AI Writing Tools

Best AI Writing Tools in 2026

Last updated: January 2026 | 8 tools reviewed and tested

I have spent the past three months writing with every major AI writing tool on the market. Blog posts, sales emails, product descriptions, short fiction, long-form articles -- the whole spread. Some of these tools are genuinely impressive. Others are coasting on hype. Here is what I found after putting each one through real work, not just a quick demo.

Quick Comparison

Tool Best For Starting Price Free Plan Score
Jasper Overall AI writing $49/mo 7-day trial 9.2
Copy.ai Free tier generosity Free / $49/mo Pro Yes 8.8
Writesonic SEO content $19/mo Limited trial 8.5
Claude Long-form writing Free / $20/mo Pro Yes 9.0
ChatGPT Versatility Free / $20/mo Plus Yes 8.7
Rytr Budget writers $9/mo Limited 7.8
Sudowrite Fiction writing $19/mo Trial only 8.0
Grammarly Editing and polish Free / $30/mo Premium Yes 8.3

1. Jasper

Best Overall AI Writer

$49/mo
9.2 / 10

What Jasper Does Best

Jasper has been around longer than most of its competitors, and that head start shows. The platform feels polished in a way that newer tools do not. It handles marketing copy, blog content, and brand-consistent writing better than anything else I tested. If you run a content team or manage multiple brands, Jasper's brand voice feature alone is worth the subscription. You feed it your style guide, a few samples, and it actually remembers how your brand sounds. Not perfectly every time, but consistently enough that you spend less time editing tone and more time refining ideas.

Where Jasper really pulls ahead is workflow integration. It plugs into your existing content pipeline instead of sitting off to the side like a novelty. The document editor is solid, the templates cover nearly every content format you can think of, and the team collaboration features make it practical for groups larger than one person.

Key Features

  • Brand Voice customization with style guide uploads
  • 50+ content templates for marketing, ads, blogs, and social
  • Built-in document editor with AI assist on every paragraph
  • Team workspaces with role-based permissions
  • SEO mode with keyword integration (Surfer SEO partnership)
  • Campaign builder for multi-asset content creation
  • Chrome extension for writing anywhere on the web
  • API access on Business plan for custom integrations

Pricing

Creator plan starts at $49/month for one user with all core features. The Pro plan runs $69/month and adds collaboration tools plus higher word limits. Business pricing is custom and includes API access, advanced admin controls, and dedicated support. There is a 7-day free trial, but no permanent free tier.

Pros

  • Brand voice consistency is the best in class
  • Template library covers virtually every content need
  • Team features are genuinely useful, not bolted on
  • Output quality is reliably high across content types

Cons

  • $49/month entry point is steep for solo writers
  • No free plan means you cannot test it long-term before committing
  • Long-form content sometimes drifts from the brief after 1,500 words

Verdict

Jasper is the tool I would recommend to anyone running a content operation. If you are a solo blogger on a tight budget, the price might sting. But for marketing teams and agencies producing a high volume of branded content, nothing else matches its combination of quality, consistency, and workflow features. It is the most complete package on this list.

Try Jasper

2. Copy.ai

Best Free Tier

Free / $49/mo
8.8 / 10

What Copy.ai Does Best

Copy.ai earns its spot here because it gives away more than most tools charge for. The free plan includes 2,000 words per month with access to all writing tools and templates. That is enough to actually evaluate whether AI writing fits your workflow, rather than just poking around during a 7-day trial. The free tier is not a stripped-down demo; it is the full product with a word cap.

Beyond the generous free offering, Copy.ai has evolved into a capable workflow automation platform. The Workflows feature lets you chain together multiple AI steps -- research, outline, draft, edit -- into repeatable processes. It is particularly strong for sales and marketing teams that need to produce personalized outreach at scale. The tool thinks in terms of pipelines rather than one-off prompts, which suits teams that produce similar content repeatedly.

