Do you have, use, or recommend alternatives to Grammarly?
If you are unfamiliar with Grammarly, it is a spelling, grammar, and tone checker and suggester. The free tier is very useful.
I looked into alternatives, and what I found is:
Grammarly is a US-based company. For accounts created in the EU or UK, no content is used to train models. Others have a choice. Targeted advertising (email address to unique identifier) can be disabled.
LanguageTool is owned by a German business (GmbH), but operates under an international business called Learneo (Inc.). The privacy policy is with Learneo and does include data transfer to the US. It’s unclear to me whether they operate [with the data] in the US or if that is only for specific or secondary operations and support.
LanguageTool uses third-party US analytics (Google Analytics and Amplitude.
LanguageTool is Open Source, but self-hosting does not include any of the AI features/rules.
DeepL is a German business. The free tier processes your data for training, and you must not submit any personal data.
Do you know of other alternatives that go beyond simple dictionary spell-checking, similar to these services? Ready-for-use service, local, or self-hosted.
Instatext from Slovenia! I’ve been using it for years
Free 14-day trial with a limited number of improvements.
25 € / month.
Languages: English (US and UK).
InstaText uses advanced language technologies, but not generative AI, to suggest recommendations and ideas for improving text clarity and readability.
With regard to differences to Grammarly and the like:
The main function of Grammarly and similar tools is proofreading. They mainly check your text for spelling and grammar and do not offer suggestions for in-depth editing. Therefore, InstaText is the ideal choice for those who want to improve the clarity, style, and readability of their texts with more detailed suggestions.
All data is transmitted to their servers. As per policy, not used for anything other than offering the suggestions. They strongly recommend not to submit any personal data though:
Please note that we strongly advise you not to use our text improvement service for texts that contain personal data of any kind.
The website uses Google Analytics.
Antidote. From Druide Informatique is a great set of spellcheckers (and gramamtical guides) for French and for English.
Alas, a few years ago they dropped their Linux version. Also, it’s not from the EU but from Canada… which has not yet been invaded by the USA.
Edit: too many things to list, I’m tired (and I don’t have Antidote on my Linux machine)
Tracking integration of Google, Meta - presumably on their website only.
Data transfer to Canada (I checked to make sure they don’t transfer to the US despite being based in Canada).
The comment linked to Druide; here is the Antidote website.
- English OR French 60 € / year / user.
- English AND French 90 € / year / user.
- English OR French 100 € / year / 5 user.
- English AND French 150 € / year / 5 user.
