7 Best Essay Checkers for Students and Teachers in 2026

A nationally representative 2022 survey by the EdWeek Research Center and Merrimack College found that teachers spend a median of 5 hours every week just on grading and feedback. This adds up to roughly 140 hours over a school year.

According to GPTZero’s internal data, some teachers manage up to 200 students per assignment or need to grade 70 essays a week. And AI has only added to this, as teachers now spend upwards of 15 to 20 additional minutes per essay just trying to verify if a paper was written by a computer or a human.

If you’re a teacher always running to catch up on your grading of student submissions, you’ll most definitely benefit from an essay checker tool.

Essay checkers are primarily used in two ways: 

1. By students to run a pre-submission check for grammar, punctuation, and to verify the factual accuracy of their arguments 
2. By teachers to grade the submissions they receive 

We tested 15+ top essay checkers available on the internet (free, paid, and everything in between) in the hopes of finding the best ones. Each tool was tested for its features, real-world usability, accuracy, and value for money.

And from there, we shortlisted the 7 best picks for this article, broken down by their features, pros and cons, and pricing. 

Here are our findings. 

7 Best Essay Checkers You Should Try in 2026

Here’s a quick head-to-head comparison of all the top essay checkers we tested.

Tool	Best For	Built-in AI Detection	Grammar Checking	Citation	Plagiarism Checking	Essay Grading	Starting Price
GPTZero	Standardized test grading & classroom use	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes (rubric-based, 0–9 scale)	$12.99/month (billed annually)
Originality.ai	Fast proofreading & multilingual editing	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes (Separate, paid tool)	❌ No	Free (10 checks per day)
Chegg	Human expert feedback	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes (human, 1–5 scale)	$9.95
QuillBot	Rewriting and paraphrasing	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes (via other free tools)	✅ Yes	❌ No	Free plan + $9.95/month
ProWritingAid	Creative writers	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes (paid)	❌ No	Free plan + $30/month
Scribbr	Academic proofreading	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No	Free
PaperRater	Quick free essay checks for students	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	Percentage  estimation	Free plan + $7.95/month

1. GPTZero

GPTZero’s essay checker is validated on a public IELTS dataset of 1,274 essays based on 402 unique writing questions. Each essay is scored on a 0–9 scale based on these 4 criteria: 

1. Task Response
2. Coherence and Cohesion
3. Lexical Resource
4. Grammatical Range and Accuracy

The model is also fine-tuned on human-annotated ground truth samples. They get recalibrated continuously, so they remain aligned with grading standards from official institutions.

Key Features

• Free, built-in presets for IELTS, TOEFL, ACT, GRE, and other English-language exams
• Personalized improvement suggestions based on the grading rubric 
• Allows you to upload your own rubrics
• Includes an AI detector and a plagiarism checker 
• Alongside English, GPTZero’s essay grader provides grading in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German

You can try GPTZero essay checker for free and see the level of feedback it provides for yourself.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Integrates with Canvas, Google Classroom, Moodle, etc	Optimized for exam rubrics and hence less effective for creative, non-standard writing
Protects all essay data according to FERPA, SOC 2, and GDPR standards
Saves teachers about 8 hours of time every week
Has a built-in essay grading rubric and also allows you to grade based on your own rubric
You can also detect AI and plagiarism, along with checking the essay

Pricing

GPTZero’s pricing model has 2 plans, with which you get access to a whole suite of classroom tools. They include:

• Premium plan for $12.99/month (billed annually), capped at 300,000 words 
• Professional plan for $24.99/month (billed annually) with 500,000 words

You save up to 45% when billing annually. 

2. Originality.ai 

Originality.ai is originally an AI detection tool. But it has a free AI proofreading and writing improvement tool for essays. 

It's a top-rated essay checker for grammar and punctuation errors, where you paste or upload files (.txt, .docx, .pdf), select a language, and then get a report consisting of the following organized categories:

• Problems
• Changes
• Tips

It also gives you an AI-improved version of the same text that you can instantly use if you’re on a time crunch. But remember that it’s AI-improved.

