LanguageTool vs Sapling (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, LanguageTool grades higher than Sapling: 2.8 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
LanguageTool grades higher on value for money, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
LanguageTool
Grammar and style checker for more than 30 languages
Sapling
Writing assistant and AI detector for support and sales teams
Which one is for you
Pick LanguageTool if
- Fits if you write in several languages and not only English
- Works for people who write in LibreOffice, Thunderbird or Apple Pages and want a checker inside them
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $24.90 against $69.90 for the whole year
- Tight if you're staying free, as it checks 2,000 characters per text field and allows 3 AI rephrasings a day
- Watch out: there's no Premium trial, only a 14-day money-back guarantee, and Teams is sold from 2 users
- Skip it if you want an app on an Android phone, as none appears on the site
- Too light for plagiarism checks, AI-text checks or summarising, which some rivals include
Pick Sapling if
- Fits if you write support replies or sales emails all day and want saved snippets
- Works for developers who want a grammar or AI-detection API
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need it on every site for free, as unlimited use on premium domains needs Pro
- Tight if you stay on Free: 20 snippets and AI checks capped at 2,000 characters
- Watch out: the API is billed separately, per character, with a $5 minimum
- Pricey if you're buying for a team, as Enterprise starts at 10 seats and chat assist is only there
How we grade them
| 2.8GPALanguageToolGood | 2.2GPASaplingFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPremium is $69.90 billed annually, about $5.83 a month, dropping to $4.99 a month if you commit to two years, which is inside this category's cheaper quarter at $5.00. Pay by the month and it's $24.90, more than four times the annual rate, so don't. | C$12 a month on yearly billing, $25 if you pay monthly. That's just under the dearer quarter of writing tools, which start at $12.50. |
| Free plan and trial | CBasic is free for as long as you like and checks grammar, punctuation and spelling across 30-plus languages. But it stops at 2,000 characters per text field, which any real document walks past, Picky Mode is limited and AI rephrasing is 3 a day. No trial of Premium either. | CThe free plan gives basic suggestions, 20 snippets and AI checks up to 2,000 characters, on free domains only. A 1-month Pro trial needs no card. |
| Features | BIt covers the checking job in full: grammar, spelling, punctuation and style in 30-plus languages, 20,000 extra checks on Premium, texts to 150,000 characters, AI paraphrasing and a style guide. What it hasn't got is the extras its rivals carry, like Grammarly's plagiarism and AI-text checks or QuillBot's summarising. | CGrammar, autocomplete, rephrase, AI detector and an API. The listing puts chat assist on Enterprise only. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record, but there's nothing to set up: add it to your browser, Word, Google Docs or mail client, or install the app, and it underlines things where you already type. Hosting your own server is an option, not a requirement. | CNo store rating on record. You install an extension or add-in and connect it to each place you write. |
| Platforms and integrations | BAdd-ons for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari and Opera, plugins for Google Docs, Word, Apple Pages and LibreOffice, email add-ons, apps for Windows, macOS and iOS, and a proofreading API. The hole is Android: no app for it appears on the site, so no A. | BBrowser extension and add-ins for Google Docs, Word, Outlook, Gmail and Slack, plus an API. No desktop or phone app listed. |
| Best for | grammar checking in more than one language | grammar and rewrites inside email and support chat |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: LanguageTool and Sapling. How we grade
Price against what you get
LanguageTool starts at $4.99 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Sapling starts at $12 a month and scores 2.3.
LanguageTool scores higher and starts $7.01 a month lower. Of the other writing tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than LanguageTool for less, and 26 score higher than Sapling for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- LanguageTool is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Sapling also covers text expansion.
At a glance
| LanguageTool | Sapling | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $4.99 per month on a 2-year plan ($119.80); $69.90 billed annually | $12 per month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Basic plan: grammar, punctuation and spelling checks in 30+ languages on up to 2,000 characters per text field, with limited Picky Mode and 3 AI rephrasings a day. | Basic writing suggestions, 20 snippets and AI detector checks up to 2,000 characters each, on free domains. |
| Free trial | None listed | 1-month free trial of Pro, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | LanguageTooler GmbH | Sapling Intelligence, Inc. |
| Price read from | languagetool.org | sapling.ai |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
LanguageTool
- The free Basic plan checks 2,000 characters per text field and allows 3 AI rephrasings a day.
- There is no free trial of Premium; LanguageTool offers a 14-day money-back guarantee instead.
- Monthly billing is $24.90, more than four times the per-month cost of the annual plan.
- Apps are listed for Windows, macOS and iOS; no Android app appears on the site.
