Complete Review of Grammarly

Complete Review of Grammarly

Grammarly is a digital writing assistance tool that is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to make the whole process of writing easier, engaging, and reliable. No matter which background you come from and who your writing is aimed at, Grammarly will adapt to the context and offer relevant service.

As a writing assistance tool, Grammarly is not only the most recognizable one but the most used too – currently, there are over 10 million known active users that recognize its value.

So, if you’d like to speed up your writing process without risking grammatical errors and incoherent thought structure, treat yourself to this article to find out what makes Grammarly a great tool and if its reputation is an accurate one.

Grammarly’s Origins and Principles

Before we look into everything Grammarly has to offer, let’s dig a bit deeper into its roots and how it came to be.

Although its headquarters are currently based in San Francisco, the company originated in Kyiv, Ukraine, where Alex Shevchenko, Max Lytvyn, and Dmytro Lider developed Grammarly in 2009. The software proved to be a huge success in 2019 – the year when the company raised $1 billion funding and became the first so-called “Unicorn” that originated from Ukraine.

So what exactly made Grammarly so successful?

Grammarly is not a simple-minded software that suggests the same one-size-fits-all type of solutions to everyone. Having been carefully designed and developed by engineers and linguists, Grammarly is the ultimate product of unusual cooperation. Turns out that combining the two worked!

More specifically, Grammarly is a much smarter tool than a regular Word grammar check. Not only does it offer features like tone suggestion and advice to make your content more engaging and readable, but it also adapts to your goals and audience.

In other words, Grammarly will support you in your writing style accordingly by allowing you to define which style you’re focusing on: academic, casual, business, creative, technical, or general.

Naturally, the amount of features and care that you’ll get depends on which plan you choose to go with – Grammarly offers free, Premium, and Business deals – all will be discussed further in the article. However, the great thing about Grammarly is that even if you don’t pay for a package and receive less assistance, the quality of the free service is applaudable.

Grammarly is a smart software that can assist you in making engaging and professional content in your own writing style.
Source: grammarly.com

How Grammarly Works

Using Grammarly for your benefit is very easy and it doesn’t take much figuring it out. After all, it is here to make your writing easier, and not to drown you in additional information and instructions.

If you’re typing a text in a search bar, write a social media post, an email, or create content in a document, in case of misspellings, Grammarly will point every one of them out individually and suggest a correction. The suggestion correction will be accompanied by an explanation – long and short, so you could really understand the meaning behind it – as well as relevant examples. Some of the errors can be automatically edited, but the changes are shown, and you can simply decline the suggestion if you feel confident about your choice.

This does, however, greatly benefit fast typers, who sometimes make silly writing errors, as thanks to Grammarly errors can be fixed faster.
Furthermore, Grammarly uses the exact same measures when it comes to grammatical errors and it will present you a report, where it shows the total number of errors and will even summarize what kind of tone your text is creating.

In addition, to avoid plagiarism, Grammarly will not only point out the risky parts of the text but will also suggest what kind of different wording you can replace it with.

Finally, to keep your writing engaging and interesting to read, Grammarly will protect you from repetitiveness by equipping you with a synonym checker that will expand your vocabulary.

A demonstration of how Grammarly works and helps to create more engaging content.
Source: grammarly.com

Now that you know the fundamental facts about Grammarly, let’s discuss the general benefits that make Grammarly such an outstanding tool.

 

What You Can Get from Grammarly

You probably remember what was briefly mentioned earlier in this article – no matter whether you choose the free, premium, or business version of Grammarly, the quality of the service is outstanding, just with different amounts of features.

So what are the “big picture” benefits that all of us get out of it, regardless of the plan?

Let’s find out now!

 

1. Confidence and Fluency for Multilingual Speakers

If English isn’t your first language, you might not feel completely confident in your writing skills, which results in a stagnation of your writing process.

Self-doubt is the enemy number one of productivity, but luckily Grammarly offers a gentle push. Remember, Grammarly wasn’t developed by native English speakers, but by 3 men from Ukraine.

The length of Grammarly‘s assistance to sound like a native speaker depends on which plan you choose. Nevertheless, even with a free version, you can improve the little details like spelling, grammar, and punctuation -the things that are easy to miss even for native speakers.

However, if you require more advanced and personalize assistance, in addition to spelling, grammar, and punctuation features, Grammarly Premium will improve your idiomatic phrasing and grant you personalized suggestions for writing issues that are common among German, Mandarin, French, Spanish and Hindi speakers, soon to be followed by suggestions to other languages.

 

2. Safe to Use

It’s only natural to be wondering about the safety and confidentiality of private information, as Grammarly gets access to private data and payment methods.

Thankfully, there is no need to be worried – Grammarly is fully compliant with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), GDPR, CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act).

Moreover, the company is a member of Cloud Security Alliance and shares its SOC 2 (Type I) report that confirms its reliability regarding security, availability, privacy, and confidentiality.

 

3. Easy to Use

It’s unlikely that Grammarly would have as many customers as it does today if people had to invest additional time into studying it, especially when its original purpose is to make our written content flawless in no time.

