Terms and Conditions

1. Introduction

Welcome to Grade Orbit. These Terms and Conditions govern your use of the Grade Orbit specific feedback generation service. By creating an account or using our service, you agree to depend on these terms. If you do not agree, strictly do not use Grade Orbit.

2. Data Privacy & Your Tier

Solo and Team tiers operate as a “PII-Free Zone” on the server side: you act as the Data Controller, and Grade Orbit provides the processing tools without receiving student PII, because redaction happens in your browser first.

School tier is the deliberate exception. A school’s use of Grade Orbit is governed by our Data Processing Agreement (version v1), which is incorporated into and forms part of these Terms — there is no separate document to sign. Under it, you upload un-redacted student work and Grade Orbit stores it — along with real student names, the marking and AI-detection results, and (where a school gives pupils their own logins) pupil email addresses — acting as your Data Processor. The school remains the Data Controller; we process this data only on the school’s documented instructions and the retention rules described in our Privacy Policy and Transparency Pack. If there is any conflict between these Terms and the Data Processing Agreement in respect of student personal data, the Data Processing Agreement prevails.

3. Upload Obligations by Tier

Your obligations when uploading or scanning work depend on the tier you are using.

Solo & Team

When using the Solo or Team tiers, you strictly agree to the following when using Grade Orbit's upload or scanning features:

• You must ensure that ALL Student PII (names, IDs, handwritten signatures, school badges) is fully redacted from any images or documents BEFORE they are uploaded to our servers.
• You must use the Client-Side Redaction tools provided within the application to “burn in” redactions locally in your browser.
• You represent and warrant that you will not circumvent client-side checks to upload unredacted data.

School

The School tier deliberately works the other way: there is no redaction step, and you upload student work as scanned under the Data Processing Agreement that forms part of these Terms. When using the School tier you instead agree that:

• The Data Processing Agreement that forms part of these Terms applies between your school and Grade Orbit, and you are authorised by the school to upload student work under it.
• The school, as Data Controller, has a lawful basis to process the student work and any pupil contact details (such as email addresses) it provides, and has met any notice or consent obligations owed to students or their parents/guardians.
• You will enter only the personal data needed for marking and matching work to the right pupil (names, optional nicknames, and an optional pupil email). You will not enter special-category data — such as health, safeguarding, or SEN information — into any notes or free-text field.

4. AI Grading Disclaimer

Grade Orbit uses advanced artificial intelligence (Google Gemini models) to analyze student work. While we strive for high accuracy, AI models can produce hallucinations or errors.

The teacher remains the final arbiter of all grades. Grade Orbit is an assistive tool designed to speed up your workflow, not to replace your professional judgment. You agree to review AI-generated marks and feedback before finalizing them for students.

5. UK-Only Service Restriction

By creating an account, you confirm that:

• You are currently based in the United Kingdom.
• You are using the service in connection with UK educational institutions or curricula.
• You understand that our grading criteria, exam board support (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas, WJEC), and curriculum alignment are specifically tailored for UK qualifications (GCSE, A-Level, KS3).

This restriction exists because Grade Orbit's AI models, marking criteria, and feedback systems are specifically trained and optimized for UK educational standards. Using the service from outside the UK may result in inaccurate or inappropriate grading suggestions.

6. Credits, Purchases & Refunds

Grade Orbit operates on a prepaid credit system. Credits are purchased in advance and consumed when you use AI marking, feedback generation, or lesson PowerPoint generation.

