11 Best Plagiarism Checker (2023 Comparison!)
Plagiarism?
It’s a no-no.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a student, teacher, blogger, or freelance writer. Producing 100% original written content should be your top priority.
This post will guide you in your search for the best plagiarism checker.
Before you we explore your options, let’s go over a few facts regarding plagiarism.
Let’s jump into it.
Best Plagiarism Checker Tools
- Grammarly Plagiarism Checker
- Copyscape
- Scribbr
- WhiteSmoke
- DupliChecker
- PlagiarismCheck.org
- Quetext
- SmallSEOTools Plagiarism Checker
- Turnitin
- Plagiarisma
- Viper Plagiarism Checker
Why You Need a Plagiarism Checker?
The consequences of plagiarism depend on what you do.
- Bloggers — Plagiarism is a red flag that can prevent your site from ranking in search engine results. It may also cause irreversible damage to your brand’s authority and trustworthiness.
- Students — Plenty of universities and other educational organizations now use plagiarism checkers themselves to discourage cheating. Using a plagiarism checker will help keep your records clean as you grind through schoolwork.
- Teachers — If you suspect that your students are plagiarizing their schoolwork, a plagiarism checker is essential. The good news is, you don’t need to invest any money to check for plagiarism.
- Website owners — For website owners and bloggers who accept guest posts, a plagiarism checker will let you accept submissions with confidence. The same can be said for businesses who hire freelance copywriters for their web content.
You may be thinking, I never plagiarize — this post isn’t for me.
To that, I respond with two words:
Unintentional plagiarism.
Suppose you’re writing about a technical topic that involves terms you don’t fully understand.
Chances are, you’ll look for online references in the form of blog posts, eBooks, or even YouTube videos. This leads to the tendency of people to paraphrase write-ups as opposed to constructing pieces with a clean slate.
Granted, the likelihood of traceable plagiarism occurring accidentally is somewhat rare. But why take a chance if there are several free plagiarism checker tools out there?
Without further ado, here are your options if you’re looking for the top plagiarism checker in the market:
11 Best Plagiarism Checker Tools
1. Grammarly Plagiarism Checker
Grammarly is primarily a grammar checker tool that automatically detects spelling, grammatical, and readability issues as well as provides corrections.
It also features a built-in plagiarism checker that scans over 16 billion web pages to detect unoriginal text.
To activate the plagiarism checker, click ‘Plagiarism’ at the bottom of the Grammarly Assistant.
The best way to measure the effectiveness of a tool is to put it to the test.
For Grammarly’s plagiarism checker, I prepared a special draft that’s sprinkled with copied text from various sources.
After clicking ‘Plagiarism,’ Grammarly will take a few seconds to scan billions of websites for matching text.
When completed, the “Alerts” section of the Grammarly editor will show the results of the plagiarism check. This includes the percentage of plagiarized text in your draft and the sections in question.
Clicking on each alert will tell the Grammarly editor to jump straight to the plagiarized sentences. These will be underlined and highlighted in blue-green.
As expected, Grammarly detected all copied text from my draft.
It was also able to pinpoint the original sources of each section. This is helpful if you want to add citations instead of rewriting them.
How much does it cost?
Although Grammarly’s core proofreading features can be used for free, the plagiarism checker requires a premium account.
For individual users, the monthly cost of a premium subscription is $29.95. This can be reduced to $11.66 per month if you plan to use annual billing.
If you’re interested in Grammarly’s paid version, take a look at my in-depth review that discusses its premium features. Don’t forget to get your 25% discount while you’re at it!
What are its features?
Aside from the plagiarism checker, Grammarly also boasts the following features:
- Checks articles for overused words
- Detects impolite, insensitive, and non-inclusive language
- Analyzes writing style consistency and sentence structures
- Downloadable app
- Browser extension
Who is it for?
Grammarly’s toolset is tailored to the needs of bloggers, freelancers, and teams who develop online content.
The “Business” plan supports the creation of up to 100 user accounts — more than enough for the average content team. Professional writers, on the other hand, may settle for the “Premium” plan to meet their daily needs.
Recommendations
While Grammarly has what it takes to be a top plagiarism checker, I recommend purchasing it for its proofreading features.
