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Grammarly vs Shortwave

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

Grammarly logo

Grammarly

AI writing assistant that corrects, rewrites and tone-checks your text across every app

Freemium
Visit websiteView details
Shortwave logo

Shortwave

AI email client for Gmail that searches, organizes, drafts and schedules from plain-language prompts

Freemium
Visit websiteView details

Verdict

Grammarly and Shortwave are both AI Assistants tools. Both have a free plan or trial. Only Grammarly is available on Web, Chrome Extension and Firefox Extension and offers an API.

Best overall

Grammarly

  • Students
  • Professionals
  • Non-native English Writers
  • Marketing Teams

Choose Grammarly if

  • You want a tool built for polishing emails and documents in real time across many apps, keeping tone and style consistent across a team.
  • Works across desktop, browser, Office, Google Docs and mobile keyboards, so suggestions follow you between apps.
  • Free plan covers core grammar, spelling and tone visibility with 100 AI prompts per month.

Choose Shortwave if

  • You want a tool built for heavy Gmail users who want AI search, drafting and inbox triage inside the email client itself.
  • AI search covers up to five years of email on Business and unlimited history on Premier and Max.
  • Native apps on iOS, Android, Mac and Windows, with a 4.7 average rating on the App Store.
Best for beginners
Grammarly
Best for business
Grammarly

Features

19 features compared.

  • Citation Tools
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • Style Guides and Brand Tones
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • Cross-App Availability
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • Enterprise Security Controls
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • Grammar and Mistake Correction
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • Tone Detection and Adjustment
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • Full-Sentence and Paragraph Rewrites
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • AI Detector and Humanizer
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • Plagiarism Checker
    Grammarly
    Available
    Shortwave
    Not available
  • AI Assistant
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • AI Search
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • Write in Your Voice
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • AI Filters
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • Bundles and Split Inboxes
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • AI Scheduling
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • Team Collaboration
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • Tracking and Reminders
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • App Connections and MCP
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available
  • Privacy Controls
    Grammarly
    Not available
    Shortwave
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    Grammarly
    Freemium
    Shortwave
    Freemium
  • Free plan
    Grammarly
    Yes
    Shortwave
    Yes
  • Starting price
    Grammarly
    $0
    Shortwave
    $0
  • Plans
    Grammarly
    3 plans
    Shortwave
    5 plans

Grammarly plans

  • Free

    $0

    Basic writing help for individuals

    • Mistake correction
    • tone visibility
    • 100 AI prompts/month

  • Pro

    Most popular

    $30/month

    Individuals and eligible teams wanting advanced rewrites and detection

    • 2,000 AI prompts/member/month
    • tone adjustment
    • full-sentence rewrites
    • plagiarism detection
    • AI-generated text detection
    • style guide
    • brand tone
    • priority support

  • Enterprise

    Custom/custom

    Larger organizations with security and governance needs

    • Unlimited AI prompts
    • unlimited style guides and brand tones
    • SAML SSO
    • SCIM
    • audit logs API
    • data loss prevention
    • dedicated support

Shortwave plans

  • Free

    $0

    Individual tier with basic AI and limited daily AI quota

    • Basic intelligence
    • limited daily AI quota
    • 90 days of search history
    • Sent with Shortwave signature

  • Pro

    $18/user/mo

    Individual plan for personal users

    • AI assistant
    • paid AI features for individuals

  • Business

    Most popular

    $30/user/mo

    Everyday AI productivity for teams

    • Standard intelligence
    • 5 years AI search history
    • max 50 threads per AI search
    • 3 AI filters
    • AI integrations and web browsing

  • Premier

    $45/user/mo

    Everything in Business with more AI capacity

    • Advanced intelligence
    • 2x AI usage
    • 100 threads per AI search
    • 10 AI filters
    • unlimited AI search history

  • Max

    $120/user/mo

    Highest AI capacity per seat

    • Expert intelligence
    • 6x AI usage
    • 150 threads per AI search
    • 50 AI filters
    • unlimited AI search history

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed October 2026.

Grammarly
8.2overall
Shortwave
8.1overall

Grammarly leads in 3 categories and Shortwave in 1, with 1 tied.

