Grammarly vs ProWritingAid in Chrome: Permissions, Pricing and Fit

Grammarly or ProWritingAid: which is better in 2026?

Neither wins outright. Grammarly is the better everyday browser assistant because it catches errors inline almost everywhere you type, while ProWritingAid is the better manuscript editor because its reports dig into style, pacing and repetition across whole chapters.

Most comparisons blur this by scoring both tools on the same checklist. The more useful question is where your writing happens. If it happens in Gmail, LinkedIn, Jira and Google Docs, you want the tool that stays out of the way. If it happens in a 90,000-word draft, you want the tool that shows you that half your sentences start with the same word.

If you only need a grammar checker and have not settled on either, our grammar checker extension picks include lighter and multilingual options too.

How do the two Chrome extensions differ day to day?

Grammarly feels like autocorrect with opinions: suggestions pop up as you type and you accept them with one click. ProWritingAid's extension also underlines issues in place, but its real value sits one click away in the full editor where the reports live.

With Grammarly, a small icon appears in the corner of each text field showing how many suggestions are waiting. Clicking an underline opens a card with the fix and a short reason. You can pause it for a site from the toolbar icon, which matters in code editors and chat tools where it misreads technical text. Our step-by-step guide to using Grammarly in Chrome covers those menus in detail.

ProWritingAid's extension handles spelling, grammar and basic style in the browser, then offers to open the text in its web editor. There you can run reports one at a time: overused words, sentence length variation, sticky sentences full of filler words, repeated phrases, dialogue tags, readability and more. That workflow suits a blog draft or a chapter, not a two-line reply.

• Speed of a single fix: Grammarly is quicker; one click per suggestion with minimal context switching.
• Depth of a single session: ProWritingAid shows patterns across a whole document that inline cards cannot.
• Noise: Grammarly's clarity and engagement suggestions can nudge every sentence toward the same plain voice. ProWritingAid's reports can overwhelm if you run all of them at once.
• Distraction-free mode: both let you turn off categories you do not want, which is worth doing on day one.

Which one is more accurate?

On plain grammar and spelling, both catch the common errors: agreement, missing articles, comma splices, typos. The differences show up at the edges, and they depend on what kind of writing you feed them.

Grammarly tends to be more conservative about sentence structure and more aggressive about concision and tone. That helps in business email and hurts in fiction, where it may flag deliberate fragments or dialogue as errors. It also lets you set goals such as audience and formality so suggestions fit the context.

ProWritingAid leans toward style advice. Its reports will point out adverbs, passive voice, clichés and repetitive openings, which is exactly what fiction and long non-fiction editors look for. The trade-off is more false alarms on intentional choices, so you need the confidence to ignore a suggestion.

Where both get it wrong

• Technical writing with code, product names or jargon gets flagged until you add terms to the personal dictionary.
• Dialect and creative spelling in fiction dialogue triggers corrections in both.
• Neither is a fact-checker; a grammatically perfect sentence can still be wrong.
• Both mostly check English only, so if you also write in German, French or Spanish you need a different tool for those texts.

Accuracy claims in reviews usually come from a single sample text. Your own writing is a better test than any score, so run a week of real work through each free plan before paying.

What do Grammarly and ProWritingAid cost, and what's free?

Both are freemium: a free plan for basic grammar and spelling, and a paid subscription for advanced style, AI features and more usage. ProWritingAid has historically also sold a lifetime licence, which is the main reason authors on Reddit favour it on cost.

Exact prices, plan names and discounts change often, so check the official pages before deciding: Grammarly plans and ProWritingAid pricing. What stays fairly stable is the shape of each offer.

Grammarly free

Spelling, grammar and punctuation corrections in the Chrome extension, plus tone detection and a limited allowance of AI prompts.

Grammarly paid

Full clarity and rewrite suggestions, tone adjustments, a plagiarism checker and a larger AI allowance. Billed monthly or yearly.

ProWritingAid free

Grammar and style checking with a word limit per check and limited access to reports. Enough to judge the tool, not enough for a manuscript.

ProWritingAid paid

Unlimited checking, all reports, integrations such as Scrivener and Word, and AI features, depending on tier. Monthly, yearly and, when offered, lifetime billing.

For a novelist planning to use a tool for years, a lifetime licence can change the maths. For a team, Grammarly's business plans add admin controls and shared style guides that ProWritingAid does not match as closely.

What permissions do they need in Chrome, and is your text private?

Both extensions need to read and change the text on the pages they run on, because checking grammar means sending what you type to their servers for analysis. That is normal for cloud grammar checkers, but it means you should decide where they are allowed to run.