You should think twice about investing in Grammarly if you only need to check for plagiarism.
If, however, you also need a proofreading tool that can polish your content to perfection, then it’s definitely a must-buy.
Click here to experience Grammarly
2. Copyscape
You can’t have a conversation about the best free plagiarism checker without mentioning Copyscape.
It is a popular plagiarism checker that’s specifically designed for bloggers and website owners.
Before we go any further, do note that Copyscape has a free version and a “premium search” tool for professionals.
Copyscape’s free version is fundamentally different from other plagiarism checkers. Instead of scanning unpublished work for potential plagiarism, it checks an existing page URL for copies on the web.
That means the tool isn’t meant for users who are worried they might commit unintentional plagiarism. Rather, it’s for users who suspect that their content is being copied elsewhere.
To use it, all you have to do is enter the URL of the content in question.
For the sake of this post, let’s go with a popular article written by Brian Dean of Backlinko.
Within seconds, Copyscape should produce a list of possible plagiarized posts. Up to ten results can be displayed for free users.
If you want to check an article for plagiarism before publishing, you’ll need to perform a premium search. This only works if you’ve purchased premium credits for your Copyscape account.
How much does it cost?
The base Copyscape plagiarism checker is free. For those who are interested in premium searches, you’ll have to shell out $0.03 per 200 words.
An additional $0.01 will be paid in premium credits for every 100 additional words.
What are its features?
As the name suggests, the Copyscape team puts heavy emphasis on fighting plagiarism.
Aside from on-demand plagiarism checks, they also offer Copysentry — an automated service that protects your website from copycats.
It works by proactively monitoring the internet for copies of your content. The tool will then send a notification email once stolen content is detected.
Who is it for?
The Copyscape free plagiarism checker is great for anyone who publishes content online.
Students and teachers, on the other hand, may rely on premium searches for the occasional plagiarism checks. Copyscape’s flexible, credit-based pricing system makes it cost-effective if you don’t have a huge stream of content to check.
Recommendations
Since Copyscape’s web-based tool is completely free, there’s no risk involved in using it. It’s worth the try as long as you have a website to publish your articles on.
If you own a blog or website that constantly publishes content, you may also consider getting the Copysentry service. This frees you from the tedious task of manually checking your content for plagiarism as you focus on content development.
Click here to experience Copyscape
3. Scribbr
For students, the problem with traditional plagiarism checkers is that they only check online content.
If the text being plagiarized is a book or academic journal, chances are they won’t be detected.
That’s why the Scribbr plagiarism checker deserves one of the top three spots on this list. Its database includes not only 60 billion web pages, but also millions of publications in various formats.
You can use their plagiarism service by creating an account and uploading the document to their servers. Scribbr will then assess the article’s length, which will determine how much they’ll charge.
When the report is ready, it will display an overall similarity percentage on the right panel. The text will be highlighted using colors that denote a source — all of which will be listed down as well.
Another noteworthy feature of Scribbr is their proofreading service, which is handled by their in-house team of language experts. This means the quality of your work will be polished by actual people instead of proofreading algorithms.
How much does it cost?
The main downside to using Scribbr is the lack of a free option.
For articles up to 7,500 words in length, you will be charged $18.95 per plagiarism check. This increases to $28.95 for articles from 7,500 to 50,000 words and $39.95 for even longer documents.
What are its features?
Pricing aside, Scribbr’s plagiarism and proofreading services are actually quite simple.
You upload your work, have them process the document, and wait for the results. You can’t get any friendlier than that as far as user experience goes.
Who is it for?
While Scribbr is heavily marketed towards students, bloggers and website owners can still benefit from their services.
Blog posts nowadays rarely exceed the 7,500-word mark, anyway. Your needs should be covered by their most affordable service, which is still significantly less expensive than freelance copy editors.
Recommendations
Scribbr may be a bit on the pricier side, but at least you’re guaranteed to get publish-worthy results.
If you’re conscious about the cost, only use their services on your most important projects. This could be a student’s thesis or your website’s pillar content if you’re a blogger.
Click here to experience Scribbr
4. WhiteSmoke
Just like Grammarly, WhiteSmoke made it to my list of the top four proofreading tools.
