In this QuillBot review, I’ll analyze the AI writing assistant, a favorite for paraphrasing texts, grammar checking, and detecting plagiarism.
To ensure you have all the necessary information at your fingertips, my in-depth QuillBot review breaks down the plans available and compares the platform with several other leading AI copywriting tools based on pricing, features, and its pros, and cons.
What is QuillBot?
QuillBot AI is a summarizer, paraphrasing tool, grammar checker, citation generator, and a translator. It is also predominantly used as a rewriting assistant for existing text.
QuillBot AI is a popular choice for academic purposes. It’s adept at digesting or rephrasing large chunks of text, and its copywriting features can also be used for commercial purposes.
While it does offer a generative writing feature, during my hands-on testing I found that this isn’t its standout feature as it can be unreliable.
QuillBot Pricing
QuillBot’s pricing plans are simple. There are just two options: Free or Premium. In this section, I’ll outline the available plans, the costs, and the features included.
Plans | Free | Premium |
---|---|---|
Starting Price | $0 | $4.17/month (billed annually) |
Summarizer Tool | 1,200 words | 6,000 words |
Paraphrasing Word Limit | 125 words in paraphraser | Unlimited |
Paraphrasing Options | Standard and fluency modes | Unlimited custom and 9 predefined modes |
Synonym Slider Limit | Limited use | Full use of slider |
Freeze Word Limit | 1 freeze word | Unlimited |
Plagiarism Checker | ❌ | 25,000 words per month |
Processing Speed | Normal | Faster processing speed |
Citation Generator | Basic Citations | Comprehensive citation capabilities |
Extensions | Browser extension | Integrates with Chrome, Google Docs, and MS Word |
Text Recommendations | ❌ | Premium recommendations to improve text quality |
Summaries Using Custom Instructions | ❌ | ✅ |
Tone Insights | ❌ | ✅ |
Paraphraser History | ❌ | ✅ |
Value for Money
While Quillbot has a really generous free plan, if you are wanting to utilize the tool for more than one summary, I’d highly recommend upgrading to the premium plan.
The free version lets you test the AI tool’s basic features, but the upgraded plan includes a plagiarism checker and advanced citations.
It also offers you unlimited paraphrasing while increasing your summarizing cap to 6,000 words. Another bonus here is removing the limit to your freeze words, ensuring that specific words don’t change when paraphrasing or summarizing your copy.
QuillBot Features
QuillBot is a valuable tool for professional writers looking for a tool to simplify their editing process. During my QuillBot review, these were the features I found most notable:
Paraphraser
QuillBot AI is best known for its Paraphraser feature, which allows you to rewrite text into new wording or change its tone. The free plan allows you to switch between standard and fluent writing modes, while QuillBot there are 9 writing modes on the Premium plan, including academic, formal, and custom tones.
The Free plan has a limit of 125 words per use, while the Premium plan allows you to paraphrase an unlimited number of words.
Plagiarism Checker
While QuillBot’s Plagiarism Checker is limited to the Premium plan, it allows you to double-check that your text is original and not copied from another source.
It also allows you to verify correct citations for accurate source attribution. This QuillBot feature is available in 100+ languages and can handle 100 pages monthly.
It also helps maintain citation best practices while fostering a culture of respect for intellectual property. It’s an excellent tool for students wanting to ensure their work is unique and properly cited, reducing the risk of unintentional plagiarism.
QuillBot Flow
QuillBot Flow is an editor tool, similar to Google Docs but with added artificial intelligence. You can import existing text from MS Word, or Google Docs.
Alternatively, you can use the Smart Start feature to create text based on your choice of format and context. QuillBot also has 32 templates, including academic papers, emails, professional documents, and blog posts.
Once you’ve set up your text document, you can write it yourself or use QuillBot’s suggestions. A ‘suggest text’ feature offers a selection of pre-written text that you can add to your document.
QuillBot Flow also has an AI review feature—similar to Grammarly—that offers a range of suggested improvements on sentence structure, unnecessary words, and grammatical errors.
I found that QuillBot Flow is best used to improve your own writing rather than relying solely on QuillBot’s suggested text. It doesn’t consider SEO best practices like keyword research, which is offered by ClosersCopy and Jasper AI, for example.
