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5 Best AI Essay Checker Tools

What to know

• With students using generative AI tools for homework, it has become challenging for educators to discern between human-generated and AI-generated essays.
• AI essay checker tools have been developed to address this issue, and this article presents the top 5 options, namely GPTZero, Turnitin, Winston AI, Content Scale, and OpenAI’s Text Classifier.
• When selecting an AI essay checker tool, one should consider its reliability, cost-effectiveness, free features, sentence flagging, and other useful features.

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bing have put the academic world in a pickle. Where it has simplified the task of writing essays for students, the task of teachers is made all the more complicated as they try to find out who’s using these tools and who’s not. 

Fortunately for teachers, if AI can automate essay writing, then it can also automate AI detection . But which AI essay checker tools can you rely on? In this guide, we take a look at the top 5 AI detection tools that will let you identify if an essay is written by a human or AI. 

What are AI Essay Checker Tools?

While the discussion rages over whether using generative AI tools like ChatGPT is really plagiarism, teachers and students as well have begun using AI essay checker tools to ensure that they’re all playing their responsible parts in their education and not looking to cheat. 

AI essay checkers are basically plagiarism checkers that can detect if the sentences in an essay are generated by AI tools like ChatGPT. Depending on how they’re modeled and trained, they can either be decently reliable or ridiculed with false positives that will flag even human-generated content as AI. AI essay checker tools are not always going to work, and they may not always be 100%. Playing catch-up with these AI technologies is not easy and will inevitably lead to half-baked AI detection tools. 

But that is not to say that there aren’t a few that have managed to crack the code and developed models that work well enough to catch AI-generated content while giving human-written content a pass. Below we highlight the top 5 AI essay checker tools that belong to this category.

Here is what we think are the best AI essay checker tools going around right now.  

GPTZero is a Reddit favorite, not least because it is free to use for everyone, not just the professors. And it’s fairly easy to use too. Just visit GPTZero, paste the content (or upload a DOC, PDF, or TXT file), and click on ‘Get Results’ to know if the content is written by a human or an AI. 

Besides checking for AI-generated content, GPTZero will also provide additional stats about the essay, such as the level of randomness and perplexity in the text. Low scores in these categories are clear red flags that the writing is generated by AI.

Like many other AI detectors, its accuracy can be off depending on the level of analysis. So, a complete document-level analysis is better than a paragraph-level, which is better than a sentence-level analysis. Unlike Turnitin, GPTZero “is not trained to identify AI-generated text after it has been heavily modified after generation…” So that’s something useful to know, for both the teachers and the students using it. There is a paid subscription plan for teachers as well, but the free version has much that many users will think is enough. 

• Free to use
• Ability to upload document files
• Provides stats for ingenuity and complexity.
• Will highlight AI-generated content in yellow.
• Checks up to only 5000 characters in the free version
• Batch file upload limited to 3
• Can have problems with edited AI-generated text.

Related: Is GPTZero Accurate? Can It Detect ChatGPT? Here’s What Our Tests Revealed

2. Turnitin

Turnitin is easily one of the best of the lot. It doesn’t claim to deliver 100% accuracy for everything that you upload for checking. But whatever it does flag as AI-generated, it gets it right 99% of the time. In a YouTube demonstration , Turnitin’s AI detection abilities were put on display and the tool is seen to work even in cases where the sentences have gone through minor changes and edits, as students are wont to do before submissions.

Turnitin’s AI-detection model focuses largely on higher education writing where it works really well. Though it also can be used for middle and high school writing, the chances of generating false positives there are higher. 

However, these details don’t diminish the fact that Turnitin is an AI essay checker par excellence, and easily one of the best ones that educators and professors should try out.

• High precision and reliability, especially for higher education writing.
• Detects even when changes have been made to AI content.
• Only for educators and teachers to use.
• Paid service only

Related: Can Professors Detect Google Bard and ChatGPT?

3. Winston AI

Winston AI Detection is one of the few commendable AI detectors to have emerged in the wake of the generative AI tsunami. It has multimodal support for AI detection, allowing you to upload complete documents and image files for analysis. If you get a paid plan, you will also have access to the OCR feature, allowing you to snap a picture of hand-written essays and letting Winston extract words from them for analysis. This is a super feature that can greatly simplify the work of not just those in academia but also in other fields like content creation and web publishing. 

Winston’s document scoring is impressive too, ranging from ‘AI-generated’ to ‘Human’ in scale. The visual grading tells at a glance how likely it is that a piece of text is written by AI.

Though the free features are limited to AI detection, paid plans will let you catch plagiarism, generate a list of duplicates found in the text, and also create a printable report to keep in your records. After the 7-day free trial ends, you will inevitably have to get a subscription if you want to continue using Winston. But given its long list of features, it is one of the better AI detectors out there that is worth the price tag.

• OCR for hand-written essays
• Support for image and document formats
• Visual grading system 
• Free use for only 7 days
• Subscriptions are on the expensive side 

4. Content Scale

The number of AI detector tools out in the market today is growing by the day, but some names, like Content Scale, continue to crop up again and again in the discussion. Like many of its ilk, it too uses a mix of AI engines, analysis algorithms, and language models to determine if a piece of text is (potentially) AI-generated or human.

Though it won’t be able to detect the higher sophistication of GPT-4 language modeling, Content Scale is one of the fewer AI detectors that you can expect to provide all the useful features that anyone starting out will need. Add in the fact that it is free to use, can flag AI-generated sentences, and has a grading wheel that scores for ‘predictability, probability, and pattern’, and you have yourself another winner.

• Supports up to 25,000 characters
• Highlights AI-generated sentences
• No GPT-4 support

5. OpenAI’s Text Classifier

OpenAI, the company behind the revolutionary ChatGPT, has its very own AI essay checker tool. But even with their seminal GPT technology and tons of data to work with, this text classifier is not always accurate which goes to show how difficult the process actually is. 

Nevertheless, as a free AI detection service, it gets the job done for the most part. Using it is a cinch as well. Simply enter the text in the ‘Text’ field and click on ‘Submit’. The results won’t highlight which sections or sentences were written by AI. Instead, you will get a statement telling you if the classifier considers the text to be either “unlikely, likely, unclear if it is, possibly, or likely AI-generated”.

OpenAI openly states that the effectiveness of the classifier hasn’t been thoroughly assessed. This may not inspire a lot of confidence in the AI essay checker. But if you are suspicious of the contents of an essay and simply want a second opinion, this AI text detector can prove useful too.

• Simple UI (works with your ChatGPT account)
• Not as reliable as other tools
• Doesn’t highlight possible AI content.
• Effectiveness not assessed by OpenAI

Things to look out for in an AI essay checker tool

There is no shortage of AI detectors or essay checker tools nowadays. Most of them will offer their services for free, with a subscription fee that unlocks additional features. But when you’re out exploring you should consider looking out for the following things to get the tool that fits your needs:

• Reliability – The reliability of an AI detector can either make or break the deal. If what the tool detects is unfairly biased and fraught with false positives, then you should definitely look the other way. The easiest way to find this is to try it out yourself. Feed the detector AI written material and check the results. Then feed it content that you know to be human-generated and see the results. If the detector gets it right more often than not, it’s a keeper. Some tools, like Turnitin, will outright tell you what they can or can’t do, which is a big plus since you know what you’re getting with them.  
• Free features –  Most free AI essay checkers have some restrictions. Some will have severe character limitations while others will allow long essays to be analyzed on the go. They may also have result-based restrictions, in that you may or may not see which portion of the essay was AI-generated. Some others will allow multimodal essay support for document and image formats. All this will vary depending on the AI checker you’re using. So do go through the AI detector’s website to see what’s available.  
• Costs and Value – Not all AI essay checkers are free. In fact, some of the best ones only let you use the services for a short trial period concluding which you will have to pay for a subscription. But they may not always be for you. A paid subscription for AI detectors is only viable if you have tons of essays to check or if the available features are too good to let go.
• Sentence flagging –  This is another important feature that you should check. Many free AI detectors, like OpenAI’s Text Classifier, won’t highlight which sentences it thinks are AI-generated. But there are many more that do, and fairly accurately too. Getting down to the paragraph and sentence level of analysis is not easy, but because it provides valuable information that can help tell where the text has been copied from AI generative tools, it is worth keeping in mind.    
• Other features –  Visual scores and results, printable reports, and parameters for analysis are a few examples of additional features that add to an AI essay checker’s advantage. You may choose one AI detector over another based on how useful these features prove to you and simplify your work.  

AI detection technology is still in its nascent stage, but many companies are actively developing their own AI detection models to stand out in terms of accuracy, reliability, and features, and take the technology further. It helps to get other users’ perspectives as well. So make sure you also check out what fellow users are saying on forums like Reddit and Twitter, especially if you plan to purchase a subscription.  

Related: Midjourney Cheat Sheet: Become a Pro at Using Midjourney!

Let’s take a look at a few commonly asked queries about AI essay checker tools.

Are AI essay checkers reliable?

AI essay checkers are reliable, but not a hundred percent. The fact that AI detector models are still being worked and improved upon, and fighting to catch up with the latest AI capabilities makes AI essay detection with complete accuracy a hard nut to crack. However, there are many AI essay checkers at the frontiers working to improve their tools and models, such as the ones mentioned in our guide above.

Can teachers detect AI writing?

Depending on how well your teachers know you and/or which tools they use to detect AI generated content, it may be possible for them to detect AI writing fairly easily. Know what your institution permits and make sure to follow the guidelines if you don’t want your essay flagged. 

Is ChatGPT plagiarism?

The discussion involving ChatGPT and plagiarism is ongoing. Its proponents (read students) call ChatGPT and other generative AI tools just another means to get information, while many educators and professors consider even its instrumental use as plagiarism. Head on over to our guide on ‘Is ChatGPT Plagiarism?’ where we discuss the issue at length and talk about how teachers should look to adopt this powerful technology rather than shun its use going forward.

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I Tested Three AI Essay-writing Tools, and Here’s What I Found

Writing essays can be draining, tedious, and difficult, even for me—and I write all day long for a living. If writing isn’t your special skill, it’s even harder, which is why there are so many sites and products out there that are designed to help you get your homework done. Some of them are pretty unethical, and I’m not going to recommend hiring someone else to write your papers for you, but there are some cool AI tools that can give you a hand that are worth considering. (The essay-writing businesspeople are probably using these, too, so you’re better off eliminating the middleman and using them on your own.)

The best AI essay-helper tools

I have an essay due next week on the history and impact of a federal law, 21 U.S.C. S856, which outlaws the operation of any building where drugs are made or used. I won’t lie: I’m excited to work on it this weekend, but that’s just me. I tested out a few of the more popular AI essay-helper tools, pretending I wasn’t excited about it, to see how they worked. Here’s my assessment. 

First up was Grammarly , which prompted me to fill out a personalization quiz before I could use it. I told the site I was a grad student, interested in improving the vocabulary I use in my work, and looking to brainstorm topics for my essay. I used the text-input section to type a quick introductory paragraph and selected “Generative AI” from the list of options. When I hit the “Improve It” button, Grammarly showed me a revised version that added a bunch of words, but still said the same thing as my more concise entry. To me, that’s annoying, but if you’re trying to hit a word count, this could be useful. I was also given options like “Make it assertive,” “Make it persuasive,” and “Make it confident.” When I selected “Make it more detailed,” the generative AI did expand the information pretty significantly, but it didn’t add any citations and I’m not convinced it drew on material outside of what I inputted. When I hit “Make it persuasive,” the AI automatically assumed the bias should fall in favor of the law, but when I added more detail to my original paragraph, suggesting for argument’s sake that the law has curtailed efforts to reduce drug overdoses throughout the country, the AI assistant said, “Grammarly assistance is unavailable for this prompt because it may result in sensitive content.”

Overall, this wasn’t great for my needs, as my topic's content was too “sensitive” and the generative AI really only added a bunch of words. This one would be most useful for someone trying to hit a word count. 

Next I tested Cramly , which I hadn’t heard of before. Before upgrading to a $4/month plan, you do get to try five free prompts, so I pasted my basic intro paragraph in there and, after a few seconds, got five paragraphs in return. It was obvious the AI was pulling from external sources somehow, as it mentioned fines and prison sentences associated with the law that I hadn’t specified, but it didn’t actually cite those sources. Still, the information it provided was helpful, so this one would be great if you’re not sure how to frame or expand on a topic and need a general idea of what your essay could look like. You’ll just have to go through everything it spits back at you and look it up independently, finding solid sourcing. 

EssayGenius

EssayGenius is extremely easy to use. It asked me to type what I’m writing about into a box. I simply inputted the name of the law and, about 10 seconds later, got 10 paragraphs back, some with subheadings like “historical background” and “implications in criminal law and public policy.” Again, there were no citations here, but the service provided not only a lot of details that could be used as a springboard to find more, but a solid outline for what the paper could look like. The AI played both sides, objectively presenting the cases for and against the law, then provided a conclusion that made it easy to narrow down where to go with the topic. Impressively, I was able to generate all that for free, but if you want to write up to 10 essays per month, it’ll cost you $9.99 a month. 

Finally, I tried out JotBot , which I have seen advertised on social media. It asked me what I was writing about, plus if I wanted an outline, but also gave me an opportunity to upload my old essays so it could replicate my writing style. As scary as it was, the paragraphs it generated after reading some of my older work did sound more like me than standard AI does. It give me subtopic suggestions, like “impact,” “historical background,” and “controversies,” which I could select from a sidebar and, if I liked the paragraph it wrote, drag into the essay itself. From there, I could accept or reject sentences one by one as it generated new ones. I could write in the essay editing section, too, and it generated more suggestions based on what I was typing. Frankly, this one was really cool and I can see how it would help beat writer’s block with ease, since you can type and get suggestions as you go. There was a learning curve, though, and I didn’t realize how quickly I was blowing through my 10 free daily “credits,” since it’s unclear what, exactly, costs credits and how many it costs to, say, accept one suggestion. You can unlock unlimited credits, unlimited autocomplete, unlimited sources, and more for $14 per month. 