Before you even get started with Grammarly, you’ll get to choose where you want it to operate: Microsoft Package, as a browser extension, desktop app, or a web tool, meaning that you don’t have to change your habits. If you prefer to have Grammarly everywhere with you – a browser extension might be the best option. However, if your preferred writing method is on Microsoft Word only, your needs are heard and a suitable solution is there for you.

The main factor that makes Grammarly so easy to use is the fact that it grants freedom to its users, as well as fast and easy corrections without being too pushy or untraceable.

4. Everyone Can Use It

Nowadays, in one way or another, everyone writes and most of us do it digitally. From a simple email to an academic article – we all do it.
Regardless of the purpose of the writing, there’s a rule of thumb that applies to everyone with no exception – our thoughts must be expressed coherently, else we risk being misunderstood.

That being said, everyone could greatly benefit from Grammarly. However, some groups of people might need Grammarly more than others, as writing plays a significant role in their work, projects, and day-to-day tasks.

 

4.1. Students

Oooof, being a student must be the most intense part of life in one’s lifetime. This is the period of life when not a single minute can be wasted and energy drinks combined with deadlines keep us up all night.

Sounds familiar?

When one has a social life, new information processing, and assignments to worry about, there is no time to spare for grammar and spelling checks, not to mention the time spent on fixing the errors. In addition to that, plagiarism, accidental or not, is harshly punished and incoherent work, despite high-quality research and results, won’t receive the top grade.

Luckily, Grammarly can save time and effort on behalf of the students, allowing them to focus on more important matters.
Naturally, Grammarly offers all of the student essentials and more to educational institutions:

  1. Grammar checking that checks for more than 400 common grammar errors, meaning that students are not the only ones who benefit – it also saves time for the whole faculty.
  2. Grammar tutorials and paper revision support to educate, not just correct the students.
  3. Built-In Plagiarism Checker that checks over 16 billion websites and ProQuest’s databases to ensure that content doesn’t match with already existing ones.
  4. LMS Integration integrates Grammarly to a used browser, licensed Microsoft Office, and any other educational management systems so that the text could be reviewed and corrected in real-time.

Finally, as a cherry on top, Grammarly offers attractive discounts for educational institutions. Can it get any better?

The benefits and success rate that the students get from using Grammarly.
Source: grammarly.com

4.2. Businesses

Every business needs a professional image in the eyes of its customers to earn their trust and respect. To appear more reliable and caring, modern businesses spend a lot of time and effort to create eye-catching and engaging content, as well as amicable customer service via email and social media channels.

Not to mention the flawless grammar and spelling!

When it comes to business communication, it’s essential for content and communication to stick to a brand’s tone and writing style, even if the content is created and emails are sent by many different people. After all, consistency and readability will boost your SEO rating and display a favorable website analysis in the eyes of the almighty Google.

Grammarly understands the needs of a business, hence the Business package was designed to offer solutions specific to the pains of businesses.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – we will go through everything Business package-related later in this article.

 

4.3. Content Marketers and Bloggers

This group doesn’t come as a surprise, does it?

The main focus of content marketers and bloggers is (or at least should be) quality content. While it’s true that content marketers and bloggers are professionals when it comes to creating attractive, engaging, and well-written content, Grammarly can be a great assistant to publish faster and even more quality content that will lure in thousands or perhaps even millions of readers.

The best suitable Grammarly version completely depends on the needs of an individual content marketer and blogger.

While one would be completely satisfied with the grammar and spelling corrections in the free version, another could require a Premium assistant that would gently remind them how to stick to their style and create engagement, while also sharing tips and relevant explanations. In the end, we all need a little bit of inspiration to keep up the good work!

 

Where Can it be Installed?

It was slightly hinted at earlier, but this is the part where we go a little bit more in-depth about different options of installing Grammarly. After all, what matters the most is your comfort when creating the best content there can be.

 

1. Microsoft Office

No matter which application from the Microsoft Office package you want to use, Grammarly will be there for you. Whether you’re preparing a PowerPoint presentation or you simply prefer Word as your writing space, the quality of your writing will prevail. If your internet disappears all of a sudden, there’s no need for panic. Although Grammarly can only function with internet support, your content can be saved on your computer and checked as soon as the internet is back.

 

2. As a Browser Extension

If you want all of your activities online to be checked, whether it’s writing an email or simply posting on social media, using the Grammarly browser extension will probably be the perfect choice for you. Grammarly browser extension is available for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge.

 

3. Web Editor

In the cases when there’s only certain text or a document that you’d like to be tested and checked, Grammarly‘s web editor has your back. It will only take a few seconds to process your text and you’ll have the complete report. In addition, you can be flexible in the way you get the text – it’s possible to paste it, upload it, or simply starting to write on the spot.

 

4. Phone Keyboard

Great news – you don’t have to be a computer user to use Grammarly! Grammarly‘s app is available at the Apple Store and Play Store, so both iOS and Android users can use it on the phone’s keyboard, other apps, and browser.

 

5. Desktop App

The desktop is basically created for the ones, who don’t want to use the web editor version but would prefer to have it closer on the desktop. Other than that, the principle is the same as the one of the web editor.

