There are different grammar checkers online available online in 2019, free and paid, and Grammarly is one of the best-known ones. The platform offers a free and premium version. The premium version will run you $29.95 a month currently unless you bundle months together to get a discounted rate. Read on for our Grammarly review of both the free and premium versions of this excellent software.

Subscription Plans from Grammarly

After putting the premium version to the test, here are a few insights on whether it is worth going premium with Grammarly.

Grammarly Review – Pros for Teachers

One tool that could cut teacher’s time in half when grading papers is the plagiarism tool. Grammarly claims that the cloud-based software scans over 8 billion websites to look for plagiarized content. With this powerful tool, I can see this being a much-needed shortcut for teachers when grading student’s papers.

Teachers can use this extra time to focus on helping improve their students overall writing and style.

Also, when using the program in Microsoft Word, you can change the type or genre of the article you’re either writing or proofreading. You do have to add Grammarly to Word by following the prompts from your profile on the Grammarly website.

With genres like essay and research papers to choose from in the academic section, you can move through papers using the grammatical styles associated with each kind of writing. Adding the Grammarly tool to Word and the plagiarism tool are both only available through the premium membership.

Grammarly Review – Helpful Tools for Writing

Another perk of going premium is being able to look at advanced issues in your writing. When using the free version, Grammarly lets you know there are “X” amount of advanced issues that you can see IF you upgrade to premium.

If you tend to write more than the average person and are interested in improving your writing skills and grammar, being able to look at the advanced issues is one of the best tools the software provides.

Personally, I tend to write in the passive voice more than I want in my writing. The premium version of the grammar checker has helped me work towards breaking this habit. Also, it breaks the habit of using any repetitive words and even suggests synonyms that may fit better with your wording.

Also, the ease of use of the software is great. Adding extensions to your browser and Word are simple and using the grammar checker is self-explanatory.

Grammarly checks over 250 types of grammatical issues, spelling mistakes, and enhances the vocabulary of the user in the premium version. What I found using the tool is that they do deliver well on all of these categories.

The Drawbacks

Grammarly does have a few drawbacks.

It’s grammar suggestions may not always make sense regarding what you’re trying to write and get across to the reader. At this point, you have to use your best judgment in going with the suggestion or sticking with your original writing.

An example of this is when the passive voice is necessary, and it wouldn’t make sense to use the active voice in the context of your writing. Grammarly tends to do this in different style tips and suggestions. Just check the context and decide on what sounds better to you.

Also, when using the browser extension, Grammarly hasn’t picked up on how writing may differ on your personal social media. Sometimes when you add new statuses on different platforms, it’ll pick up multiple errors on abbreviations and social lexicon.

Just clicking through these and being able to post can be time-consuming as well as irritating.

Grammarly Review 2019 – The Verdict

Grammarly has a lot to offer to anyone who takes their writing seriously or grades any papers in an educational setting.

With only a few drawbacks, the pros greatly outweigh the cons. The writing enhancing tool, whether in the free or premium version, does help writers create better content and helps break any old writing habits.

If cost isn’t a factor for you and you enjoy improving your writing skills, the premium version may be a tool you’ll find useful.

Overall, if you plan on writing more than the average person or you’re an educator who does need to proofread constantly, I would recommend the premium tool. If you don’t grade papers often or need to write much, trying the free version out would probably cut it for you.  Start with the free version of Grammarly here.

We hope you have found this grammarly review helpful. Have you tried Grammarly’s premium version? What did you think of the grammar checker’s tools?

Do you leverage apps to help you save more money? If not, you should be!   Read on for my picks for the top 5 personal finance applications for 2016!

1) Mint

I truly love Mint. It allows you to set and keep track of your budget, track your personal saving and spending goals and so much more.  You can track anything that happens in any of your accounts (checking, savings, retirement, investments, etc.).