Conclusions

Overall, EssayGenius and JotBot were the best AI tools I tested. I was impressed by EssayGenius’s ability to research the topic on its own and JotBot’s mimicry of my own writing style. They do cost money, but that might be worth it if you’re someone who struggles with idea generation, outline creation, or getting into the flow of writing overall. 

Bear in mind these are not meant to churn out entire essays for you and you shouldn’t use them to do that. I don’t mean because it’s unethical, but I mean because it’s pretty easy for professors to catch you doing it . Even if you do use an AI tool to generate a whole paragraph or more, try to write it in your own voice and think of it more as a way to study and learn about your topic than have the writing done for you. 

Or, pay nothing and just use ChatGPT to generate outline ideas. I do that all the time and never have to worry about getting in trouble, cheating myself out of an education, or paying for anything. I just asked ChatGPT to generate an outline for an essay on 21 U.S.C. §856 and its impact on American harm reduction efforts and got eight sections, each with three subsections, and an easy roadmap I could follow to write my paper on my own. Doing it this way ensures I’ll actually research and learn about the topic, which is important to me, but also avoid the risk of going down for plagiarism or cheating, which is probably important to you. 

No matter what you end up doing, always run your work through a plagiarism checker (like Grammarly’s , which is better than its AI essay-writing tools) and ZeroGPT to make sure you’re not turning in something that’s going to get you in trouble.

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Key Features of Trinka’s Essay Checker

With Trinka's advanced essay checker, you will be able to correct spelling and grammatical errors in your essay and make it more logical and concise.

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I trust and use Trinka as a final spot check for my edited documents. It helps me find the few remaining errors that I have missed during the primary editing. I really like using this platform for my writing. One particular feature that works well for me is the thumbs down button.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Trinka essay checker can be used across all subject areas. It provides contextual suggestions based on the chosen subject area.

There are positives and negatives of using an AI editor. With an AI editor, you have speed, control and the best part—it’s completely free! AI editors support human editors who can organize your writing into a clear, logical, elegant paper. After letting the AI editor edit your paper, if you feel you need a human check, we do have in in-house expert copyeditors who provide assistance with reviewing your final documents.

The Proofread File service gives you the following benefits:

• The edited file will display all changes in tracks. This means you can review the changes and accept or reject them using Microsoft Word or any other compatible word processor. This file will also include comments and explanations that can help you make your writing clear.
• You will also receive a detailed report which shows the number of revisions Trinka has made in each language category and an overall writing quality score.

We've tested Trinka's AI essay checker with leading online grammar checkers on five academic domains for accuracy, style guide compliance, conciseness, and contextual spelling check. Trinka stood out remarkably. To learn more, you can refer to our published whitepaper .

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Essay writing can be a long and tedious process. ProWritingAid's essay checker saves you the hassle by acting as the first line of defense against pesky grammar issues.

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Good Writing = Good Grades

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Your goal in essay writing is to convey your message as best as possible. ProWritingAid's essay checker is the first step toward doing this.

Get rid of spelling errors

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What else can the essay checker do?

The editing tool analyzes your text and highlights a variety of key writing issues, such as overused words, incohesive sentence structures, punctuation issues, repeated phrases, and inconsistencies.

You don't need to drown your essay in words just to meet the word count. ProWritingAid's essay checker will help to make your words more effective. You'll get to construct your arguments and make sure that every word you use builds toward a meaningful conclusion.

Transition words help organize your ideas by showing the relationship between them. The essay checker has a built-in Transition report that highlights and shows the percentage of transitions used in your essay. Use the results to add transitions where necessary.

An engaging essay has sentences of varying lengths. Don't bore your professor with long, rambling sentences. The essay checker will show you where you need to break long sentences into shorter sentences or add more sentence length variation.

Generally, in scholarly writing, with its emphasis on precision and clarity, the active voice is preferred. However, the passive voice is acceptable in some instances. When you run your essay through ProWritingAid's essay checker, you get feedback on whether you're using the passive or active voice to convey your idea.

There are specific academic power verbs, like appraise , investigate , debunk , support , etc., that can add more impact to your argument by giving a more positive and confident tone. The essay checker will check your writing for power verbs and notify you if you have less than three throughout your essay.

It's easy to get attached to certain phrases and use them as crutches in your essays, but this gives the impression of boring and repetitive writing. The essay checker will highlight your repeats and suggest contextually relevant alternatives.

Gain access to in-house blog reports on citations, how to write a thesis statement, how to write a conclusion, and more. Venture into a world of resources specific to your academic needs.

What kinds of papers does ProWritingAid correct?

No matter what you're writing, ProWritingAid will adapt and show you where your edits are needed most.

• Argumentative
• Descriptive
• Textual analysis
• Lab reports
• Case studies
• Literature reviews
• Presentations
• Dissertations
• Research papers

Professors and students love using ProWritingAid

If you're an English teacher, you need to take a look at this tool - it reinforces what you're teaching, highlights strengths and weaknesses, and makes it easier to personalize instruction.

Jennifer Gonzales

Only reason I managed to get an A in all my freshman composition classes.

Chris Layton

Great tool for academic work. Easy to use, and the reports and summary evaluation of your documents in several categories is very useful. So much more than spelling and grammar!

Debra Callender

Questions & Answers

1. how do i use the essay checker online tool.

You can either copy and paste your essay in the essay checker field or upload your essay from your computer. Your suggestions will show once you enter text. You'll see a number of possible grammar and spelling issues. Sign up for free to get unlimited suggestions to improve your writing style, grammar, and sentence structure. Avoid unintentional plagiarism with a premium account.

2. Does the essay checker work with British English and American English?

The essay checker works with both British English and American English. Just choose the one you would like to use and your corrections will reflect this.

3. Is using an essay checker cheating?

No. The essay checker won't ever write the essay for you. It will point out possible edits and advise you on changes you need to make. You have full autonomy and get to decide which changes to accept.

4. Will the essay checker autocorrect my work?

The essay writing power remains in your hands. You choose which suggestions you want to accept, and you can ignore those that you don't think apply.

5. Is there a student discount?

Students who have an eligible student email address can get 20% off ProWritingAid Premium. You can apply for a student discount through Student App Centre .

6. Does ProWritingAid have a plagiarism checker?

Yes. ProWritingAid's plagiarism checker will check your work against over a billion webpages, published works, and academic papers, so you can be sure of its originality. Find out more about pricing for plagiarism checks here .

A good grade is closer than you think

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Software Testing Help

Top 10 Essay Checker And Corrector For Online Proofreading

Edited by Vijay

We publish unbiased product and service reviews; our opinions are our own and are not influenced by our advertising partners. Learn more about how we review products and read our advertiser disclosures.

Here we will go through various writing checker and free online apps that act as Best Essay Checker and Corrector for Online Proofreading:

With software applications like MSOffice and LibreOffice already correcting your spelling mistakes, the only thing that was left includes grammar check, punctuation check, style check, tone check, expert help, and of course plagiarism check. Any application that could do all this might also make you seem like a ‘professional writer’. Here, in this tutorial, we will learn about showing-off as a professional writer.

Almost 10-15 million students apply to university admissions every year in the USA alone and the intake is approximately 66% . Mostly, every university in the USA requires an essay to be written as a ‘Statement of Purpose’ before admissions.

This essay plays a highly important part in the candidate’s potential selection in the University. Even experienced writers need assistance in writing these essays. Online Essay Checker, corrector and even writing corrector applications help in this process.

If you are not taking admissions, still, you would require a Statement Of Purpose for a good job or if you are a professional, you will always have some of the other work-related to technical writing (emails, guides, letters, handbooks, etc).

Table of Contents:

Comparison Table of the Best Writing Checker

#1) prowritingaid, #2) linguix, #3) grammarly, #4) originality.ai, #5) course hero, #6) easybib, #7) virtual writing tutor, #8) paper rater, #9) scribens, #10) my assignment help, #11) languagetool, #12) citation machine, #13) outwrite, #14) essayusa, frequently asked questions, was this helpful, recommended reading, most popular essay checker.

Online writing checker and paper checker applications come in handy in these scenarios and offer “professional-like” help. For students doing their homework, thesis, dissertations, articles, or research papers, these free paper checkers and free essay corrector applications might help when they are in dire need of free editing.

In short, writing checker platforms are the most essential proofreading applications that one might need in the office, college, university, or even in a business (copywriting).

[image source ]

Suggested reading =>> Top 10 Grammar Checker Tools Online

• Always pay only for what you need. For example,  if you don’t need a plagiarism and citation check; then select a platform that does not provide these services.
• Try to look for tools related to areas where you are weak, and it may save time. For example, if you’re confident with your style, then no need to look into the style checker.
• ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK YOUR DOCUMENT MANUALLY after running it through the automated writing checker.
• Always go for expert help if available. Do not depend on automated tools especially in important events like admissions or job listings.

List of Top Essay Checker

Here is a list of the Best Writing Checker Online Applications.

• ProWritingAid
• Originality.ai
• Course Hero
• Virtual Writing Tutor
• Paper Rater
• Scribens.com
• My Assignment Help
• Language Tool
• Citation Machine

Best for Essays, Articles, and letters.

ProWritingAid is one of the most popular online applications as a Grammar checker and Essay checker. After a quick sign-up, you can directly upload or paste your documents, and it would work wonders. ProWritingAid is also helpful with style and syntax correction. It also warns about repetitive words and the usage of passive speech.

All-in-all it gives you twenty in-depth writing reports with suggestions regarding cliches, alliterations, combos, plagiarism, etc.

Features:  Grammar Checker, Synonyms, Style corrector, personal customization, in-depth data analysis, plagiarism analysis , Diction.

Verdict: While only some features are free and the rest of them come to you by paying a price (literally), ProWritingAid lives up to its reputation and serves as a great automated editor.

Price: $20/month, $79/year, $399 for lifetime.

Best for Blogs, essays, articles, and marketing content

Linguix is a platform that earns a special spot on this list because of its advanced AI. The AI can help you accurately detect and rectify grammatical as well as spelling errors in real-time. The software assesses the quality of your content based on metrics like readability, style, and correctness. It assigns a green card to content with excellent quality.

Besides this, you can count on the software to rephrase sentences. It does so using ChatGPT like models. For more convenience, the software comes in the form of extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.

Features: AI-based paraphrasing, Spell check, grammar check, content quality score, team style guide,multi-lingual support and AI-powered paraphrasing.

Verdict:  Linguix is smart, affordable, and easy to use. The software can help you determine the quality of your content and make suggestions that can help you improve the quality considerably.

Price:  Pro Plan will cost $30/month whereas a lifetime plan will cost you $108. You can use the tool for free or also opt for the business plan by requesting a custom quote.

Best for Assignments, Essays, and Fiction/Non-Fiction writing.

Grammarly is like internet general knowledge, after a few years Thesaurus might add this word to the dictionary. It is the most famous writing correcting platform. It offers many free services like style correction, spells check, plagiarism check, punctuation check, and much more for free. This is the reason for its omnipresence.

People and students alike praise the Grammarly lord for its quick and easy functions. Premium services include many more features. It is like the Adobe Photoshop of writing.

Features: Spell & grammar check, Style corrector, Mood checker, Extensions for search engines, and Keyboard applications.

Verdict: Grammarly is famous as it offers almost everything at a cheaper price when compared to others and this is absolutely true.

Price: $30/month or $12/month/member (for business) and $139/yr.

Originality.ai is a tool we would recommend to writers who wish to proofread their essays because of two key features it offers. First, the tool is great for assessing written content’s readability. The tool utilizes 4 reliable readability tests and recommends a range that could make an essay easier to comprehend.

Another area where the tool shines is in the plagiarism detecting department. Originality.ai scans your entire essay and presents you with a score that conveys what percentage of the content has been plagiarized. It also links the highlighted plagiarized text to the suspected source online.

You get complete reports on the scans performed on submitted essays, which can be shared to other members of your team. Originality.ai is also quite effective in detecting content generated by AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard as well.

Features: AI content detection, plagiarism detection, full site scan, team management, chrome extension.

Verdict: Originality.ai is a great tool for professional essay writers who wish to write compelling articles and editors who wish to assess content for plagiarism. It is both easy to use and affordable.

Pricing: Originality.ai is quite flexible when it comes to its pricing structure. You can either opt for the base subscription model, which will cost you $14.95/month, or go for the $30 pay-as-you-go model.

Best for AI Essay proofreading and outlining.

With Course Hero, you get an AI-powered essay proofreader that is free to use. You can use it to correct grammatical, syntax, and spelling errors. There are no restrictions on how many words the tool can check. Additionally, you don’t need to register or sign up to use the service. Simply paste or upload the essay to the platform and Course Hero will take care of the rest. 

It will correct any punctuation errors found, detect spelling errors, and suggest alternatives. Course Hero also helps you switch between 4 different variants of English to ensure your prose is more consistent. You can also rely on Course Hero’s AI to create your essay outlines, paraphrase content, and generate key themes. 

Features : AI-based spell check, grammar check, essay paraphrasing, essay outlining, and request help from human tutor to enrich essay quality. 

Verdict : Free to use with no limitations, Course Hero is an excellent AI-based essay checker that can give some of the best writing tools on the market a run for their money. 

Price : free to use. You can opt for the $9.95/month subscription (billed annually) to use the platform at its maximum potential. 

Best for Research Papers and Academic Papers.

EasyBib is a writing corrector that is specially designed for research papers, articles, journal papers, assignments. Basically, it includes everything that is academic.

