Best Proofreading Software and Apps in 2026 (Free and Paid)
Compare the best proofreading software and apps in 2026 on price, free plans, accuracy and Word support. ProofreaderPro is our pick for academic papers.
The best proofreading software depends on what you write. For academic papers and theses, we recommend ProofreaderPro.ai, because it keeps your citations intact and returns every edit as a tracked change in Word. For emails and everyday writing, Grammarly works in your browser, in Word and on your phone. ProWritingAid suits long manuscripts, and LanguageTool suits writing in other languages.
We tested free tiers and paid plans on 30 academic papers to see which proofreading software works for which job. Prices and app details are from each company's site in October 2026.
What is the best proofreading tool in 2026?
The best proofreading tool is the one built for the writing you do most, and for academic writing that's ProofreaderPro.ai. If most of your writing is email, fiction or another language, a different tool fits better.
| What you write | Good fit | Why it fits | Paid plan from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research papers, theses and dissertations | ProofreaderPro.ai | Keeps APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE and Turabian citations and exports tracked changes to Word | $19 a month |
| Emails, reports and business writing | Grammarly | Works in the browser, Word, Google Docs and on iPhone and Android | $12 a month, billed annually |
| Novels and long manuscripts | ProWritingAid | More than 25 reports on style, pacing and repetition | $10 a month, billed yearly |
| Writing in other languages | LanguageTool | Checks more than 30 languages and dialects | $69.90 a year |
| Academic writing in a second language | Trinka | Academic style guides and file proofreading with tracked changes | $80 a year |
| House style and consistency | PerfectIt | Checks acronyms, capitalization and house style across a whole document | $10 a month, billed yearly |
| Shorter, clearer sentences | Hemingway Editor | Highlights long sentences, passive voice and adverbs for free | $19.99 once (desktop app) |
ProofreaderPro.ai and Trinka are the two tools here built for academic writing. ProofreaderPro.ai also preserves citations in five styles, has three editing levels and includes a humanizer and translation in the same editor.
Free vs paid proofreading software: prices and limits compared
These are list prices from each company's site in October 2026, in US dollars.
| Software | Free tier | Paid price | Academic focus | Tracked changes | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ProofreaderPro.ai | 250 words/mo | $19 to $29/mo | High | Yes (.docx, Academic Plus) | Academic research |
| Grammarly | Spelling, grammar, tone, 100 AI prompts/mo | $12 to $30/mo | Low | No | Business writing |
| ProWritingAid | 2 report runs/day, up to 500 words | $10/mo, billed yearly | Medium | No | Long-form analysis |
| Trinka | 5,000 words/mo | $80/year | High | Yes (file proofreading) | ESL academic writing |
| QuillBot | 100 words per paraphrase, basic grammar | $4.17/mo, billed annually | Low | No | Paraphrasing |
| Hemingway | Full readability checker (web app) | $19.99 one-time (desktop) | Low | No | Readability |
| LanguageTool | 2,000 characters per text field | $24.90/mo or $69.90/year | Medium | No | Multilingual grammar |
Free limits decide how much you can check before you pay. ProWritingAid's free reports take up to 500 words, which is about two pages. Trinka's 5,000 free words a month cover a short article, and ProofreaderPro.ai's 250 free words are enough to test the editing on a few paragraphs.
1. ProofreaderPro.ai: Best proofreading software for academic writing
We built ProofreaderPro.ai, so we're biased. We still rank it first for academic writing because of its citation handling and tracked changes.
ProofreaderPro.ai is professional proofreading software built for academic papers. It has three editing levels (Light, Standard and Comprehensive), keeps your citation formatting, recognizes discipline terms and exports tracked changes as a Word file.
Free tier: 250 words a month in the editor, to test the editing quality before you pay.
Paid plans: Academic is $19 a month for 25,000 words, and Academic Plus is $29 a month for 50,000 words. Paying yearly costs $169 or $259.
