Getting your thoughts down perfectly can be tough sometimes.
You write something, read it back, and yikes – typos! Or maybe a sentence just sounds… weird. It happens to everyone, even pro writers.
Tools like Grammarly aim to help with that.
You’ve probably heard about it. It promises to fix your writing mistakes automatically.
But does it actually work well? Is it worth using in 2025?
I decided to really test it out for this Grammarly review. I used both the free and paid versions to see what’s what. Is it truly helpful, or just a lot of talk?
Stick with me, and I’ll tell you everything I found out.
You can expect to find out:
- What Grammarly really does (it’s more than spell check!).
- A close look at the Free version vs. the paid Premium one.
- Important limits and details you might not know about.
- How Grammarly keeps your writing safe.
- All the good things and the not-so-good things I noticed.
- My final, honest opinion: Should YOU use Grammarly?
Let’s get going on this Grammarly review!
Table of Contents
✖
What Exactly IS Grammarly?

Grammarly is best described as a smart tool for your writing. It’s an AI-powered writing assistant. A computer program uses artificial intelligence to read what you type.
It checks your writing in real-time, as you write them.
Grammarly acts like a virtual proofreader.
It spots mistakes you might miss.
Spelling errors, grammar goofs, punctuation problems – it looks for all of that. It helps improve your existing writing, making it clearer and more correct.
It’s cloud-based, which just means it works online. You need an internet connection for it to do its magic. It also means you can use it on different computers or devices.
It does more than just basic spell checking, though. Your computer probably already has a spell checker. Grammarly goes deeper. It looks at clarity (is your writing easy to understand?), engagement (is it interesting?), and even delivery (does it sound confident?).
It can even check the tone of your writing. Like, does your email sound friendly or angry? Grammarly tries to figure that out.
It was started way back in 2009 by Alex Shevchenko, Max Lytvyn, and Dmytro Lider. Now, lots of people and even big companies use it. I see it mentioned all the time online.
Oh, and it works with different types of English. American English, British English, Canadian, Australian – you can choose which one you usually write in its settings.
Basically, Grammarly aims to make your writing better and help you communicate more clearly. It’s like having a friendly editor looking over your shoulder, helping improve your communication.
Getting Started with Grammarly
Using Grammarly is pretty easy to get going.
Grammarly is designed to fit into how you already write. It works in a bunch of different places.
The Grammarly Editor
This is their dedicated space for writing.
You can access it via their website (web app) or download desktop apps for Windows and Mac. You can type directly in the editor or upload documents.
You can upload files (like DOCX, TXT, RTF) too.
The suggestions appear in a sidebar.
Browser Extensions
This is probably the most popular way. Install the extension for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge. Then, Grammarly checks your writing automatically in places like:
- Gmail and other webmail
- Google Docs (integration is pretty good now)
- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
- WordPress and other blogging platforms
- Millions of other websites where you type in text boxes.
I use the Chrome extension constantly.
It underlines potential issues right as I type. So convenient.
Desktop Apps
As mentioned, if you prefer writing in a dedicated app, Grammarly has native apps for both Windows and Mac computers.
Mobile Keyboard
This is awesome! Grammarly offers a special keyboard app for your phone (iOS and Android).
When you use the Grammarly keyboard, it checks your texts, emails, social media posts, and anything else you type on your phone. It syncs with your account, too.
Microsoft Office Add-in
If you use Microsoft Word or Outlook a lot on a Windows computer, you can get a special Grammarly add-in. It puts Grammarly’s checks right inside those programs.
(Note: This is currently Windows only).
Google Docs
Grammarly now works directly inside Google Docs. This is great for school projects or working with others. It’s still technically in beta, but it worked well when I tested it.
Basically, Grammarly tries to be wherever you write. They say it works across over 500,000 apps and websites. That’s a lot! I’ve seen it pop up in places I didn’t even expect.
Setting it up is usually just a matter of downloading the extension or app and creating a free account. It only takes a few minutes.
One important thing I noticed:
You need an internet connection. Grammarly does its checking online, so it won’t work if you’re offline. Keep that in mind if you often write without Wi-Fi.
My experience? Getting the browser extension running took maybe two clicks. Very simple. The mobile keyboard was easy to install too. It felt natural to use pretty quickly.
📖 Check out: Top 10 Best Grammarly Alternatives Compared [Free & Paid]
Grammarly Free: Good Enough?