Its databases include over 7000 citation styles including MLA, APA, Chicago, etc. One unique function of EasyBib is its potential plagiarism checker which checks any statement that is present in other citations and warns the author about it.

The author does not need to know about it after the paper is written or running through a plagiarism checker after everything is done and dusted, thus it saves a lot of time. With the paid subscription, Easybib also provides an expert review on your papers and you can upload up to 15 papers of three thousand words each per month.

Features: Includes a heavy base for citations, Potential plagiarism checker, Math solver, Grammar check as usual and expert review.

Verdict:  Although it can be used for any literary document, its functions are of real use when used for an academic paper.

Price: $9.95 – $19.95/month.

Best for  Any type of formal documentation and academic documentation.

So, Virtual Writing Tutor is an ACTUAL WRITING TUTOR. It provides all the necessary features like grammar check, plagiarism check, etc.

It provides the students and teachers with resourceful functions like an Essay Outliner that gives an outline to your Essay according to the voice one follows (whether it’s an opinion piece or argument and so on), and it also has a Paraphrasing checker where it reviews the part you have paraphrased and whether it’s correct or not.

Features: Spell check, Grammar check, plagiarism check, Essay outliner, Paraphrasing checker.

Verdict: The best thing is that- IT IS FREE! Thus it is way better for an average academic document than the rest of the platforms.

Price: Free

Best for Academic write-ups & Technical write-ups.

Paper Rater is an online writing corrector. It has all the basic correction facilities like spell & grammar check, plagiarism check, style check, and so on. It is famous due to its low prices of subscription. The platform is not made for hardcore stuff but can be used for regular write-ups.

Features: All Basic editing resources. Also, every resource is automated even after the subscription. No expert help is required.

Verdict: For less money spent, this software generates a good submission copy. Although the facilities are average they are enough for office work and school work.

Price: $11/month or $71/year.

Best for Technical write-ups, Fiction/Non-fiction, Email copies, etc.

Scribens has a dual-language feature i.e it works with English as well as French documents. Any extension that can be used for the English language document can also be used for a French one.

These features are available only with premium benefits. Another great feature is that it has extensions for almost every software i.e. Word, LibreOffice, Chrome, Mozilla, and even your emails. It can automatically check your emails and make them error-free without you having to do so manually.

Features: Spell check, Grammer check, Dictionary with a large database, many extensions, etc.

Verdict: It is great if the premium version is what you have otherwise it’s just another average editing software.

Price: $13.79/month and $67.55/ year.

Best for College Essays & Entrance Essays.

My Assignment Help is a platform that is specially made for reviewing and revising college application essays and documents in general.

Most of the services they offer are specially designed so that the students could get short-listed for different universities that require a general essay as a Statement Of Purpose for the process of selection. They also have general editing resources like spell & grammar checks etc.

Features: Expert help and guidance, plagiarism check, proofreading, etc.

Verdict:   It is solely helpful for college essays, custom essays, homework, assignments, etc. So, if you are looking for academic help – then this is best for you!

Price: Depends on the type of assistance that one needs.

Best for Assignments, Documentations, any kind of paper-work, etc.

LanguageTool is similar to Grammarly in pricing and services, but it is not just as famous as Grammarly. Almost all the tools offered are designed to help with any kind of assignment, fiction or non-fiction work, etc.

It also offers free Chrome extensions. LanguageTool offers its proofreading software to business enterprises and companies for a decent price.

Features: Proofreading, Style correction, Tone correction, Customizable dictionary, and a personal cloud for saving the documents.

Verdict: It is at par with Grammarly.

Price: $15.13/yr for individual subs. and $13.63/yr for a team member.

Best for Research articles/papers/projects/assignments/reviews.

Citation Machine has a similar UI as EasyBib, so, if you were using EasyBib, you might find this familiar. Citation Machine’s primary goal is to provide proper citations for your facts and statistics.

It also has a database of many formatting styles such as Chicago, MLA, etc that assist in formatting the document according to the demand of the site/journal. Along with basic features like Spell and Grammar check, it also helps in Expert assistance, Textbook solutions, Plagiarism check, etc.

Features: All basic editing features with Expert help, Textbook solutions, formatting for scientific journals, and Plagiarism check.

Verdict:  The functions this tool provides are better for academic purposes and not office work.

Price: $10 and $20/month.

Best for Any type of professional or casual document.

Outwrite has a beautiful website, go check it out if you love aesthetics(Who doesn’t?). Like the other online essay checkers and proofreaders, Outwrite offers the basic Spell & Grammar check and Dictionary. But, if you get a premium, you can unlock many tools like plagiarism, etc.’

One of the most unique tools is the Eloquence checker which can improve the tone of your writing and customize it for different standards. The free features are very basic and less, but the premium is very cheap when compared to the other platforms.

Features: Spell & Grammar check, Plagiarism check, Eloquence checker, etc.

Verdict: Personally, in love with the UI. The premium features are pretty great and are defined by keeping the college assignments and professional standards in mind.

Price: $10/month and $8/month for teams.

Best for Essays, Thesis, and Dissertations.

EssayUSA is solely designed for assisting school, college, and university students in their assignments, essays, research (documentation), or dissertations. The free services include regular spell and grammar checks, word choices, and so on.

The pricing is based upon your course level, document difficulty, and the number of pages. The premium services are provided by experts and the document is fully edited and formatted with important suggestions.

Features: Grammar & Spell-checker, Plagiarism, Citations, Style, Expert help, etc.

Verdict:   It is necessary to give a clear-cut copy especially for admission essays and Thesis. Hence EssayUSA’s services are good in this realm.

Price: $10.35/page for High School, $11.5/page for College, $12.65/page for UG, $16.1/page for PG and $21.85/page for PhD.

What do you mean by Essay checker and Writing corrector application?

Essay checker and Writing checker applications are online proofreading applications that help in editing documents for spell & grammar check, style check, plagiarism check, style check, citations, and even expert opinions.

Is the online Essay checker and Writing checker free?

The basic features like spell & grammar check, punctuation check, and sometimes style check are free. For the rest of the functions, one has to pay a reasonable amount.

Is there a website that can perform a grammar check for free?

Yes, all the links mentioned in this tutorial perform free grammar and spell-check. One has to pay for special functions.

Mention some qualities of a good essay.

1. It must be error-free. 2. The facts and information should be properly cited. 3. The introduction must be clear and concise. 4. The tone must be expressed clearly (whether argumentative, statistical, etc). 5. The flow of the writing will be easy-going. 6. The conclusion should be sharp and comprehensive.

Which is the best essay checker?

It depends on the requirements of the author. There are various essay checker platforms with sole purposes of college essays, university essays, assignments, etc, and the author must select by looking into the document’s need and genre.

To conclude, professional documentation and proofreading constitute one of the many hefty(and boring) tasks in relation to technical writings, assignments, and essay submission. Having a clear-error-free copy supports your writing style automatically and engages the readers in the right way.

An Essay checker or writing correcting tool is the best alternative to save time and energy. Among the various platforms mentioned above, Citation Machine, EssayUSA, EasyBib serve the students who are preparing to get admissions in universities with their essay checkers and also help with Thesis, Dissertations, and other assignments.

For regular writings, an individual can use platforms like Grammarly, Outwrite, ProWritingAid, etc. A yearly subscription to these tools shall clear your mind off from proofreading deadlines and stress.

For a person who wouldn’t pay and wants to self-check the writings. Almost all the above platforms let you use the spell and grammar check for free with some also allowing Style check.

Though you use as many tools, as you can, the automated document cannot give you the professional experience. They are good for technical errors, but subjective errors should be looked upon clearly through self-check or by taking assistance from an expert.

Also Read =>> Top 10 Comma Checker Applications

Research Process

• Top 10 FREE Online Proofreading Tools [2024 SELECTIVE]
• Grammarly Review 2024: Comprehensive Guide & Comparison
• 10 Best Free Online Plagiarism Checker Tools Compared In 2024
• Best Free Online Courses With Certificate Of Completion In 2024
• Top 9 BEST Grammarly Alternatives For Error Free Writing
• Top 12 Online Creative Writing Courses For 2024 [Self-Paced]
• Top 14 Best Writing Apps For Windows & Mac OS [2024 Review]
• 9 Ways to Quickly Improve Your Writing Skills as a Software Tester

1 thought on “Top 10 Essay Checker And Corrector For Online Proofreading”

Great tools to for checking, thanks for the update.

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7 Best FREE Plagiarism Checkers for Students

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Learn about our Editorial Process

I reviewed 7 free plagiarism checkers for students. And in my opinion, the best free plagiarism checker for students is Quetext. It’s got a high-quality dashboard as good as any paid tool. It also detects a decent amount of plagiarism.

Some other decent tools that get an honorable mention are Duplichecker, plagiarismdetector.net and Small SEO Tools.

Here are my overall results:

A Word of Warning

Beware that free plagiarism checkers are no where near as good as the plagiarism checkers that I use as a professor. Your teacher probably has access to a quality plagiarism checker like Turnitin, which will detect plagiarism not only from the web but also:

• Journal articles and

So the best thing you can do is learn to paraphrase properly to avoid the possibility of plagiarism altogether.

Below is my full review of all 7 free plagiarism checkers.

How the Test was Done

To conduct this test, I wrote a 470-word mini-essay on Globalization . I just whacked it out in one short sitting, so it’s not referenced or of the quality I’d submit to a university. But it was enough for the test.

Then, I went online and found some sentences that I could cut and paste into the piece. The idea here was to see how well the plagiarism detectors would pick up the sections that I had plagiarized.

Here are some examples of the plagiarized sentences:

… there have been some serious downsides of globalization. Economic globalization impacts the environment and sustainable development in a wide variety of ways and through a multitude of channels. The enormous expansion of …

… many blue collar workers have felt disenfranchised and left behind. Globalization has not been good for working people (blue or white collar) and has led to the continuing deindustrialization of America …

Overall, 4 sentences and 74 words of the essay were directly plagiarized. That’s 15% of the total text. Then, I pulled out 7 different free plagiarism checkers and ran the piece through the plagiarism checkers to see which ones would pick up the plagiarized text.

Here are the results.

Best FREE Plagiarism Checkers for Students

Quetext.com has a beautiful interface. Simply go to their homepage and paste your text to get started. Once you click ‘check plagiarism’, it will ask you to sign-up to get your results. I recommend doing this. It’s worth your while.

Once you’re logged in, the dashboard is very clean and high-quality for a free tool. In fact, it feels a lot like the industry-leading (but expensive) Turnitin dashboard.

The text is shown in the middle of the piece, with the sections identified as plagiarism underlined. You can click on each identified plagiarism section and the right-hand column will show you the original webpage to see the highlighted similarity in its original context:

Often, the identified potential plagiarism isn’t anything to worry about. The similarity might be just a coincidence, in which case you can leave it. At other times, it’s clear that the original source and your copied section are too similar and it’s worth changing the text.

Overall, quetext identified all 4 of the plagiarized sentences. It also found 4 sentences that I hadn’t plagiarized, but were very similar to some source texts online. For two of them, I would have changed them because the similar webpage also discussed globalization. For the other two, it was complete coincidence and the similar webpage wasn’t even talking about globalization at all, so I didn’t find them to be too problematic.

How does a Teacher Assess if I’ve Plagiarized?

Your teacher will check the source text, just like I’ve done above, to see if the similarities are of concern. There are regularly false positives (for example when the source text isn’t even about globalization), so just like your teacher will, you need to check the suspected plagiarism and assess whether the similarity is coincidence or too much of a similarity for comfort. It’s common for tools like quetext to return a plagiarism score of 15% – 20%, with all of this being false positives that you don’t need to worry about.

One thing I do wish Quetext allowed you to do is to make edits in their dashboard. It would be good to get those sentences that were plagiarized, re-word them within the dashboard, and then re-run the check. This may be a feature in the PRO version, but of course, this is a review of FREE features of each plagiarism checker.

2. Duplichecker

Duplichecker was quite easy to use and, while plastered with ads, could be used without any problems. The report shows the highlighted plagiarized sections on the left hand side and the matched sources on the right hand side:

This interface was better than many of the others that I reviewed here. You could see the plagiarized sentences in context on the right-hand side and an estimated percentage of similarity to the source.

Unlike Quetext, you couldn’t click on the highlighted sentences to bring up the similar source on the right. Instead, you need to scroll through and do a little detective work. Furthermore, it would have been nice to have had the sections on the right-hand side to have the similar text highlighted in the same color as the sentence on the left-hand side. So, again, Quetext wins in terms of user experience.

Duplichecker beat Quetext by finding all 4 plagiarized sentences and no false positives. But, the source webpages that they identified were mostly from coursehero, which was not the true original source. Coursehero is simply a database on student essays, so in reality it just found other plagiarized essays that other students had written! Nevertheless, it’s good enough to find sentences that are similar.

Another thing that I found a little annoying was that Duplichecker has a ‘make it unique’ function that spins the text to make it unique. DON’T DO THIS! It makes the text awkward and sometimes illegible.

3. Plagiarismdetector

Plagiarismdetector.net is very similar to Duplichecker, to the extent that I did wonder if they were using the same technology to generate their results. It also has a very similar layout with the text on the left hand side and snippets of the plagiarized sources on the right:

I did notice, though, that after analysis the paragraph formatting had been collapsed. It turned my essay into a big wall of text that I found difficult to navigate. Keeping the break points of paragraphs would have been helpful.

Also like Duplichecker, you couldn’t click on the highlighted sentences to generate a highlighted pane on the right with the original text highlighted in its original context. The lack of this feature across all but Quetext really did bother me personally.

