The best plagiarism checkers should detect and find copied content across all types of writing to help you identify and avoid plagiarism.

Plagiarism detection software has never been more important than today when the quest for originality and the preservation of academic integrity has been brought into the spotlight by the emergence of AI writing tools.

With the exponential growth of digital technology, accessing vast amounts of information has become effortless, revolutionizing the creation of content and dissemination of knowledge. However, this convenience also presents a significant challenge: the proliferation of plagiarism and plagiarized content.

In this article, we take a look at the different plagiarism checkers available to help you choose the best Plagiarism Checker for your needs. So, whether you are a student striving for academic integrity, an educator wanting to detect plagiarism in your student’s work, or a content writer looking to spot accidental plagiarism and duplicate content in your blog posts, we’ve got you covered!

Each plagiarism checker tool has been carefully evaluated based on accuracy, user-friendliness, speed, supported file formats, and additional features.

Read on to discover the best plagiarism checkers of 2023!

7 of the best plagiarism checkers of 2023

Grammarly

Grammarly is arguably the world’s best-known writing assistance tool. It helps users improve their writing by offering grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style suggestions.

By utilizing advanced artificial intelligence and natural language processing algorithms, Grammarly analyzes text and scans for various types of errors, including grammatical mistakes, misspellings, improper word usage, inconsistent writing style, and punctuation errors. It then points out these errors and provides real-time feedback and corrections. This includes explanations and suggestions to enhance clarity, conciseness, and overall writing effectiveness. Pretty amazing huh! It’s no wonder it’s one of the most popular proofreading tools out there.

Grammarly just so happens to come with a great plagiarism checker, too. The Grammarly plagiarism checker scans your text and compares it to over 16 billion web pages and academic papers stored in ProQuest’s databases.

The great thing about Grammarly is that they offer you two options, including a free plagiarism checker.

Grammarly’s free online plagiarism checker can detect plagiarism and produces an instant report. The report details any instances of plagiarism and duplicate content.

Unfortunately, the free version doesn’t show you where you’ve plagiarized. For this, you’ll need Grammarly’s premium plagiarism checker, which you can access under the premium plan. This not only shows you where the plagiarism is, it also provides reference information about the original source.

For this reason, we’d strongly recommend taking out a paid plan if you want to get the most out of Grammarly’s plagiarism checker.

Prices start at around $11 / £10 / AU$16 per month for a premium subscription, which also unlocks even more advanced features and writing insights.

Overall, Grammarly has become a go-to tool for individuals across various domains, including students, professionals, content creators, and non-native English speakers. So if you want to produce unique, high-quality written content, which is free of plagiarism, it is an excellent option.

PlagScan

PlagScan is a professional plagiarism detection software that is widely used in academic and professional settings. It offers advanced features to help individuals and organizations identify instances of plagiarism and ensure the originality of written content.

PlagScan utilizes sophisticated algorithms and an extensive database to compare submitted texts with numerous online sources and academic databases. It scans for similarities and provides detailed reports highlighting any potential instances of plagiarism using a color coding system. The plagiarism report offers insights into the originality of the text and provides references to the matching sources.

One of the key strengths of PlagScan is its comprehensive database, which includes a wide range of sources, including academic journals, books, websites, and student papers. This extensive database enhances the accuracy and reliability of the plagiarism detection process, enabling users to identify both blatant and subtle cases of plagiarism. This makes it particularly popular in academic circles.

Furthermore, PlagScan provides additional features to support academic institutions and organizations in ensuring academic integrity. These features include bulk-checking capabilities, integration with learning management systems (LMS), and options for collaboration and feedback among users.

Due to the nature of academic work and the challenges of citations, it can sometimes pick up plagiarized content that is actually a reference, or unintentional plagiarism. This means that you’ll need to check carefully. However, without this plagiarism tool it would take a lot longer to conduct a plagiarism check!

You can check 2,000 words for free and after you pay per the number of words in the document. This starts at $5.99 for 6,000 words, $12.99 for 17,500 words, $24.99 for 40,000 words, all the way up to $49.99 for 100,000 words.

Overall, PlagScan is a powerful plagiarism detection tool that offers comprehensive scanning, a diverse database, and customizable settings to cater to the needs of different users and institutions, with a strong focus on upholding academic integrity.

