Best AI for McGraw Hill Connect, compared
There is no single best AI for McGraw Hill Connect. What people use falls into a few kinds of tool, and they differ more in who does the clicking and how current they are than in how clever the AI is. This page lines them up from their own pages and says where each one stops.
Prices, versions and ratings change. Each row says where it came from.
Pick by the job you have.
No option here is the best at everything. Match the tool to what you are trying to do.
You want to understand the material
McGraw Hill’s own AI Reader and Learning Coach, in courses that include them.
You are stuck on one question and will click yourself
A chat assistant, or a browser extension that reads the screen.
You are happy to set up code and bring your own AI account
An open-source bot. Check its last update before you rely on it.
You want the assignment worked and turned in
An agent. SolveX Agent runs inside your Chrome. Silent Student is a desktop app with its own browser. Both have limits, covered below.
Your instructor uses a lockdown browser or proctoring
None of these. Silent Student does not take proctored exams.
The options, side by side.
Each row quotes or closely paraphrases the option’s own page. Source links sit under each name.
| Option | Where it runs | What its own page says | Do you click each question? | Price on its page | Listing: update and rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official | |||||
| McGraw Hill AI Reader and Learning CoachSource: AI page · AI approach page | Inside Connect (AI Reader, Learning Coach, Translation Tool). Sharpen is a separate study app. | AI Reader lets you highlight a textbook passage, get a simpler explanation and quiz yourself. McGraw Hill also lists a Translation Tool and Learning Coach, a conversational tutor. | Not applicable. The pages describe explanations and quizzes, not answering assignments. | Not stated on these pages. | None shown. McGraw Hill says more than 2.5 million students have used AI Reader (its own figure). |
| Manual and extensions | |||||
| A chat assistant by handSource: none. We did not fetch provider pricing. | Another tab or app. | Nothing about Connect. You copy or screenshot each question in. | Yes, and you type or click each answer back into Connect. | Free tiers and paid plans. Check each provider’s pricing page. | Not applicable. |
| Apex Vision AISource: SmartBook guide · pricing · store listing | Chrome extension. Its site also lists iOS and Android apps. | Reads the SmartBook question on your screen and shows an answer with step-by-step reasoning. | Yes. You ask for an answer on each question and enter it yourself. | $7.99, $14.99 or $19.99 a month for 500, 1,000 or 2,000 requests. Free: 30 requests, refilled every 12 hours. | Version 6.0.16, updated 4 October 2026. 4.9 from about 2K ratings; 8,000 users. |
| SnapGPTSource: Connect page · pricing · store listing | Chrome and Firefox extension, with an iOS app in beta. | Reads a screenshot of the question, charts included. On the paid plan, Autopilot “can click through a question set for you, one question at a time” and, it says, “never submits”. | One click per answer. Autopilot (paid) moves through a set; you submit. | Free: 5 screenshot requests a day. Plus: $7.99 a week, $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year. | Version 4.4.11, updated 15 October 2026. 4.8 from 5 ratings; 2,000 users. |
| SolveX HelperSource: home page · pricing | Chrome extension plus a SolveX account. | “Auto-Solve works inside supported Connect and SmartBook pages.” It adds that “Availability varies by plan and page layout.” | Its pages do not say clearly. Check its site. | 60 free minutes and 100 solves, no card. Plans from $4.99 (weekly, monthly or semester); $2.99 day pass. | Not checked. We did not capture this extension’s store listing. |
| FastSolveSource: Canvas page · store listing | Browser extension for Chrome. | Lists McGraw Hill Connect among other supported sites. Its Canvas page describes double-clicking a question to fill in the answer in about 2 seconds. Its McGraw Hill page returned a 404 on 16 October, so we read no Connect-specific description. | Yes, a double-click per question, then you submit (per its Canvas page). | Free: 10 solves a day. Pro: $9.99 a week, $19.99 a month or $99 a year. | Version 3.3.15, updated 7 October 2026. 4.1 from 26 ratings; 5,000 users. |
| Do it yourself | |||||
| Open-source GitHub projectsSource: auto-mcgraw · McGraw-Bot | A Chrome extension loaded unpacked (auto-mcgraw). A Python and Selenium script (McGraw-Bot). | auto-mcgraw targets SmartBook, uses a ChatGPT, Gemini or DeepSeek tab you are signed into, and pauses for you on matching questions it cannot finish. McGraw-Bot targets Connect homework with multiple choice, matching and ordering questions; its README says it is “NOT to be used for the version of McGraw Hill Connect that has table-based inputs”. | Varies. auto-mcgraw works the assignment once you start it and lists a Pause Before Submit setting. Check each README. | Free to download. You bring an AI account or key. | auto-mcgraw: release v3.0, 30 September 2026, MIT licence. McGraw-Bot: last commit 1 September 2026, a README edit. GitHub shows no rating, and stars are not ratings, so we show none. |
