Free automated proofreader and plagiarism checker for students
PaperRater is a free online proofreader and plagiarism checker targeting students and educators. It provides automated grammar and spelling correction, vocabulary enhancement suggestions, a readability score, and plagiarism detection against academic databases — producing a comprehensive report on academic essay quality without requiring account registration for basic use.
PaperRater is a strong fit if its core strengths match your workflow, budget, and support needs. Use the quick signals below before opening the full review.
PaperRater serves the most budget-constrained segment of the grammar checker market: students who need both grammar correction and plagiarism detection but cannot afford premium tools. Its free, no-registration model removes every barrier to use — paste an essay, receive a report, done.
PaperRater's free tier requires no account, no email, no password. Paste text into the box, select the document type and grade level, and receive an automated report covering grammar and spelling errors, vocabulary assessment, sentence variety analysis, readability score, and a plagiarism check — all in one free pass. For students who want a quick pre-submission sanity check, this zero-friction access is the tool's primary advantage.
PaperRater produces an overall paper quality score based on multiple factors — vocabulary sophistication, sentence length variation, grammar accuracy, and readability. The scoring model is calibrated to academic writing standards for the selected grade level — an essay scored for a high school context is evaluated against different benchmarks than a graduate paper. This grade-appropriate scoring provides contextually relevant feedback rather than universal standards.
PaperRater's plagiarism detection checks submitted text against its academic database and web content. The detection is less comprehensive than institutional tools like Turnitin or iThenticate that maintain larger, more current academic publication indices — but for a free check, the coverage identifies the most common forms of unintentional plagiarism and direct copying that students produce.
PaperRater's grammar analysis depth is well below Grammarly's. The tool catches straightforward grammatical errors reliably but misses the subtler style and clarity improvements that premium tools provide. For students who want to genuinely improve their writing quality rather than just check for errors, ProWritingAid or Grammarly provides dramatically more value — the question is whether that value justifies the cost.
Score: 6.8/10 — Best free student grammar and plagiarism checker; grammar depth and plagiarism coverage significantly below premium alternatives.
Free
Free billed annually
$14.95/mo
$59.99/mo billed annually
PaperRater is best for High school and undergraduate students who want a quick free grammar and plagiarism check before submitting essays, Teachers who want students to self-check work before submission without requiring paid tools, Writers who need a no-registration quick check on shorter content without committing to a tool subscription.
Yes. PaperRater currently lists a free plan in ToolRankr data.
It has a free plan.
PaperRater is reviewed using ToolRankr's scoring model for ease of use, value, features, support, and overall quality. Affiliate links may earn a commission, but sponsored labels do not change editorial scoring.
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