WhiteSmoke is actually similar to Grammarly in many ways. They both have vocabulary enhancement features, exclusive mobile apps, and desktop integrations.
For the full, side-by-side comparison, visit my Grammarly vs WhiteSmoke post.
WhiteSmoke also has a plagiarism checker baked into the tool if you subscribed to the “Essential” plan.
WhiteSmoke may not have a free option, but it does have a load of featured under the hood. In addition to the grammar and plagiarism checkers, it also features a punctuation checker and a translation tool.
How much does it cost?
The plagiarism checker is available for WhiteSmoke users as part of their essential package. This costs $5 a month for an unlimited number of articles.
You can bump up to the “Premium” subscription level to unlock integrations with all major browsers, Gmail, and Microsoft Office. The best part is, this plan only costs $6.66 per month — just $1.6 more expensive than the essential plan.
If that’s not cheap enough for you, you can get a 50% discount using the Master Blogging affiliate link. Visit this post for the complete details.
What are its features?
Apart from the features mentioned above, you can also use WhiteSmoke in four different ways:
- Desktop app — If you’re a professional writer, you can launch WhiteSmoke straight from your desktop using their downloadable app. The Microsoft Word integration is also a big advantage if you want to work as efficiently as possible.
- Web interface — For the occasional WhiteSmoke user, the web-based interface should be more than adequate. The browsers it supports are Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Safari.
- Mobile app — Professionally, the WhiteSmoke mobile app makes perfect sense for writers who work on their tablets. It’s also nice to have the translation tool in your pocket if you plan to use it on your smartphone.
- Chrome Extension — If you use online word processors like Google Docs, you can streamline workflow with the WhiteSmoke extension for Chrome. It also checks your text for grammar, punctuation, and spelling issues on social media, email services, and other cloud-based platforms.
Who is it for?
Thanks to WhiteSmoke’s affordable pricing, it can be everyone’s go-to proofreading and anti-plagiarism tool.
Students, teachers, bloggers, freelance copywriters — as long as you produce text-based content, WhiteSmoke has something for you.
Recommendations
For plagiarism checks, WhiteSmoke’s essential package is an excellent value for your money.
I would recommend WhiteSmoke if you use Microsoft Word. Having a third-party software verify the grammatical soundness and originality of your content as you type is a huge time-saver.
Click here to experience Whitesmoke
5. DupliChecker
You may notice that we started off with a lot of paid plagiarism checkers.
But what about students and new bloggers who may not be able to afford them?
To them, I propose they check out DupliChecker — a free online plagiarism checker with percentage scoring.
If you don’t know what percentage scoring means, let’s take a look at how the tool works.
You can use DupliChecker directly on your browser by pasting or uploading your write-ups. A limit of 1,000 words per search is in place, so you may have to chunk down longer documents.
Within seconds, DupliChecker will provide you with a complete analysis of your document’s originality.
The results will include the approximated percentage of copied words and original text.
Of course, the original source of the plagiarized content will also be shown.
You can also click ‘Compare Text’ below the identified source of the original text. This will let you know just how much of the document is copied.
If the similarities are negligible, you should have no problem restructuring those sentences and run the test again.
How much does it cost?
As I’ve said, DupliChecker is a free plagiarism checker that costs literally nothing to use.
You don’t even need to create an account to use it.
What are its features?
Surprisingly, DupliChecker has a sizeable lineup of features that you can use for free.
Here are some examples:
- Grammar checker — A grammar checker attached to a plagiarism detector is to be expected. It analyzes content to detect basic grammatical errors like misplaced modifiers, inappropriate verb tenses, and so on.
- Related keywords finder — Yes, DupliChecker comes with free keyword research tools to help you develop rank-worthy articles. Their related keywords finder may not be as powerful as full-fledged keyword research tools, but it works.
- Keyword rank checker — If you think DupliChecker’s keyword research tools are impressive, wait until you see its keyword rank checker. It lets you retrieve your search rankings for up to five keywords at a time.
Some of them are pretty clunky and aren’t meant to replace fully developed tools. But they’re still functional and can fulfill the needs of new writers.
Who is it for?
Looking at DupliChecker’s toolbox, it’s apparent that their target users are professional writers.
This includes bloggers, content marketers, link builders, and freelance copywriters who need to produce SEO-friendly content.
Due to its free-to-use nature, it can also help students who regularly need to check their schoolwork for plagiarism.
Recommendations
Given that DupliChecker is free, there’s really no reason for me, or anyone, to complain.
Their ad-ridden website layout may aggravate certain users. But if you only care about making your content plagiarism-free, then DupliChecker does the job.
While you’re at it, you should also check out their list of SEO tools.
Trust me — the tools I’ve covered above is just the tip of the iceberg.
Click here to experience Duplichecker
6. PlagiarismCheck.org
Now that we discussed DupliChecker, let’s go back to paid plagiarism checkers for a minute.
PlagiarismCheck.org is a reputable online plagiarism checker that’s designed for academic and professional use. Its partnerships with well-known educational institutions speak of how reliable their software is in detecting plagiarized content.
Similar to most user-friendly plagiarism checkers, PlagiarismCheck.org also did a great job at keeping the user experience simple. You can either paste your text into the “New Check” field or attach the document you want to process and click ‘Proceed.’
It shouldn’t take long before PlagiarismCheck.org brings you the results. When done, the report includes the percentage of plagiarized text in your document along with the identified original sources.
PlagiarismCheck.org also underlines all plagiarized sentences in your content. This gives you the opportunity to make changes and salvage your document.
How much does it cost?
I can positively say that PlagiarismCheck.org is one of the most well-priced plagiarism checkers out there.
For individual users, the entry-level package priced at $5.99 can check up to 20 pages. Even regular bloggers should be good for a month with this plan.
Educational organizations, on the other hand, can purchase PlagiarismCheck.org on a quote-based basis. This gives them the assurance that they’ll get their money’s worth.
What are its features?
In terms of features, it’s clear that PlagiarismCheck.org decided to go with the minimalistic, no-nonsense approach.
There is zero visual clutter in the platform’s design. Other than the conveniently-placed share, print, and download buttons in the editor, the checker only has the bare essentials.
For organizations with bigger needs, PlagiarismCheck.org can provide the following benefits:
- Free onboarding and training for users
- Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Google Classroomand Moodle
- Custom document archive for your organization
- Search closed content libraries and depositories
- Personal account manager
- VIP customer support
Who is it for?
Whether you’re a blogger, content marketer, student, or research institute representative, PlagiarismChecker.org is a safe bet. It offers packages that suit all kinds of organizations and individuals — from higher education institutions to freelance copywriters.
Recommendations
If you’re an organization, try to get in touch with PlagiarismCheck.org and request for a quote. They’re one of the few tools in this list that can cater to the requirements of educational organizations and businesses.
For individuals, I’d get their “Light” plan first and take their plagiarism checker out for a spin. There’s no pressure for you to get the more expensive packages since the only difference is the cost-per-page ratio.
Click here to experience PlagiarismCheck
7. Quetext
When it comes to usability, Quetext is among the top-tier plagiarism checkers along with Grammarly and PlagiarismCheck.org.
A single glance at their user interface will show you what I mean.
Upon signing in, there are only three visual elements on your screen: the editor, ‘Upload Files’ button, and main menu.
You also have the option to enable the “DeepSearch” feature before you initialize a plagiarism check. The toggle will only be visible once you paste your text or upload a document.
DeepSearch is an exclusive technology that ensures accurate results. The minor drawback is, enabling it will cause your plagiarism checks to take longer to complete.
On the report page, Quetext remains consistent with the clutter-free design choice.
Unoriginal text will be highlighted in red whereas the identified sources will be listed on the right panel.
How much does it cost?
Quetext may offer a free option, but it’s limited to only three searches and three reports.
For unlimited plagiarism checks, you need to pay for the “Pro” version, which costs $9.99 per month.
What are its features?
If the DeepSearch feature isn’t enough to impress you, Quetext has a few more tricks up its sleeve.
Instead of modifying or deleting plagiarized text, you can use the “Citation Assistant” to create proper citations. This is useful if you want to pull in quotes or statistical data from the source.
Pro users can also download a PDF version of their report for easy sharing.
Who is it for?
The advantage of a basic and practical plagiarism checker is that it can easily fit anyone’s workflow.
You can be a blogger with an intricate content development process or a student who needs to write an essay. If you need a turnkey plagiarism checker, Quetext is a solid option.
Recommendations
I personally don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions in content development. But in this case, I’m willing to make an exception.
Quetext is a tool that I’ll gladly recommend to anyone. If you’re having second thoughts, give its free version a test run and see it in action yourself.
Click here to experience Quetext
8. SmallSEOTools Plagiarism Checker
The SmallSEOTools Plagiarism Checker is another tool in the simple category.
It allows you to check the originality of your article right off the bat — no account required.
Like other plagiarism checkers, you can also upload the document you want to inspect or enter its URL. You may also select your article directly if it’s saved in your Dropbox or Google Drive folder.
As for the results, it’s only fair to give SmallSEOTools props for trying something different. Rather than just one report page, the plagiarism report lets you choose between three views.
The “Sentence Wise Result” view is selected by default. It breaks down your document sentence by sentence and reveals whether they’re original or plagiarized.
To view the text sources, you’ll need to switch to the “Matched Sources” view. This lists down all the detected sources of plagiarized text and displays the similarity percentage.
Lastly, the “Document View” brings the focus back to the article. When selected, SmallSEOTools will simply highlight the plagiarized bits of text in your document.
How much does it cost?
The SmallSEOTools plagiarism checker can be used free of charge for as many times as you need.
That’s it — there are no limitations or conditions to be met.
What are its features?
Remember how DupliChecker is loaded with truckloads of features for content marketers and bloggers?
SmallSEOTools is the same.
Their website also comes equipped with a plethora of tools — from image editing to keyword research tools.
Below are some of my favorites:
- Image compression — If you run a blog or online publication, you need to implement strategies that improve the user experience. Boosting your website’s loading speed with the SmallSEOTools image compressor is a step in the right direction.
- SEO keyword competition analysis — In SEO, it’s imperative that you pick your battles wisely by choosing low- and medium-competition keywords. To gauge the keyword competition, SmallSEOTools can identify the top results and unveils domain metrics, like PageRank and domain age.
- Backlink checker — If you know a thing or two about SEO, you’ll understand how important a backlink analysis tool is. Yes — SmallSEOTools has its own backlink checker in the box.
Who is it for?
Just like DupliChecker, you can make the most out of SmallSEOTools if you write content with SEO in mind.
Its comprehensive collection of tools makes it incredibly valuable for bloggers, business owners, and marketers.
The plagiarism checker also serves its purpose if you’re a student or teacher. But if checking for unoriginal content your only objective, SmallSEOTools shouldn’t be your first choice.
Recommendations
In my experience, the accuracy of the SmallSEOTools plagiarism checker needs a little work.
Sure enough, it can detect most of the plagiarized text in your document. But there are times when it fails to catch a single sentence or phrase.
Since it’s free, you should give it a shot, especially if you’ll use their other SEO tools. It would’ve been the perfect tool if its reports are 100% accurate.
The ability to check the originality of documents in your Dropbox or Google Drive account is a nice touch. But then again, it’s not exactly a game-changing feature.
Click here to experience SmallSEOTools
9. Turnitin
In case you didn’t get it, Turnitin came from the phrase “turn it in.”
A quick tour of their website will let you know that it’s designed for students, teachers, and organizations. Their value proposition — “Your culture of academic integrity begins with Turnitin” — gives it away.
Turnitin has two featured products that can help users accomplish two tasks.
The “Feedback Studio” is the one you want if you need to check documents for plagiarism. It’s used by thousands of instructors worldwide for their online grading duties.
For general help in producing top-notch written works, you should check out the “Revision Assistant.” It provides real-time insights on how documents can be improved, such as the use of transitional words and sentence structures.
How much does it cost?
Unfortunately, Turnitin doesn’t offer plans to individual, non-academic users. Their platform’s cost only goes for private quotations, which most likely depends on the number of student and instructor accounts.
If you’re interested in purchasing it for your organization, your best bet is to schedule a call with their sales.
What are its features?
There’s a reason why Turnitin is a world-renowned brand.
Their Feedback Studio and Revision Assistant products leave no stone unturned. If there are plagiarized text or quality improvements to be found, Turnitin’s software will surely find it.
