The best writing assistant software is the one that fits your process and style (and budget) as a writer.
To help you make the decision, this list of my top 6 favorite writing assistant softwares includes details on the features and pricing for each software.
If you’re not already familiar with writing assistant software, it’s like having a small, super intelligent English teacher inside of your computer, helping you write. ✍️
It fixes your grammar, improves your sentence structure, and even comes up with creative suggestions to strengthen and clarify your writing.
These softwares do it all for you, allowing you to devote more time to what truly matters—expressing your thoughts!
Grammarly
Whereas some of the other softwares in this list are content generators, Grammarly reviews the content you’ve already written.
You can think of the other softwares (like Jasper and Copy) as your writers, and Grammarly is your editor.
It does the basic stuff like spelling, grammar, and punctuation, but it also improves your overall writing by making suggestions for clarity, engagement, style, tone, and context-specific language.
I personally use Grammarly every day and I can’t count the number of times that it has caught a mistake in my writing before I’ve hit “Publish” or “Send.”
I recommend getting the Google Chrome plugin.
Anytime I’m writing in a web browser, whether I’m writing a blog post in WordPress or drafting an email in Gmail, Grammarly is working in the background to review my writing.
If it finds an error, it underlines it in red and I can see the suggested change when I hover over it.
And the coolest thing is that it makes you a better writer the more you use it. Over time, you learn from the mistakes that Grammarly corrects and then you don’t make them as much.
Key features of Grammarly
- Grammar, spelling, and punctuation checks: It does the basics really well.
- Vocabulary enhancements: No more repetitive words.
- Genre-specific writing style checks: For writing a formal report or a casual blog post.
- Plagiarism detector: Double-check to make sure you didn’t copy anyone else’s words exactly.
- Google Chrome plugin: Grammarly works wherever you write online, e.g., WordPress, Google Docs, email.
Pros of using Grammarly ✅
- Real-time error correction: It’s like having an editor looking over your shoulder and fixing your writing as you go.
- User-friendly interface: Simple and clean.
- Highly accurate: It’s checking dictionaries and grammar rulebooks in the background 100x faster than a human can.
Cons of using Grammarly ❌
- The free version is limited: But it’s still really helpful. I use the free version.
- Misses context sometimes: If it makes a wrong suggestion, it’s usually because it doesn’t understand the context.
Grammarly Pricing
Grammarly offers a range of plans to suit different needs and budgets.
Free
- The Free version is, well, free!
- It offers basic writing corrections and is perfect if you’re just looking for a quick spelling/grammar check.
Premium
- Priced at $12 per month when billed annually.
- You get all the benefits of the Free version, plus advanced checks for punctuation, grammar, context, and sentence structure.
- You also get vocabulary enhancement suggestions, genre-specific writing style checks, and a plagiarism detector that checks more than 16 billion web pages!
Business
- Priced at $15 per member per month (when billed annually).
- This version is ideal for teams and offers all the features of the Premium version along with a style guide, centralized billing, and priority email support.
Jasper
Jasper is most well-known as an AI text generator, but it can also check your writing for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and readability.
So, not only can Jasper do the actual writing for you, it can also improve the writing based on your specific needs by using AI to understand the context of your writing and suggest personalized changes.
Another key feature is Jasper’s ability to detect plagiarism. It scans the web for any potential duplications or similarities in your text and notifies you if it finds any matches. This helps you avoid unintentional plagiarism, ensuring that all of your content is 100% original.
Also, read Top 5 Jasper AI Alternatives (2023).
Key features of Jasper
- Capable of writing in various forms: Jasper can write long-form blog posts, social media content, product descriptions, and more.
- Idea generation: It can generate content ideas based on the keywords you provide.
- Plagiarism detector: As mentioned above.
- Powered by AI: Jasper uses machine learning to improve its writing capabilities over time, so it’s a software that grows with you!
Pros of using Jasper ✅
- Long-form content: Jasper is particularly good at generating long-form content, making it perfect for bloggers and marketers.
- Templates: Getting past that blank page is the hardest part. Jasper has a variety of templates to help you get started with any piece of writing.