 

6. iPad

Yes, you got that right: now Grammarly is on iPad too, in case the computer and phone aren’t the best options. You can download it through the App Store.

 

Free Version is Better than you Think

Do you want to know what makes Grammarly‘s free version exceptionally appealing?
There is no trial period for it!

That’s right, you don’t just get a taste of it for a limited period of time just to have it taken away. Strangely enough, this does form a very favorable opinion about the company and makes people want to improve their version by paying for the Premium version, which offers even more.

Moreover, the free version is great as it is – it checks your grammar, spelling, and punctuation to offer better alternatives to errors.
In addition, with the free version, you can choose the suitable version of English, which includes British, American, Canadian, and Australian English.

 

Premium Version Offers More

According to Grammarly, “Grammarly Premium is built for individuals to improve their writing through our advanced writing feedback.”
So, let’s expand on that.

What makes Premium more advanced than the free version and why is it worth your investment?

The question is a relevant one, so let’s look into what features make Grammarly a smart tool.

 

What it Includes

Grammarly Premium offers the same as the free and more. With the Premium version, you’ll receive a more intuitive, personalized, and capable service that will cover everything you need – from plagiarism check to improved readability.

The features that are included in Grammarly Premium were mentioned earlier in the article, so let’s summarize:

  1. Tone adjustments – to keep your writing style consistent.
  2. Plagiarism check – to make sure that your content is original.
  3. Word choice – to avoid repetitiveness and improve your vocabulary.
  4. Fluency – to boost your confidence and make you sound like a native speaker.
  5. Improved readability – to make your content eye-catching and clear.
  6. Setting goals and receiving feedback – to make you productive, educate you, and make your content flawless.
Tone adjustment and improved readability are just a small part of what Grammarly Premium offers.
Source: grammarly.com

Pricing

It will come as no surprise that Grammarly offers various payment methods for your convenience. However, some pricing deals are better than others.

There are 3 billing options to choose from: monthly, quarterly, and annual billing. However, Grammarly would clearly prefer the annual payment plan to get you to commit for longer. Grammarly even goes out of its way to save 61% for you in comparison to the other plans. And why not, it does make life easier when you don’t have to pay every month or quarter!

Source: grammarly.com

If would prefer a Team Plan and if your team consists of at least 3 members, Grammarly Business will be just the right option for you.

 

Grammarly Business

As briefly mentioned earlier, the Grammarly Business is meant for businesses that want more control over their content, as well as a consistent and professional communication style. The Business deal gives businesses an opportunity to set rules for appropriate writing, get regular reporting and feedback, as well as everything else included in the Premium plan.

Grammarly Business plan ensures advanced security to your account, improved customer support, and user management features to make the workflow run smoothly.

 

What it Includes

The additional features that were designed specifically for businesses include:

  1. Style guide – to keep the consistent brand’s writing style.
  2. Centralized billing – to make payment easy and comfortable.
  3. SAML single sign-on – to make it easy for you to manage your logins.
  4. Priority email support – to solve possible challenges in no time.
  5. Admin panel – to manage your team in the best way.

Furthermore, currently, as a COVID-19 relief measure, Grammarly offers free access to key features of Grammarly Business to eligible non-profit organizations and NGOs. The features include all Premium writing suggestions, administrator dashboard, individual user accounts, user management tools, and team usage statistics.

 

Pricing

The system of Grammarly Business works slightly differently than Grammarly Premium. For instance, the only billing options are annual monthly and it includes a free-trial period of 7 days with an option to cancel any time if Grammarly Business isn’t satisfactory.

Moreover, Grammarly requires information on how many team members will be using Grammarly Business and offers discounts for teams that include more than 10 members. Thoughtful, right?

Source: grammarly.com

A word of Advice

Are you enjoying reading about all the great opportunities Grammarly has to offer?

As you might have realized now, Grammarly is a truly helpful tool to increase productivity and reliability.

However, no tool is perfect, and Grammarly is no exception.

Although Grammarly is highly reliable, we advise you to keep your eyes open and trust your critical thinking when Grammarly offers corrections – ultimately it’s still just software that lacks the ability to correctly interpret the context.

This doesn’t mean that it happens often. For example, when your focus is casual English, Grammarly is an excellent assistant. However, if you write academic content with lots of terms that are not widely used in everyday life, Grammarly would likely become confused and unable to identify them.

All in all, although Grammarly isn’t perfect yet, it’s a great help and it seems that Grammarly‘s team is aware of its imperfections – that’s why the option to dismiss its suggestions was added.

Conclusion

All things considered, it’s hard to deny Grammarly‘s functionality, attractive offers, and smart features. In this day and age when time is money and communication is mostly digital, Grammarly becomes essential to the quality of work and productivity.

Like everything else, Grammarly does have imperfections, but in comparison to the benefits that we receive from it, they’re insignificant in the bigger picture.

All in all, we believe that Grammarly‘s reputation is an accurate one, hence we strongly recommend to at least try it out and see it for yourself, especially because there’s a free version.

We hope that you find this review useful and sincerely wish you to achieve your goals with Grammarly!


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