Grammarly alternatives that don't keep your writing

The Morse teamUpdated November 9, 2026Facts checked November 7, 202610 min read

The best Grammarly alternatives for privacy, as of November 7, 2026, are Morse, for proofreading and rewriting with a full AI model in a chat whose history stays encrypted in your browser; Harper, which checks English grammar entirely on your device; LanguageTool, which you can run on your own computer; Hemingway Editor, which says it has no cloud document library and doesn't train on your text; ProWritingAid, which says it removes checked text once the analysis is done (Web Editor documents aside) and doesn't train on it; and Apple's Writing Tools, which handle many requests on the device. For privacy, the trouble with Grammarly is what it reads and keeps. It runs in the text fields where it's active, and on Free, Premium, and single-user Pro accounts its "Product Improvement and Training" setting starts on, so what you type there can train its models until you switch it off (Grammarly).

We read the privacy, help, and pricing pages of Grammarly, its parent company Superhuman, and each alternative on November 7, 2026, and compared them on two questions: what leaves your device, and what's kept once it does. Grammarly deserves credit first. It says "We never sell the content you upload to our products, provide it for advertising purposes, or allow third parties to use it to train their models" (Grammarly), and every Grammarly for Education account, along with every plan bought through its sales team, starts with training off (Grammarly).

Grammarly alternatives compared, as of November 7, 2026

Grammarly is last, for reference.

Is Grammarly now called Superhuman?

The company is, and the product isn't. Grammarly's terms, effective October 29, 2025, are an agreement with "Superhuman Platform Inc., formerly known as Grammarly, Inc." (Grammarly), and one Superhuman privacy policy, effective July 6, 2026, now covers Grammarly, Docs, Go, and Mail (Superhuman). Grammarly is also sold inside Superhuman's suite, whose Pro plan costs $15 a member a month, or $12 billed annually, as of November 7, 2026 (Superhuman).

Why look for a Grammarly alternative?

Because of how much it reads and how little it says about keeping it. Grammarly says it "can't access anything you type unless you are actively using a Grammarly product offering," such as the browser extension, or AI features "that consider additional content" (Grammarly). Its Chrome extension, with 40,000,000 users and version 14.1345.0 updated November 5, 2026, tells the Chrome Web Store it handles personally identifiable information, personal communications, location, user activity, and website content (Chrome Web Store). Grammarly says its apps skip sensitive fields "such as names, addresses, passwords, and payment information on a best-efforts basis" (Grammarly).

On Free, Premium, and single-user Pro, training is on unless you turn it off. On Free and Premium, go to account.grammarly.com/security/privacy and switch off Product Improvement and Training; single-user Pro accounts find the same toggle at account.grammarly.com/admin/data_settings (Grammarly). With it off, Grammarly says your content isn't used for training, but it "may still collect non-content data, such as writing statistics (total words written, types of suggestions accepted, mistakes made, etc.)" and use that for training.

How long it keeps most of your text isn't stated, with one exception: once you open an Authorship report, Grammarly keeps that typing history, deleted text included, "for up to 10 years" (Grammarly). For the rest, Superhuman's policy says only that it keeps data "for different periods of time depending on what it is, how it's used, and how you configure your settings" (Superhuman). Documents saved in the Grammarly Editor stay "until you delete the document or your Grammarly account" (Grammarly). Grammarly also says "Some Grammarly features may record your typed or copied input if you provide explicit permission," after an in-app notice (Grammarly).

Morse: AI proofreading and rewriting that Morse's servers don't keep

A Grammarly-style assistant works by sitting in the fields you type in and sending that text to servers that keep it for periods its policy doesn't name. The local checkers in the table avoid that by sending nothing, but they stop at grammar: Harper has "no LLM in the loop," and LanguageTool's own guide says "The AI-based rules are only available in the cloud." Morse is for the rewrite they can't do, built so Morse's servers never keep your text.

In Morse, a draft goes nowhere until you paste it into a chat and ask for a proofread, a tighter version, or a new tone, from over 30 open and closed models. The chat is saved in your browser, encrypted, and opening it takes a key that stays on your device plus one Morse gives you at sign-in. Morse doesn't train on your writing, sell data, or show ads, and its servers don't log message content. Clearing your browser deletes the chat for good, so keep finished drafts in your own files.

• Private, for routine proofreading. It's the default for new chats, on open-weight models such as DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM, plus Grok. Morse has zero data retention agreements with its inference, search, and other providers, so they keep nothing.
• E2EE, for text no one else should read. On Pro, your browser verifies a secure enclave's attestation, then seals the message so only that enclave can open it, and Morse's servers relay ciphertext they can't read. The enclaves are run by third-party providers, not by Morse, and this depends on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed. Here's how to check an attestation.
• Anonymous, for an edit from GPT, Claude, or Gemini without your name on it. The proxy strips your account, email, and IP address. The provider still sees the text without knowing it's you, and may keep it for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy, so trim personal details first.

Because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities. Free includes 15 messages a day; Pro, at $19 a month or $17 billed yearly, adds E2EE. The Morse privacy page shows what each mode lets anyone see.

