Apple Intelligence vs Grammarly on Mac

Apple Intelligence Writing Tools and Grammarly both clean up your writing on a Mac, but they work in opposite directions. Apple Intelligence is free, built into macOS and largely on-device, though it only acts when you select text and ask it to. Grammarly runs continuously, flags problems inline and explains each suggestion, but its deeper features sit behind a subscription. The right pick depends on whether you value cost and privacy or depth of feedback. We have also included our own app, Charm, as a third option: on-device correction inline as you type, for a one-time $9.99.

What are Apple Intelligence Writing Tools?

Writing Tools is Apple's built-in text assistant, included free with macOS on Apple silicon Macs. You highlight a passage, open Writing Tools from the right-click menu, and choose Proofread, Rewrite, Friendly, Professional, Concise or Summary. It returns edited text you can accept or discard.

Proofread is the part that competes with Grammarly most directly: it catches spelling, grammar and punctuation across the selection and shows what changed. The rewrite options go further, reshaping tone or trimming length. Everything appears in a compact panel over the app you are in, so there is no second window and nothing to install. Intel Macs are excluded entirely, which matters if you are on older hardware and want options that run on an Intel machine.

What is Grammarly on a Mac?

Grammarly is a dedicated writing assistant that installs a system-wide helper plus browser extensions. It watches what you type, underlines issues live, and offers corrections with a short explanation of the rule behind each. It covers spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, tone and word choice.

The Mac experience is broad rather than uniform. In browsers and in Grammarly's own editor the inline underlines are dependable; in some native Mac apps you get a floating widget instead. The paid Pro plan adds clarity rewrites, tone adjustment, vocabulary suggestions and a larger allowance of generative prompts. One recent change is worth knowing: in October 2025 Grammarly's parent company rebranded to Superhuman. The writing assistant kept the Grammarly name.

Does Apple Intelligence fix your writing as you type?

No, and this is the clearest difference between the two. Writing Tools is entirely on demand: nothing is underlined, flagged or corrected while you write. You have to notice a problem, select the text, open a menu and run Proofread before anything happens.

Grammarly works the other way round. It surfaces mistakes the moment they appear, so you fix them in the flow of writing rather than in a separate editing pass. For chat replies and quick emails that difference matters, because few people go back and re-select a two-line reply to proofread it. Reviewers testing both side by side agree: Tom's Guide found Grammarly stronger on real-time catching and explanation, with Apple Intelligence better at fast tone changes. It is also why Apple's tools sit awkwardly next to autocorrect.

Apple Intelligence vs Grammarly at a glance

Read the table as three different products rather than a scorecard: a free system feature you summon, a paid assistant that watches continuously, and a paid-once utility that corrects in the background. Charm is not free, so its price argument is against Grammarly's recurring plan, never against Apple Intelligence.

Is Grammarly worth paying for on a Mac?

It depends on how much your writing is judged. Grammarly's free tier already covers spelling, grammar and punctuation, which is what most casual writers actually need. The paid Pro plan, listed on Grammarly's plans page at roughly twelve dollars a month when billed annually and more on shorter terms, buys clarity rewrites, tone control and a much larger generative allowance.

That is good value if you write client emails, reports or marketing copy daily, because the clarity suggestions tighten long prose and the explanations teach you patterns. It is harder to justify if you mostly write Slack messages, since the free tier and macOS spellcheck cover those. A permanent cloud service handling your drafts also raises questions we look at in whether Grammarly is safe to use on a Mac.

Which is more private?

Apple Intelligence, for most people. Proofreading and rewriting run on the Mac wherever possible, and heavier requests go to Private Cloud Compute, which Apple states does not store your data. No account is needed.

Grammarly is a cloud service by design. Your text goes to its servers to be analysed, which is how it delivers the depth it does. The company publishes its security posture, holds enterprise certifications and lets you switch the assistant off per app or site. That is industry standard, but a different trade to keeping text on the machine. If your work involves confidential client, legal or medical material, this usually settles the decision on its own.

Which one should you choose?

Choose Apple Intelligence if you are on an Apple silicon Mac, want zero cost and zero setup, care about keeping text on your machine, and are happy to run a proofread pass when you finish writing. It handles tone shifts and summaries well for something that ships free with the OS.

Choose Grammarly if you want mistakes caught the moment you make them, value the explanations, or write enough professionally that clarity and tone feedback earn their keep. Its detection is deeper, its browser coverage is stronger, and it works on Intel Macs. Plenty of people use both.

What if you want corrections as you type?

Both tools leave the same gap. Apple Intelligence will not correct you until you ask, and Grammarly's live checking sends text to the cloud. If you want silent, automatic correction on your Mac, neither shape quite fits.

That is what our own app, Charm, was built for: it fixes spelling and grammar inline as you type in native Mac apps, on-device, with Fix Selection (Option-Command-V) covering browsers and Electron apps. It is $9.99 once for 3 Macs, so against Grammarly Pro at roughly $144 a year it pays for itself in the first month; against Apple Intelligence, which costs nothing, you are paying for inline behaviour Apple does not offer, not for a lower price. It is not a rewriting assistant, and Grammarly's cloud models are still stronger on nuanced grammar, so Charm is narrower than either product above. If that trade sounds right, see our head-to-heads on Charm versus Apple Intelligence Writing Tools and Charm versus Grammarly.

Frequently asked questions

Is Apple Intelligence Writing Tools free?

Yes. Writing Tools is part of Apple Intelligence, included with macOS at no extra cost, with no subscription and no account. The requirement is hardware rather than money: it needs an Apple silicon Mac, so Intel Macs cannot run Writing Tools at all.

Does Apple Intelligence check your writing as you type?

No. Writing Tools is invoked on demand. You select the text, open Writing Tools from the right-click or Edit menu, and pick Proofread or a rewrite option. Nothing is flagged automatically while you write, so mistakes stay in place until you go back and ask for a pass.

Does Grammarly still have a free plan on Mac?

Yes. The free tier covers core spelling, grammar and punctuation checking, plus a limited monthly allowance of AI prompts. Clarity rewrites, tone controls, vocabulary suggestions and the fuller generative features sit on the paid Pro plan.

Is Grammarly the same company as Superhuman now?

Yes. In October 2025 Grammarly rebranded the parent company to Superhuman, after acquiring the email client of that name. The writing assistant continues under the Grammarly name, so Mac users keep the same app and plans.

Which is more private, Apple Intelligence or Grammarly?

Apple Intelligence, for most people. Proofreading and rewriting run on the Mac itself, with larger requests routed to Private Cloud Compute, which Apple states does not retain your data. Grammarly processes text on its own servers, so your drafts leave the machine.