Grammarly has a free version, and free is always tempting. The big question is: Is the free version actually useful, or is it just a teaser?
With Grammarly Free, you get:
- Basic Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation Checks: This is the core stuff. It will catch common typos, missed commas, and basic grammar mistakes (like subject-verb agreement).
- Basic Tone Detection: It gives you a general idea of how your writing sounds (e.g., “neutral,” “friendly”, "professional", or "formal").
- Basic Clarity Suggestions: It might suggest slightly clearer ways to phrase simple things.
- Personal Dictionary: You can add words (like names or specific terms) that Grammarly shouldn’t flag as misspelled with the help of personal dictionary.
- Overall Score: It gives your writing a score out of 100 based on the issues it finds.
- AI Prompts: You get 100 GrammarlyGO AI prompts per month. These let you use their AI helper for basic tasks like brainstorming.
So, what did I think after using the free version?
Honestly, it’s pretty good!
It definitely catches more basic errors than the standard spell checker built into most programs. For everyday writing like emails, short assignments, or social media posts, it’s quite helpful.
It caught several typos I had missed just proofreading myself. I think it’s a solid tool for learning the fundamentals of cleaner writing.
You can try Grammarly free version to see for yourself.
But there’s a catch. And it’s kind of a big one.
The free version constantly shows you that there are more issues in your writing.
It highlights areas and says things like “Premium suggestion” or indicates advanced problems it could fix… if you upgraded. You’ll see numbers indicating potential issues with clarity, engagement, or delivery, but you can’t see the actual suggestions without paying.
I have to say, this felt a bit pushy sometimes. It’s like dangling a carrot. It’s effective marketing for them, I guess, but as a user, it can be slightly annoying.
You know there might be more ways to improve, but they’re locked away.
Is The Free Version Enough?
Well, it depends.
If you just want a safety net to catch obvious mistakes and typos, then yes, Grammarly Free is definitely useful and way better than nothing.
It’s a great starting point.
However, if you want help making your writing truly shine – making it clearer, more engaging, more professional – the free version only scratches the surface.
It misses a lot of the more subtle errors and doesn’t offer the deeper style and tone advice. For that, you need to look at Premium.
So, my verdict on Free: Decent, helpful for basics, costs nothing, but limited and comes with upgrade prompts. A good first step. If you only write occasionally or just need basic proofreading for emails and social media, it might be all you need.
Grammarly Premium: The Upgrade
Now let’s talk about the paid version: Grammarly Premium. This is where Grammarly claims its real power lies. Is it worth shelling out money for?
First, what extra stuff do you actually get?
You get everything included in the Free plan, PLUS a whole lot more:
Advanced Checks
This is huge if you are writing daily and want it free of errors.
It finds complex grammar errors, checks for consistency in spelling and punctuation, looks at sentence structure, and helps with fluency (how smoothly your writing flows).
Advanced Clarity Suggestions
This feature helps you cut unnecessary words, rephrase confusing sentences, and make your writing much more direct and easy to understand.
Engagement Suggestions
Suggests stronger vocabulary, points out overused words, and helps make your sentences more varied and interesting.
Delivery Adjustments
Provides detailed suggestions to make sure your writing sounds confident, polite, formal (or informal) – whatever you need for your audience. It helps you nail the right tone.
Plagiarism Checker
This is a major feature of Grammarly premium version.
You can paste your text (or upload a document), and Grammarly checks it against billions of web pages and academic databases (like ProQuest) to see if any part of it matches existing content online.
It gives you a percentage score and links to the sources it found. It is incredibly useful for school papers or any writing you publish online to make sure your work is original.
Full Sentence Rewrites
Suggests completely new ways to phrase entire sentences for better impact or clarity.
Vocabulary Enhancement
Offers synonyms and better word choices right in context.
Inclusive Language
Gives tips to make sure your writing is respectful and avoids potentially biased language.
Citation Generator
If you’re writing academic papers, this is useful.
It helps you format citations correctly in common styles like APA, MLA, and Chicago. It doesn’t automatically find the sources for you, though; you still need to provide the info.
Performance Stats
You get reports on your writing habits, like word count, readability, and vocabulary diversity. Grammarly even sends weekly progress emails.
Style Guides (Basic)
You can create basic style guides to help maintain consistency if you’re working on specific projects. (More advanced Style Guide features are in the Business/Pro plans).
