Grammarly

[Scott 2]

Does anyone use Grammarly? What do you think?

I tried it today. I like it well enough that I've asked my boss to cover a year of premium. I write a lot at work.

The tool did a much better job at catching misspellings and missing words than MS Word. I have a tendency to fixate on specific words, premium did a great job of calling me out on it.

I expect after a few months, my style will change enough that premium ceases to offer value. The free tool, I'll use until technology changes and it causes me problems.

[Bankai]

I'm using the free version for Chrome and Office and I find it very useful. Just checked the premium option and it seems very expensive at $29.95/month - are the additional features that good?

[Scott 2]

I repeat myself a lot. Duplicate word detection is worth asking work to buy a year at $140. If they decline, I might watch for a black Friday deal.

The grammar stuff was ok too, I like to use the word this to reference something 5 sentences ago. It makes sense in my head. The plug-in tells me otherwise.

They market plagiarism detection to teachers, and include it in premium. I bet that's a key seller.

[jennypenny]

https://thewritelife.com/automatic-editing-tools/

I'd add paper rater to that list.

You have to pick the tool that's geared to catching the type of mistakes you make. I prefer Hemingway for my non-fic stuff. If you want Grammarly, get on AppSumo's mailing list. They run specials occasionally. IIRC, I bought it during one of their black friday sales.

[Scott 2]

I tried paper rater, I do not like how it tries to make my writing smarter. I avoid big words and complex structure on purpose. Clever writing is often misunderstood.

I also tried Hemingway. I like it. The complaints were valid and actionable.

Signed up for the appsumo mailing list as well.

[Scott 2]

I find Hemmingway app much more likely to change my writing than Grammarly. It is also buggy, crashing my browser often, especially on the tablet.

Work has been hesitant on approving Grammarly, not due to the price, but because it is a keystroke logger. Their servers hold information for an indefinite period of time. Accountability for security is minimal.

[Scott 2]

I picked up the year of Grammarly premium for $63 today. Guess I think it's worth it.

My expectation is to use it for a year, then move on.

[jennypenny]

Where did you get the deal? Someone else asked me about it this week.

[Scott 2]

It was an email from them, tied to my account.

[jennypenny]

It didn't work and it came up with your username, so you might want to delete the link. Thank you for offering it though.

[Scott 2]

Nobody seemed to care my writing improved. I gave up on all the tools.

[mferson]

I only use the free version for Firefox and Chrome.

[Smashter]

@Scott - ha, that reminds me of the first job I ever got that required I wear a suit every day. I would stress out about whether my ties were trendy, if my pants were the exact right length, how crisp my shirts were, etc. I figured out after a while that no one cared about that stuff in the slightest.