QuillBot vs. Grammarly: Which AI Writing Assistant Is Better?

Grammarly offers correctness and clarity checks everywhere you write. QuillBot specializes in paraphrasing and rewriting existing text. Here's how pricing, feature gates, and workflow fit differ between the two most common AI writing assistants.

Grammarly and QuillBot are both AI writing tools, but they solve fundamentally different problems. Grammarly is built as an editing layer that checks grammar, clarity, tone, and style across every text field in your workflow. QuillBot is designed to transform existing text through paraphrasing, summarizing, and rewording. Understanding which job you need the tool to do is more important than comparing feature lists.

This comparison examines what each platform optimizes for, where their pricing and feature gates differ, and which workflows justify choosing one over the other.

What Each Tool Is Built For

Grammarly

Best for: teams that need grammar, spelling, clarity, and tone checks embedded in everyday writing workflows across email, Google Docs, and web editors.

Trade-off: Grammarly excels at editing and polishing existing text but doesn't transform or paraphrase content the way QuillBot does.

Grammarly is fundamentally a correctness and clarity tool. It checks spelling, grammar, punctuation, engagement, and delivery in real time wherever you write. The platform integrates into browsers, desktop apps, and mobile keyboards, making it available across email clients, Google Docs, social media posts, and any web text field. For teams producing customer-facing communication—support emails, documentation, marketing copy—Grammarly ensures consistency without requiring manual proofreading.

Grammarly Free includes tone detection and basic writing suggestions. Grammarly Pro adds sentence rewrites, tone adjustments, unlimited personalized suggestions, plagiarism detection, and AI-generated text detection. The platform also offers 100 AI prompts on Free and 2,000 on Pro for generative assistance, though this is a secondary capability rather than the platform's core function.

QuillBot

Best for: writers who need to paraphrase, rephrase, or rewrite existing content while avoiding repetition or improving readability.

Trade-off: QuillBot is optimized for transformation of existing text, not for grammar checking at scale or generating original content from scratch.

QuillBot's primary tool is its paraphraser, which rewrites sentences or paragraphs while preserving meaning. This is useful for academic writing, content repurposing, or avoiding repetitive phrasing in long documents. The platform also includes a grammar checker, summarizer, citation generator, and translator, but these are positioned as secondary utilities around the core paraphrasing engine.

QuillBot's free tier imposes limits on paraphrasing modes and word counts. Premium plans expand available modes, remove character limits, and unlock faster processing. The platform is designed for writers working with existing drafts rather than for teams monitoring correctness across all communication channels.

Pricing and Subscription Models

Grammarly and QuillBot structure pricing differently, which affects total cost of ownership depending on your usage pattern.

Grammarly Pro is priced at $12 per member per month when billed annually, or $30 per month when billed monthly. The platform offers a Free tier with basic grammar and tone checks, making it accessible for testing before committing budget. Enterprise pricing is custom and requires contacting sales.

QuillBot's pricing varies by region and currency, with billing cycles including monthly, quarterly, and annual options. Example pricing from QuillBot's comparison materials shows Premium at $8.33 per month when billed annually, $13.31 per month on a six-month plan, or $19.95 per month when billed monthly. These figures should be understood as examples rather than universal pricing, as QuillBot's help center states that pricing depends on location and is confirmed at checkout.

On an annual billing cycle, QuillBot Premium is cheaper than Grammarly Pro based on the example pricing provided. Monthly billing reverses this—QuillBot's $19.95 monthly rate is lower than Grammarly's $30 monthly rate, but the difference is smaller. For buyers committed to annual subscriptions, QuillBot offers a clearer cost advantage. For buyers who prefer flexibility or want to test for a month before committing, both platforms charge premium rates on monthly billing.

Feature Gates and Plan Limits

Understanding which features unlock at which tier is essential for avoiding surprises after subscribing.

Grammarly Free includes tone detection, basic grammar and spelling checks, and 100 AI prompts. Grammarly Pro adds full-sentence rewrites, tone adjustments, unlimited personalized suggestions, plagiarism detection, and AI-generated text detection. The Pro tier also increases AI prompts to 2,000 per month. These features are designed for professional writers, marketers, and teams producing high volumes of polished content.

QuillBot's free tier gates advanced paraphrasing modes and imposes character limits on the paraphraser. Premium removes character limits, unlocks all paraphrasing modes, and provides faster processing. The platform does not publicly document separate feature tiers beyond Free and Premium in the same way Grammarly does, which makes the upgrade decision simpler but provides less granular control over which capabilities you're paying for.

Grammarly's plagiarism detection and AI-generated text detection are explicit Pro features. QuillBot does not emphasize these capabilities in its documented feature set, which positions Grammarly as better suited for teams concerned about originality verification or detecting AI-generated content in submitted work.

