7 Best Grammarly Alternatives in 2026

Key takeaways

• LanguageTool is the best Grammarly alternative for most people: it checks more than 30 languages, Premium works in every major browser, Word and Google Docs, and its annual plan costs well under half of Grammarly Pro's.

• ProWritingAid is the pick for fiction and long documents, with manuscript reports, Scrivener support and a one-time lifetime license.

• Harper is free, open source and runs entirely on your computer, so nothing you write leaves your machine, though it's English only and doesn't rewrite.

• Apple Writing Tools proofreads and rewrites for free on newer iPhones, iPads and Macs, mostly on-device.

• Grammarly trains its AI on individual users' text by default unless you switch it off, and Pro costs $30 a month billed monthly.

Why people look for a Grammarly alternative

Grammarly is still a strong checker, but a few changes push people elsewhere. Its parent company renamed itself Superhuman in October 2025 and is building a wider work suite around it, and Pro costs $30 a month billed monthly, or $12 a month billed yearly. The free plan caps AI prompts at 100 a month, and full writing support covers six languages, with basic spelling and grammar checks in about 20 more. For individual users, a setting that lets Grammarly train its AI on your writing is on by default. In March 2026, a class action was filed over its Expert Review feature, which attached real writers' names to AI feedback, after the company had already said it would take the feature down for a redesign.

How we ranked

We looked at how well each tool catches grammar, spelling and style problems, which apps and languages it works in, whether it rewrites with AI, what it does with your text, and price.

The seven tools compared

1. LanguageTool - Best overall and multilingual

LanguageTool is a grammar and style checker from a German company, owned since 2023 by Learneo, which also owns QuillBot.

What works: It checks more than 30 languages, with its main languages English, German, Spanish, French, Dutch and Portuguese. Premium runs as an extension in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari and Opera, inside Word, Google Docs, Pages and LibreOffice, in Gmail, Apple Mail and Thunderbird, and as Windows, Mac and iOS apps. It also checks much longer texts and adds AI rephrasing, and an annual plan costs €59.89, about $5 a month. Its open-source core can be hosted on your own server.

What doesn't: Since early 2026, the browser extension is Premium only, so free users check text on LanguageTool's website, 2,000 characters at a time with three AI rephrasings a day. Prices vary by region and promotion, so check at checkout.

Best for: Anyone who writes in more than one language, or wants Grammarly's coverage for less.

2. ProWritingAid - Best for fiction and long-form

ProWritingAid is a grammar checker and style editor built for long documents.

What works: Its reports flag overused words, pacing, sentence variety and readability across a whole chapter, and paid credits buy critiques of a full manuscript. It works in Word, Google Docs and Scrivener, plus a desktop app and browser extension. Premium costs $10 a month billed yearly, or $30 monthly, and a lifetime Premium license costs $399 once. ProWritingAid says it doesn't use your writing to train its AI.

What doesn't: The free plan runs each report on only 500 words, twice a day. There's no mobile app, and it needs an internet connection.

Best for: Novelists and long-form writers who want deeper style feedback than Grammarly gives.

3. QuillBot - Best for paraphrasing on a budget

QuillBot is a paraphrasing tool with a grammar checker, summarizer and AI detector built in.

What works: Its paraphraser rewrites sentences in several modes, from simple to formal, and works in 23 languages, while its grammar checker covers six. It also has a summarizer, a plagiarism checker and a humanizer, and it runs as a Chrome and Edge extension, a Word add-in, and iOS and Android keyboards. Premium costs $99.95 a year, or $8.33 a month, and monthly prices vary by region.

What doesn't: The free paraphraser handles only 100 words at a time with two modes, and its grammar checking is less thorough than LanguageTool's or Grammarly's.

Best for: Students and writers who mainly want to reword text.

4. DeepL Write - Best for polishing in other languages

DeepL Write is a writing assistant from DeepL, the translation company.

What works: It suggests rewrites for grammar, clarity and tone in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, which suits non-native writers polishing a draft. The editor is free on the web, and the Write Pro add-on costs €6.99 a month per user billed yearly, or comes with DeepL's Business plans. DeepL says Pro texts are deleted after processing and never used to train its models.

What doesn't: It's a rewriting tool more than a line-by-line checker, so it doesn't explain each grammar rule, and it has fewer app integrations than LanguageTool.

Best for: Writers working in a second language.

5. Hemingway Editor - Best for clear, readable writing

Hemingway Editor highlights long sentences, passive voice, adverbs and hard-to-read passages.

What works: The web editor is free and color-codes what to simplify, and Hemingway Editor Plus adds AI suggestions that fix grammar and rewrite tangled sentences, from $8.33 a month billed yearly for 5,000 AI sentences a month. Hemingway says neither it nor its AI providers use your writing to train AI models.

What doesn't: It's built for clarity rather than full grammar checking, and it doesn't work inside other apps the way Grammarly's extension does.

Best for: Bloggers, marketers and anyone who wants plainer, punchier prose.

6. Harper - Best for privacy

Harper is a free, open-source grammar checker maintained by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com.

What works: It runs entirely on your own device, with no cloud requests, no telemetry and no AI model, so your text never leaves your computer, and suggestions appear in under 10 milliseconds. It works in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, as a system-wide macOS app, and in VS Code, Obsidian, Neovim, Zed and WordPress.

What doesn't: It's English only, though it handles US, UK, Canadian, Australian and Indian English, and it doesn't rewrite or change tone.

Best for: Writers who handle sensitive text, and developers who write in code editors.

7. Apple Writing Tools - Best for Apple users

Writing Tools is Apple's built-in proofreading and rewriting feature, part of Apple Intelligence.

What works: It proofreads, rewrites for tone and summarizes in almost any app on a supported iPhone, iPad or Mac, for free, processing on-device first and on Apple's Private Cloud Compute when needed. It covers 16 languages, and the latest releases add automatic proofreading as you type.

What doesn't: It needs an iPhone 15 Pro or later, or a recent iPad or Mac (M1 or newer, plus the iPad mini with A17 Pro and MacBook Neo), and it doesn't explain grammar rules or work on Windows.

Best for: Apple users who want free checking everywhere they type.

Grammarly alternatives to avoid

Wordtune's maker, AI21 Labs, stopped developing it in April 2025 to focus on enterprise products, so it's a risky choice for a long subscription. Microsoft retired the Editor browser extension in October 2025 and moved its proofing into Edge, so it's no longer a standalone option.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free Grammarly alternative?

Harper, if you write in English: it's free, open source and works across your browser and Mac without limits. Apple Writing Tools is free on newer Apple devices, and LanguageTool's website checks more than 30 languages for free, 2,000 characters at a time.

Is LanguageTool better than Grammarly?

For multilingual writers and on price, yes. LanguageTool checks more than 30 languages, while Grammarly fully supports six, and LanguageTool costs less on an annual plan. Grammarly has more AI writing features.

Does Grammarly use your writing to train AI?

For individual users, the setting is on by default, and you can switch it off in your account. On multi-user plans, only admins can change it.

Which Grammarly alternative doesn't store my text?

Harper runs entirely on your device, Apple Writing Tools processes on-device first, and DeepL Write Pro deletes texts after processing. ProWritingAid and Hemingway say they don't train AI on your writing.

Is there a Grammarly alternative for novelists?

ProWritingAid, which reports on pacing, repetition and style across whole chapters and works in Scrivener, with a $399 lifetime license.