Writing tools comparison · Updated
The 5 Best Free Grammarly Alternatives for Students in 2026
Grammarly is still the best-known grammar checker, but its plagiarism check and full AI detector are in Pro at $12/month billed yearly ($144) or $30 month to month, the free plan is capped at 100 AI prompts a month, and there's no student discount. We compared the 5 alternatives students switch to most, on grammar depth, paraphrasing, plagiarism checks, free limits, price, and whether they help you study what you're writing about.
What is the best Grammarly alternative for students?
It depends on what you used Grammarly for. QuillBot is the best value (grammar, paraphrasing, citations and a plagiarism check for $99.95 a year), LanguageTool is best in other languages, and ProWritingAid has the only student discount. Conch is the pick if you need more than polish: it rewrites drafts in your own voice, checks for AI patterns and turns sources into notes and citations, but it isn't a real-time grammar checker in every app.
- Best value
- QuillBot: grammar, paraphraser and citations, $99.95/yr
- Best for other languages
- LanguageTool: checks in 20+ languages
- Only student discount
- ProWritingAid: 25% off yearly plans
- Writing plus studying
- Conch: rewrite, AI checks, notes and citations
How we compared
Features, free limits and prices were read from each tool's own pricing, product and help pages in October 2026. Grammarly's US price is from its own Pro page. Some vendors price by country or load prices in the browser, so we label where a US price comes from instead: QuillBot (its US pricing, as in our QuillBot comparison), LanguageTool (the US App Store), ProWritingAid (current US reviews). Trinka's paid prices didn't display, so we don't quote them. Tools are ranked on value for a student writing essays and assignments, not on any single feature.
What Grammarly Free gives you now, and what it doesn't
Grammarly Free covers spelling, grammar and tone corrections, 100 AI prompts a month, Authorship (which records how a document was written, in Google Docs and Word), a basic AI humanizer and a free citation generator. Pro adds 2,000 prompts a month, the plagiarism check, the AI Detector agent and citation-consistency checks. Grammarly for Education exists, but only for institutions, so an individual student pays the full price.
That makes the right alternative depend on the gap. If you need the plagiarism check without $144 a year, QuillBot Premium includes one for less. If you write in Spanish or German as well as English, LanguageTool is stronger. If the problem isn't grammar but turning a rough AI-assisted draft into something that sounds like you, and then understanding the sources behind it, that is what Conch's Rewrite Mode, Simplify and citation tools are for.
Quick pick
Pick by what you need
- Drafts that sound like youConchRewrite in your own voice, check for AI patterns, then turn sources into notes and citations.
- Cheapest plagiarism checkQuillBotPremium at $99.95 a year includes 25,000 words of plagiarism checks a month.
- Writing in two languagesLanguageToolDeep checks in English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish and Portuguese.
- Detailed feedback on long essaysProWritingAid25+ style reports, and 25% off yearly plans for college students.
- A big free allowanceTrinka5,000 words a month free, with academic style guides like APA and IEEE.
- One deadline weekConchThe 7-Day Assignment Pass is $7.99 once for 7 days of unlimited use.
The ranking
How they stack up
ConchOur pick
A student writing and study suite: rewrite in your own voice, check for AI patterns, then study your sources.
Pricing
Free; 7-Day Assignment Pass $7.99 one-time; Plus $15/mo; Unlimited $25/mo or $15/mo billed $180 yearly
Free tier
500 words a week for rewriting, tone and clarity, AI checks and simplify, plus weekly study tools.
AI generation
Rewrite Mode (9 styles incl. Academic and your own voice), tone and clarity, Simplify, AI checks, citations (paid).
Pros
- Rewrites in your own writing voice
- AI checks and citations alongside the writing tools
- Notes, flashcards, mind maps and podcasts from your sources
Cons
- Not a real-time grammar checker in every app like Grammarly
- No plagiarism checker
- Citations are on paid plans only
Best for: Students who need to improve AI-assisted drafts and also learn the material behind them.
Try Conch free
QuillBot
The best-value all-rounder: grammar, a 9-mode paraphraser, citations and a plagiarism check.
Pricing
Free; Premium $19.95/mo, or $99.95/yr (≈$8.33/mo). US pricing.
Free tier
Paraphrase up to 100 words in 2 modes, basic grammar fixes, 1,200-word summaries, limited AI detector.
AI generation
9 paraphrase modes plus custom, grammar in 6 languages, citations, summarizer, AI detector and humanizer.
Pros
- Plagiarism check included (25,000 words a month)
- The strongest paraphraser here
- Extensions, Word add-in, desktop apps and mobile keyboards
Cons
- Free paraphraser stops at 100 words
- Grammar checks are lighter than Grammarly's
- No study tools
Best for: Students who mainly rewrite, summarize and cite, on a tight budget.
Visit QuillBot →
LanguageTool
The best multilingual grammar and style checker, with an open-source core.
Pricing
Free; Premium $24.99/mo or $69.99/yr (US App Store pricing).
Free tier
Checks up to 2,000 characters per text field and 3 AI rephrasings a day.
AI generation
20,000+ extra checks in English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish and Portuguese; unlimited paraphrasing on Premium.
Pros
- The best coverage outside English
- Extensions for every major browser, plus desktop apps
- 14-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Free tier's 2,000-character cap is short for essays
- No plagiarism checker
- No citation or study tools
Best for: Bilingual and ESL students, and anyone writing in more than one language.
