How to get AI to
help me choose an AI writing tool.

What you’ll be able to do

By the end of this you’ll know which kind of AI writing tool fits the thing you actually write, you’ll have tested one on a real draft of your own, and you’ll know when free is enough and when paying starts to make sense. No prior AI experience needed. If you can paste text into a box, you’re fine.

Most “best AI for writing” lists throw forty tools at you in a row and never ask what you’re writing. An email and a novel are not the same job. So pick the type of tool first, then one tool, then test it on your own work.

Quick picks: what are you writing?

• Emails, reports, blog posts? ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini: all free to start, and one of them covers most writing.
• Living in Word? Copilot in Word: rewrites inside your document, if you pay for Microsoft 365.
• Polish and spell-check? Grammarly: the free plan covers the basics.
• Writing that sounds like you? ScriptGrain: a voice profile measured from your own published work.
• A novel? Sudowrite or Novelcrafter: both have free trials.
• Marketing copy for a team? Jasper: built around brand voice, with a free trial.

Before you start

The writing-tool scale

Four tiers. You don’t need all of them, and most people need one, maybe two. Knowing the difference stops you paying for something that won’t help.

Tier 1: General assistant: you chat with it and it writes from scratch, edits your draft or brainstorms. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot are the main names. It covers most writing, and it’s where I’d start.

Tier 2: Editor: checks spelling, grammar and tone and suggests fixes. It’s for polish, not drafting. Grammarly, Microsoft Editor and Hemingway live here.

Tier 3: Voice tool: measures your writing from samples, then drafts to match it. ScriptGrain is the one covered here. Plenty of people can skip this tier, because a general assistant with your samples pasted in gets you part of the way.

Tier 4: Specialist suite: built for one kind of writing, like novels or marketing campaigns. It only earns its cost if that’s genuinely your main output.

Comparison chart

Prices are left out on purpose because they change; check each pricing page before you pay.

Get set up

Pick one tool from the tier that matches what you write most. Don’t sign up to all nine; that’s procrastination with extra steps.

ChatGPT

Tier 1: General assistant

Best formost writing tasksexperimentingquick edits

It’s at chatgpt.com. The free plan gives you unlimited text chats (with guardrails against abuse), but uploads, images, voice chats, deep research and memory are limited. Go, Plus and Pro sit above that, and Go may include ads. Projects and scheduled tasks start at Plus. Start free and only pay once you hit a wall you can name.

Cost: free plan, then paid tiers; check chatgpt.com/pricing. Skip it if: you already know you need Projects from day one.

Claude

Tier 1: General assistant

Best fortalking through a draftworking with fileslonger pieces

It’s at claude.ai, on web, desktop and mobile. The free plan covers chat, web search, creating files, memory across conversations, Artifacts and up to five Projects, with usage limited every 5 hours and every week. Pro adds more usage and unlimited Projects.

Cost: free plan, then Pro and above; check claude.com/pricing. Skip it if: hitting a usage cap partway through a long editing session would drive you mad.

Gemini

Tier 1: General assistant

Best forquick tasksimagesresearch

It’s at gemini.google.com and all you need is a Google account. Free gets you the Flash-Lite model, image generation and editing, Deep Research, Gemini Live, Canvas and Gems. Google AI Plus is the cheapest paid step: it doubles usage and adds Gemini in Gmail and more, with AI Pro and Ultra above that.

Cost: free with a Google account, then paid tiers; check gemini.google/subscriptions. Skip it if: you’d rather keep your writing out of a Google account.

Copilot in Word

Tier 1: General assistant

Best forrewrites inside your documentwriting suggestionsWord users

Microsoft’s Word page says Copilot can rewrite and give writing suggestions inside your document, while Editor handles spelling and grammar. Copilot needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, the AI features are for the subscription owner only, and usage limits apply. It makes sense if you already pay for Microsoft 365 and live in Word.

Cost: needs Microsoft 365; check microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/word. Skip it if: you don’t have Microsoft 365; it isn’t worth buying just for this.

Grammarly

Tier 2: Editor

Best forcatching errorschecking tonepolishing before you send

The free plan checks spelling and grammar, shows your tone and includes 100 AI prompts a month. Pro adds full-sentence rewrites, tone adjustment, plagiarism and AI-text detection, and 2,000 prompts a month. Two free alternatives are worth knowing. Microsoft Editor is a free grammar checker that works in Word and Outlook for the web, in more than 20 languages, with fuller features on Microsoft 365. Hemingway has a free online grammar checker, paraphrasing tool and readability checker, plus Hemingway Editor Plus with a two-week trial and no card.

Cost: free plan, then Pro; check grammarly.com/plans. Skip it if: your writing is already clean and a built-in spellchecker does the job.

The free route needs no new tool: paste three of your own pieces into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask it to describe your style before it writes anything. That’s covered in “How to get AI to sound like me”.

Sudowrite

Tier 4: Specialist suite

Best forfictionrewriting scenesseries continuity

Sudowrite is built for fiction. There’s no free plan, but there’s a free trial with no card. It has Write, Rewrite, Describe and Expand tools, a “Match your writing style” feature and series continuity. Paid plans run on monthly credits, and Professional and Max add developmental edits, line edits and beta reads.