• Automatic refunds on failure: If a marking job fails due to a service or technical error, any credits deducted for that job are automatically returned to your account. You do not need to request this.
• No refunds for completed jobs: Credits consumed by a successfully completed marking or feedback job are non-refundable, even if you disagree with the AI output. You remain responsible for reviewing and approving all AI-generated results before use.
• No cash value: Credits have no monetary value and cannot be transferred, sold, or refunded for cash except where required by applicable UK consumer law.
• Pricing changes: Grade Orbit reserves the right to change pricing at any time. For active subscription plans (individual, Team and School), we will provide at least 30 days’ notice of any price increase via email or in-app notification. Existing credits retain their full value regardless of any subsequent price changes.
• Teams — shared credit pools: Where a Team is created, the Team Owner is the sole contracting party for that team’s subscription and is solely liable for payment. When a member accepts a team invite, any personal credits they hold are irrevocably moved into the shared team pool and become property of the team; they will not be returned to the member if the member later leaves or is removed. If a Team Owner dissolves the team, any remaining credits in the team pool are returned only to the Owner’s personal balance. Subscription cancellations and refunds for team subscriptions are handled under the same rules as individual subscriptions above.
• Overage — how you are charged: When overage is enabled, operations beyond your plan allowance are charged to the payment card saved on file. On individual (solo) and Team plans, overage is metered: the operations used beyond the plan in a calendar month are added up and charged on a single Stripe-hosted invoice at the end of that month — at a flat 20p per credit on individual plans, and 30p per credit on Team plans (billed to the team owner, who is responsible for their team's overage). We email a receipt and a Stripe-hosted invoice for every overage charge. You may disable overage at any time from your billing settings; the change takes immediate effect. For your protection, we will automatically disable overage if your card is declined, if your bank rejects two consecutive authentication challenges, or if a charge is disputed via your card issuer (in which case any credits delivered by that charge are also revoked). Overage requires a card on file and is not available with Bacs Direct Debit. School accounts do not use overage — see “Schools & Institutional Terms” below.
• Your monthly overage limit: When you turn overage on you set a monthly spending limit, which defaults to £10. Once your overage spending in a calendar month reaches that limit, further operations are refused until you raise the limit or the month resets — and we will never invoice you more than your limit for overage in any calendar month. You may raise or lower the limit at any time, but not below what you have already used in the current month. You may also choose to set no limit, in which case you are charged for everything you use.
• Schools & Institutional accounts: School accounts do not use the prepaid credit system described above. A School account is instead a per-teacher-seat annual licence: you pay for a chosen number of seats, in full, in advance, for a 12-month term, and every teacher seat may mark and use AI detection without limit for that term. Full details of the seat licence, term, renewal, seat changes, and cancellation are set out in the “Schools & Institutional Terms” section below.

For queries about your credit balance or a specific transaction, please contact us at george@gradeorbit.co.uk.

7. Subscriptions & Recurring Billing

Some of our plans are subscriptions that renew automatically until you cancel. This section explains how those subscriptions, the credits they include, and any extra charges work.

• Subscription plans: Our individual plans (Basic, Pro and Max) and team plans (Starter, Plus and Pro) are subscriptions that renew automatically — monthly or annually — until you cancel. All prices are shown inclusive of VAT.
• What a credit is: One credit covers one full AI operation: a marked paper (including its suggested improvements). Follow-on suggestions are part of that same operation and are not charged separately. A generated lesson PowerPoint uses two credits; creating and editing a scheme of work is free.
• Annual billing: Annual plans are paid in advance and cost two months less than paying monthly — you pay ten months’ price for twelve months’ access. If you upgrade part-way through a term, you pay the prorated difference straight away; if you downgrade, the change takes effect at your next billing date.
• Cancelling: You can cancel at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period, and part-months are not refunded. After you cancel you keep access to the app and to any credits you have already purchased; only your subscription allowance stops, so marking continues until your remaining credits run out. Because this is digital content you can start using immediately, your statutory 14-day cancellation right is waived once you begin using the paid service.
• Overage (optional, off by default): Overage is switched off unless you turn it on. If you enable it, operations beyond your plan allowance are still served, up to the monthly spending limit you set. On individual and Team plans these are metered and billed once at the end of each calendar month — at a flat 20p per credit for individual plans, and 30p per credit for Team plans (billed to the team owner). School accounts do not use overage — a School licence covers unlimited marking for every seat for the full term.
• Allowance and expiry: Your subscription allowance is granted at the start of each billing cycle. We reserve the right to introduce a 12-month inactivity expiry on unused credits in future, and would give you at least 30 days’ notice before doing so.
• Price changes: We will give you at least 30 days’ notice of any change to your subscription price, and you are free to cancel before the new price takes effect.
• Teams: In a team, the team owner is the account holder and the payer, and team members draw from the owner’s shared, pooled allowance. When you join a team, any personal credits you hold are moved into the shared pool — this cannot be undone. If a team is later dissolved, any credits remaining in the pool return to the owner.
• Existing balances: Any credits you already hold are honoured and stay usable without a subscription until they run out.

