Editing and proofreading are two of the most important aspects of a document. writers often overlook these important steps, but taking the time to revise and check for errors can make all the difference in the quality of your work. There are so many tools on the market, and it can be difficult to choose the right one for your needs. This post compares ProWritingAid and Grammarly, two of the most popular choices.
- What is ProWritingAid?
- What is Grammarly?
- How Do ProWritingAid and Grammarly Work?
- ProWritingAid vs Grammarly: Pricing
- ProWritingAid vs Grammarly: Features
- ProWritingAid vs Grammarly: Customer Service
- The Pros and Cons of Grammarly
- The Pros and Cons of ProWritingAid
- How They Compare in Ease of Use
- References
What is ProWritingAid?
While many people can say they have either used Grammarly themselves or seen the ads across the internet, not many people can say the same about ProWritingAid. So what is it? ProWritingAid is essentially Grammarly's competitor-and a worthy one at that. While they perform many of the same tasks, there are a few important differences that we’ll explore below.
ProWritingAid has proven to be an effective editing program that can improve grammar and writing style in real-time.
With ProWritingAid, you can spot and correct:
- Typographical and grammatical errors
- Poor word choice
- Sentences that are too long, and slow readers down
- Abstract and vague words
- Repeated phrases and words
- Consistency in past and present tense
- Your content's overall readability.
ProWritingAid can also be used in a variety of ways.
You can download ProWritingAid's Desktop App for Windows PC, and it easily integrates with Google Docs, Scrivener, Microsoft Word, and most web browsers. Alternatively, you can upload your documents to its web-based editor.
What is Grammarly?
Grammarly is a proofreading and editing tool for job seekers, writers, and other professionals. It checks for more than 250 kinds of mistakes in:
- Punctuation
- Spelling
- Vocabulary usage, and of course,
- Grammar.
Grammarly goes above and beyond traditional editing tools used in Word or email platforms, as it allows users to choose to edit their work according to six different styles:
- Casual
- Business
- Technical
- General,
- Academic, and
- Creative.
How Do ProWritingAid and Grammarly Work?
How Does Grammarly Work?
Grammarly scores your document based on the number of errors and issues it finds. After that, it walks you through a series of grammatical errors, one by one. For each issue that's identified, the system gives both a short and a long explanation.
In these explanations, examples of proper grammar are provided. In some cases, the system suggests specific wording alternatives as well as misspellings and provides alternate spellings.
There are no mandatory changes in Grammarly-you are free to make any changes you like. If you disagree with the recommended changes, you also have the option of ignoring the possible problems.
Premium users are given the opportunity to identify inadvertent plagiarism using Grammarly's built-in plagiarism checker. The system points out similar texts that exist elsewhere, as well as citations that can be used to legitimize the original text.
Using their synonym checker, users can avoid repetition and opt for optional wording. The software also provides information on what type of mistake you've made, as well as explanations for suggested changes.
For ease of use, users can opt to install the Grammarly plugin in their web browser for use with Google docs, integrate it with their Word processing software (currently WOrd or Scrivener), or simply paste your text into their website’s editing box, After that, simply designate the writing style of the document then select "Start Review".
How Does ProWritingAid Work?
ProWritingAid can be used in three ways:
- You can use ProWritingAid from any device with internet access by visiting the ProWritingAid website.
- Install the browser plugin so that the tool runs in the background whenever you are using your chosen browser.
- Download the desktop app to use the program without having to use a browser, so you can check your writing without the distraction of the internet.
Once you select your method of use, simply:
- Type your text directly into ProWritingAid, or paste it into it.
- Analyze what you have done.
- Understand where you can improve your writing by studying the reports generated
ProWritingAid vs Grammarly: Pricing
How Much Does ProWritingAid Cost?
ProWritingAid Premium and Premium Plus can be purchased as a Monthly, Annual or Lifetime subscription. It's the only editing tool out there to offer a Lifetime subscription, and it's a great deal:
The price for ProWritingAid Premium currently stands at:
- Lifetime: $399
- Annual: $79, and
- Monthly: $20
While for ProWritingAid Premium Plus, you’d be charged:
- Lifetime: $499
- Annual: $89
- Monthly: $24
There are typically sale prices available at different times of the year. Plus, you can change your subscription from Monthly to Annual or from Annual to Lifetime at any time in your account. Upon cancelling your subscription, your license will remain active until its expiration date, at which point your account will be downgraded to a free account.
How Much Does Grammarly Cost?
Grammarly currently has three main account types available. Each of which carries then own range of features and costs associated. The premium version of Grammarly is a tad more affordable in comparison to ProWritingAid, but it has proven itself to be as equally effective.
Their current pricing structure can be seen in the image below:
ProWritingAid vs Grammarly: Features
What Features Are You Given With The Grammarly Free Account?
No matter what you're writing, having incorrect punctuation, grammar errors, or spelling mistakes show up after submitting can be embarrassing. Grammarly's free version can help you catch and fix a slew of these common mistakes. By doing so, you can save time and ensure your credibility while ensuring your writing conveys the right message.
As if this wasn’t enough, the free version of Grammarly also gives you access to the software’s tone detector.
You can use Grammarly's tone detector to make your writing sound just the way you want, whether it's friendly but not too casual with a colleague, or concerned but not angry when you ask for help. By analyzing your words, phrasing, and punctuation, the tone detector enables you to ensure that your writing is conveying exactly what you intend.