Visit LanguageTool →
ProWritingAid
The deepest style analysis, with 25+ reports and the only first-party student discount here.
Pricing
Free; Premium about $30/mo or $120/yr; lifetime about $399 (US, per current reviews). 25% student discount on yearly plans.
Free tier
Suggestions on 500 words at a time and 10 rephrases a day.
AI generation
Grammar and style checks, 25+ reports (readability, repetition, pacing), rephrasing; works in Google Docs and Word.
Pros
- 25% off yearly plans for college students (via Student Beans)
- The most detailed style reports
- Google Docs and Microsoft Office integrations
Cons
- Plagiarism checks cost extra on every plan
- Built for fiction writers as much as students
- Monthly plans are non-refundable
Best for: Humanities students who want detailed feedback on long essays.
Visit ProWritingAid →
Trinka
An academic grammar checker that knows APA, AMA, ACS and IEEE, with the biggest free allowance here.
Pricing
Free (Basic); Premium and Premium Plus priced by region at checkout.
Free tier
5,000 words a month, 5 AI writing requests, “Lite” grammar and the standard paraphrase mode.
AI generation
Academic style-guide checks, paraphrasing, citation checker, AI detector and plagiarism checks (credit-based).
Pros
- 5,000 free words a month
- Checks against academic style guides
- Paid plans don't use your writing for AI training
Cons
- Credit system for plagiarism and AI checks is confusing
- Free plan gets “Lite” grammar only
- No Google Docs integration
Best for: Research, thesis and ESL academic writers.
Visit Trinka →At a glance
Side by side
| Tool | Grammar & style | Paraphrasing | Plagiarism check | Study tools | Free tier | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conch | ~ | 500 words/wk | $7.99 once | |||
| Grammarly | ~ | 100 AI prompts/mo | $12/mo yearly | |||
| QuillBot | 100-word paraphrase | $99.95/yr | ||||
| LanguageTool | 2,000 chars/check | $69.99/yr | ||||
| ProWritingAid | ~ | 500 words/check | $120/yr | |||
| Trinka | 5,000 words/mo | Regional |
The verdict
Our recommendation
If grammar polish everywhere you type is what you need, Grammarly is still the standard, and LanguageTool is the stronger choice outside English. QuillBot is the best value if you also paraphrase and need a plagiarism check, ProWritingAid is worth it for long essays (with the student discount), and Trinka's free tier goes furthest for academic writing.
For students whose real problem is a draft that doesn't sound like them, plus a pile of sources they still have to learn, Conch is our pick. Rewrite Mode reworks AI-assisted text in your own voice, AI checks flag passages that read as machine-written, and the same account turns your sources into notes, flashcards and citations. Pair it with a free grammar checker if you want real-time corrections in every app.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Yes. LanguageTool's free plan checks up to 2,000 characters at a time, Trinka gives 5,000 free words a month for academic writing, and QuillBot's free plan includes basic grammar fixes and a 100-word paraphraser. Conch's free plan includes 500 words a week for rewriting and AI checks, plus free study tools.
Not for individuals. Grammarly for Education is sold to schools and universities, so a student buying Pro pays $12/month billed yearly or $30 month to month. ProWritingAid is the only tool here with a published student discount: 25% off yearly plans for college students.
QuillBot Premium at $99.95/year (about $8.33/month) includes 25,000 words of plagiarism checks a month, which is cheaper than Grammarly Pro at $144/year. Trinka also includes plagiarism checks, priced in credits.
Yes. LanguageTool has free extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, QuillBot has free extensions for Chrome, Edge and Safari, Trinka has a free Chrome extension, and Conch has a Chrome extension that works inside Google Docs and other text boxes.
Grammarly's full AI Detector agent is part of Pro. QuillBot's free plan includes a limited AI detector, and Conch's free plan includes AI checks within its 500 free words a week. Treat any detector score as an estimate, not proof either way.
For some students, yes. Conch isn't a real-time grammar checker in every app, and it has no plagiarism checker. It is stronger when you need to rewrite AI-assisted drafts in your own voice, check text for AI patterns, generate citations, and turn your sources into notes and flashcards. Conch has a free plan, a $7.99 7-Day Assignment Pass, Plus at $15/month, and Unlimited at $25/month or $15/month billed $180 yearly.
Yes, for spelling, grammar and tone. Grammarly Free now includes Authorship, a basic AI detector, a basic humanizer, a citation generator and 100 AI prompts a month. The plagiarism check and the full AI Detector agent need Pro.
Sources & Methodology
- →Grammarly: Pro pricing (grammarly.com/pro)
- →Grammarly: plans (grammarly.com/plans)
- →Grammarly: for education (grammarly.com/edu)
- →QuillBot: Premium (quillbot.com/premium)
- →LanguageTool: Premium (languagetool.org/premium)
- →LanguageTool: App Store listing (apps.apple.com)
- →ProWritingAid: pricing (prowritingaid.com/pricing)
- →Trinka: pricing (trinka.ai/pricing)
Pricing and features verified October 2026. Tools change frequently; we refresh this page periodically to maintain accuracy.
Write it in your own voice, then actually learn it.
Rewrite drafts in your own voice, check for AI patterns, and turn your sources into notes and citations. Free to start.
Try Conch free