Quetext

Quetext offers online plagiarism detection software that is designed to help users identify instances of plagiarism and ensure the originality of their written content. This is reflected in their slogan, “Original writing, made easy”.

Quetext employs advanced algorithms and a vast database to compare submitted texts with a wide variety of online sources, including websites, articles, essays, and other documents. By scanning the text, it identifies any similarities or matches found, providing users with a detailed report highlighting potential instances of plagiarism.

One notable feature of Quetext is its DeepSearch™ technology, which enables a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the submitted content. This technology aims to identify both verbatim matches and paraphrased content, ensuring a more comprehensive plagiarism detection process.

The user-friendly interface of Quetext allows users to easily submit their documents for analysis and receive a detailed plagiarism report in a matter of seconds. The report provides highlighted areas where potential plagiarism has been detected, along with corresponding source links and similarity percentages. This enables users to review the flagged content and take appropriate actions, such as rewriting or properly citing the original sources. You even get a plagiarism score to see how you’ve performed.

Quetext also offers additional features, such as the ability to exclude specific websites or sources from the scan, allowing users to customize the plagiarism detection process according to their specific requirements. It also provides an integrated citation tool to assist users in generating accurate citations and references.

While Quetext provides a free plagiarism checker with limited functionality for up to 500 words, it also offers a premium subscription that unlocks more advanced features, including larger document uploads, a citation generator, and enhanced plagiarism detection capabilities.

Pricing for the paid plans start at $8.25/month per user and includes up to 100,000 words. You can pay more for more words.

Overall, Quetext is a user-friendly and efficient plagiarism checker that aids users in maintaining originality and academic integrity. By utilizing Quetext, teachers, students, and copywriters can ensure the authenticity of their work.

Scribbr

Scribbr is an online academic editing and proofreading service that specializes in helping students improve the overall quality of their written work. It offers comprehensive editing and proofreading services for various types of academic documents, including essays, research papers, theses, dissertations, and more.

In addition to editing and proofreading, Scribbr also offers other helpful services. This includes a standalone plagiarism checker tool to ensure the originality of the content, and a reference generator to assist with accurate references and citation formatting.

Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is powered by Turnitin plagiarism detection software. This has access to over 99 billion web pages and 8 million publications, with a vast database of academic papers, websites, and other sources.

Turnitin is widely used in educational institutions and by researchers to identify instances of potential plagiarism. It utilizes a variety of techniques to compare submitted documents and can detect direct plagiarism, paraphrasing and rewording, quoted material, and self-plagiarism. Yes, you can even upload your old assignments to see if you’ve accidentally plagiarized them. It provides a user-friendly online platform and its combination of services makes it ideal for students.

Scribbr charges per plagiarism check, with prices ranging between $20 – $40 or £14 to £32 depending upon how many words are in the uploaded document. They do not store or share your documents with anyone, and data is deleted after 30 days. So, you can rest assured that they offer a discreet service.

Overall, Scribbr is a reliable and reputable service that aims to support students in achieving academic success by providing high-quality editing and proofreading services. It’s important to note that while Scribbr focuses on editing and proofreading services (alongside its plagiarism tools), it does not involve ghostwriting or creating content on behalf of the student. Instead, the aim is to assist students in refining their writing skills, improving their understanding of academic conventions, and ultimately enhancing the overall quality of their academic work. It’s a whole service, not just plagiarism detection.

This is why we rate it as the best plagiarism checker for students.

Unicheck

Unicheck is an online plagiarism checker for educators and students to identify instances of potential plagiarism in written content. It is trusted by over 1,100 academic institutions worldwide and offers a range of features and tools to support users in maintaining academic integrity and ensuring the originality of their work.

Like Scribbr, Unicheck is powered by Turnitin, which means it has access to over 99 billion web pages and 8 million publications to check against for plagiarism. This covers an extensive database of online sources, including websites, academic papers, journals, publications, and student papers. Unicheck utilizes advanced algorithms to compare submitted documents against these sources. It identifies any similarities or matches found and generates a detailed similarity report.

The similarity report provided by Unicheck highlights any potential instances of plagiarism within the submitted document. It displays matched text passages, indicating the sources from which the content may have been taken. This allows users to review the flagged sections, investigate further, and take appropriate actions such as rewriting, paraphrasing, or properly citing the original sources. Each document has a plagiarism score that gets updated when you make any changes.

