Hemingway App vs Grammarly: Which is the Best Editing App?

Built-in spellcheckers in word-processing programs are not enough in the age of blogging and online text content. Nowadays, you need more advanced suggestions on making your work engaging to retain your readers.

Two tools you can try are Hemingway and Grammarly. This guide will help you decide which online editing tool suits your writing needs. Keep reading to learn the features, pros, and cons of Hemingway and Grammarly. 

Hemingway App vs. Grammarly Overview

About Grammarly

Every online writer probably knows about the grammar checker, Grammarly (check out our comparison of premium vs. free here). This online editor helps edit your documents in terms of spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and tone. Use it to correct passive voice, redundancies, tautologies, and offensive language.

Run your work on the web editor or integrate with Google Docs to receive advanced suggestions before posting it online. Thanks to its clean interface, Grammarly will quickly spot grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and other mistakes in the English language.

Grammarly also offers explanations for their suggestions so you can enhance your grammar skills while using it. Add unique or made-up words to your personal dictionary to prevent the application from flagging it as an error. 

Once you’ve finished editing, you can run your work on Grammarly’s plagiarism checker. It scans your work for duplicate content against billions of other publications.

Grammarly is perfect for students and professional writers alike. Use it for your blog posts, emails, academic writing, and other forms of writing.

Grammarly Pros and Cons

Pros

• Convenient design and user experience. 
• Has a plagiarism checker.
• Offers genre-specific suggestions.
• Compatible across multiple platforms.

Cons

• Too expensive for students and writers on a budget.
• Doesn’t offer word count and readability scores.
• The free version has limited features.
• Only supports the English language.

Grammarly: Free Version

Grammarly’s free version offers limited features for proofreading your work. It corrects typos like grammar errors and spelling mistakes for your everyday writing without placing emphasis on sentence structure.

Contextual Spelling and Grammar Suggestions

Grammarly’s free version offers basic corrections on your spelling and grammar. It can spot whether you’ve used “your” and “you’re” inappropriately. It’s also reliable at offering British, American, Australian, and Canadian English suggestions.

Most free programs do not feature a pleasant editing experience because of the several ads. But Grammarly free still offers smooth editing. I can even correct capitalization and punctuation issues with it. But users need an active internet connection when accessing the editor.

Personal Dictionary

Grammarly’s built-in personal dictionary lets you add new words and spellings to your account. Doing so will stop the tool from flagging them as errors.

Goal Setting

Grammarly lets you set goals for your writing so it can give you genre-specific suggestions. The customization options include:

• Intent.
• Audience.
• Style.
• Emotion.
• Domain.

Multiple Integrations

Grammarly Free can correct your embarrassing typos across multiple platforms. You can download the desktop apps and browser extension for free to receive real-time suggestions on Google Docs, Gmail, etc.

There’s also a downloadable version for Microsoft Office. Install the plug-in to use the grammar checking tool while typing on Word or Outlook. 

You also have the option to access the web editor. Start with a blank document, paste your work, or upload a new file to receive suggestions for content improvement. 

I’d only recommend the free version of this proofreading tool to casual writers of social media posts, emails, and messages. Unless you’re buying the Premium version, simpler alternatives like the Microsoft Editor and Google Docs Spellchecker are enough.

Grammarly Premium

Grammarly Premium has all the basic features of the free version with additional AI-powered features. This editing tool does more than correct your obvious typos! Aside from the grammar fixes and other basic writing tasks, here’s what the Premium feature offers.

Additional 400+ Grammar Checks

The online editing tool is still available in a browser version, app version, and extension version. But you have more access to additional features, like feedback about sentence structure.

Grammarly Premium makes you a more decent writer by focusing on clarity-focused rewrites, tone adjustments, and fluency. Aside from word suggestions based on British or American spellings, it also corrects passive voice, tautologies, and vocabulary enhancement. 

The Premium version makes your editing process more manageable through the following suggestions:

• Fluency.
• Conciseness.
• Formatting
• Lively sentence variety.
• Confident writing
• Politeness and formality.
• Inclusive language.

Grammarly Premium is worth the purchase, whether you’re doing creative writing, business writing, or daily writing.

Plagiarism Checker

Another feature of the AI-powered grammar checker for your piece of writing is its plagiarism checker. Grammarly helps you fix accidental or intentional plagiarism by highlighting the duplicate content and providing a link to the source.

The online writing assistant compares your work against billions of pieces online so you can make the necessary citations for your academic writing. It’s also a valuable tool for freelance writers who want to stay on top of the SEO rankings. 

Business Features

Grammarly Business is a different Premium version of Grammarly, which contains all the premium features and more. Aside from fixing errors in spelling and grammar, the Business version offers a customizable style guide and smooth integration with your workflows.

Other extra features include:

• Brand tones.
• Snippets.
• SAML single sign-on support.
• Collaborative features. 
• Priority email support.

This Premium version is perfect for companies in e-commerce & internet marketing. It will help you produce crisp sentences that will drive more sales.

Pricing

One drawback of Grammarly Premium is its high price. The starting price is $30, which is a monthly subscription to the Premium version. It’s the best option for students and casual writers on a budget.

