Marka vs Buddycheck for peer evaluation
Buddycheck is a polished, CATME-framework peer-evaluation tool designed to live inside your LMS. Marka does the same core job — rubric-based peer scoring with a clean report — but runs on its own and is free for an individual teacher to start today.
| What matters | Marka | Buddycheck |
|---|---|---|
| Getting access | Sign up yourself and run a real evaluation period the same day. | Instructors can trial it, but ongoing use is typically arranged through an institutional or departmental license. |
| Cost to an individual teacher | Free on the Free plan (up to 3 classes, 6 evaluation periods). Insights is an optional paid add-on. | Paid, with licensing generally handled at the institution level. |
| Runs inside your LMS | No. Marka is standalone by design — nothing to integrate. | Yes — built to integrate with Canvas, Moodle, Brightspace, and Blackboard, with a standalone option as well. |
| How students sign in | A personal 7-character access code the teacher hands out. No account, no email. | Usually via LMS single sign-on when integrated, or an email invite in standalone use. |
| Assessment model | Your own rubric — analytic or holistic, custom scale, reused across classes. | Custom criteria or CATME-framework templates, producing a peer-assessment adjustment factor. |
| Small-sample protection | Hard rule: nothing reaches a student until at least 3 evaluators have submitted for them. | No built-in minimum-evaluator withholding rule; the instructor interprets low-response cases. |
| Comment moderation before release | Public notes are reviewed before release, with auto-flagging of likely profanity and very short answers. | Open comments are shown to the instructor to review. |
| Integrity checks | Peer Integrity Engine flags free-riders, straight-lining, collusion cliques, and rater bias, teacher-only. | Highlights outliers, non-responders, and students flagged by their group at a glance. |
| Self-evaluation | Optional, recorded separately and never mixed into the peer average; can be overlaid for comparison. | Supported, included in the standard flow. |
| Consolidated report | One button: per-student dashboard table plus CSV together, with a cross-period trend view. | Instructor results with exportable scores and adjustment factors. |
| Interface | Modern and mobile-first. | Modern and polished. |
When Buddycheck is the better choice
If your department or institution wants everyone on one tool that plugs into the LMS, with single sign-on and grades flowing back automatically, Buddycheck is built for that. Marka is the better fit when a single teacher wants to run peer evaluation without an integration project, an approval chain, or a license — and still wants enforced safeguards and a one-click report.
Common questions
For an individual teacher who does not want to route peer evaluation through an LMS or an institutional license, yes. Buddycheck is a strong choice when a department standardizes on one LMS-integrated tool with grade passback; Marka is the choice when you want to move now, on your own.
No, and that is deliberate. Marka runs on its own so there is nothing to install or wait for IT to enable. You import a roster CSV and hand out access codes.
Marka adds a hard n≥3 withholding rule, default comment moderation, and a broader integrity engine (collusion cliques and rater bias, not just outliers), and it needs no student accounts. Buddycheck adds LMS integration, SSO, and a CATME-aligned adjustment factor.
One sitting: sign up, verify your email, import your roster, build a rubric, open a period. Free plan, no demo, no administrator approval.
Comparison based on Buddycheck’s publicly available documentation as of 2026. Buddycheck is a product of its respective owners and is not affiliated with Marka. Features and licensing may have changed since — corrections welcome at [email protected].