LanguageTool

Key features

• Thirty-plus-language engine One checker covers more than 30 languages, with six English varieties including US, UK, Canadian, Australian, South African, and New Zealand English, so multilingual writers proofread every language in the same tool.[1]

• Free tier without forced sign-up The free plan checks up to 2,000 characters per text field with basic grammar and spelling rules, and signing up is optional, which keeps casual use genuinely free.[1][2]

• AI paraphraser A built-in rewriting mode suggests clearer alternative phrasings, with three free AI suggestions a day and unlimited suggestions on Premium.[1]

• Personal dictionary, Picky Mode, and statistics You can store correct words the checker should stop flagging, switch on a stricter Picky Mode for extra style rules, and review text statistics, which tunes the tool to your vocabulary.[1]

• Everywhere integrations Documented add-ons cover Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Thunderbird, alongside desktop apps for Windows and macOS, an iOS app, an MS Word add-in, Google Docs support through the browser add-on, and a LibreOffice and OpenOffice extension.[1]

• Team style guide and centralised billing Premium Teams adds a shared style guide, team member management, and one central bill, so an organisation can enforce house style across its writers.[1]

• Self-hosted server and public API Developer documentation describes downloading the stand-alone server, starting it with a single script, and checking text through an HTTP endpoint, with community Docker images available; self-hosted checking applies basic rules only, with no AI rules and no synonym support.[1]

• Premium depth for seven languages Paid Premium adds more than 20,000 additional checks across English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and Ukrainian, raises the limit to 150,000 characters, and unlocks unlimited paraphrasing and the style guide.[1]

Who will love it

• Multilingual writers and support teams If your drafts span several of the 30-plus supported languages, one free tool checking all of them beats juggling single-language checkers.[1]

• Privacy-conscious organisations with server capacity If drafts cannot leave the building, the self-hosted server keeps every checked sentence in-house under your own control.[1]

• Budget-sensitive individuals and classrooms If a rival subscription stings, the genuinely usable free tier and a lower-priced Premium remove the cost barrier to everyday proofreading.[1][2][3]

Who should avoid it

• Writers chasing the deepest AI coaching If you want premium AI style rules and very long documents, the free tier and especially the self-hosted build will feel thin, since self-hosting excludes AI rules entirely.[1][2]

• Google Sheets heavy users If your writing lives in spreadsheets, one inspected user report says Sheets text is not supported, so that workflow would go unchecked.[1]

• Very-long-document authors on the free tier If you routinely edit past 2,000 characters per field, the free cap will interrupt you, and the fix is a Premium subscription rather than a setting.[1]

How people experience it