Best Grammarly Alternatives: Top 16 Free and Paid Options for You

Grammarly is one of the most popular grammar checking tools in the market today. It enhances the quality of written content by identifying and correcting spelling mistakes, grammar errors, plagiarism, and more.

But while Grammarly enjoys widespread popularity, it may not align perfectly with your specific needs.

Curious about the top Grammarly alternatives that could be your next writing companion? Dive into this article where we unveil the top 16 alternatives, breaking down the key differences to guide you toward the one that suits you best. Let the exploration begin!

Top 16 Alternatives to Grammarly (Free and Paid)

1. ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is the ultimate editing platform for creative writers, offering unparalleled features that elevate your storytelling:

• Extensive Suite of Reports: Over 25 detailed reports on key storytelling elements like readability, narrative structure, dialogue, and repeated words, providing a unique editing road map not found in Grammarly or any other grammar tool.

• Real-time Editing: Immediate feedback on grammar, spelling, and style, helping you polish your text as you write, which serves as a Grammarly alternative.

• Text Enhancement: Rewrite text with AI to help you develop and express your ideas clearly. Automatically enhance text for readability, make text shorter or longer, add descriptive detail, or make changes to the structure of your text to improve its flow.

• Author Comparison Feature: A standout tool that analyzes your writing style in comparison to that of famous authors. This not only provides fascinating insights into your narrative voice but also helps identify areas for stylistic development. By understanding the characteristics that define the styles of successful authors, you can refine your own writing to better engage your readers.

• Developmental Critique Feature: A comprehensive story critique powered by advanced AI that simplifies the often-challenging search for a critique partner by providing on-demand developmental feedback on your chapter. It delivers custom feedback on crucial story elements such as plot, characters, setting, and more, pinpointing both strengths and areas for improvement. This ensures your storytelling can evolve constantly, supported by timely and specific guidance to refine your writing craft.

• Wide Integration: Compatible with essential tools for writers, including Scrivener, Final Draft, Windows, Mac, MS Word (Windows & Mac), Google Docs, and web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) via an extension.

• Educational Resources: In-app explanations, articles, videos, and quizzes to not just correct but also teach writing techniques, improving your skills as you edit.

• Pricing and Value: Available at $30/month or $120/year, ProWritingAid offers unparalleled value for creative writers seeking a comprehensive, narrative-focused editing toolkit.

ProWritingAid gives you all the tools you need to edit line by line and for the big picture.

Bottom line: If you care about the craft of writing and want a better alternative to Grammarly, try ProWritingAid for free.

Rated 4.7* on Capterra with 400+ reviews.

2. Hemingway App

Hemingway is a readability checker designed for all kinds of writers. It’s best for people writing shorter documents who want to make their writing easier to read.

If you’re looking for grammar checking, Hemingway isn’t for you. It only helps you simplify complex words and sentences.

Hemingway’s Online Editor can be used for free, but the desktop app costs $19.99.

Hemingway Editor Plus offers AI features that can help improve readability by rewriting sentences. Pricing starts at $10/month or $99.96/year. 

Integrations: Web editor or desktop app only.

Bottom line: Not suitable if you’re looking for grammar checking, but useful for a final clarity check. Its AI features fix readability issues quickly. 

3. PaperRater

PaperRater is a grammar checker designed for students. Both the free and premium versions check for grammar, spelling mistakes, and plagiarism. It also gives you a provisional score for your paper (though this isn’t always reliable).

The spelling, grammar, and punctuation suggestions are limited, and the interface isn’t intuitive—you have to review your suggestions in a list and locate them in your document yourself.

PaperRater offers a Premium version for $14.95/month or $95.40/year. This is more expensive than several of the other checkers on this list that offer more features, cleaner interfaces, and higher accuracy levels.

Integrations: Online version only (works in all browsers).

Bottom line: Other grammar checkers do more for less, though the free version is a practical option for plagiarism checking on a student budget.

4. WhiteSmoke

WhiteSmoke is a grammar checker aimed at nonfiction writers—specifically business or academic writers.

It offers grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style corrections, as well as plagiarism checking and automatic translation.