Who is it for?
The fact that you need to specify an educational institution for a quote tells you exactly who Turnitin is for.
It’s not for professional writers, bloggers, or business owners who need high-quality, original content on their site. It’s for academic organizations who value excellence and authenticity in the student body’s work.
Recommendations
If you’re a student, administrator, instructor, or an IT specialist in an educational institution, you can’t go wrong with Turnitin.
Bloggers, marketers, freelancers, and business owners, however, can safely skip this tool. Turnitin is simply not made for you.
Click here to experience Turtin
10. Plagiarisma
Alright, we already talked about Turnitin — a big-name plagiarism checker for organizations.
Let’s dial it down for a minute and discuss another free plagiarism checker.
Plagiarisma markets itself as the free Copyscape and Turnitin alternative for academics. It features a modest user interface where you can paste your write-up, upload your document, or enter your content’s URL.
You may also check your content directly from your Google Drive account.
After the analysis, Plagiarisma loads up a compact list of plagiarized text and sources.
How much does it cost?
Registered users can perform up to 100 plagiarism checks, which should be enough for most users. Once you reach your quota, you can always create a new account — you won’t even need to verify your email.
If you want to unlock unlimited searches, you can pay $25 for a premium subscription valid for three months.
What are its features?
Plagiarisma is a free, stripped-down plagiarism checker that works as advertised.
However, there are a few more reasons why I decided to include it on this list.
Unlike most plagiarism checkers out there, Plagiarisma also supports over 190 languages.
Besides all that, Plagiarisma also has a paid plugin for Moodle LMS. You can also download the desktop, Android, and BlackBerry app for convenience.
Who is it for?
Although Plagiarisma’s tagline clearly states that it’s for students and teachers, I see no reason why professional writers can’t use it.
For one, you can perform up to a hundred plagiarism checks for free. Bloggers, copywriters, and website owners who use a different language will also benefit greatly from Plagiarisma’s multi-language support.
Recommendations
Perhaps the only complaint I have with Plagiarisma is the unrefined user experience.
It does work as intended without unnecessary friction like pop-ups and loading screens. However, it presents everything on a single page that has, to be honest, more ads than I’m comfortable with.
Nevertheless, Plagiarisma is a free tool that you can use without any commitments. I’d absolutely give it a try if I were you.
Click here to experience Plagiarisma
11. Viper Plagiarism Checker
Viper Plagiarism Checker — also known as ScanMyEssay — is a contender to Turnitin and PlagiarismCheck.org in terms of features.
It is used by students, teachers, organizations, bloggers, businesses, and website owners to ensure the originality of their written works.
Viper’s clean and well-designed dashboard made a great first impression on me.
The user experience is also quite intuitive. It allows you to initiate a plagiarism check by uploading documents or importing them from Google Drive.
Yes — I said “documents” because Viper lets you add more than one document at a time.
If you wish to paste your document, click ‘Want to paste some text’ to bring up the “Paste text” window. Here, you can enter a name for your document along with the content itself.
Before Viper runs a plagiarism check, there are two more steps you need to complete.
On the “File options” pop-up, you need to specify the category of your document. This will help Viper deliver accurate results by defining the source category to prioritize.
You then have the option to add the documents to a project or just run a one-time analysis.
Creating a project lets you track the completion of plagiarism checks for multiple documents. This is useful for teachers and organizations who need to process their students’ submissions in bulk.
Otherwise, a one-time scan should suffice for most use cases.
That’s a lot of steps to do a plagiarism check — I know. But in return, you’ll get reliable and thorough results.
How much does it cost?
Viper took a page out of Copyscape’s book and uses a flexible credit-based system in its pricing.
This approach successfully makes it an all-around plagiarism checker for all sorts of users.
A single credit can be purchased for $4. If you decide to purchase 50 credits as a bundle, then you only have to pay $63 or $1.26 per credit.
Take note that one credit can be used for documents that are up to 5,000 words in length. Exceeding this threshold will cause Viper to consume multiple credits in one check.
What are its features?
For plagiarism checkers, having several options when it comes to uploading files is always a plus.
In addition to that, the bulk upload feature and project management elements earned Viper a spot in this list. The accuracy of the plagiarism checker is just the icing on the cake.
