Best Editing and Proofreading Software for Writers

ProWritingAid for sentence-level reports; Writing Desk for editing built into the writing app

Editing tools come in two kinds. Sentence-level checkers such as ProWritingAid, Grammarly and LanguageTool work inside the tools you already use. Manuscript analysers such as AutoCrit, Fictionary StoryTeller and Marlowe look at structure, pacing and character across a whole draft. My pick depends on where you write, and on a Mac, if you want editing in the app where you draft, it is Writing Desk. I built it, so weigh that.

• Proofreader beside the manuscript
• Prose Analysis beside the manuscript
• Editorial AI review of your draft
• Every suggestion is yours to accept or reject

Pick something else if you want…

• Windows, or a life in Word: ProWritingAid, which has the widest set of style reports
• Sentence-level checks inside the tools you already use: Grammarly or LanguageTool
• Structure, pacing and character across a whole draft: AutoCrit, Fictionary StoryTeller or Marlowe

Each app is checked against its own pages for platforms, price and AI stance, and prices carry the date I checked them. I have used Google Docs, Word, Scrivener, Ulysses and Obsidian for my own writing; the rest are assessed from vendor pages and published reviews.