The interface is pretty basic. While WhiteSmoke offers one-click proofreading, we’ve caught inaccurate suggestions when testing, so you could be adding errors to your work without realizing.

There is no free version or free trial for WhiteSmoke. You have to commit to a yearly or three-year subscription right away.

You can buy either a Web subscription that gives you basic access, or a Premium subscription that also includes a desktop app and one-click instant proofreading.

WhiteSmoke costs $59.95/year for the Web version, $79.95/year for the Premium version, and $137.95/year for a 3-user Business license.

Integrations: Desktop app for Windows, Mac, and a web app for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

Bottom line: Other grammar checkers on this list offer easier editing experiences with more features for less.

5. Ginger

Ginger Software is designed for fiction and nonfiction writers.

The Premium version offers translation into over 40 languages alongside grammar, spelling, and style checking. Ginger also has AI capabilities to rewrite text and includes a text reader, so you can hear your words read aloud.

Ginger works via copy and paste, so you’ll lose all of your formatting when you upload. Its grammar and spelling suggestions aren’t as accurate or sensitive as some of the checkers on this list, and you don’t get much high-level feedback on your writing.

Ginger Premium costs $19.99/month or $149.76/year. They don’t offer a lifetime subscription.

Integrations: Desktop for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, and extensions (Chrome, Safari, Edge)

Bottom line: Competitively priced with useful features in both the Free and Premium versions, but not the most accurate or intuitive grammar checker on this list.

6. Linguix

Linguix is a grammar checker and AI text generator designed for nonfiction writers. It offers spelling, grammar, and style checking, as well as a paraphraser and document storage.

You’ll also see statistics for your document as a whole, including for readability and sentence length. This high-level approach is something Grammarly doesn’t offer.

Like Grammarly, Linguix hides details for their Premium suggestions. You’ll miss out on help with redundancies, confused words, and some prepositions. Readability and structural insights are also hidden from Free members.

You can’t upload documents to its editor, so you may lose your formatting when pasting work into the program.

You can get Linguix Premium, which includes the paraphraser, private mode, synonyms, and text expander tool for $15/month or $99/year.

Integrations: Online Editor, Word add-in, extensions (Chrome, Safari, Firefox Edge, Opera, Brave).

Bottom line: A comprehensive, intuitive, and competitively priced alternative to Grammarly for proofreading your work. For deeper content improvements, Linguix falls short.

7. Readable

Readable is a tool that can evaluate the readability of your writing using different tests, such as Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Coleman-Liau Index. 

The tool offers basic grammar and spell checking, but it also flags other issues such as passive voice, clichés, and buzzwords. In addition to documents, Readable can scan entire websites to monitor readability and provide suggestions on how to improve.

Readable costs $8/month for ContentPro, which allows a user to scan documents only. If you’re a business and want to leverage the ability to scan a website, you’ll need to fork out $48/month for CommercePro or $138/month for AgencyPro, which allows you to scan up to three websites.

Integrations: Slack, Dropbox.

Bottom line: The tool is great for assessing readability and also offers grammar checking, but the business plans are pricey.

8. Wordtune

Wordtune is an AI generative tool for business professionals. The tool can correct grammar and spelling, rewrite sentences, automatically generate text, and change the tone of your writing.

It also serves as an AI reading tool that can summarize information on documents to save you time reading.

Although Wordtune is a timesaving tool, its grammar and spell-checking capabilities are not as thorough as other tools available in the market.

The Unlimited version costs $24.99/month or $119.88/year.

Integrations: Online editor, Chrome, MS Word, Edge, desktop app for Windows and Mac.

Bottom line: Wordtune speeds up the writing process, but if you’re looking for a comprehensive tool to check grammar, style, and punctuation, there are better options available. The Free version is also very limited.

9. Reverso

Reverso is a translation tool that offers grammar checking and paraphrasing in English, French, Spanish, and Italian. The tool also allows you to look up synonyms and analogies, and it can provide context to the meaning of words.

The tool is easy to use and focuses on foreign language learners. It doesn't prioritize in-depth professional grammar and style checking.

Reverso Premium is not available to purchase in dollars. It costs €6.49/month or €50.62/year. 

Integrations: Mac, Windows, Chrome, Firefox, MS Office add-on in Windows.