Who is it for?
Unlike Turnitin and PlagiarismCheck.org, Viper isn’t heavily advertised as a tool for academics. They also have plans designed for bloggers, businesses, and websites in need of a plagiarism checker.
Recommendations
Viper is one of the products in this list that I’d confidently prescribe to anyone. The scalable, credit-based pricing model makes it suitable for all types of users.
You can also request a quote if you wish to use Viper for a large-scale project. You simply need to fill in your details and enter the number of documents along with the average word count.
Click here to experience Viper
Plagiarism Frequently Asked Questions
Maybe you need help deciding which plagiarism checker tool to use. If not, you may still have a few questions regarding plagiarism and the tools we’ve reviewed above.
Whatever the case may be, I put together this FAQs section that can give you the answers you need. Hopefully, it can help you choose the right tool and proactively avoid unintentional plagiarism in the future.
1. Should I choose a subscription-based or on-demand/credit-based services?
Unless you have a big budget, the cost of a plagiarism checker is probably important to you.
You may notice that the pricing model of the tools above are either subscription-based or credit-based.
Credit-based products like Copyscape and Viper Plagiarism Checker are good if you only need them for the short-term. Subscription-based plagiarism checkers, however, are more cost-effective if you expect to use them over a longer period.
2. Should I pay for a plagiarism checker on a monthly or yearly basis?
If you chose a subscription-based service, the next question is whether you should pay on a monthly or yearly basis.
Again, this boils down to your objectives.
An annual billing plan will lead to savings if you’ll use the plagiarism checker all year round. Otherwise, get a monthly plan and freely deactivate your subscription when you don’t need it.
3. Is plagiarism illegal?
The short answer is yes — plagiarism is, indeed, illegal.
Students and professional writers should know by now that it goes against the honor code of their school or company.
On the bright side, not all cases of plagiarism is considered a criminal offense. This depends on the nature of plagiarism and if it involved copyright infringement.
To be safe, I suggest you check out this post to learn about the laws you could break with plagiarism.
4. What are the consequences of plagiarism?
If you were caught plagiarising, the worst case scenario is jail time. Even students are subject to heavy fines when caught guilty.
While scary, plagiarism cases severe enough to warrant the punishments above are rare. For students, the typical consequences of plagiarism are a failing grade, suspension, or expulsion.
As for professionals, the punishment of plagiarism is ultimately decided by their organization.
5. What about copied text from Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is among the favorite sources of students, bloggers, and professional writers for research. Fortunately for them, the site’s content is licensed under Copyleft, which allows the modification and use of information.
Just remember to properly cite the source when you use Wikipedia’s content in your piece.
6. What should I do if I caught someone plagiarizing?
If you’re a teacher, you need to decide based on the gravity of plagiarism. If the infraction is serious, you can push for the suspension or expulsion of the student.
For website owners or bloggers who detected plagiarism, consider a DMCA takedown notice. The steps you should take are outlined on this page.
A less tedious route is to use the Google Copyright Removal tool. Simply enter the URL of the suspect page and fill in the details, like:
- A description of the copyrighted work
- URL of the authorized example of your work
- Your contact information
7. Will citing the source save you from the consequences of plagiarism?
Citation can protect you against allegations of plagiarism if you follow the proper procedures.
The correct ways to cite depend on your work’s style. For more information, read this citation guide by the University of Pittsburgh.
8. Any general tip for bloggers, students, website owners, and writers who want to avoid plagiarism?
As a final piece of advice, don’t rely too much on a plagiarism checker.
The best defense against plagiarism is to carefully write your piece from scratch. Each and every word should be based on your own understanding of the topic.
A plagiarism checker should only add an extra layer of security, not become your go-to writing strategy. This goes to those who resort to paraphrasing or using an article spinner and then checking the draft later.
Conclusion
There you have it — the top free and paid plagiarism checkers on the web.
If you follow the recommendations I wrote for each tool, I’m sure you’ll be happy with your decision.
As always, I’m open to suggestions and discussions regarding any topic I’ve covered in my blog. If you have a tool recommendation, feedback, or experience you’d like to share, leave a comment below.
Thanks in advance!