Grammar Checker
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker is a free, unlimited tool for detecting grammatical errors. It can work with the grammar conventions of British English, American English, Canadian English, Australian English, and five other languages.
Summarizer
QuillBot’s Summarizer tool is a standout feature for academics, students, or anyone wanting to condense large amounts of information.
This feature puts it alongside the top AI summarizes for text, research papers, or documents. You can switch formats from paragraphs to bullet points and custom while using the slider to adjust the summary length.
This feature is available on the Free plan for a maximum of 1,200 words. The Summarizer tool combines with QuillBot’s Paraphrase tool to reword the concise summaries into another iteration. You can also export and save the result, which is handy when keeping track of notes during academic research.
Translation
QuillBot’s translator tool supports 40+ languages and is free. Its advantage over Google Translate is that it integrates writing tools within QuillBot Flow, so you won’t need to switch between tabs or windows.
Citation Generator
QuillBot’s Citation Generator is free to use. Simply input the URLs of the pages you’d like to cite, and QuillBot AI will create a list of citations in your chosen style.
During testing, I found that QuillBot offers a range of citation styles, including APA, MLA, and Chicago. This tool can cite webpages, journal articles, books, and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to manually create citations if QuillBot AI doesn’t source the correct information. I’d recommend familiarizing yourself with the correct way to cite as there is a possibility for error.
QuillBot Integrations
QuillBot AI integrates with many other writing platforms, and it even offers a Google Chrome extension — similar to Grammarly — providing real-time assistance while drafting documents in Google Docs or when you summarize online documents.
This functionality extends to writing in MS Word, composing emails, crafting social media posts, and more. Essentially, QuillBot AI can act as a supportive sidekick wherever you’re writing text (even long-form content), offering suggestions to refine and improve your writing.
QuillBot vs Top Competitors
Now that you have an idea of what QuillBot AI offers, I’ll compare it with some of the best AI writing tools on the market. Here’s how it compares to the best QuillBot alternatives:
Providers | QuillBot | ClosersCopy | Rytr | Jasper AI | Scalenut | Copy AI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Best For | Academic writing assistance | Marketing and sales copy | Affordable copywriting | Reliability | Keyword research | High-quality output |
Starting Price | $4.17/month (billed annually) | $49.99/month | $7.50/month | $39/month | $39/month | $36/month |
Free Version | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | 7-day free trial | 7-day free trial | ✅ |
Plagiarism Checker | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | With integration | ❌ |
Top Features | Summarizer, Paraphraser, Citation generator | SEO tools, 700+ templates, In-house AI | Keyword generation, Outlines, Rewriting | Copywriting, Brand voice adherence, Grammarly, and SurferSEO | Keyword planner, On-page SEO checker, Cruise mode | Email writing, SEO-optimized writing, built-in plagiarism checker |
QuillBot vs GrammarlyGO
QuillBot’s closest competition is GrammarlyGO, as both are AI writing tools. Despite their similarities, they do have slightly different strengths.
Providers | Quillbot | GrammarlyGO |
---|---|---|
Free Plan | ✅ | ✅ |
Starting Price | $4.17/month | $12/user/month |
Grammar Checking | ✅ | ✅ |
Plagiarism Detection | ✅ | ✅ |
Paraphrasing | ✅ | ❌ |
Summarizing | ✅ | ❌ |
Tone Adjustment | ❌ | ✅ |
Citations | ✅ | Beta |
Customer Support | Knowledge base, Digital email form, Contact number | Knowledge base, Digital form |
Integrations | MS Word, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, & Safari | MS Word & Chrome |
QuillBot AI is primarily a paraphrasing tool that rewrites text, helps reduce plagiarism, and improves word flow. It’s also great as an academic writing assistant and for generating citations.
GrammarlyGO is best known for its in-text grammar checker and spell-checking features, which improve overall readability and writing quality. It also offers a plagiarism checker and a beta citation generator, but it’s more commonly used as a Chrome extension.
QuillBot vs ChatGPT
QuillBot AI and ChatGPT are pretty different tools, each serving distinct purposes. QuillBot is an AI rewriting tool that’s designed to help you rephrase or summarize texts while ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) chatbot.
