The right copyediting services can make things easier and smoother for you in so many ways. This is true for students and academics as much as it is true for content marketers. Copyeditors can be the deciding factor in determining whether or not your content achieves its intended effects.
A professional content editor can help shore up your content by making sure that grammar, punctuation, spelling, and most importantly tone of voice or ToV, are correct and appropriate.
However, a quick glance online will reveal that there are dozens of professional sites to choose from when it comes to copyediting services. In this article, I look at the benefits of using various professional proofreading websites, their disadvantages, and an alternative.
More importantly, I examine over twenty different copyediting companies and choose the best top ten to work with. In addition, I closely examine the top five best editing companies in depth for your benefit.
Factors to consider when selecting a copyediting company
The factors to consider when deciding on the best copyediting services are 1. Price, 2. Customer satisfaction, 3. Process, and 4. Speed of service delivery. There are dozens of copyediting companies out here.
However, customers may find it difficult to choose the one that is appropriate for them. Anyone who has even thought about purchasing this type of assistance would be familiar with names like Scribbr, Scribendi, Paper True, and so on.
As a content marketer or even as an academic or student looking for professional copyediting or proofreading assistance, you may have a number of questions:
Is the copyediting assistance offered by these various websites and companies legit?
Are they charging me too high?
Can this copyediting service finish editing my document on time?
Will they do a good job of copyediting my research paper or thesis?
Will my content rank after being edited?
This article is my attempt to help you make the right decision. I have examined dozens of online copyediting companies to decide which would be the best option for you. See the table below for the criteria I used to make that choice.
Criteria | Description | Allocated Points |
1. Price | This refers to the price charged for copyediting services. The rate is per 1000 words and is denominated in US dollars. | 30 |
2. Customer Satisfaction | This refers to how happy students and academics are with their copyediting. This is a five-star rating system, which relies on Trust Pilot or Google Reviews. | 30 |
3. Process | This refers to the process that begins with visiting the website and ends with your order finally being delivered. | 20 |
4. Speed | This refers to how quick the turnaround time is. The best copyediting sites have rapid turnaround times of at least 12 – 24 hours. | 20 |
The table above shows our criteria and point system to determine the best copyediting or editing companies. More points were attributed to Price and customer satisfaction because in my mind these two factors would be the most important for you the customer.
In my review, customer satisfaction is based on Trust Pilot’s rating system. Trust Pilot is a website that allows customers to leave anonymous reviews for the assistance that they paid for. However, in the absence of Trust Pilot's five-star rating for a copyediting service company, I depend on Google Reviews.
Our copyediting services begin as low as $0.03 per word. Get in touch for help with editing your content |
What is copyediting?
Copyediting is a form of review and correction that focuses on reviewing and correcting already written content. This is different from developmental editing, which works with content that is not completed.
In the case of developmental editing, this would mean working on content briefs and very rough first drafts. Copyediting services focus on reviewing, finding, and correcting errors in documents and content that have already been written.
These companies provide editing and proofreading for a range of content or documents. They include both academic documents and business-related documents. Business-related documents could include white papers, technical manuals, and other such documents.
This is closer to academic documents in terms of similarity. However, a second category includes copy for business blogging. This means long-form articles for blogs and short-form copy.
The list below includes the type of documents and content that would benefit from the copyediting services included in this review:
White papers
Scientific articles or journal manuscripts
Blog articles
Copy for landing and service pages
Many of these companies focus on both academic and content editing, that is, editing blogs that can rank on Google and other business-related or professional writing. To learn more about content editing, check out this article: SEO Editing: A Comprehensive Guide.
It must be said that although many of these companies are widely different from each other. However, they do share some common characteristics. Let's look at a few of them:
1. Affordable pricing. Because of the high competition among the different proofreading companies, copyediting prices are relatively affordable. With standard turnaround times of three to seven days, you may end up paying only 30 USD per 1000 words.
Well, this may not be exactly dirt cheap, especially for some. However, based on the value being provided, it is a reasonable price. Moreover, for content marketers, most of the companies providing these editing services offer prices that are much less expensive than copyediting companies specialized for SEO.
2. Expert proofreaders and editors. Editing companies employ editors that are either in-house or freelance. These freelancers are located across the world. To qualify to work for these companies, these editors have to go through qualifying tests that are tougher than nails. I should know. I have been through a couple of them. After this, they undergo rigorous training. This process ensures that they are up to the task.
3. Speedy and convenient services. Copyediting firms offer turnaround times that range between four hours and one week. They are all based online, and they offer opportunities for you to upload your documents or content and pay for their professional assistance around the clock.
