Software advice
Best AI Writing Tools in 2026
AI writing tools are software products that draft, rewrite, correct or restyle text with language models, sold as browser editors, extensions or add-ins. They range from sentence-level editors that fix grammar and tone to generators that produce whole articles, ads or chapters. They are not general chatbots, though several sit on top of the same models.
Quick answer
Grammarly is the best fit for most people who write for a living. Jasper suits marketing teams that need stored brand voices, DeepL Write suits translators and non-native writers, and Sudowrite is the pick for novelists and screenwriters.
A buyer of an AI writing tool is really choosing between three jobs: improving text you already wrote, producing first drafts of marketing copy at volume, or drafting fiction. Few products do all three well, and the pricing models differ enough that the cheapest sticker price is often the wrong one. This ranking judges each tool on how well it fits one of those jobs, how its cost scales when a second or twentieth writer joins, and what the vendor says about where your documents go. Prices were read from vendor pages in October 2026. Several well-known names were dropped because their product no longer matches the category, and the notes below say why.
The 10 best AI writing tools in 2026, ranked
The order is the verdict, there is no score. No vendor paid for position. How we rank.
| # | Tool | Best for | Free plan | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grammarly | Professionals who write emails, reports and documents in many apps and want inline fixes | Yes | Pro at 12 euros per member per month |
| 2 | Jasper | Marketing teams that need stored brand voices, audiences and agents for repeatable campaigns | Trial | $59 per seat per month billed yearly, $69 billed monthly |
| 3 | Writer | Enterprise content and compliance teams that need guardrails, style guides and connected knowledge | Trial | Quoted |
| 4 | DeepL Write | Translators and non-native writers who want natural phrasing in the language they publish in | Trial | Write Pro add-on at 6.99 euros per user per month billed annually |
| 5 | LanguageTool | Multilingual writers who need grammar and style checks in German, French, Spanish, Dutch or Polish | Yes | Quoted |
| 6 | Notion AI | Teams whose notes, wikis and project docs already live in Notion and need drafting there | Trial | Business plan at 19.50 euros per member per month |
| 7 | Sudowrite | Novelists and screenwriters drafting long manuscripts with style matching and continuity across a series | Trial | $10 per month for Hobby and Student |
| 8 | QuillBot | Students and researchers who paraphrase and summarize text and want an integrated plagiarism checker | Yes | Quoted |
| 9 | Wordtune | Individuals who want fast sentence-level rewrites and summaries at a low monthly price | Yes | $6.99 per month, or $4.89 per month billed annually |
| 10 | Rytr | Solo marketers and small businesses that want cheap short-form copy generation | Yes | $7.50 per month for Unlimited |
- 1
Grammarly
Grammarly sits first because it covers the widest range of everyday writing jobs with the least setup: grammar, tone, rewriting, AI drafting and plagiarism and AI detection on Pro. The 2,000 monthly prompts on Pro are generous for one person. Content-team features such as brand voice are thinner than Jasper's, which is why it leads for individuals rather than for marketing departments.
Strong on
- Plagiarism and AI detection are included in the Pro plan, not sold as a separate product
- Free plan with 100 AI prompts a month lets a user test the real product
- Works across browsers, documents and email rather than in a single editor
Weak on
- Grammarly says it uses content to improve its models, and you can turn this off with the Product Improvement and Training setting
- Prompt metering means heavy generative use on Free runs out within days
Skip it if: Teams that need large-volume campaign generation with several stored brand voices and approval workflows. The plans page showed 12 euros for Pro without stating the billing period; Free includes 100 AI prompts a month.
- 2
Jasper ranks second as the most complete marketing-specific platform here, with Brand Voice, Knowledge assets and Audiences built into the product. The Pro plan is priced per seat at the top of this ranking, and unlimited voices, API access and SSO require a sales conversation. For a content team with volume and a brand to protect, the price is defensible. For one freelancer it is not.
Strong on
- Brand Voice, Knowledge assets and Audiences are first-class objects rather than a prompt pasted in each time
- Business tier adds unlimited voices, API access, SSO and admin groups
- Standard chat and canvas content does not consume credits
Weak on
- Highest per-seat entry price in the category and no permanent free plan
- The Pro plan caps brand voices at two and includes one seat
Skip it if: Individual writers who mainly want proofreading and rewriting, where an editor costs a fraction as much. Pro lists one seat, although another place on the page says up to 5 users, so confirm with sales; it includes 2 Brand Voices, 5 knowledge assets and 3 audiences. Business is quoted by sales.