AI Prompts
You get way more GrammarlyGO prompts – 1000 per month. This gives you much more access to the AI assistant for generating ideas, outlines, etc.
Writing Goals
You can tell Grammarly about your audience, formality level, and intent (e.g., Academic, Business, Creative), and it tailors its suggestions accordingly.
So, what was my experience using Grammarly Premium?
I have to admit, the difference was immediately clear. It flagged awkward phrasing, weak word choices, and consistency errors that the free version completely ignored. The clarity suggestions often helped me trim down sentences that were too long or rambling.
The plagiarism checker was a standout feature for me.
As someone who writes online, ensuring originality is critical. I tested it with some sample texts, and it did a good job identifying matching content. I wouldn’t rely on it as the only check for very serious academic work (sometimes school tools like Turnitin are more thorough with specific databases), but for general use, blogging, or content creation, it provides great peace of mind.
It’s certainly helpful if you’re trying to earn money online through writing and need to ensure your content is unique. The Citation tool was also useful when I pretended to write a research paper snippet, though you need your source info ready.
Now, the big question: Is Premium worth the cost?
It gets personal here.
The monthly price ($30/month) feels steep. If you only write occasionally, it’s probably not worth it. However, the annual plan brings the cost down significantly (to $12/month).
If you write frequently – for school, for a blog, for work, maybe freelance writing to make money online – then I genuinely think Grammarly Premium offers excellent value.
It acts like a dedicated editor, constantly pushing you to improve. It doesn’t just fix mistakes; it teaches you why something is wrong and how to write better next time.
Over time, using Premium can actually make you a stronger writer.
My stance? For casual writers, stick with the free version.
For students, bloggers, professionals, content creators, and anyone serious about improving their writing quality and avoiding plagiarism, Grammarly Premium is a powerful tool that I believe is worth the investment, especially if you grab the annual plan.
Expert Writing Service
Need More Help? Expert Writing Service
Grammarly also offers an Expert Writing Help service.
It isn’t part of the regular Premium subscription; it’s an extra cost.
You can submit your document to have a professional human proofreader review it for correctness, clarity, and consistency.
It could be useful for really important documents, but it’s an added expense.
📖 Check out: Grammarly Free vs Premium: Which Version to Choose?
Grammarly Pricing (2025)
Grammarly basically has two main plans for individuals:
Free and Premium (which is sometimes called Pro, especially in newer combined plans designed for individuals or small teams up to 149 members).
There are also Enterprise plans for very large organizations, and special deals for schools (Grammarly@Edu).
Grammarly Free
Costs $0. Always. No credit card needed. You get the basic checks we talked about.
Grammarly Premium
This is the paid upgrade with all the advanced features. The price depends on how you pay:
- Monthly: You pay $30 each month. It is the most flexible option but also the most expensive overall.
- Quarterly: You pay $59.95 every three months. It works out to $19.98 per month. Better than monthly, but still not the cheapest.
- Annual: You pay $144 once per year. It is the best deal, breaking down to just $12 per month. If you know you’ll use it a lot, this saves you a ton of money compared to paying monthly.
Sometimes you might find special offers or discounts through specific links online, maybe knocking off 20% or so, especially on the annual plan. It’s worth looking around if you decide to buy!
I made a quick comparison table highlighting some key differences:
Note: Can’t see the whole table on smaller screens? Try swiping sideways, scroll left or right.
Feature | Grammarly Free | Grammarly Premium |
---|---|---|
Basic Grammar/Spell | Yes | Yes |
Advanced Grammar | No | Yes |
Clarity (Advanced) | No | Yes |
Tone Adjustment | Basic | Advanced |
Plagiarism Check | No | Yes |
Sentence Rewrites | Limited | Full |
Vocabulary Improve | No | Yes |
Citation Generator | No | Yes |
Performance Stats | No | Yes |
AI Prompts (Month) | 100 | 1000 |
Style Guide | No | Yes (Basic) |
You can also check the Premium pricing again, laid out clearly:
Note: Can’t see the whole table on smaller screens? Try swiping sideways, scroll left or right.
Plan Type | Billed | Price Per Month | Total Bill | Best For |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly | Monthly | $30 | $30 | Trying it out, short-term needs |
Quarterly | Every 3 Mths | $19.98 | $59.95 | Medium-term use, some savings |
Annual | Yearly | $12 | $144 | Best Value, long-term users |
Grammarly does not typically offer a free trial for its Premium plan. You can’t test drive all the paid features before buying.