Unicheck’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to upload and analyze documents. The software supports various file formats, including Word documents, PDFs, and plain text files. It provides quick and accurate results, helping users to efficiently evaluate the originality of their content.

In addition to plagiarism detection, Unicheck offers other useful features such as citation detection, which helps identify missing or incorrectly formatted citations, ensuring proper attribution. It also provides grading and feedback tools, allowing educators to provide detailed comments and suggestions to students within the platform.

Unicheck offers both institutional and individual licensing options, catering to the needs of educational institutions, businesses, and individual users. Institutions can integrate Unicheck into their learning management systems (LMS) for seamless integration and streamlined plagiarism detection across courses and assignments. This makes it one of the more versatile plagiarism checkers.

The personal package costs as little as $5 and pricing scales up based on the number of pages you’d like to check.

Overall, Unicheck is a comprehensive plagiarism detection software and arguably the best plagiarism checker for educational institutions due to the integrations it offers.

Note: As of December 31, 2023, all Unicheck customers will need to migrate to Turnitin Similarity.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is a comprehensive online writing assistance tool that helps users improve their writing skills and produce high-quality content. It offers a wide range of features and checks to address grammar, style, spelling, readability, and other aspects of writing.

Like Grammarly, its focus is on improving your writing but it also offers a plagiarism checker to identify potential instances of plagiarism. To do this, it scans the text against a database of over 1 billion online sources to help users ensure the originality and integrity of their work.

While this is not as comprehensive as PlagScan or Scribbr, it still provides a reasonable overview alongside the other features. However, we would not recommend it as a standalone plagiarism detector as there are better plagiarism checker tools out there.

In terms of price, ProWritingAid provides a premium subscription that includes 60 plagiarism checks per year on documents up to 2,000 words. This comes in at roughly $10 a month if you take out a yearly subscription. You can also buy batches of checks separately at $10 for 10 checks and $40 for 100 checks.

Overall, ProWritingAid is a valuable tool for writers looking to refine their writing skills, improve their overall writing quality, and enhance their written communication. It can also check for plagiarism, but this isn’t its standout feature.

One of the best things about ProWritingAid is that users can integrate it into their preferred writing platforms, including web browsers, word processors, and other applications, making it convenient to access and utilize the tool during the writing process. So, if you want to do some quick plagiarism checking while writing, it could still be a useful tool for you.

Copyscape

Copyscape is an online plagiarism detection tool that helps individuals and website owners identify instances of content plagiarism. It is primarily used to check the originality of website content, blog posts, articles, and other online texts.

With Copyscape, users can submit a URL or a specific block of text, and the tool scans the internet to compare it against a vast database of indexed web pages. It identifies potential matches or similarities between the submitted content and existing online sources.

Copyscape offers two main services:

1. Copyscape Premium: This is a paid service that provides a more comprehensive plagiarism check. It scans the submitted content against a larger database and offers more detailed results, including highlighted matches and corresponding source URLs.
2. Copyscape Free: This is a limited version of the service that allows users to check a specific URL for duplicate content. While the free version provides basic information about potential matches, it doesn’t offer the same level of depth as the premium version.

Copyscape is commonly used by content creators, website owners, and SEO professionals to ensure the originality of their online content and to protect against plagiarism. It helps identify cases where content has been copied without proper permission or attribution.

It’s important to note that Copyscape focuses on comparing text against web pages and online sources. It does not check against academic databases, journals, books, or other offline sources. Therefore, its primary function is to identify instances of online content duplication.

Overall, Copyscape is a valuable tool for individuals and website owners who want to maintain the integrity of their content and ensure that it is original. If your objective is detecting plagiarism in academic writing, you’re better off looking elsewhere.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism refers to the act of using someone else’s ideas, words, or work without giving proper credit or acknowledgment.

The act of plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional, undermines the fundamental principles of academic honesty. Its consequences can be severe, tarnishing the reputations of individuals, academic institutions, and entire research fields. Plagiarism can come in several forms and can often be quite hard to detect. Consequently, the demand for effective plagiarism detection tools has skyrocketed.

What are the common types of plagiarism?

