With so many writing assistant tools available online and raising standards for content that succeeds, it can be hard to know which tool is best for you and your writing needs.
This article will weigh the pros and cons of two popular online writing assistants – Grammarly vs WhiteSmoke – to help you make a more informed decision. Below you will find answers to the following questions.
- What is online writing assistant software?
- Do I need online writing assistant software?
- How do writing assistants improve style?
- Grammarly vs. WhiteSmoke
- Which is better?
Before we look at the pros and cons of each and how they compare, let’s explore the function and purpose of online writing assistant tools.
What is online writing assistant software?
Online writing assistants are AI-based software that helps writers craft high-ranking content. They assess text for errors and offer accurate suggestions through advanced AI technology.
A writing assistant can drastically improve any writer’s quality of work with relative ease.
The two types of software covered in this article (Grammarly and WhiteSmoke) are both straightforward and user-friendly.
Users add text to the software and set some preferences around its function.
For example, Grammarly allows users to choose between a casual or formal tone and audience readership level (general to expert).
Do I need an online writing assistant?
These days it’s more important than ever to post only high-quality and engaging content. Anything less than that and whatever purpose your content was intended to serve is likely to fail.
No matter what type of business you run, competition always seeks to improve. Using an AI writing assistant helps you stay on track and offer your audience the best quality content they can get.
If you’re a blogger, a student, or an author, your work must be high quality.
Writing assistants make whatever task is at hand a lot easier. Knowing that your writing assistant has got you covered when it comes to spelling, grammar, and tone, you can allow yourself to get more creative without having to set aside as much editing time.
How do writing assistants improve your writing style?
Grammarly, WhiteSmoke, and other writing tools have built-in spelling and grammar checkers to help you correct spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and punctuation errors.
Your content must be free from errors, especially careless ones. One too many incorrect punctuation marks, spelling mistakes, or careless grammatical errors can damage your reputation in a matter of seconds, often deterring a reader from ever returning to your site.
Writing assistants don’t just correct spelling and grammar mistakes. You can use Microsoft Word or Google Docs for such purposes (but remember that they don’t catch every mistake!).
Grammarly, WhiteSmoke, and other tools also offer suggestions on style and tone, helping you craft a consistent piece of writing that engages readers.
For example, Grammarly allows you to set a readership level based on your target audience, from general to knowledgeable to expert. A basic how-to guide would fall under general, while an in-depth report would fall under knowledgeable or expert.
So, if you want to drastically improve your writing style and offer your readers a consistent and well-written article, blog post, paper, or e-mail, it’s clever and, these days, necessary to use an AI writing software such as Grammarly or WhiteSmoke.
Grammarly vs WhiteSmoke
These tools allow you to check spelling and grammar, set audience readership level and assess your writing for clarity.
However, if you own a business and need to share your work with a large audience, it’s wise to invest in their premium versions. With premium, these tools offer a more in-depth analysis of your writing regarding style and quality and can ensure that the content you deliver is of the highest standard.
Before you invest, you must learn more about each tool.
What is Grammarly?
Listed as one of the world’s most innovative AI writing tools by Fast Company, Grammarly is one of the most popular and powerful writing assistants out there. Launched in 2009, Grammarly now boasts over 30 million daily active users, compared to only one million in 2015.
Grammarly packages
- Free
- Premium
- Business
Grammarly free version
Grammarly offers both free and premium versions of their software. On the free version, users enjoy the following features:
You can still reap significant benefits using the free version if you don’t want to buy a Grammarly premium subscription. Grammarly Free helps you avoid embarrassing mistakes, punctuation errors, and suggestions on clarity.
The free version offers a smooth user experience – paste your document and set your audience goals (general, knowledgeable, expert), tone (informal, casual, formal), and follow Grammarly’s suggested edits.
The tone is an essential aspect of your writing. Consider your target audience and the level of authority or sentiment from which you want to speak.
For example, sales copywriting sounds much different than an e-mail to a colleague asking for help. Grammarly will analyze your words and phrasing and suggest edits based on your preferred tone.
- Correct spelling and grammar mistakes and punctuation errors
- Set tone for greater audience engagement
- Easy UI
Grammarly Premium
Grammarly offers all the benefits of the free version plus many more. Grammarly assesses your text for correctness, clarity, engagement, and delivery more than a basic grammar checker.
Grammarly premium improves your engagement by suggesting edits to wordy sentences. Since reader attention spans are typically short, the more concise you can make your sentences, the better.
The delivery feature also helps you optimize your content to offer an enjoyable reading experience, rather than ones that appear rude or misleading.
Premium also offers fluency suggestions.
For those writing in a second language, fluency can be tricky. Direct translations are not always accurate.
Grammarly offers accurate suggestions based on the context of your sentence.