Again, the coursehero results (aka other student essays that plagiarized the original source) were shown instead of the true original source. I would like to see coursehero deprioritized, so if plagiarism was detected from coursehero and another source, the other source is displayed instead of coursehero. The same would go with the UKEssays site, which is another database of (often plagiarized) essays that students often.

Overall, plagiarism detector identified all 4 of the plagiarized sections and generated no false positives.

4. Small SEO Tools

Small SEO Tools has a plagiarism checker designed for online publishers and bloggers rather than students, but we can make use of its power for any text, really.

The first thing you’ll notice is that you have to navigate between the ads to use the tool. Of course, it’s a free tool, and the owner of the tool needs to pay the bills somehow, so I don’t hold this against them.

You can paste your text into the search bar or even upload a document to be checked. Then, tick the Captcha to prove you’re human, and click ‘check for plagiarism.

One thing I really like about the Small SEO Tools plagiarism checker is that it provides a really nice to use sentence-by-sentence analysis, as shown below:

When you click the red ‘compare’ button for plagiarized sentences (as shown above), it will drop that sentence as a quote into Google and display all results:

This can be nice because you can see how many different sources have all used that same sentence, and dropping quotes like this into Google is something I definitely do when I suspect one of my students has plagiarized.

But again, Quetext won when it came to user interface because they display the results within the dashboard, allowing for a quick and easy check without having to switch tabs.

Overall, Small SEO Tools found 3 of the 4 plagiarized sentences, and gave no false results.

1text is a clean, basic plagiarism checker that doesn’t require you to login to get your results. Simply go to 1text.com and paste the text you want to check into the search bar:

When you click ‘check for plagiarism’, the check does take a little while to load. That’s because they give priority to people who sign up, so you might get a queue position and you will have to wait:

1text will look at three things: word count, grammar and spelling, and plagiarism. For our purposes, we want to focus on the plagiarism checker.

Unfortunately for this text, they didn’t find any of the four plagiarized sentences:

This was disappointing because in the past I have found 1text to be quite good at identifying plagiarism.

But, for demonstration purposes, I decided to feed an article entirely copied and pasted from a few different blog posts into 1text. I wanted to show you how the results show up. Here, I took a blog post on ‘ how to write an introduction ’ and fed it through the plagiarism checker. It correctly identified the whole blog post as plagiarized and pointed me to the copied sources:

However, unlike Quetext, it didn’t provide the dynamic functionality to click on a highlighted section and show me which sentence was taken from which source. So in this sense, there was a need for a lot more detective work for 1text. When it comes to user experience, Quetext won out big time.

Plagium is a premium service but allows for light checks for free without signing up. You will be able to conduct a quick search for free, but the ‘deep search’ requires a login.

So, I did the quick search! The quick search on plagium identified 0 of 4 of the plagiarized results.

I wasn’t satisfied with this, so I did another quick search with some obvious plagiarism going on. This time, Plagium did identify multiple results.

For Plagium, the plagiarized sections are not highlighted. Furthermore, it’s not placed side-by-side with the identified source text. Instead, it’s simply placed in a list below:

So, overall, I wasn’t particularly happy with Plagium. In my experience, it was a third-tier level of user experience for me and a lot of detective work would need to take place to identify the plagiarism, even if the tool finds it in the first place (which is clearly not guaranteed).

The paid tool may be more user-friendly, but of course, this review is of the free features only!

7. Paper Rater

Paper Rater failed to find any of the four plagiarized sections. So, I stuffed a bunch more clearly paraphrased text from sources like Forbes and Wikipedia. And it still didn’t find any plagiarism. So I stuffed even more plagiarized text in. And it still didn’t find any plagiarism:

I was very surprised by this. So, I don’t think I’ll be going back to Paper Rater any time soon.

Overall, I was most impressed with Quetext. Even though Quetext did find a few false positives, I would prefer to get a thorough test that generates false positives than a tool that doesn’t find any results at all. Quetext also had the most professional dashboard and user experience.

In the second tier of free plagiarism checkers, Duplichecker and plagiarismdetector.net get honorable mentions. They both identified all the plagiarism and no false positives. Their interfaces were quite good, but still not as user friendly as Quetext.

I also didn’t mind Small SEO Tools for its simplicity.

For the others, I personally would take a hard pass for various user experience problems, as well as their failure to find plagiarism in this test.

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Was your Social Security number leaked to the dark web? Use this tool to find out

This article was first published on August 14, 2024. It was updated on August 18, 2024 to include information about Pentester's new tool. 

You've likely never heard of  National Public Data , the company that makes its money by collecting and selling access to your personal data to credit card companies, employers, and private investigators. It now appears that the  hacker group USDoD snatched about 2.9 billion of its records . Odds are that your records -- including, possibly, your Social Security number (SSN) -- are in those databases. 

Also: 7 password rules to live by in 2024, according to security experts

USDoD wanted to sell this data for the low price of $3.5 million. Ironically, before USDoD could profit from the theft, another threat actor, Fenice, swiped the data and released it on the dark web.

How bad is it really? According to the security organization Vx-Underground , the stolen data includes 

• Address history (three decades' worth)
• Social Security number

Vx-Underground also found that "the database does not contain information from individuals who use data opt-out services."  These are sites or services that allow you to say no to a company or group that wishes to keep your records. 

That's good to know, but for many of you, it's probably a little late. 

Also:  The best VPN services: Expert tested and reviewed

The leaked data, totaling 277GB, can be used for identity theft and fraud. Although the breach does not necessarily affect 2.9 billion unique individuals (due to multiple records per person), it still poses a significant risk. The information can be used to open fraudulent accounts, apply for loans, or even commit tax fraud.

How to find out if your SSN was leaked

There's a site that can tell you if your SSN was leaked from the personal security company Pentester. It requires that you input your first name, last name, year of birth, and what states you've lived in. If your SSN was leaked, the site will present you with a chart showing your address in the record and the last two numbers of your SSN.

If you don't find your records associated with your current state or name, try searching for previous states and/or other last names. 

I tested this tool and found legitimate records listed. 

Also: Delete yourself from the internet with these online data removal services

As Richard Glaser, Pentester's co-founder, said, "Names, addresses, and phone numbers might change, but your social security number doesn't." Financial institutions use SSNs to verify identity and comply with regulations when you apply for loans, credit cards, or investments. If you're a US citizen, it's the key to your identity. That's why it's crucial that you determine whether or not your SSN is out there. 

How to monitor your credit reports 

If your SSN was leaked, check your credit reports (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) for any unauthorized activity (and do so regularly going forward!). Report any suspicious transactions to the credit bureaus, via their websites, and  place a credit freeze  to prevent new accounts from being opened in your name. 

You can freeze your credit via the credit companies,  Equifax Credit Freeze ,  Experian Credit Freeze , and  TransUnion Credit Freeze . Some financial companies, such as Credit Karma , can also help you freeze your credit.

Also: How to freeze your credit - and how it can help protect you after data breaches

If you're concerned that your data's been being used against you, it's time to use an identity theft protection and credit monitoring service to protect yourself. ZDNET recommends Aura as the best overall such service. 

It's not enough to use these services, though. 

Beware of phishing attempts 

You should also stay vigilant against phishing attacks . Be cautious of emails, texts, or calls that attempt to solicit personal information. Scammers will use your leaked data to craft convincing phishing attacks. For example, I recently got an email purporting to be from my bank, which included my address, warning that my account had been hacked and that I needed to change my password from the included link Right Now .

Also:  Stop paying for third-party antivirus software. Here's why

Anytime you get a message like that, whether it's warning you of something dreadful or promising you something that sounds too good to be true, don't trust it. Never click on links from such emails or text messages. 

What to do if you've clicked on a phishing link

If you've clicked on a phishing link, don't panic. Do, however, take these steps immediately: 

Disconnect from the internet and your local network immediately. This prevents any potential malware from spreading or communicating with malicious servers.

Back up important data to an external hard drive or a USB stick. This safeguards your information in case of data loss or corruption. 

Run a thorough antivirus check . Don't have one on your device? Then, you should download an antivirus program to another computer, transfer its installation program to a USB stick, and install it on your affected machine.

Change passwords for all your online accounts, especially important ones such as banking and credit card accounts. Use strong, unique passwords for each account, and consider using a password manager.

Enable multi-factor authentication . Activate multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your accounts whenever possible. This adds an extra layer of security.

Watch your important online accounts. If you see any suspicious activity, contact the company as soon as possible. 

What to do if your SSN is compromised

If someone is using your SSN unlawfully or without your consent, you should take the following steps:

• File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at IdentityTheft.gov . This website will guide you through the process and provide a personalized recovery plan.
• File a police report with your local law enforcement agency. While they may not be able to investigate immediately, having a police report can serve as important documentation.
• Monitor your credit reports for any unauthorized accounts or activity. You can get free weekly credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com .
• As I mentioned earlier, you should place a credit freeze on your credit reports with all three major credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. You can also place a fraud alert on your credit reports, which requires businesses to verify your identity before issuing credit in your name.
• Review your Social Security Statement  for any suspicious activity, such as unreported income.

Next, contact the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to prevent potential tax-related fraud. Here's what to do: 

• Contact the IRS : You can reach the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit by calling 1-800-908-4490. This line is dedicated to assisting individuals who believe they are victims of identity theft involving their tax accounts.
• Submit an Identity Theft Affidavit: Complete IRS Form 14039 , the form used to report suspected identity theft to the IRS. You can submit it online via IdentityTheft.gov , which will forward it to the IRS, or you can download the form from the IRS website and mail it along with your tax return to the address specified on the form.
• Respond to IRS Notices: If you receive a notice from the IRS indicating that your SSN has been used fraudulently, follow the instructions provided in the notice. Typically, such notices come by snail mail. You may then be required to submit a Form 14039 or other documentation to verify your identity and resolve the issue.

This can be a long, tedious process. But, if you don't check and -- if necessary -- protect your accounts, your identity can be stolen. Recovering from identity theft is much more painful than preventing it.

Also: Did you get a fake McAfee invoice? How the scam works and 2 things you should never do

Afterward, stay vigilant and continue monitoring your accounts and credit reports regularly. If you notice any suspicious activity, report it immediately to the relevant authorities and financial institutions. This is not a threat you can deal with once and then ignore. It's one that will continue for the rest of your life. 

Yes, I hate that too. 

If your SSN was leaked online, you should freeze your credit: Here's how to do that

The best identity theft protection and credit monitoring services, the best security keys you can buy: expert tested.

What happened in the Kolkata rape case that triggered doctors’ protests?

Activists and doctors in India demand better safeguarding of women and medical professionals after a trainee medic was raped and murdered in Kolkata.

Activists and doctors across India continued to protest on Wednesday to demand justice for a female doctor, who was raped and murdered while on duty in a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata.

Feminist groups rallied on the streets in protests titled “Reclaim the Night” in Kolkata overnight on Wednesday – on the eve of India’s independence day – in solidarity with the victim, demanding the principal of RG Kar Medical College resign. Some feminist protesters also marched well beyond Kolkata, including in the capital Delhi.

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While the protests were largely peaceful, a small mob of men stormed the medical college and vandalised property. This group was dispersed by the police.

This comes after two days of nationwide protests by doctors following the incident at RG Kar Medical College in West Bengal’s capital city. “Sit-in demonstrations and agitation in the hospital campus will continue,” one of the protesting doctors, identified as Dr Mridul, told Al Jazeera.

Services in some medical centres were halted indefinitely, and marches and vigils shed light on issues of sexual violence, as well as doctors’ safety in the world’s most populous nation.

What happened to the doctor in Kolkata?

A 31-year-old trainee doctor’s dead body, bearing multiple injuries, was found on August 9 in a government teaching hospital in Kolkata.

The parents of the victim were initially told “by hospital authorities that their daughter had committed suicide,” lawyer and women’s rights activist Vrinda Grover told Al Jazeera. But an autopsy confirmed that the victim was raped and killed.

Grover has appeared for victims in sexual violence cases in India in the past, including Bilkis Bano , a Muslim woman who was gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots, and Soni Sori, a tribal activist based in Chhattisgarh state.

Thousands of doctors marched in Kolkata on Monday, demanding better security measures and justice for the victim.

On Tuesday, the Kolkata High Court transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) called for a nationwide halting of elective services in hospitals starting on Monday. Elective services are medical treatments that can be deferred or are not deemed medically necessary.

On Tuesday, FORDA announced on its X account that it is calling off the strike after Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda accepted protest demands.

One of these demands was solidifying the Central Protection Act, intended to be a central law to protect medical professionals from violence, which was proposed in the parliament’s lower house in 2022, but has not yet been enacted.

FORDA said that the ministry would begin working on the Act within 15 days of the news release, and that a written statement from the ministry was expected to be released soon.

Press release regarding call off of strike. In our fight for the sad incident at R G Kar, the demands raised by us have been met in full by the @OfficeofJPNadda , with concrete steps in place, and not just verbal assurances. Central Healthcare Protection Act ratification… pic.twitter.com/OXdSZgM1Jc — FORDA INDIA (@FordaIndia) August 13, 2024

Why are some Indian doctors continuing to protest?

However, other doctors’ federations and hospitals have said they will not back down on the strike until a concrete solution is found, including a central law to curb attacks on doctors.

Those continuing to strike included the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA), Delhi-based All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Indira Gandhi Hospital, local media reported.

Ragunandan Dixit, the general secretary of the AIIMS Resident Doctors’ Association, said that the indefinite strike will continue until their demands are met, including a written guarantee of the implementation of the Central Protection Act.

Medical professionals in India want a central law that makes violence against doctors a non-bailable, punishable offence, in hopes that it deters such violent crimes against doctors in the future.

Those continuing to protest also call for the dismissal of the principal of the college, who was transferred. “We’re demanding his termination, not just transfer,” Dr Abdul Waqim Khan, a protesting doctor told ANI news agency. “We’re also demanding a death penalty for the criminal,” he added.

