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How to use ProWritingAid?
ProWritingAid is available on both Windows and Mac. It also supports Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and Scrivener. However, there are no iOS or Android apps available for the software at the moment.
ProWritingAid is not only a grammar or spell checker, it also improves the readability of your writing.
For the desktop and web app, this is how you use the software:
1. Open the ProWritingAid Desktop application
2. Upload your document and the software will scan it
3. An editing tool panel opens up that helps you review your text – spelling mistakes are highlighted in red (Hello, teachers!), weak writing (like using passive voice, poor sentence structure, etc.) is highlighted in yellow, and finally, grammar mistakes are highlighted in blue.
4. Hover over each underlined text to see a suggested fix from the software.
How is it different from other Grammar checkers?
1. This writing tool does more than just a grammar check. It tests your writing for cliches, overused words, abstract sentences, incorrect tenses, and overall readability. It can help you recognize your consistent writing style issues. ProWritingAid is the writing teacher you wished you had in your high school.
2. ProWritingAid also measures your writing against the best writers of your genre and provides 22 detailed reports (in the free version) for your reference.
Other grammar checkers rarely provide this comprehensive amount of information.
3. It also has no word limit. You go, fiction authors! Check all those chapters all at once.
4. It is compatible with Scrivener.
Pros and Cons of using ProWritingAid
Pros:
1. It is the best at detailed reports: If you want to find style issues in your writing, wish you had a mentor to assess your writing’s readability, ProWritingAid is the way to go.
2. It has an inbuilt Thesaurus: You can sound smart without opening the dictionary.
3. Detailed Reports: In the paid version, you can get 25 reports of your writing measured against the best authors of your genre.
4. It has no word limit: You don’t have to copy and paste and check each chapter anymore.
5. It is cheaper than Grammarly: Same features (almost) and less money. Who wouldn’t want that?
6. It is compatible with Scrivener: If you use it for your writing, ProWritingAid is your rescue from Ctrl+V
7. Safe from plagiarism: ProWritingAid does not save what you write after the analysis ends. This applies to both free and paid versions.
Cons:
1. No Application: If you want to use this for a quick edit on the phone before a big meeting, it’s troublesome to use the browser.
2. Can be a little slow in a lot of data: Fiction writers, wear your patience seatbelt.
3. Hovering over: To see the suggested fixes for your errors, you must hover over each and change them. This can get tedious really quickly.
4. Previous documents are deleted, if not saved manually: Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Is ProWritingAid the right grammar checker for you? (Quiz Time!)
ProWritingAid is a delightful grammar checker. But, it is especially just right for you if you meet the following conditions:
1. Are you a fiction writer who needs to check lots of chapters at once?
2. Are you a writer who is trying to analyze how you write, what are your overused phrases, and how you can improve?
3. Are you a student who needs to check lots of academic papers and your research thesis that goes on for more words than most Grammar checkers allow?
4. Or maybe you are a teacher that needs to check student papers for plagiarism?
5. Are you a writer who often needs to check for spelling inconsistencies between US and UK English?
6. Are you someone who needs to see the edits quickly update as you write right away?
7. Are you someone who wants to evaluate the readability of your writing and improve your word choice?
If you score anywhere between 3-6 on this quiz, ProWritingAid is the perfect tool for you.
My Experience With Using ProWritingAid
I posted an article on Podbean to ProWritingAid. Here is an account of what I experienced.
There are a TON of features to explore in the free version itself. This is what the dashboard’s top panel looks like:
The Summary report itself is extensive and it would be useful to go through the entire thing if you want to do an analysis of your writing style.
There is also an option to Print this report. It comes in handy for when you want to go through the analysis without an internet connection.
While the first section tells you what works well for your writing, the next section talks about what you could improve upon.
Following these two sections is a breakdown of each of the elements in graphs, pie-charts, and word clouds.