- 3
Writer
Writer takes third place as the enterprise-oriented counterpart to Jasper, with an emphasis on guardrails, personality profiles and connectors to company systems. Its Starter plan caps users at five and one team profile, so departmental voice control sits on Enterprise. Price transparency is the weakness: the buyer has to start a trial or talk to sales before knowing the cost.
Strong on
- Enterprise tier offers departmental brand and voice profiles plus advanced guardrails
- Unlimited free collaborators on Enterprise limit seat cost for reviewers
- States that it does not train its models on customer data by default
Weak on
- No public price figures for either plan on the pricing page
- Starter allows only one team personality profile and up to five users
Skip it if: Solo writers and small shops that want to see a price, subscribe on a card, and start in minutes. Starter is sold per seat with fixed credit limits and a 14-day trial; the pricing page lists no dollar figures.
- 4
DeepL Write
DeepL Write is fourth because it does one job cleanly: it corrects mechanics, smooths phrasing and offers alternative wording, drawing on a translation company's language work. The add-on price is low and Pro data is stated as never used for training. It is not a generator, so it will not draft a campaign, and the standalone free-tier terms were not clear on the page checked.
Strong on
- Pro content is temporarily stored only to run the service and never used to train DeepL models
- Business plans bundle Write Pro with no separate fee
- Browser extensions let it run next to translation work
Weak on
- Style rules are a Pro-only customization, so free users get corrections and styles only
- Does not draft documents from a brief the way Jasper or Writer do
Skip it if: Marketers who need to generate ad variants and long-form drafts from a short brief. Sold as an add-on to DeepL Pro for Individual and Team plans; Business plans include Write Pro.
- 5
LanguageTool
LanguageTool earns fifth place for language coverage: Premium adds more than 20,000 advanced checks across English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish and Portuguese, which most US-built tools handle less well. The free tier is limited to 2,000 characters per field and three AI rephrasings a day. It is a proofreader first and not a drafting assistant.
Strong on
- Premium raises the per-field limit from 2,000 to 150,000 characters
- Team plans add a shared style guide and a team dictionary
- The privacy policy says Learneo does not use user inputs to train LanguageTool's language models, and offers an opt-out of storage for certain content
Weak on
- Free tier allows only three AI sentence rephrasings per day
- Content you input is retained while your account is open, with a storage opt-out for some content
Skip it if: Anyone who wants the tool to write an article or ad copy from scratch. Premium is offered monthly, quarterly, annually or every two years; the page fetched showed a discount but no amounts.
- 6
Notion AI
Notion AI is sixth because its value is tied to a workspace rather than to writing itself. Inside Notion it drafts, summarizes and edits pages with no export step, and the vendor documents its data practices clearly. Outside Notion it is not a writing tool you can carry around, and the full AI features are gated behind the Business plan.
Strong on
- Works directly on pages, databases and meeting notes the team already maintains
- Documents its AI subprocessors and states that customer data is not used for training by default
- Enterprise workspaces get zero data retention at LLM providers by default
Weak on
- AI is a limited trial on Plus, so a meaningful volume needs Business
- Useful mainly if the content already sits in Notion, with little value elsewhere
Skip it if: Writers who work in Word, Google Docs or email and do not use Notion as their main workspace. Free and Plus carry only AI trials; Business lists Notion Agent and AI Meeting Notes with no stated usage cap.
- 7
Sudowrite
Sudowrite is seventh in a general ranking because most readers do not write fiction, not because it is weak at it. It is the only tool here built for manuscripts, with series continuity, style matching and developmental edits, and it states that it does not train on your writing. For authors it would rank first. For business writers it is the wrong shape.
Strong on
- Plans are built for long projects, with style matching and series continuity
- States on its FAQ that it does not train on your writing
- Unused credits on Max roll over for 12 months
Weak on
- Credit metering is opaque, and the pricing page shows two different Professional credit figures
- AI features require a paid plan after cancellation, though projects remain accessible
Skip it if: Business users who need emails, reports and marketing copy rather than narrative fiction. Monthly billing shown; metered in credits, and the page does not state how credits convert to words.
- 8
QuillBot
QuillBot sits eighth as a paraphrasing and summarizing tool that bundles a plagiarism checker and AI detector, which students use heavily. The vendor's help center caps plagiarism scanning at 25,000 words a month on Premium, with extra word packs on sale. It is narrower than Grammarly for professional writing, and its pricing page was not retrievable for this review.
