The short version
- For a novel or other long manuscript: ProWritingAid. It has fiction reports on pacing, overused words and sensory detail, a Chapter Critique, and it works inside Scrivener and Atticus as well as Word and Google Docs.
- For everything you type, on every device: Grammarly. It runs on Windows, Mac, the web, iOS and Android, with browser extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge.
- For the lowest yearly price: ProWritingAid Premium at $120 a year, against $144 for Grammarly Pro. ProWritingAid also sells a lifetime licence; Grammarly does not.
On the BookBird Author Score, ProWritingAid leads 8.8 to 8.1. Both earn full Cost points for their free plans. ProWritingAid confirms all seven editing jobs on our list, including fiction reports and a statement that your writing is not used to train AI; Grammarly confirms five, and its own trust page says it uses your text to improve its models unless you opt out. Grammarly’s far higher search interest narrows the gap.
ProWritingAid vs Grammarly, side by side
| ProWritingAid | Grammarly | |
|---|---|---|
| Author Score | 8.8 | 8.1 |
| Author jobs | 50 / 50 | 35.7 / 50 |
| Cost | 25 / 25 | 25 / 25 |
| Adoption | 13.5 / 25 | 20 / 25 |
| Plans (USD) |
|
|
| Pricing | Free plan + paid plans, one-time option | Free plan + paid plans |
| Free trial | Free plan instead | 7 days |
| Platforms | web, Windows, Mac, browser extension | Windows, Mac, web, iOS, Android, browser extension |
| Grammar and spelling | Yes | Yes |
| Style reports | Yes | Yes |
| Fiction reports | Yes | not stated |
| Handles a whole manuscript | Yes | Yes |
| Works in Word, Google Docs or Scrivener | Yes | Yes |
| Custom dictionary or style rules | Yes | Yes |
| Your text is not used for training | Yes | No |
| US searches a month | 18,100 | 2,740,000 |
| Full details | ProWritingAid: price and features | Grammarly: price and features |
Prices in USD as shown on each vendor’s site on October 7, 2026.
Price: the same month, a different year
Paid by the month, the two are level: ProWritingAid Premium and Grammarly Pro both cost $30. The difference shows up on longer billing. ProWritingAid Premium is $120 a year ($10 a month), and Premium Pro is $144 a year. Grammarly Pro is $60 a quarter or $144 a year. So a year of ProWritingAid’s basic paid plan costs $24 less than a year of Grammarly Pro, and its top plan costs the same.
ProWritingAid is the only one of the two with a lifetime licence: $399 for Premium or $699 for Premium Pro, paid once. The $399 Premium licence costs less than three years of Grammarly Pro at $144 a year, which comes to $432. ProWritingAid offers a 3-day money-back guarantee on its yearly and lifetime plans. Grammarly offers a 7-day trial of Pro. Grammarly also has an Enterprise plan with custom pricing, which an author working alone will not need.
Free plans
Both free plans check spelling and grammar. ProWritingAid’s free plan checks 500 words at a time, which means pasting a chapter in pieces. Grammarly’s free plan includes 100 generative AI prompts a month, against 2,000 on Pro. If you only need a grammar pass on short texts such as blurbs, emails and social posts, either free plan will do; for a full manuscript, the 500-word limit is the one to plan around.
What each one checks
ProWritingAid: reports for fiction
Beyond grammar, spelling and punctuation, ProWritingAid lists more than 25 writing reports, including pacing, overused words, sensory detail and readability. Chapter Critique gives feedback on a chapter, Story Canvas gives feedback on a story idea, and a comparison feature measures your writing against 90 fiction authors. You can set up your own style guide and dictionary, which helps with invented names in fantasy and science fiction. It has a Rephrase tool for rewriting sentences.
It works inside Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Scrivener and Atticus. That matters for authors, because it means you can check a manuscript in the app you draft or format it in. See our book writing software comparison for Scrivener and Atticus themselves.
Grammarly: checks everywhere
Grammarly covers spelling and grammar correction, tone detection and adjustment, full-sentence rewrites and fluency suggestions. It also lists plagiarism and AI-generated text detection, and citation consistency, which ProWritingAid’s feature list in our data does not mention. Its generative AI prompts can draft or rewrite text on request.
Its strength is reach. Grammarly runs on Windows, Mac, the web, iOS and Android, integrates with Google Docs and Microsoft Office, and has extensions for the four main browsers. If much of your writing happens on a phone or in a browser, from newsletters to Amazon author pages, it follows you there.
What neither one replaces
Neither tool replaces a human editor. Both flag issues and suggest fixes, and the judgement on structure, plot and character stays with you or the editor you hire. Our guide to copy editing vs proofreading explains which stage of editing software can cover and which needs a person.
Platforms and where they run
Grammarly is listed for Windows, Mac, the web, iOS and Android, plus a browser extension. ProWritingAid is listed for the web, Windows, Mac and a browser extension, with no mobile apps in the data we collected. Platforms are not part of the score; they are a filter on our editing software list, where you can narrow it to the devices you write on.
