Plagiarism has been a problem since the start of the internet when students could copy work online and pass it off as their own. To be honest it was probably happening before that when people would copy work manually.
Online plagiarism tools have been available since the 90’s but things have changed a lot since then.
Since AI became popular after the launch of ChatGPT, many students can also ask an AI tool to create a piece of work for them. This AI-generated text often does not count as plagiarism as it takes from various sources and generates text word by word to create a new text. This is why we need AI detection together with plagiarism checkers to maintain academic integrity
Plagiarism detection has changed since AI became mainstream and we need to use AI detection with plagiarism detection to properly assess whether a text is original and created by a student or writer.
| Plagiarism Detector | Key Features | Pricing |
| Winston AI | – Scans across billions of websites and databases – Citations management – Multilingual – Detailed colorer reports – Ability to filter reports – Multiple file format support | $29/month |
| Turnitin | – Extensive database – Feedback Studio – Integration with LMS | Custom pricing for institutions |
| Quetext | – DeepSearch™ Technology – Citation Assistant – ColorGrade™ Feedback | $9.99/month |
| Grammarly | – Grammar and plagiarism checking – Style suggestions- Browser extension | $30/month |
| Plagaware | – Deep search technology – Multiple language support – PDF report generation | Starting at €250/year |
| Copyleaks | – AI content detection – Multi-language support – API integration | Starting at $120/year |
| Compilatio | – Document comparison – Customizable analysis – Educational resources | Custom pricing for institutions |
| Duplichecker | – Free basic version – Multiple file format support – URL checking | Pro version: $120-$240/year |
| Quillbot | – Paraphrasing tool – Grammar checker – Citation generator | $99.95/year |
| Chegg | – Plagiarism detection – Grammar checking – Citation creation | $119.40/year |
1. Winston AI
Winston AI is the best plagiarism checker online. The tool is designed so that publishers and educators can easily check if a piece of text is original.
Scanning content can be done by either uploading your document (.word, .pdf or even simply an image of your text), or by pasting whatever text you want to scan for plagiarism. Winston AI’s tool will find occurrences of plagiarism across billions of websites and databases. The assessment report is extremely detailed, and comes with an overall plagiarized percentage, highlighted plagiarized passages, and the ability to manage citations. The assessment report is also interactive, meaning you can filter some of the sources to adjust your score, and you can also easily share it with a link or in a .pdf.
Unlike some other tools Winston AI also has a best in class AI content detection tool. This allows you to check if an AI tool like ChatGPT was used to create the text. Our AI detection tool has a 99.98% accuracy rate at detecting AI content.
Pros of Winston AI
- Searches for plagiarism across billions of sites and databases online
- Citations management
- Ability to filter results and share the assessment
- Multilingual
- Easy to use dashboard and AI detection integrated
- Confidential and safe, Winston AI does not store your information
- API available for business use cases
Cons of Winston AI
- Plan limitations. The free plan doesn’t allow testing of all services
- You need to upgrade to advanced plan to use the plagiarism detector but it is more advanced than other plagiarism detectors
2. Turnitin
Turnitin is one of the oldest plagiarism detection tools online, starting their company in 1998. Their plagiarism tool has been developed over the years and includes a library of student assignments from which they compare texts with.
The tool is generally used by educators and processes over 1 million papers every day. Turnitin is also used by historians and literary experts to evaluate historical documents and determine their sources.
Turnitin Pros
- Turnitin has a large database of over 70 billion web pages, academic papers, and student submissions, allowing it to effectively identify potential instances of plagiarism
- Turnitin provides multilingual support which is great for students around the world.
- Turnitin offers other tools that are helpful for educators like Gradescope which allows teachers to grade faster.
Turnitin Cons
- Turitin is not available to the public and only available to educational institutions
- There are some privacy concerns with Turnitin: Some people worry about student work being added to Turnitin’s database without explicit consent.
- The cost of the plagiarism is not publicly available
3. Quetext
Quetext is an online plagiarism tool that you can use to quickly check if your work is original. They have their own tool called DeepSearch and give you a report based on comparing your text against billions of sources across the internet.
An interesting aspect of Quetext’s results is that they give you a score of exact matches or “fuzzy” matches which means that your text is similar to another text.
QueText Pros
- The user interface is very nice to use and pleasing on the eye.
- Ability to check for free and not super expensive to sign up for. The premium plan includes 100,000 scanned words per month at only $8.80 per month.
- Quetext has a citation generator which allows you to cite papers easily when you discover that your work needs to be cited.
QueText Cons
- Quetext doesn’t have as large a dataset has other plagiarism checkers
- The AI Detection tool is on a separate pricing plan which is frustrating as we often need to check both plagiarism and AI at the same time
- Unknown update frequency (I found references to GPT3, Google Bard which are outdated models)
4. Grammarly
Grammarly is an AI tool that allows you to check your grammar and spelling while you write online. They are probably the market leader in this spell checker space but they also offer a premium plan that has writing tips and even an AI writing tool.
Well, they also offer a Plagiarism tool. To use it properly, you will need to sign up for Premium but you can scan a text for free and get a partial result.
Grammarly Pros
- Overall, a good tool that allows you to catch mistakes and generally gives good suggestions especially for people who need help writing.
- You can use the tool everywhere online, which is usually very helpful.
- Full suite of AI writing tools available.
Grammarly Cons
- Can be incredibly frustrating when it overcorrects and often suggests changes that make your writing robotic and lack personality.
- Constant reminders to upgrade to the premium version
- Can make mistake leading to errors for users.
5. Plagaware
Plagaware is one of the older plagiarism detectectos on the list and have been around for a long time. The tool has access to a wide range of sources to compare against but importantly doesn’t have access to non-public sources like Scientific Journals.
