As good of a writer you can be, errors are unavoidable. Sometimes, the best way to do it is with a little assistant like Grammarly to get your message across error-free. No matter how interesting your ideas are, if you deliver them with red highlights, your readers will never appreciate the beauty and comprehend the key points of your work. The worst-case? It sends them a signal to not ever read any of your works again. So what should you do if you next? You install Grammarly.
Okay, so you’ve installed Grammarly and you’re actively using it. The problem is, the software doesn’t meet your expectations when it comes to editing and correcting your errors. Also, it requires a monthly subscription fee to access its premium features.
If Grammarly isn’t up on your alley, don’t worry. We got you covered. In this article, we’ll discuss the best free Grammarly alternatives to help you write awesome content free of grammatical errors.
What Is Grammarly?
If you’ve been writing for a long time, you’re probably familiar with Grammarly. In fact, it needs no introduction since it’s a widespread tool for writers. However, if this is your first time hearing about it, here’s a quick overview of the software.
Developed by Ukrainians Alex Shevchenko and Max Lytvyn in 2009, Grammarly is a digital writing assistant that helps users in writing error-free and grammatically-correct sentences.
It has many features geared towards editing and proofreading all sorts of documents, be it an email to your boss or an essay for your English subject.
Why Is Grammarly Useful?
Let’s face it, committing errors is inevitable while writing. The process of weaving all of your thoughts and researches into a coherent and flawless article involves a lot of mental exercises, considering you have a tight deadline to meet. While it’s easier to spot spelling and punctuation errors at first glance, there are more critical grammatical errors that we need to be aware of. Those include passive voice construction, inappropriate word choices, long-winded sentences, and more.
This is where Grammarly enters the picture. Whether you’re a student or a professional in a business environment, this writing software has all the functionalities to aid you in producing the best content like no other. It basically highlights your mistakes and provides possible changes to increase the readability of your piece.
Grammarly Free vs. Premium
Is Grammarly free? The answer is both yes and no. Grammarly offers two tiers: Free and Premium. Here’s a comprehensive table showing the difference between the two plans.
| FEATURES | FREE | PREMIUM |
|---|---|---|
| Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vocabulary-Enhancement Suggestions | ✕ | ✓ |
| Conciseness | ✕ | ✓ |
| Tone & Style Detection | ✕ | ✓ |
| Inclusive Language Checker | ✕ | ✓ |
| Plagiarism Checker | ✕ | ✓ |
| Advanced Grammar Suggestions (e.g. parallelism, word order error, passive voice, intricate text, and colloquial usage alerts) | ✕ | ✓ |
| Microsoft Word & Outlook Integration | Basic Assistance Only | ✓ |
| Google Docs Support | ✓ | |
| Browser Extensions | ✓ | |
| Desktop App | ✓ | |
| Keyboard for Android & iOS | ✓ |
The free version of Grammarly has limited writing assistance. It’s available on several applications such as MS Word, MS Outlook, and Google Docs. However, it only renders basic functionalities such as checking your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
If you want to access advanced features including word choice suggestions and plagiarism check, you need to avail of the Grammarly Premium plan, which costs $29.95 per month. The quarterly option costs $19.98 per month or $59.95 as a one-time payment while the whole year costs $11.66 per month or $139.95 if paid upfront.
12 Best Free Alternatives to Grammarly Writing Assistant
Is Grammarly not working out for you? Here are some of the best Grammarly alternatives you can use to spice up your documents.
1. ProWritingAid
Integrates With: MS Word | Google Docs | Scrivener | Several browsers as an extension
App Compatibility: Windows | Mac
Price: Free | $20/month | $79/year | $299 for Life-time access (one-time payment)
The first words that flow out of your system may not always be of proper grammar. That’s okay, that’s how writing works. Of course, writing requires a basic knowledge of grammar in order to produce a worthy article. However, you don’t have to be a 100% grammar guru to compose a persuasive essay or an inspiring blog post. All you need is ProWritingAid.
As one of the best alternatives on the list, ProWritingAid works similarly to Grammarly. It’s a powerful editing suite that offers a wide range of proofreading and editing solutions to help you brush up the grammar and writing style of your document.