Search interest
Grammarly is searched about 2,740,000 times a month in the US and ProWritingAid about 18,100 (Google Ads data via DataForSEO). That gives Grammarly the full 20 Adoption points and ProWritingAid 13.5. Search interest measures how widely a tool is used, not how well it edits a novel.
Which one should an author choose?
Choose ProWritingAid if your main job is editing a book-length manuscript, especially fiction. The reports are built around the problems novelists look for, it plugs into Scrivener and Atticus, it costs less per year, and you can buy it once.
Choose Grammarly if you need checks across many short texts and devices, if you want plagiarism detection, or if you write on your phone.
Some authors use both: Grammarly’s free plan for everyday writing and ProWritingAid for the manuscript. For a free check of readability and passive voice before you pay for either, Hemingway Editor’s free online editor is in the table below, and our guide to active vs passive voice explains what it is flagging.
Other editing software we score
| Software | Score | Price from | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AutoCrit | 8.0 | Free plan; paid from $180 a year | Fiction authors self-editing a full draft in a browser |
| LanguageTool | 7.3 | Free plan; paid from $69.90 a year | Authors writing in several languages, inside Word or Google Docs |
| Marlowe | 7.0 | Free plan; paid from $29.95 one-time | Novelists wanting a structural critique of a full draft, per report |
| Hemingway Editor | 6.6 | Free plan; paid from $19.99 one-time | Writers tightening prose; one-time desktop app or AI subscription |
| Scribens | 6.6 | Free plan | Authors wanting a free web grammar check with repetition and readability reports |
| EditGPT | 5.6 | $96 a year | Authors wanting AI proofreading of a full DOCX manuscript |
| Ginger Software | 5.6 | Free plan; paid from $45 a year | Authors drafting in Word on Windows wanting low-cost grammar fixes |
| Slick Write | 5.6 | Free | Authors wanting free style feedback on chapters, not whole books |
| PerfectIt | 5.1 | $115 a year | Authors and editors enforcing consistent style across a Word manuscript |
| Fictionary | 4.4 | $168 a year | Novelists doing a structural self-edit before line editing |
Hemingway Editor focuses on readability: it grades text, highlights wordy sentences and passive voice, and lets you set a target reading level. Its free online editor costs nothing, and the desktop app costs $19.99 once. AutoCrit is a fiction-focused online editor that compares a manuscript against major genres and includes a Story Analyzer for character arcs and plot threads.
How the BookBird Author Score works
Built for self-published authors, from facts anyone can check: each vendor’s own pages, read on October 7–14, 2026, and US Google search volumes (Google Ads data via DataForSEO). Nobody pays to be listed, and no score is adjusted by hand. We did not test the apps by writing a book in them; the score measures what they do for an author, what they cost and how widely they are used.
- Author jobs, 50 points. Each category has a list of jobs an author needs that kind of software to do. A job counts only when the vendor’s own pages say the product does it; a job they do not mention earns nothing, and the product page says which ones.
- Editing & grammar: grammar and spelling, style reports, fiction reports, handles a whole manuscript, works in Word, Google Docs or Scrivener, custom dictionary or style rules and your text is not used for training.
- Cost, 25 points. What one year costs a single author on the cheapest plan with a USD price. A one-time licence is spread over 3 years. A free plan, or a platform that takes no upfront fee, earns all 25; the dearest product in the category keeps 5.
- Adoption, 25 points. How many people in the US search Google for the product by name each month: 20 points on a log scale against the most searched product in the category, and 5 for the trend, comparing the last three months with the first three of the year.
The score is the points earned divided by the points that could be checked, on a 10-point scale. A part with no data (no USD price, no search volume) is left out rather than guessed. How long a product has existed is not scored: few vendors state it. Review sites are not used: for most of these products the profiles rate the whole company or hold a handful of reviews.
| Editing & grammar | Author jobs /50 | Cost /25 | Adoption /25 | Score /10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ProWritingAid | 50 | 25 | 13.5 | 8.8 |
| Grammarly | 35.7 | 25 | 20 | 8.1 |
Questions
Is ProWritingAid better than Grammarly for fiction?
For fiction, ProWritingAid has more of the checks novelists use: pacing, overused words, sensory detail, a Chapter Critique and a comparison with 90 fiction authors. Grammarly has no fiction-specific reports in its feature list.
Which is cheaper, ProWritingAid or Grammarly?
Monthly, they cost the same ($30). Yearly, ProWritingAid Premium is $120 and Grammarly Pro $144. ProWritingAid also has lifetime licences at $399 and $699.
Does ProWritingAid work in Scrivener?
Yes. ProWritingAid lists Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Scrivener and Atticus as apps it works inside.
Does Grammarly have a mobile app?
Yes. Grammarly is listed for iOS and Android as well as Windows, Mac and the web. ProWritingAid does not list mobile apps.
Is there a free trial?
Grammarly offers a 7-day trial of Pro. ProWritingAid does not state a trial; it has a free plan and a 3-day money-back guarantee on yearly and lifetime plans.