The premium version also features a plagiarism checker, which helps you avoid search engine penalties and copyright infringement.
- Assess your text for engagement and delivery
- Comprehensive text analysis
- Fluency suggestions
- Unlimited plagiarism checker
Grammarly Business
Grammarly Business offers all the options included in premium with even more benefits. It’s optimized for teams so that you can make your output cohesive.
The business package offers a customizable style guide for team cohesion and brand tone suggestions and allows three or more team members to use individual accounts.
Grammarly Pricing
Grammarly Premium
At the time of publishing, here are the costs for Grammarly Premium:
Annual – $12.00/mo (billed as one payment of $144.00)
Quarterly – $20.00/mo (one payment of $60.00)
Monthly – $30.00/mo
Grammarly Business
$15.00/mo per member (billed annually, minimum of three members)
Who should use Grammarly?
Grammarly is a wise choice for:
- Content marketers creating blogs, social media posts, newsletters
- Bloggers
- Students
- Teachers
- Copywriters
- Authors
What is WhiteSmoke?
WhiteSmoke is AI-based writing software that checks your text for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Like Grammarly, WhiteSmoke offers accurate suggestions to improve your text’s clarity and overall quality.
WhiteSmoke offers a free version, but its features are more limited than Grammarly’s. To get the best out of WhiteSmoke, you must buy a premium subscription.
WhiteSmoke boasts global recognition and praise among native and non-native English speakers alike. Unlike Grammarly, the software is also available in over 55 languages.
One of WhiteSmoke’s defining features is its use of Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP is a subfield of computer science, AI, and language that integrates computer processing with the natural processing of language in the human brain
WhiteSmoke packages
Whitesmoke Web
WhiteSmoke is an easy-to-use online writing assistant. All you need to do is log in to the site on your browser; no installation is necessary.
Once you sign in to your account, you’re ready to check and edit your text.
Desktop Premium
WhiteSmoke Desktop Premium has been ranked the world’s number one English language correction software on the market by Forbes and TopTenReviews.
With desktop premium, you can use WhiteSmoke’s advanced text checking features even when you work offline.
You can also add it as an extension to MS Word and other writing software so that you can edit in real time and save time otherwise spent on meticulous proofreading.
That being said, no matter how in-depth your text editing tools are, always (always!) read through the text before you’re finished.
WhiteSmoke Pricing
At the time of publishing here are the prices for WhiteSmoke:
WhiteSmoke Web – $5.00/mo (billed as an annual payment of $59.95)
WhiteSmoke Desktop Premium – $6.66/mo (billed as an annual payment of $79.95)
WhiteSmoke Business – $11.50/mo (billed as an annual payment of $137.95)
WhiteSmoke vs. Grammarly: Which is better?
WhiteSmoke is the cheaper option of the two, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better.
When it comes to value for money, Grammarly comes out on top.
Grammarly excels in its ease of use, and even if you don’t want to pay a premium, you can still reap significant benefits and drastically improve the quality of your work with the free version.
To help you decide for yourself, let’s sum up the pros and cons of both tools.
Grammarly pros and cons
Pros
- Advanced spelling and grammar checking
- Helps improve writing styles with style checker
- Versatile can be used for most writing purposes
- User-friendly
- Unlimited plagiarism checker with premium
- Check and edit up to 100,000 characters
- Free, premium, and business versions are available
Cons
- More expensive than WhiteSmoke
- Tends to lag when editing large sections of text
- Service is only available in English
WhiteSmoke pros and cons
Pros
- Advanced spelling and grammar checking
- Suggestions on style improvement
- Scoring system
- Efficient UX
- Translate up to 55 languages
- Plagiarism checker
- Affordable
- NLP (natural language processing) technology
Cons
- Paid plan only
- 10,000 character limit
- No mobile app
Conclusion
When choosing an online writing assistant software, you want to keep your budget in mind. You also want to consider your specific needs.
You don’t need to buy the most expensive packages, and it’s foolish to think that the most expensive package will automatically make your writing better.
Beyond any online writing tool, it’s essential your writing or that of your staff is already high quality.
Still, if we have to choose a winner of the two, it’s Grammarly.
The free version still offers comprehensive text-editing and style suggestions, and it’s not just a free trial. You can correct careless spelling mistakes and improve your clarity and tone with the free version.
With premium, you can enjoy unlimited use of the plagiarism checker tool, which saves you a lot of trouble in the long run if it turns out that some of your work is (accidentally or not) plagiarized.
WhiteSmoke is still an excellent writing assistant, so if you prefer to use it, use it. Grammarly offers a lot of benefits, but it’s not for everyone.
If you want to make an even more informed decision, subscribe to both for a trial run but be sure to cancel one during the trial time.