Grammarly Refund Policy
Grammarly Premium memberships are generally non-refundable. Once you pay (especially for quarterly or annual plans), you can’t get your money back if you change your mind later. So, be really sure before you commit to a longer plan! Maybe try the free version extensively first, or pay for just one month of Premium to see if you like it before buying a whole year.
Grammarly Pro/Business
There’s also a plan called Grammarly Pro (which kind of replaced the old Business plan for smaller teams, 1-149 people).
Cost
Usually around $12-$15 per user per month when billed annually.
Extra Features
Includes everything in Premium, plus features for teams:
centralized account management and billing, team style guides (to keep everyone’s writing consistent), brand tones, usage analytics for the team, and priority customer support.
Also gets more AI prompts (2000/user/month).
Who It’s For
Businesses, marketing teams, agencies, any group that needs consistent, professional writing across the board. Probably overkill for individual users.
Grammarly GO: AI Writer?
GrammarlyGO is Grammarly’s built-in generative AI feature.
Think of it like having a mini AI writing assistant right inside Grammarly.
GrammarlyGO can help you with various writing tasks using AI prompts. You basically give it instructions, and it generates text for you. Some things it can help with:
- Brainstorming Ideas: Stuck on what to write about? You can ask it for ideas.
- Creating Outlines: Need a structure for your essay or blog post? Ask it to create an outline.
- Rewriting Text: Want to rephrase a sentence or paragraph? It can offer suggestions.
- Composing Drafts: You can ask it to write a quick draft of an email or short piece.
- Adjusting Tone: Want something sound more formal or more friendly? It can help rewrite it.
GrammarlyGO Limitations
How much can you use it? That depends on your plan:
- Grammarly Free: You get 100 prompts per month. Enough to try it out and use it occasionally.
- Grammarly Premium: You get 1000 prompts per month. Much more usage for regular help.
- Grammarly Business/Pro: Often gets 2000 prompts per user per month or potentially unlimited depending on company settings.
AI Detection Tool
Along with generating text, Grammarly also includes an AI detection tool. This feature scans text (yours or text generated by GO) and highlights sections that are likely AI-generated. It is becoming more important as AI writing gets common, helping ensure transparency or originality.
So, what are my thoughts on GrammarlyGO? It’s… interesting.
It can definitely be helpful when you’re facing writer’s block or need a quick starting point. Asking it for an outline, for instance, can save some time.
However, I wouldn’t rely on it to do your actual writing for you. I found that the text it generated sometimes sounded a bit generic or robotic.
AI writing often lacks that human touch, creativity, and personal voice. Also, be careful with features like “rewrite” – sometimes heavily AI-edited text can be flagged by AI detection tools (even Grammarly’s own!), which might be an issue for school or certain types of work.
I see GrammarlyGO as a helpful brainstorming partner or a tool to overcome specific hurdles, but not a replacement for your own thinking and writing.
It’s useful in small doses, but use it wisely and always review and edit what it produces.
Who Should Use Grammarly?
Grammarly sounds useful, but is it right for you? Based on its features and my testing, these groups benefit most from using it:
Students
This is a big one. From middle school through college, writing clearly is essential. Grammarly can help catch errors in essays, reports, research papers, presentations, and even emails to teachers or professors. The Premium plagiarism checker and Citation Generator are also massive pluses for ensuring academic honesty. I really wish I had something this advanced when I was in school!
Writers and Bloggers
If you write content regularly, whether it’s blog posts, articles, stories, or website copy, Grammarly is a lifesaver. It polishes your work, making it look more professional. Clear, error-free writing builds trust with readers. If you’re aiming to earn money online with your writing, professionalism matters a lot, and Grammarly helps achieve that. Grammarly Premium feels almost essential here.
Business Professionals
Clear communication is key in the workplace. Grammarly helps ensure emails, reports, memos, presentations, and marketing materials are error-free, concise, and have the right professional tone. It helps avoid misunderstandings caused by typos or awkward phrasing.
Marketers and Content Teams
Creating consistent, high-quality content often involves multiple people. Grammarly (especially the Business/Pro version with advanced Style Guides and Brand Tone) helps teams maintain a unified voice and quality standard. Great for working together on writing.
