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Grammarly vs Litero

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors. Grammarly starts at $12, Litero at $7.90. Both have a free tier.

GrammarlyGrammar, tone and rewriting help inside every appLiteroAcademic writing helper with an outline builder, citation tool, and built-in AI-content checker.

Side by side

FactGrammarlyLitero
CategoryGrammar & ProofreadingResearch & Citation Tools
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at$12 month$7.90 month
Public APINoNo
PlatformsWeb, Chrome Ext, Windows, macOS, iOS, AndroidWeb
CompanySuperhumanLitero Inc.
Launched2009—
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 1, 2026

What our research says

Grammarly

Still the default for catching mistakes inside other people's software, but the free tier has quietly become an AI-prompt meter and the honest price is $30 unless you commit to a full year.

Pros

  • Runs inside the apps people already write in rather than as a separate editor
  • Free tier still covers spelling, grammar and tone detection with no time limit
  • Pro folds in plagiarism and AI-text detection that rivals charge for separately

Cons

  • The $12 headline is the annual rate; paying monthly costs $30
  • Free AI allowance is 100 prompts a month and depletes quickly
  • No public API, so it cannot be embedded in another product
  • Enterprise pricing is not published anywhere on the site

Litero

Litero's pitch is source-anchored writing help rather than essay generation: outline, cite, and check a draft against 100 million-plus scholarly sources instead of asking the AI to write the whole thing. Its own AI-detector and humanizer-style features sit in some tension with each other, and buyers should weigh that combination against their institution's academic-integrity policy.

Pros

  • Citation tool draws from over 100 million sources including JSTOR and Google Scholar
  • Bundles outline building, grammar, plagiarism, and AI-detection in one subscription
  • Free tier is usable without a credit card before committing to Premium

Cons

  • Free plan's daily AI output cap will feel restrictive for longer writing sessions
  • Company's own headquarters location is inconsistently reported across public business databases
  • Combining an AI detector with a humanizer-style feature raises academic-integrity questions worth checking against institutional policy

Which one fits

Choose Grammarly if you need

  • Anyone writing in a browser, Word or email who wants corrections in place
  • Teams enforcing a house style guide across people who are not writers
  • Non-native English speakers who want fluency rewrites, not just error flags

Choose Litero if you need

  • Students and researchers who want citation support tied to real scholarly sources
  • Writers who want a plagiarism and AI-content check before submitting a draft
  • Users who prefer outline-first, source-anchored writing over full AI generation

More comparisons

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