Pangram vs Paperpal
We give Pangram and Paperpal the same GPA: 2.6 out of 4.0. Pangram grades higher on the free plan. Paperpal grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Pangram
Detects AI-written text and images, with a free daily allowance
Paperpal
AI writing and checking assistant for academic papers
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAPangramGood | 2.6GPAPaperpalGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against its own alternatives, as it checks text rather than helping you write it. Individual is $15 a month billed yearly ($20 monthly) for 300,000 words, above Grammarly's and Paperpal's $12 and nearly twice QuillBot's $8.33, which all do more besides. | CPrime is $12 a month billed annually ($144), which is right at the dearer quarter for writing tools, and covers 20,000 grammar edits and 10,000 words of plagiarism checks a month. Pay monthly and it jumps to $25. Pro, with unlimited edits and the full Journal Fit report, is $29. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree for good with no payment method: 20 credits a day, about 2,000 words, plus 3 image scans, and it resets daily. One person checking the odd essay or article could live on that. A teacher marking a whole class in an evening couldn't. | CFree with no card, but these are caps you'll meet quickly: 200 grammar edits a month, 5 uses a day of paraphrase, trim, translate and research questions, chat with 5 files a month and 300 MB of storage. Enough for an essay, not for a thesis. |
| Features | CIt does AI detection fully: scores and marked passages across 20+ languages, image checks, similarity checks, OCR for scanned files and feed scanning. But it's a much smaller job than a writing tool's, as it only tells you who wrote the text. | BIt covers the whole job of getting a paper out: academic grammar and tone, paraphrasing, DeepL translation in over 30 languages, citations in over 10,000 styles, answers drawn from 300 million articles, plagiarism and AI detection, and over 30 pre-submission checks. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record, but there's nothing to set up: paste the text or upload a file, and the result comes back with the suspect passages marked. | BNo store rating on record, so we go on the listing: it sits where you already write, as a Word add-in and a browser extension for Google Docs and Overleaf, with nothing to set up first and no card needed to start. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and a Chrome extension, with Google Docs and Gmail on paid plans, Canvas, Moodle, Google Classroom and Brightspace for schools, and an API. No desktop or phone app. | BWeb, a Microsoft Word add-in, and Chrome and Edge extensions that work inside Google Docs and Overleaf, with DeepL behind the translation. Plugging into the places you already write is what earns the B; no desktop or mobile app is listed. |
| Best for | checking whether text was written by AI | polishing academic papers before submission |
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: Pangram and Paperpal. How we grade
Price against what you get
Pangram starts at $15 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Paperpal starts at $12 a month and scores 3.0.
Paperpal scores higher and starts $3 a month lower. Of the other writing tools on the chart, 14 score higher than Pangram for less, and 4 score higher than Paperpal 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
- Pangram starts at $15 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly). Paperpal starts at $12 per month, billed annually ($144).
- Paperpal also covers research, citations and grammar & style.
At a glance
| Pangram | Paperpal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) | $12 per month, billed annually ($144) |
| Free plan | 20 credits a day, enough for 2,000 words, plus 3 image scans a day, file uploads and scans of single social posts. No payment method needed. | 200 grammar edits a month, 5 uses a day of paraphrase, trim, translate and research Q&A, chat with 5 files a month, lite plagiarism and Journal Fit reports, and 300 MB of library storage. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of the Individual and Team plans; Professional is billed at sign-up | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Pangram Labs | Cactus Communications |
| Price read from | pangram.com | paperpal.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Pangram
- Teachers and professors checking student work for AI writing
- Editors and publishers screening submitted articles
- Developers adding AI detection to their own apps through the API
Paperpal
- Researchers preparing manuscripts for journal submission
- Students writing theses and essays who need citation help
- Non-native English speakers polishing academic prose
- Writers who want checks inside Word, Google Docs or Overleaf
Worth knowing
Pangram
- The free plan stops at 20 credits a day: one credit is 100 words, rounded up, so it covers about 2,000 words. Credits reset daily.
- API use is billed apart from the seat plans at $0.05 per 100 words; of the self-serve plans, only Professional includes API credit.
- Refunds apply only to individual plans, within 14 days of purchase and with fewer than 20 credits used.
- Zero data retention, custom hosting and custom LMS or ATS integrations need the sales-priced Enterprise plan.
Paperpal
- The Free plan stops at 200 grammar edits a month and 5 uses a day of the paraphrase, translate and research tools.
