Disclaimer
Please note: This article was written in November 2022. Changes to LanguageTool’s and ProWritingAid’s functionality may occur in the future.
LanguageTool vs. ProWritingAid
- LanguageTool detects more errors.
- LanguageTool provides more transparent privacy policies.
- ProWritingAid only supports English; LanguageTool supports more than 30 languages.
- LanguageTool can rephrase your sentences.
- ProWritingAid is not as user-friendly and accessible as LanguageTool.
What are ProWritingAid and LanguageTool?
LanguageTool and ProWritingAid are intelligent writing assistants. They are tools that help refine your writing by detecting and correcting errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and more.
Are you stuck deciding between the two? Below, we’ll go over five strengths that LanguageTool has over ProWritingAid.
Benefits of Using LanguageTool
1. LanguageTool detects more errors than ProWritingAid
Regarding spelling and grammar errors, ProWritingAid does, in fact, detect the obvious errors. However, not only does LanguageTool detect more spelling and grammar errors, but it also suggests stylistic improvements. Take a look at the following example:
The types of mistakes LanguageTool detected that ProWritingAid did not include:
- capitalization errors (apple → Apple & adobe illustrator → Adobe Illustrator)
- use of colloquialism (Imma → I am going to)
- incorrect word use (knight → night)
- punctuation errors (missing comma after designing)
- complex grammar rules (subject-verb agreement)
- inconsistencies caused by dialects (jewellery → jewelry)
LanguageTool also provides style suggestions:
- a lot of hours → plenty of hours
- Splitting up a sentence that has over 40 words
ProWritingAid also provides style suggestions, but one of them convolutes the sentence by suggesting to remove “that” in the following sentence:
“… there’s just something about the smooth flow of ink on crisp, clean paper that helps rev up my creative engine…”
“… there’s just something about the smooth flow of ink on crisp, clean paper helps rev up my creative engine…”
2. LanguageTool has more transparent privacy policies.
According to its website, ProWritingAid processes and stores data (including what you write) on servers hosted in the United States. LanguageTool, on the other hand, only processes data for improving their corrections.
Additionally, although LanguageTool offers rule-based and artificial-intelligence-based checking, it’s also open source—meaning people from all over the world can contribute to LanguageTool, which allows rapid growth and development.
3. LanguageTool supports multiple languages and dialects.
ProWritingAid only supports “General English” and some of its dialects including British English, US English, Australian English, and Canadian English. Not only does LanguageTool support these dialects, but it also supports New Zealand and South African English.
Moreover, LanguageTool is multilingual. It can detect spelling and grammar errors in over 25 languages including German, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Portuguese. ProWritingAid only checks for spelling and grammar errors in English.
4. LanguageTool has a rephrasing feature.
Enhancing your writing is much more than just correcting errors. LanguageTool can take your writing to the next level by helping you rewrite sentences to better suit your audience. The rephrasing feature rewords your sentences to be more formal, fluent, concise, or simple. As of now, ProWritingAid offers no such feature.
5. LanguageTool is more user-friendly.
LanguageTool’s interface is designed to provide distraction-free writing, whether you’re using the desktop or online editor. ProWritingAid’s editor has many icons and colors, which might make it difficult for some people to focus.
LanguageTool also provides more plug-ins and add-ons, which means more possibilities of seamless integration regardless of your favorite app or program.
| Category | LanguageTool | ProWritingAid |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop apps |
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| E-mail add-ons |
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| Browser add-ons |
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| Office plugins |
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| CMS |
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| Mobile apps |
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** Note: The LanguageTool add-on browser extensions work automatically with Google Docs.
LanguageTool > ProWritingAid
If you’re looking for more thorough corrections and want to optimize your writing in more areas than one, we’d recommend using LanguageTool over ProWritingAid. Yes, ProWritingAid can correct basic errors in English. But LanguageTool goes above and beyond to help transform your writing from average to exceptional.
When deciding between the two, remember that:
- LanguageTool detects more errors and provides more stylistic suggestions.
- Data is only processed—never stored—when using LanguageTool.
- ProWritingAid only supports the English language. LanguageTool supports over 30 languages.
- LanguageTool can help rephrase your sentences.
- LanguageTool is more user-friendly and offers more plug-ins as well as add-ons.
