QuillBot Review: Is This The Best AI Paraphrasing Tool?

QuillBot is a popular AI-powered writing tool offering features like paraphrasing, grammar checking, plagiarism detection, and translation. It assists writers, students, and professionals in enhancing and expediting their writing process, catering to both native and non-native english speakers!

Angel Cuala

Updated September 27, 2023

Illustration of school children study in school, simple background, bright coloring

Illustration of school children study in school, simple background, bright coloring

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting out, writing isn't easy. It takes years of practice to perfect sentence syntaxes, grammar, and other details. With a tool like QuillBot, you could have a chunk of this done automatically.

If English isn't your first language, AI paraphrasing tools can help you understand language better to polish your writing. If you want to mix up your writing style or adapt content for different readers, QuillBot can do this in just a few seconds. Here's how it works

What is QuillBot?

Since launch in 2017, QuillBot has become one of the most popular AI paraphrasing tools. Since launch, they've partnered with Course Hero, an even bigger company that assists students. This freemium AI tool boasts an impressive team of world-class engineers, linguists, and other specialists. 

QuillBot offers a plethora of reliable writing tools and valuable extensions. Over the years, the company has earned the trust of over 150 million users across the globe.

Who Should Use QuillBot?

Any kind of writing hobbyist that needs help speeding up or improving the quality of their writing. Some specific examples of people that come to mind are students, educators, essayists, academic researchers, writers, copywriters, bloggers, and really anyone who writes.

Anyone who needs high-quality writing paraphrased in a matter of seconds should use Quillbot. Regardless of who you are, you can tailor the tool to produce results for a variety of different intents.

QuillBot Key Features

QuillBot is packed with dependable tools designed for accuracy and efficiency. Apart from its exceptional paraphrasing feature, this AI writing tool has a grammar checker, a plagiarism checker, a co-writer, a summarizer, a citation generator, and a translator.

QuillBot Paraphraser

The QuillBot paraphraser lets you write a paragraph, change to a mode you're looking to imitate, and then generate an interactive new paragraph. You can use the paraphraser for free up to 125 words without even needing to sign in. Unlike many other free AI tools, you are not bombarded with distracting ads across the page.

To use the free paraphrasing tool, go to Quillbot.com and enter any kind of text in the field. Alternatively, you can upload a file or drag it into the field.

Before hitting the Paraphrase button, you can choose from 7 different rewriting modes - Standard, Fluency, Expand, Shorten, Formal, Simple, and Creative. However, free users can only select between the first two. English is the default language, but you choose from 22 other languages. This includes Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Tagalog.

On the output side, you’ll see a synonyms tool with a manual slider that you drag to the left (lowest) and the right (highest). The more to the right you select, the higher the chance the writing gets more scrambled. If you're looking to slightly modify your writing, only move the slider a bit. Clicking the colored texts allows you to choose from a list of synonyms and rephrase your text.

The compare mode shows the comparison between the original sentence and the paraphrased result in different modes. Use the Select button to choose a sentence and the manual slider to adjust the level. Free users can see the Standard mode and up to a certain level only, while paid users can view all 7.

QuillBot Grammar Checker

The QuillBot Grammar Checker does not only detect incorrect grammar, but spelling and punctuation as well. As soon as you enter your text, the errors will automatically be highlighted and suggestions will appear on the right side. It works similarly to Grammarly. You can correct them one by one or correct all of them in just one click using the fix errors button at the lower left side of your screen. You can also see the number of errors inside a red circle.

QuillBot Plagiarism Checker

As of writing this, the QuillBot plagiarism checker is only available to Premium users. I think it’s worth spending for if you want to use it with their paraphraser.

QuillBot accepts various file types, including CSV, HTML, and txt. The complete list includes file types such as doc, docx, odt, pdf, ppt, xlsx, and xls. Within a few seconds, their plagiarism checker will release a comprehensive report. It will show how many results were found and a match percentage score.

The plagiarism checker shows how many pages you have used and can still be used. It also stores your content to run the report and for future access. But don’t worry – QuillBot vows not to share your content anywhere else. Their third-party vendor, Copyleaks, also does not store content. If you need more pages, you can purchase them in packs of 20, 100, and 250.

QuillBot Co-Writer

The Co-Writer simply combines all QuillBot’s tools in one place. This cool feature is also available for free, as long as you sign in. You are also not required to enter your card details. You can either type directly into or upload an existing document.

QuillBot Summarizer

They also offer a Summarizer feature to summarize really anything you need. It really reminds me of something you can do with ChatGPT, but organizes it directly within their tool. You'll see key sentences and paragraph modes. One results in bullet form, while the other paraphrases and summarizes into paragraphs.

Use the manual slider to choose the length of the summary. The length of the summary is at the bottom of the page.

QuillBot Citation Generator

To cite a webpage, paste the URL in their field. You can cite things in the general, APA, and the MLA style. If you click more types and cite manually for each style, all of them will give you the same format. You can use any of the three links and end up doing the same process. 

Aside from a webpage, clicking the more types button allows you to choose other types of content. This includes a journal article, a book, a news report, a video, or an image.

After choosing a style, you can easily select other styles using the dropdown menu. You can also group, filter, or arrange your citations in alphabetical order, according to the date of publication, or the date you added them.

Citing a book using the tool has the same process, except that each citation will result in different formats. And yes, it accurately cited a book I tested using all three styles - APA, MLA, and Chicago.

QuillBot Translator

This free translator tool allows you to translate up to 5,000 characters (around 300 words) at a time. Simply paste your content in the field and hit the translate button. Currently, they offer a minimum of 35 languages to choose from.