Providers | Quillbot | ChatGPT |
---|---|---|
Free Plan | ✅ | ✅ |
Starting Price | $4.17/month | $20/user/month |
Grammar Checking | ✅ | ❌ |
Plagiarism Detection | ✅ | ❌ |
Paraphrasing | ✅ | ✅ |
Summarizing | ✅ | ✅ |
Image Generation | ❌ | ✅ |
Citations | ✅ | ❌ |
Customer Support | Knowledge base, Digital email form, Contact number | Online Chat, Online Customer Chat |
Integrations | MS Word, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, & Safari | Google Sheets, Slack, Google Drive, and Microsoft Outlook |
Since these tools are so different, I wouldn’t consider them direct competition. QuillBot AI isn’t proficient at generative AI text, but it’s an excellent summarizing or paraphrasing tool. You could potentially use these tools in combination for better results.
QuillBot vs Jasper
QuillBot AI and Jasper are both AI-powered writing tools, but they have some distinct differences and ideal use cases.
Providers | Quillbot | Jasper |
---|---|---|
Free Plan | ✅ | ❌ Free trial |
Starting Price | $4.17/month | $39/user/month |
Grammar Checking | ✅ | ❌ |
Plagiarism Detection | ✅ | ✅ |
Paraphrasing | ✅ | ✅ |
Summarizing | ✅ | ✅ |
Image Generation | ❌ | ✅ |
Citations | ✅ | ❌ |
Customer Support | Knowledge base, Digital email form, Contact number | Online Chat, Online Customer Chat |
Integrations | MS Word, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, & Safari | Google Sheets, Slack, Google Drive, and Microsoft Outlook |
Jasper AI is intended to generate original content from scratch and rewrite and expand upon existing text. It offers various templates and tools for tasks like blog post writing, copywriting, social media content creation, and more, so it can be used for various outlets.
In contrast, QuillBot AI is primarily designed as a rewriting and paraphrasing tool for existing content, and its output is best suited to academic writing tasks or research purposes. Jasper, however, can create marketing and sales copy due to its AI SEO research and a wider variety of templates.
While Jasper may offer many similar features to Quillbot, the price difference between the two is quite evident. If you don’t need to generate art or text from scratch, then I’d recommend Quillbot as you top option.
QuillBot Customer Reviews
QuillBot has mixed reviews on independent review sites. It has a Trustpilot rating of 3.5/5, which is lower than rivals Jasper AI (4.4/5) and Writesonic (4.8/5) but higher than ClosersCopy (2.7/5) and Copy.ai. (3.4/5).
Quillbot’s positive reviews praised the time-saving qualities when writing. Others were pleased with how QuillBot AI improved existing texts and improve the flow of their writing.
I’ve found QuillBot to be an absolute game-changer for my academic writing. Its integration with Google Docs is smooth, allowing me to use its paraphrasing tools directly in my documents. This is a huge plus when I’m deeply involved in writing research papers or essays. It makes it easy to tweak and polish my sentences without needing to switch screens or tools…
— User review collected from Trustpilot
Reviewers were happy with QuillBot’s value for money, and many were pleased with the quality of the free version. Others said they didn’t regret paying for the full version because it was a worthwhile investment in improving their writing skills.
Disgruntled customers noted that the tool was difficult to navigate. While this wasn’t my experience, I’d encourage you to try any tool before you buy.
Other complaints mentioned that artificial intelligence detectors easily detected the AI-generated text.
How to Use QuillBot
In this section, I'll run through the basics of how you can use QuillBot to improve and refine your writing.
Sign Up
QuillBot AI offers many of its services for free, but you’ll need to enter your personal information to begin (such as your name and email address). If you already have an account, simply enter your QuillBot login or login with your Facebook or Google account.
Create a Project
QuillBot AI has multiple features, all of which can be explored from within the QuillBot Flow text editor. You can create a project from scratch, import existing work, or use the Smart Start AI feature to create text. You can also choose a template from the library if you want to work from an existing framework.
Enter Contextual Information
Once you’ve started a project, QuillBot AI will ask you to describe what you want to write (consider this as your title or headline). Then, briefly introduce your topic. This will also act as the groundwork for QuillBot’s suggestions. Don’t worry, you can edit this once you move on to the next step as you aren’t bound to anything now.