The tool does have some good success stories of people using it but importantly, it doesn’t have an AI detection tool. Nowadays, you need an AI detection tool working together with a plagiarism tool due to the prevalence of ChatGPT and other AI tools.
Plagaware Pros
- Clear and interactive report: The tool provides an easy-to-understand report with different colors for sources, making navigation simple
- Extensive database: The system has access to a large collection of sources for comparison
- Easy to use: The platform is generally user-friendly, despite some interface issues
Plagaware Cons
- Dated user interface: The UI/UX is described as old-fashioned or outdated, which may affect user experience
- Poor detection of rewrites: PlagAware struggles to identify both human and AI-rewritten content effectively
- No picture-based source detection: PlagAware cannot identify plagiarism from image-based sources
6. Copyleaks
Copyleaks is an AI Detecetion and Plagiarism tool . They also have an AI writing assistant and an AI grading tool. Copyleaks is generally easy to use and quite accurate when it comes to a plagiarism detector.
The platform offers additional features like text comparison, citation checking, and integrations with Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Moodle and Canvas
Copyleaks Pros
- Easy to sign up and use, overall works well
- Works with more than 100 languages
- They have some integrations and a chrome extension to use it across the web
Copyleaks Cons
- Can be a bit slow to get your results
- The pricing can be a bit hard to understand as one credit=250 words
7. Compilatio
Compilatio is a plagiarism detection tool designed for educational institutions and professionals to check the originality of written work.The software has over 20 years of experience and is used in over 1,000 schools.
Compilatio is used primarily in academic settings, helping educators and institutions maintain academic integrity by ensuring students’ work is original.
Compilatio Pros
- They also have an AI detection tool which is always a good combination with a plagiarism checker
- Compilatio provides educational materials to raise awareness about plagiarism and promote authenticity among students and teachers
- The software offers different versions (Magister, Magister+, Studium, and Copyright) to cater to various needs of educational institutions and publishing professionals.
Compilatio Cons
- Quite expensive compared to other tools on the market
- Might not be as adept at keeping up with the blistering pace of AI tool development
8. Duplichecker
Duplchecker is a free online plagiarism checker that you can use if you quickly need to see if a text was copied from another source.
In reality it is a freemium tool, which means that it is free for a certain amount of words and then you need to pay. The pricing system is unnecessarily complicated and there are far too many options to pay.
Duplichecker Pros
- Easy to do you first scan
- Accepts diverse file formats and languages
- Offers additional tools like grammar checking, paraphrasing, and reverse image search
Duplichecker Cons
- It’s probably not the correct tool for more complex forms of plagiarism (like paraphrasing etc)
- Too many ads in the free version
- Way, way too many options for premium pricing
9. Quillbot
QuillBot is an AI-powered writing assistant and is most famous as a paraphrasing tool. The tool uses AI to help you rewrite text to improve your writing. They also hae a whole host of different tools in their premium plan which includes a plagiarism checker.
The plagiarism checker is a great feature if you use Quillbot , but it’s not as comprehensive as some dedicated plagiarism checkers. It’s good for a quick check, but for academic work, it is better to use more specialized tools.
Quillbot Pros
- The plagiarism checker is easy to use alongside all of their other tools
- You can also use their citation generator
- Works quite quickly in comparison to other tools
Quillbot Cons
- Not as thorough as specialized Plagiarism checkers
- May not be suitable for people who need a lot of scans as you can only scan 25,000 words on the premium plan
- No free plan to test
10. Chegg
Chegg is an online education platform that primarily aims to help students with their homework. They also offer a wide range of tool including a Math Solver, a Grammar checker and a plagiarism detector.
Chegg’s plagiarism is easy to use and free to get started. One interesting point is that they specifically state that everything you upload will become part of their database.
Chegg Pros
- At $9.95 per month, it’s more affordable compared to some competitors like Turnitin
- Multiple file formats: Supports various file types including plain text, PDF, DOC, and DOCX
- User-friendly interface: The tool is easy to understand and navigate
Chegg Cons
- Inconsistent performance: Shows strength in some areas (like detecting text modifications) but weakness in others (like detecting common forms of plagiarism
- No AI detection: Lacks the ability to detect AI-generated content, which is becoming increasingly important
- Limited support resources: Offers minimal guidance for users to navigate and utilize the tool effectively
Can you bypass Plagiarism Checkers?
If you do try to bypass a plagiarism checker you should know that it is unethical and goes against academic integrity. One thing I often notice is that the time spent trying to bypass detection is so much that you could have spent that time learning and improving your writing. The best approach is to focus on producing original work and properly citing sources.
Here are some ways people attempt to use to bypass plagiarism detection include:
- Paraphrasing and rewriting content extensively, which can make it harder for software to detect similarities.
- Using AI-based plagiarism removal tools that automatically rephrase text. These tools often significantly change the text in a way that makes it much worse.
- Avoiding direct quotes and instead paraphrasing all information from sources.
- Using lesser-known sources that may not be in plagiarism checkers’ databases.
Final thoughts
Plagiarism is still a problem in 2024 but not as much of a problem as AI. AI tools are free to use and create unique text every generation. This means that we need to always use a plagiarism checker together with an AI detection tool.
Every education institute should have both a quality plagiarism detector and an AI detection tool.
A good plagiarism checker should have a large, comprehensive database of sources, high accuracy in detecting similarities, internet scanning capabilities, and support for multiple languages and file formats.
Itt should offer features like sentence structure and synonym checking, user-friendly interface, detailed reporting, confidentiality assurances, and customization options, while some may also provide integration with writing platforms for enhanced usability.