4. Educational support. The ideal editing company does not just edit or proofread your document. They also offer a richness of resources, such as blogs and YouTube videos to help explain the questions you have relating to academic tasks and writing if you are an academic or student. If you are a content marketer or manager, these blogs can give useful advice on how to produce content that ranks and achieves your business goals.
Top 10 sites
Table 2 provides a list of the top 10 editing companies. Here is the list in descending order:
Cambridge copyediting was No. 2 in our last assessment. Now, it’s No. 1.
That was because even minor differences in customer satisfaction resulted in big differences in customer satisfaction scores.
The ideal pricing was the median rate of $30/1000 words. However, pricing below this benchmark was not necessarily given a higher score. I saw prices being too low as underappreciating the value offered by a professional editor.
Rank | copyediting Service | Standard Price in USD Per 1000 Words | Customer Rating | Country |
1 | Cambridge copyediting | $30 | 4.9 | USA |
2 | Paper True | $32 | 4.8 | India |
3 | Proofreading Pal | $28 | 4.5 | USA |
4 | Scribendi | $37 | 4.6 | Canada |
5 | Scribbr | $42 | 4.4 | Netherlands |
6 | Editor World | $28 | 4.5 | USA |
7 | Proofed | $45 | 4.7 | South Africa |
8 | Wordvice | $48 | 4.6 | UK |
9 | Editage | $58 | 4.8 | USA |
10 | Enago | $58 | 4.2 | USA |
Comparing the best 5 companies
It must be said that selecting the top copyediting service is a rather subjective process. In short, it relies heavily on personal opinions and impressions. However, to make the process as fair as possible, I used the following four criteria: 1. Price, 2. Customer satisfaction, 3. Speed of service, and 4. Process.
Now, we’ll examine the top five editing sites and compare their performance with each other. They are as follows:
Cambridge Proofreading
Paper True
copyediting Pal
Scribendi
Scribbr
No. 1. Cambridge Proofreading
Cambridge Proofreading earned the top spot because of its high score for customer satisfaction. It’s a proofreading company that was founded in the UK, but it is now based in the US. Its score on Trustpilot is as high as 4.9 out of 5 stars.
So, you have a company that provides quality service. It should also be pointed out that at a price of only $30/1000 words, these clients may be getting a good deal for their money.
No. 2. Paper True
Paper True placed second for best professional editing assistance because of its price and customer satisfaction performance. The headquarters of the company seems to be based in India, with branches in the US. Their average price is $27/1000 words. This is lower than the $30 median. In short, they're just more affordable compared to the competition.
Their customer rating on Trust Pilot is also notable at 4.8 out of 5 stars. This suggests that their clients are getting value for their money at a relatively cheaper price.
No. 3. ProofreadingPal
ProofreadinPal is a service based in the USA. The company charges lower than the median price of $28/1000 words for their service. Their fastest turnaround time is two hours and their customer satisfaction is 4.5.
No. 4. Scribendi
Scribendi — a company based in Canada — saw major improvement from my last assessment. Before they placed No. 7. Now, they're No. 4.
Scribendi is unique in its process of relying on only one editor as opposed to a peer editing system. Their editors are well-trained to handle and take complete responsibility for editing the client’s content.
No. 5. Scribbr
Scribbr is located in the Netherlands, and the last time around they earned first place. This was due to the different criteria used. The previous article emphasized resource support for students. In this latest assessment, they are now in fourth place. Its standard pricing is around 42 USD per 1000 words for standard turnaround time. They provide a comprehensive copyediting and editing service.
This includes a peer editing system. In this system, your work is first reviewed by a freelance editor or proofreader, which is then followed by an in-house editor. More than that, their website remains very student-friendly and includes tons of information and resources that students will find quite useful.
1. Pricing and Speed. The different copyediting companies had different fastest turnaround times. These turnaround times ranged between twelve and three hours. Scribendi had the largest differences between standard pricing and the lowest turnaround time. For example, its pricing for 1000 words at a four-hour turnaround was more than 200% higher than the standard pricing for a one-week turnaround.
2. Customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction was generally high for all five editing companies. None of the top five copyediting sites scored below 4.3. However, Cambridge copyediting scored the highest at 4.9, with a total of 3111 reviews on Trust Pilot — an impressive feat.
3. Process. All five of the best copyediting service providers include a process that allows you to check out pricing before providing information, such as signing up with your email and payment information.
The table above shows the price of copyediting in US dollars per/1000 words based on different turnaround times for 1. Cambridge Proofreading; 2. ProofreadingPal; 3. Paper True; 4. Scribendi; and 5. Scribbr.
