Best AI Grammar Checkers Beyond Grammarly
Grammarly is not the only option. We tested five AI grammar checkers on real writing to see which catch more, cost less, and stay out of your way.
Eddie Ochieng
June 23, 2026
Grammarly earned its name fairly. It is polished, it is everywhere, and for most people it is the first grammar tool they ever install. But it is far from the only good one, and in a few areas it is no longer the best. Some rivals catch mistakes it misses, some cost a fraction of the price, and some are simply less pushy about rewriting your voice into something blander.
We ran the same set of messy paragraphs, a marketing email, and a long report through five of the strongest alternatives. Here is how they actually performed, what each one is best at, and which we would pay for.
How we judged
We graded on four things. How many real errors each tool caught, how often it flagged things that were fine, how good its rewrite suggestions were, and what it costs once the trial ends. Free tiers were tested as a free user would see them.
ProWritingAid
ProWritingAid is the tool serious writers quietly switch to. Where Grammarly nudges, ProWritingAid teaches. Its reports break your writing down by readability, overused words, sentence length variety, and pacing, which is the sort of feedback that actually changes how you write over time. The AI rephrase feature, Sparks, is genuinely useful for tightening clunky sentences.
It is a little slower and the interface is busier than Grammarly. That is the trade for depth. For anyone writing long form work, books, reports, or detailed articles, this is the one we reach for.
+ Pros
- + Deepest reports of any tool here
- + Strong AI rephrasing
- + Affordable lifetime option
- + Works in most editors
– Cons
- – Busier interface
- – Slower on very long documents
LanguageTool
LanguageTool is the value pick and the privacy pick. It checks spelling and grammar across more than thirty languages, which none of the others come close to, and it offers a self hosted option for teams that do not want their text leaving their own servers. The free tier is generous and the premium price is the lowest in this roundup.
Its rewrite suggestions are less ambitious than ProWritingAid or Wordtune, so if you want a tool that reshapes whole sentences, look elsewhere. As a fast, accurate, multilingual checker that respects your data, it is hard to beat.
QuillBot
QuillBot started as a paraphraser and grew a grammar checker around it. That heritage shows. Its standout feature is rewriting, with several tone modes that range from formal to casual, and it does this better than almost anyone. Students and non native speakers love it for turning rough drafts into clean prose.
Treat the paraphraser as an assistant, not an autopilot. Lean on it too hard and your writing starts to sound like everyone else who leans on it too hard. Used with judgement, it is excellent.
Hemingway Editor Plus
Hemingway does one thing and does it loudly. It highlights long sentences, passive voice, and needless adverbs, pushing you toward short, punchy prose. The Plus tier adds AI rewrites that fix the very problems it flags. It will not catch subtle grammar errors the way the others do, so it is a style coach rather than a proofreader.
We keep it open as a final pass. Run a finished draft through it and you will almost always cut a third of the fat.
Wordtune
Wordtune is the rewriting specialist. Highlight a sentence and it offers a handful of alternative phrasings, shorter, longer, more formal, more casual, that genuinely read like a thoughtful human wrote them. For emails and short business writing where tone matters more than depth, it is a delight.
As a pure grammar checker it is thinner than ProWritingAid or LanguageTool, so think of it as a polishing layer rather than a full proofreading suite.
| Tool | Price | Best for | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| ProWritingAid | Free tier, premium from about $10/mo | Long form and serious writers | 4.5/5 |
| LanguageTool | Free tier, premium from about $5/mo | Value and multilingual writing | 4.0/5 |
| QuillBot | Free tier, premium from about $10/mo | Paraphrasing and students | 4.0/5 |
| Hemingway Plus | About $10/mo or one off desktop app | Cutting clutter and style | 3.5/5 |
| Wordtune | Free tier, plus from about $10/mo | Tone and rewriting emails | 4.0/5 |
The catch
No grammar checker is right every time. They still miss tone problems, factual errors, and the occasional confident wrong suggestion. Accept the fixes you agree with and ignore the rest. The tool is the assistant, you are the editor.
FAQ
Are these better than Grammarly?+
In places, yes. ProWritingAid gives deeper feedback, LanguageTool is cheaper and multilingual, and QuillBot paraphrases better. Grammarly is still the smoothest all rounder, so the best choice depends on what you write most.
Do any have a free version?+
ProWritingAid, LanguageTool, QuillBot, and Wordtune all have free tiers. The free versions cap how much you can check or rewrite, but they are enough to test each tool properly.
Will they work in Google Docs and email?+
Most offer browser extensions or add ons that work in Google Docs, Gmail, and common editors. LanguageTool and ProWritingAid have the widest integration coverage.
Is my writing kept private?+
LanguageTool is the strongest on privacy and offers a self hosted option. If confidentiality matters, check each tool current data policy before pasting in sensitive text.
If most of your writing is email, our guide to the best AI tools for email writing and responses pairs well with a good checker. And when the words will not come at all, here is how AI can help with writer’s block.
