Grammarly

Every single student has typed something and wished that they had proofread their work once more. Grammarly works quietly on the side as you are writing and picks up on all of the errors that your own eyes don’t pick up—and no, those are not just silly misspellings; they can also be the awkward construction of a sentence, poor word choice, inappropriate tone, or grammatical errors that you didn’t even know you made. What's the benefit to having a built-in such as Grammarly? It works in your emails, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and pretty much anywhere else you write, so there is no cutting and pasting in and out of different sites. A really great benefit that I often don’t mention is the plagiarism checker, which can search across billions of web pages and other published academic writing. This will be a really useful tool to have on hand if you’re writing a long essay or thesis. As a last-minute life-saver, if you get completely stuck writing a paragraph or want some help phrasing something differently (or even making it sound more sophisticated or professional), the newly developed GrammarlyGO can help rewrite a few sentences for you to get you started. An important note—at times Grammarly does lead you towards very ‘safe’ or ‘professional’ phrasing, so if you do have a specific voice you like to use when you write, be prepared to reject a few recommendations, but other than that, there is really no argument when it comes to how good it is.

• Category: Education
• Pricing: Freemium
• Rating: 4.7 / 5 (0 reviews)
• Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows

Key features

• Real-time grammar and spelling — Catches errors as you type across Google Docs, Word, email, social media and virtually anywhere else you write
• Clarity suggestions — Flags sentences that are technically correct but harder to read than they need to be and suggests cleaner alternatives
• Tone detection — Reads the emotional tone of your writing and tells you whether it comes across as confident, formal, friendly or something else entirely
• Plagiarism checker — Compares your text against billions of web pages and academic sources to flag potential issues before you submit
• GrammarlyGO — Generative AI that rewrites sentences, adjusts tone, helps you brainstorm, and gets you moving when a paragraph stalls
• Full-sentence rewrites — Suggests alternative versions of weak or unclear sentences not just individual word swaps
• Citation consistency checker — Spots inconsistencies in how you format references across a document which matters a lot for academic writing
• Browser extension and desktop app — Follows you everywhere you write without requiring you to copy and paste into a separate platform

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Works inside virtually every platform you already use so there is no friction in your writing workflow
• Catches genuinely subtle errors that most built-in spellcheckers would miss entirely including passive voice overuse and sentence fragments
• Plagiarism detection is particularly valuable for students writing research papers or essays with multiple sources
• Free version is actually useful for everyday writing and does not require a credit card to get started
• GrammarlyGO generative AI features were added to the Pro plan at the same $12 per month price which is good value for what you get

Cons

• Suggestions can push writing toward safe generic phrasing which frustrates writers who have a deliberate creative voice or style
• The plagiarism checker is not considered highly accurate by some users so it is best used as a first check rather than a definitive verdict
• Premium at $12 per month requires annual commitment, the monthly rate of around $30 is steep for occasional use
• Some users have reported difficulty cancelling subscriptions and unexpected renewal charges which is a recurring complaint in user reviews

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