Alternatives
Samwell AI alternatives for an essay you can stand behind
There are two reasons to look past Samwell AI, and this page only helps with one. If you want a cheaper essay generator, look elsewhere. If you've realised that an essay the tool wrote, then humanized to “Bypass AI detectors”, isn't something you can explain when a tutor asks how you wrote it, read on.
Grammarly's free Authorship feature gives you a record of how you wrote. EssayGenius offers a similar essay workspace that logs your process, though it will also generate a draft. Jenni AI and Paperguide bring real papers into the document, though both will draft when asked. EthiWrite (yes, ours) won't write paragraphs from a prompt at all.
Prices and features checked on October 17, 2026.
What goes wrong with Samwell AI
Samwell's job is to write the essay. It generates essays, research papers and literature reviews from a prompt, and its paid plan advertises “Bypass AI detectors” through Semihuman.ai humanizing. Whatever you think of AI help, a tool sold on hiding its own output leaves all the risk with the person whose name is on the submission.
Money is the main complaint. Most of its Trustpilot reviews are one-star, and reviewers there and on Reddit describe being charged after cancelling, double charges, and refunds refused or never answered.
The writing draws criticism as well. Several reviewers found the text repetitive or generic and some references off-topic, and Techpoint Africa's review said it needed heavy revision. The free plan is 1,000 generated words in total, which the same reviewer called more of a demo than a usable tool. The Academic Plan is $28 billed monthly or $12 a month billed yearly, and on 2026-10-16 a 40% discount for eligible countries brought those to $16.80 and $7.20.
Samwell gets some things right. It finds sources through “over 20 credible academic libraries and databases”, lets you upload PDFs, notes or links and cite those instead, handles papers of up to 50 pages with tables and charts, and supports real-time collaboration with comments. The Techpoint Africa review found its MLA citations mostly held up.
What to look for in a Samwell AI alternative
A record of how you wrote
If your work is ever questioned, a process record is your best answer. Grammarly's Authorship logs typed, pasted and AI-assisted text with a replay, and EssayGenius exports a Process Report built from timestamped drafts.
Sources you picked
Samwell can already cite your uploads, and that's the habit worth keeping. Jenni AI can restrict its autocomplete to your own library, and Paperguide cites from your library and its 200M+ paper index in the same document.
Billing you can walk away from
After Samwell's refund complaints, look at how each tool charges. EssayGenius sells a Semester Pass at $40 once for four months of Pro, and Thesify's Reviewer can be bought one review at a time for €14.95. A one-off charge has nothing to renew.
The best Samwell AI alternatives
1. EthiWrite
Full disclosure: this is our tool.
EthiWrite is built around the question Samwell sidesteps: could you explain how you wrote this? Guided mode writes nothing, Autocomplete offers a sentence at a time (about thirty words at most) that you accept or ignore, and it won't write paragraphs from a prompt. Citations come only from your Library of uploaded PDFs, OpenAlex papers, web pages and books.
When the draft is done, Examiner Mode maps the argument and flags unsupported claims and structural gaps, but cannot rewrite a thing. Uploading sources, searching papers, citing and export are never metered. Every other quota is finite on every Plan, though, and the free Plan holds 10 Sources in your Library, which a long paper can outgrow.
EthiWrite editor with the Guide panel open (demo account, email blurred). Best for: Students who want AI help they can explain to a tutor, with citations from sources they chose.
2. Grammarly
Grammarly is the most practical swap if your worry is being asked about AI. Authorship records how a draft was written (typed, pasted or AI-assisted) with a replay and a report you decide whether to share. It's on the Free plan and can be switched on in Word, Google Docs and Canvas submissions. AI Grader then estimates a grade from your rubric and gives personalized feedback.
Two cautions. Grammarly itself warns that using its AI rewrite suggestions could get work flagged, and on Reddit students describe high AI-detector scores after only editing with it. Citation Finder suggests web-based sources in APA, MLA or Chicago. Free use is metered; Pro is $144 a year or $30 month to month.
Grammarly doc with Grammarly's built-in demo essay, signed in to a free account. Best for: Students who need to show how they wrote an essay, and want feedback on it too.
3. EssayGenius
EssayGenius is the closest in shape to Samwell, an essay editor with outline, sources, notes and citations kept beside the draft, and it also records your process. Every draft auto-saves with timestamps and exports as a Process Report, sources come from databases such as OpenAlex and Crossref with DOIs, and you can start without an account.
Go in with your eyes open: it generates full essay drafts too (one on the free plan, unlimited on Pro), even though the vendor says “We do not write your paper”, and Best Writing's roundup of essay tools rates it “Use with caution” for institutional acceptance. Free AI is 25 messages and 100 inline suggestions a month. Pro is $15 monthly, $40 for a Semester Pass or $108 for a year.
EssayGenius public homepage, signed out. Best for: Students who want an essay workspace with a process record, and will leave the full-draft button alone.
4. Jenni AI
Jenni AI moves you from generated essays to assisted ones. Autocomplete offers sentences as you write and can be limited to your own library, AI chat answers questions about your sources with citations, and each suggested sentence links to its place in the source PDF. Reviewers praise its citation and bibliography tools.