Sapling
- Unlimited use on premium domains needs Pro or Enterprise; the free plan works on free domains only.
- Chat assist is listed for Enterprise only, not for Pro.
- The API is billed separately from Pro, per character, with a $5 minimum.
- Team pricing is not published beyond a start at 10 seats and $15 per seat per month.
Key features
LanguageTool
- Grammar, spelling and style checks
- Checks grammar, punctuation, spelling, casing and style. Premium adds more than 20,000 extra checks for English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish and Portuguese.
- AI paraphrasing
- Rephrases a sentence to be more formal, more fluid or shorter. Basic accounts get 3 rephrasings a day and Premium removes the limit.
- Long-text checking
- Premium checks up to 150,000 characters per text field, against 2,000 on the Basic plan.
- Style guide and dictionaries
- Custom rules enforce consistent wording. Teams share a style guide and a dictionary of approved terms, with admins deciding who can add to them.
- Add-ons and apps
- Browser add-ons for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari and Opera, plugins for Google Docs, Word, Apple Pages and LibreOffice, email add-ons, and apps for Windows, macOS and iOS.
- Open-source core and API
- The core checker is open source, with code on GitHub, and users can set up their own LanguageTool server. A hosted Proofreading API accepts up to 60,000 characters per request.
Sapling
- Grammar and spelling checks
- Real-time suggestions as you type in browser editors and in Google Docs, Word and Outlook add-ins.
- Autocomplete and snippets
- Autocomplete Everywhere finishes sentences on paid plans, and snippets insert saved replies. The free plan allows 20 snippets.
- Rephrase
- Rewrites a selected sentence in other wording. It is part of Pro and Enterprise and is not on the free plan.
- AI detector
- Scores text for AI-generated passages. Free checks stop at 2,000 characters; Pro and Enterprise allow 100,000 per check.
- API and SDK
- Grammar, autocomplete, AI detection, paraphrasing and sentiment through HTTP requests, with Python and JavaScript client libraries.
Plans
LanguageTool
Basic$0
Grammar, punctuation and spelling checks on up to 2,000 characters per text field, with 3 AI sentence rephrasings a day.
Premium$5.83
per month, billed annually ($69.90); $24.90 billed monthly
Up to 150,000 characters per text field, 20,000+ extra checks, unlimited AI paraphrasing and a personal style guide. Also $49.90 a quarter or $119.80 for 2 years.
Teams$66.40
per user / year, for a team of 2 users
Every Premium feature plus user management, a team style guide and a team dictionary. Sold from 2 users, with a lower per-user price for larger teams.
Sapling
Free$0
Basic suggestions, 20 snippets, and AI detection up to 2,000 characters per check.
Pro$12
per month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly)
Advanced suggestions, autocomplete, rephrase, unlimited snippets, and AI detection up to 100,000 characters.
API$5
one-time minimum top-up, used as you go
Usage-based language and AI detection APIs for developers, billed per character.
EnterpriseCustom
Adds chat assist, team analytics, SSO and SCIM, and self-hosting. The page says it starts at 10 seats.
Ways to pay less
LanguageTool
- Annual discount
Longer billing terms cost less per month
Premium is $24.90 billed monthly, $49.90 a quarter, $69.90 a year or $119.80 for two years, which works out to about $5.83 and $4.99 a month on the two longest terms.
- Education
Up to 20% off for students and educators
Students, teachers and professors can claim an educational discount of up to 20% off a Premium subscription.
- Other savings
Team seats priced below individual plans
On Teams, each seat costs less than the $69.90 individual annual price: $66.40 per user for 2 users and $62.91 per user from 10 users.
- Other savings
Limited-time 20% discount on Premium
The pricing page was advertising a limited-time 20% discount on Premium, with a countdown, when it was checked on 2026-10-05.
Sapling
- Annual discount
Save 52% with annual billing
The pricing page shows Pro at $12 a month when billed annually, against $25 a month billed monthly.
- Education
Student and nonprofit discount
The pricing FAQ says Sapling has a discounted plan for students and nonprofits; terms are by contacting the company.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, LanguageTool or Sapling?
As of Nov 12, 2026, LanguageTool is cheaper to start with: $4.99 a month, against $12 a month for Sapling. LanguageTool starts at $4.99 per month on a 2-year plan ($119.80); $69.90 billed annually, and Sapling starts at $12 per month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, LanguageTool or Sapling?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both LanguageTool and Sapling have a free plan.
Which platforms do LanguageTool and Sapling run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only LanguageTool lists macOS, Windows and iOS apps. Both list a web app and a browser extension. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.