Ever notice how your self-editing skills seem sharpest after your piece goes live? Your computer's word processor catches most misspellings and punctuation errors, but does it know that you meant "their" instead of "they're"? You don't have the budget for a full-time copy editor, and your spouse/coworkers/friends are sick of proofing your work. Wouldn't it be nice if your computer could clean up your writing automatically? 

Well, some SaaS companies claim to do just that. Grammarly is an app that markets itself as a "writing assistant [that] supports clean, mistake-free writing while offering suggestions that go way beyond grammar." Unfortunately, computer editing apps don't yet have the intuition of a real-life human reader — but some can be surprisingly helpful. In this review, we'll take a look at Grammarly, covering:

• What to Consider Before You Purchase Editing Software
• What Is The Grammarly App? Pros and Cons
• Grammarly App Features and Benefits
• Grammarly App User Reviews
• Grammarly App Pricing
• Alternatives to Grammarly App

What to Consider Before You Purchase Editing Software

Choosing copyediting software is like shopping the medication aisle at the grocery store. They're all useful in their way, but they're not all that you need. If you want to end up with the right editing help, you'll have to consider several factors, such as budget, platform, and content type. Most importantly, you need to know where your writing is weakest.

You might want the Rolls Royce of editing software, but it'll cost you. Writing enthusiasm is high, but funds are low? Some editing apps offer feature-limited but free versions. Patchworking several of them together might cover the basics. Keep in mind that you'll lose out on special features and convenience. Alternatively, the time saved by paying for a premium service might make it worth opening your wallet. After all, time is money.

Look for a company that integrates seamlessly with your word processor of choice. Some software might edit your work wherever you write, while others require you to copy-paste or write directly on their site. If you're not married to your word processor, being open to a change may improve your prospects or pricing. You might even be able to do more work on a tablet or smartphone if the right editing software integrates to save you from embarrassing typos.

An article of this length will need a different sort of editing than, say, a social media caption or a technical bibliography. Skip anything that doesn't fit with where you publish most of your copy. Some formats- like Twitter- expect you to bend writing rules, so the last thing you'll want is software nagging you about grammar. In that case, focus on spelling and SEO. Alternatively, if you're writing research papers, look for software with a meticulous citation checker.

Above all, know your writing well enough to pinpoint where you need support. Are you prone to run-on sentences? Do you wish someone would just rephrase your words for clarity? You'd be surprised what some of these editing apps can do for you- but none of them do it all. Like the medication aisle, start with your symptoms and go from there.

What is the Grammarly App?  

The Grammarly team describes their app as a "writing assistant" and says their mission is to "support clear and effective communication." Founded in 2009, Grammarly offers a broad assortment of writing support features, from punctuation checking to feedback on reading level and tone. They've spent the past 12 years integrating with the most popular word processors, including Microsoft Word and Google Chrome (still in beta). Users can also type directly into Grammarly's word processing program, which will save in their account for future access.

In terms of format, Grammarly's interface appears to the right of your text with a list of suggestions. Suggestions are color-coded according to four categories: correctness, clarity, engagement, or delivery. For feedback of a more targeted nature, you can clarify your goals- is the audience general or expert? Is your intention to inform or convince? Grammarly claims that providing this information can help them tailor your writing suggestions.

Grammarly Pros

• Integrates with most word processors (as well as internet textboxes)
• Provides multiple categories of writing support
• Automatically makes accepted changes
• On-site text input with document save
• Desktop app
• Chrome plugin
• Free version available

Grammarly Cons

• The full version is expensive compared to other editing software
• Google Documents plugin can be buggy (it's still in beta)
• It doesn't replace a human editor- not all suggestions make sense
• Requires internet access

Grammarly Features and Benefits

Broad Spectrum Feedback

Grammarly's suggestions fall under one of four categories, each color-coded so you can easily choose which ones to focus on.

Correctness

"Correctness" is Grammarly's spell-check on steroids. Suggestions in the correctness category will ask you to review spelling and punctuation errors, as well as basic grammar mistakes.

Clarity

Grammarly says their clarity suggestion category "helps make your writing easier to understand." These suggestions include higher-level grammatical errors such as unclear antecedents and wordiness. My favorite is when Grammarly will automatically modify a sentence for clarity, allowing me to replace the original with a click. Granted, English is a tricky language, and the computer-generated suggestions don't always make more sense than my original. Nevertheless, my writing (and my readers) have often benefited from these AI-generated rewrites.

Engagement

According to Grammarly, engagement suggestions "help make your writing more interesting and effective." These suggestions often point out repetitive words and sentence length. It will also offer alternatives to weak adjectives, such as "nice" or "bad."

Delivery

Grammarly explains its delivery category by saying that it "helps you make the right impression on your reader." The feature flags language that your reader may perceive as impolite, harsh, or unconfident. It also reviews debatable grammatical usage, such as ending a sentence on a preposition. For example, Grammarly wanted to know if I wanted to rewrite my introduction to this section. It said, "Some readers may object to a preposition such as on at the end of a sentence. Consider rewording the sentence if your readers are likely to object."

Grammarly User Reviews

"It's very easy to make mistakes with the intricacies of English, and Grammarly picks up a lot (though not all) of them… If you want to provide an extra layer of checks to your writing, or you want to improve your writing by becoming more aware of frequent issues that weaken it, Grammarly is well worth getting." —Brendan Brown, Geediting.com

"It costs a lot, but real-time spelling and grammar checker Grammarly is an excellent tool for improving your writing (pretty much) everywhere." —Ben Moore, PCMag.com

"Although it's far from perfect, Grammarly has a solid place in the professional Author's arsenal. It offers a ton of useful features in a simple, clean interface, and it's the smartest proofreading AI by far when it comes to writing skills." —Tucker Max, Scribemedia.com

Grammarly Pricing

If you want to take the plunge and get Grammarly's premium version, you can save money by purchasing an entire year. At the time of this article, Grammarly Premium costs writers $30/month, while you can pay just $144 for a year's subscription.

Grammarly Alternatives

Hemingway

The Hemingway app's namesake was famous for its concise, direct writing style. The app specializes in helping writers cut down wordiness and sentence length, claiming to help you make your writing "bold and clear." When your sentences are difficult to read, Hemingway highlights them in yellow or red to let you know. Hemingway is available free online by cutting and pasting your work into their website. If you want a desktop app, you can download it for a one-time fee of $19.99.

ProWriting Aid

ProWriting Aid is one of the software programs most similar to Grammarly. The service allows you to run reports on your writing, identifying problems such as overused words and poor sentence structure. ProWriting Aid's free version allows you to edit up to 500 words at a time. If you'd like unlimited access, they charge $80-$90 per year. 

Wordtune

As a third competitor to Grammarly, I chose Wordtune above other, more similar apps. As I mentioned, the rephrasing function in Grammarly is my favorite. Wordtune specializes in sentence rephrasing. Their full version costs $112/year (discounted from $25/month) and also offers tone feedback and helps to shorten or lengthen your work.

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Published by Ciara Antolini on Monday, February 7, 2022 in Marketing Agencies, Tool Review, Tools Reviews.