  • Ease of Use

    Grammarly leads by 0.6
    Grammarly
    9.1
    Shortwave
    8.5

  • Feature Depth

    Shortwave leads by 0.1
    Grammarly
    8.3
    Shortwave
    8.4

  • Value for Money

    Tied
    Grammarly
    7.3
    Shortwave
    7.3

  • Performance & Speed

    Grammarly leads by 0.1
    Grammarly
    8.4
    Shortwave
    8.3

  • Documentation & Support

    Grammarly leads by 0.2
    Grammarly
    8.0
    Shortwave
    7.8

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

Grammarly

Pros

  • Works across desktop, browser, Office, Google Docs and mobile keyboards, so suggestions follow you between apps.
  • Free plan covers core grammar, spelling and tone visibility with 100 AI prompts per month.
  • Pro adds tone adjustment, full-sentence rewrites, plagiarism and AI-text detection in a single subscription.
  • Team features include style guides, brand tones, analytics and user groups; Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM and audit logs.
  • Public REST APIs exist for analytics, licence management, writing score and detection.

Cons

  • Monthly billing for Pro is $30, versus $12 per month on annual billing, so month-to-month use costs 2.5 times as much.
  • Third-party tests of the AI Detector report notable false-positive rates (figures range from 14.2% to 34% across sources), so it is unreliable as proof.
  • An App Store reviewer criticizes the iOS keyboard setup for pushing users to grant broad access.
  • Experienced writers on forums report turning off many suggestions; advanced features are gated behind Pro.

Shortwave

Pros

  • AI search covers up to five years of email on Business and unlimited history on Premier and Max.
  • Native apps on iOS, Android, Mac and Windows, with a 4.7 average rating on the App Store.
  • Team features such as shared threads, comments and assignments sit inside the inbox.
  • AI connects to outside tools including Notion, HubSpot, GitHub and MCP servers.
  • Per-plan model tiers let users pay for stronger models only when needed.

Cons

  • Paid plans are priced per seat from $30 (Business) to $120 (Max), higher than many email clients.
  • Built around Gmail; support for other providers is limited or unclear.
  • AI usage is capped by plan, with Business allowing roughly 150-300 Standard requests per day.
  • The free tier is not clearly documented on the official pricing page.

Platforms

  • Web
    Grammarly
    Supported
    Shortwave
    Not supported
  • Windows
    Grammarly
    Supported
    Shortwave
    Supported
  • macOS
    Grammarly
    Supported
    Shortwave
    Supported
  • iOS
    Grammarly
    Supported
    Shortwave
    Supported
  • Android
    Grammarly
    Supported
    Shortwave
    Supported
  • API
    Grammarly
    Supported
    Shortwave
    Not supported
  • Browser Extension
    Grammarly
    Not supported
    Shortwave
    Not supported
  • Chrome Extension
    Grammarly
    Supported
    Shortwave
    Not supported
  • Firefox Extension
    Grammarly
    Supported
    Shortwave
    Not supported

Integrations

Grammarly

7 integrations
  • Microsoft Office
  • Google Docs
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Firefox
  • Edge
  • Zendesk

Shortwave

10 integrations
  • Gmail
  • Google Calendar
  • Slack
  • Notion
  • HubSpot
  • Asana
  • GitHub
  • Linear
  • Zapier
  • Tasklet

Company

  • Company
    Grammarly
    Superhuman
    Shortwave
    Shortwave Communications, Inc.
  • Founded
    Grammarly
    2009
    Shortwave
    2020
  • Headquarters
    Grammarly
    San Francisco, CA
    Shortwave
    San Francisco, CA
  • Monthly users
    Grammarly
    40 million people
    Shortwave
    Not listed
  • Listing
    Grammarly
    Claimed
    Shortwave
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is Grammarly better than Shortwave?

It depends on your workflow. Grammarly is built for polishing emails and documents in real time across many apps, keeping tone and style consistent across a team. Shortwave is built for heavy Gmail users who want AI search, drafting and inbox triage inside the email client itself.

What are the key feature differences between Grammarly and Shortwave?

Grammarly: AI writing assistant that corrects, rewrites and tone-checks your text across every app. Shortwave: AI email client for Gmail that searches, organizes, drafts and schedules from plain-language prompts.

Does Grammarly or Shortwave have a free plan?

Yes, both do. Grammarly is freemium and Shortwave is freemium, and each has a free plan or trial.

Which is cheaper, Grammarly or Shortwave?

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.