Job Seekers
Your resume and cover letter need to be perfect!
Grammarly can help catch any mistakes that might make a bad impression.
English Language Learners
Grammarly can be a great tool for people learning English, helping them understand grammar rules and improve their written fluency. The explanations it provides are valuable.
Anyone Who Writes Online
Honestly? If you type anything that other people will read – emails, social media updates, comments, reviews – Grammarly Free can at least help you avoid basic, embarrassing typos.
Basically, if you write anything more than short, casual texts to friends, Grammarly can definitely help you improve your communication.
The more important or public your writing is, the more valuable even the free version becomes, and the stronger the case for considering Premium.
📖 Check out: How to Write a Blog Post – Complete Step-by-Step Guide
Accuracy: Can You Trust It?
This is a crucial question for any Grammarly review. Grammarly’s accuracy for grammar, spelling, and punctuation is very good. It catches a high percentage of common errors, definitely more than basic spell checkers. It’s particularly strong with things like:
- Typos and spelling mistakes.
- Common punctuation errors (missing commas, apostrophe misuse).
- Basic grammar rules (subject-verb agreement, pronoun issues).
However, it is not perfect.
You need to understand this. Grammarly is an AI, a complex computer program, but it doesn’t truly understand language the way a human does.
Sometimes it gets confused by:
- Complex Sentences: Really long or complicated sentences can sometimes trip it up.
- Nuance and Context: It might flag something as wrong that’s actually correct in a specific context, or suggest a change that slightly alters your intended meaning.
- Creative Writing: It sometimes tries to apply strict grammar rules to writing that is intentionally stylistic or breaks rules for effect (like in poetry or fiction). I’ve seen it flag dialogue that was meant to sound informal.
- Weird Suggestions: Occasionally, a suggestion just sounds awkward or unnatural.
Therefore, you cannot blindly accept every suggestion Grammarly makes.
You still need to use your own brain!
Read each suggestion, understand why Grammarly flagged it (it gives a brief explanation via ‘Grammarly Cards’), and decide if the change actually improves your writing.
Think of it as a helpful advisor, not an infallible boss.
What about the plagiarism checker in Premium?
It’s generally considered quite effective for checking against publicly available websites and its database (which includes ProQuest academic papers).
For bloggers and most online writers, it’s a solid tool. However, as mentioned before, it might not catch text copied from sources behind paywalls (like some academic journals) or physical books as effectively as specialized academic tools like Turnitin might. It’s good, but maybe not absolutely foolproof for every single scenario, especially deep academic research.
Overall verdict on accuracy: High, but not 100%. It’s a powerful safety net and learning tool, but always requires a final human review.
📖 Check out: 10 Must-Have Tools for Writers in 2025 (Write Faster & Smarter!)
Important Limits & Details You Should Know
You should know a few limits and technical details about Grammarly. I am sure why Grammarly did not make these things obvious upfront.
Device Limit
One Grammarly account (Free or Premium) can be actively used on up to five different devices at the same time. If you try to log in on a sixth device, you might need to log out from another one.
Checking Limits (Even for Premium!)
To prevent misuse, Grammarly has limits on how much text you can check.
- Per Month: You can check up to 300 documents OR 150,000 words.
- Per 24 Hours: You can check up to 100 documents OR 50,000 words.
Most people won’t hit these limits, but if you’re editing huge amounts of text constantly, it’s something to keep in mind.
Grammarly Editor Limits
If you’re uploading documents to the Grammarly Editor (on the website or desktop app), there are file size and length limits:
- File size: Max 4 MB.
- Document length: Max 100,000 characters (including spaces).
If your document is larger, you might need to break it up or use Grammarly via an extension (like in Google Docs or Word), which often handle longer texts better.
Supported File Formats
When uploading to the Grammarly Editor, it accepts common formats like Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), OpenDocument Text (.odt), Plain Text (.txt), and Rich Text Format (.rtf).
It doesn’t directly support PDFs or other formats for uploading.
Knowing these limits can save you some confusion later on!
Is My Writing Safe with Grammarly?
You might wonder if your writing is safe when using a tool like Grammarly. Grammarly talks a lot about security on their website. Here’s the lowdown:
Encryption
They say your text is protected with strong encryption, both while it’s being sent to their servers for checking and while it’s stored.
Privacy
Grammarly states that their employees cannot view the content you write or check unless needed for specific troubleshooting you request.