- User-friendly interface: Easy to navigate, even for beginners.
Cons of using Jasper ❌
- More expensive: It can be a bit on the expensive side for small businesses and individual users.
- Inconsistent tone: I think the AI gets confused and slightly changes the tone throughout longer pieces of writing.
Jasper Pricing
Jasper offers a free trial, so you can test the waters before you dive in.
After that, it offers three different pricing plans: Creator, Teams, and Business.
- The Creator plan is priced at $39 per month (when billed yearly), offering all the basic features you need to get started.
- The Teams plan offers more advanced features and is priced at $99 monthly (when billed yearly).
- For businesses that need more robust features, you can schedule a call with their sales team to discuss a personalized Business plan.
Copy.ai
Copy is similar to Jasper. They’re both AI text generators.
Unlike Jasper, this tool was designed less for long-form content and more for writing effective copy to help you get leads and conversions.
That being said, it still has an amazing long-form template as well.
Key features of Copy.ai
- Various writing forms: Copy.ai can write pretty much anything—blog posts, product descriptions, email newsletters, and more.
- Magic mode: It comes with a ‘magic mode’ where it generates a variety of content ideas based on a single input.
- Powered by AI: The AI learns from your feedback, adapting its style to suit your needs better.
Pros of using Copy.ai ✅
- Better at short-form content: Copy.ai excels at generating short-form content, making it perfect for social media enthusiasts.
- Magic mode: The magic mode is indeed magical, offering a ton of unique and creative content options.
- Budget-friendly: More affordable than Jasper for individuals, solopreneurs, and small businesses.
Cons of using Copy.ai ❌
- Not the best for long-form content: Like ebooks or whitepapers.
- Requires manual editing: You might need to spend some time editing the AI-generated content to ensure it meets your standards.
Copy.ai Pricing
Copy.ai also offers a free trial to give you a taste of what it can do. For the main course, it has two plans:
- There’s a Free plan (you read that right) capped at 2000 words/month.
- The Pro plan is priced at $36 per month, offering a smorgasbord of AI-powered writing features. You can add up to 5 users in this plan.
Writesonic
Writesonic is yet another AI text generator.
If you’ve decided you want to go with an AI text generator as your writing assistant, you’re basically deciding between Jasper, Copy, and WriteSonic—these are the top 3 players in the AI text generation space.
Here are two other blog posts I’ve written that will help you make your final decision on whether to go with Writesonic:
But while you’re here, let’s look at features and pricing for Writesonic …
Key features of Writesonic
- Writesonic is a versatile tool that supports a wide range of content, from blog posts to high-converting landing pages.
- It has an “AI Rewriter” feature that can revamp existing content into something fresh and engaging.
- The platform also offers a headline generator to captivate your audience from the get-go.
Pros of using Writesonic ✅
- The diversity in its content generation capabilities makes it an all-rounder.
- Its AI Rewriter tool is quite impressive, giving old content a new lease of life.
- The headline generator is a real game-changer, helping to attract more eyeballs.
Cons of using Writesonic ❌
- While it’s versatile, Writesonic might not be as specialized in certain writing styles.
- Some users have pointed out that it can sometimes produce generic content.
Writesonic Pricing
Writesonic pricing is unique because it allows you to customize your pricing based on number of users and words per month.
- The Free Trial offers more words per month than Jasper and Copy (10k words peer month instead of 2k).
- The Unlimited plan is priced at $16 per month and offers a good mix of basic features.
- The Business plan, priced at $12.5 per month per person, is the real deal, providing unlimited access to all features.
- You have to contact sales for the Enterprise plan.
Quillbot
Quillbot is best known for its paraphrasing tool.
It can take something you’ve already written and rephrase the whole thing.
You can even take writing generated by Jasper, Copy, or Writesonic and then use Quillbot to rephrase it.
Whether you’re looking to avoid plagiarism, add some variety to your vocabulary, or just to mix things up, you can use Quillbot any time you want to slightly change the wording of your writing.
Quillbot Key Features
- Paraphrasing power: Quillbot takes your words and transforms them into engaging, creative, and original content.