“Calling off the strike now would mean that female resident doctors might never receive justice,” Dr Dhruv Chauhan, member of the National Council of the Indian Medical Association’s Junior Doctors’ Network told local news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).

Which states in India saw doctors’ protests?

While the protests started in West Bengal’s Kolkata on Monday, they spread across the country on Tuesday.

The capital New Delhi, union territory Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow and city Prayagraj, Bihar capital Patna and southern state Goa also saw doctors’ protests.

Who is the suspect in the Kolkata rape case?

Local media reported that the police arrested suspect Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer who would visit the hospital often. He has unrestricted access to the ward and the police found compelling evidence against him.

The parents of the victim told the court that they suspect that it was a case of gang rape, local media reported.

Why is sexual violence on the rise in India?

Sexual violence is rampant in India, where 90 rapes were reported on average every day in 2022.

Laws against sexual violence were made stricter following a rape case in 2012, when a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern was brutally gang-raped and murdered on a bus in Delhi. Four men were hanged for the gang rape, which had triggered a nationwide protests.

But despite new laws in place, “the graph of sexual violence in India continues to spiral unabated,” said Grover.

She added that in her experience at most workplaces, scant attention is paid to diligent and rigorous enforcement of the laws.

“It is regrettable that government and institutions respond only after the woman has already suffered sexual assault and often succumbed to death in the incident,” she added, saying preventive measures are not taken.

In many rape cases in India, perpetrators have not been held accountable. In 2002, Bano was raped by 11 men, who were sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2022, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi authorised the release of the men, who were greeted with applause and garlands upon their release.

However, their remission was overruled and the Supreme Court sent the rapists back to jail after public outcry.

Grover believes that the death penalty will not deter rapists until India addresses the deeply entrenched problem of sexual violence. “For any change, India as a society will have to confront and challenge, patriarchy, discrimination and inequality that is embedded in our homes, families, cultural practices, social norms and religious traditions”.

What makes this case particularly prominent is that it happened in Kolkata, Sandip Roy, a freelance contributor to NPR, told Al Jazeera. “Kolkata actually prided itself for a long time on being really low in the case of violence against women and being relatively safe for women.”

A National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report said that Kolkata had the lowest number of rape cases in 2021 among 19 metropolitan cities, with 11 cases in the whole year. In comparison, New Delhi was reported to have recorded 1, 226 cases that year.

Prime Minister Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for dismissing the government in West Bengal, where Kolkata is located, led by Mamata Banerjee of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). Banerjee’s party is part of the opposition alliance.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in parliament, also called for justice for the victim.

“The attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim raises serious questions on the hospital and the local administration,” he posted on X on Wednesday.

Roy spoke about the politicisation of the case since an opposition party governs West Bengal. “The local government’s opposition will try to make this an issue of women’s safety in the state,” he said.

Have doctors in India protested before?

Roy explained to Al Jazeera that this case is an overlap of two kinds of violence, the violence against a woman, as well as violence against “an overworked medical professional”.

Doctors in India do not have sufficient workplace security, and attacks on doctors have started protests in India before.

In 2019, two junior doctors were physically assaulted in Kolkata’s Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH) by a mob of people after a 75-year-old patient passed away in the hospital.

Those attacks set off doctors’ protests in Kolkata, and senior doctors in West Bengal offered to resign from their positions to express solidarity with the junior doctors who were attacked.

More than 75 percent of Indian doctors have faced some form of violence, according to a survey by the Indian Medical Association in 2015.

What happens next?

The case will now be handled by the CBI, which sent a team to the hospital premises to inspect the crime scene on Wednesday morning, local media reported.

According to Indian law, the investigation into a case of rape or gang rape is to be completed within two months from the date of lodging of the First Information Report (police complaint), according to Grover, the lawyer.

The highest court in West Bengal, which transferred the case from the local police to the CBI on Tuesday, has directed the central investigating agency to file periodic status reports regarding the progress of the investigation.

The FIR was filed on August 9, which means the investigation is expected to be completed by October 9.

Bengal women will create history with a night long protest in various major locations in the state for at 11.55pm on 14th of August’24,the night that’ll mark our 78th year as an independent country. The campaign, 'Women, Reclaim the Night: The Night is Ours', is aimed at seeking… pic.twitter.com/Si9fd6YGNb — purpleready (@epicnephrin_e) August 13, 2024

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• Tags: Plagiarism , Plagiarism Checkers

Whether you’re a student, teacher, or content creator, you must know how to check plagiarism online. But which tool should you use? We have the answer: A list of the ten best plagiarism checkers of 2024!

While plagiarism is a serious ethical problem, its repercussions are different for different people. We’ve accounted for this while listing free plagiarism detectors. So, some tools on the list offer citation support while others detect AI content and API integration. But let’s not waste any more time!

Achieve excellence with a thorough plagiarism check and editing! Learn more

Here are the ten best free plagiarism checkers of 2024:

• Grammarly Plagiarism Checker
• QuillBot Plagiarism Checker
• PlagiarismDetector.net
• Scribbr Plagiarism Checker
• Small SEO Tools Plagiarism Checker
• Duplichecker
• Editpad Plagiarism Checker
• EasyBib Plagiarism Checker

Let’s see the pros and cons of each one.

#1 Grammarly Plagiarism Checker

Grammarly’s plagiarism checker is renowned for its accuracy and integration with their powerful writing assistant. It checks texts against billions of web pages and ProQuest’s academic databases.

Grammarly’s online plagiarism checker for free gives detailed plagiarism reports with a similarity percentage and links to sources. It also offers comprehensive grammar and spell checks as well as style and tone adjustments.

• Highly accurate plagiarism detection
• Protects your data
• Only 10,000 words in the free version

#2 QuillBot Plagiarism Checker [$8.33/Month]

QuillBot not only provides plagiarism checking but also offers paraphrasing tools to help refine and improve your writing. If you’re using the plagiarism tool for academic purposes, it also highlights missing citations.  The catch is, you have to pay a subscription fee to use it.

The tool accepts a variety of file types including .txt, .pdf, .docx, and .html.  It offers instant plagiarism reports and analysis. If you want to save reports, you can also create an account with them.

• It supports more than 100 languages. 
• Workplaces can get a cheaper price if they place more than five orders. 
• You’ll have to pay $19.95 if you’re not on an annual plan. 

#3 PlagiarismDetector.net

PlagiarismDetector.net offers a straightforward and user-friendly interface that provides quick and reliable plagiarism checks. You can upload a URL or file to check plagiarism online, so you can skip the copy/paste hassle! 

The plagiarism detector produces authentic results in real-time without flagging unreasonable duplication. They employ “deep search” technology to achieve this. They have three paid plans available for instructors or other professionals who need to scan more than 25,000 words per month.

• It supports multiple languages including Spanish, German, and French. 
• You can give feedback. 
• It supports only 1,000 words in the free version. 
• There are ads and pop-ups on the page. 

#4 Scribbr Plagiarism Checker

Quite popular among students, Scribbr has partnered with Turnitin to offer a highly accurate plagiarism checker. The tool scans your writing against a large database of scholarly articles to produce a detailed similarity report. Their database includes 99 billion web pages and 8 million publications!

The detector offers live chat with plagiarism experts and an option for professional feedback. It supports over 20 languages including Dutch, Portuguese, and Italian.

• The tool tells the domain, database, and the number of matching words for each source. 
• It scans your text for spelling and grammar errors . 
• It’s much more expensive; and charges a per-use rate of at least $19.95. 

#5 Small SEO Tools Plagiarism Checker

This free plagiarism checker tool is part of a larger suite of free SEO tools. It’s particularly popular among bloggers and freelance writers. It offers sentence-level results with the sources flagged.

The plagiarism checker supports documents in multiple languages. You can check for plagiarism free of cost, but there’s a limit of 1,000 words per use, which isn’t ideal. It’s also prone to a little lag and takes time to produce the plagiarism report.

• Completely free
• Has a WordPress plugin
• Intrusive ads on the page
• May report false positives

#6 Duplichecker [$5/ Week]

Duplichecker has both, a plagiarism checker online for free and a paid version. It’s ideal for quick checks. It includes a grammar checker , which is an added benefit. The tool supports multiple file formats such as .tex, .txt, .doc, .docx, .odt, .pdf, and .rtf. 

Interestingly, this tool offers a “Make it Unique” option that helps you rephrase your writing to avoid plagiarism detection. While this feature won’t be useful for students, it’s a lifesaver for content writers and marketers!

• Differentiates duplicate and unique phrases
• Supports seven languages 
• Has a daily usage limit of 1,000 words
• Occasionally misses some sources

#7 Editpad Plagiarism Checker

Editpad’s plagiarism checker for students can be used for free. This tool’s robust detection algorithms use deep search and ProQuest technology to detect plagiarism quickly. The tool, along with others on the platform such as Sentence Expander and Thesis Statement Generator, can be quite handy for students.

Editpad Plagiarism Checker supports both text and URL input. While the tool is easy to use, it’s probably not ideal for any heavy lifting. If students, teachers, or bloggers need a quick plagiarism detector for free, this one works best.

• Supports various file formats such as DOC, DOCX, TXT, and PDF
• User-friendly and to-the-point
• Has a limit of 1,000 words
• Ads can be distracting

#8 EasyBib Plagiarism Checker  

EasyBib offers a comprehensive tool that not only checks for plagiarism but also helps with proper citation, making it ideal for students and educators. This plagiarism detector isn’t free, but it comes with unlimited grammar, citation, and formatting checks.

You can paste text or import papers from your computer and Google Drive to check for plagiarism online. The plagiarism tool is great at catching accidental plagiarism. If you’re looking for an advanced plagiarism checker that also checks grammar, spelling, and citations, this one is it!

• Unlimited access to the Chegg citation generator
• Offers detailed feedback on plagiarism
• Has a library of educational resources
• Requires a paid subscription
• Can be slow with large documents

#9 Copyleaks [$8.99/Month]

Copyleaks uses advanced AI and machine learning technologies to detect plagiarism in over 100 languages. It detects multiple forms of paraphrasing, performs image-based text plagiarism, and exposes attempts to deceive detection software. It’s used by universities and SEO firms alike, which speaks for its versatility. 

The Copyleaks plagiarism detector tool also offers cloud computing support and API access for developers. It generates comprehensive PDF reports and offers “recurring scans” that protect your work from plagiarism.

• 20 pages per month for free
• AI content detection
• Scalability for businesses and institutions
• Complex interface for new users
• Can be slow, taking 2–4 minutes to check 500 words

#10 Quetext [$8.80/Month]

While Quetext’s free online plagiarism checker tool isn’t very convenient, the upgrade is perfect for a student writing their dissertation. It lets you check 100,000 words per month and offers citation support. The tool does a contextual analysis of your writing while flagging plagiarism.

The plagiarism tool combines deep search technology with a wide database consisting of 35 billion websites, 20 million books, and 1 million journals. It is easy to use for students and supports multiple languages including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Arabic, and Russian.

• Website citation generator and citation assistant
• Lets you pause your subscription
• Allows only 500 words in the free version

Whether it’s academic integrity, content creation, or SEO enhancement, each tool we’ve listed offers unique features for different users. We hope this list of the ten best plagiarism checkers helps you find the right one!

Remember, while these tools provide a great first line of defense against plagiarism, human expertise is invaluable. For that professional edge, consider PaperTrue’s expert editing and proofreading services . Our experts will refine and perfect your documents, ensuring they’re completely plagiarism-free!

Here are some more useful resources for you:

• 10 Best AI Writer Tools Every Writer Should Know About
• 50 Amazing ESL Resources for Students (Free & Paid)
• What are Large Language Models and How They Work: Explained!
• 10 Best Content Editing Tools and Software (Free + Paid)

Frequently Asked Questions

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Unintentional plagiarism, grammar mistakes, and uncited sources  can turn what you thought was a good paper into a poor one. When you’re writing a paper the last thing you want is for your message to get lost due to incorrect punctuation or confusing sentence structure. You know that the great ideas in your head would make for a standout paper, if only you could get them written clearly on the page. If this struggle sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Great ideas may be an essential part of high-quality writing, but they’re not the only component. Excellent papers and essays clearly express strong ideas with good grammar, proper punctuation, spot-on spelling, and thorough, careful citations. While this may sound like a lot, your teachers and professors are grading you on your skills as both a writer and a researcher, which means your assignments will require an ethical and attentive approach. Luckily, there is no shortage of available tools to help you along your way.

You could use a plagiarism checker free, though, these tools often lack grammatical support. Given the high stakes and rigorous requirements, the aid of a plagiarism checker without the needed support of a grammar checker could mean the difference between an “A” paper and a “C” or even “D” paper.

Thankfully, the EasyBib Plus plagiarism tool provides all-in-one support to cover all your bases. Our premium essay checker is convenient, easy to use, and includes access to a grammar and spell checker, plus a plagiarism checker. With a single scan, you’ll receive personalized feedback to help identify potentially missing citations and help improve your sentence structure, punctuation, grammar, and more.

Not sure if that noun is spelled correctly, or if the preposition at the end of your sentence is grammatically correct? The EasyBib Plus plagiarism tool is your one-stop shop to help check plagiarism, get grammatical suggestions, correct spelling and punctuation errors, and help create polished papers you can be proud to turn in. And, we haven’t told you the best part yet: you can try our tool free and scan your work for grammar suggestions right now!

Access all the tools today!

A Grammar Check for Peace of Mind

You know that grammar plays a significant role in your assignments. Not only does it factor into your overall grade, but without clear and precise language, your ideas can lose their impact or might even be misunderstood entirely. Still, with so many different parts of speech and rules to learn and apply, it’s not uncommon to get them mixed up and find yourself questioning your knowledge now and again:

Can you use an adverb to modify a noun? (No. You need an adjective for that.)

