AutoCrit Review: Can It Take Editing to a New Level?

AutoCrit is designed to help spot issues with the written word such as repetition, poor phrasing, etc. Check out my Autocrit review to learn more.

What is AutoCrit? It’s not a traditional spellchecker or grammar auditing tool (although it can do that, too) – this is an editing tool for newer writers who have the basics down but want to improve their form.

So, is AutoCrit worthwhile for online authors? Here’s what I thought about the app and how applicable it is to our everyday writing lives!

Overall Rating on Quality: 5 out of 5 Stars

My AutoCrit review

Packed with analytical features, AutoCrit is an editor in the form of an app, allowing you to view your writing work from a variety of different angles – a comprehensive offering that few other apps can hope to match.

Features

AutoCrit can examine phrasing, paragraphs, repetition, and much, much more.

AutoCrit is packed with diagnostic tools to take a look at your writing, to the point where it may seem intimidating at first glance. However, you are able to pick out what categories you want to use AutoCrit for. Check out the primary functions:

Pacing & Momentum: This tool checks for paragraph variation, pacing, sentence variations, and similar issues.

Dialogue: Dialogue analyzes the types of dialogue tags you use and if you overuse them or could benefit from a switch. This editing tool also watches for your use of adverbs in dialogue tags (dialogue itself is understandably left untouched by this tool).

Strong Writing: This section covers important style issues like tense consistency, passive voice, showing vs. telling, cliché phrases, and more. A handy tool for beginning fiction writers!

Word Choice: This tool digs into the details of how you start your sentences, how you switch points of vice, using too many generic or overused words, and more. It’s essentially a more advanced version of the Strong Writing section.

Repetition: Repetition simply watches for using too many common phrases too frequently in your writing.

Compare to Fiction: This tool allows you to compare your work to a compendium of popular fiction that AutoCrit has downloaded and analyzed, separate for each genre. This may be hit or miss for users, but can help you see if your style matches the certain “expected” style of a genre – a comparison that publishes will also be interested in.

In addition to this, the editing program also has a collapsible side menu that can show notifications for issues found and highlight your text for areas that need attention, which can speed things up. There’s also a summary report available.

Security

AutoCrit doesn’t talk much about its security, but it does mention that it offers secure online storage for manuscripts. I wish the editing software went into more detail about this, but there’s no need to permanently store your fiction or non-fiction work on the app if you prefer not to.

Compatibility and Exporting

AutoCrit’s editing process works best when you copy or upload your text from an outside source, which does take some extra steps compared to a tool like Grammarly with its extensions that work on your current platform.

The good news is that when you are done, AutoCrit has options for printing, emailing your document, or exporting as a variety of different file types. Because of this, you’ll want to make sure AutoCrit is one of the very last tools you use before your work is ready to send on.

AutoCrit’s tools highlighting spots that need revision.

Overall Rating on Ease of Use: 4 out of 5 Stars

AutoCrit’s straightforward interface is very easy to understand – which is good because there’s a whole lot to learn here.

UI and Tools

For such a complex tool, I found AutoCrit quite easy to learn and adapt to after a slow start. All categories and tools are clearly labeled, the interface has a no-nonsense approach, and I never felt confused or lost when working my way through the tools.

Reports and Support

AutoCrit can generate a few different reports that run down issues that it found in your writing, which is useful if you don’t want a lot of specific recommendations, but rather valuable pointers prior to doing a revision yourself.

The app also includes a web guide where you can look up a variety of writing topics and get advice on how to improve writing and avoid problems – it’s information that’s available for free in many places online, but having it on AutoCrit’s site does make referencing a bit easier.

Learning Curve

Compared to many writing apps, AutoCrit is overflowing with information. That’s not always a good thing: There’s definitely a learning curve involved in finding out which of its tools are most useful for you, how you want to generate reports, and more. Expect to spend some time with this app learning how it all works.

