Eli Review
Eli Review is a peer review and feedback platform for writing instruction, serving higher-education and K-12 instructors through a write-review-revise workflow, LTI LMS integrations with 25+ universities, and subscription-based access for participating students.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2006
- HeadquartersEast Lansing, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Eli Review does
Eli Review (operated by Drawbridge, Inc.) is a peer review and feedback platform for writing instruction, founded around 2006 at Michigan State University by writing professors Bill Hart-Davidson, Mike McLeod, and Jeff Grabill. The product structures the write-review-revise cycle through three core task types (Writing Tasks, Review Tasks, Revision Tasks) and applies a describe-evaluate-suggest heuristic to coach students in giving productive feedback. Underlying technology is a web application supporting LTI-based LMS integration with Canvas, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace, and Moodle, drag-and-drop file handling with cloud-storage connectors (Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive), and rich analytics (Comment Digest, Engagement Data, Course-Level and Student-Level reports with CSV export). Two US patent applications were filed in 2010 covering the Social Writing Application Platform and review-task tracking systems.
The product is augmented by a free Teacher Development Series, a free Curriculum Repository (Science Writing, SAT/ACT prep, AP Language, Technical Communication), and quarterly Professional Development Workshops delivered by Director of Professional Development Melissa Graham Meeks. Two pending patent families, accessibility and FERPA compliance, and research-backed pedagogy differentiate the offering. In May 2026 the company launched a complete platform rebuild ("New Eli") with mobile support, notifications, richer feedback/revision workflows, structured metacognitive activities, and improved analytics, while retaining the legacy version as "Eli Classic." Two pending US patent families (filed 2010), Section 508 / FERPA compliance, and published academic research by the founders further differentiate the offering.
Revenue is generated via annual subscriptions sold to individual students (PayPal self-serve), individual instructors, and institutions via bulk access-code management through an Institutional Subscription Manager, with separate pricing tiers for K-12 schools and bookstore distribution. Free instructor accounts and free PD workshops act as product-led growth funnels. Customer base spans 25+ named higher-education institutions (Michigan State, Auburn, UC Davis, Duke, Baylor, Virginia Tech, UVM, URI, UMD, Miami, UCSB, SFSU) plus documented K-12 use cases, with 500,000+ cumulative student users over 15-20 years.
Eli Review firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Eli Review
- Legal name
- Drawbridge, Inc.
- Website
- https://elireview.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2006
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Eli Review is a peer review and feedback platform for writing instruction, serving higher-education and K-12 instructors through a write-review-revise workflow, LTI LMS integrations with 25+ universities, and subscription-based access for participating students.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Eli Review industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Education Technology Software
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (611710), Exam Preparation and Tutoring (611691)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Assessment-Integrated eLearning & Practice Modules (EDAGAEAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Literacy & ELA Instruction (School-Delivered) (EDAJAFAF), Reading Comprehension & Close Reading Enrichment (EDAMAJAB), Study Habits & Homework Systems Workshops (EDAMAIAL), Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) & Progress Monitoring Services (EDAKADAI)
Keywords
Where Eli Review is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- East Lansing
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Eli Review business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Individual Student Subscriptions: Individual students purchase subscriptions via PayPal to participate in writing, review, and revision activities
- Institutional Subscriptions: Institutions purchase bulk subscriptions that are allocated to students via access codes managed through Subscription Manager
- LMS Integration Services: Integration with institutional learning management systems (supported institutions include 20+ universities)
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | K-12 Schools pricing tier |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual instructor pricing |
| Subscription | Annual | Institutional pricing |
| Subscription | Annual | Bookstore pricing |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Eli Review product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Eli Review is a web-based peer learning platform that enables instructors to run write-review-revise cycles in their classrooms. It packages the proprietary Describe-Evaluate-Suggest feedback heuristic, structured revision planning, automatic reviewer grouping, and detailed engagement and analytics reporting into a subscription SaaS product used by higher-education and K-12 writing programs, with deep LMS integration via LTI and supplementary free professional-development workshops and curriculum resources.
Product overview
Eli Review is a peer review and feedback platform for writing instruction, also known simply as 'Eli'. The core product enables the write-review-revise cycle through three main task types: Writing Tasks (student composition), Review Tasks (peer feedback with structured prompts), and Revision Tasks (planning improvements from feedback). The platform is augmented by Teacher Development Series modules for instructor training, a free Curriculum Resources library with pre-packaged materials, and Professional Development Workshops. A major platform rebuild launched in May 2026 created 'New Eli' with enhanced mobile support, richer workflows, and improved analytics, while the legacy version remains available as 'Eli Classic'. Additional features include Course-Level and Student-Level Analytics, Comment Digest reports, Engagement Data tracking, a Task Repository for reusing materials, and an Institutional Subscription Manager for campus-wide deployments.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Eli Review (Eli) Web-based peer review and feedback platform for writing instruction that operationalizes the write-review-revise cycle (Writing Tasks, Review Tasks, and Revision Tasks) using the Describe-Evaluate-Suggest heuristic, structured revision plans, Practice Bus automatic reviewer grouping, course- and student-level analytics, comment digests, engagement reports, LTI LMS integrations, and cloud-storage file ingestion. Subscriptions are sold to higher-education and K-12 institutions, individual instructors, students, and bookstores.
