How to Use Grammarly as a Student (Free vs Premium)
One typo can undermine a great argument. Here’s how to use Grammarly properly — and whether Premium is worth paying for.
When you’re writing an assignment at 10pm after a full day of work, your brain isn’t catching every grammar mistake or awkward sentence. Grammarly exists to catch what you miss. This guide shows you exactly how to set it up, use it properly, and decide honestly whether the paid Premium plan is worth your money.
Free is enough for most students. Premium pays off only for heavy academic writing.
The free version catches the mistakes that matter most. Premium adds polish — valuable, but not essential for everyone.
How to Set Up Grammarly in 5 Minutes
Create a Free Account
Go to grammarly.com and sign up with your email or Google account. No credit card needed for the free plan — it’s genuinely free forever, not a trial.
Install the Browser Extension
This is the most important step. The extension works automatically in Google Docs, Gmail, your university’s online portal, and most websites where you type. Install it once and it runs everywhere — no extra steps needed for each document.
Install the Desktop App (Optional but Useful)
If you write in Microsoft Word, download the Grammarly desktop app or Word add-in. It integrates directly into Word’s interface, checking your document as you type.
Set Your Writing Goals
When you open a new document, Grammarly asks about your audience, formality, and domain. Select “Academic” and “Formal” for assignments — this tunes its suggestions to match what your lecturers expect, rather than casual writing style.
What You Actually Get at Each Level
Most Students Don’t Need Premium
The Free Plan Catches What Actually Matters Most
The free version catches spelling errors, basic grammar mistakes, and obvious punctuation issues — the kind of mistakes that make a lecturer question how carefully you proofread. For most part-time students writing standard assignments, essays, and reports, this coverage is sufficient. The mistakes that actually cost marks — wrong word usage, subject-verb disagreement, comma errors — are all covered in the free tier. If your writing is generally solid and you just need a safety net for tired-brain typos, free does the job.
When the Paid Plan Is Worth Considering
You’re Writing in a Second Language or Need Vocabulary Support
If English isn’t your first language, Premium’s vocabulary enhancement and fluency suggestions genuinely help your writing read more naturally — suggesting better word choices and smoother sentence structures. This is where Premium delivers the most noticeable improvement for students who feel their writing doesn’t fully express their ideas.
You’re Writing Research Papers or Dissertations
For longer, more formal academic writing — research papers, theses, dissertations — the plagiarism checker and advanced clarity suggestions become genuinely valuable. Accidentally close-paraphrasing a source is a real risk in academic writing, and Premium’s plagiarism detection catches this before submission. For one-off long projects, even a single month of Premium can be worth the cost.
Writing Quality Directly Affects Your Grades
If your course specifically assesses writing quality — communication-heavy subjects, English, business writing, journalism — the marginal improvement Premium provides can translate into real marks. For technical subjects like accounting or computer practice where content matters more than prose style, the investment matters less.
How to Actually Use Grammarly Well
Don’t accept every suggestion blindly. Grammarly is a tool, not a final authority. Read each suggestion and understand why it’s being made before accepting. Blindly accepting changes can occasionally alter your intended meaning or academic tone.
Write first, edit after. Don’t let Grammarly’s red and yellow underlines interrupt your writing flow. Get your ideas down first, then run the check once you’ve finished a section or the full document.
Use it as a learning tool, not just a fix-it tool. When Grammarly flags the same type of mistake repeatedly — comma splices, passive voice, subject-verb agreement — that’s valuable information about your specific weak points. Pay attention to patterns and you’ll naturally improve your writing over time, needing the tool less.
Check your institution’s plagiarism policy before relying on Grammarly’s checker. Most universities use their own plagiarism detection software (like Turnitin) for official submissions. Grammarly’s checker is useful for your own peace of mind during drafting, but it’s not a substitute for understanding your institution’s specific referencing requirements.
Start Free. Upgrade Only If You Genuinely Need More.
Install the free version today — there’s no reason not to. It catches real mistakes and costs nothing. Use it consistently for a month or two and pay attention to whether you keep wishing for features it doesn’t have. If you find yourself wanting better vocabulary suggestions, plagiarism checking, or you’re writing a major academic project — that’s your signal that Premium might be worth it for that specific period.
Don’t subscribe to Premium just because it’s available. Subscribe when a specific need justifies the cost. For most part-time students handling standard assignments, the free plan will serve you well for your entire qualification.
Want more free tools that actually help?
We rounded up 7 completely free tools every part-time student should be using right now.