ProWritingAid in brief
ProWritingAid began in London in 2013 after founder Chris Banks built software to help with a novel. The company says it remains independent and has taken no venture capital. It now says the service helps millions of creative and business writers around the world. Its stated audience includes novelists, business writers, teachers, students, and English-language learners. The product has expanded beyond spelling and grammar into a writer’s toolkit covering planning, drafting, line editing, story critique, and publishing preparation. Its central identity is a writing assistant that combines detailed diagnostics with story-focused feedback, while leaving decisions about revisions to the writer. The company presents storytelling, practice, and feedback as central to its approach.
A typical workflow can begin in the Web Editor, where users upload or paste a document, or through Desktop Everywhere for Windows or Mac. Browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox provide access on websites and webpages, while integrations include Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Scrivener, Apple Notes, Notion, Apple Pages, and Atticus. Reports cover grammar, spelling, punctuation, style, readability, sentence structure, sentence length, repetition, consistency, clichés, dialogue, pacing, sensory detail, and word choice. Rephrase offers alternative wording, Word Explorer and Thesaurus support word selection, and customizable settings let users manage terminology and preferred rules. Story tools include Story Canvas, Chapter Critique, Manuscript Analysis, Plot Analysis, Character Analysis, Virtual Beta Reader, and Marketability Analysis.
ProWritingAid suits writers who want extensive manuscript diagnostics and story feedback, though its many reports can require time, interpretation, and editorial judgment. It is less suitable for people wanting only a minimal correction layer, a general-purpose text generator, or primary support for languages other than English. Grammarly is a closer editorial fit for everyday workplace correction, LanguageTool for multilingual checking, and AutoCrit for fiction-focused manuscript work. ProWritingAid says analyzed text is deleted after processing, except documents explicitly saved in its encrypted Web Editor, and says customer writing is not used to train its models. Its AI documentation also says users retain rights to their writing, while publishers, schools, contests, and clients may set their own AI-use rules. Pick it when report depth and story-level feedback matter most.