ProWritingAid Review: An In-Depth Look

As a professional writer, I‘m always on the lookout for tools that can help improve my craft and catch embarrassing errors before my work is published. I‘ve used the free version of Grammarly for years, but recently I decided to do an in-depth test of ProWritingAid to see how it stacks up. In this comprehensive ProWritingAid review, I‘ll cover everything this writing assistant has to offer and help you decide if it‘s the right tool for you.

What Is ProWritingAid and How Does It Work?

ProWritingAid is a powerful grammar checker, writing coach, and style editor rolled into one. It analyzes your writing and provides detailed reports on everything from grammar and spelling to sentence structure, repetition, passive voice, readability, and more.

You can use ProWritingAid in a variety of ways:

• Using the online web editor
• Installing a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge
• Adding an extension for Google Docs
• Using the desktop app for Windows or Mac
• Installing an add-in for Microsoft Word (Windows only)

I tested it out in Google Docs and in the desktop app. After installing the Google Docs add-on, ProWritingAid automatically scanned my document for potential issues. Spelling, grammar and style suggestions appeared as colored underlines:

• Blue underlines for grammar and spelling
• Yellow underlines for style and readability
• Red underlines for misspelled words

Hovering over an underline brings up an explanation of the issue and a suggested fix. You can apply fixes with a single click.

The desktop app works similarly. You can open documents from Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, Scrivener, rich text or Markdown files, or paste in text. The app scans the text and underlines potential problems. Clicking on an underline provides suggestions and quick fixes.

In-Depth Spelling, Grammar and Style Checking

ProWritingAid impressed me with its ability to catch subtle errors that other grammar checkers often miss. It flagged misspelled words, correctly identified the use of "less" vs "fewer", and noticed many grammatical mistakes like subject-verb agreement issues.

Where ProWritingAid really shines is the depth of its analysis. Beyond just flagging potential errors, it provides detailed explanations of each issue and often suggests multiple improvements. For example, it caught wordy or vague phrases like "is designed to" and suggested more concise alternatives.

I was also impressed that ProWritingAid didn‘t incorrectly flag things that were actually correct, like "plug in" used as a verb. Some other grammar checkers mistakenly suggest changing this to "plugin", even when it‘s used correctly. ProWritingAid seemed to understand the context better.

One area where ProWritingAid was less adept was punctuation. It caught a few misplaced commas and such, but let a lot of subtle punctuation errors slip by unnoticed. Grammarly is more comprehensive in this regard. But overall, ProWritingAid delivered stellar spelling, grammar and style suggestions.

Detailed Reports Provide Valuable Feedback

In addition to the real-time spelling and grammar checking, ProWritingAid provides 20 in-depth reports to help you polish your writing. I found these remarkably useful for identifying areas to improve.

Some of the key reports include:

• Writing Style Report – Flags passive and hidden verbs, adverbs, emotion tells and other style issues
• Grammar Report – Provides a detailed grammar analysis based on ProWritingAid‘s special checks
• Overused Words Report – Identifies overused, repeated and redundant words and phrases
• Sticky Sentence Report – Highlights sentences that are hard to read due to too many glue words
• Readability Report – Measures how easy your text is to read with scores like the Flesch Reading Ease
• Plagiarism Report – Checks your text against billions of web pages and articles to spot accidental plagiarism (requires Premium Plus)

The detailed explanations and specific examples of how to improve your writing are extremely valuable. These reports help you understand the reasoning behind ProWritingAid‘s suggestions so you can learn to be a better writer over time. It‘s like having an English teacher or writing coach providing personalized feedback.

Expand Your Vocabulary with Word Explorer

Another standout feature is the Word Explorer, which serves as a comprehensive dictionary and thesaurus. Whenever I struggled to find the perfect word, Word Explorer provided excellent suggestions.

Simply search for a word to access:

• Definition and synonyms
• Additional dictionary definitions
• Rhymes, alliterations and clichés
• Examples of the word in poetry and literature
• Collocation examples showing words commonly used together

Word Explorer makes it easy to swap out dull or overused words with more vivid, expressive alternatives. Creative writers will especially appreciate the Poetry and Literature examples for ideas on how to use words in fresh ways. The collocations are also useful for finding natural-sounding turns of phrase.

Is ProWritingAid Safe and Secure?

Many writers are understandably concerned about the safety of web-based writing tools. The idea of hackers accessing your unpublished work is unsettling. Thankfully, ProWritingAid takes security and privacy seriously.

According to their privacy policy, ProWritingAid does not store any text you analyze unless you save it to a document within your account. All communication between your device and ProWritingAid is SSL-encrypted for maximum security. Documents are encrypted using rotating encryption keys.

ProWritingAid is GDPR compliant and strives to protect user data. Credit card data is never stored on their servers. Instead, they rely on trusted payment processors Stripe and PayPal to handle payments securely.

While no online service can guarantee 100% protection from determined hackers, ProWritingAid has strong safeguards in place. I feel confident that my work is safe when using this tool.

How Does ProWritingAid Compare to Other Grammar Checkers?

ProWritingAid‘s closest competitor is Grammarly, which also offers a comprehensive spelling, grammar and plagiarism checker. So how do the two stack up?

In my tests, Grammarly was slightly better at catching punctuation errors. It also detected a few more instances of passive voice. But ProWritingAid flagged more subtle grammar and style issues that Grammarly missed. ProWritingAid‘s detailed reports were also more helpful for improving my writing over time.

One key difference is that Grammarly Premium includes an unlimited plagiarism checker, while ProWritingAid requires a separate add-on for plagiarism detection. If you regularly need to check your work for accidental plagiarism, Grammarly may be the better value.

But for sheer writing improvement, it‘s hard to beat ProWritingAid‘s insightful analysis and feedback. I found myself learning a lot about my writing habits and tics by studying the reports.

How Much Does ProWritingAid Cost?

ProWritingAid offers several pricing options:

• Monthly Premium: $20/month
• Yearly Premium: $79/year
• Lifetime Premium: $399 one-time
• Premium Plus (includes plagiarism checking): $89/year or $499 one-time

You can try it out with a free 14-day trial. The trial gives you access to all the Premium features except plagiarism detection.

While ProWritingAid isn‘t cheap, it‘s an excellent value for the level of feedback provided. Compared to hiring a human proofreader, it‘s extremely affordable and available 24/7. The lifetime access pass in particular offers great bang for the buck if this is a tool you expect to use for years to come.

The Bottom Line: Should You Use ProWritingAid?

After putting ProWritingAid through its paces, I‘m convinced it‘s an extremely useful tool for any writer who wants to tighten up their prose and produce more polished, error-free writing. The real-time spelling and grammar checks catch subtle mistakes, while the detailed reports help you improve your writing at a deeper level.

I was blown away by the insightfulness of ProWritingAid‘s analysis and the actionable suggestions it provided. It pointed out flaws I didn‘t even realize my writing had. My work now flows better, uses more precise language, and is easier to read. These improvements alone are well worth the subscription cost.

Of course, no grammar checker is perfect. You still need to apply human judgement when deciding whether to accept or reject ProWritingAid‘s suggestions. But overall, it acts as an excellent extra set of eyes that will definitely make you a better writer and self-editor.

Whether you‘re an author, blogger, student, businessperson or any other kind of writer, I highly recommend giving ProWritingAid a try. The free trial makes it a no-brainer to test it out on your work. Chances are you will be surprised by just how useful this writing assistant really is. It has certainly earned a place in my writer‘s toolkit.