I’m looking for the best AI checkers to use for writing, grammar, or plagiarism. I tried a few free options, but some of them missed errors or didn’t seem accurate enough. Can anyone share their experience or recommend the most reliable AI checkers, especially those that work well for professional purposes?
How Do You Even Know If Your Writing Sounds Like an AI?
Okay, so real talk—trying to figure out if what you wrote looks like it came straight outta Skynet or an actual human brain is kind of a weird circus. I’ve tried a bunch of those “AI detectors,” and let me tell you, most of ‘em? Hot garbage. Either nothing happens, or they flag Shakespeare as a bot. But there are a couple that at least sort of work, so I’ll drop the ones that didn’t completely waste my time.
Tools That Don’t Suck (Much)
- GPTZero AI Detector – This one’s like the class monitor: it’s picky, sometimes wrong, but still the closest to doing its job.
- ZeroGPT Checker – It’s the knock-off but gets the vibe right most of the time.
- Quillbot AI Checker – Not perfect, but if you want a “second opinion,” it’ll do.
No, you’re not gonna get a perfect zero on all of them. I’ve shoved random Wikipedia pages, angry Reddit screeds, even that famous U.S. Constitution chunk into these, and they’re still liable to flash “60% AI” at you. Lmao, seriously?
What If You Actually Want It ‘More Human’?
Not saying you should, but if you want your AI writing to seem less… robotic (for whatever reason! School? Work? Conning your cat?), I used Clever AI Humanizer. It’s free. I ran a big chunk of text through, popped it back into those top three detectors, and the scores tanked to about 10% each. Not too shabby.
Don’t Get Played: None of This Is Foolproof
If you’re hoping for a magic number that guarantees your essay is “undetectable” as AI, sorry, you’re in for a world of pain. These tools are, frankly, bad at their job. Sometimes they’ll say George Washington is a robot. The internet’s full of receipts—someone literally ran the Constitution through an AI checker, and, guess what, “AI-generated” flagged. No real reason, just vibes. Here’s an explainer on that if you want the whole drama: Best AI detectors on Reddit
Honorable Mentions and the Detectors You Didn’t Ask For
There’s a million more. Here are some extras if you like seeing “False positive” show up everywhere:
- Grammarly AI Checker – Slightly biased if you ask me, but worth a try.
- Undetectable AI Detector – Sounds more epic than it actually is.
- Decopy AI Detector – Never got a real result with this but YMMV.
- Note GPT AI Detector – Copy, paste, pray.
- Copyleaks AI Detector – The UI’s fine, not sure about the accuracy.
- Originality AI Checker – Claims to spot bots and copycats alike.
- Winston AI Detector – Sounds like a butler, works… about as well as you’d expect a digital butler to.
TL;DR
- Most AI checkers are shaky at best.
- Use more than one if you actually care about the result.
- Don’t trust a perfect score—there’s no silver bullet.
- Yes, even “real” historic docs get flagged.
- Humanizing tools exist, but moderate your expectations.
And, if it helps, here’s a screenshot for anyone that wants receipts or just likes pretty graphs:
2 Likes
Honestly, AI checkers for writing and plagiarism are a weird bunch—some work half-decently, others feel like they’re just rolling dice in the background. I saw @mikeappsreviewer’s rundown (which made me snort, ngl), and yeah, a ton of the “AI detectors” are hilariously off the mark. I’m gonna side-step the whole pure-AI detection obsession, though, because if your REAL concern is actual writing quality and catching plagiarism, there are other heavy-hitters that do more than just try (and fail) to sniff out ChatGPT essays.
First, for straight-up grammar and clarity: Grammarly is the obvious beast—even the free version catches way more awkward phrasing and grammar slips than most others, especially over online stuff. But for academic or really tight editing, try ProWritingAid. It goes deeper into style, repetitiveness, pacing, clichés, etc. Sometimes it nitpicks, but if you wanna sound less like an AI and more like, well, a good human, it helps.
Now, plagiarism—Turnitin’s king in schools (but $$$ and locked behind institutions), so for us mortals: Scribbr, Unicheck, and even Grammarly’s paid plagiarism checker do okay. Copyleaks is another one (which @mikeappsreviewer mentioned), and it’s better at outright copy-catch than AI-vibes detection. Just don’t expect miracles: NONE of these catch every sneaky paraphrase, and if you rely on free checkers, expect lots of “Plagiarism detected: [random Wikipedia fact widely known by everyone].” Which… completely defeats the point sometimes.
On the “does my stuff look like Skynet or Shakespeare” front: For the love of all things sentient, don’t stress too hard about that if your priority is actual originality and readability. Those “AI detectors” are more drama than science, as you’ve seen.
TLDR:
- For quality writing edits, stick with Grammarly and/or ProWritingAid.
- Plagiarism? Copyleaks is passable, but paid tools will always be better.
- AI detection is a meme—don’t lose sleep over it unless your boss/teacher is obsessed.
- Always double-check with more than one tool; false positives are the norm.
If anyone has cracked the code for a checker that gets it actually right, plz drop it here. Until then, I’ll keep mashing CTRL+Z and praying.
Not to dunk too hard on what @mikeappsreviewer and @andarilhonoturno said (I mean, they nailed the circus-level unreliability of most AI detectors), but if you’re aiming for something that just WORKS for actual grammar and plagiarism, not the “is this Skynet” contest, you gotta branch out. Hemmingway Editor isn’t a checker in the traditional sense, but it hammers you about passive voice and readability, which honestly trips up AI and human writers alike. Super basic, super effective, zero fluff.
If you’re dying for something more technical: I still rate LanguageTool over Grammarly sometimes, especially with weird phrasing or non-U.S. English. Less chatty, more direct catches.
On the plagiarism front, try Plagscan if you can finagle access—it’s got a slightly better rep overseas, and my experience says it will nail obvious copy-pasta but (sometimes annoyingly) leaves “common knowledge” alone, unlike, say, Grammarly’s checker which pings everything that exists on Wikipedia. Turnitin’s untouchable if you ever get access, but it’s usually for schools.
And, unpopular opinion incoming: Most “AI humanizers” are more snake oil than solution. Sure, you can get your text to pass a random detector’s vibes-check, but it does NOT make your writing better. If your real concern is clarity, reader engagement, and dodging actual plagiarism flags, focus on revision tools, not humanizer scripts.
So here’s my take:
- Do your core editing with Hemmingway or LanguageTool
- Grammarly for quick drafts
- Plagscan or Scribbr if you’re really trying to dodge the plagiarism police
- Run ONE AI content detector if the submission demands it, but take the results with massive grains of salt
Honestly, the best “AI checker” is still your brain plus a trusted friend’s second look. All the tools in the world can’t compete with someone asking, “wait, did you mean to say THAT?”