Well, can you use it to modify a pronoun ? (Still no.)

What do they modify, then? (Almost everything else. Fun, right?)

Ugh. (That was an interjection .)

Does this have to be so difficult? (Nope!)

Scanning your paper with the EasyBib Plus writing tool delivers more than the basic punctuation and spell check functions that come standard in word processing programs. You’ll receive immediate, targeted feedback that can help improve the sentence structure and style of your writing. Not only can this help ensure that you don’t lose points off your grade for grammatical errors such as mismatched verb tense, but it can also help to clarify your meaning and strengthen your arguments by eliminating confusing punctuation and run-on sentences that confuse readers.

Reviewing your work to correct errors and refine the flow of your writing is a critical part of the revision process for novices and novelists alike. Even the most conscientious of wordsmiths might make mistakes, such as using a conjunctive adverb in place of a coordinating conjunction or pairing a plural determiner with an uncountable word. They likely appreciate a subscription-based or free grammar check as much as a beginning writer. That’s why the EasyBib Plus writing tool is designed for all writers, from students who are still learning the fundamentals to published professionals who get paid by the word.

The EasyBib Plus writing tool provides quick, targeted feedback that you can use to help improve your writing immediately. Also, our free resource library is available 24/7, just like the rest of our tools, to help you brush up on the areas that challenge you the most (Conjunctive what? Uncountable who?) That means you can continue to sharpen your skills and improve your writing over time, which will help make finishing your next project easier.

Ready to give your paper a boost? Sign up for EasyBib Plus or scan a paper right now for a free spell check—it’s easy!Just upload or copy and paste your paper to the online grammar check tool and, in a matter of seconds, you’ll be able to receive up to 5 feedback cards so you can begin polishing your draft.

To learn more about proofreading tools, you can find more info here. Or, for more tips on grammar, punctuation, and style, check out this useful reference .

Why is Grammar So Important, Anyway?

Why is grammar important? As long as others know what you mean, does it really matter if you use proper grammar? These are age-old questions, but the answers remain unchanged. Grammar is important for many reasons:

Communication:  Communication is about more than merely listening and talking. We communicate in myriad ways: with our voices, our mannerisms, our facial expressions, our actions, and frequently, our written words. Written communication is just as important as all the other ways we broadcast our thoughts and feelings. Unlike our other communication methods, though, written communication leaves a record. While most of us relax our style when talking to or texting friends, the fact remains that more formal venues require a more formal tone. Proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation are a necessary element of professional and academic writing, so running your work through a spelling and grammar check before you submit it is an absolute must.

Clarity:  Expressing your thoughts, ideas, and opinions is an uphill battle when you communicate them with less-than-stellar punctuation, spelling, and grammar. A missing or misplaced comma, for example, can entirely change your meaning:

• Call me Ishmael = My name is Ishmael.
• Call me, Ishmael = I want Ishmael to call me.

Spelling errors can result in similarly muddled meaning:

• Her shoes perfectly complemented her dress. = Her shoes and dress go well together.
• Her shoes perfectly complimented her dress. = Her shoes can both speak and engage in flattery.

Grammar deficiencies such as a dangling modifier yield similarly confusing results:

• I saw the girl’s purple backpack in the library. = The purple backpack belonging to the girl is in the library; I saw it.
• I saw the purple girl’s backpack in the library. = You know the girl who mysteriously turned purple? I saw her backpack in the library. This week has not been easy on her.

Credibility: Establishing your credibility is critical whether you’re writing for school or business. Proving that you can reliably communicate using proper grammar is essential to establishing and maintaining the trust of your teachers, professors, readers, customers, and colleagues.

To learn even more about the importance of English grammar in writing, check here .

What Happens After I Upload My Paper?

Once you upload a paper, the EasyBib Plus grammar checker scans your text and highlights grammar issues within your document so you can see it in context. For users running a grammar check and spell check using the grammar check free tool, up to the first 5 issues are shown. For subscription subscribers, all of the areas that require your review will be highlighted once the scan is complete.

No matter which version of the tool you’re using, your feedback will include detailed explanations so you can understand why the text was flagged. Other highlighted areas will include examples of how the issues can be fixed. Some will include a detailed explanation as to why the issue was flagged. This personalized feedback allows you to make an educated decision about whether to edit your text or dismiss the suggestion, so you’re always in control of your final draft.

Subscription users also have the plagiarism checker at their disposal when scanning their papers for style and grammar suggestions. Just as with our other writing tools, when you use the tool to check plagiarism, changes are never made without your review, so you are always in the driver’s seat. You can review each highlighted area as well as the sources of matching text and will always be given a choice to either accept or ignore both citation and grammar suggestions.

Whether you are a student or a professional, the EasyBib Plus tools are powerful allies that can help you improve your paper, establish credibility as a writer, and maintain an ethical writing process.

Try our checker free for 3 days to see what you think*. Trust us; you’ll wonder how you got along so far without it!

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Check for Unintentional Plagiarism

Persistent use of the best grammar checker and spell checker you can find will help to shape up the style and substance of your composition. However, to ensure the integrity of your work and root out unintentional instances of academic dishonesty, you’ll also need to incorporate a subscription-based or free plagiarism checker for students.

The ability to scan your paper and check plagiarism and grammar before submitting your work is an invaluable tool for students. It’s so valuable, in fact, that students are not the only ones who consistently use this type of software.

Many teachers and professors use a service to ensure that student papers are original and include properly formatted and sourced citations for all reference materials. For some, this may be a consistent element of their grading process, while others may utilize one only when they feel there is a reason to do so.

What Exactly Does a Plagiarism Checker Do?

If you’ve used an online plagiarism checker before, you may be familiar with the process that these tools employ. For those who have never used one, it can be helpful to understand how these tools work and what you should expect as a result of using one.

The most basic free tools will scan your paper and provide you with a percentage that indicates how much of your work is original. This feature can be useful to a point, as some instructors and institutions set a percentage for the amount of similar text that is considered acceptable. This policy does not mean that they are lenient about academic dishonesty but, instead, that they recognize that similar or even matching word choice is not always an indicator of copying.

However, some schools do not tolerate any form of incremental plagiarism, period. In these institutions, “check paper for plagiarism” is likely a standard action when grading all papers.

With a free plagiarism checker, the percentage of word-for-word plagiarism in your text may be the only feedback you receive. Moreover, some of these providers may wade in unethical waters, and offer essay writing services in conjunction with their checking services. This is why many students and teachers prefer subscription-based checkers that focus on integrity, such as the EasyBib writing tools.

With our premium tools, you get more than just supporting proof that your paper is original and in your own words. Your writing is scanned for potentially matching text and areas that needs your attention is highlighted. We’ll provide you with the source of the matching text so you can review it and decide how to proceed. If you agree that a citation is needed, our citation tools and resources will provide you with the information you need to help format and insert the new sources in your text as well as your works cited page.

How Does the EasyBib Plus Online Plagiarism Checker Work?

The EasyBib Plus writing tool provides an all-in-one spell check, grammar review, and plagiarism checker that not only helps you with the paper you’re writing now but enables you to gain new knowledge and improve your writing for the future, too.

Our essay checker searches online for phrases, sentences, or passages that are similar to those in your paper. If it returns matching text, this may indicate that you have passages that are missing citations.

Just as with many checkers, our tool will tell you how many instances of matching text it finds in your paper. Our plagiarism tool is designed to do more than most free tools, however.

When a portion of your paper is flagged for review, we provide you with the source that it matches. As with our online spell check tool, you have the power to review each area and choose how to proceed. If you decide to cite the flagged text, you can review the suggested source and access our citation tools to help create a proper citation and start building a bibliography for your paper. Or, you may determine that no citation is needed, in which case it’s simple to dismiss the suggestion and continue to the next section.

If you’re unsure about how to proceed, our library of resources can help you learn more and make an educated decision. In this way, you gain more than just the ability to correct your work; over time, you can learn how to avoid plagiarism altogether.

Reasons Your Teacher May Run Your Paper Through a Plagiarism Detector

As stated previously, your teachers and professors grade papers with a fixed process that includes “check paper for plagiarism” as a standard, across-the-board action. Others may check for plagiarism only when they feel there is cause to do so. There are a few red flags that may stand out to them while reviewing a paper that would lead to their running a plagiarism check, including:

Style/Voice:  Most teachers are familiar with the style and voice that you use in your writing. While most will hope that the feedback they provide when grading your work will help you to improve problem areas over time, a paper or essay that has a dramatically different style or voice than the work you’ve previously submitted can be a red flag.

Inconsistency:  Changes in the font, font size, formality, formatting, and more may indicate that portions of a paper have been copied and pasted. If these inconsistent passages are not presented as quotations or don’t include citations, this may further indicate to your teacher that there’s plagiarism in the paper.

Old References:  Part of a well-researched paper is verifying the legitimacy and relevance of your sources. While some older references may be acceptable depending on the topic, if all of your sources are outdated, it may lead your teacher to believe that you’ve recycled your own work or someone else’s.

Looking for a checker to try? With EasyBib Plus you get unlimited checks to give you peace of mind when turning in your papers!

What is Plagiarism?

If you’re looking for a free online plagiarism checker , you’re already aware that it’s not something you want to be found in your papers. However, you may still be wondering: what does plagiarism mean? It’s a reasonable question and one that merits exploring. After all, some of the actions and circumstances that fall within the plagiarism definition come as a surprise to those who only learn that they’ve committed them after it’s too late.

So what is plagiarism? To define plagiarism in the most basic sense, you might say that it is taking someone else’s ideas and words and passing them off as your own.

If your goal is avoiding plagiarism entirely, you’ll need to go beyond the basics to thoroughly define plagiarism, recognize it, and keep clear of it. Some examples of plagiarism that students find surprising include forgotten citations, poor paraphrasing, and re-submitting your own work in whole or in part for more than one assignment. This useful article provides more help in recognizing and understanding the different forms that academic dishonesty can take.

Of course, using your own words and ideas does not count as plagiarism, nor does using common knowledge . Basically, common knowledge is information that is well known by the average person. Examples of common knowledge:

• there are 12 months in a year
• the freezing point of Celsius is zero degrees
• Socrates was a Greek philosopher

So should you only include your original thoughts and common knowledge in your papers? Of course not! Research-based assignments are meant to demonstrate your skills as a researcher, after all, as well as your ability to build upon the work of others to formulate new ideas. To avoid accidentally committing an act that falls within the plagiarism definition when you’re using another person’s words or ideas, though, you need to give them proper credit. This means you’ll need to clearly identify direct quotations or properly paraphrase them when including them in your paper.

Regardless of your approach, you’ll also need to cite your sources according to the style your professor specifies. Generally, you will use MLA format for the arts and humanities and APA format for the sciences, but it’s always best to check with your instructor when you’re unsure.

If you know what style to use but still aren’t sure how to create your citations, don’t fret! Our library of resources includes free guides to help you learn about various styles so you can properly structure and place them. And our premium tools not only help you check grammar, spelling, and originality in your papers, but subscribers also enjoy access to our citation creation tools!

What are the Different Types of Plagiarism?

In addition to the question “what is plagiarism,” you may also be wondering, “why do students plagiarize?” While some students do intentionally plagiarize because they believe they can pass off someone else’s work as their own to avoid spending time on their assignments, many others do so accidentally. They may not understand how broad the plagiarism definition is or they haven’t learned how to research and cite their sources properly. That is why it is vital to recognize plagiarism in all of its forms if you wish to ensure the integrity of your work.

Examples of plagiarism & How to prevent it

Direct plagiarism:

Intentionally copying another person’s work without including a citation that gives credit to the source. When most students are asked to identify potential plagiarism examples and behaviors, this direct and deliberate act is what they think of first.

• Prevention: If you use an idea or quote from another source, cite it in the text. Make it clear that it was not your own words. 

Incremental plagiarism:

Copying parts of another person’s work, such as phrases, sentences, or paragraphs without crediting the source. When deciding which tools to use to check a paper for plagiarism , instructors often seek out those that will identify incremental forms as well as instances of direct copying and similar phrasing.

• Prevention : Decide to either directly quote the phrases or sentences you want to use, or write a good paraphrase. In both cases, be sure to add a citation. Using a plagiarism checker could also help you identify problematic passages.

Self-plagiarism:

Academic self-plagiarism occurs when a student submits the same paper or parts of a paper for more than one assignment. When your instructors are grading your papers, they’re assessing your research and writing skills in the present. When you submit work that you completed in the past, they are both unable to evaluate your current skills and unaware that you haven’t completed the assignment.

• Prevention: Write a new paper for each assignment you’re assigned. If you feel strongly that your past work could enhance your new paper, speak to your instructor and ask for permission first.

Misleading citations:

Including a citation for a quote or idea that misrepresents the source material. This can occur if a student does not understand the reference they are citing; if a student includes a citation for a disreputable source; or the source material simply does not align with the idea or argument that the student has attributed to it.

• Prevention: Carefully review your assignment to understand it. As you research, take the time to evaluate each source notes . Remember, it’s better to have quality citations over an abundance of citations.

Invented sources:

If a reference in a student’s bibliography is found not to exist, it is considered an invented source. This may occur if a student couldn’t find a reputable source to back their argument, or if they needed to include additional references to meet the requirements of the assignment and chose to take an unethical shortcut rather than completing the required amount of research. No matter the reason, this behavior ultimately hurts them in the long run. Not only will they fail to gain the experience they need to conduct research in the future properly, but they’ll also experience significant consequences if they’re caught.

