Writing tools · checked 28 September 2026
Grammarly for IELTS: what to check before choosing a tool
Language revision and IELTS preparation overlap, but a cleaner sentence does not by itself answer an essay question. Choose the support you need: suggestions on your draft, help interpreting a task, or a place to practise independently.
Ownership disclosure: we make English Test Coach. This is our comparison, not an independent review. Grammarly is a separate provider. English Test Coach’s public AI assessment and paid checkout are currently paused; signing in does not enable AI marking.
What can each tool help you do?
Grammarly: revise language and review an assignment
Its grammar checker offers grammar, spelling and punctuation suggestions, alongside conciseness and tone feedback. The Pro plan advertises fuller sentence rewrites, tone adjustments and fluency support.
Grammarly also offers AI Grader. You can supply an assignment and rubric for an estimated grade and feedback, so describing Grammarly as only a spelling or grammar checker would be inaccurate. We have not tested that feature against IELTS examiner scores.
English Test Coach: understand a task and practise
Our public resources connect original IELTS-style questions to planning ideas, complete annotated answers and worked lessons. The workspace provides a planner, timer, word count, draft download and on-device spelling review.
It currently supports self-directed practice. Its rule-based demonstration is not an AI band assessment, and spelling review does not evaluate the quality of your argument. See current features and account help before choosing it for a particular need.
Does a Grammarly score translate into an IELTS band?
Do not convert the general Performance score into a band. Grammarly’s Performance explanation describes a measure based on document length and detected writing issues, compared with documents sharing similar goals. A Performance score of 90 is not evidence of IELTS band 9.
AI Grader is a different feature: its estimate depends on the assignment information and rubric provided. Grammarly itself says that this estimate should not be treated as an actual grade. Supplying IELTS criteria would not, on its own, establish agreement with an IELTS examiner.
IELTS writing assessment considers task achievement or response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. Read our criteria guide to connect those areas to revision decisions. Neither this comparison nor our study examples establish an official result or a guaranteed score improvement.
A grammar repair can still leave the task unfinished
This is an original teaching illustration, not output from either tool. It uses our remote-work question, which asks whether the advantages of increasingly common home working outweigh the disadvantages.
First fix the sentence
Draft: “Working from home save employees time because they does not travel to an office.”
Language repair: “Working from home saves employees time because they do not travel to an office.”
The activity takes “saves”; the plural “employees”, referred to by “they”, takes “do”. The revision repairs agreement while preserving the claim.
Now check the instruction. The repaired sentence explains one advantage. Even several accurate sentences about commuting would not yet compare benefits with drawbacks or reach the requested judgement.
Then develop the comparison
“Time saved on commuting can make a demanding job more manageable. However, new staff may find it harder to ask quick questions when colleagues are working separately. On balance, I favour remote arrangements where teams provide regular mentoring, because this retains the time benefit while addressing a specific difficulty.”
This short illustration adds a drawback, a reasoned balance and a condition. It is a planning and revision example, not a complete essay. The condition also needs support in the body of a full answer.
Try it: spot what a fluent sentence still leaves unanswered
“Remote work is convenient, flexible and useful for employees.” What would you develop before treating this as part of an outweigh argument?
Compare a revision plan
Choose one benefit and explain how it helps a particular worker. Then develop a relevant drawback, identify who experiences it and explain why your overall judgement still holds. Three positive adjectives do not perform those jobs. You need not force both sides into every sentence; the complete essay must make the comparison clear.
Read the complete remote-work answer to see the reasoning across paragraphs, or use the advantages and disadvantages guide to distinguish listing two sides from weighing them.
Free access, accounts and advertised prices
Grammarly
The Free plan costs $0. Its public grammar-check page has a text box and a signup prompt; that does not establish unlimited anonymous use. Grammarly’s getting-started guide describes an account-based browser editor and requires an internet connection. AI Grader’s public FAQ advertises one free grade estimate with three pieces of feedback each day, with more extensive access on Pro.
The standalone Grammarly Pro price guide lists US$30 per member monthly, US$60 per member every three months, or US$144 per member annually. The annual amount averages US$12 a month; it is not the month-to-month subscription price. Regional currency, purchase channel and offers can differ. Confirm the current total and renewal terms with Grammarly before subscribing.
English Test Coach
Our public questions, samples, lessons and writing workspace are free during early access. No account is required for these resources. Sign in for private cross-device writing sync; a guest device backup alone does not provide that. Paid plans are currently unavailable. Our free use and plans page explains the current limits.
Choose your next practice step
- For language suggestions on a draft: inspect Grammarly’s current free features and decide whether the proposed changes preserve your meaning. This comparison has not measured its correction accuracy.
- For IELTS task coverage: use the Task 2 question-type guide to turn the instruction into a coverage plan before revising individual sentences.
- For learning from a correction: try the same sentence pattern in a new context, then practise without suggestions. Our sentence-control lesson provides further exercises.
If you are seeking an IELTS-focused automated report immediately, our paused assessment does not meet that need. The writing-tool alternatives guide explains other offers and the checks to make before selecting one.
Write your own remote-work argument
Make a short comparison plan, draft your answer and review task coverage before polishing the language. Compare the annotated example after writing.