Grammarly vs. ChatGPT: Which One Is Best?

Key takeaways

Grammarly and ChatGPT are tools for writing and receiving suggestions for revisions, with both having unique applications depending on your needs. 

• Recent research suggests that ChatGPT might be more accurate for writing compared to other digital writing assistants [1].

• While Grammarly gives you the freedom to accept or reject its writing suggestions, ChatGPT allows for less input during the editing process; however, ChatGPT can go beyond correcting writing by generating full-length essays, blogs, etc., a feature that Grammarly doesn’t support.

• You can use Grammarly to check your writing on various platforms, like emails in Microsoft Outlook or proofreading on Google Docs, while you can use ChatGPT to generate responses to emails and brainstorm writing ideas. 

Explore what Grammarly and ChatGPT can do for you and discover which one may be the better option for your projects or assignments. If you’re ready to start building expertise in creating effective prompts for language models like ChatGPT, enroll in the Google Prompting Essentials Specialization. You’ll have the opportunity to learn the basics of designing prompts to help you with everyday work tasks in as little as four hours. Upon completion, you’ll have earned a career credential for your resume.

What is Grammarly?

Grammarly is a sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) application you can use in various ways, depending on your writing and editing needs. Primarily used as an editing tool that can review your work and recommend grammar, spelling, or content corrections, Grammarly works with original content you’ve already created to help hone your writing and improve it. Beyond basic grammar, the application can even check your wordiness, sentence structure, and more to make your written work excel.

Grammarly uses AI to analyze sentences and grammar to look at ways you can improve them. The app also takes feedback from you as you use the application to adjust its recommendations. For example, if you ignore a suggestion, Grammarly uses that feedback and incorporates it into future suggestions.

Read on to discover the pros and cons of Grammarly and how its functions can improve your writing.

What is the advantage of using Grammarly?

Grammarly has several benefits that can be important to you, depending on your writing and why you want to use the Grammarly application.

• Highlights misspelled words or grammar mistakes: These highlights can help you see mistakes you’ve made so you can clean up pieces you’ve already written. It doesn’t force these changes into your writing, so you can review its suggestions and decide for yourself if you want to fix sentences or words.

• Works across platforms and applications: Grammarly can help you write for both professional and personal tasks. It works as a grammar add-on and browser extension for platforms like Microsoft 365, Google Chrome, Firefox, or Apple’s Safari browser. For example, you can use Grammarly in email communication applications such as Gmail or Microsoft Outlook, or within applications like Slack and LinkedIn.

• Polishes your writing: Grammarly does not just focus on grammar. The app can evaluate documents to highlight other issues, such as clarity, engagement, and delivery.

• Check for plagiarism: Grammarly can help ensure your writing is original as you combine your article, essay, blog post, or other writing. This feature could be particularly important if you’re writing in an academic setting and want to ensure your essays or writing are in your own words to pass plagiarism checks.

What is the disadvantage of using Grammarly?

Grammarly does have some limitations that are important for you to review.

• You have to participate in the editing process: Grammarly usually needs additional input from you to decide if a suggested edit is one you want to accept for your essays, blog posts, and other assignments. So, you need to be able to work with Grammarly to make grammar-related decisions.

• Grammarly cannot replace human writing and editing skills: Though Grammarly provides edits and suggestions, it can be easy to assume security in your writing abilities. However, it takes an element of knowledge to know what Grammarly suggests to accept or deny for your content. Though it can clean your writing, it can’t add to the quality or authority of your actual content.

Grammarly vs. ChatGPT for writing: Is ChatGPT good for grammar checks?

ChatGPT can be a helpful tool for checking grammar, and the available research indicates it may be more accurate than other digital writing assistants [1]. One key advantage of ChatGPT is its flexibility. Grammarly explains the rules, but ChatGPT also lets you ask follow-up questions or request explanations, which can create a more personalized experience. However, if you use ChatGPT to check your grammar, review its suggestions carefully before you incorporate them into your work.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI that generates responses to questions that echo those humans would give. It works as a generative AI tool to create new content and edit and review content you may have already written.