Strong on
- AI detector is free up to 1,200 words per scan and unlimited on Premium
- Plagiarism checker is integrated with the paraphraser rather than sold elsewhere
- Additional plagiarism word packs can be bought without changing plan
Weak on
- Plagiarism checker is not available on the free plan and is capped on Premium
- Paraphrasing is the core strength, so tone and brand features are limited
Skip it if: Marketing teams that need brand-voice generation, approval flows and team governance. Premium is billed monthly, semi-annually or annually; the vendor's pricing page could not be opened for this review.
- 9
Wordtune
Wordtune ranks ninth as a capable, inexpensive rewriter that is overshadowed by editors with broader coverage. The Basic plan allows 10 rewrites a day, and Unlimited costs $9.99 a month. Its privacy policy permits AI21 to use submitted content to improve services and research, which is a looser stance than several competitors, and it offers no brand-voice features.
Strong on
- Low price, with an unlimited-rewrite plan under $10 per month
- Daily rewrite limit on free Basic is clear and generous enough for light use
- Monthly summarization quota is stated plainly for each plan tier
Weak on
- Privacy policy allows content use to improve services, with an opt-out by emailing the vendor
- No refunds are offered, so cancel before a trial ends
Skip it if: Teams needing admin controls, shared style guides or a written no-training commitment. Advanced plan includes 30 rewrites a day; Unlimited at $9.99 monthly removes the rewrite cap.
- 10
Rytr
Rytr closes the list as a low-cost generator for short copy such as product descriptions, social posts and emails. The Unlimited plan is the cheapest paid tier here and includes a plagiarism check allowance. Its privacy policy does not address training on user content, and team governance features are thin, so it is a budget option rather than a platform.
Strong on
- Cheapest paid generator in this ranking, with unlimited generation on Unlimited
- Plagiarism checks are included, 50 a month on Unlimited and 100 on Premium
- Tone of voice matching is available starting on Unlimited
Weak on
- Privacy policy is silent on model training and retention periods
- The free plan is capped at 10,000 characters of generation a month
Skip it if: Agencies or enterprises that need audit trails, SSO and contractual data terms. Free allows 10,000 characters a month; Unlimited removes the generation cap and gives 50 plagiarism checks a month.
How these AI writing tools were judged
How good is the writing an AI writing tool produces?
Output quality depends on the job. Editing tools are judged on whether suggestions keep your meaning and avoid stripping personality, and Grammarly, DeepL Write and LanguageTool are the ones to test with your own paragraphs. Generators are judged on how much a draft needs rewriting before it goes out, and that depends heavily on how well the brief and brand voice are set up. Fiction tools are judged on voice matching over long stretches. Vendors rarely publish comparable benchmarks, so paste the same three real documents into each free tier and compare how much you would change.
What does an AI writing tool cost per writer?
Entry cost ranges from free to around $70 per seat per month. As of October 2026, Rytr's paid tier and Wordtune's annual plan sit under $10 a month, Notion AI is bundled into a plan at roughly 20 euros per member, and Jasper's Pro plan is $59 to $69 per seat. Enterprise tiers at Writer and Grammarly are quoted by sales. Watch what is metered: Grammarly counts AI prompts, Sudowrite counts credits, Rytr counts characters, and Jasper's lower plan counts stored brand voices. Per-seat pricing makes a ten-person content team cost ten times the headline.
Do AI writing tools train on what I write and store my documents?
Policies differ more than the marketing suggests. Notion states that it and its AI subprocessors do not train on customer data by default, and DeepL says Pro data is never used for training. Sudowrite says it does not train on your writing. Grammarly offers an opt-out toggle in settings, and Wordtune's policy lets AI21 use content to improve its services with an opt-out by email. Several vendors, including Rytr, do not address model training at all. Read the vendor policy for the exact plan you plan to buy, and check whether documents are stored in the editor or only checked in transit.
How hard is it to leave an AI writing tool?
Editors are easy to leave because your text stays in Word, Google Docs or the browser. Lock-in grows with the assets you build inside the tool: brand voices, style guides, knowledge bases and saved documents. Jasper and Writer hold those configurations on their side, and Business or Enterprise tiers add the admin controls that make them harder to move. Notion AI inherits Notion's lock-in, since your pages live there. Annual commitments matter too: Jasper's annual rate carries a 12-month commitment, and Rytr's annual plan requires a full year upfront.
