What is Grammarly?
Grammarly is an app or extension for your browser that checks grammar, spelling, plagiarism, etc. in real-time on various platforms like Microsoft Word, WordPress, and Facebook.
This grammar app is actually called “free grammar assistant”.
Sounds good.
But like any burning software like this, it certainly has limitations. Let’s have a full grammatical review on features, pros and cons, and pricing for premium and business upgrades.
How Much Does Grammarly Cost?
As you know by now, Grammarly isn’t just free – and for a good reason.
With as many helpful features as it offers in addition to what you get for free, paying a pretty penny is totally worth it if you’re someone who needs more of those advanced capabilities.
Introduction and security
Grammatically checks your writing against a database of content and style errors, and data collected anonymously from daily active users. The downside of this real-time model is that Grammarly requires an internet connection to work. With Grammarly, critical errors (spelling and basic grammar) are highlighted in red and advanced errors (style and best practices) are highlighted in other colors, although the latter feature is reserved for premium users. Limited. By hovering over the given word or phrase, you can choose to fix the error directly or read a detailed explanation of the error.
Improve your grammar (almost) anywhere
Grammarly charges $29.95 monthly, $59.95 quarterly, or $139.95 annually. If that price seems high, know that Grammarly often offers subscription discounts. For the price of admission, you’ll receive individual checks of various document types, plagiarism filters, vocabulary-enhancing features, and more. Grammarly also has a limited free version that checks for serious spelling and grammatical errors. Grammarly’s business tier is $15 per month per member, billed annually.
Grammarly Pros :
There are many reasons why Grammarly has exploded in the last few years. These are just some of the many benefits this burning software offers.
1 . Real-time Grammar Correction
Grammar editor’s review
This is great and has changed the game when it comes to reviewing work and speeding up editing.
Instead of writing everything down and clicking the Check Spelling and Grammar button, when you make a mistake, you instantly know that you actually made a mistake.
You may wonder why this is so great when you can check it out as soon as you’re done. Have you ever forgotten to press that button when you spent a lot of time designing something very important?
If you can see the error when it happens, you can change it on the fly and the final result will be cleaner.
Also, everything is automatic. You don’t have to click a button for Grammarly to work.
2 . Very Accurate
This grammar software doesn’t make many mistakes. Sometimes I misunderstand what you’re trying to say or put a comma where you don’t absolutely need or want it, but overall it’s very accurate.
When checking grammar, accuracy always comes first. Be aware of why it prompts you to change, and only accept it when it is right.
3 . Clear explanation
Grammar doesn’t just tell you when something is wrong. That’s perfectly fine, but the program goes a step further with explanations so you can understand it in order to learn and improve.
So not only do you benefit from refining your writing in real time, you also learn how to become a better writer.
Grammarly, he has two choices when it comes to explanations. You can run a quick view and make changes with little help, like this:
Screenshot showing the grammar in action
Alternatively, click “Show More in Grammar” for a full description as in the image below.
Screenshot of spelling hint grammar explanation
The more you use the grammar, the more you will be able to understand where the commas are, how to make certain sentences correct, and how to improve your overall sentences.
With a simple explanation like the one above, Grammarly isn’t needed much anymore.
4 . Adjustments
Even with Grammarly’s free version, it’s fairly customizable with limited features.
You can choose your preferred language, turn it off for certain websites, and add new words you use often to your dictionary.
This is great if you regularly use words that aren’t necessarily “real” words, such as brand names, slang, abbreviations, etc. You don’t need to fix each of these errors if you just click Add to Dictionary the first time Grammarly flags it wrong.
Hover over the word and click Add to Dictionary in the pop-up window as shown below.
Screenshot showing Grammarly’s custom dictionary feature
5 . Very easy to use
You don’t have to be a computer genius to understand this software. Basically, just install the plugin or browser extension and you’re good to go!
Like the spell checkers in Microsoft Word and Google Doc, Grammarly underlines incorrect words and grammar, and shows you what to replace with a mouse-over and why.
This is perfect for those who need a little help in the grammar department but aren’t thrilled with the idea of more complicated writing software.
Shortcomings of Grammarly :
Everything is not perfect, right? Grammarly has some great features, but there are also things that could be improved.
1 . Doesn’t work in all cases
Screenshot of Chrome beta test grammar
The most common is Grammarly not working with Google Docs. This can be really frustrating for those who use this burning software all the time.
However, they are currently testing Grammarly with Google Docs in beta, so we may not have to wait long for this feature to finally roll out!
See the notification I received in the Grammarly Chrome extension when I wrote this exact blog post in Google Docs.
Grammarly certainly seems to have broken out and expanded its services to more and more platforms. This is great if you use a lot for work, hobbies, or a combination of both.
2 . The free version is very limited
As you can see from the table above, Grammarly’s free version is very limited. It has only one function and that is to correct spelling and grammar.
This may seem like a huge drawback to some, but to others it’s perfectly acceptable.
Personally, I don’t need anything more than the free features.
Opting for Grammarly Premium is certainly more useful for those who want to improve their writing or who need more than just grammar help.
There is a big gap between the free version and the premium option, which could be bridged a bit by offering more free features. If you want to know which writing software is best for you, and if Grammarly is right for you, take the short 2 minute quiz below.
3 . Aggressive Advertising
This company wants your upgrade – they really want your upgrade.
Making them spend more money to go premium is perfectly justified, but the spammy ads and emails are a bit annoying for people.
Thankfully, you can easily remove yourself from our mailing list by unsubscribing. This practically solves that problem.
However, we may serve ads through the Grammarly extension by notifying you to upgrade.
Annoying, but still acceptable and not necessarily a deal breaker.
Mobile keyboard
Grammarly‘s keyboard app is available for both Android and iOS devices. I tested the app on a Google Pixel with Android 10. As you can imagine, the Grammarly keyboard helps you correct grammar and spelling mistakes. It helps with everything from writing emails to writing social media posts to editing long-form documents.
Grammarly’s Android App
Settings let you choose a light or dark color theme, choose whether to display button borders and row of numbers, and toggle between vibrations, sounds, and popups when you press a key. I also like that you can adjust the height of the on-screen keyboard. Grammarly’s app finally supports swipes too. However, it lacks all of Gboard’s extra features that give you access to Google services like web search and translation. Still, I appreciate the clean design, and don’t think feature parity should be the goal of Grammarly. Power users may have a different opinion.
Web and Program Add-Ons
On the web, the Grammarly plug-in reviews everything you write in real time, from composing emails to jotting down notes. The extension marks mistakes with underlines the same way it does on any other platform, and you can click on each word to get more information about the error. Note that if you work within a content management system, Grammarly may insert code into the source text at the spot of the error. It is never a good idea to have inconsistent or unnecessary code on any page, so you should disable it on such pages.
Grammarly’s latest update improves the experience in Google Docs. In addition to a new dedicated sidebar, Grammarly’s clarity, engagement, and delivery suggestions (these last two are for premium subscribers) are now available, alongside the Set Goals module. These features are only available via the Google Chrome extension; if you use the Grammarly extension for other browsers with Google Docs, you only get inline edits.
