Anyone who writes professionally has at least heard of Grammarly, if not used it to proofread and edit their work quickly and efficiently. This software shows errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, while also checking for plagiarism and creates citations to use in the writing. Grammarly also has an intuitive AI assistant to offer suggestions about word choice to ensure your writing is as clear as possible to be better understood by your readers.
Grammarly Pros
Grammarly can be downloaded onto many different kinds of devices, including various versions of Mac, Android, and Windows. The software can then integrate with other apps for all of your writing needs, from messaging platforms like Gmail and Outlook to documents in larger projects through Slack and Salesforce. It even connects with social media profiles like Facebook, Medium, and Twitter for full support across multiple sites.
There are a few different pricing packages for this software depending on your needs. Starting with the Free version, this offers basic suggestions like spelling, punctuation, and grammar, and creates clarity with simple concise hints. The free option also detects the tone of your writing and informs you on how your text comes across, such as the level of formality in the message.
The Premium package starts at $12/month, and includes everything offered in the Free version plus some added features, such as fluency, clarity rewrites, sentence variety, politeness suggestions, and plagiarism detection.
The Business package is meant for teams of three or more individuals, and is priced at $12.50/member/month. This advanced version goes deeper into the same features as Premium while also providing a platform for team management such as analytical support and brand tones.
Grammarly Cons
Despite all of the great elements this software offers, there are some drawbacks to note. The most common complaint against the Free version is the lack of features it provides, and therefore not only limits the ways it can be used, but also pushes individuals into upgrading and purchasing a paid subscription. Its proofreading capabilities are also limited, and don’t always encapsulate the same accuracy as a human doing this work themselves.
Thankfully, there are a multitude of alternative softwares that can be implemented instead of Grammarly, each with their own unique style of editing text depending on a user’s requirements.
Top 11 Grammarly Alternatives
- ProWritingAid – Best Overall Alternative
- WhiteSmoke – Best Cost-Effective Software
- Ginger – Best for Rephrasing and Grammatical Learning
- Slick Write – Best Overall Free Software
- 1Checker – Alternative Free Software
- Hemingway – Best for Clear Readability Edits
- SentenceCheckup – Best for Easy Sentence Analysis
- PaperRater – Best for Students
- Reverso – Best for Translation
- Sapling – Best For Team and Enterprise Use
- Jetpack – Best WordPress Plug-in
1. ProWritingAid – Best Overall Alternative
Pricing: $20/month, $79/year, or $399/one-time payment
ProWritingAid is an online editor that offers similar tools to Grammarly, including checking spelling, grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary use. This feature provides multiple options for corrections that improve writing techniques to be more efficient. Beyond grammar edits, the ProWritingAid software contains intuitive writing reports that help with things like overused words, cliches, pronoun usage, and other inconsistencies. It also improves readability by grading your writing with clear progress bars based on things like sentence variety, passive voice, and style. Within these rankings, they also offer helpful articles to improve your writing.
| Pros | Cons |
| Free version available | Free version has a 500-word limit for online use only |
| Web browser plug-in for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge | Lacks a mobile app |
| House style tool to keep consistent tone | Plagiarism checker comes at an extra cost |
| Integrates with Scrivener, MS Word, Google Docs, and others | |
| Offers business solutions that integrate with apps like LinkedIn, Zendesk, Salesforce, and more | |
| Offers creative and academic writing solutions for larger documents |
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2. WhiteSmoke – Best Cost-Effective Software
Pricing: $10/month for web-based, $13.33/month for Premium, $22.99/month for Business
Besides providing tools for proofreading and editing text, WhiteSmoke also offers over 100 templates for quickly creating resumes, cover letters, and more. This software uses Natural Language Processing technology for an intuitive analysis of your text, and continuously updates this technology with their linguistics team.
| Pros | Cons |
| Desktop and web-based options | No free version available |
| Translations to 55 languages | Interface for mobile needs improvement |
| Ease of use | Poor customer service |
| Mobile-friendly apps | |
| Plug-ins compatible with most browsers | |
| Integrates with multiple apps |
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3. Ginger – Best for Rephrasing and Grammatical Learning
Pricing: $19.99/month for a monthly subscription, $89.88 for yearly subscription, $167.76 for a two year subscription
Ginger Software highlights sections of text and offers suggested ways to edit for improved sentence structure and flow. It provides a thesaurus tool if you want to rephrase your writing through AI-based synonym suggestions. This software has a few different services based on your needs, including API tools for applications, business solutions for larger teams, and an education service for teachers and students. There are also tools within the website that provide learning opportunities to improve knowledge about grammar, spelling, and misused phrases.
| Pros | Cons |
| Free Safari plug-in available | Free version is for a limited time |
| Plug-ins compatible with most browsers | Doesn’t integrate with Google Docs |
| Integrates with multiple apps | |
| Desktop and mobile options | |
| Translates to over 40 languages |
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4. Slick Write – Best Overall Free Software
Pricing: free
Slick Write checks the typical errors found in writing, such as grammar, spelling, and sentence flow. Their website’s landing page offers an interactive demo for faster onboarding with an example text that highlights all of their features. The proofreading is easy to understand, offering suggestions for ways to correct the text as well as hints on how to alleviate those mistakes in the future. The Structure tab highlights full sentences and grades them based on complexity, while Vocabulary shows areas in the text that contain repetitive phrasing and how often certain words are used based on percent. This software also provides intuitive analysis of a writing’s structural flow, sentence flow, and word length flow.
