Grammarly is hired to check spelling and grammar while people write. That job is often partly covered by the editor or email client already in use, so the first question is who uses the paid extras. Below: the published plans, an open-source option we verified, and the checks before you end a subscription.
It is installed once in a browser and then forgotten. Nobody owns the question of who still uses it, so seats carry on after the person who wanted them has moved teams or left.
The cost is small per seat, which is exactly why it survives. Added up across a team, and across the other small subscriptions in the same state, it is worth a look. Our software audit lists these together.
Only alternatives we have checked. An open-source project is listed with the license its repository reports, on the date shown; one whose license could not be read as a single standard id is not offered as open source. Read the license guide before running any of them.
| Alternative | Kind | License | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| LanguageTool | Open source | LGPL-2.1 | LanguageTool repositoryChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
Each feature below is what the product's own page or README says, linked to where we read it on the date shown. Pros and cons are limited to what those pages state and to what the path itself changes. We do not rank products on quality.
| Plan | Price as published | Includes | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grammarly Free | $0 USD per month | Writing suggestions, tone view and 100 AI prompts per month, as listed | Grammarly plansChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Grammarly Pro | $12 USD (billing period not printed; free trial offered) | Everything in Free plus rewriting, unlimited personalized suggestions and 2,000 AI prompts per member per month, as listed | Grammarly plansChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
List prices as printed on the vendor's page on the checked date, in US dollars and excluding tax. The page did not print a billing period beside the Pro price. Prices may differ at checkout.
Spell and grammar checking is a small job that many tools already do inside the editor people use. The question is whether anyone uses what the paid plan adds, such as tone or rewriting, or whether the seats are there out of habit.
Where the concern is confidentiality, a self-hosted checker keeps text on your own machines. That is a reason to move even when the price is not the driver.
Samples are made up and are not Grammarly's prices. Type in the figures from your own invoice or order form.
The honest yearly cost of running open-source software yourself, set against the bill it replaces, with the seat count where it stops paying.
Paid seats against seats in use: what the idle ones cost a year, and what you save by right-sizing at renewal.
Arithmetic only, not tax, accounting or legal advice. Check the figures against your own order form.
There is little data to move, so the work is about people and habits. In outline:
List every seat and the person it belongs to. Include individual plans on personal cards that were expensed, and any team plan.
Ask each person which features they use, and check last-active dates in the admin view if the plan offers one. Mark seats with no use.
Export saved snippets, custom dictionaries and any shared style rules so the wording survives the move.
Pick the replacement: the checker built into the editor, a free tier, or a self-hosted one. Try it on five real documents from the team and compare what it catches against what people expect.
Install the replacement for the pilot group, give them a week, and collect what is missing.
Remove the old extension from browsers and editors, move everyone over, and cancel seats inside the notice window.
Run the vendor report for QuickBooks Online or Xero, then open the free audit.
General information, not legal advice. See cancelling without penalties. Last reviewed Oct 25, 2026. Product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify them.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned. Grammarly is one of the lines worth a look.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
| Self-hosting, per year | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hosting, backups, tooling | 720.00 |
| Admin and restore-test time | 2,640.00 |
| Total | 3,360.00 |
| One-off set-up (not in the yearly total) | 1,200.00 |
The saving holds only if the time is real. Price the admin hours at what that person's time costs the company, not at zero.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
“In use” is your call: last sign-in in the past 30 or 90 days from the vendor's admin report. A seat for someone on leave is not idle.