It’s bliss when you start writing a piece and the words just flow effortlessly onto the page because the muse of creativity is smiling down on you. At that moment, pesky details like proper tenses and sentence structure don’t matter. What’s terrifying is skimming through your piece and you notice errors here and there.
This is where editing tools like Grammarly and Heminway come in handy. You can’t rely on the integrated spellcheckers built into your writer: Microsoft Word, Google Docs etc. They only correct obvious errors so relying on them is a bit risky.
In this article, we will be comparing two major editing tools, Grammarly vs Hemingway. We’d like to give you an unbiased perspective for selecting the most suitable writing tool.
Grammarly Vs Hemingway: What Do They Do?
Grammarly is a modern grammar checking, spell checking and plagiarism detection tool. It checks for errors in spelling, punctuation, context, grammar, passive voice, and sentence structure and makes recommendations for vocabulary.
Grammarly has plug-ins for apps like Microsoft Word, Chrome, emails etc. You can use it to check all sorts of writings, from social media posts to emails, novels and blog posts.
Beyond just trying to identify writing mistakes, the program gives you feedback about your writing skills and suggestions on how to improve your writing.
The Hemingway Editor is a popular free tool that focuses specifically on readability.
For instance, if you need to write on an 8th-grade level, it will grade the current writing level of a piece of your work. On the software, you can then make changes and reassess your work to see if you reached your writing level goal. This means that as a tool, Hemingway helps you produce writings that are easily understandable by your intended audience.
Hemingway doesn’t offer spelling corrections; it is more focused on sentence structure and components of top-notch writing over grammar. The program will look for overuse of adverbs, difficult to read sentences, and text that could be simpler. This is a little different from what you would find in Grammarly.
READ MORE: Grammarly vs ProwritingAid: Choose A Writing Assistant
Grammarly vs Hemingway Feature: Overview
Interface
Both editing tools have simple, easy to use interfaces designed to help writers strengthen their work. Hemingway provides a sleek, minimalist interface that is focused on an analysis of your writing. Grammarly’s design is also much nicer and easy to use with all the features in one place. By comparison, Hemingway comes across as more dated than Grammarly.
Spell Check
Grammarly is one of the top spell checker programs because it provides an unmatched level of proofreading for a software program, including common contextual spelling errors that other spellcheckers will miss.
Unlike Grammarly, Hemingway does not check for plagiarism, spelling, tone or style of writing. but it will show you how readable your work is, highlighting complex sentence structure, passive voice, and adverbs.
Grammarly vs Hemingway: Writing Style
Grammarly checks your text for errors that are genre-specific. This feature enables you to use words and sentence structures that conform to the specific niche your writing lies in. Grammarly offers different profiles for writing genres like marketing, technical writing, creative writing, blog posts, scriptwriting, etc.
It also allows you to change the type of writing category so that it will provide more customized feedback about your writing. This is a functionality that Hemingway doesn’t offer however Hemingway’s readability grade is a bit more advanced as you can work to improve your score. Grammarly, on the other hand, uses a number system to grade writing.
Plagiarism Checker
Grammarly’s plagiarism detection feature can ensure that you don’t unintentionally plagiarize something else by writing an identical phrase. This does happen accidentally, even if you never read the source.
SEO writers know that plagiarism can hurt rankings so it’s a good idea to ensure that your text is plagiarism-free. These features however are only accessible to subscribers of Grammarly’s Premium version.
Multiple Languages
Grammarly lets you set your language preference. You can choose between American, Australian, Canadian, and British English. Once you have selected your preferred language, Grammarly will use it as a reference throughout your article.
Writing Metrics
Hemingway Editor has functionality that provides users with metrics of their text – word count, sentences, paragraphs. The software also provides an estimated reading time for your piece of writing. Grammarly also has this feature but it takes it a step further by comparing your metrics to that of other Grammarly users. You can also download a PDF copy of the report.
Grammarly vs Hemingway: Integration
Grammarly has plugins you can install on your favourite platforms like Chrome, Microsoft Word, Safari etc. to help you check and improve your everyday writing from marketing emails to social media posts.
On the other hand, although users on Hemingway can publish their work directly from the software to blogging platforms like Medium and WordPress, the Hemingway editor does not have any browser extensions.
You either use the desktop app or the online editor to check your writing. The Hemingway editor seems more suited for web-based writing as you can export your writing as HTML with its effective formatting tools.
Grammarly vs Hemingway: Supported Platforms
By design, a proofreading tool is only effective when it is easily accessible on different platforms. Both Grammarly and Hemingway are available as desktop apps on Windows and Mac.
However, only Grammarly is also available as a mobile app and keyboard.
