Paperpal or Grammarly
Both are English writing assistants whose main strength is living inside Word and Google Docs, suggesting edits sentence by sentence as you write. Paperpal is built for academic papers and adds plagiarism and reference checks; Grammarly covers all English writing. Chinese drafts, Chinese-to-English, and journal-style polishing that checks paragraph logic before sentences are Acadwrite's focus.
Product details checked against both websites, pricing pages and help centers on 22 October 2026. Numbers in brackets link to the sources at the end of the page.
Choose by the job in front of you
| What you need to do | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fix English sentence by sentence inside Word or Google Docs | Paperpal or Grammarly | Both have Word and Google Docs add-ins that show suggestions in the document; Paperpal's Word add-in is free to install.[4][8] |
| Check plagiarism and references in an English paper before submission | Paperpal | Prime includes 10,000 words of plagiarism checks and 10,000 words of reference checks a month plus 30+ pre-submission checks; ¥180 a month on the China site with WeChat Pay.[1][2] |
| Show that you wrote the paper yourself | Grammarly | Authorship, available on the free plan, records typing, pasting and AI assistance for replay, and you decide whether to share it with your instructor.[8] |
| English emails, cover letters and other non-paper writing | Grammarly | Built for all English writing; Pro rewrites full sentences, adjusts tone and supports 20+ languages.[7] |
| Translate a Chinese draft into English in Nature journal style | Acadwrite | The Nature polishing skill diagnoses section roles and paragraph logic before editing sentences, supports Chinese-to-English and journal style, and keeps citation numbers with their sentences. |
| Polish a Chinese thesis | Acadwrite | The thesis polishing skill targets Chinese science and engineering theses with more than 60 rules; both tools focus on English. |
| Polish one paper now and then without a subscription | Acadwrite | Paper polishing costs 1 credit, or ¥2, per document, charged by use.[11] |
Side by side
Grey text means the vendor's pages do not say. That does not mean the feature is missing.
| Paperpal, Grammarly and Acadwrite compared | Paperpal | Grammarly | Acadwrite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Academic writing with line-by-line suggestions; explicitly does not write whole papers[3] | General English writing assistant for email, documents and the web[7] | A paper workspace that also searches literature, writes reviews and adds citations |
| Where it works | Word add-in (free), Google Docs, Overleaf, browser[4] | Word, Google Docs, browser and the Grammarly editor[8] | Web workspace, drafts exported to Word |
| Free allowance | 200 grammar edits a month; 5 rewrites or translations a day; 5 AI detections a day at 1,200 words each[1][5] | 100 AI prompts a month[6] | Free credits on sign-up |
| Paid plans | Prime $25 a month, or ¥180 a month and ¥928 a year on the China site; Pro $59 a month[1][2] | Pro $12 a month billed yearly, $30 monthly[7] | Paper polishing at 1 credit (¥2) per document, charged by use[11] |
| Plagiarism and AI detection | Prime: 10,000 words of plagiarism checks a month, unlimited AI detection[1] | Pro includes plagiarism and AI detection; a free AI detector page needs no sign-in[6][9] | AI-rate reduction at 8 credits and rewording at 5 credits per document[11] |
| References | Citation finder with 10,000+ styles; Prime checks 10,000 words of references a month[10][1] | Automatic citations in APA, MLA and Chicago[9] | Reference checking against bibliographic databases field by field; polishing keeps citation numbers in place |
| Chinese drafts | Research search requires English questions; Chinese polishing not stated[10] | Not stated | Chinese thesis polishing and Chinese-to-English |
| Academic features | 30+ pre-submission checks[3] | Authorship records the writing process[8] | 23 academic skills, including Nature polishing, de-AI editing, simulated review and responses to reviewers |
Skills for submission, beyond polishing
Polishing fixes sentences. What journals expect, thesis conventions and the statistical issues reviewers pick on each have skills written for academic work. They come from open-source projects on GitHub; enable them in the skill market and use them in workspace chats.
