After months of rolling a story around in your head, you’ve finally started writing. And suddenly, you realize that writing a book in your head is quite a bit different than spelling it out on paper.

Suddenly, you are questioning the spelling of every four-syllable word, the placement of every comma, and–what the heck is the difference between a colon and semi-colon anyway?

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Lucky for you, we live in the age of super-competent AI. They may not be sentient yet, but they do know a thing or two about how to correctly write the English language.

But finding an AI-driven editing software isn’t the problem. These days, the difficult thing is choosing WHICH software to trust with your manuscript.

In this article, we’ll look at the two most popular editing software programs: Grammarly and ProWritingAid.

Both of these programs offer a free version and a paid premiere version. And both have something a little different to offer in each iteration. Let’s take a closer look at these differences as well as the strengths and shortcomings of each of these popular products.

Do You Need Really Editing Software?

Before we start comparing and contrasting these two popular editing software choices, let’s address one of the more common questions that pop up around this subject: Do I really need editing software?

As a freelance writer who has to pump out an insane amount of polished content in very little time, I can tell you just how valuable editing software can be.

By utilizing editing programs that automatically detect errors and give suggestions to clarify and simplify my text, I basically gain a second pair of eyes on every word I write.

When writing a novel, the need for fast-paced editing isn’t as important. But you are dealing with a higher volume of text. And more text means more potential mistakes

Editing software can catch common mistakes early on to help you refine your writing skills as you go.

And I’m not just talking about repeat spelling errors of erroneous commas, either. New editing software is advanced enough to tell you when your writing is too passive, when your tense devolves, and even when there is a better descriptor available than the one you used.

Bottom line: everyone can benefit from utilizing editing software.

If you plan to try your hand at traditional publishing, you’ll need a manuscript that is as polished as possible before sending it off to agents to review. But hiring an editor before this process is a waste of money because you’ll get one for free later on. Editing software is a good compromise that can produce excellent results.

If you are going to self-publish, the need for a perfect MS is even greater. Hiring a real editor is pricey (we’re talking a nickel per word, at least), and relying on your English major friend to line edit your work isn’t likely to give perfect results. Editing software can add a much-needed, skilled second pair of eyes to the process.

ProWritingAid vs Grammarly

I’m willing to bet most of you started this article assuming I have already thrown my hat in the ring with one of these two editing programs. So let me tell you a little secret: I use both of them!

The point of admitting this is not to brag about how good they both are, but instead to highlight the fact that there are noticeable differences between these two programs.

I use both Grammarly and ProWritingAid to proof my freelance work because one often catches things the other misses. (And the one doing the catching and the one doing the missing often flip-flops.)

All this is to say, in both the free and paid versions, there are important differences between these two programs.

Let’s take a closer look.

Free Edition Features

Features	Grammarly	ProWritingAid
Spell check	yes	yes
Grammar check	yes	yes
Punctuation check	yes	yes
Double-click thesaurus	yes	no
Passive voice detection	no	yes
Readability suggestions	no	yes
Alternate word suggestions	no	yes

Before you get overly excited about all the extra “free” features ProWritingAid has to offer over Grammarly, make sure you read the fine print.

While the free version of ProWritingAid does give you access to most of the premium in-line features, there are limits to when they can be used.

Most importantly, the web-based checker will max out at 500 words. The browser extension, which works for online writing programs like Google docs, will check full documents. But to get the desktop app, you have to pay for the premium upgrade.

Bottom line when comparing the free versions?

The Grammarly free version provides basic spelling, punctuation, and grammar checking across the web and on desktop applications.

The ProWritingAid free version provides more advanced features for some online platforms but has word count limits on others, and cannot be used offline.

Paid Edition Features

Features	Grammarly	ProWritingAid
Spelling/Grammar/Punctuation	yes	yes
Thesaurus	yes	yes
Passive voice detection	no	yes
Readability suggestions	yes	yes
Tone detector	yes	no
Repetitive words	yes	yes
Weak adjectives	yes	yes
Homonyms	no	yes
Dialogue checks	no	yes
Sentence fragment detection	no	yes
Sentence length/variation	no	yes
Plagiarism checker	yes	Premium Plus
Desktop application	yes	yes

When it comes to the premium addition features, ProWritingAid is the clear winner with one exception.

In order to access the plagiarism detection feature on ProWritingAid, you have to sign up for their Premium Plus edition. The additional price of this “plus” designation is determined entirely by how many plagiarism checks you plan to do. You can get 10 checks per year for an additional $10, or up to 1000 checks per year for an extra $200.