• Prevention: Set aside time to do proper research so you can find enough sources. Start creating a list of sources as you’re researching and take good notes. This will help you keep track of your sources so none are forgotten. If you do end up forgetting where a quote came from, a paper checker could help you pinpoint the original source. 

Patchwriting/Spinning:

Patchwriting is often confused with paraphrasing, but there’s a significant difference. When you paraphrase, you demonstrate that you understand the topic well enough to restate it in your own words. When you patchwrite or spin, it is more akin to a word-swapping game; there’s no need to understand the subject, merely to have access to a thesaurus so you can substitute enough synonyms to mask the source material. This can be intentional, but it may also be a result of having a poor understanding of how to paraphrase.

• Prevention: Using your own words, write down the key points of the phrase or idea, and put them together in a sentence. Be sure to include a citation as well. 

A good way to test if you’re patchwriting or paraphrasing is to remove your sources from view. If you can write about what you’ve read without looking at the source material, you likely understand it well enough to paraphrase it. If you have to review the source material with each new sentence or consult a thesaurus while writing about it (except when you’re adding direct quotations), you may be spinning your sources instead of paraphrasing them.

Academic Integrity Policies and Statements

If you’re still uncertain about what counts as plagiarism, look for your school’s/ organization’s policies on academic integrity and plagiarism. The policies of academic institutions usually cover what is considered plagiarism, the consequences of committing it, and how to avoid it. One great example is Purdue University’s Academic Integrity statement .

What are the Consequences of Plagiarism?

No matter the setting, plagiarism is not taken lightly, and the consequences can be significant. For a good reason, too! Whether in an academic or professional setting, the plagiarism consequences reflect the seriousness of the act, which is ultimately a form of theft that hurts everyone involved.

Just as with the theft of a tangible object, there can be legal punishments for plagiarism. It is, after all, a form of copyright infringement in many instances. A quick search for plagiarism articles will reveal that professional instances of intellectual theft have resulted in civil lawsuits and can even be criminally prosecuted under rare circumstances. In addition to the possible legal consequences, professionals may lose their jobs or have to start over in a new field after their acts of fraud are uncovered.

As a student, you’re likely to wonder what happens if you plagiarize in college or high school. While there will almost always be consequences for this behavior, there is no one-size-fits-all plagiarism sentence. Depending on the circumstances, academic dishonesty could result in outcomes such as:

• You might get a zero for the assignment in which the infringement occurred.
• You may receive a failing grade for the class. If it is a required course, this could leave you without enough credits to move on to the next level until you can repeat it and, in some instances, postpone graduation.
• You may be expelled from your school or university.

The academic dishonesty may be noted on your transcript, which can lead to you not getting into your preferred college, graduate school, or Ph.D. program in the future.

Nobody wants to be known as a fraud or to have a reputation for dishonesty follow them through their career. And, given the consequences that can extend beyond just their reputation, it’s no wonder that professional and academic writers who wish to avoid them take the time to understand the complete definition of plagiarism and run their work through a plagiarism checker before sending it out into the world.

Even the vigilant can fall prey to inferior tools, unfortunately. Before selecting a plagiarism checker, you should understand how they work and what they can (and cannot) detect.

How We Check for Plagiarism

When exploring how to check for plagiarism, most students and professionals conclude that including a checking tool in their revision process is not only helpful but necessary. When you consider the Herculean task of checking each line of your paper against the text of each of your resources, the benefits of a checker are clear. Moreover, this manual approach would only alert you to matching text in the sources you’re aware of, after all, and leaves the sources you haven’t reviewed untouched.

But, hang on. Why would sources you haven’t reviewed factor into your review? The answer to this lies in the plagiarism definition you learned above. What is plagiarism? It’s presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, intentionally or otherwise. It is not uncommon to uncover an idea while you’re researching a topic and later misremember it as your own. This might even occur years after you originally came across it.

You might wonder: how can plagiarism be avoided if you have to account for the source of every thought you include in your work? A few exceptions minimize the scope of this. Common knowledge about your topic does not need to be supported by a citation, nor does knowledge that you gained through your personal experience. Using a subscription-based or free plagiarism checker will help you locate any passages that may fall into these categories so you can review them and decide for yourself whether a citation is needed.

EasyBib Plus writing tools provide easy, convenient, and reliable support to help you find potentially missed citations and can help you improve your paper into a high-quality paper with integrity. Simply upload your paper, select the checker, then sit back and relax as the site scans your document. In mere moments, we’ll search the web for passages of similar text and highlight duplicate content for your review.

Regardless of the tools you use to help you revise and polish your work, it’s ultimately your responsibility to ensure that you’re writing and submitting ethical work. That’s why our tools go beyond the basics and require your participation. The tool never automatically makes changes to your paper, but only flags sections that may need your attention and provides you with the matching source so you can to make an educated decision.

If you find that a citation is needed, our citation tools can help you create properly formatted citations and develop a complete bibliography. And, if you review the passage and determine that the match is coincidental, you can dismiss the alert and move on to the next.

Seamless Citation Creation

Professional writers and students alike can find creating citations incredibly confusing. Nevertheless, they are an integral part of a well-written and researched paper and a requirement in almost all academic settings. But, have you ever wondered why they are so important? Citations really do have a purpose—other than driving us crazy— that make it necessary always to cite our sources.

We cite our sources for a few important reasons:

We need to give credit where credit is due. When you use a quote from someone else’s work, you need to give credit for using their words and ideas. Research is often based on the works and ideas of others. However, to include the words and ideas of another without giving them proper credit is to plagiarize, even if the act was unintentional.

In addition, showing that you’ve done proper research by including in text & parenthetical citations and a comprehensive list of sources to back up your arguments gives your work a layer of credibility that can help you earn the trust of your reader or teacher.

Readers can find the sources you used.  When you’re writing high school or undergraduate papers, your only readers may be your instructors and peers. However, including citations at every level of writing helps to ensure that anyone who reads your work can access your sources to check their accuracy, learn more about your topic, and further their own research.

Sources can take your research and learning to the next level, too. When you are conducting research on a topic, checking the works cited or annotated bibliographies prepared by your sources can lead you down new avenues in your research to further develop your ideas and help you write your papers.

Correctly utilizing citations gives strength to your thoughts and opinions. Understanding the value of citations does not, unfortunately, make them any easier to create. We know how confusing it can be, but don’t throw in the towel on learning how to cite websites in MLA , create your APA citation website references, or format your works cited —this is where we come in!

While a free online plagiarism detector may tell you how much of your work is unoriginal and may even identify the passages that meet their plagiarize definition, a premium EasyBib Plus plagiarism checker account also gives you access to our powerful citation resources and generator so you can:

Scan your papers with the plagiarism tool to check for plagiarism-free work before you submit.

Review flagged passages to determine if they meet the plagiarism definition and create unlimited citations in APA format and MLA format for anything fitting the plagiarism meaning. Need more styles ? Check out our regular citation generator for thousands of choices and free resources to help you learn how to create an APA parenthetical citation , APA book citation , APA works cited , and so much more!

Build a full bibliography for your paper right along with your parenthetical or in-text citations, which can save you hours of work along the way compared to manually creating and formatting them.

How Else Do We Help You Improve Your Paper?

The EasyBib Plus plagiarism detector helps you check your content or paper for text that may be missing a citation—which may fall within the definition of plagiarism—to help ensure you don’t accidentally plagiarize. It also includes grammar check and spelling check tools to help identify errors and suggest grammatical tweaks that could help to elevate the level of your writing.

Running a plagiarism check couldn’t be easier! Just upload your paper to the online proofreader, and in a few moments we’ll have your writing and citing suggestions. And, there’s no need to worry about your paper after it’s been scanned.

Run a Grammar and Spell Check for Free!

There’s no denying that your schoolwork can be challenging at times, and your assignments can lead to some late nights even when you’ve started them early. The last thing you want is to submit assignments that don’t reflect your best effort, but it can occasionally be quite the juggling act to get everything done on time.

Why not let our plagiarism checker free up space on your calendar by helping you revise your papers quickly and efficiently? The EasyBib Plus paper checker is your one-stop shop to check for plagiarism, create citations, spot spelling mistakes, and receive feedback on your grammar and style.

When you proofread and do a manual spelling check on work that you’ve written, you’re more likely to overlook mistakes. This is even more likely if you’re pressed for time or trying to complete several different assignments at once. There are tricks to help minimize this, such as reading your work aloud to identify poor grammar or reading each sentence backward to find spelling errors. When time is of the essence, though, these solutions aren’t the most convenient or useful options. That’s why many students seek the assistance of online tools that will run a grammar and plagiarism check on their work.

Are you asking yourself, “ How do I check my grammar online ?” We’ve got the perfect checker for you! Our advanced tools help you find and correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Our targeted feedback and free writing and citing resources help you learn as you go to improve your writing over time.

The best part? You can use our grammar and writing tools any time of the day, any day of the year for! Looking to try it? Just upload or copy and paste your text into our online proofreader for a free grammar check with up to 5 suggestions, or sign up for EasyBib Plus today! EasyBib Plus gives you use of the plagiarism checker and unlimited access to suggestions that can help improve your spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, writing style, and grammar.

Published February 3, 2019. Updated April 9, 2020.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Melissa DeVrieze Meyer . Michele is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib. You can find her here on Twitter. Melissa is a professional writer and editor based in New Jersey. She writes for academic brands and independent publishers about writing, grammar, and literature, and creates study and curriculum materials for ESL learners. You can find her on Twitter .

Visit our EasyBib Twitter feed to discover more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free plagiarism check.

• Knowledge Base

Best Plagiarism Checkers Compared

Published on May 20, 2024 by Koen Driessen . Revised on July 11, 2024.

The best plagiarism checker should be able to detect plagiarism the most accurately, even if the original phrasing has been altered. The tool should also provide a clear, comprehensive plagiarism report.

To identify which plagiarism checker is best, we conducted in-depth research comparing the performance of 10 checkers. We uploaded plagiarized texts that were either directly copied and pasted or edited to varying degrees. In total, we used 140 sources to construct our test documents.

Overview of total scores per plagiarism checker, based on the amount of detected plagiarism:

Table of contents

Our process for comparing checkers, 1. scribbr review , 2. plagaware review, 3. quetext review, 4. viper review, 5. grammarly review, 6. plagiarism detector review, 7. copyleaks review, 8. smodin review, 9. compilatio review, 10. writer review, frequently asked questions about plagiarism checkers.

In order to find the best plagiarism checker, we analyzed different aspects of the tools, focusing on both depth and breadth.

We based our analysis on the following factors:

• Access to the biggest and most varied database
• Ability to detect the most plagiarism for the most source types
• Ability to detect plagiarism when the plagiarized texts have been paraphrased
• Highest quality of matches
• Level of user-friendliness and trustworthiness

We used the same test documents, test date, evaluation criteria, and data analysis for each tool in order to objectively compare the plagiarism results side by side. This ensured that the results required very little interpretation on our part.

Also see our list of the best free plagiarism checkers and the best AI detectors .

“Catches plagiarism more accurately than any other checker”

• Finds the most plagiarism and works for edited texts, too
• Does not store or sell documents
• Offers a happiness guarantee and live support
• Offers a Self-Plagiarism Checker to check for self-plagiarism
• Offers a limited free version
• Quality comes at a price
• Cannot work directly in the tool

Quality of matches

Scribbr performed well for all source types relevant to students, such as journal articles and dissertations.

Most importantly, Scribbr’s checker was the most successful at detecting plagiarism in source texts that had been heavily edited to mimic accidental paraphrasing plagiarism.

Scribbr was also able to find full matches. This means the entire plagiarized portion is matched correctly to just one source, rather than multiple incorrect sources.

The results are presented in a clear, downloadable overview. Different colors are used for different sources, making it easy for users to assess each plagiarism issue separately.

Issues can be fixed with Scribbr’s free citation generator , which generates proper citations for any missed or improperly cited sources.

Users can also choose to combine the Plagiarism Checker with the Self-Plagiarism Checker , which is unique to Scribbr. This tool allows users to upload their own unpublished documents in addition to the public database.

Instead of requiring users to subscribe to their services, Scribbr charges per plagiarism check ($19.95–$39.95, depending on the word count).

However, users are unable to work directly in the tool, and it is not possible to re-check your document for free.

Trustworthiness

Scribbr does not store the uploaded documents, sell them to third parties, or share them with academic institutions. Data is automatically deleted after 30 days, or students can opt to manually delete their document after the check.

Scribbr has live and responsive customer support to assist students in multiple languages. There is easy access to a plagiarism checker guide and other free resources about plagiarism.

Scribbr also has a happiness guarantee, where students receive a new check or refund if they aren’t satisfied for any reason.

Try Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker now

• Detects most of the plagiarism
• Documents not stored in database
• Multiple support options, but no live support
• Difficult to read PDF reports
• Does not work well for scholarly sources

Plagaware was often able to find full matches and attribute the text to the correct source. However, it performed poorly with heavily edited texts.

Sometimes, the tool did not correctly distinguish between separate plagiarized sources (i.e., it incorrectly attributed two consecutive paragraphs to the same source).

The website report is easy to navigate as it uses different colors for sources. The tool has a function that tells you how many words a plagiarized section has and gives a similarity percentage.

Unfortunately, the downloadable report is confusing to read as it uses only one color and doesn’t clearly link plagiarized text with a source.

Plagaware does not store files and does not sell uploaded content. Their website contains a contact form and phone number.

Discover Plagaware’s plagiarism checker

• Users can work directly in the tool
• Offers a citation assistant that helps with adding missing citations
• Partial matches where one source text is matched to multiple sources
• Reports are hard to read

Quetext detected about half the plagiarized text but was often unable to fully match the entire source text to one source. Instead, individual sentences get attributed to different sources.

The website states that Quetext checks against webpages and academic sources, but the tool does not in fact perform well for academic sources.

