If you’re a writer, you know Grammarly.
Boasting millions of active users, Grammarly is certainly the most popular writing aid on the market. Its helpful suggestions can be accessed from just about anywhere, with robust features even in its free version. Still, many are curious about Grammarly alternatives.
Maybe you’re put off by the price of Grammarly’s premium version. Or just tired of the incessant advertising for it. Maybe you’re not satisfied with Grammarly’s suggestions. Whatever the case, these 7 great Grammarly alternatives may be right for you.
What Grammarly offers
Screenshot from GrammarlyGrammarly offers spelling, grammar, and style suggestions to improve your writing. You can get basic suggestions for free or upgrade to their premium version for more advanced reports.
Free users have access to Grammarly through their web, desktop, or mobile app. The desktop app allows users to check their writing almost anywhere on their computer. They also offer browser extensions for Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and Edge, as well as plugins for MS Word and Google Docs.
Grammarly’s premium plan starts at $12/month (billed annually). Their business solutions cost $12.50-25/month per member, with a one-person team plan available for $15.
Top Grammarly alternatives
Grammarly may be the most popular writing aid, but these 7 similar tools can help take your writing to the next level.
1) ProWritingAid (most similar to Grammarly)
Screenshot from ProWritingAidFeatures
Like Grammarly, ProWritingAid offers free, premium, and business versions. Users at any level can get ProWritingAid’s writing reports through the web app or browser extension. Full access to the desktop app, Google Docs or MS Office plugin is only available to premium users.
ProWritingAid’s most prominent feature is its wide range of reports. Users can check their work’s spelling and grammar, but also see overused words, echoes, synonyms, structure, length, transitions, readability, and much more.
Pricing
ProWritingAid has a freemium pricing model. Their free model includes online access to all reports. Their premium plan costs $20/month, $79/year, or $399 for a lifetime license.
ProWritingAid also has a business plan, which is $6/mo for one user or $8/mo per user. They also offer custom plans for enterprise customers.
Best for
ProWritingAid is often recommended for authors and professional writers. While it’s not quite as versatile as Grammarly, its detailed reports give users much more to consider.
2) Hemingway (best Grammarly alternative for pro writers)
Screenshot from HemingwayFeatures
Hemingway cuts out many of the bells and whistles found in its competitors. Instead, it comes in two forms: a simple, clean online text editor, and an equally helpful desktop app.
The beautifully designed web app lets you paste, write, and check text, with style suggestions to help you improve your writing. Unlike Grammarly, Hemingway is built for writers who already know their way around grammar. Rather than correcting spelling mistakes, it provides suggestions for simplifying, expanding, or making your text easier to read.
The desktop app also lets you post your text directly to your Medium or WordPress site. You can save your work as a .docx, .pdf, .txt, or several other formats.
Pricing
Unlike many Grammarly alternatives, Hemingway doesn’t work on a SaaS model. Rather than paying a subscription fee to use the service, Hemingway has two simple modes. The web app is limited but completely free. The desktop app, available for Mac or Windows, offers additional features for a one-time payment of $19.99.
Best for
Relative to Grammarly, Hemingway’s biggest disadvantage is its lack of spelling and grammar checks. You should only use Hemingway if you’re already fairly confident in your spelling and grammar. If you’re unsure, you’ll have to use it in tandem with Grammarly or one of its alternatives.
Still, Hemingway can be helpful for experienced writers. If you know you can write, Hemingway has some of the best insights available for improving your writing. The instructions on passive voice and hard-to-read sentences make it a perfect tool for writing pros.
3) PaperRater (best Grammarly alternative for students)
Screenshot from PaperRaterFeatures
If you need a free proofreading service, one of the best Grammarly alternatives on the market is PaperRater. You can check up to 50 papers per month, up to 5 pages apiece, for free. They also offer plagiarism detection, feedback, and scoring.
One unique feature of PaperRater is the ability to upload files. Grammarly and other writing aids often ask you to copy and paste your text.
Pricing
You can use PaperRater’s grammar check and scoring tools for free. Their premium tier, which runs $14.95/mo or $95.40/yr, has additional features. It’s still online-only, but it comes with enhanced grammar and plagiarism checks and the ability to upload files. Premium users can submit up to 20 pages at a time and 200 submissions per month.
