The best AI tools for IB teachers depend on the job: Toddle for IB planning and records, Gemini Notebook for working from texts you choose, GradeIt AI or Running Paper for first-pass feedback, and AILitKit for AI literacy. Tes reported in March 2026 that the IB's draft AI principles say high-stakes grading must never be fully automated, so every pick below leaves the grade with you.
Which AI tools fit IB teachers, side by side?
Seven tools, one job each. Prices and conditions were checked at the vendors' own pages on October 17, 2026 unless the row says otherwise.
| Tool | The job it does | Best for | Price (checked October 17, 2026) | Data hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toddle | Plans units, records assessment and builds portfolios for IB programs | A school buying for the PYP, MYP or DP | No published prices; quoted by number of users; 2 to 3 week trial | Not stated in our directory; independent 9ine assessment on record |
| MagicSchool | General teacher assistant: rubric drafts, quizzes, differentiation | An individual teacher who wants to start free | Free; Plus $8.33 a month billed annually | Not stated in our directory; data privacy agreement on Enterprise only |
| Gemini Notebook | Answers questions from the sources you upload, with citations | Units and discussions built on texts you chose | Free in Google Workspace for Education | Education data not used to train models, per Google |
| GradeIt AI | First-pass written feedback against your own scoring guide | An English teacher with a class set of essays | From $129 a year per seat | Directory lists the EU; vendor page is silent |
| Running Paper | Scans and grades handwritten scripts | A school with stacks of handwritten internal exams | From £3,500 a year for a high school | Not stated in the listing; directory lists the EU |
| The Language Vault | Speaking, writing and translation coaches for German and Spanish | A teacher assigning practice between lessons | Free plan; school pricing on request | Directory lists the EU |
| AILitKit | Turns a lesson you already teach into AI literacy activities | A teacher or coordinator who wants no student data in the tool | Three free guides, then £59 a year | Teachers only; zero data retention at the AI provider, per the vendor |
Which question should decide the choice?
Four questions sort the seven. This is our editorial view, not a vendor claim.
- Who makes the final grading call? Many IB schools say marking where US schools say grading; either way, the IB's own statement says it will not prohibit AI tools but does not regard any work produced "even only in part" by them as the student's own (IB statement). The same logic runs the other way for you: if a tool assigns the level, you have outsourced the thinking. Choose tools that show their evidence and wait for your sign-off.
- Does the vendor name the IB criteria on its own page? Our directory says eight of its 143 tools mention the IB. Read the vendor page, not the directory blurb, before you buy; the GradeIt AI entry below shows why.
- Where does student work go? AILitKit holds no student work at all. A grading tool holds all of it. Get your school's approval before uploading a class set, and use our safe-tools post for the questions to ask.
- Who is paying? Toddle and Running Paper are school purchases. Gemini Notebook, MagicSchool's free plan and AILitKit's free tier are things one teacher can start on Monday.
What does the IB itself say about AI?
Tes reported on March 24, 2026 that the IB had published five draft AI design principles for schools, written by a small group of external advisers working with IB staff (Tes). Two of them matter for tool choice. Educator agency means teachers and schools decide how AI is used. Safe and transparent means learners' data rights are "non-negotiable" and high-stakes decisions need human oversight. Tes says the IB suggests that high-stakes decisions about grading, progression and wellbeing must "never be fully automated."
Tes described the principles as a draft. We could not confirm in this run whether the IB has since finalized them, and we could not open the IB's own page on AI in learning, teaching and assessment, so check that page for the current wording.
Is Toddle the planner to pick for PYP, MYP and DP units?
Toddle is the best fit for a school that wants IB planning, assessment records and AI in one system, because it is built around the IB programs and its top tier includes AI-assisted grading and feedback, according to its pricing page.
Toddle says it supports the PYP, MYP, DP and CP, and its pricing page lists three plans. Planning Pro covers curriculum mapping with an AI curriculum design assistant. Advanced adds an assessment gradebook, portfolios, worksheets with AI creation, reports and a communications hub. Ultimate adds AI tutors, AI-powered progress reports, AI-assisted grading, AI-assisted feedback and behavior management. Its IB programs pricing page, last modified in October 2024, says the DP version of Advanced adds the DP core, "subject-specific IAs and EAs," and IBIS exam registration.
Watch out for: The AI grading and feedback features sit in the top tier only, so a school that buys Planning Pro for units does not get them. The pricing page also mentions a "Toddle Essentials" plan in its FAQ that the plan list does not show.
Pricing: No prices are published; the vendor says pricing is tiered by number of users and trials typically run two to three weeks (pricing, checked October 17, 2026).
Safety: Our directory lists Toddle's hosting location and minimum age as not stated, and it carries an independent 9ine security assessment on record (security assessments). Ask for the data processing terms before you load a class list. Our directory rating is 4.67 from 6 reviews.
Choose something else if you are one teacher without a school budget. Start with MagicSchool or Gemini Notebook below.
Is MagicSchool worth it for IB planning and rubric drafts?
