Results interface in Crowdmark | Steps to add grades from Gradescope to Quercus Gradebook: 
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| Submission file type and size limit | PDF, JPG, and PNG file formats. The size limit is 12mb per JPG or PNG file and 25mb per PDF file. | 
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2. Learn more about Crowdmark and Gradescope
More about Crowdmark
- Check out our EdTech knowledgebase articles about using Crowdmark
- Register for Crowdmark Winter 2025 Training Webinars
More about Gradescope
- Visit Gradescope web page to access their knowledgebase articles.