Grammarly vs Microsoft Word: Which is the Better Proofreading Tool?
Writing is hard enough without having to worry about spelling mistakes and grammar errors. While proofreading your own work is important, it‘s all too easy to overlook your own mistakes. That‘s where spelling and grammar checkers come in handy.
Two of the most popular tools for ensuring your writing is polished and professional are Grammarly and Microsoft Word. As a comprehensive writing aid, Grammarly helps identify and correct errors in your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It also provides suggestions for improving the clarity, engagement, and delivery of your writing. Microsoft Word, on the other hand, is the world‘s leading word processor and includes basic spelling and grammar checking tools.
So which is the better proofreading solution – Grammarly or Word? I put both to the test to see how they compare in terms of catching mistakes, improving readability, checking for originality, ease of use, and overall value. Here‘s what I found.
Word Processing: Microsoft Word Comes Out on Top
When it comes to word processing features, there‘s no question that Microsoft Word beats Grammarly hands down. As a full-featured word processor, Word provides all the tools you need to create professional-looking documents, including advanced formatting options, styles, track changes, templates, and more.
In contrast, Grammarly‘s document editor is quite basic. You can bold, italicize, and underline text, create bulleted and numbered lists, insert links, and adjust paragraph alignment. But the formatting options are limited compared to Word. However, Grammarly does offer convenient integrations that allow you to use it directly within Word, as well as in your web browser, email client, and on your phone. This allows you to leverage Grammarly‘s writing assistance while taking advantage of Word‘s rich feature set.
Spelling and Grammar Checking: Grammarly is More Comprehensive
To evaluate the spelling and grammar checking capabilities of Grammarly and Word, I started by creating a test document filled with common errors – everything from simple spelling mistakes to more complex punctuation and grammar errors. I then ran this document through the free versions of Grammarly and Word to see what they would catch.
Grammarly impressed me by detecting nearly all of the errors in the document, from basic misspellings to more subtle contextual issues and grammar mistakes. It not only flagged potential errors, but offered smart suggestions to correct them. The interface made it easy to review each suggestion and apply or dismiss changes with a single click.
Word‘s spelling and grammar checker, on the other hand, caught fewer mistakes overall. It identified most spelling errors but overlooked some contextual mistakes and proper names. When I enabled all of the advanced grammar options, Word was able to detect more potential issues. However, the suggestions weren‘t always as helpful or accurate as Grammarly‘s.
I also tested Microsoft Editor, the new AI-powered writing assistant that expands on Word‘s grammar checking capabilities. With Editor, I was able to catch more of the mistakes in my document, bringing it closer to Grammarly‘s performance. However, Grammarly still provided more useful corrections in many cases.
Writing Style Improvements: Grammarly‘s Suggestions are More Actionable
Besides checking for correctness, premium versions of both Grammarly and Microsoft Editor evaluate your writing and provide feedback on improving your style, tone, clarity and engagement. To test this, I uploaded a rough draft filled with overly complex sentences, repetitive words, and other stylistic issues.
Grammarly Premium offered concrete, actionable suggestions for improving my draft. It highlighted passages that were hard to read and offered tips for simplifying complex sentences and replacing overused words. It also alerted me to the overall tone of my writing and made sure it was appropriate for my intended audience. I found the feedback constructive and easy to implement.
Microsoft Editor also provided high-level writing style feedback, noting things like unclear phrases, complex words, and informality. While helpful, the suggestions weren‘t as specific as Grammarly‘s. The overall score was useful for gauging the quality and readability of my document, but I didn‘t find the recommendations as actionable.
Plagiarism Checking: Grammarly Offers More Peace of Mind
For comparing originality, I tested Grammarly Premium and Microsoft Editor‘s upcoming "Similarity Checker" using two documents. One contained several passages copied verbatim from online sources, while the other included properly cited quotes.
Grammarly correctly identified the plagiarized content in the first document and linked to the original online sources. It also validated that the second document appeared original, aside from the cited quotes. I did find that Grammarly isn‘t foolproof – it failed to identify more obscure or modified copied passages. But overall, it provides a robust first line of defense against accidental plagiarism.
Microsoft Editor‘s Similarity Checker is still in development, so I wasn‘t able to fully evaluate it. Once released, it promises to check your document against online sources using Bing Search and alert you to potential plagiarism. However, unlike Grammarly, it won‘t check against academic databases. For most users, online source checking is likely sufficient, but students and researchers may prefer Grammarly‘s more comprehensive plagiarism checking.
Ease of Use: Slight Edge to Grammarly
Both Grammarly and Microsoft Word provide intuitive interfaces that make it easy to review and correct issues in your document. Grammarly underlines potential spelling, grammar, and style issues in red, blue, and green. Hovering over an underlined word or phrase reveals suggested changes, which you can accept with a single click.
Word‘s Editor uses a similar red, blue, and gold underline scheme to alert you to spelling, grammar and style suggestions. But instead of hovering, you have to right-click to see the suggested changes. It‘s a minor difference, but I found Grammarly‘s hover interface slightly more streamlined and efficient, especially when making many small changes.
Pricing and Value: A Toss-up
For those on a budget, the free versions of both Grammarly and Word provide solid spelling and grammar checking. However, to access more advanced feedback on writing style, tone, clarity, engagement, and plagiarism, you‘ll need to upgrade to the premium offerings.
Grammarly Premium costs $12/month when billed annually (with frequent promotions of 40-50% off). Microsoft Editor‘s premium features are included with a Microsoft 365 subscription, which starts at $6.99/month and also includes access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Office apps.
Grammarly‘s offerings are more robust overall, so it may be worth the price if you frequently write and want to ensure your writing is as clear and error-free as possible. However, if you already have a Microsoft 365 subscription, the included Editor features are plenty powerful and provide excellent value.
The Bottom Line
After extensive testing, I can confidently say that both Grammarly and Microsoft Word are powerful tools for improving your writing. However, Grammarly is the more comprehensive solution, catching more spelling and grammar mistakes and providing more actionable feedback for improving style, tone and clarity.
If you frequently write and want to ensure your writing is as professional and error-free as possible, Grammarly Premium is your best bet. It‘s an especially worthwhile investment if you write in a web browser, as you can use the Grammarly extension across all websites.
However, if you already use Microsoft Word and have a Microsoft 365 subscription, the included Microsoft Editor will be sufficient for most users. It provides solid spelling and grammar checking and useful writing style feedback. And with the Microsoft Editor browser extension, you can access this writing assistance in a similar fashion to Grammarly.
Ultimately, you can‘t go wrong with either Grammarly or Microsoft Word. Choose the tool that best fits your needs and budget, and take comfort in knowing your writing will be the better for it.