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Grammarly will send unhinged messages to all your users if you try to cancel

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  1. rdudek · · focus · HN ↗
    So does anybody actually have a good alternative to Grammarly?
    1. davidee · · focus · HN ↗
      It depends on what you mean by “good alternative”.

      We use a self-hosted OSS LanguageTool server that's containerized and runs in a private, on-prem cluster to provide good performance and be HA, but it only works on our corporate network or when using a VPN connection while roaming/remote.

      It's incredibly reliable.

      It's also devoid of AI/LLM bullshit for writing. Spelling and grammar rules, a few notes about long sentences, that's it.

      However, LanguageTool nerfs their other plugins (like mail plugins) to require a subscription service.

      I've pleaded with them for years to please allow me to pay a subscription price but use our internal server simply because we don't want/need a spelling/grammar tool to send content to the cloud.

      We don't want free. We want private.

      The odd thing is that the official LanguageTool browser plugins DO allow use of a self-hosted LanguageTool server; clearly it's doable. There's a poorly maintained obsidian plugin that also works(ish). But that's about it.

      We live with these limitations.

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