What it does well: Fixes grammar and style errors with academic context in mind. Preserves APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE and Turabian citations. Exports every edit as a tracked change on Academic Plus. Includes text humanization, paraphrasing, summarization and translation in 60+ languages.
Weaknesses: No browser extension, so you work in our editor. It isn't designed for casual writing such as emails or social posts.
Verdict: The best proofreading software if academic papers are your primary output.
2. Grammarly: Proofreading software for everyday and business writing
Grammarly is the best-known name among proofreading programs. Its browser extension works in Gmail, Google Docs, LinkedIn, Slack and most text fields on the web, and it has apps for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android. It's a convenient choice if you write on many platforms every day.
Free tier: Spelling and grammar corrections, a tone check and 100 AI prompts a month. Full-sentence rewrites and plagiarism checks need Pro.
Paid plan: $12/month (annual) to $30/month (monthly).
What it does well: Real-time corrections as you type. Tone and formality suggestions help with professional writing. The browser extension is polished and easy to use. A good fit for business communication.
Weaknesses: Flagged correctly formatted APA citations as errors in 30% of our test papers. No tracked changes export. English only. Its suggestions can make academic text sound conversational.
Verdict: A good choice for business writing. For research papers, an academic tool fits better, and our list of free Grammarly alternatives for academic writing covers the options. Our AI proofreading tools comparison has more on how Grammarly compares with academic tools.
3. ProWritingAid: Proofreading program for style reports and long manuscripts
ProWritingAid fixes errors and also runs detailed reports on readability, sentence length, overused words and pacing. Paid plans include more than 25 of these reports. They're most useful for book-length manuscripts and dissertations.
Free tier: Grammar, spelling and punctuation checks, plus 2 report runs a day on up to 500 words.
Paid plan: Premium is $10 a month billed yearly ($120), and Premium Pro is $12 a month billed yearly ($144). A lifetime plan is also available.
What it does well: Detailed reports on your writing patterns, including sentence structure and pacing. Works in Word, Google Docs and Scrivener. A custom style guide on Premium.
Weaknesses: A lot of detail for a quick edit. The reports focus on creative and business writing. No citation handling. No tracked changes .docx export.
Verdict: A good fit for dissertation writers who want to improve their style over time. For a quick proofread before submission, a simpler tool is faster.
4. Trinka: Academic proofreading software for non-native English writers
Trinka is the other tool on this list built for academic writing. It's made by Enago, an academic editing company, and it handles scientific terms and academic register well.
Free tier: 5,000 words a month on the Basic plan, enough for light academic editing.
Paid plan: Premium is listed at $80 a year, and Premium Plus at $125 a year.
What it does well: Grammar corrections for academic writing. Recognizes field-specific terminology. Consistency and technical spelling checks. Style guide corrections for APA, AMA, ACS, AGU and IEEE. Proofreads Word and LaTeX files and returns them with tracked changes on paid plans.
Weaknesses: Editing suggestions are sometimes conservative. No humanizer. File proofreading uses credits, with up to 10 files a month on Premium.
Verdict: A good academic proofreading program with a useful free plan, and worth trying if English is your second language.
5. QuillBot: Paraphrasing tool with a basic grammar checker
QuillBot is mainly a paraphrasing tool, and it includes a grammar checker. Premium has nine paraphrasing modes plus custom modes you create yourself, so you can control how much a sentence changes.
Free tier: Paraphrasing up to 100 words in 2 modes, and basic grammar fixes.
Paid plan: Premium is $4.17 a month, billed annually.
What it does well: Paraphrasing with control over style and intensity. Clean interface. Low price. Includes a summarizer and apps for Word, browsers and phones.
Weaknesses: Altered established academic terminology in 25% of our test passages. Citation handling is unreliable: references were dropped in 40% of citation-heavy sections. Grammar checker is basic. Not a replacement for dedicated proofreading software.
Verdict: Useful for paraphrasing next to a proofreading program. For academic paraphrasing that keeps your citations, try our academic paraphrasing tool.