The website report sometimes did not correctly distinguish between plagiarized paragraphs and attributed them to the same source.

Quetext differentiates by severity of plagiarism in its online report: orange for partial matches and red for full matches. Otherwise, the same colors are used for different sources.

Users can work directly in the tool, and Quetext offers a citation assistant that helps generate the missing citations.

The original layout of the text is lost in both the website report and the downloadable report.

The tool does not store or re-upload your text, and it offers a help center with FAQs. There is no live support, but users can submit a help request on the website.

Discover Quetext’s plagiarism checker

• Ability to compare your newest document with previously uploaded documents
• Different colors for different source types
• Documents get published on external websites if you use the free version
• Performs poorly for scholarly sources
• Report can be hard to read, due to partial matches

Viper found about half of the plagiarism when the source text was directly copied or lightly edited, but it struggled to find plagiarism in moderately and heavily edited texts.

The tool had average performance for most source types but struggled specifically with scholarly source types such as journal articles and dissertations. This makes this tool less useful for students.

When Viper flagged plagiarism, it often matched the entire passage to one source. While the downloadable report was somewhat difficult to read, it helpfully uses different colors for different sources.

Viper also allows users to check their text against their own previously uploaded documents, which may help to catch instances of self-plagiarism.

Viper stores previous submissions and shows matches with those texts.

The tool does not sell your document if you use the paid version (prices start at $3.95 per 5,000 words). However, if you use the free version, the document is uploaded to an internal database. After three months, the text is published on an external website as an example for other students. This is not good if the content of your text is confidential.

Viper does not have live support, but there is a contact form on the website.

Discover Viper’s plagiarism checker

• Offers a language and citation assistant
• Does not sell or share documents with other parties
• Finds quite a low percentage of plagiarism
• 100,000 character limit (14,000–25,000 words)
• Same colors for different sources

Grammarly found a relatively low amount of plagiarism. It performed best with lightly edited texts. However, it scored below 50% in all other rounds of testing.

When it did find plagiarism, the tool was often able to find the right source. However, the matches were usually only partial and rarely included the entire plagiarized section.

The design is not very clear. As the tool is primarily used as a language checker, the plagiarism checker function is somewhat difficult to find. The tool uses the same color for all sources, making it hard to read.

The subscription comes with a language and style tool and offers a citation assistant that helps generate the missing citations. In addition, there is a 100,000 character limit for both the monthly plan ($30 per month) and the yearly plan ($12 per month).

For more information, you can read our in-depth  Grammarly review .

Grammarly does not store, sell, or share documents with other parties.

There is a support page with tips, tutorials, and FAQs, and it is possible to submit a question via a form. However, there is no live support.

Discover Grammarly’s plagiarism checker

• Does not store or sell your document
• Difficult to find the plagiarized source in the report
• Same highlight colors for different sources
• Technical difficulties generating the report, and no live support

This tool had difficulty uploading the document for each round of testing (for the first round, it took over six hours to generate a report). It seems that Plagiarism Detector was unable to adequately process a document of this size, even though the document did not exceed their word limit of 25,000.

This tool was mostly only able to find partial matches, attributing individual sentences to one or more sources, rather than the entire section.

In the downloadable report, the format of the text is lost, making it hard to read. The list of sources is also difficult to cross-reference with the text above because the same colors are used for different sources.

Plagiarism Detector offers a rewrite tool to help resolve similarities, but the quality of this tool is questionable, and it does not help with the citation issues. You should resolve plagiarism by citing the relevant source, not by attempting to rewrite the text to disguise it.

Plagiarism Detector does not store or sell uploaded documents. There is no live support, but the website does offer a help request form.

Discover Plagiarism Detector’s plagiarism checker

• Text layout is kept intact in the online tool
• Difficult to read reports
• Performed poorly with academic sources
• Unclear data protection policy

Copyleaks performed relatively poorly with all source types. It lists multiple possible sources for flagged sentences. However, it was sometimes able to attribute an entire source block to the correct source.

The report distinguishes between text that is “identical” to a source, text that contains “minor changes,” and text that is “paraphrased.” However, its judgment is sometimes wrong.

The site report and downloadable report differed (the downloaded report flagged content that was not flagged on the site report). On the website report, the source information function did not always work correctly, so it was sometimes impossible to check the accuracy of the attributions.

The reports were also difficult to read, as they use the same color highlights for all sources. While the source formatting is maintained in the online tool, it is altered in the downloadable report.

Copyleaks claim that they “will never steal your work.” To permanently remove uploaded content from their database, users must contact customer support. The website has a chat option and a contact form.

Discover Copyleaks’ plagiarism checker

• Site has a citation generator
• Very low word limit
• Report is difficult to read
• Scans individual sentences rather than full texts

Smodin performed relatively poorly in all rounds of testing. While it got some sources correct, it struggled to get full matches and frequently attributed the same text to multiple different sources. It did particularly poorly with scholarly sources.

The tool has a very low limit of 2,000 words per scan.

Both the online report and the downloadable PDF report are difficult to read. The downloadable report displays the uploaded document, but it doesn’t highlight the text that it flags as plagiarized. Instead, below this, it includes the individual parts of the text that it recognizes as plagiarism.

However, it is difficult to read as the same text is repeated over and over again if multiple sources were found for it. The sources also do not seem to be in a logical order.

Their data protection policy suggests they can/might sell or repurpose uploaded content. There is no live support, but there is a contact form on the site.

Discover Smodin’s plagiarism checker

• You can use your credits for multiple documents
• Scans against other documents you have uploaded
• Doesn’t highlight the plagiarized parts in the text
• Hard to review and resolve instances of plagiarism

Compilatio was able to find a few of the plagiarized sources, but it struggled if the source text had been moderately or heavily edited. However, when it was able to identify a source, it was often correct.

It was not possible to determine how accurately Compilatio could match the source to a plagiarized source text, since the plagiarized parts were not highlighted. Instead, the report only shows the general area that matches the source. This may limit its helpfulness to users, since it’s hard to review and resolve potential instances of plagiarism.

As the report does not highlight the flagged text, it does not provide a good overview of the potential issues. Additionally, you cannot work in the tool, so it’s not possible to exclude similarities from the report.

The tool scans the text against other documents you have uploaded, which can help to avoid self-plagiarism.

Users can buy packages for 5,000 words for €3.99 (no $ value is available on the site), 25,000 words for €14.99, or 50,000 words for €24.99. These credits can be used for multiple documents and are valid for 12 months after purchase.

Compilatio does not share or sell submitted documents, and the documents are not used as comparison material for other users.

There is no live support available, but they do provide a helpdesk with FAQs and a request form.

Discover Compilatio’s plagiarism checker

• Part of a tool with many other useful functions
• Allows you to edit in the tool
• Text format is not altered
• Doesn’t find much plagiarism
• Doesn’t provide a downloadable report

Quality of matches 

This tool found very little plagiarism. It struggled particularly with scholarly sources like dissertations and academic journals.

It scans sentence by sentence, rather than whole paragraphs. As a result, the plagiarized text is often attributed to multiple sources, rather than just one.

The plagiarism checker function is part of a larger language tool that provides grammar and spelling checks. As the tool doesn’t display an overall plagiarism percentage, we couldn’t apply our normal testing methodology. 

The tool has a nice, clean design and was relatively easy to use. The format of the text remains intact, and you can work directly in the tool. However, it doesn’t provide a downloadable report, so you must work solely on the website.

Writer claims that its tool is secure and safe to use and that it won’t share your information with anybody. A detailed security policy is described on a separate page.

They provide a contact number and email address on the site, but no live support.

Discover Writer’s plagiarism checker

Go back to the best plagiarism checker

Plagiarism can be detected by your professor or readers if the tone, formatting, or style of your text is different in different parts of your paper, or if they’re familiar with the plagiarized source.

Many universities also use plagiarism detection software like Turnitin’s, which compares your text to a large database of other sources, flagging any similarities that come up.

It can be easier than you think to commit plagiarism by accident. Consider using a plagiarism checker prior to submitting your paper to ensure you haven’t missed any citations.

The accuracy depends on the plagiarism checker you use. Per our in-depth research , Scribbr is the most accurate plagiarism checker. Many free plagiarism checkers fail to detect all plagiarism or falsely flag text as plagiarism.

Plagiarism checkers work by using advanced database software to scan for matches between your text and existing texts. Their accuracy is determined by two factors: the algorithm (which recognizes the plagiarism) and the size of the database (with which your document is compared).

Yes, Scribbr offers a limited free version of its plagiarism checker in partnership with Turnitin. It uses Turnitin’s industry-leading plagiarism detection technology and has access to most content databases.

Run a free plagiarism check

If you’re a university representative, you can contact the sales department of Turnitin .

Your document will be compared to the world’s largest and fastest-growing content database , containing over:

• 99.3 billion current and historical webpages.
• 8 million publications from more than 1,700 publishers such as Springer, IEEE, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis.

Note: Scribbr does not have access to Turnitin’s global database with student papers. Only your university can add and compare submissions to this database.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Driessen, K. (2024, July 11). Best Plagiarism Checkers Compared. Scribbr. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/best-plagiarism-checker/

Is this article helpful?

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Other students also liked, types of plagiarism and how to recognize them, how to avoid plagiarism | tips on citing sources, consequences of mild, moderate & severe plagiarism, what is your plagiarism score.

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Most common free tools for essay success

Evelyn Levisohn

Jul 18, 2017

When it comes to getting help with an essay, many students don’t really know where to turn.

Especially for ESL students, or if you’re returning to study after many years - confidence in academic writing does not come easily.

If you’re lucky enough you might have peers, family members, or teachers who can provide a ‘second set of eyes’, but what can you do when that’s not an option, or when you want more external, professional help? There are a number of free tools available to help make your essay the best it can be, from spelling and grammar checkers through to more comprehensive feedback.

We ran a mock essay through MS Word, Grammarly, Turnitin and Studiosity Writing Feedback to see the strengths and benefits of each.

1. MS Word Spell Check

It’s always a good place to start. And Microsoft is releasing even more AI-driven capability within its software, in an upcoming ‘Editor’ feature (already available for Office 365 customers).

Even the most basic spell-checker works well: we have all experienced the saving grace of the red squiggly line under a typo, or the blue alert for a double-spacing misdemeanour.

Indeed, MS Word picked up a few typos and unnecessarily capitalised words in my sample essay.

All well and good, but I do want some more in-depth help to set my mind at ease that the essay is actually my best work, before handing it in.

2. Grammarly

Grammarly has been around for a while, gaining prominence both in workplaces and among students. It can kind of act like the spell-checker that follows you around the web: as a browser plug-in, it alerts you to spelling and grammar errors in real-time, as you type them, in emails, blog posts, forum comments, or wherever you’re writing.

You can also paste blocks of text into their web app for checking. The free version highlights only a limited number of mistakes or corrections (10 in my 543 word essay), with their Premium version promising ‘specialty checking’ - in my case, intriguingly identifying 21 additional writing issues.

You can expand the suggestions to read more about why each mistake is incorrect. And thankfully, they do have a British-English setting you can select (though you must manually find and change it, because  All Settings Default To American ), to avoid being called up on simple words like ‘realise’.

The Premium version also touts useful features like a plagiarism-checker, genre-specific writing tips and vocabulary enhancement, which may just be a fancy way of saying thesaurus?

Ultimately, Grammarly is a robust spelling and grammar checker. It picks up on deeper nuances of grammatical errors than a standard spell-check, with a comprehensive and useful suite of additional tools available for paying users. Be wary of accepting every suggestion, though - a few of mine weren't correct, in context. 

3. Turnitin

Most Australian universities provide the ‘Turnitin’ service for their staff and students for its ‘originality check’ feature, to prevent plagiarism. It also includes a mechanism for receiving feedback from your lecturer, but this is only accessible after you have handed your essay in. 

Your lecturer can write in-line feedback, highlight problematic areas of your text and provide their commentary alongside the document, for future reference. That way, you can look back at your previous papers to ensure you’re not repeating past mistakes.

Useful, although perhaps not when it comes to your first ever essay at uni.

4. Studiosity Writing Feedback

I submitted the same essay through our Studiosity Writing Feedback service.

The Writing Feedback service promises your file back within 24 hours, though in this instance I received a notification that the document was ready in under 40 minutes.

The feedback summary from the English Specialist was over 300 words, including comprehensive commentary and recommendations on the structure, language choice, spelling and grammar as well as the Specialist’s overall thoughts on the piece.

There were also 12 in-line comments highlighted throughout the document, marking up things like unnecessary capital letters or American spelling, and more considered things like where an example was provided and it wasn’t clear how it directly linked to the piece. A level of depth and comprehension of the text that only a real human being can produce (noticing even the blatant lack of proper introductory context for the essay, among other things).

Studiosity's Writing Feedback isn’t a ‘proofreading’ or ‘checking’ service, and that’s why the specialists won’t highlight every spelling mistake or grammatical discrepancy - for that, you can also use Grammarly or MS Word (or both).

What the Writing Feedback service offers is professional, personalised and timely feedback for each individual student, critically examining your specific writing strengths and weaknesses within your draft.

The specialist will provide prompts and guidance on where you could improve or reconsider your work, and they’ll identify where you’re repeating spelling or grammar or referencing mistakes.

“ I liked the idea of the general overall feedback and then the small minor feedback details on the side! The feedback provided, gives me the extra motivation to keep going and make sure I'm on the right track” - Federation University student

Students at our partner universities and schools receive this service for free. Check if you have free access here . 

Do you use any other free tools to make your essays and writing better?

Topics: Literacy , Study , English , Writing , Edtech

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Asking for feedback on your work is an essential part of learning. So when you want to better understand a concept or check you're on the right track, we're here for you. 

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