MagicSchool is the best fit for an individual teacher who wants a free general assistant for rubric drafts, quizzes and differentiation, because its free plan includes more than 80 teacher tools (pricing).
It has no IB-specific tools on the page we read, so you paste in your own criteria and descriptors and edit what comes back. Our directory lists rubric generation and a text leveler among its features, and its directory rating is 4.74 from 19 reviews.
Watch out for: The pricing page marks a data privacy agreement as Enterprise only, and it does not say whether student data is used to train models. Student-facing tools start on the Plus plan.
Pricing: Free; Plus $8.33 per user per month billed annually or $12.99 billed monthly; Enterprise is quoted for districts (pricing, checked October 17, 2026).
Safety: MagicSchool lists FERPA, COPPA, SOC 2 and GDPR on its pricing page and holds an independent 9ine assessment on our record. That is the vendor's claim plus a third-party review, not a guarantee for your school. Keep student names and work out of the free plan.
Choose something else if you need IB-built templates. That is Toddle's territory, or Kuraplan's: Kuraplan's IB pages describe Units of Inquiry with central ideas, lines of inquiry and ATL skills, but it has no page in our directory and publishes no prices on the page we read, so we left it out of the seven.
Can Gemini Notebook work from the texts an IB unit already uses?
Gemini Notebook, the tool Google renamed from NotebookLM in July 2026 (our explainer), is the best fit for units and discussions built on texts you choose, because it answers from the sources you upload and, according to our directory's feature list, shows inline citations back to them.
That source-grounding matters in an IB classroom. A set text, a Theory of Knowledge reading or a Group 4 method sheet goes in; questions come out tied to the page they came from. Our directory rating is 4.84 from 90 reviews.
Watch out for: It is only as good as the sources you upload, and you must have the right to upload them. Check the license on any published or paywalled material before it goes in.
Pricing: Google says Gemini Notebook is "included in all Google Workspace for Education editions free of charge"; premium features need an upgrade (Google, page updated October 13, 2026).
Safety: For Workspace for Education accounts, Google says the data "is not human reviewed or used to train AI models," administrators can manage access in the Admin console, and users under 18 get stricter content policies. That applies to accounts your school administers. If your IB school runs on another platform, ask your administrator what applies.
Choose something else if your school does not use Google accounts and you cannot get an administered one.
Can GradeIt AI give first-pass feedback on an IB class set?
GradeIt AI is the best fit for an English teacher who wants first-pass comments on a class set against their own criteria, because the vendor says it scores against a teacher's own mark scheme, attaches a quote from each student's answer to every mark, and releases nothing to a student until the teacher approves it.
Those are the vendor's claims (GradeIt). They fit the first question above: the evidence sits next to the mark, and the sign-off is yours. In our view that makes it a second reader, not a grader.
Watch out for: The homepage text we could read names AQA, Pearson and Cambridge and does not mention the IB, although our directory entry, taken from the vendor's own listing, says it covers IB mark schemes. Ask the vendor to show you the IB pathway before you pay. The page is also inconsistent on price, as below.
Pricing: Starter $10.75 per seat per month or $129 a year, with a $99 founding offer for the first 50 seats; Pro $20.75 per seat per month or $249 a year; the FAQ shows $12.99 and $24.99 for the monthly plans, so confirm the current price (GradeIt, checked October 17, 2026). Students are never charged.
Safety: The page says the company complies with "all major regulations" but states no hosting location, retention period or training use. Our directory lists EU hosting and "yes" for GDPR, COPPA and FERPA; those are declarations, not something we verified. Do not upload a class set until you have read the privacy policy.
Choose something else if your students handwrite their work. That is Running Paper's job.
Does Running Paper suit handwritten IB internal exams?
Running Paper is the best fit for a school with stacks of handwritten internal exams, because teachers scan the scripts into one file and the platform splits them by student and marks each question with feedback, according to its EdTech Impact listing.
The listing says it can be used across Key Stages 3 to 5 and the IB, and it offers moderation and question-level analysis. It gives no detail on mapping to IB criteria, which matters because MYP and DP assessment is criterion-based. In the MYP, for example, Language and Literature Criterion A (Analysing) is scored 0 to 8 (sample MYP criteria sheet). A tool that scores by question will not give you a criterion level unless the vendor shows you how.
Watch out for: It is built for UK schools and sold as a school license, and the listing flags learner evaluation as a high-risk use setting. This is a purchase for a department or a school, not a trial for one teacher.
Pricing: Annual school license from £3,500 for high schools, most commonly £5,000 for 30,000 credits; a 12-week pilot costs £500 (EdTech Impact listing, checked October 17, 2026, not the vendor's own page).
Safety: The listing does not state where data is hosted, and it links to a privacy policy and GDPR information. Our directory lists EU hosting and says teachers keep control to review and moderate. Confirm hosting and retention in writing.
Choose something else if the work is typed essays. Try GradeIt AI above, or keep the grading by hand.
Is The Language Vault useful for German and Spanish in the IB?