6. Hemingway Editor: Free readability checker
Hemingway Editor is a simple readability checker. Paste your text in, and it highlights long sentences, passive voice, adverbs and simpler word choices in different colors. The free web version needs no account.
Free tier: The full readability checker in the web app.
Paid plan: The Hemingway Editor 3 desktop app for Mac or Windows is a $19.99 one-time purchase. Hemingway Editor Plus is a subscription that adds AI fixes and a grammar checker, with a two-week free trial.
What it does well: Instant readability feedback with color-coded highlights. Easy to learn. The desktop app is a one-time purchase.
Weaknesses: The free version has no grammar or spelling check. It flags every passive sentence, and passive voice is standard in many scientific fields. It has no academic features, so you'll need a grammar tool next to it.
Verdict: A useful free companion tool for readability checks. Pair it with a grammar-focused proofreading program.
7. LanguageTool: Multilingual proofreading software
LanguageTool checks more than 30 languages and dialects, with grammar rules for each language. If you write in German, French, Spanish or Portuguese, it finds errors that English-only tools miss.
Free tier: 2,000 characters per text field, about 300 words.
Paid plan: Premium is listed at $24.90 a month or $69.90 a year, with up to 150,000 characters per text field.
What it does well: Grammar checking in many languages. Open-source core. Add-ons for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, Google Docs and Word. Low annual price.
Weaknesses: Academic-specific corrections are limited compared to ProofreaderPro.ai or Trinka. No citation handling. No tracked changes. English grammar checking is less accurate than Grammarly or ProofreaderPro.ai.
Verdict: A good option if you need proofreading software for a language other than English. For English academic writing, an academic tool is a better fit.
Best proofreading apps for phone, browser and Word
The best proofreading app is the one that works where you write. Grammarly and QuillBot work in the most places, with browser extensions, Word add-ins, desktop apps and keyboard apps for iPhone and Android. ProofreaderPro.ai works in a web editor, where you upload a Word or PDF file and download the edited version.
| Tool | Browser | Word and Google Docs | Desktop app | Phone and tablet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ProofreaderPro.ai | Web editor | Word file upload, tracked-changes export to Word | None | None |
| Grammarly | Web editor; Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge extensions | Word add-in, Google Docs | Windows, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| QuillBot | Web editor; Chrome, Edge and Safari extensions | Word add-in | Windows, macOS | iOS and Android keyboard and app |
| LanguageTool | Web editor; Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari and Opera add-ons | Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages, LibreOffice | Windows, macOS | iOS |
| ProWritingAid | Web editor; Chrome, Edge and Firefox extensions | Word, Google Docs, Scrivener | Windows, Mac | None stated |
| Trinka | Cloud editor; Chrome, Firefox and Edge extensions | Word for Windows and Mac | Windows | None stated |
| Hemingway Editor | Web editor | Imports and exports Word files (desktop app) | Mac, Windows | None stated |
| Microsoft Editor | Built into Edge; extension for Edge and Chrome | Built into Word | Word for Microsoft 365 | None stated |
| Google Docs | Built into Google Docs | Google Docs | None | Android, iPhone and iPad apps |
If you write on your phone, the Grammarly and QuillBot keyboards check what you type in other apps, such as email and messages. LanguageTool has an iOS app. Free versions of these apps check spelling and basic grammar, and style suggestions and rewrites are on the paid plans.
For a research paper, a laptop is the better place to proofread. You need the full page to review tracked changes, tables and the reference list.
How to proofread a PDF or Word file
To proofread a PDF, upload it to a tool that accepts PDF files, or convert it to Word first. ProofreaderPro.ai accepts .docx, .pdf and .txt uploads on the Academic plan and up. Academic exports the edited text to Word, and Academic Plus adds PDF export and a Word file with tracked changes.