Workflow Integration and Ubiquity

The value of writing assistants depends on how seamlessly they integrate into your existing workflow rather than requiring you to work inside a dedicated editor.

Grammarly's browser extensions work across Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. The platform also offers desktop apps for Windows and Mac, a mobile keyboard for iOS and Android, and integrations with Microsoft Office. This ubiquity means Grammarly is active wherever you write—email, Slack, Google Docs, social media, content management systems, or any web text field. You don't change your workflow to use Grammarly; it adapts to wherever you're already writing.

QuillBot offers browser extensions and integrations with writing tools, but its primary workflow is centered on its web interface. You paste or type text into QuillBot's paraphraser, select a mode, and receive rewritten output. This copy-paste model is less seamless than Grammarly's inline checking but reflects QuillBot's focus on transformation rather than real-time editing.

For teams that need writing assistance embedded in every communication channel, Grammarly's integration breadth is decisive. For writers who work on documents in isolation and need to rephrase or paraphrase sections before publishing, QuillBot's workflow is sufficient and the lower cost is an advantage.

Paraphrasing vs Rewriting Philosophy

Both platforms offer rewriting capabilities, but their approaches and intended outcomes differ significantly.

QuillBot's paraphraser is designed to produce alternative phrasings of the same content while preserving meaning. It offers multiple modes optimized for different goals: Standard for balanced rewrites, Fluency for natural phrasing, Formal for professional tone, Simple for readability, Creative for more substantial changes, Expand for adding detail, and Shorten for concision. These modes give explicit control over how aggressively the tool rewrites and what outcome you're optimizing for.

Grammarly Pro includes sentence rewrites as part of its clarity and engagement suggestions. The platform doesn't offer modes or configuration for how sentences are rewritten—it provides suggestions inline as you write, focused on improving clarity, conciseness, or tone. This is a prescriptive editing approach rather than a transformation tool.

For writers who need to paraphrase competitor content, rephrase client-provided drafts, or avoid repetitive language across long documents, QuillBot's mode variety and focus on transformation are better aligned. For teams that need inline suggestions to improve clarity and correctness without manually triggering rewrites, Grammarly's approach is simpler.

Tone and Clarity Controls

Grammarly emphasizes tone detection and adjustment as core capabilities available even on its Free tier. The platform analyzes your text and indicates whether the tone is formal, confident, friendly, or other descriptors, then provides suggestions to adjust tone if needed. Grammarly Pro adds tone adjustment features that allow you to rewrite sentences to match a desired formality level or emotional register.

This tone focus is designed for professional communication where appropriateness matters—customer support emails that need to sound empathetic, sales outreach that should be confident without being aggressive, or internal updates that balance authority with approachability. Grammarly's tone detector helps teams maintain consistent voice across writers and contexts.

QuillBot does not emphasize tone detection in the same way. Its paraphrasing modes include Formal, which adjusts language toward professional phrasing, but the platform doesn't analyze or score tone across your writing. QuillBot's strength is in transformation rather than tone governance.

For teams managing brand voice and tone consistency across customer-facing communication, Grammarly's tone features are more developed. For individual writers focused on rephrasing content without needing tone analysis, QuillBot's simpler model is sufficient.

Plagiarism and AI-Generated Text Detection

Grammarly Pro includes plagiarism detection and AI-generated text detection as explicit features. Plagiarism detection compares your text against web sources and academic databases to identify potential matches, which is valuable for editors, educators, or content teams verifying originality before publication. AI-generated text detection flags content that may have been produced by language models, which matters for teams evaluating submitted work or ensuring that published content includes sufficient human oversight.

QuillBot does not market plagiarism detection or AI-generated text detection as core features in its documented plan capabilities. This positions Grammarly as the stronger choice for teams that need these verification tools as part of their workflow.

For academic institutions, publishers, or content operations teams that need to verify originality or detect AI-generated submissions, Grammarly Pro's inclusion of these features justifies the higher price. For writers who don't need verification tools and are focused solely on improving or rephrasing their own drafts, QuillBot's narrower scope is not a limitation.

Language Support and Localization

QuillBot's own comparison materials note that the platform is primarily English-only. This is a significant constraint for teams producing content in multiple languages or working with non-English drafts. QuillBot includes a translator tool, but the core paraphrasing and grammar checking features are optimized for English text.

Grammarly supports English natively and offers additional language support depending on tier and deployment. The platform's broader integration ecosystem and focus on professional communication make it better suited for international teams or organizations producing content in multiple languages, though the degree of non-English support should be verified on Grammarly's documentation for specific languages and features.