Additionally, Grammarly's free plan offers suggestions to tighten loose phrasing.
What Features Are You Given With The Grammarly Premium Account?
You can make your writing more understandable to your readers with Grammarly Premium. The program can help you restructure long sentences to make them more understandable. In addition to all the features included in the free version, the premium account will grant you access to:
Delivery Suggestions
It can also assist you in getting the delivery right. Premium users will see purple underlines that indicate tone adjustments. Using these can help you find a more polite alternative to something that might appear rude.
As part of delivery suggestions, inclusive language is recommended in places where it is appropriate. They can also help you with formality. When addressing a colleague, this feature reminds you to substitute shorthand lingo you would typically use with a close friend (like "thank u") for the proper spelling (eg. "thank you").
By striking squishy, hedging phrases like “I think,” you can boost your confidence—or at least make your writing sound more assured.
Engagement Suggestions
Grammarly Premium users can also see green underlines for engagement suggestions. By avoiding repetitive patterns, you can utilize a variety of dynamic sentence structures to better hold the reader's attention. In addition, you can replace dull vocabulary with more compelling words.
Fluency Suggestions
Fluency suggestions can prevent language mix-ups specific to a particular language, so someone who normally speaks French doesn't mistakenly call that crafty checkmate "good chance."
Formatting Suggestions
Also included in Grammarly Premium are formatting suggestions, such as identifying when a difficult-to-follow paragraph works better as a series of bullet points.
Plagiarism Checker
To make sure your work isn't mistaken for being copied from the internet, Grammarly Premium's plagiarism detector searches the web, including academic databases, for phrases that are similar to what you wrote, so you can be sure it was truly yours.
What Features Are You Given With ProWritingAid?
The ProWritingAid website has a number of impressive features. Besides specific functions to help improve writing, the tool also produces analytical reports to help take a closer look at your work.
Grammar and spelling checks are not the only features of the tool. In fact, it examines a variety of different factors, such as style, readability, and repetition.
The ProWritingAid software will:
- Consistently check punctuation, spelling, and capitalization
- Identify clichés and redundant terms
- Check for grammatical and spelling errors
- Identify errors in terminology
- Double s a contextual thesaurus
- Check for plagiarism
- Enhance readability
- Identify overused or repetitive phrases and words
- Enhance the structure of your paragraph
- Point out overly complex or vague words from your text
ProWritingAid vs Grammarly: Customer Service
As technical issues can occur at any time, you should have access to a support team immediately. But is this the case with ProWritingAid and Grammarly? Let’s find out.
How Easy Is It To Contact ProWritingAid Customer Service?
ProWritingAid's customer support team is available between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. GMT, Monday through Friday. They can be reached via email or the "Contact us" page. You can also find articles on their FAQ page that address specific technical issues.
How Easy Is It To Contact Grammarly Customer Service?
With Grammarly, you can submit a ticket and send an email 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additionally, you can access their knowledge base and help center to find answers to your questions.
The Pros and Cons of Grammarly
| The Pros: | The Cons: |
| Grammarly tends to give accurate suggestions, especially for non-fiction projects. | Only grammatical and spelling errors can be corrected in the free version. |
| You can use it to check your writing quickly. | Despite the fact that the majority of Grammarly's suggestions are correct, sometimes it catches incorrect errors. |
| The tool is quite easy to use. You don't need any training to use it. | Grammarly doesn’t support integration with Pages on Mac. |
| It gives you cloud-based document storage if you use the website version. | Some websites are not compatible with its Chrome extension. |
| The software highlights all the mistakes in a document and lets you edit it in real-time. |
The Pros and Cons of ProWritingAid
| The Pros: | The Cons: |
| You can use ProWritingAid online, as a desktop application, or as an extension of a tool you already use. Many people will appreciate its simplicity and flexibility. | With ProWritingAid, plagiarism checks are an additional charge. Consider whether the app represents the best value for you if plagiarism checking is one of your main needs. |
| It is a lot more powerful than other tools on the market, yet it costs a lot less. | ProWritingAid isn't a hack or a shortcut. You can use it to identify areas for improvement in your writing and understand why they matter, but you still need discernment and experience to implement its recommendations. |
| Using ProWritingAid, you can examine more than just a red line under a grammatical error. The app will help you learn more about how language works. | Writing with ProWritingAid is easier and less stressful in many ways. However, does not live up to its claim of being a mentor. |
How They Compare in Ease of Use
When it comes to ease of use, both programs are literally neck and neck with Grammarly gaining just a slight advantage in my eyes. With Grammarly, everything is organized clearly, and you can easily understand what's going on. Using their website is as easy as copy-pasting or uploading the content from your computer.
Grammarly is also be easily integrated into your web browser as a plugin to be used with Google Docs, many websites, and even email applications. It also allows you to utilize the software directly within popular word processing applications such as Scrivener and MS Word.
Although ProWritingAid is a great tool, it is a little slower than Grammarly. The process of scanning and documenting and producing a report takes a few seconds, whereas Grammarly does this instantly.
In terms of platforms and integrations, however, ProWritingAid Premium makes u for the slow speed in spades. On a premium account, you can use Chrome and Safari add-ons as well as Mac or Windows desktop apps. A Microsoft Word add-in is also available. Unfortunately, there is no mobile app for iOS or Android available to date.
