Grammarly vs QuillBot
Proofreader or paraphraser? They are not substitutes, and one is cheaper.
Last revised 2026-09-17
Our pick
Grammarly, for most people
Grammarly is the most accurate low-friction proofreader and it works everywhere you type, which is the entire point of the category. QuillBot is cheaper and better at one narrower job, rewording text you already have. Buy Grammarly if you write in many places, QuillBot if you mostly rewrite, and treat both subscriptions like a gym membership.
Side by side
| Grammarly AI Writing Our pick | QuillBot AI Writing | |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 4 cydersWorth pouring | 4 cydersWorth pouring |
| Starting price | $12/mo | $8/mo |
| Free plan | YesGrammar, spelling, tone detection | YesLimited paraphrasing, 125 words in summarizer |
| What the paid plans are | Premium at $12/mo, Business at $15/seat/mo | Premium at $9.95/mo or $6.25/mo annual |
| Best for | EveryoneWritersStudentsProfessionals | StudentsAcademic WritersESL Writers |
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| Price checked | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-16 |
| Visit | Grammarly → | QuillBot → |
They do different jobs
Grammarly checks what you wrote: grammar, spelling, tone, clarity, inside your browser, your email client and your documents. QuillBot rewrites what you wrote: paraphrasing, summarising, tone shifting, mostly in its own editor.
People compare them because both are cheap writing tools with browser extensions, and then buy the wrong one. If your problem is typos and clumsy sentences across everything you type, that is Grammarly. If your problem is that you have a paragraph and need it said differently, that is QuillBot.
Where Grammarly earns its price
Ubiquity. It is in the box that you are typing in right now, whatever box that is, and the suggestions are good enough that you stop thinking about it. Fourteen years of this has made it very hard to beat on accuracy and friction together.
Its 4.7 on G2 and 3.1 on Trustpilot describe the same product from different angles, and the gap is almost entirely billing: auto-renewals without notice, charges after cancelling, refunds issued where the law requires and not otherwise. Also worth knowing: the parent company renamed itself Superhuman in late 2025 and folded Grammarly, Coda and Superhuman Mail into one suite. The product name survives, the company name does not.
Where QuillBot earns its price
The paraphraser is genuinely good and unusually well reviewed for this category, with fourteen thousand Trustpilot reviewers behind the score. It is also cheaper than Grammarly, especially annually.
Two warnings. It distorts meaning on technical text, so never paste and ship without reading. And refund emails go unanswered often enough to show up as a pattern. Also worth knowing before you pick a side: QuillBot's owner Learneo took a $75.3 million copyright verdict in March 2026 in Post University v. Learneo over Course Hero, which it says it will appeal. That is the parent company, not the paraphraser, but it is the company taking your subscription.
The overlap trap
Grammarly now does rewriting and QuillBot now does grammar checking, so both will tell you the other is unnecessary. In practice each is clearly worse at the other's job. Paying for both is defensible for a professional writer and silly for anyone else.
How we would buy it
- •Writing all day across email, docs and the web: Grammarly.
- •Mostly rewriting or condensing existing text, students especially: QuillBot, annually if you are sure.
- •Both: only if writing is your job and the $20 a month combined is a rounding error against your rate.
- •Either one: put a reminder in your calendar a week before renewal. The billing complaints on both are the same complaint.
Grammarly
4.0Worth pouringStill the most accurate, lowest-friction proofreader, and it works everywhere you type. The gap between 4.7 on G2 and 3.1 on Trustpilot is almost entirely billing: auto-renewals with no notice, charges after cancelling, and refunds issued only where the law requires. Great product, and treat the subscription like a gym membership.
Full Grammarly reviewQuillBot
4.0Worth pouringThe paraphraser is genuinely good and 14,000 Trustpilot reviewers agree, which is rare in this category. Watch two things: it distorts meaning on technical text, so never fire and forget, and refund emails go unanswered often enough to show up as a pattern.
Full QuillBot reviewScores are our own editorial verdicts in cyders out of 5, not an average of other people's ratings. How we score. Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page on the date shown above, and vendors change plans often, so confirm before you buy.
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