Also, it doesn’t grade essays.

Key Features

• Gives you a new version of your essay with all suggested corrections applied
• The organization of results into categories encourages easy understanding and learning 
• Has a one-click export feature to download your essay reports
• No user data is stored for training or improving the tool

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Addresses privacy concerns by ensuring user content is not saved	The free tool is capped at 10 checks/day
Has a mobile-friendly design for on-the-go editing	No rubric-based grading system
Checks essays in 11 different languages	Not specialized in academic arguments and essay content analysis
Free to use with minimal setup	No integration with classroom/LMS platforms

Pricing

Originality essay checker is completely free to use, with a daily usage limit of 10 checks per day. Currently, no paid plans for the essay checker are offered.

3. Chegg

Chegg offers an ‘Expert Check,’ a unique find among our top essay checkers list. It essentially provides a human expert evaluation of your essay.

It has a structured, rubric-based human grading system upon which you get improvement feedback within 48 hours of submitting your paper. 

The system applies one of seven distinct rubrics and gives you a score on a scale of 1–5. These rubrics include: 

• Informative essay
• Argumentative essay
• Paragraph form
• Narrative and personal statement
• Lab report
• Resume
• Cover letter
• And a default rubric for any papers that don’t fit in any of the above categories

Key Features

• Essays are reviewed by real experts who provide detailed, qualitative feedback on your writing 
• You can get a maximum of 30 papers checked per month, each up to 3000 words
• Covers higher-order writing skills, such as your essay arguments, structure, and thesis, rather than just linguistic analysis 
• Has a clear scoring system with explanations

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Detailed “report card” with scoring breakdown	The turnaround time of up to 48 hours is slow for many users
Unique ‘human-in-the-loop’ approach to essay checking	Only supports papers in English
Integrates into Chegg Writing Center, a complete academic support ecosystem	No rubrics for standardized English exams

Pricing

Chegg gives you one free check after you sign up to try the tool out. After your 3-day trial is over, you will be charged a monthly subscription cost of USD$9.95 (plus applicable tax) per month.

4. Quillbot

Quillbot delivers near-instant feedback for argumentative, descriptive, narrative, and expository essays. However, it does not grade them on the basis of a rubric.

Instead, QuillBot essay check is a combination of grammar and punctuation correction, essay rewriting, and learning tools in a single ecosystem.

Key Features

• Context-aware feedback for different types of essays 
• Lets users accept/reject the suggestions individually or apply all fixes at once
• Checks essays in English, German, French, and Spanish
• Allows users to write in the web editor with formatting like headings, bold, etc.
• Includes an AI Detector and a plagiarism checker
• Offers a ‘Rewrite’ feature

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
QuillBot is available as a desktop app (QuillBot for Windows) to be used on Word, Outlook, Slack, Notepad, and more	Does not evaluate essays against standardized criteria (e.g., IELTS, TOEFL)
Completely free without ads	Heavy use of a paraphraser may reduce your writing skills
“Accept all” suggestions functionality	The essay plagiarism checker requires a paid plan
You can check an unlimited number of essays every day	No native support for LMS platforms

Pricing

Quillbot’s essay checker provides an unlimited number of free essay checks every single day. The paid plagiarism checker allows detection of up to 25,000 words/month, for which you need a premium plan.

The Premium plan is billed at $9.95 per month.

5. ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is built for creative writers and authors rather than being strictly an academic grading tool.

The essay checker also looks more like a deep writing assistant focused on style, readability, and narrative quality alongside grammar.

It does not use structured grading rubrics, but if you get the quality of your essay right with its suggestions, you’re bound to get a good score.