Cost: free trial, then paid credits; check sudowrite.com/pricing. Skip it if: you’re not writing fiction.

Novelcrafter

Tier 4: Specialist suite

Best forplanning a novela story bibledrafting with your own AI key

Novelcrafter pairs a story bible (it calls it the Codex) with a drafting tool. There’s a 21-day free trial with no card. The cheapest tier has no AI at all; AI starts at the Hobbyist tier with bring-your-own-key, and prices are localised to where you are.

Cost: trial, then paid tiers; check novelcrafter.com/pricing. Skip it if: you’re not planning a long project, or you don’t want to manage your own AI key.

Jasper

Tier 4: Specialist suite

Best formarketing teamson-brand copyshared brand voice

Jasper is a marketing platform. There’s no free plan, but there’s a seven-day free trial. Pro is priced per seat and includes 2 Brand Voices, 5 Knowledge assets and 3 Audiences; Business is custom-priced.

Cost: trial, then per seat; check jasper.ai/pricing. Skip it if: you write alone; it’s built for teams.

Try it yourself

Pick a real draft, something you actually wrote, not a test paragraph. Open two tools side by side (say a general assistant and an editor, or two assistants) and run the same prompt in both. Three prompts do different jobs, so choose the one that fits.

The first one edits without taking over your voice:

Here is a draft I wrote: [paste]. Edit it for clarity and length without changing my voice. Show what you changed and why.

The second asks the assistant to describe your style first, then use it. Good for seeing whether it’s really listening:

Here are three things I wrote: [paste]. Describe my writing style in ten bullets, then rewrite this paragraph in it: [paste].

The third is for headlines, which is a different skill altogether:

Suggest five headlines for this piece, each under 10 words, and tell me which one you would use: [paste].

Swap [paste] for your own text each time. Keep a note of which changes you’d actually use.

Check the result

The aim isn’t perfect, it’s whether you’d change less with the tool than without it. Here’s a fair test.

Take one real draft and run it through two tools, say a general assistant and an editor. Keep the one whose edit you would change least.

Then check every fact, name and quote the tool added. This is the bit people skip. If a date, a figure or a quotation appears that wasn’t in your draft, go and verify it yourself, because assistants can state things confidently that aren’t true.

Read it aloud. If it sounds flatter or more formal than you, push back with something like “keep my casual tone”. And mark each edit keep, maybe or no. If you’re keeping less than half, try a different tool or a different prompt before you pay for anything.

If it doesn’t work

Sometimes it’s the tool, sometimes it’s a line you shouldn’t cross. Check these first.

School and university rules. Check your institution’s policy on AI before you use it. Rules differ a lot, and ten minutes reading beats a grade penalty.

AI detectors. They’re unreliable, so don’t use one to prove or clear anything, yours or anyone else’s.

Copyright. Copyright in AI-assisted work is unsettled. Don’t assume you can protect it, and if it matters commercially, ask a professional.

Confidential documents. NDAs, client or patient data and other people’s details do not go into a consumer tool unless you’ve checked its data settings. If you’re unsure, leave it out and write that part yourself.

If the output is just bad, it’s usually the prompt. Add who it’s for, how long it should be, and one example of something you like.

Questions people ask

Which AI writing tool should I start with?

Start with a general assistant: ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini are all free to start, and one of them covers most writing. Pick one tool from the tier that matches what you write most, rather than signing up to all nine.

Can I paste confidential work documents into an AI writing tool?

NDAs, client or patient data and other people's details do not go into a consumer tool unless you've checked its data settings. If you're unsure, leave it out and write that part yourself.

How do I test whether an AI writing tool is actually worth it?

Take one real draft, run it through two tools side by side with the same prompt, and keep the one whose edit you would change least. Mark each edit keep, maybe or no; if you're keeping less than half, try a different tool or prompt before paying.

What should I check in AI-edited writing before using it?

Check every fact, name and quote the tool added, because assistants can state things confidently that aren't true. Read it aloud too, and if it sounds flatter or more formal than you, push back with something like "keep my casual tone".

Keep exploring

“How to get AI to sound like me”, for matching your voice with a general assistant.

“How to get AI to edit my writing”, for briefing an AI editor properly.

“How to get AI to sound more human”, for drafts that feel less robotic.

“How to get AI to help me choose an assistant”, for picking the general assistant that fits you.

Not sure whether AI is allowed for what you are writing at all? Our site canyouuseai.com gives a verdict for questions like cover letters and homework, with the UK rules and risks.

Sources and review notes

https://chatgpt.com/pricing https://claude.com/pricing https://gemini.google/subscriptions https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/word https://www.grammarly.com/plans https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/microsoft-editor https://hemingwayapp.com/ https://www.sudowrite.com/pricing https://www.novelcrafter.com/pricing https://www.jasper.ai/pricing https://scriptgrain.com/pricing https://scriptgrain.com/trust

Review date: 4 November 2026

Disclosure: ScriptGrain is one of our products — this site is made by the same studio, Adapt Progress Evolve. We have tried to compare fairly, and the alternatives named are real and worth a look.