Turnitin Originality vs Feedback Studio vs iThenticate: Which Product Has AI Detection?

When students and researchers see names like Turnitin Originality, Turnitin Feedback Studio, and iThenticate, the confusion is understandable. These products overlap in what they do, but they differ in one important way.

According to the Turnitin FAQ, AI writing detection "is only available to customers that license Turnitin Originality." That single sentence separates Turnitin Originality from the rest of the lineup. The other products can check similarity, give feedback, or serve researchers, but they do not include AI detection out of the box.

Below we walk through what the FAQ actually says about each product, who gets AI detection access, and what stays consistent no matter which tier you use.

The FAQ names six distinct products. Grouped by what it says about each:

1. Turnitin Originality (the one product the FAQ says includes AI writing detection by default)
2. Turnitin Similarity (named among the customers the FAQ sends to an account manager)
3. Turnitin Feedback Studio (TFS) (same sentence, same instruction)
4. Originality Check (same sentence again, and not the same thing as the "OriginalityCheck" entry on a TFS account dashboard, which the FAQ describes as a component of the TFS licence and "is distinct from Turnitin Originality")
5. iThenticate 2.0 (a separate product for researchers and publishers, with AI detection available as a paid add-on)
6. Gradescope (the FAQ takes a question on it directly, and the answer is no)

The FAQ does not provide a full feature comparison between these products. It only tells us who has AI detection access and who does not. We are careful not to claim knowledge of features beyond what the FAQ states.

This is where the product differences matter most. The FAQ works through the access model product by product.

First, regarding Turnitin Originality, the FAQ says: "AI writing detection is only available to customers that license Turnitin Originality." (The original text reads "only be available," which we have corrected to "is only available.")

Then, for iThenticate 2.0, the FAQ says: "iThenticate 2.0 customers can get access to this feature if they license AI writing capabilities as an add-on." So iThenticate 2.0 users are not left out, but they need to pay for an add-on.

For everyone else, the FAQ gives clear guidance: "If you are a Turnitin Similarity, Turnitin Feedback Studio (TFS) or Originality Check customer, please speak to your Turnitin account manager regarding access to AI writing detection."

And Gradescope gets a question of its own, "Why is AI detection not being added to Gradescope?", answered: Turnitin does "not currently have plans to add these capabilities to Gradescope, since the primary use case for Gradescope is handwritten text while for AI detection we're focusing on typed text."

Add that up and five of the six do not include AI detection by default. Only Turnitin Originality does, which is the whole point of the title. Three of the five are pointed at an account manager, and the FAQ does not specify what that conversation leads to, whether an upgrade, a paid add-on, or something else. One has a price attached already. One has a stated no.

Across the product family, similarity checking works the same way. The FAQ explains how the similarity score relates to AI detection:

"The Similarity score and the AI writing detection percentage are completely independent and do not influence each other."

The FAQ then defines what the similarity score actually measures:

"The Similarity score indicates the percentage of matching-text found in the submitted document when compared to Turnitin's comprehensive collection of content for similarity checking."

So no matter which Turnitin product you use, the similarity report does the same thing: it compares your text against a database and reports a matching percentage. The AI writing detection percentage is a separate layer that only appears if your product license includes it.

This independence matters for students. A low similarity score does not mean a low AI detection percentage, and vice versa. They measure different things and do not influence each other.

Turnitin Originality includes more than just AI detection. It also includes a feature called Authorship, which is easy to confuse with AI detection but works differently.

The FAQ says:

"Authorship, on the other hand, uses metadata as well as forensic language analysis to detect if the submitted assignment was written by someone other than the student. It will not be able to indicate if it was AI written; only that the content is not the student's own work."

So Authorship asks one question: did the student write this, or did someone else? AI detection asks a different question: was this text generated by AI? They are separate technologies that happen to ship in the same product tier.

A student could trigger Authorship without triggering AI detection, or the reverse. The FAQ is clear that Authorship "will not be able to indicate if it was AI written." If your concern is AI detection specifically, Authorship is not the tool that answers it.

Regardless of which Turnitin product you use, the AI Writing Report has the same file requirements. The AI Writing Report guide, read on 21 August 2026, states:

"File must be written in a supported language: English, Spanish, Japanese"

And for file types:

"Accepted file types: .docx, .pdf, .txt, .rtf"

These requirements do not change based on whether you are using Turnitin Originality, iThenticate 2.0 with the add-on, or any other product that gains AI detection access through an account manager. The same four file types and the same language list apply across the board.

The language list moved on 18 August 2026, and the guide quoted above has not caught up. Turnitin's release notes for that date announce "New AI detection writing detection capabilities for Modern Standard Arabic submissions", taking the list from three languages to four, and the product updates page says the same release reaches "iThenticate 2.0 customers who currently license AI writing detection". So if you click the link above and count three, you are reading a page that is behind rather than a mistake here.

If your document is in a language outside those four, or in a file type not on the list of four, the AI Writing Report will not process it regardless of your product tier.

Here is what we can take away from the FAQ:

• Turnitin Originality is the only one of the six that includes AI writing detection by default.
• iThenticate 2.0 can get AI detection as a paid add-on.
• Turnitin Similarity, Turnitin Feedback Studio (TFS), and Originality Check customers need to speak with their account manager about AI detection access.
• The similarity score and the AI writing detection percentage are independent and do not influence each other.
• Gradescope is not getting AI detection, and the FAQ says so in as many words.
• Authorship is a separate technology from AI detection. Both ship in Turnitin Originality, but they answer different questions.
• File requirements (.docx, .pdf, .txt, .rtf, in English, Spanish, Japanese, or Modern Standard Arabic since 18 August 2026) are the same across the family.

If you are trying to figure out which Turnitin product your school or institution licenses, the FAQ is a good starting point. For specifics about your own access, the FAQ directs you to your Turnitin account manager.