The best AI writing tool depends on what you write. Grammarly and Wordtune suit everyday editing, QuillBot suits paraphrasing and summarising, and Jasper is built for marketing teams. AI detectors and humanisers are a separate category, and you should treat their results with care.
Prices, plans and features change often, so older reviews may be out of date. Everything below was checked against each tool's official website on 20 October 2026.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Free option | Paid price (as shown on the official site) |
|---|
| Grammarly | Everyday proofreading and rewrites | Yes, with 100 AI prompts per month | Pro listed at $12 (USD) |
| QuillBot | Paraphrasing, summaries, students | Yes, with word limits | Premium $8.33 USD per month, billed annually |
| Wordtune | Rewriting sentences in English | Yes, 10 rewrites per day | Advanced and Unlimited plans (check the official plans page) |
| Jasper | Marketing teams | No free plan; 7-day free trial | Pro $69 per month per seat (monthly) or $59 per month per seat (yearly) |
| Rytr | Writing plus relationship follow-ups | Yes, 10,000 characters per month | Lite $9, Personal $19, Pro $49 per month |
| Notion AI | Writing inside notes and documents | Limited AI trial only | Business $20 per member per month |
Grammarly
Grammarly is an AI writing assistant that works in other apps and websites. Its site lists paragraph rewrites, tone suggestions, proofreading, a Humanizer agent and an AI Detector agent. The site also says Grammarly is now part of Superhuman.
Suits: people who want help with proofreading, rewrites and tone in emails, essays and reports.
Free option: the Free plan lists writing without mistakes, feedback on your writing tone and 100 AI prompts per month.
Paid: Pro adds full-sentence rewrites, tone adjustment, plagiarism and AI-generated text detection, and 2,000 AI prompts per member per month. The official plans page shows Pro at $12 USD and offers a free trial. It does not state the billing period beside that figure, so check it before you sign up.
QuillBot
QuillBot bundles a paraphraser, grammar checker, humaniser, AI detector, plagiarism checker, summariser, translator and citation generator in one account.
Suits: the site names business owners, job seekers, professionals, and students and academics.
Free option: paraphrasing up to 100 words in 2 modes, humanising up to 100 words with limited use, basic summaries up to 1,200 words and limited AI Detector access.
Paid: Premium is $8.33 USD per month, billed annually. It adds all 9 paraphrasing modes, full AI Detector access, plagiarism checking up to 25,000 words per month and summaries up to 6,000 words. The site says usage limits may vary by surface.
Wordtune
Wordtune describes itself as an AI paraphrasing tool and reading and writing assistant. It rewrites sentences, changes tone between formal and casual, makes text longer or shorter, and summarises documents, web pages and YouTube videos. The site says it writes only in English.
Suits: people who write in English and want help rephrasing sentences.
Free option: the Basic plan includes 10 rewrites and AI suggestions per day, 3 AI summarisations per month and unlimited spelling and grammar checks.
Paid: there are Advanced and Unlimited plans. The plans page shows struck-through prices that look like a promotion, so we have not quoted a price here. Check the official page.
Jasper
Jasper calls itself an agent workspace for marketing teams. It stores brand voice, style guides and audience details and applies them to campaigns, SEO content, email and social posts.
Suits: marketing teams, which is how Jasper describes its own audience.
Free option: no permanent free plan, but a 7-day free trial of Pro.
Paid: the official pricing page shows Pro at $69 per month per seat when billed monthly, or $59 per month per seat when billed yearly. Business is custom priced and starts with a 12-month commitment.
Rytr
Rytr describes itself on its site as an AI relationship manager for professionals. It brings client context from tools such as Gmail, Slack and calendars into one brief, helps prepare meetings and drafts follow-ups that wait for your approval. It still has a Create writing tool with 40 use cases.
Suits: professionals who want help with client communication and follow-ups.
Free option: a free plan with 10,000 characters per month.
Paid: the official site lists Lite at $9 per month, Personal at $19 per month and Pro at $49 per month, with a 20% discount for yearly billing.
