Grammarly vs. Turnitin (2023 Comparison)

Grammarly and Turnitin appeal to different sets of audiences.

Grammarly is an AI-based grammar and spelling checker that can also correct stylistic issues in your writing, gives you suggestions to tailor your content to specific audiences, and detects plagiarism.

Turnitin is best known for its state-of-the-art plagiarism detector. Not many people know that it also has a grammar checker. This feature generates reports on grammar and spelling mistakes through the ETS e-rater.

So, should you hire Grammarly or Turnitin as your next writing assistant? The facts given below will help you decide.

Our rating:

• Grammarly: 4.5/5
• Turnitin: 4.2/5

Criteria	Grammarly	Turnitin
Ease of Use	User-friendly interface	Incredibly easy to use
Customization	Lets you tailor its writing suggestions for specific audiences, formality, and readability level	Very limited number of customization options
Analysis Reports	Provides basic analysis reports for grammar, punctuation, spelling, engagement, clarity, and more.	Pretty basic
Rephrasing Tools	Allows you to rephrase your writing pretty much any way you want	Cannot be used for rephrasing tasks
Integrations	Integrates with almost every app a writer could use	Can be integrated into various apps and services through API access
Pricing and Support	Prices aren’t cheap but won’t blow a hole in your pocket either	Prices depend on usage
Accuracy	Highly accurate in identifying and correcting grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.	Highly accurate in detecting plagiarism
Writing Style	Lets you pick from predefined writing styles	N/A
Plagiarism Checker	There are better (and more reliable) options out there	One of the most reliable plagiarism checkers out there
Mobile Integration	Yes	Dedicated mobile app for Android and iOS users
Educational Material	I am yet to come across any	Plenty of educational material on the website
User Reviews	Routinely gets 4.5* out of 5	Routinely gets 4.5* out of 5
Free vs Paid Plans	Free plan: No restrictions and includes tone detection Paid Plan: Includes a plagiarism checker	No free plan
Writing Goals	Lets you set your writing goals in advance as well as change them down the line	N/A
Language Support	Only English	Compatible with multiple languages

Overview: What both tools are about?

Moreover, for SEO for startups, utilising tools like Grammarly can be a game-changer in optimising content to meet the specific demands of search engines and target audiences effectively.

It also lets you tailor your writing by:

• Target audience (general, knowledgeable, expert),
• Formality (formal, informal, neutral),
• Domain (general, business, academic, technical, casual, and creative)

Grammarly also has a built-in plagiarism detection tool. Available only to paid plan users, this feature scans your text for similarities against a database of over a billion words on the internet.

Another exciting feature that Grammarly offers is GrammarlyGO. It’s a generative AI tool that lets you write content from scratch (much in the same manner as ChatGPT).

Turnitin is a cloud-based tool best known around the world as being a reliable plagiarism checker.

It checks your content for duplication by scanning it against a regularly updated database of over 70 billion words.

Unlike Grammarly, whose plagiarism checker works in real-time, Turnitin’s duplication detector requires you to upload your documents to the program. This means you may have to wait a while for the results to arrive.

Turnitin also offers a grading tool called GradeMark.

Developed primarily for educators, GradeMark lets you mark up papers digitally and deliver feedback to students.

Feedback can be provided through various means, including:

• QuickMarks: drag and drop pre-written comments
• Marginal comments
• General text comments
• General audio comments
• Rubric scoring

PeerMark is another impressive feature of Turnitin.

Using this feature, students can read, review, and check papers submitted by their fellow classmates. Turnitin lets PeerMark instructors (translation: teachers) decide whether peer reviews are anonymous or attributed.

Ease of Use: How user-friendly are the interfaces of each product?

One of the main reasons why I’ve been a loyal Grammarly customer since 2011 is its user-friendly interface.

Everything I need to tweak its suggestions is laid out neatly in the menu. There is as little confusion for long-time Grammarly users like myself as there is for first-time users.

Also, unlike a few other grammar-checking tools, Grammarly lets you tweak its suggestions from the app. You don’t have to go to Grammarly’s website to make every single change.

Here’s the proof (screenshot taken from Grammarly’s MS Word editor):

Luckily, Grammarly’s web editor’s interface is equally user-friendly:

Turnitin also has a fairly straightforward interface.

Whether you want to check your content for plagiarism or use any of the remaining features, there’s very little learning curve involved.

That is especially true if you’re using its plagiarism detector via Scribblr (from which I have taken the screenshot below).

Thus, as far as ease of use is concerned, there isn’t much separating Grammarly from Turnitin.

Customization: How customizable are the settings and options for each product?

Grammarly is a clear winner as far as room for customization is concerned.

That is because it lets you create a personal dictionary, choose from multiple citation styles, activate/deactivate passive voice use, and adopt a different writing tone to yours.

You can also tweak Grammarly’s suggestions so that they reflect your goals:

Turnitin also offers various filters to customize its plagiarism checker.

You can exclude quotes, bibliography, and certain words.

Overall, then, Grammarly offers far more (and far more useful) customization options than Turnitin.

Analysis Reports: What types of reports does each product offer to help users improve their writing?

Grammarly and Turnitin offer fairly basic analysis reports.

Grammar’s real-time reports include information about word count, reading and speaking time, readability, and grade level.

You also get a weekly email highlighting how productive you were over the past seven days.

