Whether you are writing a book, a blog article or a social media post, it is important to edit your writing and proofread it carefully before publishing. While most of us use spell check, this is not guaranteed to catch all errors. I have found that utilizing additional proofreading tools has not only picked up errors that were missed, but has also improved my writing and editing skills. Grammarly is one such grammar checking and proofreading website which checks spelling, grammar, punctuation and writing style. While this is a wonderful tool, there are free alternatives to this program. Below is a list of ten free online proofreading tools that I have tried. While they don’t catch everything, they do pick up more than a word processing spell check. Of course, it is always important to manually edit and proofread your writing and use these tools only as a final check.
Paper Rater is a free online proofreading service with basic grammar and editing capabilities.
Quillbot is an excellent free online proofreading tool.
After the Deadline offers a quick and helpful free online spelling, grammar and style check. They also have free apps to download for a variety of platforms.
VirtualWritingTutor is a free grammar checker that finds common spelling and grammar errors for learners of English as a second language. It is quick and easy to use with good feedback.
Writer has a free online proofreading tool.
Grammar Check offers a free spelling, style and grammar check.
SpellCheckPlus has a free online grammar checking tool (limited to 250 words at a time).
Proofread Bot checks the style and grammar of your text and gives you an extremely detailed report (limited to one free proofreading of 600 words per week).
Reverso online spellchecker checks grammar and spelling (limited to 600 characters).
Ginger is a free online proofreader for up to 600 words. The online proofreader didn’t work for me for some reason, but they have a fantastic free software to download which works across all text on your computer including emails.
thank you
Thanks for sharing this information with us. Really it is very helpful for everyone.
I personally use http://www.editmypaper.ca since I always get back a perfect paper and they give out coupons every now and then. Thanks for the list though!
where do i go to subscribe
it says that does not look like an email address, but i guess it is, its mine
Hi Gayle, I’m sorry that you are having problems subscribing! I honestly don’t know why the system won’t accept your email address. Do you have another one you could try? Or you are welcome to email me and I will add you. Thanks for reading. Leila
Nice list. This is very helpful. I might add that http://PaperBlazer.com also offers proofreading service, including a free option.
Hi,
Thank you for sharing such a precious information, really useful.
I am curious as to whether any of these proof punctuation as well. I am finding that they merely find spelling errors.
Was wondering how to check my proofreading. This should help me sort out what I miss.
Thanks lady!!
thank you. your review very helpful
thank you for this useful information
Great roundup post. Have you been to http://TypoShame.com yet? Kind of a pressing name but they have an alert system integrated with Twitter for proof reading errors that make it into print.
Authors can signup for free and get private tweets to their accounts when proof reading mistakes get reported
I haven’t heard of it Gabriel, but will certainly look into it 🙂
I use Grammarly but I am thinking of using Polishmywriting too. It looks handy in certain cases but I am very much satisfied with Grammarly, it almost points out everything related to grammer and spelling errors, though in some cases I felt some drawbacks in this tool. Thanks for this list Leila, as usual another useful article.
Regards
Nataly
I think that I would probably add http://300editors.com since they use google docs so that you can see your document being proofread and edited in real-time. This is very helpful in that you can see what they are doing and this helps you to become self-monitoring of your own errors.
A very helpful website and tool Stanley, though this article is only for free tools 🙂
Thank you I am so happy 🙂
I tried ‘Ginger’ and had very poor results. You should try it, before you recommend it.
Hi Wayne,
I do use the free version of Ginger on a regular basis and find it very good. I’d be interested to hear what you don’t like about it. For me it picks up errors that most other programs (and people!) miss.
Kindest,
Leila
I’m still looking for a better proofreading tool. Been using Language Tools for a while, but it overlooks certain mistakes. Perhaps I should give Grammarly a try.
I find that the free Ginger version works quite well!
Hi Leila, I would love it if you could take a look at Typely and consider it for this list.
Hi,
Thank you for your detailed information. It’s really been helpful. I do have a great proofreader and have enjoyed working with her on Fiverr. I have learnt a lot and now this. Thank you very much.