Looking for a free AI writing assistant that doesn't require any investment? The best ones you can use are Notion AI and Rytr AI.
AI writing tools are amazing for content creation, emails, grammar checking, and all your writing needs. However, the majority of these tools require monthly or yearly payments. Luckily, there are some great options out there that don’t require any investment at all.
In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the 6 best free AI writing assistants that you can use in 2023. We will look at their capabilities, word limits, and real-world use cases so that you can pick the best one for you.
Notion has 30M users and just released its AI writing tool. It's packed with features where you can edit text, enter prompts, and brainstorm ideas. Take advantage while it's still free.
Rytr has 4M users and offers 10,000 characters per month on its free plan. This equates to 1500-2500 words per month. You get 20+ writing tones, 30+ languages, and a built in plagiarism checker.
TextCortex AI
Best Extension
Best for users who don't need many credits. It integrates with 1000+ websites and gives you 10 free creations every day.
The 6 Best Free AI Writing Tools
Here are the tools we will be covering:
- Notion AI: Best overall with unlimited usage (join waitlist)
- Rytr.AI: Best runner up for 1500-2500 words per month
- TextCortex AI: All-in-one writing tool with 10 free creations per day
- Wordtune: Rewriting and rephrasing tool with 10 free credits per day
- Quillbot: Paraphraser with unlimited usage
- Grammarly: Most popular Grammar checker with unlimited usage
1. Notion AI
Best Overall (unlimited usage)
Notion AI is my top pick because it has the best outputs and the most numbers of features on this free list of tools. With 30 million users, Notion is one of the most loved note-taking and productivity apps in the world.
It has been around for a while, but it recently launched an AI writing assistant that has taken its features to a whole new level. You can only join the waitlist right now. It took me 4 weeks to get accepted but it was well worth the wait.
How It Works
- Open a page in Notion, highlight some text and a toolbar will pop up. Then simply click "Ask AI" to get a dropdown of 10+ powerful features.
- You will get both editing tools and creativity tools.
What makes Notion AI stick out, is you can enter prompts and ask the AI what to do, similar to ChatGPT. This is what most tools charge money for. That means it can be used to write or brainstorm anything from scratch ranging from product descriptions to digital ad copy to blog ideas and everything in between. Whether it's long form or short form content, Notion AI does it all.
Free Features
- Enter prompts and ask the AI to do things
- Write full blog posts or a first draft from a blank canvas. Just give it a title.
- The AI toolbar has the following commands: Improve writing, make shorter, make longer, use simpler language, continue writing, fix spelling & grammar, and more
- Summarize text into bullet points to get the key ideas
- Ask AI to brainstorm ideas for anything: Email headlines, blog post titles, etc.
- Translate into 10+ languages
Currently, Notion AI is in its Alpha release and is giving away all its features for free. They said it will cost money in the future, so sign up on the waitlist today if you want to take advantage of this amazing tool while it's still free!
Reasons To Use Notion AI
- Free unlimited usage since it's still brand new
- It has more features than all the free tools currently
- You can enter prompts and ask it to do things
- Write long form and short form content
Reasons To Not Use Notion AI
- It will be freemium or paid in the future (unknown when)
- Must join the waitlist to get in (I got accepted 4 weeks later, It's 100% worth it though)
- No browser extension yet
2. Rytr.AI
10,000 Free Characters Per Month
Rytr markets itself as a low-cost AI writing tool that can be used for many purposes including SEO, emails, interview questions, profile bios, blog content, facebook ads, and more. According to their site, Rytr uses "language AI" to generate unique, original content for almost any vertical.
As of this writing, it has 4 million users ranging from entrepreneurs to copywriters to academicians.
How It Works
- Use the Browser extension or web editor to reword, shorten, and expand text.
- Select customizations such as the AI's creativity level and number of variations you want to output
- Start with a blank canvas or choose from 40+ different templates
Free Features
- 10,000 free characters per month (roughly 1500-2500 words)
- 20 Different Tones like Casual, formal, awestruck, urgent, funny, etc.
- 40+ Templates like Blog posts and Facebook Ads
- Write in 30+ languages
- Built in plagiarism checker
Reasons To Use Rytr.AI
- Easy to use and good interface
- Offers more words than most free plans
- The free plan gives you access to nearly every features (there is just a cap on the number of words)
- Paid plans are affordable as well ($9 or $29/month)
Reasons To Not Use Rytr.AI
- It doesn't write full articles and it's not the best long form content generator according to some online reviews
- Outputs sometimes aren't as good as other tools
3. TextCortex AI
Best Free Browser Extension
TextCortex is an AI content generator that helps you create content quickly and easily. With 1,000+ website integrations, it works on the all the popular websites like Gmail, Docs, Microsoft Office, Slack, and so on.
It offers 10 free credits every day, so the free plan is best for things like email, brainstorms or for people who don't need to do much writing. Of course, if you want to do more writing, you can get the paid plan which is $24.99/month for unlimited words.
