Scribendi Review & Five Best Alternatives
- Melchior Antoine
- Sep 13
- 7 min read
Updated: Sep 15
Scribendi is one of the longest established online editing companies. It has been operating since 1997 and is based in Ontario, Canada. The company is well-known for its human-based editing services. However, it also offers proofreading software — namely, ScribendiAI.
Their proofreading software, while not AI-powered like alternatives such as QuillBot, is still a useful editing assistant. However, it is best used for light proofreading by amateurs and as a means to improve efficiency by professional editors.
In this article, we talk about the unique features and approach of Scribendi in terms of how it conducts editing and proofreading, including information on pricing and turnaround times. Lastly, we compare it to the best five alternatives.
What is Scribendi?
Scribendi is a proofreading services company that is based in Ontario, Canada. Like many other editing and proofreading services, it relies on a combination of inhouse and freelance editors. Their freelance editors are located all over the world and have to pass a rigorous editing test, as well as go through thorough training, which prepares them to work as professional editors for Scribendi.
How does Scribendi work? The company is a 24-7 online service, where you sign up and pay for your service electronically. Returning customers have the option of choosing previous editors whose work they are happy with. Editors are identified not by name but by specific letter and numeral based codes.
Scribendi doesn’t have a peer-review system, where your document goes through a two-step editing process: first by a freelance editor and then an inhouse editor. Instead, your first editor is in charge of the final result for your document. They offer proofreading and editing services that include:
Journal articles
Academic essays for college students
Books
PhD dissertations and master’s theses
Business documents
Their turnaround times are wide-ranging and are among the shortest in the industry. Scribendi offers range from $37.21 per 1000 words for a turnaround time of 1 week to $82.7 per 1000 words for a turnaround time of three hours.
In addition to this, the company has a money-back guarantee as well as free editing trials of up to 1000 words. Customers seem satisfied with the level of services offered as their Trustpilot customer satisfaction rating is 4.6 out of five stars.
The Scribendi proofreader: Scribendi AI
The Scribendi AI proofreader may have AI in its name, but it is not really an AI-powered proofreader. QuillBot, Grammarly, WordviceAI, and Scribbr software can all be described as AI-powered writing assistant tools. Scribendi AI is a more traditional proofreader.
It works as a Microsoft Word plugin. It serves as a grammar and spell-checker and has the ability to correct entire sentences to reduce wordiness and to include more appropriate academic language. It comes at a relatively cheap cost of $4.99 per month.
The main advantage of Scribendi AI is its training data. The software, unlike general LLM software, was trained on data from the several 100 editors working for Scribendi making thousands if not millions of corrections while editing academic papers.
This means that the corrections and suggestions they make would be much more reliable than those from editing software that rely simply on LLMs. Nonetheless, a tool is only as good as the person using it, and editing tools like Scribendi AI were originally designed for professional editors. I personally use it. However, the average student would have to be highly proficient in English grammar and usage to effectively use this software.
Best five alternatives to Scribendi
Scribendi is certainly not the only game in town. While their pricing and level of services may be attractive, it would be a good idea to compare them to the competition. Here is a list of six alternatives to Scribendi:
The table below provides a summary of the differences in pricing and customer satisfaction among the various proofreading providers.
Company Name | Pricing In US Dollars Per 1000 Words | Customer Satisfaction Out of 5 Stars | Location |
EminentEdit | $30 | 4.9 | Taiwan |
Scribbr | $42 | 4.4 | Netherlands |
Wordvice | $48 | 4.6 | South Korea |
ProofeadingPal | $28 | 4.5 | United States |
Editor World | $28 | 4.3 | United States |
Scribendi | $37 | 4.6 | Canada |
At the top of the list, we have EminentEdit, which offers $30 per 1000 words. It has a customer satisfaction rating of 4.9 out of five stars, which is the highest among all the other providers. Below, we look at each company in detail.
1. EminentEdit
EminentEdit is a proofreading company that I own, and it's a relatively new proofreading company. It offers a range of proofreading and editing services that encompasses both content marketing for business as well as academic editing.
Because it's a relatively new website, there are limited reviews that are only available on Google. Nonetheless, customer satisfaction is high at an impressive 4.9 out of 5 stars.
I am Melchior Antoine, the owner, lead editor and writer at EminentEdit. The team is made up of me and a small team of highly qualified and professional copy editors. We have deep and extensive experience as professional editors. Speaking for myself, I have edited approximately seven million words, mostly in the field of academics.
Our prices are also affordable. The average price for proofreading at EminentEdit is nearly $30 per 1000 words. There is a sea of competition out there when it comes to online editing. Why choose us? Well, at EminentEdit, we pride ourselves in having an intimate relationship with our customers.