| Agents | |||||
| SolveX AgentSource: Agent page · store listing | Separate Chrome extension, in beta. Needs an active Agent allowance. | Targets coursework in McGraw Hill Connect and SmartBook and other platforms, and says platform compatibility is in beta. Review first is the default; Full access “can submit the selected activity” and checks for a receipt. | No. Its page says “It does the clicking.” A Stop button is available. | Day and Weekly passes, one-time, with a finite allowance. Amounts load from your account; we did not capture them. | Version 0.3.2, updated 15 October 2026. 2 users, no ratings yet. |
| Silent Student OursSource: How it works · benchmark | Desktop app for Mac and Windows, with its own Chromium browser and profile. | Opens the Connect or SmartBook assignment from your Canvas course, works it, reads answers back from the page, presses the platform’s own submit control and looks for the platform’s receipt. SmartBook has a dedicated solver. Connect homework runs on a general screen-reading agent. | No. You queue the assignment from Canvas and can stop a run. | $11.99, $24.99 or $49.99 a month. No free plan. First-assignment money-back guarantee. | Updates arrive inside the app. We show no rating and publish no reviews. Evidence: a Connect-style replica we built, 102 of 109 graded parts, submitted, one scored run on 22 September 2026. |
How this table was made. We did not test any of the other options. Their rows quote or closely paraphrase their own websites, Chrome Web Store listings and GitHub pages, fetched on 16 October 2026. The sources are listed at the bottom of the page. Prices, versions and ratings change, so check the source before you buy or install. The Silent Student row rests on our own benchmark, which ran on replicas we built and not on real student accounts, with one engine as of 22 September 2026. We make Silent Student, so read our row with that in mind. A rating here is the rating an option shows on its own Chrome Web Store listing, with its number of ratings. We did not collect reviews and we publish none. Where a vendor’s own site shows a different rating or count than its listing (SnapGPT’s site shows 4.9 and “115K problems solved”, its listing 4.8 from 5 ratings), we quote the listing.
What the table leaves out. Accuracy percentages. Several sellers print one: SnapGPT’s page says 98%, Apex Vision AI’s says 93% and FastSolve’s says 98%. None is independent and they are measured in different ways. Ours is also our own: 95% across seven replicas, and 102 of 109 graded parts on the Connect one. If you want a number, ask the seller for the method.
For a closer look at how a desktop app differs from an extension, see Silent Student compared with Chrome extensions.
What each kind of tool is good and bad at.
McGraw Hill’s own AI
McGraw Hill’s AI page describes AI Reader, where you highlight a textbook passage, get a simpler explanation and quiz yourself. It says more than 2.5 million students have used it. Its AI approach page puts Learning Coach, a conversational tutor, and a Translation Tool among Connect’s AI tools, and Sharpen is a separate study app. These explain and quiz. Nothing on those pages describes them answering your assignment, and the pages do not say which courses include them.
Chat assistants by hand
General chat assistants reason well, and free tiers exist. The cost is the workflow. You copy or screenshot each question into another tab, then type or click the answer back into Connect. Apex Vision AI’s own SmartBook guide says many SmartBook questions cannot be copied, and SmartBook reshuffles the choices each time a question renders, so an answer has to be matched by its text. That works for one stuck question. Across a whole assignment it is slow.
Extensions that read the screen
Apex Vision AI, SnapGPT and FastSolve sit in your browser and read the question on screen. Each is quick per question, and by their own descriptions you enter the answer and submit yourself. They charge differently: monthly request caps, weekly passes or a daily free allowance. SnapGPT says its paid Autopilot never submits. For head-to-heads, see our pages on Apex Vision AI, FastSolve and SnapGPT.
Open-source bots
These are free to download. You supply an AI account or key and load the code yourself, so check the date first. auto-mcgraw, a SmartBook extension, shipped v3.0 on 30 September 2026, and its README warns that copies on the Chrome Web Store are fraudulent. McGraw-Bot targets Connect homework without table-based inputs. Its README says ordering questions “will always get them wrong” and that its author no longer has access to Connect. Other repos we saw were weeks old with no stars, and we did not look at how they run.
