What is the best Grammarly alternative for a thesis?

It depends on the stage. For drafting chapters and citing papers in Word, GenText. For polishing and pre-submission checks, Paperpal or Trinka. For academic English in LaTeX, Writefull.

Is there a free Grammarly alternative for academic writing?

Yes. GenText, Paperpal, Trinka, Writefull and QuillBot all have free plans with limits.

Which Grammarly alternative checks plagiarism?

Paperpal, Trinka and QuillBot offer plagiarism checks on their plans. GenText does not.

Should I use one tool or two?

That depends on your work. One suggested order: draft and cite in one tool, then polish and check in another.

Grammarly Alternatives for Academic Writing (2026)

Facts checked on 14 October 2026. Prices change, so check each vendor’s page before you decide.

This page is for students and researchers writing essays, papers and theses. Grammarly is a strong general grammar tool. Its free plan fixes spelling and grammar and includes 100 AI prompts a month. Pro adds full-sentence rewrites, plagiarism checks and AI detection, at $12 a month on the annual plan or $30 billed monthly.

Academic work often needs more than grammar: sources, citations in a set style, and a reference list you can trust. The tools below cover different parts of that job. GenText is our product, so we list it first and say so.

The alternatives at a glance

Tool	Best for	Free plan	Paid from
GenText (our product)	Drafting and citing academic papers in Word	5,000 words a month	$19 a month, $190 a year, $99 a year for students with an academic email
Paperpal	Grammar, plagiarism and reference checks before submission	200 grammar edits a month	$12 a month billed annually ($144)
Trinka	Low-cost academic grammar and citation checks	5,000 words a month	$48 a year
Writefull	Academic English, in Word and Overleaf	Limited quota	US$21 a month or US$150 a year
QuillBot	Paraphrasing plus grammar, plagiarism and AI checks	100-word paraphrases, 2 modes	$8.33 a month billed annually, or $19.95 monthly

GenText (our product)

Works in the browser and as a Microsoft Word add-in, with one account. It drafts sections from your outline, summarizes, rephrases and cites research.
Finds papers in Semantic Scholar, which indexes over 200 million academic papers, and inserts citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard or IEEE.
“Check references” in the Word add-in checks each reference against published records and flags retracted papers.
Not a full grammar checker, and it has no plagiarism checker. Pair it with one of the tools below if you need those.

Paperpal

Works as a Word add-in and as a Chrome or Edge extension that supports Google Docs and Overleaf.
Free plan: 200 grammar edits a month and 5 uses a day of paraphrase, trim, translate and AI review.
Prime is $12 a month billed annually ($144) and includes plagiarism checks, AI detection and a Reference Check of up to 10,000 words a month. Paperpal shows a 100% money-back guarantee.

Trinka

Free Basic plan with 5,000 words a month of writing help, grammar in Lite mode and 5 AI writing requests a month.
Premium is $48 a year and includes grammar and style-guide corrections (APA, AMA, ACS, AGU, IEEE), file proofreading and a native app for Microsoft Word.
Its Citation Quality Checker flags retracted, unverified and predatory-journal citations, using credits.

Writefull

Writefull’s language models are trained on millions of journal articles, and its edits are tailored to academic writing.
Works in Word and in Overleaf, plus Writefull Revise for a language check on an uploaded file.
Premium is US$21 a month or US$150 a year. The free plan has a limited quota, with some features reset daily.

QuillBot

Premium includes 9 built-in paraphrase modes, a grammar checker, an AI detector and plagiarism checks of up to 25,000 words a month.
Has a Word add-in for Word on the web, Windows and Mac, plus browser extensions and mobile apps.
Premium is $19.95 a month, or $8.33 a month billed annually.

How to choose

Need grammar and a plagiarism check on a finished draft? Grammarly, Paperpal, Trinka and QuillBot all offer grammar and plagiarism tools. Compare their limits.
Writing in LaTeX? Writefull and Paperpal both work with Overleaf.
Still writing, and need sources? GenText drafts and cites from academic papers inside Word.
Worried about fake or retracted references? GenText, Paperpal and Trinka all offer a reference or citation check. Run one before you submit.
On a tight budget? Trinka Premium at $48 a year is the lowest yearly price on this list. GenText Premium is $99 a year for students with an academic email.

Try it

Start free at app.gentext.ai, or install the GenText add-in for Microsoft Word. 5,000 words a month, no credit card.

More comparisons

Grammarly, Paperpal, Trinka, Writefull and QuillBot are trademarks of their owners. This page compares public information as of 14 October 2026 and is not endorsed by any of them. Check every AI draft and citation before you submit. Spotted something out of date? Email support@gentext.ai and we will fix it.