Mint has a tremendous array of features and can give a very in-depth look at all of the minutiae of your accounts.  However, I love it mostly for the at-a-glance, 30,000 foot view it can give of your current financial picture.

One annoyance I have with Mint is that it stays logged on by default.  This can be a security issue if your device gets stolen.  Make sure you change the setting on your device that requires your manual login.  Also, as with other financial apps that require your account info, the process of inputting all of your accounts can be arduous as well.

However, in my opinion, once you get it set up and password protected, Mint is truly invaluable.

Get Mint for iOS | Google Play

2) BUDGT

BUDGT is a paid app, but well worth the small $1.99 cost! BUDGT will help you keep track of each and everyone one of your expenses in a most unique fashion. Each day a new budget will be created for you, based on how much you have spent during the month.

In short, BUDGT takes what’s left after your fixed expenses and divides it up between all of the days of the month. This simple feature allows you to know at a glance when you are (hopefully!) staying within your budget, and when you’re not (bad teacher!).

The only things I don’t like about this app are that 1) it doesn’t allow you to change the default budget (it sets it automatically based on your income and fixed expenses) and; 2) it can be a lengthy process to input all of your expenses. Oh, and ;3) unfortunately it is currently only available for iOS.

Those three points aside, this app is again, well worth the small $1.99 cost!

Get BUDGT for iOS

3) PlentyFi

A free, safe and popular personal finance app that is very easy to explain and recommend.  In short, PlentyFi (formerly SavedPlus) puts money aside from every purchase you make directly into your savings account.

I’m a big fan of making saving automatic and PlentyFi is one way to help you do so.  If you lean towards spending rather than saving, this app will help you do BOTH at the same time.

That in mind, one drawback to this application is that you may find yourself spending more money than you would have without the app.   In other words, to know you are saving a bit of money can soften the guilt of making a big purchase that you otherwise might not have made.  I do this with eating all of the time.  I’m sure you can relate to my internal conversations that go like: “This 1000 calorie cheeseburger will be OK for me as long as I eat the slice of lettuce that comes on top…. right?”

Haha.  Just exercise some self control and you’ll love PlentyFi.

Get PlentyFi for iOS | Google Play

4) Expensify

My fourth featured app in my list of top 5 personal finance applications for 2016 is Expensify, an app which allows you to track your expenses, create expense reports and more.

My favorite feature is its SmartScan functionality that scans, reads the details of and helps you categorize your receipts!

Another great feature of the app is that it allows you to enter mileage llows you to create mileage expenses while you’re on the go. It gives you the option to enter the amount of miles you’ve traveled, and even use the GPS tracking feature – all for free.

While this app is catered mostly to business travelers, I think educators could make great use of this app as well, especially for trips and any time reimbursements from the school are in order.

Get Expensify for iOS | Google Play

5) Credit Karma

Rounding out our list of top 5 personal finance applications for 2016 is Credit Karma.  This app offers an engaging (and free!) way to track and optimize your credit score.  This feature alone of truly FREE credit score checking makes this app worth having.   Unlike the many other “free” credit score services that you may have seen on TV, Credit Karma actually gives you your scores for free.  No credit card is ever required, and you will never have to pay for the Credit Karma service!

In addition, the Credit Karma app also offers many free tools and money-saving features.  You can use the app to research and calculate the best rates on credit cards, loans etc.   Lots of cool stuff in there.

The biggest drawback to the Credit Karma app is that you are presented with A LOT of offers when you log on to the app.  This is how they are able to give you your credit scores and other features for free, so hopefully it is not a deal breaker for you.

Get Credit Karma for iOS | Google Play

Top 5 Personal Finance Applications for 2016 – Conclusion

There you have it, my list of the top 5 personal finance applications for 2016!  I truly hope you have gotten some value from this summary of apps.

Please tell me what you think of my list. What are your favorite personal finance apps? Teachers: are there any apps that you think are uniquely suited for educators looking to save money?  Leave your comments below!