Key Features

• Checks for grammar, overused words, incohesive sentence structures, punctuation issues, repeated phrases, and inconsistencies
• Shows a built-in Readability report describing how easy or hard your essay is to read
• Free to use web tool for demonstration and a dedicated Web Editor for paid users 
• Will check your essays directly from Microsoft Word or Google Docs
• Includes a passive voice checker

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Free web extensions to evaluate text from Word, Google Docs, or Scrivener	The plagiarism checks are billed separately
Bank-level security for all text inputs (does not use user data for training its model)	Not optimized for standardized test grading
Uses a “learn as you edit” approach	Lacks an explicit essay scoring system

Pricing

ProWriting has a basic plan available for free, plus two paid plans: 

• Premium priced at $30.00 per month 
• Premium Pro at $36.00 per month

You can save 75% of your costs if you choose to bill annually, or get lifetime access for these plans at a one-time payment of $399 and $699, respectively. Also, those with an eligible student email address can get 20% off ProWritingAid Premium. 

6. Scribbr

Scribbr is a very well-recognized name among students. Its essay checker functions as a proofreading tool to highlight the linguistic errors in your input, but it does not assign a grade. The tool checks for 100+ types of language issues.

Since Scribbr doesn’t require a paid sign-up and has no word-count restrictions, it's quite popular among students on a budget.

However, the tool is not for teachers who want to grade essays using a pre-defined rubric. 

Key Features

• The free web tool checks essays of any length without any character or word-limit restrictions
• Scribbr has an academic-aware dictionary that recognizes discipline-specific terminology and avoids falsely flagging valid academic words
• Flags misuse of commonly confused words (e.g., affect/effect, there/their/they’re)
• Allows users to accept all suggested changes in one click 
• Also offers paraphrasing, plagiarism checking, AI detection, and proofreading tools

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Supports multiple English variants (US, UK, CA, AU)	No grading or scoring system
Ad-free interface	Does not follow rubric-based essay checking
Does not require a sign-up to start	Does not integrate with LMS tools

Pricing

Scribbr essay checker is forever free to use without any word-count restrictions and a simple, ad-free interface. Currently, no paid plans are offered. However, if you also need to use Scribbr's plagiarism and AI detection features, you need to pay after a certain threshold.

7. PaperRater

This is another super accessible, online-only essay evaluation tool for quick estimates on the quality of writing. Like other essay checkers on this list, it runs a grammar, spelling, vocabulary, tone, and clarity check for every submission.

The tool is also completely free. 

Although not the best for deep editing and grading that teachers want from an essay-checking tool, PaperRater is pretty popular among high school students for pre-submission essay checks.

Key Features

• Integrates plagiarism detection within the essay grader 
• The online interface allows multi-format input, i.e., typing, pasting, and file upload
• Allows for customization of the input based on the author’s education level and type of paper 
• You can test for essays up to 24,240 characters in one go 

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Very easy to use paste-and-check interface. Does not require any account sign-ups	Does not use validated grading rubrics (e.g., IELTS, TOEFL)
Completely free access	Limited integration with classroom and LMS platforms
Advanced grammar check powered by Quillbot	Cannot be used as a primary plagiarism detection resource due to reliability issues

Pricing

PaperRater’s primary essay checker tool is free. It does offer an ad-free paid version that checks up to 20 pages per submission, starting at $7.95 per month.

Use the Best Essay Checker for Checking and Grading Essays

Every tool we’ve included in our list of top essay checkers brings something unique to the table. See what your requirements are and choose one that aligns the best with them.

If you’re looking for a complete solution for academic environments, GPTZero is the one for you! It offers the best-in-class AI detection system paired with detailed plagiarism reports and contextual accuracy checks for every essay submission.

Teachers can share the grading rubric with students to give them formative feedback on drafts before they make the final submission.

GPTZero is also institutionally trusted and endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers. 

Try it out today! 

FAQs

Are AI essay checkers accurate?

AI essay checkers are pretty accurate when they use defined evaluation rubrics. However, if a tool does not use one, then its results will be subjective, more focused on surface-level corrections.

What is the best essay checker?

In our analysis, GPTZero was the best essay checker for instant, rubric-based evaluation. Chegg also stood out for its in-depth, expert human analysis, but it takes 48 hours to provide a report.

Do college essay checkers check for any AI?

Yes. If a college essay checker includes a built-in AI detection feature like GPTZero, it will analyze your text to assess if you used AI to write it.