Here are some common types of plagiarism:

1. Verbatim plagiarism: This type of plagiarism involves directly copying and pasting text from a source without using quotation marks or proper citation. It is the most obvious and blatant form of plagiarism.
2. Paraphrasing without attribution: Paraphrasing involves rewording someone else’s ideas or text in your own words. However, if the original source is not properly cited, and the paraphrased content closely resembles the original, it still counts as plagiarism.
3. Mosaic plagiarism: Also known as patchwriting, mosaic plagiarism occurs when a person mixes their own words with copied phrases or sentences from a source, resulting in a hybrid text that is not properly attributed. It often reflects an insufficient understanding of the original material.
4. Self-plagiarism: This occurs when a person submits their own previously published work or a significant portion of it as new work without proper citation or acknowledgment. Each piece of work should be treated as a separate entity, and reusing substantial portions without appropriate attribution is considered unethical.
5. Improper citation: Failing to provide accurate and complete citations for borrowed ideas, quotes, data, or other forms of intellectual property is also a form of plagiarism. It is important to give credit to the original source through appropriate citation styles, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago.
6. Collusion: Collusion involves working with others and submitting their work as your own. It can occur when students collaborate on assignments meant to be completed individually or when someone hires someone else to complete their work.
7. Unauthorized collaboration: This form of plagiarism involves working with others without permission on assignments or exams meant to be completed individually. It is important to follow the specific guidelines set by instructors or institutions.
8. Uncredited images, graphs, or media: Using images, graphs, or media without proper attribution or permission is a form of plagiarism. It is essential to provide proper citations or obtain the necessary permissions for any visual or multimedia content used.

It’s important to note that the severity and consequences of plagiarism can vary based on educational institutions, professional settings, and legal jurisdictions. It is always advisable to understand and adhere to the specific guidelines and policies set by your institution or organization regarding plagiarism and citation practices.

How to choose the best plagiarism checker for you?

When choosing the best plagiarism checker for your needs, there are several factors to consider. First and foremost, accuracy is key. You want a plagiarism checker that provides reliable and precise results. It should be capable of detecting various types of plagiarism, including direct copying, paraphrasing, and improper citation. Accuracy ensures that you can trust the results and take appropriate actions to address any instances of plagiarism.

The size and comprehensiveness of the database used by the plagiarism checker can be important for this. The best plagiarism checkers tend to have a larger database. This increases the likelihood of identifying matches with existing sources, such as academic papers, websites, journals, and publications.

Once plagiarism has been identified, the reporting and analysis capabilities of the plagiarism checker are essential for understanding and addressing potential instances of plagiarism. Look for a checker that provides detailed reports highlighting the plagiarized sections, offering source links for further investigation, and providing suggestions for improvement. Clear and comprehensive analysis helps you identify and rectify any instances of plagiarism effectively.

User-friendliness plays an important part here, it’s well worth finding a plagiarism checker with an intuitive and user-friendly interface that’s easy to navigate.

You should also consider any additional features offered by the plagiarism checker. Some checkers provide grammar checks, citation and reference generators, writing style analysis, or integration with other writing tools. Assess whether these additional features align with your requirements and enhance the overall value of the checker for you.

For example, if you frequently use specific writing or learning management platforms, you might want to see if the plagiarism checker integrates seamlessly with those tools. This can streamline your workflow and make the checking process more convenient, saving you time and effort.

Cost and accessibility are other practical considerations. Some plagiarism checkers offer free versions with limited features, while others provide premium options with additional functionalities. It is important to choose something that fits within your budget and meets your needs.

Lastly, when it comes to plagiarism checker software it’s always worthwhile to research the reputation and user reviews of the plagiarism checker. Understanding the experiences of other users can give you insights into the reliability, efficiency, and overall satisfaction associated with the tool. Reviews and recommendations can help you make an informed decision when it comes to choosing one of the many plagiarism checkers available.

What is the best free plagiarism checker?

Free plagiarism checker tools can be hit and miss. So, if you want to make sure you’re using an accurate plagiarism checker you are better off using one of the paid options. However, many of these offer a free allocation that you can take advantage of.

Scribbr utilizes some of the best plagiarism checker software, which acts as an ideal, online free plagiarism checker. The only catch is you need to pay to see the full report. Meanwhile, other plagiarism software such as PlagScan allows you to check up to 2,000 words before you need to pay. It really boils down to what you want to get out of your free plagiarism check!

Just don’t forget that you get what you pay for. So, if you want a plagiarism checker that leaves you feeling assured it can be worth paying that little bit extra to get one that meets your needs.

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