Grammarly vs. Free AI Tools: Do you still need it?

About this video

Kevin tests whether Grammarly is still worth using when free AI tools can generate emails, reports and essays, in a video he says he partnered with Grammarly to make. Grammarly, started in 2009 to help students with grammar and spelling, is now a writing assistant that generates, rewrites and summarizes. Using an Outlook email announcing drone delivery for the Kevin Cookie Company, he sets a voice (casual formality, engaging tone, sales professional, American English), prompts Grammarly from its in-app overlay, and inserts a draft that incorporates details like the coupon code ‘cookie fly.’ He stresses real-time underlines and proactive suggestions as he types, targeted rewrites of highlighted text via the sidebar (a pro feature, e.g. ‘Make it more humorous’), and pro ‘increase the impact’ ideas. By contrast, Microsoft Copilot requires a paid Microsoft 365 subscription and only works inside Microsoft 365 apps, gives no proactive recommendations (its Coaching feature lists suggestions he must apply manually), and ChatGPT requires copying text back and forth from ChatGPT.com. He frames Grammarly as a communication specialist versus Copilot and ChatGPT as generalists that also do images, video and data analysis. On pricing, all offer free plans, but only Grammarly works in-app on the free tier, with up to 100 generations/refinements per month free, and he says Grammarly works across 500,000 apps and websites.

Key takeaways

• Grammarly’s main advantage shown is its in-line overlay that works where you write — Outlook, LinkedIn and Slack are named — with real-time underlines and proactive suggestions, no tab-switching needed
• A free Grammarly account includes the overlay and up to 100 text generations/refinements per month, per the video
• Highlighted-text rewrites via the sidebar and ‘increase the impact’ suggestions are described as pro features
• Copilot in Outlook requires a paid Microsoft 365 subscription, is limited to Microsoft 365 apps, and its Coaching suggestions must be applied manually
• ChatGPT can draft the same email but requires copying text between ChatGPT.com and the email app for every revision

Episode details: published March 26, 2025 · 12:24 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Kevin Stratvert’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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