dyslexiaGrammarly Pro costs $144 a year in July 2026 (Grammarly pricing page, July 2026). That's about £107 at today's exchange rate (exchange-rates.org, July 2026).
Microsoft Editor's matching tone and clarity checking costs nothing extra if your employer already pays for Microsoft 365. What decides the winner is what stopped working in October 2025.
It's also which tool follows you into the apps you use every day.
What the free tier of each tool catches
Grammarly's free plan checks spelling and basic grammar in any browser. Microsoft Editor's free tier does the same, and both stay free for good, not just on a trial.
It's built into Word, Outlook, and any Microsoft account (Microsoft, 2026). Neither free tier flags tone, wordiness, or a line that reads blunter than you meant.
That's the layer most dyslexic staff need before an email goes out.
Re-reading an email five times and still guessing whether it sounds abrupt is a tone problem, not a spelling one. The email tone checker flags exactly that in under a minute, free, before you send anything.
So what for you: if spelling is your only worry, the free tier of either tool already covers it. Check a purpose-built free tool for tone before you pay for one.
The paid tier: Grammarly Pro vs Microsoft 365
Grammarly Pro adds tone checks, clarity rewrites, and word picks for $144 a year (Grammarly pricing page, July 2026). Microsoft 365 Personal adds the same layer to Editor for £59.99 a year, about $78 (Microsoft, July 2026).
It also throws in Word, Excel, and Outlook. If your employer already licenses Microsoft 365 Business or Enterprise, Editor's premium tier is already paid for.
You get Grammarly-level tone checking at zero extra cost to you.
| Tool | Free tier | Paid tier adds | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grammarly | Spelling, basic grammar | Tone, clarity, word picks | $144 (~£107) |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | Spelling, basic grammar | Tone, clarity, word picks + Office apps | £59.99 (~$78) |
| Microsoft 365 via employer | Spelling, basic grammar | Same premium tier | £0 to you |
So what for you: check your Microsoft 365 licence before you pay for Grammarly. Many employers already cover the exact feature you're about to buy.
The catch: Microsoft Editor's browser extension is gone
Microsoft retired Editor's browser extension for Chrome and Edge on October 31, 2025. Its writing checks now live inside Microsoft Edge's own proofing tools, not as an add-on (Microsoft Support, 2026).
Before that date, the extension worked on Gmail, LinkedIn, Slack, and most other sites, in Chrome or Edge. Now, Editor only checks your writing outside Office apps if you use Edge as your browser.
Most workplaces run Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, not Edge. Editor's premium tone checking now stops at the edge of Word, Outlook, and Office for the web.
The extension only ever supported Chrome and Edge. It never covered Firefox or Safari, even before the 2025 retirement (Microsoft Support, 2026).
If your work laptop runs Firefox or Safari, Editor's reach outside Office apps was always limited. It's narrower again now.
So what for you: check what browser you use for email and job applications. Don't count on Microsoft 365 to replace Grammarly if that browser isn't Edge.
Where Grammarly still earns its price
Grammarly's browser extension still works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. It covers Gmail, Google Docs, Slack, LinkedIn, and most job sites (Grammarly, 2026).
That browser independence is the entire case for paying $144 a year instead of relying on Microsoft 365. It matters most if you write in tools your employer doesn't control.
Think a personal Gmail account for networking, LinkedIn posts, or a job application typed on your own laptop.
So what for you: if you write mostly outside Microsoft's apps, Grammarly's cross-browser reach is worth the $144. That's especially true if you're job hunting from a personal device.
Grammarly also ships a keyboard app for iOS and Android. It runs its full editing engine inline while you type (Grammarly, 2026).
That covers texting a manager from your phone, something neither tool's desktop extension touches.
If your employer licenses Microsoft 365 Copilot rather than plain Microsoft 365, it's worth comparing daily writing workflows directly. See how it stacks up against ChatGPT in ChatGPT vs Copilot for dyslexic employees.
Three settings worth turning on
In Grammarly, set your writing goals once: audience, formality, and domain. Every suggestion then matches your actual job, not generic essay-writing advice.
Turn on Grammarly's tone detector specifically. It sits as a separate toggle from spelling and grammar.
It's the feature that catches an email reading as curt before you send it. In Microsoft 365, turn on Editor's "refinements" inside Word and Outlook's proofing options.
Clarity and conciseness checks are off by default, even for paid subscribers. Paying for Microsoft 365 doesn't switch them on automatically.
So what for you: the tone and clarity checks that help most are usually hidden behind a settings toggle. They're not on by default, so find it before you decide the tool "doesn't work."
What both tools get wrong
Grammarly sometimes flags British spellings as errors if your account defaults to US English. Check your language setting first if suggestions feel oddly aggressive on words you know are correct.
Microsoft Editor's tone suggestions lean formal by default. They can rewrite a friendly note into something stiffer than you intended.
Neither tool understands sarcasm or inside jokes with colleagues you know well.
Both work best paired with a second, human pass on anything high-stakes. Think a performance review response, a client-facing email, or a job application.
Both are also proofreading tools, not reading tools. If your bigger daily barrier is reading incoming documents, not writing your own, that's a different problem.
Different text-to-speech tools are built for that.
So what for you: treat either tool as a first pass, not a final answer. Read the rewritten sentence aloud before you send anything that matters.
What this means for you
If your employer already pays for Microsoft 365, switch on Editor's premium tier first. Do this if you're willing to make Edge your default browser.
It costs nothing extra and covers Word, Outlook, and Teams. If most of your writing happens in Gmail, Slack, Google Docs, or job portals, Grammarly Pro fits better.
It costs $144 a year and works everywhere you type, in any browser.
If you're paying out of your own pocket in the UK, Access to Work can help. It funds assistive writing software as part of an assessed adjustment package (gov.uk Access to Work factsheet, July 2026).
Neither tool is a named pre-approved product like Dragon. Ask your assessor to include it by name.
The Access to Work calculator estimates what your award could cover before you apply.
A real example
Picture a remote operations lead applying for jobs from a personal Gmail account. It's outside her employer's Microsoft 365 licence, which makes her the clearest case for paying for Grammarly Pro.
A financial analyst writing only in Outlook and Teams is different. With a company Microsoft 365 E3 licence, switching on Editor's premium tier costs him nothing.
So what for you: check your browser and your Microsoft 365 licence before you spend $144 on Grammarly. The tool that covers your case might already be paid for.