Maintenance
Connect and SmartBook change, so the last update date is the first thing to check. SmarterBook, a SmartBook helper extension, now says “This extension has been discontinued and is not functional.” Its last update was 4 April 2024. Extpose, a site that tracks Chrome extensions, lists one named SmartBook Solver as delisted on 17 September 2025.
Agents
An agent works through the set instead of answering one question at a time. Two appear here in different shapes. SolveX Agent is a Chrome extension in beta. Its page says platform compatibility is in beta and that “listing a platform is not a claim that every workflow has been verified.” Silent Student is a desktop app with its own browser. It reads answers back from the page, presses the platform’s own submit control and calls a run confirmed only when it sees a receipt. Its limits are in Where Silent Student fits.
SmartBook, Connect homework and ALEKS are not the same task.
People who search for AI for McGraw Hill Connect mean one of three things. A tool that handles one of them may not handle the others, so check which one your assignment is.
| Question | SmartBook | Connect homework | ALEKS |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | An adaptive reading and questions tool built into Connect. It picks the next question from your mastery. McGraw Hill’s page describes it as continuously assessing your understanding. | Assignments your instructor builds in Connect, often opened from a link in Canvas. Accounting courses commonly use spreadsheet-style grids. | A separate McGraw Hill adaptive product for math and chemistry, built around a “pie” of topics. You work topics in Learning Mode (ALEKS tour). |
| What makes it hard to automate | The next question is not fixed. Choices reshuffle each time a question renders. Progress counts concepts, not questions, and a miss can send you back to the reading. Every answer carries a High, Medium or Low confidence rating. | Dense grids where many cells share one editor, dropdown cells, and several question types in one player. Saved is not submitted: the instructor sees the work only after Submit. | Answers go through its own editor, with buttons for fractions, exponents and roots. Learning Mode and assessments are different modes, and we cover Learning Mode only. |
| How Silent Student handles it | A dedicated SmartBook solver holds one live session and follows the adaptive path (SmartBook page). | The general screen-reading agent, with a driver that fills worksheet cells one at a time and reads each back (Connect page). | The general screen-reading agent, on Learning Mode topics only (ALEKS page). |
| Where we tested it | Live runs and replica checks. We publish no accuracy figure. | A replica we built: 102 of 109 graded parts, submitted, one scored run on 22 September 2026. Not a live account. | Replica runs only, and results varied. We publish no figure. |
Our pricing page says it plainly: “Platforms without a dedicated solver run through a general screen-reading agent, which is less predictable.” That covers Connect homework and ALEKS. For help with logging in, grades and Recharge, see our Connect and SmartBook help guide.
Eight things to check first.
- Who does the clicking. Extensions answer one question per click or per run. An agent works the set. Decide how much clicking you want to keep.
- What you are actually doing. A SmartBook probe, a worksheet grid and an ALEKS topic stress tools in different ways. A tool that lists Connect has not necessarily handled grids or matching, and several open-source READMEs say plainly that theirs do not.
- Whether it is proctored. If your instructor turned on proctoring or a lockdown browser, no tool on this page is for that.
- When it was last updated. Look for a dated release, a version number or an update date on the store listing, and compare it with the table. Connect changes, and a tool that has not moved in months is probably behind.
- Where it runs and what it can see. An extension runs inside the browser profile you are signed into. A desktop app with its own browser keeps your everyday profile out of it. Every tool here sends what is on your screen to an AI service, and some need your own API key. Read each privacy page. Ours is here.
- How it is priced. Request caps, weekly passes, daily free allowances and flat monthly plans do not compare by headline price. Work out how much you would really use.
- What proof you can check. A published method and dated runs beat a percentage. Treat any accuracy number as the seller’s own, ours included.
- Red flags. Be wary of “undetectable”, “no trace”, “works under proctoring” and “100% accuracy”, testimonials you cannot verify, a store listing that the developer’s own site warns about, and any request for your school password.
If your course or McGraw Hill’s terms rule out all of these, AI Reader and your instructor are the options that stay open.
What McGraw Hill says, what Connect records, and exams.
McGraw Hill’s Terms of Use
The Terms of Use, last updated 16 October 2026, list things users may not do. One is to use any “agent, robot, spider, or other automatic device or program” to access the service. Another is to use, install, permit or enable “any third party software, AI agent, AI-enabled browser, browser extension, or other automated or AI-powered software, website, tool, or mechanism” to act within the service on anyone’s behalf, including “to view, complete, answer, or submit any assessment, assignment, or other activity”, unless McGraw Hill authorizes it in writing. A third bars using McGraw Hill content or its output “in any external AI or machine learning technologies, algorithms, or models”. The Terms say McGraw Hill may suspend or terminate an account it has reason to believe was used in violation of them. They changed on 16 October 2026, the day we checked, so read the current version.