Generate Content
QuillBot AI offers a generative writing feature so you can craft your article from the suggested text. These are fully editable, allowing you to maintain control over your text throughout the process. You can scroll through the suggestions and edit accordingly.
Paraphrase
To reword any input text, you can use the Paraphraser tool. It’s available within the QuillBot Flow editor.
The free version of QuillBot AI allows you to switch between two modes: Standard and Fluent. The Premium version does offer additional modes that will allow you to exercise a greater degree of control over your tone of voice.
Summarize
Simply input the text you want to condense, select if you wish to receive the summary as a paragraph or bullet points, select the desired length, and then hit ‘Summarize’. You’ll then receive a concise summary of your text.
How We Review And Test AI Tools
We base our recommendations on first-hand testing. All the products we feature, have been tested based on the following criteria:
- Accuracy: The accuracy of every AI tool varies and is largely dependent on the AI model used and the quality of the input. We test each tool to gauge its accuracy across the tasks and use cases it supports.
- Performance: We also test how long it takes the AI tool to deliver results and weigh this time against the quality of the output. Quick results mean nothing if the output isn’t accurate, relevant, or what you expected.
- Ethical Considerations: We explore any issues with bias, transparency, and privacy to ensure we recommend only the best artificial intelligence solutions that take these ethical concerns seriously.
- User Experience: We test every AI tool on all the supported platforms to gauge its user-friendliness and whether it works as advertised. We also explore any online documentation available.
- Value for Money: We weigh the features, performance, and accuracy of the market’s best AI tools against their cost to determine their value for money. We also factor in the cost to scale with the platform.
- Features: We test every feature on offer with the service over a two-week period. This includes testing their functionality (whether it’s art generation, or voiceovers, for example) across all the platforms the tool supports.
- Security: From data privacy to ensuring the tools haven’t had a data breach, we take security seriously, checking their regulatory compliance and how vulnerable the AI models are to exploitation.
How to Choose the Best AI Tool
Given the range of AI tools available, finding one isn’t easy. To ensure you make a well-informed decision, I found it will be important to consider these points:
Ensure the tool meets your specific needs and objectives. Are you looking for a marketing copywriter or an academic writing assistant? Check the features on offer against your intended use.
Not all AI writers produce high-quality content. Check reviews to understand how real-life users feel about its speed, reliability, and output quality.
Look for a tool that lets you customize it to your workflow, integrates with your other software, and allows you to tweak its output to match your brand’s tone of voice.
A tool can have all the features in the world, but if it isn’t user-friendly, then you may not be able to maximize its potential. If there’s a free trial or plan, this can be a great opportunity to test the product before signing up.
If you work with sensitive information, security features should be a consideration when using AI tools. Look for robust security measures like data encryption, access control, and compliance with standards such as GDPR or HIPAA.
Consider whether the tool offers good value for money or if there’s a generous free option available. It’s also important to see whether it can grow alongside your needs without becoming too expensive.
Before clicking ‘checkout,’ examine the specific features offered by each tool’s pricing tier to ensure it offers everything needed to achieve your goals.
Conclusion
After through hands-on testing, I found that QuillBot offers a strong set of supplementary tools, including a paraphraser, summarizer, grammar checker, and a citation generator. Each one of these is a great addition to any writing toolkit.
I’d recommend this tool for students or academics who want an online word processor with research functionalities that can boost their writing clarity, generate citations, and offer grammar-checking support.
The summary feature is also a really helpful tool for a similar use case. In terms of its generative AI copywriting proficiency, QuillBot AI could be better.
However, to tests QuillBot’s functionality, I created a blog post entirely from its suggestions and wasn’t overly impressed with the result. If you need to generate text from scratch, I found that Jasper AI and Rytr are stronger options.
I found that QuillBot is best used to improve your own existing texts as an accessory, and not a full replacement.
FAQs
Is QuillBot safe to use?
What does Quillbot do?
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References
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) (United States Department of State)
- QuillBot Customer Reviews (Trustpilot)
- Science & Tech Spotlight: Generative AI (U.S. GAO)