| Pros | Cons |
| Completely free of charge | No extension for iOS |
| Ease of use | Internet access required |
| Fast grammar checker | No mobile access |
| Security with documentation | Doesn’t check for punctuation or plagiarism |
| Extensions available for Chrome and Firefox |
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5. 1Checker – Alternative Free Software
Pricing: free
1Checker is a software that proofreads texts and edits errors regarding grammar and spelling for improved readability. Its goal is to provide you with the necessary tools for writing that sounds natural through their style review and vocabulary enhancements. This software can be downloaded onto Windows or Mac, as well as a browser plug-in and integration with MS Word and Outlook. They also offer translation services through Google Translation, and currently hint at improving this service with more powerful software soon.
| Pros | Cons |
| Completely free of charge | Limited features |
| Context-related error detection | Software may be obsolete |
| Document templates | Takes a while to check large files |
| Browser plug-in | Poor customer support |
| Integrates with MS Word and Outlook | Many bugs reported to still exist |
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6. Hemingway – Best for Clear Readability Edits
Pricing: $19.99 license fee
This is an easy-to-use app that highlights errors in several colors determining on the issue within the text. Hemingway mainly focuses on identifying sections of writing that need editing to improve readability. For individual words, their hover feature offers suggestions for synonymous options, adverb use, and passive voice. It also provides a toolbar for easily formatting text into bold, italics, headers, etc., and shows helpful information like a running word count, character and letter count, sentence and paragraph count, and reading time. It then grades the text with an overall score for readability.
| Pros | Cons |
| No internet required | No browser plug-in |
| Desktop app for Mac and Windows | Less effective grammar checker |
| Option to publish directly to Medium or WordPress | Complicated texts might flag red based on their context |
| Fast and easy formatting toolbar | |
| Web-publishing capabilities | |
| Integrates with other apps like MS Word |
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7. SentenceCheckup – Best for Easy Sentence Analysis
Pricing: free
As the name would suggest, SentenceCheckup is an online tool that allows users to analyze the structure of their sentences based on potential errors in run-on sentences, fragments, and any grammatical and spelling errors. Since this software is available online, there’s no need for downloaded software or plug-ins. Analysis of text is fast and easy with this website’s simple copy/paste function in the text box they provide. They also offer options for checking in English, American English, and British English. Their Deep Checkup feature allows your writing to be analyzed and corrected automatically without having to wait or sift through suggestions.
| Pros | Cons |
| Completely free of charge | Internet access required |
| Ease of use | Doesn’t have advanced features |
| Style detections | |
| Algorithm makes editing easier |
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8. PaperRater – Best for Students
Pricing: free version, $14.95/month or $95.40/year for Premium package
Since PaperRater is a cloud-based software, it doesn’t require downloads in order to check for misspellings, grammatical errors, and plagiarism. Their AI software “Grendel” analyzes text in real time to provide instant results with accuracy in an easy-to-comprehend grading system. PaperRater’s proofreading tools offer insightful hints beyond grammatical errors for better feedback that improves writing technique. They also provide a vocabulary building feature for anyone to improve their writing skills by seeing words used in a contextual setting, along with concise definitions.
| Pros | Cons |
| Free version available | Free version has limited features |
| Accessible to anyone with an internet connection | Limited submissions in Premium version |
| Immediate results | No offline option |
| Plagiarism tool checks your work against 10 billion documents |
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9. Reverso – Best for Translation
Pricing: free
Reverso is a linguistics tool that mainly translates text into many common languages as well as proofreads and provides corrections in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. This software is unique in that it also contains a pronunciation feature for you to listen to a native speaker and increase your pronunciation skills. These accurate translations are also able to be seen in context along with synonymous options for different words and phrases to keep sentences flowing in the right direction. Reversio offers a corporate translator for businesses using files from apps like MS Word and Powerpoint, and also web translations for better online communication.
| Pros | Cons |
| Completely free of charge | No desktop app |
| Comprehensive translation | Limited to 600 characters in the checker |
| Pronunciation tool | |
| Browser extension supports Safari, Chrome, and Firefox |
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10. Sapling – Best For Team and Enterprise Use
Pricing: Free browser extension, $25/month for Pro, quote for Enterprise
Sapling works best for companies looking for better communication with their customers. Their AI messaging assistant helps craft fast responses with a Snippets tool, which incorporates the use of macros that offer shortcuts to frequently-used responses. This software also provides a chat suggestion feature for fast responses during live interactions with customers.
| Pros | Cons |
| Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox | No extensions for iOS, Android, or Safari |
| Integrates with Gmail, Google Docs, Outlook, Zendesk, Salesforce, LinkedIn, and more | Still fixing occasional bugs |
| Fast onboarding | Difficult integration process |
| Free version available |
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11. Jetpack – Best WordPress Plug-in
Pricing: $4.77/month for Backup Daily, $11.97/month for Security Daily, $47.97/month for the Complete package
Jetpack is a WordPress plug-in that not only helps you edit your writing, but also protects your documents with a powerful security system. The editing feature highlights mistakes in real time with comprehensible markup schemes that proofread your text for general errors. They offer enhancements to SEO tools for higher rankings and efficient interfaces for a better visitor experience. Jetpack also helps to attract an audience with WordPress CRM and auto-sharing features for social media and other messaging apps.
| Pros | Cons |
| Intense security | Internet access required |
| Fast startup | Difficult interface with overcrowded features |
| Intuitive analytical tools | |
| Updates frequently |
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