Notion AI
Notion is a workspace for notes, documents and databases. Its AI can improve writing or generate drafts inside your pages, and the Notion Agent can complete multi-step tasks using context from Notion, your connected apps and the web.
Suits: people who already keep their notes and projects in Notion.
Free option: the Free and Plus plans include only a limited AI trial.
Paid: The pricing page shows Business at $20 per member per month, lists Notion Agent and AI Meeting Notes under Business, and says yearly billing saves up to 20%. Check the pricing page for what AI access each plan includes.
Copy.ai and Writesonic
Copy.ai describes itself as an AI-native platform for go-to-market teams, with workflows and agents. Its Chat plan is listed at $29 per month billed monthly, or $24 per month billed annually, for 5 seats.
Writesonic describes itself as the AI Search Growth Engine, covering GEO, AEO and AI visibility, and says it tracks brand visibility across AI platforms. Its Starter plan is $79 per month, billed annually. Neither describes itself mainly as a simple writing assistant.
AI detectors and humanisers: a balanced view
AI detectors estimate whether text was written by an AI. Humanisers rewrite AI-generated text so it reads more naturally. Both are debated, so it helps to know what the vendors themselves say.
AI detectors can be wrong
- GPTZero claims 99.9% accuracy, but its own site says: 'No AI detector is 100% accurate' and results 'should not be used to punish or as the final verdict'. Its text box shows a 10,000-character limit.
- Originality.ai says an AI score 'shouldn't be used alone for academic integrity discipline' and should have a human reviewer. It also says false positives happen when human writing is wrongly flagged, and that editing tools such as some Grammarly features can cause them. Its free Basic plan allows 3 scans per day of up to 2,000 words per scan. Pro is $14.95 per month on monthly billing, or $12.95 per month billed yearly.
- Winston AI reports 99.87% accuracy, and its free plan gives 2,000 credits over a 14-day trial. Its own FAQ says detector effectiveness 'currently varies'. Its paid prices were shown alongside a promotional code, so we have not quoted them. See its pricing page.
These accuracy figures come from the companies, not independent testing. Real-world results can differ, and Originality.ai notes that editing tools can trigger false positives.
Humanisers
Grammarly and QuillBot both include a humaniser. We have not verified any humaniser's claims about getting past detectors. If a course or employer bans AI-written work, a humaniser does not make that use acceptable.
Using these tools fairly
- Read your school or workplace AI policy first. Rules differ between courses and employers.
- If AI use is allowed with disclosure, disclose it.
- Keep drafts or version history so you can show how your work developed.
- If you are marking work, treat a detector score as one signal and speak to the writer before drawing conclusions.
How we chose
We checked each tool's plans, free limits and features against its official website on 20 October 2026. If we could not confirm a fact, we left it out. Prices are shown as the vendor lists them, and we have not included sale prices as normal prices.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free AI writing tool?
It depends on the job. Grammarly's free plan covers basic spelling and grammar plus 100 AI prompts per month, QuillBot's free plan covers short paraphrasing, and Wordtune's covers 10 rewrites a day. Try two or three and see which fits how you write.
Is Grammarly or QuillBot better?
They overlap. Grammarly's site lists proofreading, rewrites, tone suggestions and a Humanizer and AI Detector. QuillBot's site lists a paraphraser, grammar checker, humanizer, AI detector, plagiarism checker, summarizer, translator and citation generator. Compare their free plans against the task you have.
Can AI detectors be wrong?
Yes. GPTZero and Originality.ai both say on their own sites that detection is not perfect and should not be the only basis for discipline.
Can I get in trouble for using AI to write?
You can if you break your school's or employer's rules. Check the policy, and disclose AI use when required.
Do I need a paid plan?
It depends on how much you write. Free plans have limits, such as those listed above, and paid plans raise them or add features.
Are these tools only for English?
It varies. Wordtune says it writes only in English, while QuillBot's premium page lists paraphrasing in 23 languages and translation into 40+ languages.
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