Payment is processed by Stripe. We store a payment card so we can take your renewal payments and, if you have enabled overage, any overage charges.

8. Schools & Institutional Terms

This section applies only to School accounts and takes precedence over Sections 6 and 7 above wherever the two conflict. A School account does not use the prepaid credit system: it is a per-seat annual licence.

• Seat licence grant: A School subscription grants a fixed number of teacher seats, each entitled to unlimited AI marking and AI detection for the licence term. A seat may be reassigned freely between teachers at no charge; the number of paid seats is what is licensed, not any named individual.
• Annual term, paid in advance: A School licence runs for a 12-month term, charged in full at the start of that term (or on a scheduled future start date you choose at sign-up — see “Scheduled start” below). We do not offer monthly School billing.
• Auto-renewal: Your School licence renews automatically for a further 12-month term at the then-current seat count and price, unless you cancel before the renewal date. We will give you at least 30 days’ notice of any price change taking effect at your next renewal.
• Cancellation — no refund for the current term: You may cancel at any time; cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid term (auto-renewal simply does not fire), and access continues until then. We do not refund any part of a term you have already paid for.
• Adding seats: You may add seats at any time; the prorated cost for the remainder of the current term is charged immediately and the new seats are available as soon as payment succeeds.
• Reducing seats: You may reduce your paid seat count at any time; the reduction takes effect at your next renewal and is not refunded for the term already paid.
• Scheduled start: You may choose a future start date for your licence to fit your budget cycle. Before that date, you have full access to set up rosters, classes and marking criteria, but AI marking and AI detection remain locked until the start date, when payment is taken automatically.
• Payment failure — no grace period: If a payment fails (including a renewal or a scheduled-start charge), access to AI marking and AI detection is suspended immediately for the whole school; existing results and data remain readable. Access resumes automatically as soon as payment succeeds.
• Fair use: Seats are licensed for normal classroom marking and detection use by the school’s own teaching staff. We reserve the right to contact you about, and ultimately to suspend or decline to renew, an account whose usage is so far outside normal classroom patterns that it indicates abuse, resale, or use on behalf of an unrelated organisation.
• Conversion discount: If your School was created by converting an existing individual or Team account, any unused credits on that account are valued at a flat rate and applied as a one-time discount against your first annual School invoice. Any value in excess of that invoice is not carried forward or refunded.
• Billing contact: The billing administrator identified at sign-up (or their successor, transferred within the school’s account settings) is the sole contracting party for the School subscription and is responsible for payment.
• Data Processing Agreement: Our Data Processing Agreement forms part of these Terms for School accounts. On a material update to the Data Processing Agreement, continued use of the service is conditional on the updated terms.

For School billing queries, please contact us at george@gradeorbit.co.uk.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law:

• Grade Orbit's total liability to you arising out of or in connection with these terms or your use of the service shall not exceed the total amount you have paid to us in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
• Grade Orbit is not liable for any indirect, consequential, or special losses, including but not limited to loss of earnings, professional consequences, reputational damage, or losses arising from reliance on AI-generated marks or feedback.
• Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the laws of England and Wales.

10. Service Availability

Grade Orbit is provided on an “as available” basis. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free access to the service.

• AI processing relies on third-party providers, including Google Gemini. Outages or degraded performance at those providers may temporarily affect the service. We have no control over third-party availability.
• Credits will not be charged for marking or feedback jobs that fail due to service unavailability. Any credits deducted for a failed job are automatically refunded to your account.
• We will endeavour to provide reasonable notice of planned maintenance where practicable, but cannot guarantee advance notice in all cases.

11. Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms and Conditions and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

Both parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales to resolve any legal dispute or claim arising out of these terms.

Before commencing formal proceedings, we encourage you to contact us first at george@gradeorbit.co.uk so we can attempt to resolve the matter informally.