Best for
PaperRater is clearly geared towards students looking for essay help. Its free online use makes it perfect for high school students needing a last-minute check before they hand their assignments in. For more heavy-duty workloads, college students can upload files and check up to 20 pages at a time with the paid version.
4) WhiteSmoke (best alternative for business writers)
Screenshot from WhitesmokeFeatures
WhiteSmoke eschews the free tools that Grammarly offers, instead focusing on being a fully-integrated web and desktop tool. On top of spelling, grammar, and style checks, they also check for plagiarism and offer translation into over 50 languages.
WhiteSmoke is compatible with browsers including Safari, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera. Their desktop app is currently only offered for Windows, but a Mac version is on the way.
Pricing
Unlike many competitors, WhiteSmoke has no free version. Pricing starts at $5/mo for the web version (or $3.47/mo on a 3-year plan). The premium version, including desktop and further integrations, is $6.66 billed yearly or $5.55 for 3 years. The business version is $11.50/mo for three licenses ($8.82/mo on a 3-year plan).
Best for
With its lack of a free plan, WhiteSmoke is most useful for professional content and business writers. Its translation and plagiarism tools are most helpful for writing copy for blogs, social media, etc. As mentioned above, it’s currently only available for Windows users.
5) Reverso (best Grammarly alternative for ESL)
Screenshot from ReversoFeatures
Reverso’s grammar checker tool is not unlike Ginger, complete with a “Rephrase” button. The difference is that it’s part of a suite of other language tools, including a translator, a thesaurus, and a conjugation guide.
Reverso’s tools are available online, but also as a Mac, Windows, iOS, or Android app. Premium users get access to the Reverso Context browser extension, which offers automatic translation for sites and even subtitles.
Pricing
Many of Reverso’s tools available online or through their apps are free. Their premium version comes with the use of the browser extension, no ads, and the ability to check longer texts. Premium pricing starts at $5.99/mo billed annually or $10.99/mo billed monthly. They also offer corporate solutions.
Best for
With a focus on translation, Reverso’s grammar checker is best for people who speak English as a second language. While its translating tools empower people learning any language, the grammar checker is currently only available in English and French. Other tools, like the synonym and conjugation search, support more languages.
6) Sapling (best alternative for customer support)
Screenshot from SaplingFeatures
In addition to spelling and grammar suggestions, Sapling offers several AI tools for automating messages. Unlike other Grammarly alternatives, Sapling has an autocomplete tool for writing messages on any site. It also recommends responses for messages and lets you keep a bank of stock messages to send.
Sapling is available as an extension for Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Edge, or Brave. It also offers integration with MS Office or Google Docs. Free users can access it on email and networking sites, while premium users can use it for customer support, sales engagement, or rich-text editing.
Pricing
Free users get unlimited access to Sapling’s suggestion tool, but not their other services. Their $25/mo Pro plan includes all their features except for Chat Suggest, and a much wider range of integrations. Enterprise users get advanced features and security options.
Best for
Sapling’s tools are geared toward marketing and customer support teams. While it’s a fairly robust free Grammarly alternative, its most impressive features are premium tools that Grammarly doesn’t even offer. Still, as far as free grammar checkers go, it’s a bit of a hidden gem.
7) Ginger (best Grammarly alternative for education)
Screenshot from GingerFeatures
While it also offers suggestions, Ginger mostly functions like Grammarly’s “Grammar Check” page. Free users can paste up to 300 characters at a time (600 if they sign up, 900 in the desktop app) and get simple spelling and grammar suggestions for free.
Premium users get unlimited access to Ginger’s services, including their MS Office extension. They also get limitless use of the Rephrase tool, perhaps Ginger’s most useful feature. This tool provides suggestions for rewriting entire sentences or paragraphs.
Pricing
Ginger’s premium version starts at $7.49/month. Unlike Grammarly and other competitors, they have a 7-day money-back guarantee. They also have business solutions starting at $9.99/month per user. Students and teachers can get a 70% discount on Ginger premium.
Best for
With discounts and custom plans available for education, Ginger is most useful for teachers and students. It doesn’t have all of Grammarly’s features, but its suggestions are great for learning and the Rephrase tool can be helpful for essay writing.