Key Features

  • 2,000 words/month on the free plan with full feature access
  • Workflows for multi-step automated content pipelines
  • 90+ templates including email sequences, ad copy, and product descriptions
  • Infobase for uploading brand context and reference material
  • Built-in chat interface for conversational content creation
  • Bulk content generation for product catalogs and listings
  • API access on higher tiers

Pricing

Free plan: 2,000 words/month, one user seat. Pro plan: $49/month for unlimited words and five user seats. Team plan: $249/month with 20 seats and priority support. Enterprise pricing is custom. Annual billing knocks about 25% off monthly costs.

Pros

  • The most useful free plan among dedicated AI writing tools
  • Workflows feature turns repetitive tasks into automated pipelines
  • Sales copy and outreach templates are particularly strong
  • Clean interface that does not overwhelm new users

Cons

  • 2,000 free words run out fast if you write daily
  • Long-form content quality trails behind Jasper and Claude
  • Pro plan price matches Jasper but with fewer advanced features

Verdict

Copy.ai is the right starting point for anyone new to AI writing tools. The free plan lets you build real habits and evaluate real output before spending a cent. If you outgrow the free tier and your work leans toward sales copy, marketing emails, or short-form content, the Pro plan delivers solid value. For long-form writing, though, other tools on this list do it better.

Try Copy.ai Free

3. Writesonic

Best for SEO Content

$19/mo
8.5 / 10

What Writesonic Does Best

If you care about search rankings, Writesonic is the tool that takes SEO the most seriously. Its Article Writer tool does not just generate content -- it pulls in SERP data, analyzes competing articles, suggests keyword placement, and structures your content around what is actually ranking. You feed it a target keyword, and it returns an article that reads like someone who understands on-page SEO wrote it. Not a keyword-stuffed mess, but content that naturally incorporates search terms where they belong.

Writesonic also undercuts most of its competitors on price. At $19/month for the individual plan, it costs less than half of what Jasper charges. For bloggers and small publishers who are primarily producing SEO-driven content, the math works out well. You get fewer bells and whistles than Jasper, but you also keep more money in your pocket.

Key Features

  • Article Writer with built-in SERP analysis and keyword optimization
  • Real-time competitor content analysis during article creation
  • Chatsonic: conversational AI with web search integration
  • Bulk article generation for content-heavy sites
  • Landing page copy generator with conversion-focused templates
  • WordPress integration for direct publishing
  • Factual content mode with source citations

Pricing

Individual plan: $19/month for one user with 100 articles/month using the standard model. Premium words (GPT-4 tier) cost more. Team plan: $49/month for three seats. Business plan: custom pricing. There is a limited trial with a handful of free generations to test the platform.

Pros

  • SEO integration is genuinely useful, not just surface-level keyword stuffing
  • $19/month is one of the most affordable entry points for a capable tool
  • Bulk generation saves serious time for high-volume publishers

Cons

  • Standard model output quality is noticeably below premium mode
  • The interface feels cluttered with too many features competing for attention
  • Brand voice controls are basic compared to Jasper

Verdict

Writesonic is a smart pick for SEO-focused content creators on a budget. The Article Writer is its standout feature, and if your primary goal is producing blog posts and articles that rank, it handles that task better than tools costing twice as much. Just be aware that the standard model cuts corners on quality -- you will want to budget for premium words if polish matters to you.

Try Writesonic

4. Claude

Best for Long-Form Writing

Free / $20/mo
9.0 / 10

What Claude Does Best

Claude, built by Anthropic, is the tool I reach for when I need to write something long and substantive. Where most AI writers start to lose the plot after 800 words, Claude maintains coherence across thousands of words. It remembers what it said in paragraph three when it is writing paragraph thirty. That sounds like a low bar, but if you have tried to produce a 3,000-word article with other AI tools, you know how quickly they start repeating themselves or wandering off topic.