The Language Vault is the best fit for a German or Spanish teacher who wants students to get speaking and writing feedback between lessons, because its AI coaches cover speaking, writing and translation and its pages say it covers German and Spanish at IB SL and HL (The Language Vault).
It is a student-facing revision platform, so your use is assigning work and reading the class dashboard. The free plan lists 15 exam-style questions a month, five vocabulary tests, one predicted paper attempt, and two sessions a week with each AI coach, plus teacher and parent dashboards.
Watch out for: It covers German and Spanish only. School pricing is not published, and the page describes no data practices beyond a link to the privacy policy.
Pricing: Free plan as above; school access by contacting the vendor (checked October 17, 2026).
Safety: Students create accounts, and our directory lists a minimum age of 13 and EU hosting. Read the privacy policy and ask your school whether student accounts on outside platforms are allowed.
Choose something else if you teach any other language. Browse the directory's tool list for other subjects.
Can AILitKit help teach AI literacy across IB subjects?
AILitKit is the best fit for a teacher or coordinator who wants AI literacy inside lessons already taught, because you upload a lesson and it returns four activities, and the vendor says it keeps students out of the tool entirely (AILitKit).
Our directory says three of the four activities are unplugged, meaning no devices. It cites UNESCO, OECD and national frameworks on the vendor page, and the page does not mention the IB, ATL or Theory of Knowledge. Any alignment to the IB's own approach is yours to build.
Watch out for: The IB link is a directory claim ("any curriculum: IB, British, American, Australian"), not something the vendor page shows.
Pricing: Three free lesson guides, then one a month; Teacher £59 a year; Department £249 a year for you and up to four colleagues; School £999 a year for up to 50 teachers (checked October 17, 2026).
Safety: The vendor says pupils never have accounts, requests run with zero data retention at the AI provider, and your uploaded lesson plan is deleted once the guide is made, though saved guides keep your lesson description until you delete them. Of the seven, it is the lowest-risk first step, because no student work goes in.
Choose something else if you want a tool students use. That is the Language Vault's lane.
Where do the vendors and our directory disagree?
Our directory records, extracted October 17, 2026, show eight of 143 tools mentioning the IB: GradeIt AI, MyRevisionAgent, The Language Vault, Running Paper, AI Mentor by Novalearn, AILitKit, Knowt and Toddle. Only two of the eight, Toddle and Knowt, carry an independent 9ine security assessment. Across the whole directory, 36 of 143 do.
The original observation from reading the vendor pages the same day: two of the seven picks list the IB in our directory yet do not mention it on the vendor page we could read. GradeIt AI's homepage names AQA, Pearson and Cambridge; AILitKit's names UNESCO, OECD and national frameworks. That does not mean they cannot serve an IB class. It means the IB claim is something you should ask each vendor to demonstrate before you rely on it.
We left out Knowt because its pricing page has failed to load in our recent checks, so we could not verify it, AI Mentor by Novalearn because its page names the IB program but describes no IB features, rubrics or privacy terms, and MyRevisionAgent because it is student-facing.
What are your students already using, and what do you do about it?
MyRevisionAgent is the one to know about. Its directory entry says students upload a Theory of Knowledge essay, Extended Essay or Internal Assessment and get a predicted grade against the IB rubrics, with an age minimum of 16. It also claims its graders were validated on 2,271 examiner-marked essays. We found no independent evaluation of that claim, so treat it as the vendor's.
Your move is design, not detection. Our post on AI-resistant assessment tools covers tasks that ask for process as well as product, and our post on whether AI detectors work explains why we do not recommend them. The IB's statement asks that AI use be credited in the text and the bibliography, so build that disclosure into the task sheet, and have a short conversation with a student about their draft.
What does a worked example look like in a Grade 9 MYP classroom?
This is a plan, not a result: no one has run it for this post. The class is Grade 9 MYP Language and Literature, 28 analytical paragraphs on a poem, graded on Criterion A.
- Write the scoring guide yourself. Put the level 5 to 6 descriptor for Criterion A in your own words, with two anonymized exemplars from last year. This stays yours in any tool.
- Get approval, then run the set as comment-only. With your school's sign-off on student data, ask GradeIt AI for comments against your guide. If you lack that approval, skip this step and read by hand.
- Read the quotes. For every comment, check that the quoted line from the student supports it. Delete any comment that does not.
- Assign the 0 to 8 level yourself. Treat the AI comments as a second reader. The level is your judgment.
- Return one comment per student and ask for a revision. Add one line to the task sheet: if you used AI, say how, and credit it.
- Confirm authorship in conversation. Ask each student to explain one choice in their paragraph aloud.
What is the short answer?
Start with the tool that holds the least student data and does the clearest job: Gemini Notebook if your school administers Google accounts, AILitKit if you want AI literacy without student data, and MagicSchool's free plan for rubric drafts you edit yourself. Move to Toddle or Running Paper when your school is ready to buy and your coordinator can negotiate data terms. Keep the grade for yourself. For more, browse the directory's full tool list.
Dan Fitzpatrick is the founder of The AI Educator and AI Educator Tools. Prices and conditions were checked on October 17, 2026; vendors change them often.
