Compared
EssayGuard vs Cursive
Cursive is the closest technical peer EssayGuard has. The difference is mostly about who buys it, and how.
In short
Cursive and EssayGuard both verify authorship by recording writing at the keystroke level rather than scoring the finished text. Cursive integrates with the major LMSs, offers a free Moodle plugin, prices its Starter and Enterprise tiers by quote, and was acquired by Blackboard in September 2026. EssayGuard is self-serve: one instructor or one department can start in minutes, free for the rest of this semester.
The two in one paragraph
Cursive describes itself as keystroke-level authorship verification for education. It ships as a free Moodle plugin, as a browser extension for Google Docs and Word, and as integrations with all the major learning management systems. Its Starter and Enterprise tiers are quote-based and priced per student, and we found no self-serve plan for an individual teacher. On September 2, 2026 Blackboard (Anthology) announced that it had acquired Cursive. EssayGuard records the same class of data: every keystroke, revision, pause and paste, with server-side timestamps, cross-checked against periodic document snapshots. Where the two differ is the buyer. EssayGuard is built so that one instructor can create an assignment, share a link, and have a class writing on the record in about three minutes, with nothing installed on the student side, the rest of this semester free, and a $99 a year plan after that. Departments and campuses buy when they are ready.
Source: cursivetechnology.com, checked 2026-09-08; einpresswire.com, “Blackboard introduces Cursive,” September 2, 2026; EssayGuard facts from essayguard.io.
Side by side
| Cursive | EssayGuard | |
|---|---|---|
| Who installs what | The institution installs the Moodle plugin or enables the LMS integration. For Google Docs and Word, the student installs the browser extension. | Nobody. The instructor shares a link and students open it in any browser. |
| Where students write | Inside the LMS, or in Google Docs and Word with the extension. | EssayGuard’s hosted editor, in any browser, including inside a Canvas, Blackboard or Moodle frame. Classes that draft in Docs can use the EssayGuard extension on the assignment document. |
| What is recorded | Keystroke-level writing data for authorship verification. | Every keystroke, revision, pause and paste, with server-side timestamps, plus periodic snapshots. |
| Who owns the record | The institution, inside its LMS. | The instructor’s course, under a retention window set per assignment. Department and campus plans add a chair view and integrity office access scoped to open cases. |
| Can a history be faked | Cursive records at the keystroke level, so a finished document alone does not produce a record. We have not seen Cursive publish how it treats a replayed session, so we make no claim either way. | Snapshots cross-check the event stream. A replayed or fabricated history reads as unrecorded rather than as writing. |
| Price | Free Moodle plugin. Starter and Enterprise by quote, per student. | Free for the rest of this semester. $99 a year for an instructor, from $495 a year for a department, from $2,950 a year for a campus. |
| Contract needed | Yes, for Starter and Enterprise. Cursive is now part of Blackboard (Anthology). | No for an instructor. Department and campus plans come with a published DPA and can be invoiced against a PO. |
Source: cursivetechnology.com and einpresswire.com, checked 2026-09-08; EssayGuard facts from essayguard.io.
Choose Cursive if
- Your campus runs Moodle and wants a free plugin the LMS administrator can install once for everyone.
- You are a Blackboard campus and would rather see what the September 2026 acquisition brings to that platform before buying anything else.
- Procurement is not the obstacle. You want an enterprise contract, per-student pricing, and the record inside the LMS your institution already runs.
- Your students draft in Word and you want that covered by an extension.
Choose EssayGuard if
- You are an instructor, or a department chair, without an institutional buyer behind you. There is no quote to request and no per-student contract to sign.
- You want to start now. An assignment takes about three minutes to create, and the rest of this semester is free for every course you teach.
- You do not want students installing an extension. The hosted editor needs nothing on their machines.
- You need a printable evidence report a chair, a hearing panel or a parent can read, with the timeline, the revision count, every paste and its length, and a plain statement of what the record does not establish.
- You want the snapshot cross-check, so a history replayed into the editor by an auto typer reads as unrecorded rather than as writing.
- You want a published DPA, a stated FERPA posture and a retention window per assignment, at prices that are on the website.
What a keystroke record shows
This is the part the two tools agree on, and it is why both exist. A document history shows states. A keystroke record shows how text entered the editor. Typed text arrives at a human rhythm, with pauses where the writer stopped to think and deletions where a sentence did not work. Pasted text arrives in a block and, in EssayGuard, stays marked for the rest of the session. The order matters as much as the rhythm: a conclusion written first, a thesis that changed at the halfway mark, a paragraph rebuilt four times. A finished paper hides all of that, and a replay puts it back.
What neither does
Neither Cursive nor EssayGuard can tell you whether the ideas were the student’s. A record shows how text entered the editor: typed or pasted, in what order, over how long. It does not show what was on a second screen, what a tutor said, or whether an outline was generated elsewhere and retyped by hand. Treat the record as evidence for a conversation with the student, not as a verdict, and do not let either tool be the last word in a hearing.
Neither is an AI detector. Neither scores prose for style or reports a probability that a passage was machine-written. If you are moving away from a detector because a percentage could not be defended, either of these gives you a record to stand behind instead. EssayGuard goes one step further and issues no finding at all: the replay and the report go to the instructor, and the judgment stays with a person.
Questions people ask
Is Cursive free?
The Moodle plugin is free. Cursive's Starter and Enterprise tiers are quote-based and priced per student, and we found no self-serve plan for an individual teacher (cursivetechnology.com, checked 2026-09-08). EssayGuard publishes every price: free first semester, $99 a year for an instructor, from $495 a year for a department, from $2,950 a year for a campus.
What happened between Cursive and Blackboard?
On September 2, 2026 Blackboard (Anthology) announced that it had acquired Cursive (einpresswire.com, "Blackboard introduces Cursive"). What that means for pricing, for non-Blackboard campuses, and for the free Moodle plugin had not been published when this page was written.
Are Cursive and EssayGuard the same kind of tool?
Yes, more than any other pair on this site. Both record the writing process at the keystroke level and both leave the judgment to a person; neither scores prose or reports an AI percentage. The difference is the buyer and the path: Cursive is procured by an institution through its LMS, EssayGuard is started by an instructor from a link.
Can a department use EssayGuard without the whole campus?
Yes. The Department plan is $495 a year for up to eight instructors, with a chair view, integrity office access scoped to open cases, and one annual invoice. Individual instructors in the department can start on the free semester before the department buys.
Does EssayGuard work inside Blackboard or Moodle?
Yes. The hosted editor runs in any browser and works inside a Canvas, Blackboard or Moodle frame, so students never leave the course shell. Nothing is installed by the LMS administrator.
Try it with one assignment
The rest of this semester costs nothing. Setup takes three minutes.
Every course you teach, unlimited students. Students install nothing.