Best Free Grammarly Alternatives — Grammarly Free vs 5 Rivals

The best free Grammarly alternatives are LanguageTool (best all-round free browser checker, especially if you write in more than one language), QuillBot's free grammar checker (no sign-up, unlimited checks), Hemingway Editor (for clearer, shorter sentences), ProWritingAid's free plan (for long-form writers who want deeper reports) and the spell checker already built into Google Docs or Word. But for many people, Grammarly's own free plan is still good enough.

Below we compare Grammarly Free with each alternative feature by feature, show what you actually lose without a paid plan, and help you pick the right tool for how you write. Every limit and price here comes from the tools' own pricing pages, linked at the end.

Grammarly Free vs Pro: what you actually get

Before you switch, it's worth knowing what Grammarly gives away for free. According to its plans page, the free plan includes:

• Spelling and grammar corrections ("write without mistakes")
• Tone detection ("see your writing tone")
• 100 AI prompts per month to generate text

The paid Pro plan is listed at $12 USD (check the plans page for the billing period and your local price). Pro adds:

• Full-sentence rewrites with one click
• Tone adjustments, not just tone detection
• Fluency suggestions for writing in English
• Unlimited personalized suggestions
• Plagiarism and AI-generated-text detection
• 2,000 AI prompts per month

So the real question isn't "is Grammarly free good?" It's "do I need rewrites, plagiarism checks and more AI, or do I just need my typos caught?" If it's the second, a free tool will do. If you want Pro, you can try Grammarly and decide after.

Quick comparison: best free Grammarly alternatives

1. LanguageTool: best free all-rounder

LanguageTool is the closest free match to Grammarly's everyday experience. It runs as a browser add-on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari, and works inside Google Docs and Microsoft Word, plus desktop apps for Windows and macOS.

Why pick it: - It checks English plus more than 30 other languages and dialects, and detects the language automatically. If you write in English and, say, Spanish or German, this is the strongest free choice. - LanguageTool says its browser add-on doesn't store your text, which matters if you check work emails or client documents. - A free account adds a personal dictionary, writing statistics and a "Picky Mode" with extra punctuation, style and typography suggestions.

What Premium adds: more than 20,000 additional checks for several languages, up to 150,000 characters per text field, unlimited AI sentence paraphrasing, and a style guide for custom rules.

Verdict: the best free Grammarly alternative for most people.

2. QuillBot Grammar Checker: best for quick checks

QuillBot's grammar checker is the fastest way to clean up a paragraph: paste text and get corrections with no sign-up required. QuillBot says you can "run unlimited grammar checks at no cost," and it corrects grammar in 6+ languages.

Free plan limits (from QuillBot's premium page): paraphrasing up to 100 words at a time in 2 modes, basic grammar fixes, limited humanizer use and limited access to its AI detector. QuillBot Premium is listed at $8.33 USD per month, billed annually.

Verdict: great as a second opinion or for one-off checks. Less seamless than a browser add-on for all-day writing.

3. Hemingway Editor: best for clarity, not grammar

Hemingway Editor doesn't try to be Grammarly. It helps you write shorter, clearer sentences. Paste your text into the web editor and it color-codes problems:

• Yellow: long, complex sentences you should shorten or split
• Red: sentences so dense readers will get lost
• Purple: words with a simpler alternative
• Blue: adverbs, passive voice and weakening phrases

The paid Hemingway Editor Plus uses AI to fix those highlights and adds grammar, clarity and consistency checks.

Verdict: pair the free Hemingway web editor with LanguageTool or QuillBot. One fixes errors, the other fixes readability. Bloggers and marketers get a lot from this combo.

4. ProWritingAid Free: best for long-form writers

ProWritingAid is built for authors. It offers writing analysis reports covering readability, structure, overused words and more. The catch on the free plan is size: per ProWritingAid's FAQ, "with a free account, you will only receive suggestions for 500 words at a time." Premium removes that limit and is listed at $30.00 per month billed monthly, with cheaper yearly and lifetime options on its pricing page.

Verdict: worth trying if you write books or long reports and want to test its reports, but the 500-word window makes the free plan slow for daily use.

5. Google Docs and Microsoft Word: the free option you already have

Both Google Docs and Word include built-in spelling and grammar checking. They won't match Grammarly or LanguageTool on style or tone, but if you mostly write in one app and just want obvious mistakes caught, they cost nothing and need no extension.

Which free Grammarly alternative should you choose?

Use this quick decision guide:

1. You write in more than one language: LanguageTool.
2. You want something now, no account: QuillBot's grammar checker.
3. Your writing is correct but hard to read: Hemingway Editor, plus a grammar checker.
4. You're writing a book: ProWritingAid (free to test), or LanguageTool for daily checks.
5. You only need typos caught in one app: the built-in checker.
6. You want rewrites, tone changes and plagiarism checks in one place: that's Grammarly Pro territory. Free tools won't fully replace it.

Tip: Don't run two grammar browser extensions at the same time. They can fight over the same text box and slow your browser down. Pick one for everyday use and use the others as paste-in tools.

Can ChatGPT replace Grammarly?

Partly. An AI chat assistant can proofread a paragraph, explain a grammar rule or rewrite a sentence in a different tone, which overlaps with Grammarly Pro's rewrite features. The trade-offs: you have to copy and paste, it may change your meaning or voice, and it doesn't underline mistakes as you type. A good routine is to write with a free checker running, then ask an AI assistant to tighten specific paragraphs you're unsure about. For drafting help rather than proofreading, see our roundup of the best free AI writing tools.

If you publish online, also keep your own voice in the final draft. Heavily smoothed, uniform text can read flat and is more likely to be flagged by AI detectors. We explain why in how AI detectors work.

FAQ

Is there a completely free alternative to Grammarly?

Yes. LanguageTool's free browser add-on, QuillBot's free grammar checker, the Hemingway web editor and the checkers built into Google Docs and Word are all usable without paying. Each has limits compared with paid plans.

Is LanguageTool better than Grammarly?

For multilingual writers, LanguageTool is often the better free choice because it supports English plus more than 30 other languages and dialects. For English-only writers who want full-sentence rewrites and tone changes, Grammarly Pro offers more.

Is Grammarly's free version good enough?

For catching spelling and grammar mistakes and seeing your tone, yes. You miss full-sentence rewrites, tone adjustment, fluency suggestions, plagiarism and AI detection, and you get 100 AI prompts per month instead of 2,000.

Does Grammarly Free check plagiarism?

No. According to Grammarly's plans page, plagiarism and AI-generated text detection are Pro features.

What is the best free Grammarly alternative for students?

LanguageTool for everyday writing, plus Hemingway for clarity. Students should also keep drafts and version history, since grammar tools that heavily rewrite text can make work look less personal.

Conclusion

You don't need to pay to write clean English. LanguageTool is the best free Grammarly alternative for most people, QuillBot is perfect for quick checks, and Hemingway makes your writing easier to read. Upgrade to Grammarly Pro only if you'll really use rewrites, tone changes and plagiarism checks every week.

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Sources

• Grammarly: Plans and pricing
• LanguageTool: Homepage and features
• LanguageTool: Premium
• QuillBot: Free grammar checker
• QuillBot: Premium plans
• Hemingway Editor
• ProWritingAid: Pricing and FAQ