The writing style is another differentiator. Claude produces prose that sounds less mechanical than most competitors. It does not default to the same predictable sentence patterns, and it handles nuance better than any other tool I tested. When I asked it to write a balanced analysis of a controversial topic, it actually presented multiple perspectives without collapsing into wishy-washy both-sides-ism. For anyone producing thought leadership, essays, whitepapers, or in-depth guides, Claude is the strongest option available.

Key Features

  • 200K token context window -- the largest among mainstream AI tools
  • Upload and analyze documents, PDFs, and images directly in conversation
  • Projects feature for organizing related conversations and reference material
  • Artifacts for generating and previewing structured content in a side panel
  • Consistent tone across very long outputs without topic drift
  • Strong instruction following for specific style and format requirements
  • API available for custom integrations at competitive per-token pricing

Pricing

Free plan: access to Claude 3.5 Sonnet with daily message limits. Pro plan: $20/month for higher rate limits, priority access during peak hours, and access to the latest Claude models including Opus. Team plan: $30/user/month with shared workspaces. All plans include the full feature set -- the tiers differ in usage limits and model access, not features.

Pros

  • Best long-form coherence of any AI writing tool tested
  • Writing quality feels more natural and less formulaic
  • Massive context window lets you feed it extensive reference material
  • $20/month Pro plan is well priced for the output quality

Cons

  • No built-in templates or structured content workflows
  • Free plan message limits can be restrictive during busy days
  • Lacks SEO-specific features -- it is a general writing tool, not a content platform

Verdict

Claude is the writer's AI. It does not have the marketing templates, SEO tools, or team dashboards that platforms like Jasper offer. What it has is the best raw writing ability on this list. If your work involves producing long, thoughtful, well-structured content and you are comfortable directing the AI with good prompts rather than clicking through templates, Claude will outperform everything else here. The $20/month Pro plan is a bargain for what you get.

Try Claude

5. ChatGPT

Most Versatile

Free / $20/mo
8.7 / 10

What ChatGPT Does Best

ChatGPT is the Swiss Army knife of AI writing. It is not the absolute best at any single writing task, but it is good-to-great at nearly everything. Blog posts, code documentation, email drafts, creative writing, brainstorming, research summaries -- hand it any writing job and it will produce competent output. That breadth is genuinely valuable if your writing needs are varied.

OpenAI has also built out an ecosystem that no competitor matches. Custom GPTs let you create specialized writing assistants for specific tasks. The plugin system connects ChatGPT to external tools and data sources. And the sheer volume of third-party guides, prompt libraries, and community resources means you will never run out of ways to squeeze more value from it. ChatGPT has the largest user base for a reason: it does a lot of things well enough that most people do not need a second tool.

Key Features

  • GPT-4o model with strong performance across all content types
  • Custom GPTs for building specialized writing assistants
  • Web browsing for real-time research during writing
  • Image generation with DALL-E integration
  • Code interpreter for data analysis and technical content
  • Voice mode for dictation and conversational drafting
  • Massive ecosystem of plugins and third-party integrations
  • Memory feature that learns your preferences over time

Pricing

Free plan: access to GPT-4o mini with limited usage. Plus plan: $20/month for GPT-4o, DALL-E, browsing, plugins, and higher rate limits. Team plan: $25/user/month with shared workspace and admin controls. Enterprise: custom pricing with enhanced security and unlimited access.

Pros

  • Handles the widest range of writing tasks competently
  • Custom GPTs are a powerful way to build repeatable workflows
  • Largest ecosystem of integrations, plugins, and community support
  • Free plan is functional enough for casual use

Cons

  • Writing style can feel generic without careful prompting
  • Long-form coherence does not match Claude's consistency
  • Rate limits on the Plus plan can interrupt heavy work sessions

Verdict

ChatGPT is the safe default. If you can only subscribe to one AI tool and your needs are broad, this is the practical choice. It will not blow you away with its prose, but it will handle everything you throw at it without falling flat on any particular task. The Custom GPTs feature adds a layer of specialization that partially closes the gap with more focused tools. For writers who also need to brainstorm, research, and code, the versatility is hard to beat.

