$144 a year for a grammar checker is a hard sell once the novelty wears off. If you are here, you have probably already made the decision. Let us get through the cancellation first, then talk about what to use instead.
How to cancel Grammarly
On the web (fastest way):
- Go to account.grammarly.com/subscription
- Click "Cancel subscription" under your plan
- Go through their cancellation flow (they will offer you a discount — up to you whether that changes things)
- Confirm cancellation
Your Premium access continues until the end of your current billing period. You will not get a refund for unused time on monthly plans.
On iPhone (if you subscribed through the App Store):
Apple handles the billing, not Grammarly. To cancel:
- Open Settings on your iPhone
- Tap your name at the top
- Go to Subscriptions
- Find Grammarly and tap Cancel Subscription
If you do not see Grammarly there, you subscribed directly through Grammarly's website. Use the web method above.
What you will actually miss
Being honest here: Grammarly does some things nothing else does as well.
Browser extension. This is the biggest one. Grammarly's Chrome/Safari extension works everywhere you type on the web. No alternative does this as well on mobile. If you write a lot in a browser, you will feel this gap.
Clarity and style suggestions. The free tier catches basic grammar. Premium gives you sentence-level feedback on wordiness, passive voice, unclear phrasing. That deeper layer is genuinely useful for professional writing. Most alternatives stop at grammar and spelling.
Multi-device sync. Grammarly works on your Mac, Windows machine, iPhone, and browser simultaneously. If you write across devices constantly, that frictionless sync has real value.
Writing statistics. Some people like seeing their weekly word count, error trends, tone distribution. Grammarly gamifies writing improvement in a way that keeps some users engaged. No alternative does this.
If any of those were the reason you were paying for it, be aware of the gap before you cancel.
What you will not miss
$30 a month. Or $144 a year. That is more than most people pay for music streaming. For grammar checking.
Your text going to their servers. Every document you run through Grammarly is processed on their infrastructure. That is fine for most use cases. If you have ever hesitated before pasting something sensitive, that hesitation is valid. (More on this in the Grammarly and confidential documents post.)
The upsell. Free Grammarly is designed to show you what you are missing. Every flagged suggestion with a lock icon is a reminder to upgrade. Annoying after a while.
iPhone alternatives worth actually using
Here is what is realistic after Grammarly, on iPhone specifically.
Apple Writing Tools (free, built-in)
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16+, you already have Apple Intelligence. The Proofread option in the system text menu catches basic grammar and spelling errors across Notes, Mail, and most apps. Not as deep as Grammarly Premium, but it costs nothing and requires no app.
Works for: casual writing, emails, messages Does not work for: older iPhones, deep style feedback, anything outside Apple's supported apps
LanguageTool (free tier available)
Good grammar checking, open-source origins, strong privacy reputation compared to Grammarly. The free tier has word limits and fewer features. The premium tier is cheaper than Grammarly but still subscription-based.
Caveat: the iPhone app sends text to their cloud. If you want offline, this is not it.
Proofed (free to try, $4.99 per month for unlimited)
This is what I built for exactly this situation. On iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16+, it runs deep grammar checking using Apple Foundation Models entirely on your device. Nothing transmitted, no account needed. On older iPhones (iOS 17+), it runs a rules-based engine offline.
It is not Grammarly. No browser extension, no desktop app, no weekly writing stats. It is an iPhone app for checking text on your phone, and it is fully offline.
If you want the short version of how the alternatives stack up, I did a full roundup of private grammar checkers that covers these and a few more.
Microsoft Word's built-in editor
If you write long documents, Word's local grammar checking is solid and runs offline on a Mac or PC. Not helpful on iPhone for on-the-go editing, but worth knowing that you already have a decent grammar checker if you have Word.
The honest summary
If you used Grammarly mostly in a browser, your best move is Apple Writing Tools for basic checks and LanguageTool's browser extension as a free Grammarly replacement.
If you used Grammarly on your iPhone for offline or privacy reasons, Proofed is the most direct replacement.
If you mainly want to spend less money and get 80% of the utility, Apple's built-in tools plus occasional use of LanguageTool free tier will cover most of what you need.
FAQ
How do I cancel Grammarly on iPhone?
If you subscribed through the App Store, go to Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, and cancel from there. If you subscribed through Grammarly's website directly, go to account.grammarly.com/subscription and cancel there instead.
Is there a free alternative to Grammarly?
Yes. Apple Writing Tools is free and built into iOS for iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16+. LanguageTool has a free tier. Proofed has a free tier with 5 daily checks. None of them match the full Grammarly Premium feature set for free, but they handle basic grammar checking well.
What is the best one-time purchase grammar app for iPhone?
Most grammar apps now use subscriptions. Proofed is $4.99 per month or $29 per year, which is significantly cheaper than Grammarly. There is no widely available one-time purchase grammar app with meaningful features at this point.
Will I lose my Grammarly data when I cancel?
Your documents and writing statistics are accessible until the end of your billing period. After that, you lose access to Premium features but your account still exists. You can request data deletion through their privacy settings.
Can I use Grammarly for free after canceling?
Yes. The free tier remains active. It catches basic spelling and grammar errors. The suggestions marked with a lock icon require Premium.
Proofed is available on the App Store. Runs on iOS 17+. No account. No internet required. Free to try.