Gradescope

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Gradescope

A curated collection of the 3 best self hosted alternatives to Gradescope.

Gradescope is a cloud-based grading and assessment platform for instructors and TAs to collect, grade, and return paper-based and digital assignments and exams. Features include rubric-based grading, code autograders, bubble-sheet scanning, analytics, and LMS integrations.

Alternatives List

#1
RELATE

RELATE

Open-source Django LMS for creating courses with YAML/Markdown content, git-backed versioning, sandboxed code questions, automatic grading, calendars and analytics.

RELATE screenshot

RELATE is a web-based courseware system built on the Django web framework for authoring, delivering, and grading interactive course content. It emphasizes simple, text-based authoring and supports interactive flows that combine static pages, quizzes, and code-execution questions.

Key Features

  • Text-first content authored in YAML and Markdown for reusable course materials
  • Deep git integration so instructors can version content and preview unpublished changes while students use prior versions
  • Code question support with in-browser code entry, sandboxed execution, automatic grading, optional human second-stage grading, and plotting support
  • Flow-based activities that sequence pages (text, video, quiz, code, uploads) and flexible rules for participation and grading
  • Course calendar, grade book, and basic analytics/statistics of student answers
  • REST API for integration and automation; optional XMPP support for in-class messaging
  • Supports hosting multiple courses on a single installation and Docker-based deployment options

Use Cases

  • University instructors delivering programming assignments with automatic grading and versioned course materials
  • Running live in-class quizzes and monitored coding exercises with sandboxed execution
  • Coordinating multi-course installations with shared content repositories and gradebook/calendar management

Limitations and Considerations

  • Production deployment and long-term maintenance require server administration; optional integrations (XMPP, SAML, external auth) add setup complexity
  • Advanced features (sandboxing, plotting, automatic grading) require careful configuration of execution environments and dependencies

RELATE is well suited for institutions and instructors who need a flexible, text-driven LMS focused on programmatic assignments and reproducible course content. It favors administrators comfortable with Django-based deployments and git workflows.

422stars
127forks
View Details
#2
INGInious

INGInious

Open-source platform for creating, running and automatically grading programming exercises in Docker sandboxes; integrates with LMS (Moodle, edX).

INGInious screenshot

INGInious is an automated exercises assessment platform designed to run and grade students' programming submissions inside isolated Docker environments. It provides a web frontend for students and teachers, an administration interface for course and task management, and integration points for external LMS platforms.

Key Features

  • Automated grading of programming exercises using custom tests and pluggable grading environments
  • Executes student code inside Docker-based sandboxes to isolate and control runtime behavior
  • Web frontend for submissions and an admin UI for course/task management and student monitoring
  • Integrations with external learning systems (LMS) such as Moodle and edX via standard connectors
  • Deployable via Docker Compose with provided example grading environments and a tasks folder for courses
  • Supports multiple programming languages through configurable grading containers and task definitions
  • Includes demo tasks and tooling for creating and importing exercise sets

Use Cases

  • University and classroom programming courses requiring scalable, consistent automated grading
  • MOOCs and online learning platforms that need external graders integrated with LMS
  • Technical training and coding interview platforms that require reproducible, sandboxed code evaluation

Limitations and Considerations

  • Execution relies on Docker containers: secure configuration (SELinux, namespaces) is required for safely running untrusted code
  • Out-of-the-box deployment is oriented around Docker Compose; large-scale horizontal scaling requires additional infrastructure and orchestration
  • Administrators must manage and maintain grading environment images and task repositories to cover target languages and toolchains

INGInious is suitable for institutions and instructors who need a configurable, containerized autograding solution that integrates with existing LMS workflows. It emphasizes secure execution, extensible grading environments, and a teacher-focused administration interface.

231stars
147forks
View Details
#3
QST

QST

Open-source assessment software for creating, delivering, and grading quizzes, exams, and surveys, with question banks, interoperability formats, and built-in gradebook analytics.

QST screenshot

QST is an open-source online/LAN assessment platform for creating, delivering, and grading quizzes, tests, surveys, and other markable assignments. It supports large-scale, proctored-style testing as well as lightweight quizzes, with an emphasis on controlled access, portability of question banks, and integrated results analysis.

Key Features

  • Role-based administration for organizations, instructors, and students, including bulk user/class imports and optional student photo display
  • Question/item banks with folders and reuse across assessments
  • Multiple question types (including MCQ, multiple-answer, matching, true/false, short answer, essay) plus survey-style items
  • Branching/adaptive delivery (skip logic) and randomization (question/answer shuffling and random selection)
  • Multiple delivery modes (single-question flows, jump/next, paper-style) and configurable result visibility
  • Auto-marking for objective questions plus manual grading for written responses
  • GradeBook with per-assessment and per-question statistics and export (CSV/JSON)
  • Import/export and conversion across common formats (QST XML, Moodle XML, QTI, Word XML, PDF)
  • Rich editors for formatted content, including math/chemistry equation support (MathML/TeX/LaTeX)

Use Cases

  • School or training-center quizzes, surveys, and exams with reporting and grade aggregation
  • Secure in-network testing for labs or classrooms with controlled access and timed assessments
  • Migration/archival workflows using imports/exports to move question banks between platforms

Limitations and Considerations

  • Not a full LMS; focuses on assessments and grading rather than broader course delivery features
  • Some accessibility work is noted as partial/ongoing (WCAG AA support)

QST is a feature-rich assessment system designed for organizations that need strong question-bank portability, flexible test delivery options, and detailed grading analytics. It fits well where a standalone, scalable testing platform is needed without adopting a full learning management suite.

View Details

Why choose an open source alternative?

  • •Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • •No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • •Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • •Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running