Try ChatGPT

6. Rytr

Best Budget Option

$9/mo
7.8 / 10

What Rytr Does Best

Rytr does one thing particularly well: it costs almost nothing. At $9/month for the Saver plan, it is the cheapest dedicated AI writing tool with a meaningful feature set. And here is the thing -- for short-form content, it punches above its price point. Product descriptions, social media posts, email subject lines, and quick blog intros come out clean and usable without much editing. Rytr does not try to be a full content platform. It gives you a simple editor, a set of templates, and reliable short-form output.

The tool is also refreshingly simple. Where Jasper and Copy.ai pile on features, Rytr keeps the interface minimal. You pick a use case, choose a tone, enter your topic, and get output. For freelancers and small business owners who need basic writing assistance without a learning curve, that simplicity is an asset, not a limitation.

Key Features

  • 40+ use case templates for common writing tasks
  • 20+ tone options from casual to academic
  • Built-in plagiarism checker
  • Rich text editor with basic formatting tools
  • Multiple language support (30+ languages)
  • Image generation add-on
  • Chrome and WordPress extensions

Pricing

Free plan: 10,000 characters/month (roughly 1,500 words). Saver plan: $9/month for 100,000 characters. Unlimited plan: $29/month for unlimited characters and priority support. All plans include the plagiarism checker and all templates. Annual billing saves about 17%.

Pros

  • $9/month is the lowest price for a fully functional AI writer
  • Simple interface that requires zero learning curve
  • Short-form output quality is solid for the price

Cons

  • Long-form content quality drops noticeably -- repetition and generic phrasing creep in
  • Limited customization compared to premium tools
  • The AI model powering it feels a generation behind Claude and ChatGPT

Verdict

Rytr is the right tool for the right situation. If you need quick, short-form content and your budget is tight, it delivers decent output for pocket change. Do not expect it to write your next whitepaper or in-depth guide -- that is not its strength. But for social posts, product descriptions, and quick email drafts, $9/month is an easy yes.

Try Rytr

7. Sudowrite

Best for Fiction Writers

$19/mo
8.0 / 10

What Sudowrite Does Best

Sudowrite is the only tool on this list built specifically for fiction and creative writing. Every other AI writer here is designed around marketing copy, blog posts, and business content. Sudowrite speaks a different language entirely. It thinks in terms of characters, plot arcs, narrative voice, and scene beats. When you ask it to continue a scene, it pays attention to the tone you have established, the pacing of the dialogue, and the emotional arc you are building.

The Story Engine feature is what sets it apart. You give it a premise, characters, and plot outline, and it can generate a full draft -- chapter by chapter -- that maintains consistent characterization and narrative logic. It is not going to write your novel for you (the output still needs significant human editing), but as a brainstorming partner and first-draft accelerator for fiction, nothing else comes close. The "Describe" and "Expand" tools are also worth highlighting: select a flat passage, and Sudowrite will suggest richer, more sensory language to replace it.

Key Features

  • Story Engine for structured chapter-by-chapter novel drafting
  • Describe tool: adds sensory details and richer language to flat prose
  • Expand tool: lengthens scenes with consistent tone and voice
  • Brainstorm tool: generates plot ideas, character backstories, and dialogue options
  • Rewrite tool: rephrases passages in different styles or voices
  • Canvas view for visual story structure and scene organization
  • Character consistency tracking across long manuscripts

Pricing

Hobby plan: $19/month with 30,000 AI words. Professional plan: $29/month with 90,000 words and priority processing. Max plan: $129/month with 300,000 words for high-volume writers. There is a short trial period to test the core features.