Now before you start considering this extra $10 feature, let me remind you that accidental plagiarism is rare. Assuming you are writing a story you made up and are recording words as they fall out of your own head, odds are good you don’t need to worry about plagiarism.

With that caveat, ProWritingAid is easy to declare the better program. It offers more features including some that are especially important for novelists, such as passive voice detection and dialogue checks.

Surprisingly, given all these extra features, ProWritingAid Premium also costs less than the Grammarly paid edition.

ProWritingAid Premium is available for $20 per month or $79 per year. They also offer a lifetime access pass for $399, something worth considering if you see writing becoming a full-time obsession.

Grammarly Premium will cost you $29.95 per month or $139.95 per year. They do offer a quarterly plan as well that costs $59.95 for three months.

A Deeper Look

The advertised features of a software program are only a small piece of the puzzle. Equally important is how well that software performs and how accessible and intuitive those features are.

To understand this full picture, we need to take a more in-depth look at these two programs.

Grammarly: Pros and Cons

One thing I can tell you for certain that Grammarly does better than ProWritingAid is detecting missing hyphens. Seriously, this editor will not miss a single compound word. So if you tend to use a lot of super-complex, ultra-detailed descriptors, this program can certainly help.

Here are some more pros of Grammarly.

PROS:

• Easy to add new words to app dictionary (a must for fantasy and sci-fi writers).
• Very simple to use and understand (especially the free version).
• The web-based checker loads and crawls quickly (a useful feature for social posts).
• It is highly accurate for technical writing (and great for memoir).
• Keeps track of common mistakes so you can learn to write better.

One of my biggest gripes about Grammarly? It does not always play nicely with Google Docs. Sometimes I have to turn the browser extension off because it causes major delays with my typing.

And even when the two are being cooperative, the entire document will reload if you turn on or off the editor. This isn’t a huge deal for small docs, but could cause a painful delay if you are using Google Docs to write your entire manuscript.

Here are a few more Grammarly cons to be aware of.

CONS

• In addition to Google Doc issues, sometimes Grammarly does not work well with certain websites when used with Chrome.
• The desktop app does not support Microsoft Word (or other Office programs) on Macs.
• Editing suggestions are based on formal writing style guides and aren’t the best for helping nurture creative prose.

ProWritingAid: Pros and Cons

While Grammarly is obsessed with hyphens, ProWritingAid is absolutely crazy about passive voice. Even some simple two-word combinations can trigger this program to immediately jump down your throat for not writing in a more active voice.

But, seeing as how passive voice is one thing most authors really struggle with, I consider this a major plus.

Here are a few more pros of ProWritingAid.

PROS:

• It has more features than any other editor currently available.
• They offer a lifetime plan (a big money saver if you plan to write for more than the next five years).
• Very compatible with Google docs (and pages do not need to reload if the extension is turned on or off).
• Crawls quickly through Google Docs and Microsoft Word in real-time (though, the web-based checker is a little slow).
• Is more accurate and useful for checking fiction writing.

Occasionally, the ProWritingAid extension can get a little buggy, causing the editor to erase neighboring words as you correct underlined words or phrases. This has happened to me a number of times, but usually resolves after relaunching the browser. Luckily, I have not encountered this issue with the desktop app.

Here are a few more ProWrtingAid cons to be aware of.

CONS:

• All those features mean even a polished doc is likely to be obnoxiously marked up (you’ll need to learn what you can and can’t ignore).
• It takes more time to crawl through existing text than Grammarly does.

What Is the Best Editing Software for Writers?

Both of these editing programs have a lot to offer, but when it comes to editing help specifically for fiction writers, ProWritingAid easily comes out on top.

Not only is this software more affordable, but it comes with a lot more features, including dialogue checks, passive voice detection, word repetition alerts, and sentence fragment detection–all valuable tools for fiction writers.

But, honestly, using either one of these programs is likely to improve your writing. My advice is to pay for ProWritingAid Premium and sign up for the free version of Grammarly. With both of these backing you up, you’ll have no problem polishing your MS for publishing or querying.

Regardless of which editor you go with, I would be remiss not to mention the importance of learning when to ignore suggested edits.

Both of these programs will catch the majority of errors you don’t intend to make. They’ll also catch many of the “errors” you meant to include. Things like using fragmented sentences to build pace, incorporating passive voice into dialogue to add sarcasm to an argument, and adding intentional wordplay to build voice.

What I’m saying is don’t let these programs edit away the soul of your writing.

Writing prose is an art. AI editor bots won’t understand the more creative aspects of the process. As long as you keep that in mind, you’ll only benefit from adding Grammarly or ProWritingAid to your writing toolbox.