Quantifiable outcome
- 500,000 students across nearly every subject have become better writers using Eli Review for feedback and revision
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Eli Review
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Eli Review technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration8 records
Feature7 records
Eli Review partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Eli Review competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Peerceptiv: Peerceptiv is a peer learning and assessment platform used in higher education to coordinate peer review, feedback, and revision across writing and other disciplines. It directly competes with Eli Review in the same product category, serving similar instructor and institutional customers with comparable write-review-revise workflows.
- FeedbackFruits: FeedbackFruits provides a suite of LTI-based pedagogical tools for higher education including peer review, feedback, and group collaboration, integrated with Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and Brightspace. It targets the same instructor and institution buyer as Eli Review with overlapping functionality around structured peer assessment.
- Kritik: Kritik is a peer assessment platform for higher education that enables structured peer evaluation and feedback on student work. It competes directly with Eli Review in the same peer review category, serving similar universities with similar recurring subscription business models.
- Packback: Packback is a peer-driven learning and discussion platform used in higher education that combines AI-assisted prompts with peer review and feedback. It overlaps with Eli Review in serving writing-intensive and discussion-based university courses with a focus on improving student writing and critical thinking.
Emerging players
- Calibrated Peer Review: Calibrated Peer Review is a long-running academic peer review tool developed for university writing and science courses to train students in giving calibrated feedback. It overlaps with Eli Review's peer review and writing instruction use cases, particularly in STEM and writing-across-the-curriculum programs.
- Hypothesis: Hypothesis is a social annotation and peer discussion tool integrated with LMS platforms via LTI, enabling collaborative reading and feedback on documents. It overlaps with Eli Review in higher education peer learning and annotation workflows, particularly around reading-to-write assignments.
Broad incumbents
- Turnitin: Turnitin is a broad incumbent in academic writing assessment with extensive institutional penetration across higher education and K-12, including plagiarism checking, feedback, and peer review features. It competes with Eli Review in writing instruction workflows but as part of a much wider portfolio of assessment products.
- Gradescope: Gradescope (acquired by Turnitin) is a widely adopted assessment and feedback platform used across higher education for grading, rubrics, and structured feedback. While not focused on peer review, it overlaps with Eli Review in the institutional writing and assessment workflow where instructors make tool decisions.
- Instructure (Canvas): Instructure, the maker of Canvas LMS, is the dominant learning management system vendor with built-in peer review assignment functionality that competes with Eli Review's LTI integrations. Eli's enterprise channel depends on Canvas, but Canvas's native peer review features represent an ongoing competitive threat to standalone tools.
- Crowdmark: Crowdmark (now part of D2L) is an assessment platform for grading, feedback, and rubric-based evaluation used in higher education. While primarily focused on grading workflows rather than peer review, it overlaps with Eli Review in the institutional writing assessment decision-making process.
Market position
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Eli Review social profiles
Digital presenceEli Review compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Eli Review financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Eli Review leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Eli Review funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Eli Review M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Eli Review
What does Eli Review do?
Eli Review is a web-based peer learning platform that enables instructors to run write-review-revise cycles in their classrooms. It packages the proprietary Describe-Evaluate-Suggest feedback heuristic, structured revision planning, automatic reviewer grouping, and detailed engagement and analytics reporting into a subscription SaaS product used by higher-education and K-12 writing programs, with deep LMS integration via LTI and supplementary free professional-development workshops and curriculum resources.
Is Eli Review a public or private company?
Eli Review is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Eli Review founded?
Eli Review was founded in 2006. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Eli Review based?
Eli Review is headquartered in East Lansing, United States, in the North America region.
How does Eli Review make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Individual Student Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are institutional Subscriptions and LMS Integration Services.
Who are Eli Review's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Peerceptiv, FeedbackFruits, Kritik and Packback. Emerging players are Calibrated Peer Review and Hypothesis. Broad incumbents are Turnitin, Gradescope, Instructure (Canvas) and Crowdmark.
Does Eli Review have an API?
No public API is recorded for Eli Review.
What industry is Eli Review in?
Eli Review's product category is Education Technology Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAGAEAE, Assessment-Integrated eLearning & Practice Modules, with a secondary code of EDAJAFAF, Literacy & ELA Instruction (School-Delivered). Its NAICS code is 611710 and its SIC code is 8200.