How to Check Grammar for Free with Grammarly (Step-by-Step)

Sending an assignment, a job application or an important email with silly grammar mistakes is embarrassing. The good news: you don’t need to pay anything to fix most of them. Grammarly’s free plan checks your spelling and grammar as you type, on your laptop and on your phone.

In this guide, you’ll learn three easy ways to use Grammarly for free, step by step. At the end, there’s a practice paragraph full of common Indian English mistakes, so you can try Grammarly yourself in two minutes.

What you get with Grammarly for free

According to Grammarly’s official plans page, the free plan includes:

• Spelling and grammar corrections, the main thing most of us need
• Tone detection, so you can see if your message sounds friendly, formal or too harsh
• 100 AI prompts per month, for things like asking it to shorten or rephrase text

You don’t need a credit card to sign up. Features like full-sentence rewrites and the plagiarism checker are part of the paid Pro plan, which is explained at the end.

Method 1: Check grammar on the Grammarly website

This is the easiest way, and it works on any laptop or computer. Nothing to install.

1. Open grammarly.com and click the sign-up button.
2. Sign up for free with your email or your Google account.
3. Create a new document from your Grammarly dashboard.
4. Paste or type your text. Within a few seconds, mistakes are underlined.
5. Click an underlined word to see the suggestion, then click it to accept. You can also dismiss a suggestion if you think your version is right.

Tip: when you’re done, copy the corrected text back into your assignment or email. Don’t forget this step, the corrections stay inside Grammarly otherwise.

Method 2: Use the Grammarly Chrome extension

If you write a lot in Gmail, Google Docs or on websites, the browser extension is more convenient. It checks your writing right where you type, so you don’t have to copy and paste. Grammarly also works in Edge, Firefox and Safari.

1. Open the Chrome Web Store and search for “Grammarly”.
2. Click Add to Chrome and confirm.
3. Log in with the same free account you created in Method 1.
4. Pin the extension from the puzzle icon in Chrome’s toolbar, so it’s easy to find.
5. Open Gmail or Google Docs and start typing. Click any underline to fix the mistake.

Method 3: Check grammar on your Android phone

Most of us type more on our phones than on laptops. On Android, Grammarly works as a keyboard, so it can check what you type in almost any app.

1. Open the Play Store, search for “Grammarly Keyboard” and install it.
2. Open the app and log in with your free account.
3. Follow the on-screen steps to turn on the Grammarly keyboard in your phone settings.
4. Choose Grammarly as your keyboard when asked.
5. Open any app and start typing. Suggestions appear in the bar above the keyboard.

Good to know: Grammarly checks English only. If you also chat in Hindi, you may prefer switching back to your regular keyboard for those messages.

Practice paragraph: try Grammarly yourself

Want to see how it works before using it on real work? Copy this short paragraph. It has 8 mistakes that are very common in everyday Indian English. Paste it into Grammarly and see which ones it underlines.

I am having two brothers and both of them are studying in Delhi. Last week we discussed about our future plans. My elder brother is more taller than me and he is very much intelligent. He told me to revert back to him by tomorrow with my decision. I have completed my graduation in 2024 and now I am preparing for goverment exams. Recieving good marks is important for me.

Here are the answers, so you can check your own writing too:

Mistake	Correct version	Why
I am having two brothers	I have two brothers	“Have” for owning something is not used in the -ing form
discussed about	discussed	“Discuss” already means “talk about”
more taller	taller	“Taller” is already a comparison
very much intelligent	very intelligent	“Very much” is not used before adjectives like this
revert back	reply / get back to me	“Revert” already means “go back”
I have completed my graduation in 2024	I completed my graduation in 2024	With a past year, use simple past
goverment	government	Spelling
Recieving	Receiving	Spelling (“i before e, except after c”)

Spelling mistakes are the easiest for any grammar checker. Phrases like “revert back” or “discussed about” are grammatically possible sentences, so tools may not always flag them. That’s why it helps to know these common mistakes yourself.

What the free plan can’t do

The free plan fixes mistakes, but it doesn’t rewrite your sentences for you. On Grammarly’s plans page, these features are listed only for the paid Pro plan:

• Full-sentence rewrites, when a sentence sounds awkward
• Changing the tone of your text, for example making an email more formal
• Suggestions to make your English sound more fluent
• Plagiarism checking and AI-text detection
• 2,000 AI prompts a month instead of 100

For most students, the free plan is enough for daily assignments and emails. If you write a lot for work, or you need a plagiarism check before submitting, Pro has a 7-day free trial, so you can try it before paying.

Try Grammarly Pro free for 7 days →

FAQ

Final tip: don’t accept every suggestion blindly. Read each one and ask yourself if it still says what you meant. Grammarly is a helper, not a replacement for your own judgement.