Hemingway Editor
Make your writing bold and clear — the classic readability editor.
Standout features
Hemingway Editor highlights hard-to-read sentences, adverbs and passive voice, and grades your readability — so your writing reads clearly.
Worldwide search interest, indexed 0–100 · Google Trends.
Hemingway Editor is a focused readability tool — it makes your writing clearer and bolder rather than generating it for you.
- Created 2013 by brothers Adam & Ben Long.
- Highlights complex sentences, adverbs, passive voice.
- Gives a reading-level grade (clarity over grammar).
- Free web app; desktop + Editor Plus (AI) paid.
Hemingway is about clarity, not generation.
- Color-coded highlights for readability issues.
- A reading-level grade for accessibility.
- Flags adverbs, passive voice and weak phrasing.
- Editor Plus adds AI rewrites + grammar/spelling.
Free web app; small paid upgrades.
Hemingway fits anyone tightening prose.
- Anyone wanting clearer, tighter prose.
- Bloggers, marketers and business writers.
- Writers who over-write and need trimming.
- People who need a full grammar checker (Grammarly).
- Anyone who wants content generated for them.
No tool is perfect — the trade-offs to weigh:
- Readability only — not grammar or generation.
- Rules can be blunt (flags fine sentences).
- Free version is basic.
- AI features are newer and limited.
- ✓Dead-simple clarity highlights
- ✓Readability grade
- ✓Trims adverbs + passive voice
- ✓Free web app
- ✓Cheap upgrades
- ✕Readability only, not grammar/generation
- ✕Rules can be blunt
- ✕Free version is basic
- ✕AI features newer / limited
Writers like Hemingway Editor for instantly spotting bloated sentences and passive voice — it makes prose punchier and more readable. The gripes are that its rules can be blunt (flagging sentences that are fine) and it does only readability, not grammar or drafting. Sentiment is positive as a quick clarity pass.
Hemingway Editor is a bootstrapped tool created by brothers Adam and Ben Long.
Company figures are drawn from public disclosures and reputable trackers (gathered Jun 2026). User and revenue numbers are estimates and move fast.
Pick up to two other coding tools to see them head-to-head on the same rubric.