There are no completely right-wrong choices. Each program offers different strengths and weaknesses. Your choices depend on your manuscript being fiction vs non-fiction, your genre and your publisher. No one program does everything.

My First-Use Program

The most popular – and a free feature – is the Word editor. Although most people recognize the red underlines to mean a probable misspelled word, many do not understand the blue underlined word/phrases to mean a probable grammar problem. The issue is that the help assistance is meager to non-existent. You have to figure it out on your own.

For example, in the many years my wife and I have been apart due to college and the military, I have never learned the difference between purpose and purpose. (What did she expect from an engineering/math double major?) She just silently laughed and lived with it. Somehow she found me worth it.

My Second-Use Program

The base grammar checker I use is Perfectit. It is a base grammar and word use checker, and good at superfluous words, but, since it was originally developed for use by lawyers, it is does not always suggest the best use for authors.

It has a Free-Use Trial option to see if you like it.

My Third-Use Program

My go-to automated program which I have loaded to use as I write is ProWritingAid. I use this as my main editing program. It checks for about 30 different types of errors.

It has a Free-Use Trial option to see if you like it.

My Polish-Final Edit Program

Stylewriter is my “Big Daddy” that I have used for years. It does more in a single program and at a higher level of evaluation that any of the others. However, it was developed by the British and, although it has options such as American/British spelling, its programming is older, slower, and clunkery-er. It offers no “suggested alternative such as some of the others to choose from. However, it remains the most powerful in its total capabilities, doing what the other don’t do. (Although some are upgrading to include features similar to Stylewriter)

I can’t do without it – it had the most “firepower” of them all.

However, my proclivity for technical writing in math, engineering, and quality means I am somewhat spelling and grammar challenged, so my needs will not align with someone trained to have a silver tongue. Chose what best suits your needs.