Hemingway App
Score the readability of your writing and flag wordy sentences, passive voice, and complex words, with an optional AI-assisted Plus tier for grammar fixes and rewrites.
The verdict on Hemingway App: Writers who need to know exactly which sentences are hard to read, not just where the grammar is wrong Hemingway App's job is to show you which sentences are hard to read, not to fix them for you. Pricing: Free / $19.99 one-time Desktop / $8.33/mo Editor Plus. Last reviewed: August 2026.
Best For
Writers who need to know exactly which sentences are hard to read, not just where the grammar is wrong
Standout Feature
A grade-level readability score that shows at a glance who can actually follow your writing
TL;DR
A clarity checker, not a grammar checker, it flags the problem sentence but leaves the rewrite to you.
Alternatives
Overview
The Hemingway App grades your writing for readability and flags the specific sentences making it hard to read: passive voice, complex adverbs, hard-to-read sentences, and suggestions to simplify. It's not a grammar checker, it's a clarity checker. The grade level score tells you who can actually read your writing at a glance.
Writers, content teams, and communicators use it to catch the bad habits that make prose dense: overlong sentences, hedging adverbs, passive constructions. The desktop app works offline; the web version is free. Integrates with Dropbox and Medium.
Our Take
That distinction matters: it grades readability and flags passive voice, complex adverbs, and dense sentences with color coding, but the rewrite is still yours. The one-time $19.99 desktop purchase is the best deal for writers who want a permanent clarity tool without a subscription. It's most useful on a finished or near-finished draft, and it will conflict with intentional stylistic choices, so treat the grade level as a signal, not a verdict.
Trust & Data
Verified 2026-09
- Training on your data
- Not published
- Compliance
- Not published
- Retention
- Not published
- Export
- Not published
Source: hemingwayapp.com
As published by the vendor. Verify independently before purchase decisions.
Fit Score
How this is scoredHemingway App scored 1 to 5 on five dimensions for specific use cases, not a single overall rating. Part of a narrow pilot, not full-catalog coverage.
Identifying exactly which sentences are hard to read in a near-final draft
4.4/5- Capability
- 5/5
- Reliability
- 4/5
- Value
- 5/5
- Ease
- 5/5
- Compatibility
- 3/5
Hemingway's bestFor and standout both describe exactly this use case, a grade-level readability score with color-coded flags, confirmed by pros' 'instant visual clarity on which sentences need work.'
Getting the tool to actually rewrite or fix flagged sentences
2.0/5- Capability
- 1/5
- Reliability
- 2/5
- Value
- 2/5
- Ease
- 3/5
- Compatibility
- 2/5
Cons states plainly the tool has 'no suggestions for rewrites, flags problems without solving them,' and ourTake confirms 'the rewrite is still yours'; this use case is outside what the tool is built to do.
Editorial judgment grounded in this tool's own published pricing, features, and our existing pros and cons, not a certification or a measured benchmark.
Key Features
- Readability grading
- Passive voice detection
- Sentence complexity analysis
- Adverb flagging
- Word count
- Desktop app (offline)
- • Instant visual clarity on which sentences need work, faster than self-editing
- • One-time desktop pricing is excellent value for regular writers
- • Forces writing discipline that makes every piece more readable
- • No suggestions for rewrites, flags problems without solving them
- • Rigid rules can conflict with intentional stylistic choices
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