AI in edtech: the vendors selling to schools, universities and training teams

Education buys differently from most software markets. A district buys for thousands of students at once, a university buys through committees, and a corporate learning team buys for a workforce. All three are now being sold AI, from lesson planning and writing feedback to proctoring, admissions and skills platforms. This piece covers the vendors that sell to those institutions, not the consumer apps sold to individual learners.

We checked 46 companies against their own websites, and pricing pages where published, on 28 September 2026, and profile 40 of them here, grouped by who they sell to.

The short version

• →The market splits into five groups: schools and districts; higher education; corporate learning; course and content creation; and vendors built for India's schools.
• →The big platforms consolidated. Coursera completed its merger with Udemy in May 2026, Workday completed its acquisition of Sana, and Anthology emerged from Chapter 11 as Blackboard after selling two of its businesses.
• →Two consumer brands are leaving schools. Nerdy committed to wind down Varsity Tutors for Schools, and Duolingo says Duolingo for Schools will be sunset in July 2027.
• →School tools price by the student. Khan Academy, Diffit, Curipod and GoGuardian all tie price to students or enrolment, while the corporate learning tools that publish prices mostly charge per user.

Schools and districts

MagicSchool sells "safe, district-aligned AI" to teachers and district leaders. Brisk Teaching sells "AI THAT WORKS WHERE EDUCATORS WORK". SchoolAI sells "AI that connects teachers with every student". Khan Academy offers districts a platform with its Khanmigo teaching assistant built in, priced per student for smaller districts. Eduaide and Diffit generate instructional materials for teachers. Curipod sells "Writing Practice Students Love" with AI feedback.

Established curriculum and safety vendors have added AI too. Carnegie Learning builds AI into its MATHia software. Amira Learning sells an AI reading suite to districts and education ministries. Paper sells tutoring to districts, with AI tutoring alongside its human tutors. Securly and GoGuardian sell student safety and classroom tools with AI features.

Two companies are pulling back from schools. Nerdy's quarterly filing says that on 31 July 2026 it "committed to a plan to wind down" Varsity Tutors for Schools. Duolingo for Schools carries a banner saying it "will be sunset on July 31, 2027".

Higher education

Turnitin sells "Authentic learning in an AI world", and owns Gradescope, which offers AI-powered grading to institutions. Packback sells a learning platform that makes "student learning intelligence visible". Element451, headquartered in Raleigh, sells an AI-driven CRM and agents to colleges. EAB sells research, technology and services to colleges and schools, and acquired Hybrid, a higher-education marketing firm, in January 2026. Honorlock and Proctorio sell online proctoring and integrity tools.

The learning management systems have been through the biggest changes. Anthology emerged from Chapter 11 in 2026 and rebranded as Blackboard, after selling its student information and ERP business to Ellucian, a deal that closed on 31 December 2025, and its student engagement business to Encoura, which announced the close in February 2026. Instructure, the maker of Canvas, was taken private when KKR and Dragoneer completed their acquisition in November 2024.

Corporate learning

Docebo sells an AI-first learning platform for employees, partners and customers, and its quarterly report describes 365Talents as "a Docebo company". Degreed sells "Enterprise learning, coaching, and skills intelligence for ambitious companies." Cornerstone leads with "Human AI". 360Learning sells "The AI-driven LMS built to drive proprietary expertise". Sana sells an AI learning platform and is now part of Workday, which completed the acquisition in November 2025. Synthesia sells AI video to training and enablement teams.

Coursera for Business and Udemy Business now share an owner: Coursera's quarterly filing says "On May 11, 2026, we completed the Merger with Udemy." Uplimit sells an AI skills instructor to learning teams, and Handshake announced in June 2026 that it "is acquiring Uplimit"; we found no primary statement that the deal has closed.

Course and content creation

These vendors sell the tools to build training. Coursebox, headquartered in Perth, sells an "AI Course Creator" to training providers, colleges and businesses. Mindsmith says "Create your best eLearning with a prompt". Disco sells "AI-Powered Academies. Built for Human Transformation." Thinkific, headquartered in Vancouver, sells a learning commerce platform with an AI assistant.

India

Teachmint sells an "AI‑Powered Connected Classroom" device to schools. LEAD Group, with its head office in Mumbai, sells a learning system to school owners. Extramarks sells an "AI-Powered Solution for New-Age Classroom". Toddle sells "Teacher-built. AI-powered. More than an LMS." Educational Initiatives sells adaptive learning and assessments to schools and governments. Edmingle sells an AI-powered learning platform to training businesses and academies.

What to ask before you buy

1. 1.What happens to student data? Ask where it is stored, whether it trains any model, and what the vendor's contract says a district can audit.
2. 2.Is this vendor committed to your market? Two well-known brands are leaving schools. Ask how long the product will be supported and what happens to your data if it is not.
3. 3.What does it cost as enrolment changes? Per-student and per-user pricing move with headcount. Ask for the price at next year's numbers.
4. 4.Who owns it now? Several platforms here merged, restructured or changed hands. Check the vendor's own newsroom and filings.

If you sell one of these products, expect these questions in the first reply.

How we did this

We checked 46 companies against their own websites, and pricing pages where published, on 28 September 2026, and profile 40 of them here, described the way each describes itself. Before publication we rechecked every quoted self-description on 12 October 2026 and corrected the ones the companies had changed. Varsity Tutors for Schools and Duolingo for Schools appear only as events. We left out Speechify and Kajabi, which sell mainly to individuals; Arist, whose homepage now offers decision AI for enterprises rather than learning; and Classplus, whose homepage and about page present white-label apps for coaching institutes without leading on AI. Deals come from the companies' own announcements and filings, and we report each as announced or completed exactly as those sources state. The list covers the vendors we examined, not the whole market.

If something here is out of date or wrong about your company, tell us and we will correct it with the source.