Trinka proofreads Word and LaTeX files, and the Hemingway desktop app imports Word files and exports to Word or PDF. If a supervisor or journal editor needs to see your changes, send a Word file with tracked changes, so they can accept or reject each edit.
Academic Proofreading Software That Understands Citations
ProofreaderPro.ai preserves your citation formatting, exports tracked changes, and handles 60+ languages. Free to try, with plans from $19 a month.
Start FreeBest free proofreading software, including Word and Google Docs
The best free proofreading software for most people is the checker already built into Word or Google Docs, plus the free plan of one dedicated tool. Microsoft Editor is built into Word and checks spelling and grammar for free in more than 20 languages. A Microsoft 365 subscription adds suggestions for clarity, conciseness and formality.
Google Docs checks spelling and grammar in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Italian, at no cost. Misspelled words get a red underline and grammar suggestions a blue one, and you can accept them one by one or all at once.
| Free option | What's free | Limit | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Editor in Word | Spelling and grammar | Free with a Microsoft account | Office documents |
| Google Docs | Spelling and grammar suggestions | 6 languages | Shared drafts |
| ProofreaderPro.ai Free | The full editor with all three editing levels | 250 words a month | Testing academic editing |
| ProofreaderPro.ai grammar checker | Grammar check with every fix explained | 2 checks a day, up to 250 words each | Short academic passages |
| Grammarly Free | Spelling, grammar and tone | 100 AI prompts a month | Emails and web writing |
| LanguageTool Free | Grammar and spelling in 30+ languages | 2,000 characters per text field | Short texts in other languages |
| Trinka Basic | Academic grammar checks (Lite mode) | 5,000 words a month | Light academic editing |
| ProWritingAid Free | Grammar, spelling and punctuation | 2 report runs a day, up to 500 words | Short creative pieces |
| QuillBot Free | Basic grammar fixes and paraphrasing | 100 words per paraphrase | Quick rewrites |
| Hemingway Editor | Readability highlights | Web app only | Shorter, clearer sentences |
Our free grammar checker, spell checker and punctuation checker each give you 2 checks a day of up to 250 words with a free account. They suit a last check of an abstract or a cover letter.
A free plan is enough for emails, short assignments and a final spelling check. For a thesis or journal article, the free plans of dedicated tools cover a few pages at most. Word and Google Docs have no word limit, but their free checkers cover spelling and grammar only, with no academic editing.
How accurate is proofreading software?
Proofreading software fixes many errors, but studies show it misses a large share of them. In a 2026 study in the Journal of Second Language Writing, Koltovskaia, Saeli and Rahmati compared Grammarly with human annotators on 53 argumentative essays by second-language writers. Grammarly found 51% of the sentence-level problems the annotators marked, and most of the corrections it suggested were right.
An earlier study in CALICO Journal by John and Woll (2020) compared Grammarly, Virtual Writing Tutor and the grammar checker in Microsoft Word on ESL writing. Grammarly and Virtual Writing Tutor did better than Word, but none of the three flagged half of the errors.
| Study | Tools | Writing checked | Main finding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Koltovskaia, Saeli and Rahmati (2026) | Grammarly | 53 argumentative essays by second-language writers | Found 51% of the problems human annotators marked; most suggested corrections were right |
| John and Woll (2020) | Grammarly, Virtual Writing Tutor, Microsoft Word | ESL writing samples | Grammarly and Virtual Writing Tutor did better than Word, and each flagged under half of the errors |
Proofreading software also flags correct text as wrong, which is called a false positive. In academic writing, false positives often involve citations, technical terms and passive voice. In our tests, Grammarly flagged correctly formatted APA citations as errors in 30% of papers, and Hemingway flags every passive sentence.
You get fewer false positives when you choose an academic writing setting or your style guide. It also helps to add your field's terms to the tool's dictionary and to read each suggestion before you accept it. Tracked changes help here, because you see every edit in place and reject the ones that change your meaning. Before a journal submission, read the final version yourself or have a human proofreader check it.