Bottom line: Reverso is primarily a translation tool but also has grammar checking and paraphrasing capabilities.

10. Sapling AI

Sapling AI is aimed at customer-facing teams within businesses. It mainly integrates with customer service platforms such as Freshdesk, Zendesk, LiveChat, and others to help customer support agents deliver error-free communications.

It also offers sentence auto-completion based on common customer service responses, as well as a text expander tool for saving your own most-used phrases and responses.

The Pro plan costs $25/month or $144/year.

Integrations: Chrome and Firefox extensions.

Bottom Line: Best for customer service teams looking for quick proofreading and timesaving tools built specifically for that purpose.

11. LanguageTool

LanguageTool is a grammar checker for individuals and teams writing in multiple languages.

Unlike Grammarly and many of the other checkers on this list, LanguageTool supports grammar checking in over 30 languages. It checks for grammar, spelling, and style issues, as well as incorrect ISBN and IBAN numbers, titles, and name spellings in emails.

The Premium version limits you to editing 150,000 characters (around 30,000 words) at a time. This means that LanguageTool isn’t suitable for writers wanting to edit long-form content.

The Premium version unlocks all features beyond basic spelling and grammar checking, and it costs $24.90/month, $44.90/quarterly, $69.90/year or $119.80/2 years. Business pricing starts at $132.80/year for two users.

Integrations: Desktop app for Mac, Windows, Microsoft Word, Google Drive, OpenOffice, and LibreOffice.

Bottom line: One of the best grammar checkers for corporate teams working in multiple languages. Less valuable to fiction and content writers.

12. Writer

Writer is a generative AI platform that offers grammar checking capabilities. The tool is specifically for corporate users, like marketing teams, social media agencies, and sales and HR departments.

It offers a dedicated style tool, is SOC2- and HIPAA-compliant, and integrates with many common content management systems and sales platforms. You’ll see how your writing scores and can check you’re using your company’s chosen terms.

Writer costs $18/user/month or $162/year for a team of up to five people.

Integrations: Chrome, Google Docs, Figma, Outlook, and MS Word.

Bottom line: An alternative to Grammarly Business with many generative AI features to speed up content creation.

13. Outwrite

Outwrite is designed for short-form content writers.

Outwrite offers spelling and grammar checking, a thesaurus, and writing statistics (including readability and grade level) on their Free plan. With Pro, you get style suggestions, a paraphrasing tool, and passive voice rephrasing.

Unlike some of the other checkers on this list, Outwrite doesn’t offer in-tool explanations for its suggestions to help you understand why you’re making changes. The Free version also hides some suggestions but does include all of Outwrite’s integrations.

Outwrite Pro costs $24.95/month or $119.40/year.

Integrations: MS Word, Google Docs, web app, browser extension, WordPress.

Bottom line: Offers fewer features than some of the cheaper alternatives.

14. Scribens

Scribens is an English grammar checker for all kinds of writers (though it suits short-form writers best).

It offers many of the same grammar, spelling, and style checks as other grammar checkers on this list, but it’s basic and has a less advanced interface. 

The Premium version limits you to 200,000 characters, and the interface gets difficult to use for longer documents.

Scribens is not available to purchase in dollars. It costs €9.90/month, €19.90/3 months, and €49.90/year.

Integrations: MS Office, Windows, Android, Open and LibreOffice, browsers, web app, Google Docs and Google Slides.

Bottom line: Very affordable with grammar checking capabilities, though few extra features.

15. Slick Write

Slick Write is aimed at all kinds of writers, but it only offers grammar and style edits.

You can’t see your suggestions on the editing screen, so you have to flick between your critique and your writing to make changes. Slick Write also doesn’t check spelling errors, so you’ll need to combine editing tools for best results.

Slick Write is free to use.

Integrations: Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, web version for all browsers.

Bottom line: Slick Write only offers basic versions of just a few of the features included in other checkers as standard.

16. Virtual Writing Tutor

Virtual Writing Tutor is a free grammar checker for English as a Second Language (ESL) learners and students.

The editor checks your essay against rubrics to give you scores for different categories and grammar recommendations. You can set your desired paragraph length and see your score for argument strength. These are tools specific to academic writing that Virtual Writing Tutor offers that the other checkers on this list don’t.