For English-only workflows, this distinction is irrelevant. For teams managing multilingual content or working with writers in non-English markets, Grammarly's broader language positioning is an advantage even if specific capabilities vary by language.

Use Case Fit and Workflow Alignment

The decision between Grammarly and QuillBot depends on which writing tasks dominate your workflow.

Grammarly is designed for teams producing high volumes of original communication where correctness, clarity, and tone matter. Customer support teams writing dozens of emails daily benefit from Grammarly's real-time checks and tone guidance. Marketing teams drafting social posts, ad copy, and landing pages use Grammarly to ensure polished output before publishing. Documentation teams maintaining help centers and knowledge bases rely on Grammarly to catch errors and improve readability at scale.

QuillBot is better suited for writers working with existing text that needs transformation. Academic writers paraphrasing research to avoid plagiarism. Content teams adapting competitor articles or repurposing internal documents for different audiences. Bloggers revising old posts to refresh phrasing without changing meaning. Freelancers rewriting client-provided drafts to improve flow and readability.

If your primary task is writing new content correctly and clearly, Grammarly is aligned with that workflow. If your primary task is transforming existing content into new phrasings, QuillBot's paraphrasing modes are purpose-built for that job.

Subscription Flexibility and Regional Pricing

QuillBot offers more billing cycle options than Grammarly, which matters for buyers who prefer shorter commitments or want to test before committing to annual plans.

QuillBot Premium is available on monthly, quarterly, and annual billing cycles. This flexibility allows teams to test the platform for a few months before deciding whether to commit to annual pricing. QuillBot's help center also notes that pricing varies by region and currency, which means international buyers may see different rates at checkout.

Grammarly offers monthly and annual billing for Pro, with a significant price difference between the two. Monthly billing at $30 per month is 2.5x more expensive than annual billing at $12 per month. This pricing spread is designed to incentivize annual commitments and discourage month-to-month usage, which is standard in SaaS models but limits flexibility for teams that want to evaluate the platform over a few months without committing a full year.

For buyers prioritizing flexibility or operating in regions with currency fluctuations, QuillBot's quarterly option and regional pricing adjustment provide more control. For buyers comfortable with annual commitments, both platforms discount heavily on annual plans.

AI Prompt Allowances and Generative Features

Grammarly includes generative AI features through its AI prompt allowances—100 prompts on Free and 2,000 on Pro. These prompts allow you to generate text, brainstorm ideas, or request rewrites within Grammarly's interface. This positions Grammarly as more than just an editing tool, though the generative capabilities are secondary to its correctness and clarity focus.

QuillBot does not emphasize generative AI prompts in its documented features. The platform's strength is in transforming text you provide rather than generating new content from prompts. For teams that need both editing and light generative assistance in one tool, Grammarly's AI prompts add value. For teams focused solely on paraphrasing and rewriting, QuillBot's narrower focus is simpler.

Which Tool to Choose

For most teams and professionals who write original content daily and need correctness, clarity, and tone checks embedded in every text field across email, documents, and web editors, Grammarly is the better choice because it integrates everywhere you write and provides real-time feedback without requiring you to copy-paste text into a separate tool. Grammarly Pro at $12 per month annually unlocks sentence rewrites, plagiarism detection, AI-generated text detection, and unlimited personalized suggestions, which matter for professional communication where polish and originality verification are priorities. The Free tier provides immediate value for casual users, and the platform's ubiquitous integration makes it practical for teams that write across multiple environments. If your workflow involves producing emails, Slack messages, documentation, and social posts throughout the day, Grammarly's seamless correction layer is more efficient than manual checking or dedicated editing sessions.

QuillBot is a stronger choice if your primary workflow involves paraphrasing, rephrasing, or rewriting existing content and you need explicit control over how aggressively the tool transforms your text. QuillBot Premium's example pricing at $8.33 per month annually is lower than Grammarly Pro, making it more affordable for individual writers or small teams with budget constraints. The platform's paraphrasing modes—Standard, Fluency, Formal, Creative, Expand, Shorten—provide granular control over transformation outcomes that Grammarly's sentence rewrites don't match. QuillBot is better suited for academic writers avoiding repetitive phrasing, content teams adapting existing articles, or freelancers revising client drafts. The quarterly billing option and regional pricing flexibility also make QuillBot more accessible for international users or teams that want to test for a few months before committing annually.

If you need both correctness checking and paraphrasing capabilities, the practical solution is to use Grammarly Free for real-time grammar and tone checks everywhere you write, then subscribe to QuillBot Premium for paraphrasing tasks when needed. Grammarly's Free tier is generous enough to provide baseline correctness without cost, and QuillBot's lower Premium price makes it affordable as a complement rather than requiring you to choose one or the other exclusively.

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