You may also opt for a quarterly payment of $20 per month, billed as one payment of $60. There’s also an annual payment of $12 per month or $140 per year.

Regardless of the plan you subscribe to, Grammarly will give you more than your money’s worth.

About the Hemingway App

The Hemingway Editor is not your usual grammar tool that checks for advanced grammar issues. It aims to improve your overall readability score by making your writing as concise and clear as the works of Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway offers a bunch of corrections for wordy sentences, forceful verbs, and overuse of adverbs. Other editing services include displaying your current writing level and exact word count.

Unlike its expensive alternative, Grammarly, Hemingway doesn’t focus on your spelling and writing. Instead, it concentrates on producing a piece of writing with a deliberate writing style. Its goal is to make you a top-notch writer who possesses professionalism in writing.

Its online version has a minimalist interface where you type or paste your text on the search mode. You can choose between the writing and editing mode or take advantage of the formatting settings. 

Aside from the Hemingway Editor, you can also download the Hemingway App for free on Mac or Windows. But the best features require a one-time purchase, including direct publishing to WordPress and offline use. 

Read our Hemingway App review here.

Hemingway Editor: Free Version

Hemingway only targets a few aspects of writing, specifically your sentence structure and readability. But its free version is complete with all the editing tools it offers. It corrects passive voice, adverbs, and weak verbs in your sentences. Here are the free features of Hemingway.

Writing Mode

Receiving real-time suggestions can be distracting when you’re still trying to articulate your thoughts. It’s a good thing Hemingway is an efficient writing platform to solely write. You can write on the app without it correcting your readability issues.

It also has formatting options you can choose from, including Bold, Italic, headings, Quote, Numbers, and Link. There are no page breaks, font colors, styles, spacing, and alignment options. 

They’re pretty limited compared to other word processors, but it’s not a dealbreaker. After all, these are the only formatting options you need for blogging.

Hemingway’s writing mode is a great space to write your ideas as it filters out the complicated writing suggestions. When you’re done, all you have to do is click “Edit” to go to editing mode. 

Color-Coded Writing Reports

After you click the “Edit” button, your text will be in colored highlights, which indicate different types of errors. The blue highlights are for adverbs and qualifiers. You don’t have to remove all of them. But the tool will remind you to avoid overusing redundant and filler adverbs.

The green highlights reveal the passive voice in your sentences. Hemingway offers suggestions on how to turn your sentence into an active voice. 

Sentences in yellow highlight show complex sentences, while the red highlights show very complex sentences. You can fix these mistakes by reducing the length of your sentence. Lastly, purple highlights denote difficult words which you should change. 

Editing Tool

If you’re a student, freelance writer, or business owner, you should know that Hemingway doesn’t have proofreading features. It does not correct your spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. Instead, it concentrates on your writing style and conciseness.

The editing tool aims to make your writing as readable as possible. It corrects passive voice, overuse of adverbs, and lengthy sentences. But it will not correct your misuse of “your” and “you’re.” 

Word Count and Readability Score

Hemingway features detailed readability metrics, including the grade level of your writing, estimated reading time, and word count. Everything is organized on the sidebar to make it easier to analyze. 

The editor is perfect for academic writing because this form of writing requires brevity and conciseness. It’s easy to use, although some report that the browser version crashes.

Hemingway Editor: Premium Version

Hemingway’s premium version features all its free editing tools. It still corrects your passive voice, lengthy sentences, and overall readability, but there are extra functionalities to enjoy.

Offline Mode

Grammarly’s premium version still requires you to connect to the internet, but Hemingway doesn’t. Even offline, you will still receive suggestions about your readability score and complex sentences.

Publish to WordPress

Hemingway lets you save a draft or publish your work directly to WordPress or Medium. You don’t have to open a new tab and login anymore. This feature is perfect for freelance writers or bloggers who want to save time posting their content.

The app can also manage your webpage needs, like HTML heading and links. You can even export your work as Markdown or HTML for blogging purposes. 

Export to Microsoft Word or Other Editors

It’s easier to use Hemingway with other editors. You can now import your text from Word files without copying and pasting. Once you’re done editing on Hemingway, you can save it as PDF or Word.

Pricing

You can use all editing features of the Hemingway Editor and App for free. But if you want to go offline and publish directly to WordPress, you need to pay $19.99. It’s a one-time payment, so it’s less expensive than Grammarly. 

Hemingway Pros and Cons

Pros

• Don’t have to register for an account.
• Focuses on the readability of your writing.
• The free version has full editing features.
• More affordable than other online writing tools.
• Publish directly to your blog.
• Available in offline mode.

Cons

• No plagiarism checker.
• Doesn’t correct your spelling, grammar, and tone.
• Not available as a browser extension.

Grammarly vs. Hemingway App: The Verdict

No writing tool is better than the other because it’s all a matter of personal preference and writing needs. I would recommend Grammarly if:

• You want to improve your spelling, grammar, and emotion in writing.
• You need a plagiarism checker. 
• You want to work across several platforms.

Meanwhile, I would recommend Hemingway if:

• You don’t need suggestions on your spelling and grammar.
• You only want to improve your work’s readability.
• You want to save money.