The 5 best AI checkers for teachers in 2025

For better or worse, artificial intelligence is changing education. AI in the classroom can save teachers time, make learning materials more relatable, and empower students to learn at their own pace — but students can also use it to cheat on assignments. This presents a problem for teachers: How can you make sure students are really doing their work? 

It’s why you need to know the best AI checker for teachers. 

Chatbots and AIs like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Meta Llama can quickly generate multipage essays on almost any subject, and even assist with short-answer questions and MCQs. While your intuition as a teacher will always be crucial to determining whether a student used AI, an AI content detector can guide you.

AI content detectors analyze text to assess the likelihood that it was AI generated. There are words, phrases, and other linguistic tics that suggest a text is more likely created by AI than a human. They’re not perfect, but they can flag the most egregious AI uses — as well as help you assess when a student may be relying on an AI instead of their own learning. 

Like plagiarism detectors, AI content detectors are tools teachers can use to maintain academic integrity and ensure students are doing authentic work. But you want to find a detector — such as one of the five listed below — that can serve as a tested, teacher-appropriate tool with education-friendly policies. 

What makes a great AI checker for teachers?

The best AI writing detection for teachers are tools with a combination of features. The best AI checkers for teachers need to accurately detect AI content without generating false positives, where they say something human written is AI written. A confidence score and detailed breakdown of why a text is likely AI written is much better than a simple yes/no answer, as this lets you use your judgement and knowledge of your student. 

Additionally, good AI checkers for teachers have strong data privacy and comply with FERPA and GDPR regulations. It helps if they bundle some kind of plagiarism detection, are nice and easy to use, and otherwise make it simple for you to check whether your students are using AI.

How this list was tested and selected

To put together this list, I tested 12 AI detectors, using a mix of essays and short answers either written by a human or ChatGPT to evaluate the detection accuracy and usability of the different tools. I looked for apps that could accurately detect both the AI-generated answers and the human-written ones, because just calling everything AI generated is a problem. These AI plagiarism detectors had to reliably detect AI content, present the information in a clear and easy-to-understand way, respect user privacy, and be suitable for use in education. Tools that fell short or weren’t sufficiently tailored to education were excluded. 

Based on this criteria, these are the best five AI checkers for teachers.

Best AI checkers for teachers in 2025: A quick comparison

The best AI checkers for teachers in 2025

GPTZero: Best free AI checker

Pros: Great free plan, excellent AI detection, and additional features for educators 

Cons: Expensive for individual educators to pay for; doesn’t integrate with all virtual learning environments

GPTZero (not to be confused with ZeroGPT) is a powerful and accurate content checker for teachers. It accurately detected my human and AI written samples while providing a clear breakdown of why it identified the AI content. 

GPTZero is packed with features for educators and educational institutions. For starters, data security meets AICPA, FERPA, and SOC 2 standards. It can check for plagiarism and even check that a student’s citations support the points they make. It also integrates with Google Docs and virtual learning environments like Moodle and Canvas.

For all that, GPTZero is on this list for its free plan. You can check up to 10,000 words per month for free. If your school doesn’t yet pay for an AI content checker, the free plan is generous enough to check a random selection of student essays.

Pricing: Free for up to 10,000 words per month; paid plans from $14.99 per month

G2 rating: 4.3/5

Copyleaks: Best all-in-one AI checker

Pros: Complete student essay checker; clear results; great accessibility features

Cons: No free plan; app interface feels outdated and less visually pleasing

Copyleaks is an AI content detector, AI plagiarism checker, and AI originality detector all rolled into one. It checks that your students’ essays are really their own work — and tells you clearly if they aren’t. 

In my testing, Copyleaks correctly flagged all the AI-generated and plagiarised content I uploaded; however, it was a bit too eager to flag a mix of human and AI content as completely AI generated. Because of this, you may have to worry about some false positives, but you likely won’t have to worry your students will slip anything by you. 

One fun thing about Copyleaks is that it can even flag plagiarised AI content: If a student takes AI content that’s been published elsewhere and claims it as their own, it will flag the content as such. 

