Sunset Mesa Software
Grammarly vs Rewire Text
Grammarly and Rewire Text overlap on one job: fixing the grammar, clarity, and tone of what you wrote. They are shaped completely differently around it. Grammarly is a subscription service that watches as you type and suggests continuously, everywhere. Rewire Text is a utility you buy once: select text, press a hotkey, run the fix you want, and get on with it.
If you searched for a Grammarly alternative without a subscription, the shape difference is the whole story. You give up the always-on underlines. You get back $144 a year, control over where your text goes, and a tool that also does things Grammarly never will, like case conversion, encoding, Markdown cleanup, and translation. We think owning your tools is the better trade. Here is the comparison so you can decide for yourself.
At a glance
| Rewire Text | Grammarly | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | macOS and Windows | Windows and macOS desktop apps, browser extensions, mobile |
| Price | $29 one-time | Free tier; Pro from $12/month billed annually ($144/year), or $30 month-to-month |
| License and trial | One license, any 2 devices, managed by you. 7-day fully functional trial, then a core set of transforms stays free. 14-day refund. | Account required. Generative features are usage-metered. |
| How you trigger it | Global hotkey and command palette in any app, plus a full window for longer text | Always-on suggestions and underlines inside supported apps and text fields |
| Non-AI transforms | 43 transforms (case, encoding, formatting and cleanup, Markdown, developer tools). Instant, on-device, no key, no network. | None |
| AI transforms | 18 fixed transforms (tone, proofread, summarize, and more), one-click translation into 29+ languages, free-form custom instructions, and custom transforms you save and reuse | Continuous grammar, clarity, and tone checking, plus metered generative rewrites |
| Bring your own key | Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, xAI Grok, and OpenRouter built in, plus any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Through OpenRouter and compatible endpoints, that reaches hundreds of models from effectively every major provider. | No. Text is processed by Grammarly’s cloud with their models. |
| Local models | Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp | None |
Grammarly facts verified July 13, 2026 against grammarly.com. Out of date? Tell us.
Where Grammarly is the better pick
- Continuous checking as you type. This is Grammarly's core and Rewire Text does not do it at all. If you want mistakes flagged the moment you make them, without thinking to ask, that is Grammarly.
- Grammar-specific depth. Style guides, team consistency features, a plagiarism checker, and years of tuning on English usage.
- Zero setup. Sign in and it works. No API key, no model choice, nothing to configure.
- A serviceable free tier. Basic spelling and grammar cost nothing, if you can live with the upsells.
Where Rewire Text is the better pick
- You own it. $29 once versus $144 every year. Five years of Grammarly Pro is $720; five years of Rewire Text is the same $29, and it keeps working if we never sell you anything again. No account, no kill switch, no rental. That is the point.
- Your text stays yours. Grammarly's model requires reading what you type in the apps it monitors, on its servers. Rewire Text sends only the text you select, only when you ask, to the provider you picked. Or nothing anywhere: the deterministic transforms and local models run entirely on your machine. In client-confidential or locked-down environments, that difference is decisive.
- It does more than grammar. Tone rewrites, summarizing, translation into 29+ languages, custom transforms you define yourself (a saved "rewrite in my voice" prompt, for example), and 43 deterministic transforms (case, encoding, whitespace, Markdown, JSON) that a grammar checker has no equivalent for.
- Model choice. Gemini, Claude, OpenAI, Grok, OpenRouter, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or a local model. When better models ship, you switch; no waiting for a vendor roadmap.
Which should you choose?
- You want passive, always-on proofreading and the yearly bill is fine: Grammarly. Nothing else on this page replaces the as-you-type experience.
- You proofread deliberately (drafts, emails, docs) and are done with subscriptions: Rewire Text. Select, hotkey, Fix Grammar & Spelling or Proofread, Enter. The fix lands where the text already is.
- Your workplace restricts cloud text processing: Rewire Text with a local model. Grammarly has no offline mode.
- Not sure you can live without the underlines: your OS and browser already flag basic spelling for free. Try a week of Rewire Text's trial on top of that before renewing anything.
Questions
Does Rewire Text check my writing as I type, like Grammarly?
No, and this is the honest heart of the comparison. Grammarly watches continuously and underlines problems as they appear. Rewire Text is on-demand: you select text, press the hotkey, and run Fix Grammar & Spelling or Proofread when you want it. If passive, always-on checking is essential to you, Grammarly is the tool built for that.
How do the prices compare?
Grammarly Pro is $144 per year billed annually (or $30 month to month), every year. Rewire Text is $29 once, and the AI usage on top goes to your own provider at cost, typically pennies per month, or nothing at all with a local model.
Which is better for privacy?
They are structurally different. Grammarly processes what you type in monitored apps on its cloud, under its policies. Rewire Text sends only the text you explicitly select, only when you run a transform, and only to the provider you chose. With a local model or the deterministic transforms, nothing leaves your machine at all.
Do I need a subscription for Rewire Text’s AI features?
No subscription of any kind. The AI transforms use your own API key (a free Google AI Studio key is enough to start) or a local model through Ollama, LM Studio, or llama.cpp.
Can Rewire Text rewrite and change tone like Grammarly’s generative features?
Yes. Rewrite, tone transforms (professional, casual, friendly, formal, persuasive, concise), summarize, translate into 29+ languages, and free-form custom instructions (which you can save as named transforms of your own), streaming into a preview before anything is replaced. With your own key there is no monthly prompt quota; you pay your provider per use.
Own the tool instead
Download Rewire Text and use everything free for 7 days. If on-demand fixing fits how you write, it is $29 once, on any two of your devices, for as long as you want it.