Harper: a grammar checker that never sends your text

Harper sends nothing off your device, by its own account. Its site says "Every check happens locally. No cloud round-trips, no telemetry, no LLM in the loop," and "Your writing never leaves your computer" (Harper). It's free under the Apache-2.0 license, and the site's footer reads "© 2026 Automattic Inc." Its creator, Elijah Potter, writes that he now works at Automattic and builds it with Harper's users and maintainers (Harper).

It runs as extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, plugins for VS Code, Obsidian, Neovim, WordPress, and Zed, and a desktop app for macOS. Harper says it gives "Suggestions in under 10ms." As of November 7, 2026, it supports only English, in its British, American, Canadian, Australian, and Indian dialects, and it flags mistakes for you to fix rather than rewriting whole passages (GitHub).

LanguageTool: the cloud version doesn't train, and you can host it yourself

LanguageTool is run by Learneo, Inc., the company behind QuillBot, under a privacy policy updated August 17, 2026. That policy says "Learneo does not use inputs from any LanguageTool user (Individual or Team Plan) to train its language algorithms or models," with no opt-out needed (LanguageTool). It gives no retention period for the text you check, and it says browser extension content includes "the content of websites visited."

To keep your text at home, run the server yourself. The core is open source under the LGPL 2.1 or later (GitHub), and LanguageTool's guide walks through starting a local server, then choosing Local server under Experimental settings in the browser add-on (LanguageTool). The guide warns that this gives "a basic LanguageTool server without AI-based rules." The free cloud plan checks up to 2,000 characters per text field, and Premium up to 150,000 (LanguageTool).

Hemingway Editor: no document library, and no training by its AI providers

Hemingway Editor is made by Boondoggle Studio, LLC, and its privacy policy, effective October 8, 2026, is unusually specific. "Hemingway does not provide a cloud document library," and your working document "normally stays in your browser." On Editor Plus, AI features send "the necessary text to Hemingway and the AI providers," which "may include your instructions, a selected passage, surrounding context, or the full document text needed for the feature." The policy says "We and our AI providers do not use this content to train, fine-tune, or improve AI models," though those providers "may retain requests for security, abuse prevention, or legal requirements" (Hemingway).

The same policy says closing your account doesn't delete documents in your browser, and "Signing out does not clear your browser's working document," so clear it yourself on a shared computer. Plus costs $8.33 a month billed annually ($100) for 5,000 AI sentences a month (Hemingway). The Hemingway Editor 3 desktop app costs $19.99, works with "no internet connection required," and "Does not include new AI features" (Hemingway).

ProWritingAid: reports for long drafts, with AI features you can switch off

ProWritingAid says it doesn't train on your writing, and we cover what it keeps from a manuscript in private AI for writers. Its generative features are Sparks and Rephrase, and you can turn both off in settings (ProWritingAid). As of November 7, 2026, the free plan checks 500 words at a time, and Premium is $30 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly at $120, with a $399 lifetime option (ProWritingAid).

Apple Writing Tools: proofreading in the menu you already use

On a Mac, iPhone, or iPad with Apple Intelligence, select text and choose Writing Tools to Proofread or Rewrite, pick a Friendly, Professional, or Concise tone, or describe the change you want, in "most places you write, including third-party apps and websites" (Apple). Which requests stay on the device, and how to log the ones that don't, is in is Apple Intelligence private.

Is QuillBot more private than Grammarly?

Not on its defaults. QuillBot's help center, updated August 17, 2026, says it stores text from its extensions by default and lets only account holders opt out of training (QuillBot), and is QuillBot safe covers the rest.

What happened to Microsoft Editor?

Microsoft retired its Editor browser extensions for Edge and Chrome on October 31, 2025. It says they "no longer receive updates or support," and that their writing features "are now built into Microsoft Edge's proofing tools" (Microsoft), so uninstall the old extension if it's still in your browser. For Microsoft's AI inside Word, see does Microsoft Word train on your documents.

How we compared them

We read every page linked above on November 7, 2026, and took each company at its written word. We didn't install the extensions or watch their network traffic, so "nothing leaves your device" is each maker's claim. LanguageTool's Premium prices didn't load on its page when we read it. Grammarly's plans page lists Pro at $12 without saying in its text whether that's billed monthly or yearly, so we've also given Superhuman's suite prices. For what any writing extension can see in your browser, read are AI browser extensions safe.

Choose Grammarly or an alternative

• Choose Grammarly if you want suggestions in nearly every app you write in and will switch off Product Improvement and Training first, or if your school or employer bought it through Grammarly's sales team, where training starts off.
• Choose Harper if you write in English and want nothing to leave your computer.
• Choose LanguageTool if you write in other languages, or you'll run its server yourself.
• Choose Hemingway Editor if you want plainer prose, and its $19.99 desktop app if you want it offline.
• Choose ProWritingAid if you edit long manuscripts and want style and structure reports.
• Choose Apple Writing Tools if your device has Apple Intelligence and you want quick fixes where you already type.
• Choose Morse if you want a full AI model to proofread and rewrite only what you paste, with no training, history encrypted in your browser, and E2EE for drafts no one else should read.

Paste a paragraph into a chat from the Morse home page without an account, or start free with no card. E2EE chats come with Pro, at $19 a month.

Morse publishes this comparison. We've tried to keep it fair; if something's wrong or out of date, email hello@trymorse.ai.

Grammarly is a trademark of Superhuman Platform Inc. Morse is not affiliated with or endorsed by Superhuman Platform Inc.