Proofreading software for professional writers, editors and teams
Professional writers and editors need two things that a grammar checker doesn't give them: a house style the software applies, and a consistency check across the whole document. PerfectIt is proofreading software for professionals that does both. It finds missing acronym definitions, inconsistent capitalization, hyphenation and numerals, and it applies your style guide.
PerfectIt Professional costs $10 a month billed yearly ($115), and the Team plan for 3 to 100 users is $13 a month billed yearly ($155). It can also check against The Chicago Manual of Style if you have a CMOS Online subscription. The Windows edition works offline, and PerfectIt Cloud works on a Mac.
| Tool | Style rules you can set | Consistency checks | Plans for teams |
|---|---|---|---|
| PerfectIt | House styles, The Chicago Manual of Style (with CMOS Online) | Acronyms, capitalization, hyphenation, numerals | Team (3 to 100 users) and Enterprise |
| Grammarly | Style guide and brand tones | Spelling and use of brand terms | Pro for teams, Enterprise |
| LanguageTool | Personal style guide; team style guide and dictionary | Picky mode for stricter style checks | Teams |
| ProWritingAid | Custom style guide (Premium) | Writing consistency and acronym reports | None stated |
| Trinka | APA, AMA, ACS, AGU and IEEE style corrections | Consistency checks | Enterprise and institution plans |
For business reports and white papers, a shared style guide in Grammarly or LanguageTool keeps a team's terms and tone consistent. For academic manuscripts, ProofreaderPro.ai keeps your citation style and shows every edit as a tracked change, so a co-author or supervisor can review it. When a document has to be final, our academic proofreading service adds a check by a human editor.
Proofreading software for languages other than English
ProofreaderPro.ai proofreads in 60+ languages, and LanguageTool checks more than 30 languages and dialects. Most other tools in this list focus on English, and Google Docs covers six languages.
| Tool | Languages it checks |
|---|---|
| ProofreaderPro.ai | 60+ languages, plus academic translation in 60+ languages on Academic Plus |
| LanguageTool | More than 30 languages and dialects |
| Microsoft Editor | More than 20 languages |
| Google Docs | English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Italian |
| QuillBot | Grammar in 6 languages, paraphrasing in 23 |
| Grammarly | English |
| Trinka | English, with file translation into 30+ languages on Premium Plus |
If English is your second language, an academic tool fixes grammar and also adjusts your tone to academic register. ProofreaderPro.ai can translate your draft into academic English, and you proofread the result in the same editor.
Proofreading software vs. a human proofreader
Proofreading software is faster and cheaper, and a human proofreader is more thorough on meaning, consistency and journal requirements. Software checks a passage in seconds for a monthly fee. A human proofreader checks the whole document, including whether terms, numbers and references match from start to finish.
| Proofreading software | Human proofreader | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free to about $30 a month | Per word, for example $0.018 a word for our academic proofreading |
| Speed | Seconds per passage | 4 to 5 days under 20,000 words, or 48 hours on express |
| What it checks | Grammar, spelling, punctuation and style | The whole document, including consistent terms and citations |
| Review | Suggestions or tracked changes | Tracked changes in Word, plus an editing certificate for theses |
| Best for | Drafts, emails and regular writing | Theses, journal submissions and final versions |
Our academic proofreading service costs US$0.018 per word, so a 6,000-word article is about US$108. Express 48-hour delivery costs twice the standard rate. Editing + Proofreading, at US$0.036 per word, also works on structure, clarity and academic tone.
A good routine is to use software on every draft and a human proofreader once, on the final version. Our online proofreading and editing guide explains the options in more detail.
Which proofreading software should you choose?
If academic papers are your priority, ProofreaderPro.ai gives you tracked changes, citation preservation and full academic editing from $19 a month. If you write mostly emails and business documents, Grammarly's browser extension is a convenient choice.
If you want writing analytics, ProWritingAid's reports help you improve over time. If budget is your main constraint, Hemingway (free) plus LanguageTool's free tier covers readability and basic grammar at no cost.
