The purpose of this guide is to show you alternatives to the Copyscape plagiarism checker by providing the top detection tools option available.
What is plagiarism or why use a plagiarism checker?
Plagiarism can be defined as copying someone's written content (intellectual property) and bringing up the idea as your own without giving credit or placing a reference. In addition to direct copying, there are also cases of self-plagiarism or unintentional citing where information is not provided in full form or becomes paraphrased incorrectly. It’s essential to provide correct formatting and references when composing an essay, working on one's research paper, or creating an informative blog post. Researching Copyscape alternatives below will help you to stay safe as you write. When an idea is not yours, you must provide credit to the original author and follow the standards of the specified writing style. Since many students are not violating the rules by intention, turning to plagiarism checker tools becomes an essential solution that works. Let’s take a look at the alternatives to the famous Copyscape solution that is used to detect plagiarism issues.
Top 5 Copyscape plagiarism checker alternatives
While Copyscape is a famous commercial solution that helps to detect possible plagiarism issues, it is mostly used for businesses and websites that need to check their content. It means that the databases used by this system are mostly web-oriented and do not scan academic sources that might be more suitable for college students and educators. The current price for up to ten pages of your website will cost you around $19.95 per month. When compared to other commercial offerings, it seems to be one of those affordable options, yet there is much more going on behind the scenes. While Copyscape also offers relative simplicity, there are also top Copyscape alternatives to consider as we shall learn below.
1. Plagiarismdetector.
Another great free service that allows you to check your content in terms of plagiarism. As one of the oldest tools in the field, it provides students and bloggers with a chance to paste the text or upload a document that needs to be verified. The free version offers the basic check that mostly reminds you of checking through Google and similar search engines for similarities regarding what you have uploaded. The "PRO" version is offered as well which will have no ads and might provide a deeper search with accurate reports and no limitations in terms of the volume of your content. The basic plan that is being offered will cost you $20 per month, which is an acceptable plan for students.
The company itself recommends choosing $50 per month if you are a university student working with lengthy assignments. It will make it possible to avoid feeling worried! The reports can be downloaded in PDF format and there are advanced features like data encryption and direct URL pasting to check the website (great for SEO-based work!). The quality of the checking itself is quite good and they are rated with 4.8 stars out of 5. Their PRO version has more features, yet they may be a bit confusing for students in a hurry!
2. ProWritingAid.
Although it does not offer any free options, this tool is considered one of the reliable commercial alternatives to Copyscape. What makes it useful is the presence of databases that contain published works and academic papers. It means that ProWritingAid is meant for those individuals who study and wish to check beyond the search engines. You can check your papers in terms of originality by installing the useful MS Word plugin and working with your documents. Most importantly, the system claims to never store your text or have copies of it left anywhere as the checking takes place. It’s important since it guarantees that there will be no duplicates of your work in the system or anywhere else. This fact alone is worth noting if you are concerned about intellectual property protection.
The system also provides a Premium Plus offering, which allows you to have 50 plagiarism checks. The prices, however, are a little bit over the edge as 100 checks will result in $40 and 500 checks will be $120, which will be a little bit too expensive for most students. Still, when you need to check an important term paper or create a new business website, turning to this service as the alternative to Copyscape might be one of the best options to consider.
3. Fixgerald.
Another great option to consider as a trustworthy Copyscape plagiarism checker alternative is the tool called Fixgerald. It allows you to check things with zero limitations, free of ads, and with total confidentiality. It means that the system will not store your content anywhere and will provide you with fast speed and detailed reports. The tool allows you to paste your text and also upload it in most text formats. What's more, you can also share files via Google Drive and DropBox, which is a pleasant addition since you can access the apps that you work with. This plagiarism checker also scans through various databases as can be seen from the reports.
When you click to check for plagiarism, it asks you to create an account to access the results. It will provide you with a detailed plagiarism report with additional grammar-checking tools that will help to locate and fix writing issues. Moreover, you can also transform plagiarized content into quotes and make editing right away. It is one of those tools that offers "all-in-one" checking techniques to make your assignment stand out as you check for originality.
4. Duplichecker.
Speaking of Copyscape alternatives, you should definitely check the Duplichecker tool to get a taste of things as you work on your assignments. Great simplicity is a benefit here! It only requires getting the text copied and pasted to do the checking. Once the check becomes complete, you will receive the report that will show what parts may be changed. It's also possible to upload your content in Microsoft Office (MS Word) format.
While the service is offered free of charge, you have to register to receive up to 50 free checks per day. If you choose not to register, you will only have one check per day. Although it may not offer the same set of tools as the commercial offerings, it's still a good way to check how things work with most plagiarism detectors and enjoy something that does not require paying anything. The majority of online reviews praise this tool for being simple, yet it does bring some false alerts when you are dealing with direct quotes. It may be a good thing for some cases since you will have the originality report percentage, which should be only around 15% for most academic-based cases and universities.
5. Plagly.
This free Copyscape alternative solution claims to be the most accurate as it makes it possible to compare your content to over 20 billion sources. The website says that it aims to help students, teachers, and SEO specialists to get things checked as they have to find duplicates. What makes it even more favorable is the presence of a grammar checker, which will help you to save time and see the typos or spelling mistakes highlighted. The system does not specify the list of "other databases" that it checks, yet it makes it clear that what you are getting here is the scan through the entire Internet spectrum.
The highlighted sections in the report will show you what content has been published online, which is especially helpful when you have a direct quote or want to check the paper that has been submitted as an educator. It also has what they call Natural Language Processing, which is a special intelligent check that has specific algorithms that can work with analysis tools. Finally, if you are planning to check your website content, this tool proves to be helpful as a Copyscape alternative since the readability issues can be improved as well. It may not be as detailed as the list of commercial offerings, yet most reviews claim that it copes just as well as the Copyscape plagiarism detector.
As you can see, there are numerous options to consider! Many of the offerings are provided free of charge. Remember that commercial databases will have more features, yet if you only need to check things for similarities or learn how they work, these free alternatives to Copyscape should be considered for basic tasks. As you learn, why is plagiarism illegal, you must remember that checking your writing with one of these tools will save you from trouble and help you to eliminate possible risks. Even if you check things twice, all of these Copyscape compare tools might “catch” something that you may omit purely by accident!
The importance of proofreading and editing
Even as you get your content checked by specific plagiarism checkers that you choose, it is essential to edit and proofread your assignment again before you submit it! When you edit the highlighted parts to avoid plagiarism, the structure of the sentence and the meaning must remain logical and still follow the main words of your thesis statement or the arguments that have been made before. Make sure that your editing does not ruin the content as you start with the coherence editing and then continue with the basic proofreading to check the readability factor. It will help you to avoid repetitions and add more clarity to your writing. Once done, take a look at the in-text citations and compare them with your Works Cited or References page.
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