- Plagiarism checks have a monthly word cap on every paid plan; going over it means buying a one-time add-on valid for a month.
- The one-time multi-year option exists for Prime only, and the full Journal Fit report needs Pro.
- No desktop or mobile app is listed: it runs on the web, in a Word add-in and in Chrome and Edge extensions.
Key features
Pangram
- AI text detection
- Scores a text for AI generation and marks AI-written or AI-assisted segments; Pangram benchmarks it against 26 models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others.
- AI image detection
- Checks JPG, PNG or WebP images of at least 512 x 512 pixels for AI generation: 3 a day free, 100 a month on Individual and 500 on Professional.
- Similarity checks
- Paid plans can run a similarity (plagiarism) check on any scan; each one uses 5 credits, or 500 words of allowance.
- Chrome extension and feeds
- The Chrome extension checks text in the browser, and on paid plans it automatically scans your feeds on social media, Substack and similar sites.
- Docs, Gmail and school systems
- Paid plans add Google Docs and Gmail; schools connect it to learning systems such as Canvas, Moodle, Google Classroom and Brightspace.
- Developer API
- A pay-as-you-go API costs $0.05 per 100 words, with 20% off for batch submissions sent asynchronously.
Paperpal
- Grammar and consistency checks
- Suggests grammar, tone and consistency fixes tuned to academic writing. The Free plan allows 200 edits a month, Prime 20,000 and Pro has no cap.
- Paraphrase, trim and translate
- Rewrites sentences in an academic tone, cuts word count and translates text, with translation powered by DeepL in over 30 languages.
- Research and citations
- Answers questions with cited findings from more than 300 million research articles and formats citations in over 10,000 styles.
- Chat with PDFs and a library
- Upload papers and ask questions about them: 5 files a month on Free, 150 on Prime and 500 on Pro, with library storage from 300 MB to 10 GB.
- Plagiarism and AI detection
- Checks similarity against a stated 99 billion sources and flags AI-written text. Plagiarism checks are capped at 10,000 words a month on Prime and 30,000 on Pro.
- Submission readiness checks
- Runs more than 30 pre-submission checks on language, structure, figures, disclosures and metadata. The full Journal Fit report is limited to Pro.
Plans
Pangram
Free$0
Up to 2,000 words and 3 image scans a day, file uploads and single-post scans on social media and Substack.
Individual$15
per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
300,000 words and 100 image scans a month, similarity checks, OCR for scanned files, automatic feed scanning, and Google Docs and Gmail.
Professional$45
per month, billed annually ($65 billed monthly)
Individual features at 5 times the volume: 1,500,000 words and 500 image scans a month, plus $200 of API credit each month.
Team$20
per seat / month from 2 seats, billed monthly
Individual features for each member, with an admin and member dashboard and one bill; $40 a month for the first 2 seats.
EnterpriseCustom
Sold through sales: API access, zero data retention and custom hosting, custom LMS or ATS links, volume pricing and dedicated support.
Paperpal
Free$0
200 grammar edits a month, 5 writing and research uses a day, chat with 5 files a month and 300 MB of library storage. No card required.
Prime$12
per month, billed annually ($144); $25 billed monthly
20,000 grammar edits, 10,000 words of plagiarism checks, 25,000 words of AI detection and 500 writing and research uses a month, with 2 GB of storage.
Pro$29
per month, billed annually ($348); $59 billed monthly
Unlimited grammar edits, AI detection and writing tools, 30,000 words of plagiarism checks a month, full Journal Fit reports and 10 GB of storage.
Enterprise / InstitutionCustom
Institution-wide pricing with access management and shared libraries, arranged through sales, with a free trial on request.
Ways to pay less
Pangram
- Annual discount
Save $60 to $240 a year with annual billing
Individual is $15 a month billed annually against $20 monthly (save $60), Professional $45 against $65 (save $240), and a 2-seat Team saves $120.
Paperpal
- Annual discount
About half off with annual billing
Prime costs $144 billed annually against $25 a month ($300 over a year), and Pro $348 against $59 a month ($708), a saving of roughly 51 to 52%.
- Other savings
Prime Multi-year Saver: one payment for 2 or 3 years
Prime can be bought for 2 years at $229 or 3 years at $289 as a single payment with no auto-renewal. The option is not offered for Pro.
- Education
Student discount through an institution email
Paperpal's pricing FAQ offers a discount to students who sign up with an institution email address and recommend that their institution buy a license.