ProWritingAid helps you with:
- Spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors
- Inappropriate word choice
- Intricate text
- Dangling words or phrases
- Passive voice misuse
- Lengthy sentences
- Overall readability of your content
This writing assistant is pretty easy to use. You can install it on your web browser or download the desktop app to edit with great ease. As you write, ProWritingAid underlines your spelling errors in red, grammar lapses in blue, and style inaccuracies in yellow. You can hover your cursor over the highlighted text, and it reveals alterations to correct the issue. You may implement, ignore, or simply “add to dictionary” a specific word.
What you’ll love about ProWritingAid is that it provides a list of reports. It provides detailed information about your document’s word count, readability, overused words, spelling errors, sentence variance, etc.
Download on Chrome
Download on MS Word
2. Ginger
Integrates With: Chrome | Safari
App Compatibility: Windows | Mac | Android | iOS
Price: Free | $29.96/month | $19.98/month for quarterly option | $12.48/month for one-year subscription if paid upfront
As one of the longest-running writing assistant on the internet, Ginger has a solid reputation under its belt. The software is designed with smart algorithms developed by experienced coders and linguists. Hence, text corrections are more accurate compared to others on this list since the context of the sentence is carefully examined before the app suggests possible changes.
When it comes to editing and proofreading your text, Ginger makes sure that your output becomes free of all kinds of errors. Here are some of its functions:
- Checks grammar, spelling, and punctuation
- Rephrases poorly constructed sentences to enhance clarity
- Provides better word choice
- Analyzes errors and provides a reliable report for improvement reference
Apart from these features, Ginger also translates your text to over 60 languages. Plus, it lets you practice on your text and mistakes by giving access to its learning resources, so you can improve your English skills as well as monitor your progress along the way.
Download on Chrome
Download on Windows
3. LanguageTool
Integrates With: Chrome | Firefox | MS Word | Libre Office | Google Docs | Others
App Compatibility: Windows | Mac
Price: Free | $19/month | $13/month for quarterly subscription| $4.92/month for annual subscription if paid upfront
LanguageTool is another brilliant Grammarly alternative to help you proofread your work. It’s a free and open-source grammar checker with a considerable amount of helpful features available for download.
Here are several reasons why you should download the software:
- It has a clean and user-friendly interface
- It translates your text to over 20 languages
- The grammar checker is accurate
- You can instantly gain answers to your questions using its forum
Just like any freemium software, LanguageTool’s free version comes with limitations. You can only get a basic grammar checking service with 20,000 characters per check. Upgrading to the premium version entitles you to advanced features such as software integration to various platforms with 40,000 characters limit per check.
Download on Chrome
Download on MS Word
4. Slick Write
Integrates With: Chrome | Firefox
Price: Free
If you’re a blogger, novelist, SEO professional, or student, you should definitely check out Slick Write. It’s a robust writing assistant that automatically detects your grammar and spelling errors and corrects them to improve your grades or increase your audience engagement.
Slick Write is a free online corrector tool. Unlike Grammarly, you don’t have to download and install any software. All of the action takes place within your browser so all you have to do is to add it as an extension and you’re good to go. The best part? You won’t be paying a single dime to use the software since it’s completely free.
Some of Slick Write’s features include:
- Lightning-fast grammar checker
- Personalized feedback to match your style
- Privacy and security of your documents
- Creating reports and adding impact
Download on Chrome
Download on Firefox
5. Reverso
Integrates With: Chrome
App Compatibility: Android | iOS
Price: Free
If you’re looking for a reliable alternative to Grammarly with strong digital translation and language services, look no further than Reverso. It’s a popular tool for non-native speakers aiming to convert their foreign language text into other languages in a precise manner. It’s easy to use and it’s pretty straightforward. It’s perfect for beginners and professionals alike.
Some of its features include:
- Neural Machine Translation (NMT) technology to increase fluency and accuracy of translated texts
- Built-in thesaurus to widen your vocabulary
- Support for over 12 languages
- Straightforward interface
6. Hemingway
Integrates With: WordPress | Medium
App Compatibility: Windows | Mac
Price: Free for Hemingway Online Editor | $19.99 for the Hemingway app (one-time payment)
Hemingway is another reputable paragraph checker and sentence corrector useful for students and professional employees. It accurately scans your document, highlights your errors, and offers corresponding feedback.
The software has two kinds: Online Hemingway Editor and the Hemingway app. What’s the difference between Grammarly and this alternative? The former is completely free while the latter requires a one-time payment to download and access the features. The best part? You can use the app even without an internet connection.
