Hemingway Editor Review, Pricing & Features

Hemingway Editor highlights hard-to-read sentences and grammar issues. Free web version, $19.99 desktop app, and Hemingway Plus AI plans from $8.33/month.

Category
AI Writing
Pricing
Freemium, from Free (desktop app $19.99 one-time; Plus from $8.33/month billed annually)
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 20, 2026
Founded
2013
Free PlanWindowsWeb AppFree TrialAIFreemiumMac

What Is Hemingway Editor?

Hemingway Editor is a writing tool created by brothers Adam and Ben Long and launched in 2013, now operated by Boondoggle Studio, LLC. It's designed to help writers make their prose clearer and easier to read by visually flagging issues as they write.

The tool takes its name from Ernest Hemingway's famously terse writing style, and it works by analyzing pasted or typed text for sentence complexity, passive voice, and other readability issues, then assigning the piece an overall reading grade level.

Key Features

The core editor highlights hard-to-read and very hard-to-read sentences, passive voice constructions, unnecessary adverbs, and phrases that have simpler alternatives, using color-coded highlighting directly in the text. It also calculates a readability grade level so writers can see at a glance how accessible their writing is.

The paid Hemingway Editor Plus tier adds AI-powered features on top of this core readability engine, including grammar checking, tone adjustment, and a paraphrasing tool, aimed at writers who want AI assistance alongside the classic readability highlighting Hemingway is known for.

Hemingway Editor Pricing

The basic web-based Hemingway Editor is free to use with no account required, covering readability highlighting, grammar checking, and proofreading in a limited form. A one-time-purchase desktop app for Mac and Windows is available for $19.99, letting users work offline without a subscription.

Hemingway Editor Plus is a subscription that adds AI-powered grammar, tone, and paraphrasing tools, starting at $8.33/month ($100 billed annually) for 5,000 AI sentence corrections per month, with a higher tier at $12.50/month ($150 billed annually) for 10,000 sentence corrections. A 14-day free trial covering up to 200 sentence corrections is available with no credit card required.

Key Features

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Free web version with no account required
  • One-time desktop purchase avoids ongoing subscription fees
  • Clear, visual readability highlighting that's easy to understand
  • AI-powered Plus tier adds grammar, tone, and paraphrasing
  • Desktop app works offline

Cons

  • Free version lacks the AI-powered suggestions found in Plus
  • Plus AI sentence quota is capped depending on plan tier
  • Less suited to long-form structural editing than dedicated writing suites
  • Company size and headquarters are not publicly disclosed

Pricing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Hemingway Editor free?

Yes, the core web-based Hemingway Editor is free to use, with a paid desktop app and an AI-powered Plus subscription available for additional features.

How much is the Hemingway desktop app?

The Hemingway Editor desktop app for Mac and Windows costs $19.99 as a one-time purchase.

What does Hemingway Editor Plus add?

Hemingway Editor Plus adds AI-powered grammar checking, tone adjustment, and a paraphrasing tool on top of the core readability highlighting.

Does Hemingway Editor work offline?

Yes, the paid desktop app for Mac and Windows works offline, unlike the free web-based version.

Who created Hemingway Editor?

Hemingway Editor was created by brothers Adam and Ben Long and launched in 2013; it is now operated by Boondoggle Studio, LLC.

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