The software generates your feedback in a report separate from the editing screen. You’ll need to implement their suggestions in a separate writing program.

Virtual Writing Tutor is free to use. You can edit more words if you sign up for a free account.

Bottom line: Virtual Writing Tutor is useful to see how your document breaks down according to rubrics, but you’ll need to use another grammar checker to edit your content efficiently.

Why Choose a Grammarly Alternative?

Reason 1: Features

Different grammar checkers offer different features, and those features are driven by the focus of the product. Grammarly was originally created by Ukrainian linguists and engineers who, as non-native English speakers, focused on developing a tool primarily aimed at improving grammar, spelling, and punctuation in text. They designed its algorithm to identify and correct grammatical mistakes, enhance vocabulary, and suggest style improvements to make writing clear and effective. While it excels at these tasks, making it a valuable asset for academic, professional, and casual writing, Grammarly's focus on grammar and syntax means it may lack advanced features specifically tailored to the needs of creative writers.

Creative writing often requires more than just grammatical correctness. Features such as pacing analysis, author comparison, genre-specific advice, and assistance with plot structuring are crucial for authors crafting novels, short stories, or scripts. These aspects of writing involve a level of creativity and flexibility with language rules that go beyond the scope of traditional grammar checkers. Creative writers benefit from tools that can offer insights into the artistic elements of writing, such as pacing, tension, and character arcs, which are not the primary focus of Grammarly.

Therefore, while Grammarly is an excellent tool for ensuring error-free and polished text, its utility for creative writers is limited by its lack of features designed to support the creative aspects of writing.

Reason 2: Price

Using the Premium version of Grammarly requires a costly subscription—starting at $144/year. If you’re hesitant to invest that much money in a writing tool, you’re not alone.

Grammarly has a free version, but it’s extremely limited. It doesn’t do much more than simply scan your writing for errors, which is a feature that already comes with many digital word processors, like Microsoft Word.

If budget is an important factor for you, you might prefer a tool that has a more robust free version or a cheaper premium plan.

Reason 3: Learning

If you’re interested in improving your own writing skills, you probably want to use a grammar checking tool that’s conducive toward learning.

For example, you probably don’t want to see a red line telling you your sentence is grammatically incorrect, with hardly any explanation about why it’s incorrect.

Grammarly doesn’t offer in-depth explanations or tutorials. Some other grammar checkers come with educational materials that can help you learn as you go, so you’ll be less likely to make the same mistakes in the future.

Reason 4: Privacy

Many writers worry about their work getting stolen. In the digital age, privacy is something to pay attention to.

Some writing and editing tools save all the work you import without explicitly stating that they won’t use it for their own purposes. You might prefer to use software that promises to protect your privacy so you can have that extra peace of mind. Grammarly’s Terms and Conditions allow them to use your writing to train their algorithms, even if you have the Premium version. This might also include them using it to train things like their own large language models (LLMs), which might then use excerpts of your text for other users.

Conclusion on the Best Grammarly Alternative for Writers

There are a lot of grammar checkers out there, and it’s hard to cut through the noise to find something reliable, convenient, and reasonably priced.

ProWritingAid is the Perfect Alternative to Grammarly for You

We may be biased, but we really do think ProWritingAid is a great alternative to Grammarly. Let's quickly recap what we can do for you. 

• 25+ reports to analyze your writing for elements such as readability, narrative structure, dialogue, and repeated words.

• Real-time suggestions to correct grammar, spelling, and style.

• Text enhancement to help you develop and express your ideas clearly using AI.

• Author comparison to analyze and compare your writing style to that of famous authors. 

• Developmental critique to provide feedback on story elements such as plot, characters, setting, and more.

• Integrations including Scrivener, Final Draft, Google Docs, MS Word, and browser extensions.

• Educational resources to teach writing techniques and improve your skills while you edit.

• Affordable pricing at $120/year.

• Privacy protection so you’ll always retain the rights to your content.

Try our tool for free first to see if it suits your needs, which lets you scan up to 500 words. We’re confident you’ll find value.

Good luck, and happy writing!