Santiago Mallea
Content Writer At Gradehacker
One of the best ways to improve the quality of your writing projects is by using a writing app that checks your work and corrects it with accurate suggestions. They are a must for any student who wants to stand out with flawless papers throughout their college experience.
So, you go to your old friend Google and search for the best writing apps you can find. But as expected, the market is overcrowded with these types of editors.
There are just so many!
On the one hand, we have the standard writing apps that have useful but limited features; while on the other, we have the super popular online editors that show up at the top of the Google tab and offer a wide variety of advanced features, but at a cost, you might not be willing to pay.
You don’t have the time to try each editor until you find the one that suits you best, so you need a concise and thorough list of the most useful and complete apps for writers to jump straight into that life-saving tool.
And luckily, you’ve found it.
Here at Gradehacker, we are the non-traditional student’s most trusted resource. We understand how important it is for any academic writer to have the perfect app to facilitate the writing process.
That’s why today, we are sharing our list of the best apps for writing any student should use.
Best Apps For Writing
If you go to Google, Grammarly might be the first choice that you’ll see. It’s one of the most popular writing apps, and there are a fair share of reasons why.
It’s mostly known for its accurate grammar checker that corrects poor structures, run-on sentences, spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. But Grammarly has other powerful features, like the Thesaurus tool or its plagiarism checker (one of Gradehacker’s favorites).
In a nutshell, Grammarly is your own online editor.
It is an excellent app for writers who want to eliminate grammar errors, improve their vocabulary, and ensure they are not committing unwanted plagiarism.
You can use Grammarly on their online version or a writing software like Google Docs or Word. But we highly recommend you also check out their browser extension, as this monitors and improves your text on any site you write in (Gmail, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc).
Grammarly has a free option that lets you access the most important editing features. It checks your grammar and gives you stylistic suggestions to enhance your text, but to use the other features, you’ll have to go for their premium version.
Grammarly Premium costs:
- $30 a month
- $20 per month for the quarterly plan ($60 billed as one payment)
- $12 per month for the annual plan ($144 billed as one payment)
Their prices are high, but we must say that they frequently have sale deals where you can save anywhere from 30% to 50% in their annual plan.
Grammarly Is For You If
- You want a complete writing app with grammatical and stylistic suggestions and a plagiarism detector
- Need basic editing features to check your grammar for free
- Need a robust writing software with additional features
If you think Grammarly is the right choice for you and want to learn more about it, you can read our in-depth review or watch our video.
Now, if you are looking for an excellent writing app with the same advanced features Grammarly has but at a lower price, ProWritingAid might be the one for you.
It was specially designed for professional writers to improve their grammar, spelling, and readability level. This app has an accurate grammar checker, many useful features, and detailed reports to guide you on where you should make corrections to enhance your text.
ProWritingAid reviews your paper in-depth and analyzes key elements like repetitiveness, readability, structure, passive voice, wordy sentences, and more!
However, we must say that some of these features might not be as polished as Grammarly’s tools. For example, some of its suggestions can be subjective or incorrect because the readability features check stylistic issues.
And yes, this problem of asking artificial intelligence to fulfill the same accurate job a human editor would do is an issue we will find in EVERY writing app. Whether it’s Grammarly or the following apps on this list, you can’t expect them to flawlessly understand the context of every sentence or replace with 100% accuracy the work an actual editor does.
But compared to the other writing apps we mention, ProWritingAid is the software with the most inaccurate readability suggestions.
But asides from that, ProWritingAid is a very robust and complete app that is worth the shot.
Just like Grammarly, ProWritingAid also has a free version. While you get almost all of their advanced features, the app will only edit up to 500 words per document.
To unlock all of their tools, you’ll have to use their premium version, which costs:
- $20 for the monthly subscription
- $79 for the annual subscription
- $399 for the lifetime subscription
In comparison, their prices are more affordable than other writing apps; and they also offer sales with discounts from time to time.
And if you want to try it before purchasing it, you can request a 7-day free trial and ensure that it will be worth the investment.
ProWritingAid Is For You If
- You want a robust writing app with advanced features for a lower price
- Are willing to pay attention to detailed reports to improve your text
- Understand that some of its readability suggestions might be inaccurate
If ProWritingAid sounds promising and you’d like to read more about them, you can check out our in-depth review. And if you are between them and Grammarly, you can check out our direct comparison and choose which one suits your needs the most.
iA Writer is a distraction-free writing app, perfect for writers who need to avoid distractions and look for a clean and simple workspace.
Its most unique feature is the Focus Mode, which only highlights the sentence you are working on, fading out everything else in your project. This is a distinct and helpful tool that helps you stay focused on your writing, so you progress one line at a time.
You can also link your notes to navigate between your documents easily, and because of its markdown feature, you can type in the format you want to add.
With this tool, you can keep your hands on the keyboard, add styles with Markdown to **bold** or *italicize a word*, and keep the writing flow moving.
Regarding stylistic features, they have a Syntax Highlight tool that spots weak verbs and unwanted repetitions and a style checker to eliminate filler, clichés, and redundancies.