Distraction-free Writing mode
When you write, red marks that indicate where there is a possible error on your work can be distracting. Fortunately, Hemingway can turn it off until you’re done writing and ready to review your work and correct your mistakes. Grammarly however doesn’t allow you to turn off corrections while writing. To its credit, Hemingway can work offline while Grammarly is completely internet-based.
Personal Dictionary
Grammarly has an inbuilt personal dictionary. You can add words to this dictionary to improve your Grammarly experience. Grammarly will remember the words you add, and it will stop flagging them as misspellings.
Human Proofreading
Human Proofreading is a functionality that comes with a Grammarly Premium subscription. This feature is of great help when you are short on time and want an extra pair of eyes to make sure that your writing is free of errors. However, Grammarly proofreaders do not reorganize, restructure, or rewrite your sentences. The turnaround time can be instant, or it may take up to 24 hours.
Import and Export Features
Both platforms come with an online editor that lets you export your writing into PDF, Word, and Text files. It also lets you import documents to the platform and begin editing immediately without having to hassle through copying and pasting.
Grammarly vs Hemingway: Pricing
Both writing tools have free and premium versions but their pricing structures are very different. Grammarly offers two paid plans aside from its free version. Users of the free plan have access to basic writing suggestions and also the grammar, punctuation and spelling checker. Unfortunately, the free version of Grammarly is quite limited and doesn’t provide the same level of coverage for more advanced grammar issues.
The plagiarism checker Grammarly offers is only available to subscribers to their Premium plan. Premium plan users also enjoy clarity-focused sentence rewrites, writing tone adjustments and advanced suggestions. The Premium plan priced at $29.95 a month is for individuals who want to improve their writing style and tone for work, creative or academic purposes.
It offers a Business plan for teams of 3 to over 130 members and a rolling price tag depending on the number of people you have on your team. According to their website, their Business plan comes with everything on their Premium plan including an analytics dashboard, style guide, account roles and permissions for team members. Users of the Business plan also enjoy access to priority email support.
Hemingway has a free version and also a paid version where users pay a one-time fee of $19.99.
Hemingway overall is less expensive to use as the free version in your browser can be enough to identify areas of improvement in your writing. However, the tool is not very effective for everyday writing like an email to your friend or a fun social media post.
Support
Grammarly offers several means of support – live support, email, tickets, documentation etc. which users can contact whenever they are having difficulties using the program.
Who Should Use Hemingway
Since Hemingway focuses on the clarity and conciseness of your write-up, it is for those who tend to use long, flowery language because it helps you cut out the unnecessary words and improve your writing, giving it clarity and brevity. If you are more worried about the readability of your writing, then Hemingway is a great choice as it tends to focus less on spellchecking and misplaced punctuation.
Hemingway App is more suited for those who are moderately confident of their writing but still need a light tool to fine-tune their work. If you are someone that loves to have guidance about how to change your writing, you will like this app. It gives you specific areas of your work to focus on, unlike other editors that may offer only generalized feedback.
Hemingway doesn’t check the tone or emotion in your writing. It is best suited for professional or academic writers who need to produce more polished work. Having a program that is more focused on making you sound like a top-notch writer can help you achieve a higher level of professionalism in your writing.
It strays away from your basic spell and grammar checking tool and focuses on the quality and readability of your writing, making it a very special tool for professional writers.
Who Should Use Grammarly
Grammarly is good for those who want to improve their grammar, spelling and sentence structures so this is a very useful app for non-native English language speakers. If you also do a lot of writing or editing on your phone, Grammarly is a great choice as it has a mobile app and keyboard which Hemingway does not offer.
While Hemingway aims to help you write with more clarity and conciseness, Grammarly focuses on the grammatical and contextual correctness of a piece of writing. It is a tool with built-in artificial intelligence which means that the more you use it, the smarter it gets at anticipating your writing voice.
Hemingway Or Grammarly
Both Grammarly and Hemingway editors are great tools with some striking features in their favour to help you tighten up your writing. Grammarly has a clean interface, and its ability to adapt to various writing domains is convenient. However, being a subscription-based service, its lack of offline support can be quite hindering.
Hemingway Editor is way less expensive and is a more pocket-friendly choice for the professional writer. However, Grammarly’s plagiarism checker ensures that your SEO article raises no red flags in search engines. Their Business plan that caters to teams will also make Grammarly a favourite of larger organizations.
The offline mode Hemingway Editor comes with means that you can write wherever you are with no internet connection, so long as you have your laptop handy. However, Grammarly helps you check your writing style and how it would sound to your readers.
At the end of the day, these tools are not an “either/ or” choice as they have very different purposes. To be an effective writer, grammatical correctness and proper punctuation is just as important as making sure your writing is easy to understand. They are invaluable programs that anyone interested in creating quality written content will need.
Bear in mind that though these are both excellent editing tools that come with very helpful suggestions, there will always be the need for the human element – reading through your writing out loud to know how it sounds.
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