1. The Service

GradeOptics helps instructors grade paper exams. You upload a question paper, an answer key if you have one, and your students’ scanned exams; the Service reads the answers, suggests marks against your rubric, and lets you review, approve, and publish grades.

We are improving the Service all the time, so features may change. We will give notice before a change that removes something you rely on, where we reasonably can.

2. Accounts

• Accounts are by invitation only. Give accurate information, and keep your account to yourself.
• Keep your sign-in secure. You are responsible for what happens under your account; tell us at once at support@gradeoptics.com if you think someone else has used it.
• Instructors create courses and assignments and invite graders and students. Graders grade and approve work in the courses they are invited to. Students see their own exam and published grades and can ask for regrades.
• You must be at least 13 years old to have an account.

3. Instructors and institutions

If you upload course materials or student information, you confirm that:

• you have the right and your institution’s authority to upload it and have it processed as described in our Privacy Policy, including under FERPA and your institution’s policies;
• you have given students any notice, and obtained any consent, that the law or your institution requires;
• you upload only what grading needs, and not unrelated sensitive information such as health or financial details; and
• you review suggested marks before you approve or publish them. Final grades are your responsibility.

If you accept these Terms for a school or other organization, you confirm that you may bind it, and “you” includes it. If your institution has a separate signed agreement with us, that agreement controls where it differs from these Terms.

4. AI-assisted grading

Marks, reasons, transcriptions, outlines, and answers written by the Service are produced by AI models and are suggestions. They can be wrong, incomplete, or inconsistent, for example by misreading handwriting or misapplying a rubric. A grade becomes final only when an instructor or grader approves it; the Service never approves a grade by itself.

Do not rely on AI output alone for a decision about a student without a person reviewing it. The Service sends content to AI providers as described in our Privacy Policy, and it may limit how much can be processed each day.

5. Your content

“Your content” means what you or your students’ work add to the Service, and what the Service produces for you. You, your institution, or your students keep all rights in it.

You give us a limited, non-exclusive permission to store, copy, process, send, and display your content only to provide, secure, and support the Service for you, including through the service providers listed in our Privacy Policy. We do not sell your content or use it to train AI models.

If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without any obligation to you.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• upload content you have no right to share, or content that is unlawful, infringing, or harmful;
• upload files made to harm the Service, such as malware or files built to exhaust its resources;
• access courses or information you are not authorized to see, or get around access checks, invitations, or usage limits;
• probe or test the Service for weaknesses without our written permission, except reporting a problem you found in good faith to support@gradeoptics.com;
• overload or disrupt the Service, or access it with automated tools other than the ways it offers;
• copy, resell, or reverse engineer the Service, or use it to build a competing product; or
• use the Service for anything other than teaching and assessment, or in a way that violates anyone’s rights.

7. Fees and payment

Unless you have a separate written agreement or order with us, the Service is provided free of charge during early access. We will give at least 30 days’ notice before any fees apply. If you already use the Service when fees start, we will send you that notice by email at least 30 days before any fee applies to you. You can stop using the Service at any time.

Once fees apply, the Service is paid for with a license:

• Licenses. A license is an agreement with a school, department, or other organization (the “buyer”) for a term, such as a semester or an academic year. Its price, set by the number of students it covers, is fixed for the term and agreed beforehand in a written quote or order with us. The buyer pays for it; the professors it covers pay nothing themselves.
• Who it covers. A license names the professors it covers, by the email address they sign in with, and gives each a number of students for the term, with a fair-use amount of AI reading and grading for those students. The buyer can ask us to add or remove professors, or change their numbers, at any time. Coverage starts once we record the signed order, or on the term’s first day if that is later, and ends on its last day.
• What counts as a student. A student counts once in a course from the first time the Service reads or grades one of their submissions there, however many assignments they have in it. A student in two courses counts in each. Students whose work is never read or graded, and course staff such as instructors and graders, are not counted.
• No usage charges. Nothing more is charged during a term, however much the Service is used. If more students are counted than a license was priced for, its renewal’s price may reflect that; the price for the current term does not change.
• At a professor’s limit. When more students are counted for a professor than their number for the term, or their fair-use AI is used up, an assignment already being graded always finishes, so grading never stops partway through. Their next assignment waits until the buyer raises their number. The Service shows professors where they stand and warns them before they reach their limit. Nothing is deleted, and grades already given stay available.
• Free trial. Each instructor can grade one assignment free of charge, once, with any number of students. The trial does not renew; grading more assignments needs a license.
• Invoices and payment. We invoice the buyer once the order is signed. An invoice is due within 30 days unless the order says otherwise. Invoices are sent and paid through Stripe, Inc., our payment processor: payment details entered on Stripe’s pages go to Stripe and are never stored by GradeOptics. Our Privacy Policy explains what Stripe receives.
• Renewal. A license ends on the last day of its term and does not renew by itself. Before it ends, we offer the buyer a renewal, and the Service tells the professors it covers 30 days before the end. A renewal signed in time continues their coverage without a break.
• Taxes. Prices do not include taxes. If any apply, the quote and the invoice show them.
• Refunds. If the buyer cancels a license by writing to support@gradeoptics.com within 30 days of its term’s first day, we refund the part of its price for students no professor has used. Otherwise fees are not refunded, except where the law requires or the order says otherwise.
• Getting a license. Write to support@gradeoptics.com for a quote. A professor not yet covered can also ask for one from their course page.
• Price changes. We will give at least 30 days’ notice before a price changes. A license’s price stays fixed for its term; a new price applies only from its renewal.

8. Our property

The Service, its software, and the GradeOptics name and logo belong to us. These Terms give you the right to use the Service as offered, and no other rights in it.

9. Services we rely on

The Service runs on providers for hosting, sign-in, AI, and payments, listed in our Privacy Policy. Their outages or changes can affect the Service. We are not responsible for other websites the Service links to.

10. Availability and your records

We work to keep the Service running, but it is provided as available and may be interrupted, for example for maintenance. Unless a written agreement says otherwise, we do not promise any level of uptime. Keep your own copy of final grades, for example by exporting them.

11. Ending your use

You may stop using the Service at any time. Instructors can delete their courses and assignments, and anyone can delete their account from Your account in the account menu or ask us to close it at support@gradeoptics.com.

We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms, if your use puts others or the Service at risk, or at your institution’s request. We will give notice where reasonable. If we stop offering the Service, we will give at least 30 days’ notice so you can export your grades.

After your access ends, we delete your information as described in our Privacy Policy. Sections that by their nature should continue, such as those on content, disclaimers, liability, and disputes, continue to apply.

12. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and the accuracy of AI output. We do not promise that the Service will be uninterrupted or free of errors.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill. Our total liability for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for it in the 12 months before the claim and 100 US dollars.

Some places do not allow these limits, so they may not all apply to you.

14. Indemnity

You will defend and hold us harmless against claims by others arising from your content or from your breaking these Terms or the law. If you are a public institution that the law does not allow to give this promise, it applies only as far as the law allows.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be heard only in the state or federal courts located in Michigan, and you and we agree to their jurisdiction.

Before bringing a claim, please email support@gradeoptics.com so that we can try to resolve it informally within 30 days. If you are a public institution whose law requires a different governing law or venue, that law applies instead.

16. Changes to these Terms

When we update these Terms, we change the date at the top. Before a material change takes effect, we will tell instructors by email or in the Service. Using the Service after a change takes effect means you accept it.

17. General

These Terms, our Privacy Policy, and any separate written agreement with us are the whole agreement about the Service. If a part of these Terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. Not enforcing a part is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer these Terms without our consent; we may transfer them as part of a merger or sale of our business. We are not liable for delays caused by events beyond our reasonable control. We may send you notices by email.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms: support@gradeoptics.com. GradeOptics, Michigan, United States.