The downside is that iA Writer doesn’t check for grammar errors, and contrary to what its name suggests, its variety of features does not include an AI writer that writes automatically for you.
iA Writer prices are:
- macOS: $49.99
- iOS and iPadOS: $49.99
- Windows: $29.99
- Android: $29.99 or $4.99 per month
Right now, you can only own iA Writer by purchasing it. However, they have informed the public that soon the subscription plan will be available on all platforms.
iA Writer Is For You If
- You want a distraction-free writing app
- Like the idea of adding the text's format only with the keyboard
- Don't mind purchasing it instead of paying a subscription plan
Hemingway App is an online editor that mainly focuses on styling, and it aims to make your text simpler and easier to understand. For them, the priority of your paper is not how you write it but how the message is understood.
It checks for grammatical errors, but what makes it stand out is its readability grade levels.
First, they give you a score on your overall text to prove which grade level is required to understand it. The higher your score is, the more you’ll need to make changes so it can be easier for everyone to read.
The changes Hemingway suggests you make are highlighted in different colors, and also review your text’s lengthy sentences, adverbs, passive voice, and unnecessary complex words.
Similar to ProWritingAid, Hemingway’s recommendations are strictly based on following a specific set of structural and subjective rules. So, not all of their suggestions are 100% accurate. And because they prioritize simplicity over style, blindly following every change they suggest will make you lose your personal touch.
In their case, their stylistic suggestions are not as incorrect as the ones ProWritingAid has. Still, some are truly subjective, meaning you’ll have to pay attention and see if what Hemingway tells you is fitting for your text or not.
Cost
The best thing about the Hemingway App is that their online version is totally free.
Once you enter their website, you can start writing or pasting your text, and Hemingway will fully check it with all of its features.
But if you want to use it on your computer, you can purchase their desktop version for a one-time fee of $19.99. This version has other benefits, like accessing the app without an internet connection, but you can also buy it as a way to retribute them for their free and complete online editor.
Hemingway App Is For You If
- You want to make stylistic improvements to your text
- Will recognize that some suggestions can be subjective and unfitting to your text
We recommend using Hemingway as a secondary editing tool, but if you want a better idea of how they work and what you get from them, you can find it in our honest review.
Unlike the other apps on this list, Scrivener is an organizational tool, and it is a book writing software mainly created for long-form content writers who need to manage all of their content in one place.
It’s not about correcting you and showing how you should write but how to create a well-structured workspace to improve your writing experience.
With Scrivener, you can break your content into sections, focus individually on each, and then unite them in your final document.
It’s a great choice for long-term writers, as you can set word count goals to progress at your own time on each writing session. And if you later want to re-read your text, you can see previous versions of specific sections and even compare the old one with the current version and see which changes you made.
To plan how you’ll be structuring your content, you have the Corkboard, where you can view all your sections as if they were notes stitched side-by-side, and the Outliner tool, which shows you useful information about specific parts of your text or even your entire paper.
If you have a hard time starting from scratch, you can choose one of their templates. And if you are looking for a clean and customizable workspace, you can change the interface as you want or pick between their light and dark theme.
Scrivener doesn’t have a grammar checker, but you can integrate ProWritingAid, it can create the ultimate writing app.
Cost
Scrivener is the only app on this list that doesn’t offer a free version. You can purchase it for:
- $49 for Windows or macOS
- $20 for iOS
Buying it means you own the current Scrivener version on your selected platform. But if in the future they make an important update and go from 3.0 to 4.0, you’ll have to purchase the app again.
They also have a 30-day free trial that, instead of covering a specific range of days, lasts the days of use.
For example, if you begin your free trial on July 1st and throughout the month you only use it for 15 days, when August starts, you still have 15 days available to use Scrivener for free.
Scrivener Is For You If
- You need a workspace to organize your ideas
- You want to focus on specific parts of your paper and plan the structure in advance
- You don't need a grammar checker or already have ProWritingAid to integrate into it
Perhaps Scrivener doesn’t have the same features the other writing apps on this list have, but the workspace they offer is unique and can be super helpful for all types of writers. If you want to learn more about it, you can check out our review.
Choose The Writing App For You
Now you know which are the best apps for writers. So go ahead and pick the one that best suits your needs.
Think if you want a basic editor that you can use for free or if you are willing to invest your money and get more advanced features that can take your text to the next level.
However, be mindful that no software will ever replace the understanding or suggestions a real human editor can make. Thoroughly review if what they recommend is accurate and consider if it’s appropriate for the context of your work.
We hope this app list was helpful. But if writing is not for you, remember you can count on Gradehacker to help you with your assignments. From essays to entire classes, we have assisted many students like you in accelerating their college experience, and we’ll be happy to help you too!
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Santiago Mallea
Santiago Mallea is a curious and creative journalist who first helped many college students as a Gradehacker consultant in subjects like literature, communications, ethics, and business. Now, as a Content Creator in our blog, YouTube channel, and TikTok, he assists non-traditional students improve their college experience by sharing the best tips. You can find him on LinkedIn.