In our reading, that reaches the extensions, bots and agents on this page, ours included. The external-AI clause also reads on its face as covering a chat assistant you paste questions into. It applies whether or not anything is detected. We are not lawyers. Read the Terms yourself before you decide.
Your school
Your school and your instructor set their own academic-integrity rules, which can be stricter than McGraw Hill’s. Silent Student’s Terms (section 5) make you responsible for those rules and for the terms of every platform the app automates.
What Connect records
McGraw Hill’s help pages describe an assignment results report with each student’s scores, where opening a score shows the questions received and the student’s responses. Its reports page lists a Time Spent report on assignments. For SmartBook, the reports guide describes assignment progress, time spent and the confidence level a student chose, High, Medium or Low. The ALEKS tour describes tracking time spent in a student account by day.
Silent Student does not hide or fake any of that activity. Our SmartBook solver rates every answer High, as our SmartBook page says, so that is what a SmartBook report will show. We found no McGraw Hill page describing how, or whether, Connect detects AI help on homework, so we make no claim either way.
Proctored exams
McGraw Hill’s Proctorio page lists browser-locking options, including blocking copy, cut and paste and disabling other browser extensions, and recording options for the webcam, microphone, screen and web traffic. The instructor chooses which to switch on. Silent Student does not take proctored exams. Our pricing page and Terms (section 4) say so. The extension vendors say similar things: SnapGPT’s Connect page says lockdown software disables extensions, and SolveX says its tool is not for proctored or supervised exams.
What it does, what we measured, and where it stops.
What it is
A desktop app for Mac and Windows. You connect your Canvas account once, and your login stays on your computer, encrypted by the macOS Keychain or Windows. The app opens the Connect or SmartBook assignment from your Canvas course the way you would, works it, and reports what it could and could not confirm.
Plans are $11.99, $24.99 and $49.99 a month. They differ in monthly usage and in access to the advanced pro model. There is no free plan. If Silent Student can’t complete the first assignment you run on a paid plan, you can ask for that first payment back within 30 days (Terms, section 4). Read plans and the guarantee.
It needs a Mac with Apple Silicon or Windows 10 or later. The Mac public beta is self-signed and not Apple-notarized, and the Windows public beta is unsigned, so your system will warn you the first time you open it. The download page walks through that.
What we measured
On a replica of a Connect accounting workbook that we built, the Base-plan engine as of 22 September 2026 got 102 of 109 graded parts right and submitted. A separate recording of the same replica got 106 of 109. See the Connect replica run and the method.
That is one scored run on a replica we built, in a standalone test harness and not the full desktop app. It is not a live student account. The engine has been updated since, and the benchmark has not been re-run. The 95% on the benchmark page covers seven replicas across five platforms, so it is not a Connect number.
Where it stops
- It does not take proctored exams.
- We publish no accuracy figure for SmartBook or ALEKS.
- Connect homework runs on a general agent, which is less predictable than a dedicated solver. A run that cannot confirm what it did says so and does not claim a score.
- No plan promises a grade.
- Silent Student is not affiliated with or endorsed by McGraw Hill, and McGraw Hill’s Terms bar this kind of tool.
Common questions
It depends on the job. To understand the material, use McGraw Hill’s own AI Reader and Learning Coach, in courses that include them. For one stuck question, use a chat assistant or a browser extension that reads the screen, and click the answers yourself. To have a whole assignment worked and submitted, use an agent such as SolveX Agent or Silent Student, with the limits on this page. McGraw Hill’s Terms of Use bar bots, agents and third-party extensions on its service, so read them and your school’s rules first.
McGraw Hill documents what Connect records: each student’s scores and responses, a Time Spent report on assignments, and for SmartBook the progress, time spent and the confidence level a student chose. We found no McGraw Hill page that describes how, or whether, Connect detects AI help on homework, so we make no claim either way. Instructors can turn on Proctorio for exams, which McGraw Hill says can disable other extensions and record the screen, webcam and microphone. The Terms of Use bar AI agents on the service whether or not anything is detected. Silent Student does not hide or fake any activity data.
