Is Grammarly Premium worth it?

Is Grammarly Premium worth it? Here’s my unbiased, non-affiliated view…

Watch my (first ever – go easy) video or scroll down to read the blog.

Non-writers can be surprised to hear I use Grammarly. Perhaps everyone assumes we writers are faultless grammar pedants. Some are, but many aren’t. I fall into the latter camp – and that means I need a bit of help now and then.

Along with other checkers (MS Editor and Hemingway), I used the free version of Grammarly for quite some time. I found it quite clunky and a bit annoying. It’s glitchy, repeatedly gives me suggestions in US English (despite being asked not to), and most annoying of all, would tell me about the other ways it could help me, if only I upgraded to the paid version.

I stayed firm. Why wouldn’t I? I had everything I needed at my fingertips, plus a cast-iron proofing process preventing errors from making it through… most of the time – I’m only human.

What is Grammarly Premium?

Let’s rewind for a moment. Grammarly Premium is the paid version of Grammarly. It uses AI to review text for spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity and ‘delivery’. It also detects plagiarism. You can use a web-based version or download the app. But at £120 (or more if you pay monthly/quarterly), it’s enough of an outlay to question, ‘Is Grammarly Premium worth it?’

I use a PC, write most of my work in MS Word and have a mediocre internet connection. I’m also going to point out that I am NOT an affiliate of Grammarly. This means my views are entirely my own and I’m not being influenced by them in any respect.

Why did I upgrade?

I took on a seriously meaty project. Although the writing itself was manageable, my proofing stumbled. There are only so many hours per day that I can churn out high-quality work, and I hadn’t accounted for the fact that I’d find it difficult to consistently proof at a high standard.
So, I reluctantly signed up for Grammarly Premium. I decided that in the scheme of this project, a cost of £120 was justified, and I was keen for the additional support this little bot could give me.

So, is Grammarly Premium worth forking out for?

TLDR? It’s a marriage of convenience. I don’t totally love it. But then I don’t hate it either.

Let’s be clear, Grammarly Premium has made my proofing process FAR easier. But it hasn’t transformed my life as such. And I’m really not sure that it’s a game-changer if you lack confidence in your writing.

So in answer to the question, ‘Is Grammarly Premium worth it?’, here are the good, the bad and the ‘meh’ I’ve encountered.

What’s good?

It works across multiple platforms.

I’m a big fan of this feature. I prefer to work in MS Word, yet find myself also writing in Google Docs, Excel, Google Sheets and PowerPoint. I also write in various web-based platforms.
Grammarly pops up on each of these and uses the same settings. This level of predictability is incredible. It’s also an enormous time and sanity saver when writing in spreadsheets, because it will pick up on repeated words, typos and comma splices. Love it.

It saves me time and makes me more efficient

What’s not to love about this? Instead of having to endlessly comb through my work, Grammarly Premium identifies typos, duplications and wayward apostrophes on my behalf. And without labouring the point, I am crazy about the way this helps me when I’m working in spreadsheets or webforms. It’s paid for itself many times over in the 10 months I’ve had it.

Grammarly Premium is a reasonable sounding board

I work on my own, which makes those moments where I can’t remember a certain word especially tricky. Likewise, if there’s a sentence which isn’t scanning properly, there’s no-one I can lean on for support. But now I have a little green AI pal to help me. I tap on the magic wand icon, ask Grammarly to ‘improve’ the highlighted texts and it gives me some suggestions.

Sometimes this is enough to get me back on track. Sometimes the alternatives are ridiculous or very AI-ish. It’s useful enough to fall in my ‘positives’ bucket though.

What’s not good about Grammarly Premium?

It’s unreliable

This is quite the problem… it doesn’t always work when you need it to. There are times when no matter what I do, it won’t appear. I have other proofing methods, but fiddling around trying to get Grammarly Premium to work takes up time I could do without wasting.

Grammarly Premium makes mistakes

This is my biggest problem with Grammarly Premium. It makes actual grammatical errors. See below for a particularly mind-bending example. ‘Yournt’???? It has also suggested alternatives that are so wild, I have questioned my sanity and opened Google to check I was actually correct.

It doesn’t pick up on everything

This doesn’t happen a lot, but now and then it will skip over a mistake. It’s got apostrophe placement wrong before and occasionally fails to highlight a duplicated word. When you’re relying on a tool to help you with a process, consistency matters. This lack of consistency bugs me and reduces my confidence in its output.

It gives me ridiculous suggestions

Grammarly Premium is a robot. And it reminds you of that every now and then with utterly ridiculous suggestions. See below for a recommendation to replace ‘especially popular’ with ‘trendy’. I was referring to dates (the fruit). Dates aren’t and probably never will be ‘trendy’. I also don’t think the word ‘trendy’ has been used in serious, mainstream communication since 1972.

It covers my clock

This isn’t a biggy, but it annoys me nevertheless. More often than not, the icon hovers over my computer screen’s clock. I try to move it, but it’s impossible to budge – like a comfortable, middle-aged cat purposefully sitting on your keyboard.

Meh. The things that aren’t good about Grammarly Premium, but aren’t bad either.

It’s very conventional

If Grammarly Premium were a person, it would drive a Honda, listen to Radio 2 and watch I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. I mean no disrespect, I do two of those things myself. If you’re writing for a conventional audience, Grammarly Premium is great. By that, I mean it’s great for professional services, a corporate environment, healthcare… you get the picture. It’s like having an English teacher sitting on your shoulder.

But what if you have more a more ‘singular’ tone of voice?

Believe me when I say this – it will bug you. If you want creativity, you don’t want an AI manifestation of an English teacher on your shoulder. You may prefer to have Dylan Thomas helping you out. And Grammarly aint that.

Now… digging into this a little more, it’s true that you can adapt Grammarly Premium to your preferred tone of voice. It’s one of the big selling points tbf. As I write in various voices for various clients, I’ve never set this up. If you write in a consistent tone, adapting your settings could be helpful.

Commas

Grammarly and I do not agree about commas. It’s either telling me to add them or remove them. Sometimes I listen. Often, I don’t. It especially loves an Oxford Comma. I’m ambivalent about this little device. Sometimes I use it. Often I don’t. Yet Grammarly tries to get me to insert one on every occasion. Again, not a major issue, but enough to make me sigh with irritation.

That said, it’s very helpful at identifying comma splices. I’ll admit to struggling with the concept of a comma splice, yet Grammarly picks them up like an obedient labrador and brings them to me tail-wagging.

OK, I won’t go on… if you’ve used it, you’ll probably have some thoughts of your own.

So, is Grammarly Premium worth it?

Yes, and no. If you write a lot and could do with a helping hand to proof your work, then yes. It will save you time and give you more accurate work. Especially if you can ignore its silly suggestions.

However…

I’m not convinced it’s helpful for those who aren’t that confident in their writing. You need to be able to challenge what it’s telling you and make an educated decision about whether or not to ‘accept’ or ‘dismiss’ its suggestions.

This is an interesting situation – the very people who could genuinely benefit from Grammarly Premium are the people who may find it least useful.

If you are one of these people, I’d recommend you stick with the free version (you can download it here). It gives you the proofing tools you need without messing with your brain and suggesting silly alternatives. I’d also recommend you get help from someone who knows what they’re talking about such as someone you work with or a professional such as myself.

Helpful?

If you found this post helpful, let me know! I’ve written plenty of other blogs to help non-writers get to grips with wordy problems. Try this one next 👉Don’t know what to write? 6 ways to beat writer’s block