Which is the Best Writing Assistant? (Grammarly vs ProWritingAid vs Sapling.ai)

A proofreading tool or grammar checking tool or a writing assistant, whatever you call it, is a software that can help you check written articles or fresh content for grammatical mistakes, punctuation, sentence structure, and spelling issues.

Such a tool is designed to check writing style, tone, and syntax to make your writing perfect.

There are dozens of such tools and they all work in a different way.

For example, in popular tools like Grammarly, you can upload files, write in their text reader, install apps and install browser extensions to get continuous suggestions while writing and editing. Other important tools matching the impact of Grammarly are ProWritingAid and Sapling.ai.

What should a great writing assistant offer?

All of us require a writing assistant that has more features, corrects spelling mistakes, and suggests how to frame sentences. It should also be able to help in enhancing the readability, style, and tone of the article. Writing assistants with a personal dictionary and a plagiarism checker are more useful.

Why use a writing assistant?

Writing assistants are a must as they help writers write high-quality and error-free articles. These also help enhance SEO and readability of the content and help improve writing skills. The best writing assistants even offer human ready content detection so that your content doesn't only look correct but is also more humane in nature.

While all writing assistants allow you to perform online grammar checks for free, the best features of writing assistants are only available in paid upgrades.

Grammarly vs ProWritingAid vs Sapling.ai — Feature Comparison

Writing Assistant Comparison Grammarly vs ProWritingAid vs SaplingAi image
Features:GrammarlyProWritingAidSapling
Autocorrect
yes
no
yes
Grammar Check
yes
yes
yes
Plagiarism Check
yes
yes
no
Sentence rephrase
yes
no
no
Sentence formatting
yes
yes
yes
Style editor
yes
yes
yes
Tone Checker
yes
yes
yes
Engagement Metrics
yes
yes
yes
Enterprises based
yes
yes
yes

Grammarly

Main article: Grammarly Review

The Grammarly writing assistant checks the grammar of your article and gives you extensive feedback on writing. This tool proofreads your content and helps improve it in many ways. This is a great tool that has a premium version to check for active-passive voice and repetition of words.

Grammarly — the best features

  • It uses web extensions to check your writing across the web. You can use a Grammarly web extension like chrome extension to check your emails, articles, writings, and content. 
  • It checks punctuation and grammar even in the WordPress editor through extension or browser. You can correct your blog posts for spelling check and grammar check online using Grammarly extension. 
  • There is a free checker version for those with a limited budget
  • The paid version provides amazing writing insights and the reason behind the grammar mistakes. 
  • The paid version enhances readability and gives suggestions to enhance vocabulary and improve sentences.

What's great?

  • Great to use UI
  • Cross platform, mobile apps available
  • Provides writing insights
  • It has a powerful grammar checker and spell checker
  • Trusted by millions

What is not so great?

  • No personal dictionary
  • Premium is too expensive for starters

ProWritingAid

Main article: ProWritingAid Review

ProWritingAid Grammar checker software is mostly a grammar checker that acts as a personal writing coach and a virtual writing tutor.

It is an amazing software for professionals as it checks cliches, repetition, and redundancies. It is a complete writing coach and improves your writing with flow and ease of reading.

ProWritingAid — the best features

  • It integrates well with MS Word, Google Docs, Open Office, and Scrivener.
  • ProWritingAid can be downloaded on Mac and Windows or you can install a plugin on your browser. It can be downloaded on Google doc or Word. 
  • The browser extension can be used while writing on any website like Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, etc. 
  • A web editor can be used to paste text and check grammar and spelling mistakes and you can also upload a document of your writing. 
  • There is a feature called Echoes that identifies places where phrases or words are overused. 
  • ProWritingAid supports only British and American English so it is less ideal
  • It takes longer than Grammarly and Sapling to identify the mistakes and the user interface is less polished. 
  • This helps you optimize the readability of your articles on the basis of the Flesch reading score.

What's great?

  • Great features for self-editing
  • One of the most affordable spelling and grammar checkers
  • It is quite accurate
  • It is amazing for fiction writers and Scrivener fans

What is not so great?

  • Less useful when English is a second language
  • Slower than other grammar checkers
  • No mobile version
  • The user interface is less polished

Sapling.ai

The best among the three in terms of corrections — Sapling.ai is my personal favorite.

Sapling is an AI-powered grammar checker software that was originally built for enterprises but is also available for individuals.

It catches more than 60% of language problems besides spelling and grammar checker. It works on all the text-based web apps like Gmail, Salesforce Lightning, and Zendesk and helps improve writing ability.

It helps the users avoid repetition in articles, increases efficiency, and reduces typos. This tool can be installed instantly and you can start using it quickly.

Sapling.ai — the best features

  • It can be used by installing a browser extension.
  • It also has custom add-ons for Google Docs, Outlook and Google Slides.
  • Better and fastest writing suggestions.
  • Personal dictionary, weekly writing stats and auto-completion.
  • Quick copy-editing with easy-to-use popups
  • Team-based configuration and control.
  • The tool learns from your actions with time using artificial intelligence.
  • Private, secure and easy to use.

What's great?

  • The tool has built-in one-click responses
  • Machine learning powered writing suggestions
  • Efficient built-in spelling and grammar checker
  • The basic version is free
  • There is AES-256 and TLS encryption for better security

What is not so great?

  • No extension for Safari yet.
  • Costlier than other tools

Grammarly vs ProWritingAid vs Sapling.ai — Conclusion

After using all of these tools for over 6 months now, I feel Sapling has the upper hand with their AI-based writing suggestions.

Sapling is the best writing assistant for bloggers, business-people and students due to its accuracy and more writing suggestions. Compared to Grammarly and ProWritingAid, Sapling.ai offered more suggestions while I was writing emails and articles.

It makes use of machine learning to catch common errors and saves plenty of your time and effort.

Plus, at its core, it is a must-have for customer-facing teams for sales and tech support. Other tools lag way behind in features and enterprise usage.