Your work is saved on their servers so the tool can function, but it’s associated with your account. If you delete text or your account, it gets deleted from their servers too.
No Sensitive Data Collection
Grammarly specifically says it doesn’t record what you type in fields marked as “sensitive,” like password boxes or credit card forms.
The browser extensions are designed to avoid these.
Past Issues I Found
There was a reported security bug back in 2018, but Grammarly responded quickly to fix it. Like any online service, perfect security is impossible, but they seem to take it seriously.
Review the Terms
You can always read their full Privacy Policy on their website if you want all the details.
Overall, Grammarly seems to have standard security measures in place, similar to other cloud-based services. They need to access your text to provide corrections, but they claim it’s kept private and secure. For most users, the security seems adequate.
My Take on Privacy
Based on their stated policies and industry standards, Grammarly seems reasonably secure for most types of writing – schoolwork, blog posts, emails, general business documents.
They handle millions of users’ data.
If I were writing extremely sensitive corporate secrets or classified government documents… maybe I’d stick to an offline editor.
But for everyday use, I personally feel comfortable using it.
As always, it’s wise to glance at their official Privacy Policy if you have major concerns.
Getting Help: Customer Support
You might need help if you run into a problem or have a question.
Knowledge Base
Grammarly has a pretty extensive Help Center or Knowledge Base on their website with articles answering common questions and troubleshooting steps.
It is often the fastest way to find an answer. I found most basic info here.
Chatbot/Email (Free Users)
If you’re on the Free plan, your main support options are an automated chatbot and submitting a support ticket via email. There’s no live chat or phone support for free users based on my findings. Email responses usually come within 24 hours and are described as helpful.
Priority Support (Paid Users)
If you have Grammarly Premium or a Business/Pro plan, you get faster, prioritized email support. Enterprise plans get dedicated support managers.
So, while you can get help, free users have slightly more limited direct contact options compared to paid subscribers. But if you're paying, you shouldn't have issues with support.
Pros and Cons: My Honest Take
After testing everything out, let’s boil this Grammarly review down to the good and the bad.
Pros (The Good Stuff)
- Catches Dumb Mistakes: Seriously, it saves me from embarrassing typos and basic grammar errors all the time. Things my tired eyes just miss. Huge confidence booster.
- Teaches You WHY: This is a big one. Grammarly doesn’t just fix things; it often gives short, clear explanations why it’s suggesting a change. This genuinely helps you learn and avoid making the same mistake again. It’s like a mini grammar lesson built-in.
- Improves Clarity & Flow: The Premium suggestions for conciseness, word choice, and sentence structure really do make writing clearer and easier to read. It helps trim the fat.
- Super Easy to Use: The browser extensions and mobile keyboard make it almost effortless. It just works in the background wherever you write. Seamless integration.
- Helpful Plagiarism Checker: The Premium plagiarism tool is easy to use and surprisingly effective for checking against web sources. Gives peace of mind.
- Builds Writing Confidence: Knowing Grammarly has your back reduces that “oops, did I mess up?” anxiety. You can focus more on your ideas.
- Customization: Being able to set goals (audience, formality, etc.) makes the suggestions more relevant to what you’re actually writing.
- Functional Free Version: Props to Grammarly, the free version is genuinely useful for basic proofreading. It’s not crippled.
- Deep Premium Insights: The feedback on tone, engagement, and delivery in Premium is fascinating and helps you fine-tune your message’s impact.
Cons (The Not-So-Good Stuff)
- Premium Cost: Let’s be real, $30/month is steep. The annual plan makes Grammarly Premium much more affordable, but it’s still an expense.
- Free Version Upsell: The constant reminders in the free version about what Premium could fix get old. It feels a bit pushy sometimes.
- Needs Internet: The lack of an offline mode is a definite drawback. If your Wi-Fi goes down, Grammarly stops working.
- Not Perfect: It’s smart, but it’s still AI. Sometimes suggestions are just plain wrong, awkward, or miss the point (especially with humor, slang, or creative writing). You absolutely must review suggestions before accepting them. Don’t trust it blindly!
- Can Be Slow: On older computers or with lots of browser tabs open, I’ve occasionally felt Grammarly slow things down a tiny bit. Not usually a major issue, though.