- Seven modes to choose from: Quillbot offers seven writing modes, each designed to cater to different writing needs and styles.
- Multi-language support: It supports multiple languages for global usability.
- Integrations: You can use Quillbot anywhere from Word documents to email, thanks to its browser extension and MS Office add-in.
Pros of using Quillbot ✅
- User-friendly Interface: Quillbot has a clean, clutter-free user interface that’s super easy to navigate.
- Text expansion: Quillbot can help expand a piece of text, making your content more detailed and comprehensive.
- Quality content: Users have praised Quillbot for the quality of text it produces, especially its ability to maintain the original meaning of the content.
Cons of using Quillbot ❌
- Limited free version: While Quillbot does offer a free version, the features and benefits are quite limited compared to the premium version.
- Occasional misinterpretation: Sometimes, the software might misinterpret the context, leading to awkward rephrasing or errors.
Quillbot Pricing
Quillbot provides a free version with limited features to get you started.
For the full experience, you might want to consider their premium plan.
- Free Plan: Get basic paraphrasing help with a word limit per paraphrase.
- Premium Plan: Starts at $9.95 per month (gets cheaper if you pay semi-annually or annually).
Readable
Simply put, Readable is a readability checker, hence the name.
Readability is especially important for copywriters and SEO writers who focus on reader retention. If you want your reader to keep reading past the first paragraph, you need to focus on readability.
Readable specializes in making sure your writing is simple, clear, and reader-friendly.
Key Features of Readable
- Text analysis: Readable provides insightful text analysis, ensuring your content is easy to understand and enjoyable to read.
- SEO optimization: With Readable, not only is your content clear, but it’s also SEO-friendly.
- Various readability metrics: Readable uses the Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog, and other metrics to analyze your content’s readability.
Pros of using Readable ✅
- Text simplification: Readable helps simplify your content, making it more accessible to a wider audience.
- SEO help: Readable provides SEO suggestions, boosting your content’s visibility online.
Cons of using Readable ❌
- Non-intuitive interface: Some users find the interface less intuitive compared to other writing assistants.
Readable Pricing
Readable offers three pricing plans:
- ContentPro: Basic readability tests and text analysis. This starts at $4 per month.
- CommercePro: Priced at $24/month, you get advanced readability metrics, unlimited scoring, and much more.
- AgencyPro: $69/month for large teams managing large projects.
The Final Verdict
Each writing assistant software has its unique strengths and quirks, but, if I had to pick one, I’d go with Jasper.
With its cutting-edge AI technology, Jasper offers everything a writer dreams of—be it ease of use, content generation, text analysis, or SEO optimization.
Here are some of the other blog posts I’ve written about Jasper to help you get started:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Writing Assistant Software
1. What is a Writing Assistant Software and how does it work?
Each writing assistant software is different. You’ve got text generators, spelling/grammar checkers, paraphrasing tools, SEO optimizers, and the list goes on. One commonality is that most writing assistant softwares are powered by AI nowadays.
2. Is it worth investing in a Writing Assistant Software?
It depends. If you’re writing a lot, be it blogs, emails, or academic papers, these tools can literally 10x your productivity, and that’s no exaggeration. They not only help you save time but also enhance the quality of your writing. But do remember, they are aids, not substitutes for good writing practices.
3. Can I use Writing Assistant Software for academic papers?
Again, it depends. Some colleges and universities are starting to put rules in place that prohibit the use of certain technologies by students. That being said, many writing assistant softwares are designed to work perfectly well with academic writing and can help you adhere to complex style guides. Just make sure the software you choose supports the style guide you need.
4. How accurate is the AI in Writing Assistant Software?
While no AI can replace a human proofreader, the AI in writing assistants has become incredibly sophisticated. They can catch most spelling and grammar errors and provide suggestions based on context and intent. But, like all technology, it’s not 100% perfect, so a quick human review is always a good idea.
5. Are Writing Assistant Software expensive?
That depends on your budget and needs. Most writing assistant software tools offer free versions with basic features. However, for more advanced features like unlimited checks, plagiarism detection, and style-specific writing feedback, you might have to go for a premium plan.