ChatGPT uses deep learning as part of its AI to make the text it produces sound more human and natural, which can be important depending on the applications you’re using it for. Plus, it continues to evolve based on sequences it learns with additional training data.

Read more: Can AI Writing Tools Unlock Your Creativity?

What is the advantage of using ChatGPT?

ChatGPT can work as a grammar check in a way similar to Grammarly, which can add an extra tool to your list of helpful sites if you need to perfect your grammar for a written project. But ChatGPT can also go beyond that by actually writing essays and other pieces of work for you.

Additional advantages to using ChatCPT include the following:

• You can prompt the app to brainstorm ideas: ChatGPT is a good tool for this process. It can generate phrases, start sentences, and develop pitch ideas that are a few sentences long. This can get your creativity going or push you past writer’s block in a way that Grammarly can’t.

• Write content for you: You can ask ChatGPT to write a 500-word blog on a particular topic or write an email you want to send to a coworker. It can create questions to help you study for an exam or write a common explanation for a complex idea to help you understand it better. Either way, ChatGPT creates content that feels like it comes from someone, which you can use daily.

• ChatGPT can function for a variety of tasks: From creating art to solving math problems to assisting with your resume, ChatGPT is not limited to simply writing essays or answering questions. You can truly use the software to suit your interests and needs.

What is the disadvantage of using ChatGPT?

ChatGPT has some cons you should consider before using it as part of your writing and editing process. Let’s take a closer look.

• It can overcorrect grammar: ChatGPT may do more work than necessary compared to Grammarly, and it doesn’t allow you to accept or reject suggestions on its grammar changes. Though this can be helpful to someone who doesn’t feel comfortable with correcting grammar, other users may want to have more control over the editing and proofreading process.

• It has limits within institutions and businesses: Some colleges and universities are banning or scaling back programs like ChatGPT, making students write their own essays or answers to questions instead of relying on a computer app to do the work for them. You could also find instructors requiring different ways of doing assignments to ensure that students aren’t using ChatGPT to complete work.

• Possible inaccuracies: You also need to verify that the information in items written by ChatGPT is accurate. ChatGPT could make up sources or not cite them properly. It could also answer your questions with different sources or different responses, so you still need to have a human review of the information.

Grammarly vs. ChatGPT review: Which one is right for you?

Benefits and drawbacks exist for both Grammarly and ChatGPT, so it’s important to review how you will use the program and which use case is best for each application you could use.

Grammarly gives you a more hands-off approach, allows you to make changes as you see fit, and serves as an editing tool. You can also use Grammarly on various platforms, so it’s helpful if you need a grammar review of emails in Microsoft Outlook or an extra proofreading step on Google Docs.

ChatGPT is a better option if you need a more robust writing program. It can generate essays or blog posts and help you brainstorm ideas. It can also correct your work with less input, which can be beneficial depending on your level of grammar knowledge.

Explore practical tools for meaningful growth

Discover fresh insights into your career or learn about trends in your industry by subscribing to our LinkedIn newsletter, Career Chat! Or if you want to keep learning more about AI tools like ChatGPT and how to use them, check out these free resources:

• Take the quiz: Which Prompt Engineering Course Should You Take? Find Out in 1 Minute 

• Watch on YouTube: How to Use ChatGPT (Beginner to Power User) 

• Hear from an expert: The Secret to Using GenAI Tools Effectively: Insight from Coursera’s Former CEO 

Whether you want to develop a new skill, get comfortable with an in-demand technology, or advance your abilities, keep growing with a Coursera Plus subscription. You’ll get access to over 10,000 flexible courses. 

Build job-ready skills with Coursera Plus

Start 7-day free trial

• 
• 
• 
• 

Start 7-day free trial