What about quality? I tested the tool using English to Tagalog and asked a Filipino friend to rate the result. Amazed by the result, he gave it an accuracy score of 95%!

QuillBot Pricing

QuillBot offers three Premium plans – Monthly, Semi-annual (33% Savings), and Annual (59% Savings). The tool also offers an exclusive Amber Student rate with a 25% discount, with the same features. For more information, see the pricing chart below.

Amber Student

Non Amber

  Monthly (billed monthly)

$17.95

$19.95

  Semi-annual (billed every 6 months)

$11.33

  $13.33

  Annual (billed every 12 months)

  $6.25

  $8.33

What’s the Difference Between Free and Premium Account?

QuillBot is fairly good on its own, you don't need to purchase a premium account unless you see it daily on a lot of content, and want all of the features besides paraphrasing.

Free

  Premium

  Paraphraser (number of words per input)

 125

Unlimited

  Modes

  Standard and Fluency only

All 7 modes

  Synonym Options

3

4

  Freeze word or phrase

1

  Unlimited

  Summarizer (number of words per input)

 1,200

6,000

  Faster processing speed

  Stealth Mode

  Advanced grammar rewrites

  Compare Modes (Desktop only)

Plagiarism Checker*

  Tone detection

  Paraphraser History

*Scan up to 20 pages a month

QuillBot Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Free version (no sign-up required)
  • Very easy to use
  • Produces high-quality results
  • Quick turnaround time
  • Discord bot integration
  • Chrome extension
  • Google Docs extension
  • MS Word extension
  • Desktop app for Mac (Early access)
  • Available in 23 languages
  • Extensive documentation
  • Light/Dark mode

Cons

  • No AI Content Detection
  • Free version has very limited features and a very low word limit
  • Plagiarism Checker for Premium users only
  • Unused portion of pages for Plagiarism checking does not roll over
  • No mobile app
  • No API Access
  • 3-day money-back guarantee only

QuillBot Alternatives

I've worked with a ton of paraphrasing and content tools over the last few months, and I wouldn't say QuillBot can do it all. There's always some viable alternatives you could use. Here's a few:

Undetectable AI

Undetectable.ai was released in March 2023 but immediately caught the attention of ChatGPT users. This new AI paraphrasing tool vows not only to rephrase text that would pass AI detection but also “humanizes” it. Apart from that, you can customize your output based on your target audience and the purpose of your writing. Check out our full review.

Features

  • Paraphrases and humanizes text
  • 9 Choices of Purpose of Writing
  • Adjustable readability levels
  • 3 Human Scale choices
  • Releases results from AI detection tools

Pros

  • Wide selection of readability
  • Offers various purposes for writing
  • Provides results quickly
  • Bypasses advanced AI detection tools
  • API Access
  • Maximum of 10,000 characters per input

Cons

  • Free use has a 250-word limit
  • May shorten original content
  • Supports English only

HideMyAI

One of the newest AI scrambling tools, HideMyAI does almost exactly the same thing as Undetectable. It let's you reword and rewrite everything in a selected sample of writing. It does this in a matter of seconds, and has slightly differently results than Undetectable. Check out or full review and comparison between the two.

Paraphraser.io

Founded in January 2020, Paraphraser.io is a freemium AI writing tool with a paid WordPress plugin. This paraphraser uses GPT-3 and NLP to understand texts and rephrase them in more human-written content. It also has some similar AI writing features as QuillBot and its alternatives, but with different limitations.

Features

  • Paraphrasing Tool
  • Article Rewriter
  • Grammar Checker
  • Text Summarizer
  • Plagiarism Checker
  • Citation Generator

Pros

  • Free version (no daily limit)
  • Very affordable
  • 6-mode selection
  • Supports 22 languages
  • Mobile app (iOS and Android)
  • Windows and Mac apps
  • Email and Chat support

Cons

  • Free version overloaded with ads
  • Some modes are premium only
  • No AI detection tool
  • Paid API Access
  • Premium WordPress plugin
  • No money-back-guarantee
  • No dark mode

Is QuillBot Really Worth Using?

The short answer is a definite yes! The free version of QuillBot is pretty solid. If you're not in a rush or only need to rewrite short pieces of content, 125 words per input for paraphrasing should do the trick. Plus, you get a generous 1,200-word limit for the Summarizer feature, which is pretty awesome.

If you decide to go for the premium version, it's well worth the $20 per month. The unlimited number of words of paraphrasing eases your worries about length restrictions. You'll have access to all 7 different modes and use the Synonym tool in full swing. You'll also get the 20 pages a month to check for plagiarism as an added bonus.

My Honest Thoughts

Despite its limitations, I think QuillBot is generally fairly useful and efficient. I totally understand that the tool will never be perfect but I’m quite satisfied testing it out for my paraphrasing and writing needs. I find the customization options very useful. I also like the fact that it has several extensions, which makes the tool more flexible than others. For general writing, I'd stick to ChatGPT & a Google doc, but if I want to paraphrase and have an all-in-one system, this could totally help.

I also think that QuillBot’s 3-day money-back guarantee is weird. I believe many users are unlikely to use the tool in to its full potential in such a short time. Also, I think it’s time for them to add somewhat of an AI detection tool. Other than that, I'd suggest trying QuillBot. And if you’re not really satisfied, you have quite a bit of alternatives to choose from.

Want to Learn Even More?

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our free newsletter where we share tips & tricks on how to use tech & AI to grow and optimize your business, career, and life.


Written by Angel Cuala

Angel Cuala has been a full-time SEO writer since 2008 and writes about various topics. He has reviewed different products, including business software and AI tools. When not in front of his computer, Angel loves to cook and play chess.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments