From SaaS to Self-Hosted: How RubricReady Puts Institutions in Control
We built RubricReady as a cloud SaaS product. Then our customers told us what they actually needed: full control over their data, their infrastructure, and their security policies. Here's why we made the switch and what it means for your institution.
When we launched RubricReady, we followed the standard playbook: build a multi-tenant SaaS platform, offer tiered pricing, and let educators sign up with a credit card. It worked — educators loved the Assignment Auditor and Rubric Creator. But as we started conversations with universities, colleges, and school districts, a pattern emerged that we couldn't ignore.
What We Heard from Institutions
The feedback was consistent across nearly every institutional conversation:
"We can't send student assignment data to a third-party cloud." "Our data governance policy requires all educational tools to run on our infrastructure." "We need to know exactly where our data lives and who has access to it." "Our procurement process doesn't work with per-seat SaaS pricing."
These weren't edge cases. They represented the reality of how institutions evaluate and adopt technology. Data sovereignty, compliance requirements, and procurement processes are fundamentally different at the institutional level compared to individual educator adoption.
The Problem with Shared SaaS for Education
Multi-tenant SaaS works well for many use cases. But educational institutions face unique challenges that make shared infrastructure problematic:
Data Residency
Many institutions have strict policies about where student data can be stored. A shared database in a vendor's cloud account doesn't meet these requirements.
Compliance Burden
FERPA, state-level data privacy laws, and institutional policies create a compliance landscape that's difficult to navigate with shared infrastructure.
Multi-Tenancy Risk
Sharing database infrastructure with other organizations introduces risk that many IT security teams aren't comfortable accepting.
Procurement Friction
Per-seat monthly pricing doesn't align with how institutions budget and procure technology. Annual invoicing and site licensing are the norm.
What Changed: The Self-Hosted Model
We rebuilt RubricReady's deployment model from the ground up. Instead of running a shared platform, we now deliver RubricReady as a containerized application that runs entirely on your institution's own infrastructure. Here's what that looks like in practice:
- Your IT team provisions a server or cloud instance (AWS, Azure, GCP, or on-premise)
- We provide deployment guides and hands-on support to get RubricReady installed
- After invoice payment, you receive a license key that activates the platform
- Your instance runs independently — no shared databases, no external data transfer
- Updates are delivered as new container images that your team deploys on your schedule
What This Means for Your Institution
The shift to self-hosted isn't just a technical change — it fundamentally changes the relationship between RubricReady and the institutions that use it.
Your data never leaves your infrastructure
Assignment prompts, rubrics, vulnerability scores — everything stays on servers you control. No data is transmitted to our systems or any shared environment.
Compliance is simplified
When the application runs on your infrastructure under your security policies, the compliance conversation changes entirely. Your existing data governance framework applies directly.
Licensing that fits institutional procurement
A simple license key activated after invoice payment. No per-seat tracking, no monthly charges, no credit card on file. Renew annually on terms that work for your budget cycle.
You control the update schedule
No surprise updates during midterms. Your IT team decides when to apply new versions, test them in staging, and roll them out to production.
The Features Haven't Changed
It's worth emphasizing: the core product is the same. The Assignment Auditor still tests your assignments against multiple AI models and provides vulnerability scores. The Rubric Creator still generates aligned assessment rubrics from your learning objectives. The only thing that changed is where the software runs and who controls the data.
Same Tools, Your Infrastructure
Assignment Auditor — test assignments against AI models for vulnerability scoring Rubric Creator — generate assessment rubrics aligned to learning objectives Weakness Detection — identify specific areas where assignments are vulnerable Export & Sharing — download rubrics and reports in standard formats
Getting Started
The evaluation process is straightforward. Request a demo through our contact form, and our team will walk you through the platform, discuss your infrastructure requirements, and help you plan a deployment that fits your environment. Most institutions are up and running within a few days of receiving their license key.
Ready to See RubricReady on Your Infrastructure?
Request a personalized demo and we'll show you how RubricReady deploys on your servers or cloud account. We'll walk through the setup process, infrastructure requirements, and licensing options.
Request a DemoConclusion
Moving from SaaS to self-hosted wasn't about following a trend. It was about listening to what institutions actually need: control over their data, alignment with their compliance requirements, and a procurement model that fits how they buy technology. We believe this is the right model for educational tools that handle sensitive academic content, and we're committed to making the deployment experience as smooth as possible.
If your institution has been evaluating RubricReady but had concerns about data residency or compliance, we'd love to have that conversation. The answer is now simple: your data stays on your infrastructure.
RubricReady Team
Helping educators create better assessments with AI-powered tools.