By default, both will ask for access on all sites. That includes your webmail, your company's internal tools, and possibly medical or banking forms. Our permissions guide explains what all-sites access allows and why it is the permission to be most careful with.

1. Open chrome://extensions in a new tab.
2. Click Details under Grammarly or ProWritingAid.
3. Under Site access, change On all sites to On specific sites.
4. Click Add and enter the sites where you actually write, such as https://docs.google.com or https://mail.google.com.
5. For Grammarly, you can also click its toolbar icon on any page and toggle checking off for that site.
6. Repeat for the other extension if you keep both installed, and avoid running both in the same text box at once.

Both companies say they do not sell your text and use encryption in transit. Grammarly publishes a detailed privacy policy and offers enterprise controls. Still, if your employer bans cloud writing tools for confidential documents, neither extension is allowed there, however good its policy.

How do they work in Google Docs, Word and on a Chromebook?

Grammarly works inside Google Docs through its Chrome extension with no extra setup. ProWritingAid covers Google Docs through its extension or a Docs add-on, and it is stronger in desktop writing apps such as Scrivener.

In Google Docs, Grammarly shows its sidebar-style suggestions alongside the document once the extension is enabled for docs.google.com. If suggestions do not appear, reload the doc and check the extension is not paused for that site. ProWritingAid's Docs integration opens its reports in a panel so you can work through a chapter without leaving the file.

• Microsoft Word: both offer Word add-ins; Grammarly also covers Outlook.
• Scrivener: ProWritingAid's desktop app can check Scrivener projects, a big reason novelists choose it. Grammarly has no direct Scrivener integration.
• Chromebook: both run as Chrome extensions on ChromeOS. Grammarly's specific quirks on school and work Chromebooks are covered in our Grammarly on Chromebook guide.
• Mobile: Chrome on Android and iOS has no extensions. Grammarly offers a mobile keyboard; ProWritingAid is mainly a desktop and web tool.
• Managed browsers: on school or work Chromebooks an admin may block either extension; the install button will be greyed out.

On Mac and Windows the Chrome extension behaves the same. The difference is in the desktop apps: Grammarly's desktop app checks text across most native apps, while ProWritingAid's desktop app is aimed at document editing.

What are the downsides of Grammarly, and is it still worth it?

Grammarly is still worth paying for if you write a lot of professional text in the browser and value speed over depth. Its downsides are real, though: it flattens voice, it can be noisy in technical tools, and its paid plan is a recurring cost with no lifetime option.

• Voice drift: accepting every clarity suggestion makes writing sound generic. Turn off categories you disagree with.
• Heavy footprint: it runs on every text field unless restricted, which can slow complex web apps.
• English only: multilingual writers need a second tool.
• AI overlap: Chrome now has built-in writing help in some regions and many sites add their own AI rewriters, so the generative features matter less than they did.
• Privacy trade-off: your text goes to the cloud for every check.

ProWritingAid has its own downsides: a busier interface, reports that take time to learn, and slower inline checking in the browser. It rewards writers who sit down to edit, not people typing quick replies.

If Grammarly's cost or data handling is the sticking point, our Grammarly alternatives list and the head-to-head Grammarly vs LanguageTool comparison cover cheaper and multilingual options.

What is better than ProWritingAid, or than both?

For multilingual writing, LanguageTool beats both. For paraphrasing, QuillBot is the specialist. For fiction-only editing, some authors prefer dedicated manuscript tools such as AutoCrit, and for spare prose many use the Hemingway Editor alongside a grammar checker.

On the ProWritingAid vs Grammarly vs QuillBot question: QuillBot is a rewording tool first, so it complements rather than replaces either checker. Wordtune sits in the same rewriting space. Pairing one checker with one rewriter covers most needs.

Which should you install? A quick decision guide

Match the tool to the writing you do most, not to a feature count. Use these profiles as a shortcut.

Office worker writing email and docs all day

Grammarly. Inline speed and tone checks matter more than reports.

Novelist or memoir writer

ProWritingAid, especially with Scrivener. Its pacing, dialogue and repetition reports are built for manuscripts.

Student writing essays

Grammarly for citations-heavy academic prose and plagiarism checks on its paid plan; ProWritingAid if you want to learn style patterns.

Blogger or content marketer

Either. Grammarly for drafting in the CMS, ProWritingAid for a final edit pass on long posts.

Writes in more than one language

Neither; start with LanguageTool.

Tight budget

Try both free plans for a week. If you will use a tool for years, compare ProWritingAid's lifetime option when available.

Whichever you choose, restrict its site access on day one and turn off suggestion categories you will never accept. That makes either tool quieter, safer and more useful.