The best proofreading software is the one that matches the writing you do most. A researcher needs citation handling and tracked changes, and a business writer needs an extension that works in email.
Features to compare before you pay
| Feature | Why it matters | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Citation handling | A tool that changes your citations creates errors you then have to fix | Students and researchers |
| Tracked changes in Word | You can review, accept or reject each edit | Anyone who shares drafts with a supervisor, co-author or editor |
| Editing levels | Light editing fixes errors, and deeper levels improve clarity and flow | Writers with drafts at different stages |
| Apps and extensions | The tool works where you write | People who write in email, documents and on the web |
| Languages | Grammar rules for your language | Writers who don't write in English |
| Word limits | Limits decide how much you can check each month | Anyone with long documents |
| Style guides | Keeps a team's spelling, terms and tone consistent | Editors and business teams |
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is free proofreading software good enough for academic papers?
Free proofreading software is fine for a last check of a short paper. ProofreaderPro.ai's free plan lets you test the editor on 250 words a month, and Trinka's Basic plan covers 5,000 words a month. Grammarly Free checks spelling, grammar and tone, and Hemingway checks readability but not grammar. For a full thesis or journal article, a paid plan gives you enough words and tracked changes.
Q: Can proofreading programs catch citation formatting errors?
ProofreaderPro.ai preserves APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE and Turabian citations while it edits, and Trinka has a citation checker and formatter that uses credits. In our tests, general tools such as Grammarly, ProWritingAid and QuillBot often flagged correct citations as errors or tried to change them, which creates more work.
Q: Should I use multiple proofreading programs together?
Yes, because each tool finds different problems. A practical combination is ProofreaderPro.ai for academic editing and tracked changes, Hemingway for a quick readability check and Grammarly's free browser extension for emails and admin writing.
Q: What's the difference between proofreading software and editing software?
Proofreading software focuses on surface errors such as grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting. Editing software, or the editing features in a proofreading tool, also works on style, clarity, structure and the flow of your argument. ProofreaderPro.ai's three editing levels cover both: Light for proofreading, and Standard and Comprehensive for deeper editing.
Q: What is the best proofreading app for iPhone and Android?
Grammarly and QuillBot both have keyboard apps for iPhone and Android that check your writing in other apps. LanguageTool has an iOS app, and Google Docs checks spelling and grammar in its phone apps. For a research paper, a laptop is easier, because you need room to review tracked changes.
Q: Does Microsoft Word have a built-in proofreader?
Yes. Microsoft Editor is built into Word and checks spelling and grammar for free in more than 20 languages. A Microsoft 365 subscription adds clarity, conciseness and formality suggestions. For academic editing levels and citation handling, you'll need a dedicated tool.
Q: How much does proofreading software cost?
Most paid proofreading software costs between US$4 and US$30 a month. QuillBot Premium is US$4.17 a month billed annually, Grammarly Pro is US$12 a month billed annually, and ProofreaderPro.ai Academic is US$19 a month. The Hemingway desktop app is a one-time US$19.99, and human proofreading is priced per word.
Q: What is the best proofreading software for editors?
For editors, a consistency checker is the most useful addition to a grammar checker. PerfectIt checks acronyms, capitalization and house style across a whole document, from US$10 a month billed yearly. For academic manuscripts, ProofreaderPro.ai returns every edit as a tracked change you can review in Word.
Q: Can proofreading software check a PDF?
Yes, if the tool accepts PDF uploads. ProofreaderPro.ai accepts .pdf uploads on the Academic plan and up, and Academic Plus exports the edited text as a Word file with tracked changes. With most other tools, convert the PDF to Word first.
Three editing levels, tracked changes export, citation preservation, and 60+ languages. Free to try.
Dana is a content creator at ProofreaderPro, where she runs the daily blog and writing operations. She writes the articles on how the online editing platform works, and she handles customer messages every day, with a five-star satisfaction score to show for it.