No. McGraw Hill’s Terms of Use, last updated 16 October 2026, say you may not use any “agent, robot, spider, or other automatic device or program” to access the service. They also bar you from using or enabling a third-party “browser extension” or “AI agent” to act within it, including “to view, complete, answer, or submit any assessment, assignment, or other activity”, unless McGraw Hill authorizes it in writing. McGraw Hill says it may suspend or terminate an account it has reason to believe was used in violation. Your school’s academic-integrity policy is separate and may be stricter. Under Silent Student’s Terms (section 5) you are responsible for both.
Silent Student does not take proctored exams. McGraw Hill’s Proctorio integration for Connect can block copy and paste, disable other browser extensions and record the webcam, microphone and screen, all switched on by the instructor. The extension vendors we read say similar things about their own tools. SnapGPT’s Connect page says lockdown software disables extensions, and SolveX says not to use it on proctored or supervised exams.
Several have free allowances on their own pages: SnapGPT gives 5 screenshot requests a day, Apex Vision AI 30 requests with a refill every 12 hours, FastSolve 10 solves a day, and SolveX 60 minutes and 100 solves. Open-source bots are free to download, but you supply an AI account or key. Chat assistants have free tiers with limits. Silent Student has no free plan; it has a first-assignment money-back guarantee. Check each page for current terms.
Connect is McGraw Hill’s course platform, and homework and quizzes are assignments your instructor builds in it. SmartBook is the adaptive reading-and-questions part of Connect. It picks the next question from your mastery and asks for a confidence rating on each answer. ALEKS is a separate adaptive product for math and chemistry built around a topic “pie”. A tool that handles one may not handle another. See SmartBook, Connect homework and ALEKS.
On a replica of a Connect accounting workbook that we built, the Base-plan engine as of 22 September 2026 got 102 of 109 graded parts right and submitted. A separate recording of the same replica got 106 of 109. That is one scored run on a replica, not a live student account, and the engine has been updated since. We publish no accuracy figure for SmartBook or ALEKS. Method and recordings are on the benchmark page.
It does not ask for or type your Connect password. It follows the assignment’s link from your Canvas course, the same launch you would click. Your Canvas login stays on your computer, encrypted by the macOS Keychain or Windows.
It fills worksheet grids one cell at a time, commits each entry and reads the cell back from the page. Our replica of a Connect accounting workbook tests exactly that kind of grid. Connect homework runs on a general screen-reading agent, which our pricing page calls less predictable than a dedicated solver.
Where each fact came from.
Every outside page this comparison relies on, with the date we fetched it. Details can change after that date.
McGraw Hill and ALEKS
- McGraw Hill Terms of Use (last updated 16 October 2026)
fetched 16 October 2026 - McGraw Hill AI tools page
fetched 16 October 2026 - McGraw Hill, our AI approach
fetched 16 October 2026 - McGraw Hill SmartBook product page
fetched 16 October 2026 - Proctorio in Connect
fetched 16 October 2026 - Connect reports and tracking
fetched 16 October 2026 - Connect assignment results report
fetched 16 October 2026 - SmartBook reports in Connect (PDF)
fetched 16 October 2026 - ALEKS student tour
fetched 16 October 2026
The other options
- Apex Vision AI SmartBook guide
fetched 16 October 2026 - Apex Vision AI pricing
fetched 16 October 2026 - Apex Vision AI store listing
fetched 16 October 2026 - SnapGPT Connect page
fetched 16 October 2026 - SnapGPT pricing
fetched 16 October 2026 - SnapGPT store listing
fetched 16 October 2026 - SolveX home page
fetched 16 October 2026 - SolveX pricing
fetched 16 October 2026 - SolveX Agent page
fetched 16 October 2026 - SolveX Agent store listing
fetched 16 October 2026 - FastSolve Canvas page
fetched 16 October 2026 - FastSolve store listing
fetched 16 October 2026 - GitHub: GooglyBlox/auto-mcgraw
fetched 16 October 2026 - GitHub: nrkorte/McGraw-Bot
fetched 16 October 2026 - SmarterBook store listing
fetched 16 October 2026 - Extpose: SmartBook Solver
fetched 16 October 2026
Silent Student
- Pricing (plans, proctored exams, general agent)
read 16 October 2026 - Terms (sections 4 and 5)
read 16 October 2026 - FAQ and download page (installers)
read 16 October 2026 - Security (what stays on your computer)
read 16 October 2026 - Benchmark and Connect replica recording
read 16 October 2026 - SmartBook, Connect and ALEKS platform pages
read 16 October 2026
If you want the assignment worked and turned in
Silent Student works Connect, SmartBook and ALEKS assignments from your Canvas course, and tells you when it could not confirm one.
Plans from $11.99/mo · Cancel anytime · See pricing