Grammarly is an artificial intelligence writing assistant used by millions of people to check spelling and grammar, sharpen clarity, adjust tone, and generate or rewrite text. It works across the web, in browser extensions, in desktop and mobile apps, and inside common tools such as email clients, documents, and messaging apps, offering suggestions as a person types rather than only after the writing is done.
The company was founded in 2009 by three Ukrainian entrepreneurs and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. It began as a subscription product aimed at students and grew into a writing platform used by individuals, schools, and businesses. In 2021 a funding round valued the company at roughly 13 billion dollars, and in the years since it has expanded from a single proofreading tool into a broader productivity company built around generative AI.
What Grammarly does
Grammarly reviews written text and suggests corrections and improvements. Its earliest and most familiar function is catching spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes, but the product also flags wordy or unclear sentences, recommends changes in tone, and helps adjust writing to fit a particular audience or purpose. The assistant runs in real time, surfacing suggestions inside the application a person is already using.
Distribution is a large part of what makes the product useful. Rather than asking people to paste text into a separate website, Grammarly installs as a browser extension and as add-ins for desktop and mobile, so its checks follow the writer into email, social posts, web forms, and documents. Free and paid tiers separate basic corrections from more advanced features such as tone and clarity guidance and generative writing tools.
Founding and Ukrainian roots
Grammarly was founded in 2009 by Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko, and Dmytro Lider. Lytvyn and Shevchenko had worked together earlier on a plagiarism-detection service called MyDropbox, which they sold before turning their attention to a tool that would help people write more correctly rather than simply catch copied text. That earlier venture shaped the subscription model and the focus on students that defined Grammarly in its first years.
The founders are Ukrainian, and the company built a significant engineering presence in Kyiv alongside its United States operations. Grammarly is often cited as one of Ukraine's most prominent technology successes, and its founders have remained publicly connected to the country. Over time the company added offices in cities including New York and Vancouver while keeping its headquarters in San Francisco.
Products and AI
For most of its history Grammarly was known for the writing checks that run as a person types, powered by natural language processing that goes beyond a simple dictionary lookup. Those systems learn patterns of correct and effective writing and apply them to live text, which is what lets the assistant comment on tone and clarity rather than only spelling. The underlying technology improved steadily as the company invested in machine learning research.
More recently Grammarly added generative features that can draft, rewrite, summarize, and reply to text on request, reflecting the wider shift toward large language models across software. The company has also moved beyond a single product through acquisitions, bringing the document workspace Coda and the email client Superhuman under one roof and reorganizing around a suite of AI productivity tools. For readers comparing options across the category, Grammarly appears alongside other platforms in our guide to the best AI tools for business.
Who it is for and why it matters
Grammarly serves a wide audience. Students and individual writers use the free version to clean up everyday writing, professionals use paid plans to keep email and documents polished, and companies deploy it across teams so that customer-facing and internal communication stays clear and consistent. Schools and universities have long been among its core users, a legacy of the founders' earlier work in education software.
The product matters because it brought practical AI assistance into ordinary writing well before generative chatbots became common, and it reached that audience by embedding itself in the tools people already used. Its growth from a student proofreading subscription into a multibillion-dollar platform is a frequently cited example of a focused software product expanding into a broad market. One of its co-founders is profiled separately in our directory at Max Lytvyn. The company's own site is available at grammarly.com, and its history is summarized on its Wikipedia page.
Frequently asked questions
When was Grammarly founded and where is it based?
Grammarly was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional offices including a long-standing engineering presence in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Who founded Grammarly?
Grammarly was founded by three Ukrainian entrepreneurs: Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko, and Dmytro Lider. Lytvyn and Shevchenko had previously built the plagiarism-detection service MyDropbox.
What does Grammarly do?
Grammarly checks spelling, grammar, and punctuation, flags unclear or wordy writing, suggests changes in tone, and offers generative AI features that can draft, rewrite, and summarize text inside the apps people already write in.
How much is Grammarly worth?
A 2021 funding round of more than 200 million dollars valued Grammarly at roughly 13 billion dollars. It has since expanded through acquisitions including Coda and Superhuman.
Is Grammarly free?
Grammarly offers a free tier that covers core spelling and grammar corrections, along with paid plans that add clarity, tone, and generative writing features for individuals and businesses.