How It Works
- Install the free extension in seconds. No email sign up or credit card is required.
- When you highlight some text, the toolbar will automatically pop up and give you a variety of editing options.
- Write, edit, and reword text on 1,000+ websites that it's integrated with.
Free Features
- 10 free creations per day
- Rewriting and rephrasing
- Email writer
- Extend text
- No email or credit card required
Reasons To Use TextCortex AI
- Easiest Browser Extension set up (no email, no credit card)
- 1,000+ website Integrations with WordPress, Gmail, Notion, Docs, and more
- Powerful toolbar editor (bullet point to email, free text-to-speech, expand, rewrite, 20+ languages, etc)
Reasons To Not Use TextCortex AI
- Word limit is 300 words per creation (not best for long form text generation)
- Only 10 creations per day on the free plan
4. Wordtune
Best Outputs
Wordtune is an AI writing software and browser extension that helps you rewrite and rephrase your writing, resulting in more effective communication. With over 1 million users, Wordtune has established itself as a popular and reliable content writing tool.
How It Works
- Install the browser extension, select your text, and click the Wordtune button.
- A toolbar will be presented, allowing you to rephrase your text in different ways: Shorten, Expand, or change the tone to Casual or formal.
- Rephrase sentences or entire paragraphs.
Free Features
- 10 rewrites every day: It also outputs many variations, increasing the odds you get text that you like.
- Choose Your Tone: Casual and Formal tone is available
- Wordtune Editor: Access the online editor to get grammar corrections, vaocabulary tips, and more
Reasons To Use Wordtune
- Gives you a high quality output every time
- Gives you many variations so you can find the perfect words
- Fantastic for things like email, meta descriptions, profile bios, and short amounts of text
Reasons To Not Use Wordtune
- Extension doesn't work on every website
- Free plan only has 10 credits per day
- Not built for long form content (however, they just launched "Spices" which is in beta open to all Wordtune users for unlimited usage)
Wordtune offers a completely free plan that gives you 10 rewrite credits each day. If you need to write more, they offer a paid plan starting at $9.99 per month for unlimited words, with prices ranging up to $24.99 per month.
5. Quillbot
Best for Students
Quillbot is a free tool that can help improve the overall quality and clarity of your writing. It offers a range of features, including a Paraphraser, Grammar Checker, Summarizer, and Citation Generator.
How It Works
- You visit the website and start editing right away, without having to sign up or enter a credit card.
- Simply paste your text in the Paraphraser (up to 125 words) and let Quillbot rewrite it for you. The summarizer supports up to 1200 words.
- There is a "synonym slider" that helps you decide how much vocabulary you want to change. Moving the slider to the left will give you a more accurate rephrase with fewer changes; moving it to the right means you’ll get a more creative output with more changes.
Free Features
- Paraphraser (unlimited - 125 words at a time)
- Summarizer (unlimited - 1200 words at a time)
- Grammaer Checker
- Citation Generator
Reasons To Use Quillbot
- Unlimited usage for its free features
- Easy to use for paraphrasing and summarizing text
- No email sign up or credit card required to use
Reasons To Not Use Quillbot
- Not the best for rewriting or generating ideas from scratch
- Sometimes the outputs are not what you like
You can use Quillbots free features as much as you like which can be a useful AI tool for teachers, students, and bloggers. The top paid plan is $19.99/month and allows unlimited words, finds synonyms, and checks for plagiarism.
6. Grammarly
Best Free AI Editor
Grammarly is a free browser extension and web app editor that helps you write more clearly and fix grammar mistakes. It is a very popular online writing assistant used by students, bloggers, professionals, and everyone in between.
According to 2020 data, over 50,000 teams and 30 million people use Grammarly to create clear and grammatically correct content.
How It Works
- Grammarly uses artificial intelligence to provide you with suggestions for grammar and writing improvement. The suggestions are based on machine learning and natural language processing.
- You can let the extension run in the background and it will underline words and sentences that need improvement.
- To use Grammarly, simply install the browser extension or use the web app editor. You can then write your text and receive suggestions for improvement in real-time.
Free Features
- Real Time Edits: Spot grammar and spelling mistakes instantly.
- Suggestions: Edits will be suggested in order to make your writing more concise.
- Edit Everywhere : Grammarly integrates with Gmail, Google Docs, Twitter, Slack, and almost every popular app.
Reasons To Use Grammarly
- Helps make your writing error-free
- Trusted by 30 million people
- The free plan is very good
- The extension works on most websites
Reasons To Not Use Grammarly
- Meant for editing and grammar. It doesn't suggest ways to rewrite text like the other tools.
Grammarly's free plan is really good, helping you with grammar, spelling, punctuation, conciseness, and more. If you want more features, you can sign up for Premium or Business at $12 or $15 per month to get full-sentence rewrites, tone suggestions, and much more.