Copyscape is one of the most renowned and well-loved plagiarism detectors available. It allows users to know if any content is copied or lifted from elsewhere.
But despite its favorability, it has several drawbacks. It’s quite expensive and out of budget for many content creators and publishers. Users have also complained about superficial checking.
That is why we’ve created a catalog of the free Copyscape alternatives. These tools work exactly like Copyscape, and many of them have extra features as well. They’re also budget-friendly and hence, more accessible than Copyscape. If you’d like to know the details about such software, then keep on reading.
Why do people need Copyscape alternatives?
Copyscape is a trusted plagiarism detection software, which has been around for years. It’s fast and it can detect forged content within minutes, if not seconds. Thus, over the time of its existence, it has racked up a large user base. But its popularity doesn’t mean that it is without faults.
Users have many complaints about Copyscape, the primary ones being –
- It’s pricey. Copyscape is one of the most expensive plagiarism software in the market. Because of that, several people are unable to use it as it is beyond their budget.
- The plagiarism checking seems to be superficial. Many users have said that Copyscape fails to do a thorough sweep of all sources. Plagiarism remains despite having passed the content through the software.
- Another issue is that one can manipulate Copyscape. Users have said that by altering a word, plagiarised content escapes detection. This means that one can get away with using plagiarised content by simply changing a word or two.
For such reasons, digital writers and publishers are on the lookout for effective Copyscape alternatives.
Top 5 Best Free Copyscape Alternatives
Here is the list of top 10 best Copyscape alternatives
The fives best plagiarism detectors that can serve as alternatives to Copyscape are –
1. Grammarly
Even though Grammarly is a great tool to check grammar, it also has a feature that allows you to detect and correct plagiarism.
The Grammarly tool checks your content against 7 billion pages to detect any matches. Thus, it leaves little to no room for mistakes. If the content that you’re checking has plagiarised but altered content, it’ll still detect the problem. This tool is a boon for all writers. The browser version allows you to check grammar and plagiarism at the same time. It’s also great for students who end up referencing too closely from a source and make their content seem plagiarized.
Another great feature of it is that Grammarly is more affordable than Copyscape. You also get a bundle of features at a basic price. But in the case of Copyscape, you’re only able to use it for plagiarism detection. It’s a great Copyscape alternative.
Pros:
- Reliable and trustworthy
- Thorough checking against many sources
- Affordable
- Includes other features as well
- Can be used as a browser extension and an app
- In-build citation generator
- Simple user-interface
Cons:
- The free version lacks a lot of features
- The browser extension is slow.
2. Plagiarisma
If you’re looking for a free Copyscape alternative, then look no further. Plagiarisma is the one you need.
Like Grammarly, Plagiarisma also comes combined with features like grammar correction and detection, article rewriting, etc. But its primary service is that of a plagiarism detector. It matches your content against sources all over the world wide web to ensure that there is no plagiarism. You can use Plagiarisma on all devices. It also supports various browsers starting from Google, Yahoo, and more.
Plagiarisma does have a free version. But it is recommended that you buy the premium version. All in all, it is a good alternative to Copyscape. It is quite helpful in pointing out the copied content. It also points out copyright infringements.
Pros:
- Available in free as well as the paid version
- Easy to use
- Includes various other features
- Support almost 200 languages
- Budget-friendly
- Supports various browsers (including Google Books)
- No text limit in the paid version
Cons:
- The free version isn’t very effective
- Uninteresting browser interface
3. Check-plagiarism
The advanced algorithm working at the backend of Check-plagiarism.com is dedicated to checking the uniqueness of content, keeping accuracy and time-efficiency in consideration.
This tool provides us 100% accurate results, and it is not limited to accuracy only; we have seen that this tool supports multiple file formats.
We can indeed say that the interface of this plagiarism checker is very impressive and easy to use like you need no technical knowledge to use this tool.
So, keeping all the things in consideration, we concluded that this tool must deserve a try and the good thing is, it is readily available at your single click.
Pros:
- 100% accurate results
- Safe and secure
- Supports multiple file formats
- Easy-to-use interface
- Free version available
Cons:
- Deep search requires premium account
- It cannot import files from google docs
4. Dustball
Another tried-and-tested plagiarism checker is Dustball. This is a website that has been around since 2002. Yet it continues to assist writers.
This plagiarism detection tool allows you to check for copied content by matching the submitted work against billions of web pages. It is a free service and you can use it by either pasting the content on the website or by uploading the desired file.
But like in other cases, we recommend you opt for the paid version as it will give you a more thorough search. The paid version is also more precise. It ignores content placed within inverted commas. So, you can put cited content within quotes.
When compared to Copyscape, Dustball is much more affordable and budget-friendly. If you need a cheap but good plagiarism checker, Dustball is the one for you.
Pros:
- Cheap and affordable
- Accurate results at only $8 per month
- Precise checking
- Simple and easy to use interface
- Comes in a free as well as a paid version.
- You can use it on any browser
Cons:
- No extra features available
- Superficial checking; detection can be surpassed by changing the sentence layout.
5. Quetext
A tool that is fast gaining popularity amongst students, teachers, and researchers is Quetext. This is because it works as a plagiarism checker as well as a citation helper.
Like the other tools we’ve listed here, Quetext is available in free as well as paid versions. Even though the free version works just fine, there is a limit of 500 words. But the effectiveness and usability of the premium version are off the charts. It makes plagiarism checking more effective by using a feature called “Deep Search”. It allows in-depth crawling of web pages all over the internet. Not only does it scour through webpages, but it looks through millions of books and journals as well.
Another unique feature of Quetext is that in the premium version, you can make the tool opt-out from searching certain webpages if you’re pulling from your work or from sources you’re authorized to take. Quetext also makes sure not to include your content in their database. This is one of the most affordable and efficient Copyscape alternatives.
Pros:
- Uses “Deep Search” technology
- Looks through numerous webpages and books
- Filters allow you to opt-out of certain webpages
- Ensures the privacy of your content
- Includes free and paid versions
Cons:
- Too many limitations in the free version
- Hard to maneuver site interface
6. Whitesmoke
The final pick on our list is the Whitesmoke, a plagiarism detector that is an alternative to Copyscape as well as Grammarly.
Whitesmoke combines plagiarism checking along with grammar correction to create a handy tool. It checks your content for plagiarism by matching it to many sources and corrects grammatical mistakes as well. It employs a unique color-coding scheme that highlights different issues in different colors. That is why this is another great tool for students and professors. It also works as a mini-translator. It helps translate English content into other languages. The translation is most times, as close to the original work as possible.
Users have said that it is quite accurate, and works on all sorts of devices and browsers. Such accuracy comes from the fact that Whitesmoke searches online and offline sources.
Pros:
- Multi-purpose
- Works as a translator
- Helps identify writing style issues
- Great accuracy
- Easy to use
Cons:
- Tends to stop working mid-way
- Cannot identify tenses
Conclusion
Copyscape is a great tool but it has several drawbacks. These alternatives are as good as Copyscape, if not better. They not only work as plagiarism detectors but as grammar correctors, translators, and more. While the free versions of these tools are good enough, we recommend that you get the premium version.
If you want a fool-proof checking system that will help give you great results every time, we suggest a combo of the following –
Grammarly – Grammarly is arguably the best grammar app in the field. Their checking system is efficient and as close to correct as possible. It’ll always ensure that your content is original and engaging.
Quetext – Quetext is one of the best plagiarism detectors out there. Arguably better than Copyscape, even. Their “Deep Search” technology is unlike any other. They also take care of users’ privacy.