- Robotic AI: GrammarlyGO’s output can sometimes sound stiff or generic. Using its “rewrite” feature might also make text get flagged by AI detectors. Needs human editing.
- Doesn’t Replace Humans: For super important documents (like a major school paper, a job application, or a novel), Grammarly is a great first pass, but it can’t replace a careful human proofreader or editor who understands deep context and nuance.
- English Only: If you need help with Spanish, French, or any other language, Grammarly can’t help you (yet?).
- Usage Limits: Even on paid plans, there are limits on how much you can check per day/month (e.g., 100 docs/50k words per 24 hours). These are high, but heavy users should be aware.
- Formatting Glitches: Sometimes, copy-pasting text into the Grammarly web editor messes up the formatting (bolding, italics, spacing). Minor annoyance.
- Limited Free Support: Free users mainly get a help center and chatbot. No easy access to human support.
- Strict Refund Policy: That “no refunds” thing for Premium is a real negative. Makes the annual commitment feel riskier.
So there you have it. Grammarly is a genuinely powerful tool, especially the Premium version. But it’s not magic, and it has limitations and costs to consider.
For your convenience, I've made a quick summary table:
Note: Can’t see the whole table on smaller screens? Try swiping sideways, scroll left or right.
Pros of Grammarly | Cons of Grammarly |
---|---|
Catches typos & grammar errors | Premium is pricey (esp. monthly) |
Explains mistakes (good for learning) | Free version has constant upgrade prompts |
Improves clarity, conciseness, flow | Requires internet connection (no offline mode) |
Easy to use across platforms | Suggestions aren’t always perfect/right |
Premium plagiarism checker is valuable | Can occasionally slow down devices |
Builds writing confidence | GrammarlyGO AI can sound robotic |
Customization via Goals | Doesn’t fully replace human editors |
Free version is functional | English language only |
Deep insights in Premium (tone, etc.) | Usage limits exist (though high) |
Helps with consistency | Formatting glitches can occur |
Mobile keyboard is handy | Limited support for free users |
Strict no-refund policy for Premium |
Conclusion: Good Enough or Hype?
After all that testing for this Grammarly Review, what’s the final word?
Grammarly is definitely NOT just hype.
It’s a genuinely useful writing assistant. The free version provides solid basic proofreading that’s better than most built-in spell checkers.
It’s a great starting point for anyone.
Grammarly premium, however, is where the real value lies for many. The advanced checks, style suggestions, tone adjustments, performance stats, citation help, and especially the plagiarism checker significantly improve its usefulness. It goes beyond just fixing mistakes to actually helping you become a better, clearer, and more confident writer.
Is it just hype? I don’t think so.
While the marketing is strong, the tool genuinely delivers on many of its promises. It’s used by millions of people, students, and professionals for a reason – it helps.
Is it perfect? No.
You still need your own brain to review its suggestions, and be aware of the limits. Can the Premium version feel pricey? Yes, especially month-to-month.
Is Grammarly worth it? Yes, absolutely.
For the task of improving everyday writing, catching errors, and even teaching you grammar along the way, Grammarly is more than good enough; it’s one of the best tools available.
Grammarly Premium, in particular, provides comprehensive feedback that can significantly elevate writing quality. It streamlines the editing process and boosts confidence.
It’s not flawless, requires an internet connection, and the suggestions need human oversight, but the benefits generally outweigh the drawbacks for frequent writers.
My Recommendation?
Start with the Free version.
Use it for a week or two. See how you like the interface and the basic checks.
You can get Grammarly Free here.
Then, if you find yourself wishing for more advanced suggestions, needing the plagiarism checker, wanting citation help, or writing frequently for important purposes (school, work, for a blog), then seriously consider upgrading to Grammarly Premium.
The annual plan offers the best value. Go for it if price doesn't concern you.
Grammarly won’t magically turn you into a bestselling author overnight. But it’s an excellent tool to help polish your writing, learn grammar nuances, and catch mistakes.
You May Also Like...
- Grammarly Free vs Premium: Which Version to Choose?
- 10 Best Grammar Checker Apps [Compared & Ranked]
- Top 10 Best Grammarly Alternatives Compared [Free & Paid]
- ProWritingAid Review: Is It Better Than Grammarly?
- How to Write a Blog Post – Complete Step-by-Step Guide
- 19 Best Blogging Tools and Services for Beginners
- Is Blogging Worth It? [Eye-Opening Honest Guide]