Content editing vs. academic editing
It should be pointed out that most of the companies featured in the article are geared toward academic writing. Although many offer “business editing” services, this type of professional assistance is not always clear.
For example, we do not know if they offer SEO editing services for blog content. Nonetheless, one can think of academic editing as being a more challenging form of editing than content editing.
So the assumption is if they are competent enough in academic editing, then they should be more than good enough to edit content writing. However, this may not be a completely safe assumption.
For content marketing, the aim is to sell. In academic editing, the aim is to publish in academic journals. So an important consideration should be tone. The tone in an academic document should be:
Formal
Serious
Intellectual
However, in content writing, the tone is more conversational. You may even have to ignore and violate language rules such as proper punctuation and using strictly standard English. This is especially true for short-form copy for landing pages, service pages, and advertisements.
These companies and the editors are used to editing academic documents. How would they feel about copy where you begin a sentence with “and.” The more pedantic among them may be horrified at the idea.
Also, if you are interested in SEO editing, none of these editing companies seem to mention that specific purpose. Therefore, you should be aware of these limitations. Here are a few tips to deal with them.
Think of narrowing your scope for some of these companies. As a business owner or content marketer, expect them to do a decent job of proofreading content for improved:
Punctuation
Grammar
Syntax
Idiomatic English usage
If you are more interested in tone and writing copy that sells, you should ensure that the person on the job has experience with sales copy. You do not want a blog that reads like an academic essay.
Copyediting AI-generated content
There is also the question of how to copyedit AI-generated content or what to expect of copyeditors working on AI-produced copy. Most content marketers and managers have resorted to producing content using AI. In the case of academic editing, this is somewhat ironic.
The biggest criticism of AI-produced content is that it sounds like badly written academic content. This means that you really ought to be sure that the editing services that you are getting know the difference between the appropriate tone and style for academia versus sales-based copy or content.
There are several advantages to relying on AI-generated copy. It's fast. It's cheap. It's easy. More than that, it can help you scale content relatively quickly. However, it comes with certain setbacks.
AI-generated content is still at the developmental stage. The setbacks of generating copy with AI include:
Hallucinations
Lack of originality
Robotic tone of voice
Hallucinations mean that ChatGPT and other AI-generated content make things up. Lack of originality means that generative AI simply relies on content that has been published on other sites and sums it all up to create something new, but not necessarily unique.
Lastly, CHatGPT remains a big dumb robot. It operates like a robot. It talks like a robot. It writes like a robot. Its tone of voice or ToV simply does not sound human. People will instinctively be turned off by content that does not sound natural or written by a human.
Therefore, if you are a content manager or entrepreneur who deals with AI-generated content for your website, you will have special demands from your copyeditors. Copyediting for AI-generated copy should focus on fact-checking to deal with hallucinations.
It also needs a unique perspective to combat the lack of originality. Lastly, your copyeditor has to be skilled enough to edit content to make sure that the tone of voice or ToV is natural and can create an emotional connection with the reader.
Most of these editing companies seem to lack this unique service. They even offer software to humanify content. However, the idea of a robot being used to rectify the ToV of what another robot produced sounds like a disaster in the making.
At EminentEdit, our editors and proofreaders have experience writing using AI-generated software, as well as experience editing such software. We know both the pros and cons of relying on AI-produced content. And we know exactly how to use human editing to bridge the gap between these pros and cons.
The question of AI editing or proofreading software
A number of copyediting services provide the option of AI editing. By AI editing, they simply mean editing using their proprietary software. This includes:
The pricing for their proofreading software is subscription-based. This means you pay every month. In the case, of Scribendi, the cost of this software is $5.99 per month. For Wordvice and Scribbr, it can begin as low as $9.95/per month. Now, is this proofreading software any good?
Well, it depends. With software and AI, it's a case of garbage in; garbage out. This means the software is as good as the data it is trained on. Training data for this type of software involves feeding them with a huge number of examples of high-quality editing content.
By editing content, I mean the several thousand corrections and suggestions that the hundreds of in-house and freelance editors who work for them carry out on a daily basis. These proofreading companies edit millions of words every year.
The professional editors they hire to edit these millions of words are typically the cream of the crop. This means the data that is used to train their AI models or proofreading software is high-quality.
As a result, these models tend to be more fit for purpose than alternatives such as Grammarly. However, since most of the data that they are trained on is related to academic writing, this software is more appropriate for scholarly documents rather than blogging.
Lastly, these proofreading software tools are designed for use by professionals. They help professional editors edit faster and more efficiently. In my personal opinion, they are not yet at the stage where a layman can rely solely on proofreading software without professional assistance.