Overall Rating on Value for Money: 3 out of 5 Stars

AutoCrit has three pricing tiers. The first is a free version that includes basic tools like watching for readability, adverb use, and repetition. It’s very limited compared to the paid versions, but a good way to test out the software if nothing else.

The first paid tier is $30 per month, one of the most expensive writing app subscriptions I’ve ever seen. That makes more sense when you think of it as an AI editor that’s on-demand to revise your manuscript, but it’s still a lot to ask unless you are really trying to avoid hiring a professional editor. At this level, all the tools and categories of analysis are unlocked.

There’s also a professional tier at around $300 a year that adds online courses and gives you a discount for purchasing a whole year at once.

AutoCrit Competitors

AutoCrit is clearly aimed at fiction writers. It’s a good choice if you write genre fiction like science fiction, romance or thrillers.

It’s comparable to ProWritingAid and Grammarly. Both of these tools have some additional features that AutoCrit lacks including a plagiarism checker and also an AI-powered writing assistant. The former is helpful if you write essays or edit work by other writers. The latter is useful for improving the readability of your work faster.

Grammarly and ProWritingAid are useful for editing fiction and non-fiction. They also offer some browser-based plugins and desktop apps. Unfortunately, Autocrit doesn’t have any plugins for Chrome and other browsers. It’s also accessible via the web app only. That’s hardly a deal-breaker, but it’s worth noting depending on your writing and editing workfow.

After some testing, we also found it missed some errors that Grammarly and ProWritingAid caught.

Read our ProWritingAid review

Read our Grammarly review

Online courses and guides available on AutoCrit.

FAQs on AutoCrit Review

Is AutoCrit Better Than Grammarly Or ProWritingAid?

AutoCrit has little in common with either. First, AutCrit is a web app that you plug your writing into, so there are no automatic extension options like the other tools have. Second, AutoCrit isn’t purely a grammar checker or spelling tool but focuses on word choices, flow, and similar issues.

ProWritingAid has some similarities but it’s primarily interested in developing a personal style and doesn’t include many of the categories or comparison options that AutoCrit does. AutoCrit is better in general for novel writing.

Will AutoCrit Take Away From My Unique Voice?

That’s up to you. AutoCrit doesn’t correct your work itself, and many of its suggestions are open-ended, like, “You’re using this phrase too often, maybe you should cut it out a few times?”

However, other recommendations are more specific, especially when it comes to comparing your writing to popular genre novels. Users have to find the balance between paying attention to recommendations and keeping their unique voice.

Is AutoCrit Only For Authors?

Some of the self-editing tools AutoCrit provides, like checking for paragraph breaks or repetition problems, are useful for any type of writing.

However, the majority of its tools are designed primarily for novels and fiction writing, and have limited applicability elsewhere: Indie writers, those practicing short story writing, and those brushing up their first draft will like it, but it’s not designed for bloggers.

Author

  • Yaseen is a personal trainer turned professional writer and he’s obsessed with everything health, fitness, and business-related. If he isn’t at the gym, you can find him playing video games or spending time with friends and family.

Autocrit Review
  • Quality
  • Ease of Use
  • Value for Money
4

AutoCrit review: The Bottom Line

AutoCrit is an excellent analysis and writing tool for new writers that are still learning their voice, getting rid of bad habits, and working toward published fiction.

It’s not for everyone – experienced authors and those who aren’t interested in writing novels won’t get nearly as much out of the writing app – but the freemium version makes it very easy to try out if you wish you had an editor at your side. When you’ve finished your manuscript, take out an AutoCrit subscription to edit it and save money.

Pros

  • Watches for a broad variety of writing form and style issues
  • Can compare your writing to specific genres
  • Allows you to target your top writing concerns

Cons

  • Freemium version has limited features
  • Not very compatible with text editors or other software
  • Experienced authors may not get much out of this tool
  • Limited value outside of novel work
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