This means that our services are much more personalized when compared to the competition. Most of the other editing companies are large and impersonal and make you feel that your document is going through a factory assembly line. This is not the kind of attitude that you want for a project as important as a master’s or thesis project. There is no personal communication between the student and editor.
Plus, EminentEdit has a useful and massive blog with over 300 articles on a range of topics, including academic topics, business topics, AI editing software, and literary/rhetorical topics. Our editing revolves around the use of Microsoft Word, and includes a process of thorough correction and proofreading that can be seen through Track changes.
In addition, we include numerous helpful comments that explain changes and corrections. We make sure you end up with the best possible version of your document while working toward making you a better academic writer.
2. Scribbr
Scribbr is an editing company based in the Netherlands. It is one of the largest editing companies in the world. Scribbr is not just a traditional editing company that hires professional editors to edit and proofread essays and other academic documents. It also offers AI-powered editing and writing assistance similar to Grammarly and QuillBot. This means in addition to human editors, you can use Scribendi software for:
Proofreading
AI Writing
AI detection
AI-powered paraphrasing
The standard pricing for their proofreading and editing services is about 42 USD per 1000 words for standard turnaround times. They provide a comprehensive academic editing service. Just like Scribendi, their human-based editing services include both in-house editors and freelance editors recruited from all over the world after going through rigorous testing and training.
The company also has a high Trustpilot rating of 4.4 out of five stars, which suggests users are generally happy with their services. In addition, the company has a blog made up of over 300 articles that are much more useful and impressive than what you find on the Scribendi blog.
3. Wordvice
Wordvice is a proofreading company based in S. Korea. Just like Scribbr, it offers both human-based editing and proofreading software, which you can use on your own. Their human-based editing is 24-7 service, and the focus is mainly students and academic work. In addition, the company also seems to specialize in college essay services, that is, editing and consultation services for students applying for university.
Their human editors are assembled just like most other editing companies and are a mixture of both in-house editors and freelance editors, who have to go through rigorous editing tests and training. Wordvice offers standard editing rates of $48 per hour, which seems a bit higher compared to the competition. However, their customer satisfaction rating is 4.6 out of five stars — the same as Scribendi — suggesting their clients get value for money.
In addition to this, Wordvice has a large and resourceful blog with over 100 articles on academic topics, which most university students would find useful, unlike the rather mediocre blog one can find on the Scribendi website. Lastly, the company offers an AI-powered writing assistant and proofreading tool known as WordviceAI. Like Scribbr, they offer services such as AI writing, AI detection, and AI paraphrasing.
4. ProofreadingPal
ProofreadingPal is a company based in Iowa, USA. The company’s proofreading staff just like most other online editing companies includes a mix of in-house editors and freelance editors hired from a large pool of applicants from all over the world.
These applicants have to go through rigorous testing and training before being hired. They mostly seem to cover academic documents, but their services also include business editing. They have a Trustpilot customer satisfaction rating of 4.5 stars and relatively low pricing at $28 per 1000 words.
5. Editor World
Editor World is a proofreading company based in the U.S.A., which offers exclusively human-based editing services. Unlike Scribbr and Wordvice, they have no AI-assisted editing software. Unlike Scribendi, they also lack traditional proofreading software.
They also rely on a combination of freelance editors and in-house editors. However, unlike most of the other editing companies, they seem to focus primarily on hiring editors based in the US, Canada, and the U.K., and they count this as a strength of their business model.
According to the website, “The writers, editors, and proofreaders you’ll find at Editor World are native English-speakers from the USA, UK, and Canada.” However, this approach has not resulted in any major advantage for Editor World. Despite having a relatively lower editing fee at $28 per 1000 words, their customer satisfaction rating is the lowest at 4.3 out of 5 stars.
Get in touch for help with editing your document |
How EminentEdit can help with editing your academic papers
EminentEdit offers high-quality proofreading services that can match anything from Scribendi and other editing companies online. Our services cater to academics and students, and we offer affordable rates while ensuring that you end up with A-grade quality work.
Look at our pricing to see how we compare with our competitors. Our proofreading and editing prices start as low as $0.03/word:
Type of Editing | Description | Price Per Word ($) |
Regular Editing | 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 |
Our editing and proofreading services don't just start with copy editing the final document. It also includes help from the very beginning of your project. Take a quick look at all what we cover:
Proofreading and editing for theses and dissertations
Proofreading college essays and academic papers
Reviewing and correcting long-form blog copy
Reviewing and correcting short-form copy
Correcting AI-generated content
Contact one of our representatives: CONTACT US AT EMINENT EDIT.
Cite this EminentEdit Article |
Antoine, M. (2025, September 13). Scribendi Review & Five Best Alternatives. EminentEdit. |