If you are a content marketer or manager with a team of professional editors, check out these tools to determine how well they serve or complement your editors and how they can be incorporated into your company's writing-editing workflow. This approach would make more sense than relying on these tools alone.
The role of AI proofreading in the copyediting process
AI editing tools can be quite useful during the copyediting process. Most copyediting services employ proofreading tools in their editing process. These tools are available for the use of everyone: from professional editors to amateurs with limited writing and editing skills.
However, they work best in the hands of a professional editor. Nonetheless, these tools can be properly used even before you hire an editor. You should first consider the three editing stages to make sure that you use them properly:
The Processing Stage
The Copyediting Stage
The Proofing Stage
In the Processing Stage, the editor prepares your manuscript for copyediting. The Copyediting Stage is involves the actual work of correcting the work line by line happens. The Proofing Stageis where the editors goes through the copyedited manuscript to uncover small errors to ensure that the final document is as perfect as possible.
The processing stage is the mechanical stage of copyediting. It can be carried out without even thinking. This means that you don't have to be a professional editor to carry out this stage. This is where professional editing software becomes useful.
But you should be careful not to use just any AI-powered software tool for this process. An excellent proofreading tool for this purpose would be PerfectIt. PerfectIt actually belongs to an older generation of proofreading software. It may not even be described as AI-powered. To learn more about how PerfectIt and other proofreading tools work, you can check out this article: 6 Best Proofreading Software Tools.
In this stage of copyediting, the editor will:
Turn double spaces into single spaces
Turn double hyphens into em dashes
Turn hyphens between numbers into en dashes
Turn underlined words into italicized words
Place punctuation marks inside quotation marks
The right proofreading software allows you to achieve these things with the click of a button. In fact, you may not even need an editor to do this for you and you can carry this out yourself.
Copyediting is where the actual work of the professional editor begins. The editor has the task of reviewing every word or sentence for correction. In the processing stage, the work can be described as mechanical or robot-like. The editor puts no thought into what they do. However, in this stage, the editor has to use their judgement to decide:
Whento make big changes to sentence structure
When to ask for clarification from the author through comments and queries
When to deviate from the style guide
For example, the author may be using US English. However, there are instances where UK English may be appropriate, such as when using trade or brand names. The editor's job is to carefully go through the document and make the necessary changes. This process is manual and proofreading software may not be used extensively.
Proofing is the final stage of copyediting services. It comes after copyediting. No matter how careful and skilled the editor, they likely missed a few errors. Professional editors usually allow the document to "rest" for some time. This could range between a few days to a week, depending on the schedule you are working with.
In this process, the editor picks up anything that was missed in the copyediting stage. It can also occur after a review of the copyedited manuscript by the author. In this stage, it also makes sense to use proofreading software such as PerfectIt.
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How EminentEdit can help with editing your content
EminentEdit provides high-quality copyediting services to ensure that your content or document achieves the intended effect. This means if you’re a student or academic, you can submit work that you can take pride in.
If you’re a content manager, your blog articles can be published in the right tone and style and are optimized for search engines. We're a small group of professional editors with extensive experience.
EminentEdit is unique in that we are equally proficient in editing academic documents as we are in reviewing and correcting content for your blog. This includes editing for tone and style to maximize the chances that readers who visit your site will convert.
We also edit for SEO to maximize the likelihood of these visitors landing on your site to even begin with. In short, we aim to make sure you end up with content that both Google and readers love. And it's all done at a reasonable price.
Take a look at our price chart to see how we match low cost with value. Our regular editing prices begin as low as $0.03/word:
Type of Editing | Description | Price Per Word ($) |
Regular Copyediting | Line-by-line editing to improve tone and sentence structure. | $0.03 |
AI Editing | Editing to improve tone and fact-checking. | $0.05 |
AI Editing Without Fact-Checking | Editing to improve tone and to humanify. | $0.02 |
Regular Proofreading | Editing to uncover and fix minor grammar, punctuation, and style errors. | $0.02 |
SEO Editing | Editing to improve search engine performance and keyword usage. | $0.1 |
Our copyediting services don't just start with copyediting the final product. It also includes help from the very beginning of your project. This includes editing and double-checking your project proposal, including thesis and essay proposals. Our editing services include:
Proofreading and editing for theses and dissertations
Reviewing and correcting long-form blog copy
Reviewing and correcting short-form copy
Correcting AI-generated content
Get in touch with one of our representatives: CONTACT US AT EMINENT EDIT.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2025, February 06). 10 Best Copyediting Services in 2025. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/best-copyediting-services |
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