Turnitin’s plagiarism detection report focuses on similarity percentage and sources from which the content is likely copied.

You also get a report regarding submission details, including things like word count, page count, character count, and more.

Integrations: How well does each product integrate with other platforms and tools?

Grammarly integrates with almost every platform and writing tool available.

Furthermore, it offers API access to anyone interested.

As such, developers can easily incorporate Grammarly’s real-time suggestions into their software or app.

Turnitin can be integrated with a large number of LMS (learning management system) providers.

To further facilitate administrators, Turnitin has prepared an extremely handy custom API integration guide.

Rephrasing Tools: How effective are the rephrasing tools for each product?

Grammarly’s rephrasing tool lets you decide which type of rephrasing suggestions you want to get.

You can customize the rephrasing suggestions by tweaking the ‘Goals’ inside Grammarly’s plug-in.

You can also use GrammarlyGO to rephrase your writing any way you like.

GrammarlyGO lets you add prompts (much like ChatGPT) to get similar rephrasing suggestions. Bear in mind, though, that the prompts are limited. So use them with caution.

Turnitin doesn’t offer rephrasing suggestions. This means you’re stuck with Grammarly if that’s your only other option.

Want more options? Check out QuillBot.

QuillBot’s rephrasing tool is highly advanced yet easy to use, even for users who are using it for the first time.

Pricing and Support: How do the pricing plans and customer support options compare between the two products?

Here’s what Grammarly charges for its services:

Turnitin doesn’t have specific pricing plans.

To get a Turnitin subscription, your educational institute needs to contact its sales team for a quotation.

Accuracy: How accurate are the suggestions and corrections offered by each product?

I gave the same passage to both tools to check whether Turnitin or Grammarly were more accurate at detecting plagiarism.

The passage was taken from one of the articles in the NYTimes. The article was published in January 2020.

Grammarly flagged the passage as 100% original:

Turnitin rightly flagged it as 100% duplicate (though it got the wrong source)

The above results confirm what I have been saying for years: Grammarly’s plagiarism detector is less accurate than people make it to be.

Educational Material: What type of educational material and resources do each product offer to help users improve their writing skills?

Grammarly doesn’t offer much in terms of educational material.

However, there are many tutorials on YouTube for anyone who needs help understanding Grammarly’s features.

Turnit has a beneficial page dedicated to explaining all its features.

Thus, as far as on-page helpful resources are concerned, Turnitin is the clear winner.

Free Vs. Paid Plans: How do the free and paid plans for each product compare in terms of features and value?

Various differences exist between Grammarly’s and QuillBot’s free and paid plans.

Here’s a comparison of Grammarly’s paid and free versions:

Features	Grammarly Free Version	Grammarly Paid Version
Basic Editing Checks	Yes	Yes
Suggestions To Improve Correctness	Yes	Yes
Suggestions To Improve Clarity	Yes	Yes
Suggestions To Improve Reader Engagement	No	Yes
Style Guide	No	Yes
Plagiarism Checker	No	Yes
Passive Voice Misuse Checker	No	Yes
Improper Formatting Checker	No	Yes
Alternate Word Suggestions	No	Yes
Get Help From Expert Writers	No	Yes

Turnitin doesn’t offer a free plan (though you can take advantage of a 60-day free trial). Once the trial expires, you’ll be given a specific quote for a one-year license.

Writing Style: How well does each product cater to different writing styles and genres?

Grammarly lets you pick from six different writing styles, including:

• Academic
• Business
• General
• Technical
• Casual
• Creative

Turnitin doesn’t cater to different writing styles and genres. Again, that shouldn’t be surprising. After all, most people who pay for Turnitin do so because they need a reliable plagiarism checker.

Mobile Integration: How well does each product integrate with mobile devices?

Grammarly has a mobile app for Android and iOS devices.

Grammarly’s Android app has over 10 million downloads, over 200,000 reviews, and a stellar 4.3* rating.

Grammarly for iOS hasn’t attracted as many downloads, though its 4.5* rating indicates that users love it.

Turnitin has also developed an app – Gradescope by Turnitin – for students to submit their assignments. The app is available on the iOS store and Google Play.

Language Support: How many languages do each product support for grammar and spelling checks?

Grammarly only supports the English language.

However, you can customize your writing to a specific English audience, including American, Canadian, Australian, and British.

Turnitin supports multiple languages.

In addition to English, it supports Swedish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Spanish, French, Danish, and German.

Alternatives: What alternatives are there to both of these tools?

Here are the various alternatives to these apps:

• Microsoft Editor
• Hemingway
• ProWritingAid
• WordTune
• ChatGPT
• Autocrit
• WordTune
• Scrivener
• LanguageTool

Frequently Asked Questions

Grammarly vs. Turnitin: Which One Comes Out On Top?

Grammarly and Turnitin appeal to different sets of users.

Users who should pick Grammarly:

• Writers who want to improve their writing in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style.
• Users who need assistance in tailoring their content to specific audiences, formality levels, and domains
• Anyone who wants extensive customization options
• Users who want a ChatGPT style software that lets them create content from scratch.

Users who should pick Turnitin:

• Teachers, professors, and students who need to check academic papers for originality
• Educators who want to provide digital feedback on student papers, including quick marks, comments, and rubric scoring.
• Users who want plagiarism detection in languages other than English