Accept every suggestion and it will still build whole passages, so take them one at a time. The free plan has 10 autocompletes a day; Plus is $12 a month and Pro $29. And, as with Samwell, billing is the sore point: several Trustpilot reviewers report renewals charged without notice and refunds refused.
Jenni AI editor, signed in to a free account. Best for: Students moving from generated essays to writing their own, with sentence suggestions and real sources.
5. Paperpal
Paperpal is for the student who has written the essay and wants it clean. It works in Word, Google Docs and Overleaf, suggests grammar and tone changes trained on scholarly edits, and checks plagiarism against 99B+ sources before your institution's own review. On Trustpilot, where most reviewers were invited by Paperpal, the AI-detection checks get the praise.
Free use comes to 200 grammar edits a month, five a day of paraphrase or AI review, and lite plagiarism and AI-detection reports. Paid prices only appear once the page loads them for your region. It will also help you draft from your sources, so don't assume it only edits.
Paperpal editor on its built-in sample document, signed in to a free account. Best for: Students who want a finished essay checked for language and plagiarism before they hand it in.
6. Thesify
Thesify's Reviewer is a reality check, not a writer. Upload a draft and it judges it against rubrics for thesis strength, evidence, clarity and fit with the assignment, then gives you a downloadable report. Its FAQ says it will not write your paper, though the newer Coauthor workspace has agents that “search, read, and draft” alongside you.
It takes long work, up to 100,000 words, and charges per review: €14.95 for one or €39.95 for three. There's no free plan and Reviewer has no trial. Commenters on a popular YouTube walkthrough found the rubric feedback useful on early drafts.
Thesify reviewer, signed in to a free account, before any document is uploaded. Best for: Students who want blunt, rubric-based feedback on a draft they wrote themselves.
7. Paperguide
Paperguide is the research-heavy option: a reference manager, AI search across 200M+ papers from PubMed, arXiv, OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar, and every claim linked to the exact sentence in its source. It says AI-written passages are never given invented references.
Its AI Writer can generate a citation-grounded draft from a research question, so it isn't a clean break from generated text. Free use is 2,000 AI credits a month plus 4,000 words of plagiarism checks; Plus is $12 a month per seat, billed annually. Some Trustpilot reviewers found its results unhelpful for university assignments.
Paperguide dashboard, signed in to a free account (the account name is removed). Best for: Students working on a literature review who want each source tied to an exact sentence.
At a glance
Every tool above, with Samwell AI on the last row for reference. Writing assistants help you write; essay generators write the essay for you.
| Product | Type | Paid from | Free tier | Citations | Ghostwriting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EthiWrite | Writing assistant | $9 (billed every week) or $10/month ($120 billed annually) | Yes | Only from sources you added | Guides; you write |
| Grammarly | Writing assistant | $12/month | Yes | Your sources, or papers it finds for you | Drafts text when asked |
| EssayGenius | Essay generator | $15/month | Yes | Your sources, or papers it finds for you | Drafts text when asked |
| Jenni AI | Writing assistant | $12/month | Yes | Your sources, or papers it finds for you | Drafts text when asked |
| Paperpal | Writing assistant | See pricing page | Yes | Your sources, or papers it finds for you | Drafts text when asked |
| Thesify | Writing assistant | €7.50/month | No | From its own paper database | Drafts text when asked |
| Paperguide | Writing assistant | $12/month | Yes | Your sources, or papers it finds for you | Drafts text when asked |
| Samwell AI | Essay generator | $12/month | Yes | Your sources, or papers it finds for you | Writes the essay |
The bottom line
Samwell is built to hand you an essay. If you want one you can stand behind, swap the generator for tools that check and source your own work: Grammarly to record and grade it, Paperpal to polish it, Jenni AI or Paperguide for sources, and your own sentences in between.
FAQ
- Will using Samwell AI get me in trouble at school?
- It can. It writes the essay for you and markets detector bypassing on its paid plan, so handing in its output as your own is the case academic-integrity rules are written for. Check your course policy, and if you use it at all, keep it to finding sources.
- Are Samwell AI's citations real?
- It searches over 20 academic libraries and databases, so its citations point to papers you can check. Reviewers have also found some references off-topic, so open each one before you keep it.
- Which alternative is closest to Samwell AI?
- EssayGenius: an essay editor with sources and citations beside the draft, and one full essay draft on the free plan (unlimited on Pro). If you want to stop generating essays altogether, Thesify's Reviewer only gives feedback on what you wrote.
- Is there a free alternative to Samwell AI?
- Grammarly, Jenni AI, Paperpal, Paperguide and EssayGenius all have free plans, metered in different ways, and EthiWrite has one too. Thesify has no free plan.
- What's a safer way to use AI on an essay?
- Keep AI on the edges of the work: finding sources, checking a draft, pointing out gaps. Grammarly's Authorship gives you a record of how you wrote, and Thesify's Reviewer gives feedback without writing anything.