Background
For three years the author paid $30 /month for Grammarly Premium out of habit. Tracking the actual fixes revealed most were basic punctuation, passive‑voice flags, and occasional clarity hints—features also covered by free tools.
Feature Comparison
Both services correct grammar, spelling, and simple style, but they differ in presentation and extra functions.
- Grammarly Premium: tone adjustments, AI rewrites, plagiarism detection, brand‑tone customization, and premium‑only multilingual support.
- LanguageTool Free: core grammar, spelling, basic style, readability checks, and support for 30+ languages without upsell prompts.
Performance Test
Running the same 2,000‑word draft through each tool produced comparable results:
- LanguageTool caught 14 genuine errors.
- Grammarly caught 16, two of which were stylistic nitpicks that did not improve readability.
The mechanical editing quality was essentially the same.
User Experience
Grammarly’s interface constantly reminded users of limited features with purple upgrade banners, while LanguageTool displayed suggestions plainly and stayed out of the way.
Multilingual Support
LanguageTool’s free tier natively checks German, French, Spanish, and many other languages. Grammarly’s multilingual capabilities are locked behind a premium subscription and are less comprehensive.
When Premium Still Matters
For high‑stakes writing—client proposals, legal briefs, academic papers—Grammarly’s advanced tone monitoring, plagiarism checker, and team‑wide brand‑tone tools can add value.
Conclusion
If you are paying $30 /month for a grammar checker without a clear need for premium features, switching to LanguageTool Free can save money, reduce intrusive prompts, and still deliver the essential corrections you need.