When using Hemingway, you can:
- Format your document using various formatting tools
- Receive report analysis of your document’s grammar level
- Improve the readability of your content
- Monitor the number of your adverbs and passive voice use
- And many more
Download on Windows
Download on Mac
7. PaperRater
App Compatibility: Web-based only
Price: Free | $11.29/month or $71.55/year for Premium
PaperRater is another powerful addition to our list of Grammarly alternatives. It’s a free online grammar checker that employs top-of-the-line artificial intelligence to improve your content. When you visit the website, you’ll be greeted with a clean and simple interface that’s easy to navigate even for non-techies.
Its features include:
- Accurate grammar, spelling, and punctuation checker
- Plagiarism detection
- Automated essay-scoring system
- Vocabulary builder tool
Note that you can only use PaperRater on its website. No browser add-on or software download to access the service.
8. AutoCrit
App Compatibility: Web-based | Windows | Mac
Price: Free | $30/month for Professional | $297/year for Annual Professional
If you’re a novelist and looking for a strong writing assistant to analyze your prose, AutoCrit is a good option. It’s an impressive alternative if you don’t have the resources to pool personal inputs on your draft.
The service works as a substitute for an in-person close reading. It helps you detect issues with your word choice, repetition, pacing, and others, and provides excellent feedback on how to improve your WIP.
Here are its features:
- Renders an in-depth analysis of your content
- Provides a summary report to show which parts need improvement
- Analyzes your work according to the genre and compares it to similar works
- Identifies issues with your grammar, readability, pacing, and momentum
- Lets you edit your work by chapters
9. Writefull
Integrates With: Chrome
App Compatibility: Windows | Mac | Linux
Price: Free
When thinking about the best free alternatives to Grammarly, Writefull comes to mind. It’s a free and open-source tool that provides comprehensive feedback about your writing, whether you’re a researcher or a publisher.
Writefull utilizes language models with the latest techniques in artificial intelligence to aid your content in the best way. The software’s system is geared towards science and academic writing to ensure that you’ll receive the best evaluation upon usage.
Some of its features include:
- Word suggestions to boost your writing
- Translation in the English language
- Pronunciation guide for a word or a phrase
- Integration into your website or publishing platform
- Monitoring your word usage
- Comparison of two phrases used in different contexts
Download on Windows
Download on Mac
10. Online Correction
App Compatibility: Web-based | Windows | Mac | Linux
Price: Free
Proofreading your work can be taxing, especially if you have a tight schedule. So, one of the smartest ways to do the activity is to use an online language tool. Online Correction, for instance.
Online Correction is a free online grammar tool used by many people from all walks of life. Though it might not work similarly as Grammarly, it still one of the best alternatives available today. It finds and highlights all kinds of errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, style, and others. After this, it provides a list of suggestions to improve your content.
The service is designed using a number of language programs such as Hunspell, DICTION, and LanguageTool.
11. Grammar Check
App Compatibility: Web-based | Windows | Mac | Linux
Price: Free
Grammar Check is another free online grammar tool used by students and professionals. Though it might not have the best interface like Grammarly, it’s still one of the best alternatives that do a decent job. It boasts a clean and simple interface, with useful features to help you improve your content. To use, you can either copy and paste your text or type directly into the given dialog box on its official website.
Grammar Check helps you with:
- Basic grammar and spelling checking
- Tone and style improvement
- Advanced checking of errors using Deep Check
12. After the Deadline
App Compatibility: Web-based | Windows | Mac
Price: Free
After the Deadline makes it into our list of the best free Grammarly alternatives. Just like any online grammar tool, the service makes use of state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology to help you detect grammatical, spelling, and style issues in your content.
A notable feature of After the Deadline is that it doesn’t only correct your writing errors, but it also provides well-rounded explanations for them. This way, you can keep the rules in mind so when you type next time, you can prevent making such mistakes.
Here are the laudable components of After the Deadline:
- Contextual spelling checking
- Innovative style, grammar, and punctuation checking
- Misused words scanning
Download on Chrome
Download on Firefox
Final Word
Don’t just rely on “glancing-proofreading” when polishing your work. It’s best to use a writing assistant that will bing your content beyond extremes. Choose one or two from our list of the best free Grammarly alternatives, and we assure you, you’ll produce an impeccable content that’s worthy to be read by anyone in the world.