- 50K
stars for nature-skills, source of 10 skills including Nature polishing, simulated review and responses to reviewers
- 20K
stars for Humanizer-zh, source of the Chinese de-templating skill
- 2,412
stars for academic-humanizer, source of the English academic humanizer skill
- 861
stars for sciwrite, source of the sentence-level editing skill
Star counts as shown on GitHub on 22 October 2026.
English polishing
Nature polishingused in polishing
Diagnoses paper type, section roles and paragraph logic before sentence-level edits; supports Chinese-to-English and Nature-family journal style, with notes on changes.
nature-skillsAcademic humanizer
For English papers and NSF or NIH proposals: removes AI phrasing and overclaiming, matches claims to evidence, keeps the author's voice and every number and citation.
academic-humanizerSentence-level editing
Five passes based on Sainani's Writing in the Sciences: clutter, passive voice, sentence structure, consistent terms, numbers and citations, with a graded report.
sciwrite
Chinese polishing
Thesis polishing
For Chinese science and engineering theses: diagnoses or carefully rewrites against more than 60 rules on wording, sentences, punctuation, structure and equations.
graduate-thesis-polish-and-write-skillChinese de-templating
Removes filler and stock patterns against 31 checkpoints while keeping facts, hedges, attribution and the author's voice; no promise about AI detectors.
Humanizer-zhResearch writing templates
Chinese templates for single tasks: translation, polishing, shortening and expanding, logic checks, figure titles, first drafts of abstracts and introductions.
research-writing-skill
Before submission
Nature simulated reviewused in paper review
Three independent reviewers assess originality, significance and technical soundness, with comments anchored to the text.
nature-skillsResponse to reviewers
Turns reviews into a numbered tracking table, answers each reviewer point by point, drafts the cover letter and checks for invented changes.
nature-skillsStatistical reporting review
Checks experimental units, multiple comparisons, effect sizes and uncertainty, and the n, error bars and asterisks in figure legends.
nature-skills
FAQ
Allowances and promotional prices change often. Check each vendor's pricing page.
Paperpal or Grammarly for academic papers?
For English papers specifically, Paperpal fits better: plagiarism checks, reference checks and 30+ pre-submission checks, at ¥180 a month on the China site with WeChat Pay. If your writing goes beyond papers, or you need to show you wrote the paper yourself, Grammarly fits better; Authorship works on the free plan.
What are the limits of Paperpal's free plan?
200 grammar edits a month; 5 rewrites, trims or translations a day; 5 AI detections a day of up to 1,200 words each. Plagiarism allowances differ between pages: the English pricing page lists a lite report, while the free plagiarism tool page says 7,000 words per scan.
Can Paperpal write a whole paper?
No. In Paperpal's own words, it "will not write the entire content for you"; it suggests edits line by line and you decide.
Does Grammarly train on my papers?
Training is on by default for individual users. Turn off Product Improvement and Training in account settings: at account.grammarly.com/security/privacy on the free plan, or account.grammarly.com/admin/data_settings for individual Pro.
How is Acadwrite different from Paperpal and Grammarly?
Paperpal and Grammarly sit inside Word and fix English sentence by sentence. Acadwrite is a paper workspace whose polishing checks paragraph logic before sentences, handles Chinese-to-English and Chinese theses, and keeps citation numbers in place; it also searches literature, writes reviews and simulates peer review. Polishing costs 1 credit, or ¥2, per document.
Sources
All pages accessed on 22 October 2026.
- [1]Paperpal：Pricing
- [2]Paperpal：China site pricing
- [3]Paperpal：AI Writing Assistant
- [4]Paperpal：MS Word Add-in
- [5]Paperpal：Free AI Detector
- [6]Grammarly：Plans
- [7]Grammarly：Grammarly Pro
- [8]Grammarly：Authorship
- [9]Grammarly：Plagiarism Checker
- [10]Paperpal：AI for Research
- [11]Acadwrite：How credits are charged