My favorite part was the quick suggestions for every metric evaluated and why it is important:
But the extensive analysis for every metric, while useful, is not feasible for every piece of writing. If I want a quicker analysis, there is no way to go about it in this feature. It is also unclear how the scores for the various metrics are calculated and whether it is reliable.
And while the graphs are useful, it would be more user-friendly to have specific instances documented (or navigated to in the click of a button) that is marked as areas of improvement.
I also wanted to check how ProWritingAid would evaluate my writing style in depth. The toolbar for style feature appears on the left-hand-side corner with crisp numbered details.
What I found a little tedious here was checking manually for each recommendation by first clicking the drop-down, then choose the issue, then click on “Go to item” to finally land on the recommendation.
While this is not much for brief articles, for long articles or academic papers, or the draft of a book, it is exhausting.
Similar to the style feature, there is a Grammar feature as well. It has the same cons of a procedure too long to land on the error.
But what I loved here was the detailed reason along with an article on every issue found by clicking on the “i” button, which is “Learn more about this suggestion”
This is especially useful for someone who has English as their second language, like me.
I also explored the Thesaurus Feature and enjoyed the variety of words that came up as alternatives.
Although like the other features, it is a little manual to go to every issue and fix it; I did not mind it so much here because I could use the resolve button if I wanted to replace the word with a synonym.
The thing I enjoyed most about ProWritingAid is the readability features. There are metrics in place for evaluating the readability, diction, and cliche usages. If you write for an audience like me, this would be useful to improve the engagement of your writing.
There are also detailed reports on the following topics:
This feature is like a writing mentor to me, marking all my errors and areas of improvement in red.
What would have boggled my mind is these features working offline too. But, unfortunately, even in the premium version, ProWritingAid requires an internet connection to work.
And a note that I found might be useful for anyone beginning to use ProWritingAid is that it doesn’t save your text. I analyzed half of my article and left midway without copy-pasting the rectified errors somewhere else. The next day when I reopened the software, my article was gone and there was no way to retrieve the edits I had made.
So, if you want to check a ton of text, I would recommend only pasting the text you can edit that day itself.
But, apart from these minor cons, I found ProWritingAid a delight. The features helped me get a better understanding of my writing – the words I often overuse, the readability of my writing and how I can improve, and insightful reports behind each error.
How Much Does ProWritingAid Cost
ProWritingAid pricing structure is as follows:
- $0 for the free version
- $20 for a monthly subscription
- $59 for a yearly subscription
- $224 for a lifetime purchase
The plagiarism checker along with premium costs extra:
- $24 for a monthly subscription
- $66 for a yearly subscription
- $299 for a lifetime purchase
But if you just want to buy the plagiarism checker and not the premium version, the cost is basis the checks:
- $10 for 10 checks
- $40 for 100 checks
- $120 for 500 checks
- $200 for 1000 checks
Grammarly vs ProWritingAid
I checked the same article on Grammarly too to test how the most popular Grammar checker stands against ProWritingAid.
The ‘Overall Report’ in Grammarly is like the ‘Summary Feature’ in ProWritingAid. There is a similar option to download a PDF report too.
I found the Overall Performance Report in Grammarly more useful than the Summary feature in ProWritingAid because it solved the problem of brevity. Unlike an extensive report, I could get a quick insight into my writing using Grammarly.
I also like that the ‘Goals’ feature that is a standout in Grammarly. I could adjust the audience, tone, formality, and intent that I desire for the piece of writing and the reports can change accordingly.
This would be a great addition to the Readability Features in ProWritingAid.
While ProWritingAid has a ton of features to use that go beyond Grammar, Grammarly has kept the simplicity and has only a few additional features in the premium version that evaluate Delivery, Engagement, Correctness, etc.
And while ProWritingAid gives comprehensive articles along with concise suggestions for each error, Grammarly gives the concise suggestion along with examples.
If the jury was out, I would recommend using Grammarly for any brief articles or non-fiction authors while ProWritingAid would be the ideal fit for anyone who wants to analyze their writing style under a budget.
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