Pros

  • The only AI tool purpose-built for fiction and creative prose
  • Story Engine produces structurally sound first drafts
  • Describe and Expand tools are genuinely useful for revision
  • Understands narrative elements that general AI tools miss entirely

Cons

  • Useless for non-fiction, marketing, or business writing
  • Word limits on lower tiers can run out mid-chapter
  • Output still requires heavy editing -- it accelerates drafting, not final polish

Verdict

If you are writing fiction -- short stories, novels, screenplays -- Sudowrite is worth every penny. It understands creative writing in a way that Jasper, Claude, and ChatGPT simply do not, because they were not built for it. For everyone else, this tool will not help you. It is a specialist, and specialists thrive in their niche. Fiction writers should absolutely try it.

Try Sudowrite

8. Grammarly

Best for Editing and Polish

Free / $30/mo
8.3 / 10

What Grammarly Does Best

Grammarly is the editor on this list, not the writer. While every other tool here generates content from scratch, Grammarly's strength is making existing content better. Its AI-powered rewriting suggestions go far beyond spell-check and grammar fixes. It catches awkward phrasing, wordy sentences, unclear structure, inconsistent tone, and passive voice overuse. The generative AI features added in recent updates let it rewrite paragraphs, adjust tone, and shorten or expand sections -- but the core value is still in editing.

What makes Grammarly indispensable is where it works. The browser extension, desktop app, and integrations with Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Slack, and email clients mean it is active wherever you write. You do not need to copy text into a separate tool. Grammarly sits alongside your writing in real time, which means it actually gets used. A tool that catches mistakes where you make them is more valuable than one that requires you to change your workflow.

Key Features

  • Real-time grammar, spelling, and punctuation correction
  • Tone detection and adjustment suggestions
  • Clarity and conciseness rewrites for wordy passages
  • Generative AI for paragraph rewriting and content suggestions
  • Plagiarism detection against billions of web pages
  • Style guide enforcement for teams and brands
  • Works natively in browsers, desktop apps, Google Docs, Word, Slack, and email
  • Readability scoring and vocabulary enhancement

Pricing

Free plan: basic grammar and spelling checks with limited AI suggestions. Premium: $30/month (or $12/month billed annually) for full writing suggestions, tone detection, plagiarism checker, and generative AI features. Business: $15/member/month (billed annually) with style guides, brand tones, admin controls, and analytics.

Pros

  • Works everywhere you already write -- no workflow change needed
  • Editing suggestions are consistently accurate and useful
  • Free tier is genuinely helpful for basic grammar and spelling
  • Team features with style guides help maintain brand consistency

Cons

  • Not a content generator -- it edits, it does not create from scratch
  • $30/month for Premium feels steep when annual billing drops it to $12
  • Generative AI features are functional but not as strong as dedicated AI writers

Verdict

Grammarly is less a competitor to the other tools on this list and more a complement to them. Use Claude or Jasper to write your first draft, then let Grammarly clean it up. The combination of an AI writer plus Grammarly for editing produces better results than either tool alone. The free plan handles basics well enough for casual writers. If you write professionally, the Premium plan (especially at the annual price) pays for itself by catching the mistakes that undermine your credibility.

Try Grammarly

Which AI Writing Tool Should You Pick?

The right tool depends on what you write and what you can spend. Here is the short version:

  • For content teams and agencies: Jasper. The brand voice features and team tools justify the price at scale.
  • For getting started without paying: Copy.ai. The free tier is the real deal.
  • For SEO-focused blogging on a budget: Writesonic. Best search optimization tools at the lowest price.
  • For long-form articles and essays: Claude. Nothing else writes this well for this long.
  • For doing a bit of everything: ChatGPT. The broadest tool with the deepest ecosystem.
  • For tight budgets: Rytr. Usable short-form content for the price of a sandwich.
  • For fiction and creative writing: Sudowrite. The only tool that actually understands narrative.
  • For editing whatever you have already written: Grammarly. Use it alongside any other tool on this list.

One final note: no AI writing tool replaces the need for a human editor. Every tool on this list produces output that needs review, fact-checking, and a final human pass. The best results come from treating these tools as first-draft machines and collaborators, not as replacements for your own judgment and voice. The writers who get the most from AI are the ones who already know how to write and use AI to write faster -- not the ones hoping AI will learn to write for them.