To keep student data safe, Copyleaks complies with independent security standards like SOC 2 and SOC 3. It also has the best accessibility features of any app I tested. 

Pricing: No free plan; paid plans from $16.99 per month for up to 25,000 words per month

G2 rating: 4.5/5

Winston AI: Best AI checker for plagiarism

Pros: Accurate AI and plagiarism detection; easy to use; detailed reports

Cons: Doesn’t work with shorter texts; data security isn’t as transparent as some other tools

Winston has great AI writing detection for teachers. Its pricing makes it especially useful for teachers who are suspicious about a handful of students, but not the whole class. You get 80,000 credits per month: AI checking costs 1 credit per word and plagiarism detection costs 2 credits per word. That gives you the option to mix and match as you need.

Winston works only with longer text. It has a minimum of 500 characters or approximately 100 words. This makes its student essay checker AI more accurate, as it has more text to work with, but it’s not useful for checking short answer questions or other short assignments. 

With solid data security, Winston is SOC 2 and GDPR compliant. Just make sure that these standards are sufficient for your school districts’ data policies before using it. 

Pricing: Free trial; paid plans from $18 per month for up to 80,000 words per month

G2 rating: 4.4/5

CoGrader: Best AI grading assistant and AI content detector 

Pros: AI grading and content detection in one platform; surprisingly excellent automatic grading; strong data protection 

Cons: AI detection only available for institutions; AI grading still requires human oversight

CoGrader is primarily an AI grading assistant. All you have to do is upload your assignment guidelines and create a marking rubric, so CoGrader can quickly grade your students’ essays while providing feedback. It’s super easy to use. When I tested it for a list of the best AI education tools, I was impressed by how it differentiated between good and bad answers, and also drafted feedback. 

On its Schools & Districts plans, CoGrader includes AI plagiarism detection, meaning this one tool can grade assignments and flag any students trying to cheat. 

CoGrader is already used in thousands of schools, has SOC 2 compliance, and abides by FERPA, COPPA, SOPIPA, Ed Law 2D, and other state privacy laws, so it keeps student data as safe as possible. 

Pricing: Free for up to 100 student submissions per month; paid plans from $19 per month; AI detection requires schools and districts plan

G2 rating: N/A

Turnitin: Best AI detector for large organizations

Pros of: Allows responsible AI use; complete assessment platform; full enterprise support

Cons of: Only available to institutions; huge and complex platform

Turnitin is not a tool for individual teachers. It’s an all-encompassing assessment platform, online grading tool, and plagiarism and AI detector for schools and other large academic institutions like colleges and universities. 

The upside of this is that Turnitin is incredibly powerful. While most AI detectors don’t  consider ways for students to responsibly use AI, Turnitin does. Turnitin Clarity enables teachers to set AI guidelines and even allow students to use an AI assistant to guide them through assignments. 

Of course, its AI detection and AI plagiarism checker also allow teachers to take the hardline approach.

As you’d expect from a tool aimed at institutions, Turnitin complies with every relevant education data privacy standard around the world. 

Pricing: Contact sales for pricing 

G2 rating: 4.2/5

Support original thinking with the right AI detection tools

When it comes to choosing the best AI checker for you, it really comes down to the one that enables you to best help your students. These tools aren’t designed to replace your judgement or call students out, but to make it possible for students to learn better writing habits, research skills, and the importance of academic honesty. If an AI originality checker can highlight students that need extra attention or are struggling with the material, then it’s doing its job right. 

There’s no avoiding AI in the classroom. This technology is here to stay, and the teachers and schools that embrace it and use it responsibly are going to see huge benefits from this tool. Educational AI agents are great for safely collecting student data, tracking student progress, and enabling teachers to focus on their students.

The different AI checkers in this list will suit different teachers, students, and schools. Most have a free trial, so find one that matches your grading style, assignment load, or school policies, and give it a go. 

Just remember: No AI detection tool is perfect. They are there to support your decision making process — not replace it.