Grammarly alternatives
any good alternatives for Grammarly? i'm trying to find something less ethically dubious
What I need:
spell check, great if it would find the right word within context and/or let me know if i left some Polish words in it
grammar check, that can occasionally point out that this is not how you write in English
interpunction check is optional
character limit that is not a joke
doesn't steal content
i can't pay for it :( or maybe very little (it's for occasional use. and fics, also occasional)
is not openly based solely on AI
comparison so far:
Reverso (and Ginger) - 300/450/900 limit :( does not do context corrections. doesn't seem to store or steal content [still, 2/10]
Linguix - does context corrections only occasionally; i don't agree with some of the suggestions; it flags Polish words but only if they have Polish diacritics (which is a plus, even if it suggests to just remove the letters; Grammarly usually ignores those words entirely); might remove my content but doesn't give itself open permission to steal it. we'll see what will be left after "free trial" expires [5/10]
Hemingway - their Terms of Service ban use for a lot of material (the definition of "indecent" might be quite broad, same with "content that expresses or promotes hate, harassment, or violence" etc.) and the "grant, us a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual license to access, use, process, copy, distribute, perform, export and display User Content (i) to improve the Platform and (ii) in an anonymized manner." paired with "everything touched by AI belongs to AI"(paraphrased) does not sound good. Everything i need is (potenatially) under paid plan :( [2/10 for my needs]
Wordtune - nice, very similar to Grammarly but: "Wordtune generates suggestions by identifying patterns and principles of the strongest writing in human language using hundreds of thousands of body text." soo AI thief. Aaand their Terms of Service grants them right to user content and to sell it third party. [3/10]
ProWritingAid - very clearly states they don't steal your content <3; very good suggestions; flags Polish words (even ones without Polish diacritics); 500 word count limit in free account :( [7/10]
PaperRater - nice character limit; it doesn't do checking live, you need to generate a report so that's bothersome. jfc this Terms of Service. keep away from anything labelled Learneo: Scribbr, Course Hero, Quillbot, Symbolab, LitCharts, LanguageTool, Bartleby. "By uploading or submitting User Content to a Learneo Service, you hereby grant Learneo, its service providers and other users a worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable, sublicensable and transferable license to use, modify, aggregate, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, and otherwise fully exploit the User Content in connection with any Learneo Services. You acknowledge and agree that any User Content that you upload to a Learneo Service may be (a) shared, posted, distributed, or linked on any Learneo Services, and (b) modified, transformed and used by any Learneo Services, for example to train a machine learning algorithm or model, including after your User Account has been deleted or deactivated." Just... wow. [0/10]
LanguageTool. not with those Terms of Service (see the above)
Scribens - only 8000 characters per day limit on free version. no storing or sharing any content! fantastic suggestions, with explanations!!! it not only flags Polish words, it suggests translations <3 ✨ [12/10] ✨
Grammar.com - nice logo, love how they made them for their whole network. finds misspellings but no context errors/suggestions. flags Polish words (even ones without Polish diacritics). "please do not submit your contribution" if you don't want us to steal, reuse, and resell your content [3/10]
GrammarCheck - flags Polish words. didn't do anything else till 3rd refresh? ok suggestions, mostly not based on context. keeps trying to make me get an app/extension aaand the link for that sends you to Grammarly page? you can add all changes (even the incorrect one) with one button. doesn't store or use your content <3 [5/10]
GrammarLookup - no terms of service? apparently a reseller/reuser of WProofreader (which in their terms have that they're using content only to provide service). flags Polish words. basic suggestions, not based on context, insists on changing all "it's" to "it is" etc. deep check sends to second location, blocked as unsafe site. possibly a scam/data aggregation or something. [2/10]
Spellboy - ok basic suggestions, misses some context, flags Polish words. doesn't store or use content but is also based on LanguageTool? nice clean UI [4/10]
Harper - works locally and doesn't steal your content <3 not all suggestions are right and none are based on context. flags Polish words. [4/10]
Virtual Writing Tutor - 500/3000 word limit. stores content up to 1 year, for site development. In "Check Grammar" mode found most errors (missed many based on context), explains why they're wrong, but - it's all listed under the text, so quite inconvenient. flags Polish words. In "Improve Writing" mode seems like it found more errors, flags Polish words and suggests translations (only one wrong) AND suggests changes to make correct English phrases!!! it shows old text and new one under it + step-by-step corrections (awesome for one paragraph, probably inconvenient for anything longer). [8/10]
i'm tired and not looking any further. so it seems ✨Scribens ✨ might be the winner, maybe with Virtual Writing Tutor assistance. we'll see if it will work. if you have anything better let me know
