Comparison

Qalam vs iGrade

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Qalam

This app streamlines exam creation, management, and grading for educators. It uses AI to extract exam data, scan answer sheets, and provide instant results with detailed reports. Facilitate collaboration and share exam configurations with colleagues.

Highlights
  • AI-powered exam creation and data extraction
  • Automatic answer sheet scanning
  • Instant grading with accuracy reports
  • Exam sharing and collaboration
  • Digital and paper-based exam support
  • Results export to Excel
  • Multi-language support (English & Arabic)
Features
Read full description

Qalam - Smart Exam Creator & Grading App Transform how you create, manage, and grade exams with Qalam - the ultimate assessment tool for educators, teachers, and institutions. KEY FEATURES: Create Exams Effortlessly • Design questions • Organize exams into courses for easy management • Support for both paper-based and digital exams • Duplicate existing exams to save time • Generate answer sheets with customizable headers AI-Powered Intelligence • Upload question papers and student lists - AI extracts everything instantly • Automatic answer sheet scanning using advanced computer vision • Instant grading with detailed accuracy reports Share & Collaborate • Share exam configurations with colleagues • Generate QR codes for students to access digital exams • Share exam codes for quick student enrollment • Manage students seamlessly Instant Results & Analytics • Real-time scanning and grading • Export results to Excel format • Comprehensive reports with statistics Customization & Flexibility • Create custom headers with institution, department, and city details • Select from Saudi educational institutions database Additional Features • Multi-language support (English & Arabic) • Credit-based system with flexible packages • Referral rewards program Perfect for: • Schools & Universities • Teachers & Educators • Training Centers • Educational Institutions Save hours of manual grading. Get started with Qalam today - Create. Scan. Analyze. Test. Done in minutes!

About

iGrade

This AI-powered tool assists educators by grading student papers from photographs. It handles various question types, flags uncertain answers for review, and summarizes class performance. Prioritizing privacy, it masks student data locally and deletes images post-grading.

Highlights
  • Reads handwritten answers from photos
  • Grades multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and free response
  • Flags uncertain answers for review
  • Summarizes class performance
  • Exports results as CSV
  • Masks student data locally for privacy
Read full description

iGrade is an AI grading assistant — built by a teacher, for teachers. Photograph your answer key. Photograph your students' papers. iGrade tells you what's right, what's wrong, and what it's not sure about. You stay in charge of every grade and all feedback. iGrade doesn't replace your judgment. It replaces the stack of papers on your kitchen table. WHAT iGRADE DOES Reads handwritten answers from photos of paper tests Grades multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and free response Flags answers it isn't sure about — so you can review before a grade is final Warns you when a student's answers look shifted by a line, so one skipped line doesn't mark the rest of the test wrong Summarizes class performance to help you decide what to reteach Exports per-student results as CSV you can bring into most gradebooks WHAT iGRADE DOESN'T DO Mark your papers (nothing is ever written on the physical page) Write feedback for students (that stays with you) Store student paper images (they are deleted after grading) Sell, share for advertising, or train on your students' personal data — ever PRIVACY IS THE DEFAULT, NOT A FEATURE iGrade is designed to be restrictive about how much student identifying information ever travels digitally in association with a paper. Before a student page leaves your phone, iGrade looks for the student's name and covers it. We also strip names and IDs from extracted text, and we don't keep them. Student paper images are processed for grading only, are not used to build profiles, and are deleted after grading. Answer keys are kept so you can reuse them. If you photograph a student's paper to use as your key, that image is stored with your saved keys until you delete it. There are no student accounts — students never touch iGrade. No automated system catches everything, so cropping identifying information before uploading is recommended best practice. HOW IT WORKS Snap a photo of your answer key Snap photos of your students' papers (one or many) Review anything iGrade flagged for your attention Adjust anything you disagree with, and export results if you wish BUILT BY A TEACHER I have taught in NY at the middle and high school level for 26 years. I built iGrade because I wanted a grading assistant that would dramatically speed up the manual labor of grading but stay honest about its uncertainty. I wanted it to stand out as unique because it doesn't seek student data and keeps it private by default. It wasn't worth building to me if it wasn't going to make my own daily life as a teacher better. Questions, feedback, or bug reports: support@igradeapp.com Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/current

Screenshots

Qalam4 screens
iGrade4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: iGrade at 7 against Qalam's 1. On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Qalam sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and iGrade sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Qalam against 4.9 for iGrade. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iGrade has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Qalam ships an update fortnightly, iGrade weekly. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Qalam versus iGrade: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQalamiGrade
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.9 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings17 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS1615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB62 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperAl Halloul Al MokhsassaiGrade LLC

Customer experience

Qalam

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

iGrade

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Qalam

One-time1
  • 1000 Scans Pack$1.99
5 purchases

iGrade

Subscriptions4
  • iGrade Starter Monthly$4.991 Month
  • iGrade Premium Monthly$9.991 Month
  • iGrade Starter Annual$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • iGrade Premium Annual$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • iGrade Paper Pack$5.99

Questions

Is Qalam free?
Qalam is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is iGrade free?
iGrade is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Qalam or iGrade?
Qalam is rated higher. Qalam averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while iGrade averages 4.9 from 7 ratings.
Do Qalam or iGrade have ads?
Neither Qalam nor iGrade shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Qalam or iGrade?
Qalam ships an update fortnightly, and iGrade weekly. Most recently, Qalam was updated on November 5, 2026 and iGrade on November 5, 2026.

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