Which AI writing tool fits my kind of writing?
Match the tool to the output. Marketing teams producing volume with consistent tone are served by Jasper or Writer. Anyone polishing emails, reports or a thesis does better with Grammarly, LanguageTool or DeepL Write, and the last two are the stronger picks for German, French or other European languages. Teams already living in Notion get the most from Notion AI. Authors drafting a manuscript should look at Sudowrite, which is priced for long sessions. Students rewriting text for plagiarism or detection checks should read the vendor's own limits closely, because checkers differ in word caps and in how they are metered.
How to choose an AI writing tool in three steps
- Name the job before comparing prices. Write down whether you need to correct text, generate first drafts, or write fiction, and how many people will use the tool. Editors cost a few euros or dollars per person and work almost anywhere you type. Generators cost far more per seat and earn their keep only when volume is high and a brand voice is reused. A solo consultant and a twelve-person content team should not end up on the same product, and most disappointment in this category comes from buying a drafting platform when an editor was needed.
- Test with your own documents on the free tier. Take three real pieces: an email you sent, a page of marketing copy, and something with industry vocabulary. Run each through two or three candidates and count how many suggestions you would actually accept. Check the free-tier cap while you do it, since Wordtune, Rytr and Grammarly all limit AI actions or characters. If a tool only has a trial, such as Jasper or Writer, use the trial period fully and bring a real brief, not a toy example. Note which tool needed the most prompt tuning to sound like you.
- Read the data and renewal terms before you add a team. Open the vendor's privacy policy and note whether it addresses model training, how long content is kept, and whether an opt-out exists on your plan. Then check renewal: some annual rates commit you for twelve months, and Business tiers are quoted by sales. If client confidentiality matters, prefer a vendor that states in writing that it does not train on your content and has a contract path for it. A free tier can carry different terms from a paid one, so read both.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI writing tool in 2026?
Grammarly is the best fit for most people because it covers editing, tone suggestions and AI drafting inside the apps they already use. Jasper is the better pick for marketing teams, DeepL Write for translators, and Sudowrite for authors. The right answer depends on whether you edit, generate or write fiction.
Is there a good free AI writing tool?
Yes, with limits. Grammarly's free plan includes 100 AI prompts a month, LanguageTool's free tier checks up to 2,000 characters per text field, and Rytr's free plan allows 10,000 characters of generation a month. Wordtune's free Basic plan allows 10 rewrites a day. All are enough to test fit, not to run a content team.
Which AI writing tool is best for marketing copy?
Jasper and Writer are built for marketing teams, with stored brand voices and approval workflows. Jasper offers a seven-day Pro trial, and Writer a 14-day Starter trial. Rytr is the cheaper, lighter option for a solo marketer who does not need stored brand knowledge or admin controls.
Which AI writing tool is best for novels and screenplays?
Sudowrite is the tool in this ranking designed for fiction, with series continuity, style matching and developmental edit features. Its plans start at $10 per month on the Hobby and Student tier, as of October 2026. The others are generalist or marketing products and do not track long manuscripts.
Do AI writing tools use my text to train their models?
It depends on the vendor and plan. Notion and DeepL Pro state they do not train on customer content, and Sudowrite says the same about writing. Grammarly provides an opt-out setting. Wordtune's policy allows use to improve services. Read the policy for your exact plan, and ask for written terms if you handle client material.
Can AI writing tools check for plagiarism or AI-generated text?
Some can, within caps. Grammarly lists plagiarism and AI detection on Pro and Enterprise. Rytr gives 50 plagiarism checks a month on its Unlimited plan. QuillBot's help center says its plagiarism checker is Premium only with a monthly word cap. No detector is definitive, so treat results as a signal.
Are AI writing tools worth paying for if I already use ChatGPT?
Often yes for editing, and rarely for plain drafting. A chat model can rewrite a paragraph, but an editor works inside your email, browser or document, keeps suggestions inline and enforces a style guide. Drafting platforms add value mainly when brand voice and team workflows are what you are paying for.
Which AI writing tool is best for non-native English writers?
DeepL Write and Grammarly are the two to test. DeepL Write is built by a translation company and focuses on natural phrasing, and Write Pro costs 6.99 euros per user per month as an add-on, as of October 2026. Grammarly adds tone detection and runs in most English-language apps.