LanguageTool is now part of Learneo
LanguageTool, a writing service used by millions of users to spellcheck writing and grammar, has been acquired by Learneo.
LanguageTool offers multilingual grammar, style and spell checking on the web, as browser extensions and applications. The company, which is based in Germany, has created plugins for Office and also extensions for specific purposes, including email.
The base LanguageTool service is free, but individuals and businesses may sign-up for paid plans to gain access to some of the available add-ons, enhanced checks, larger text field options, and AI-powered services, including sentence rewriting.
Interested users may visit the LanguageTool website to type or paste text into the search field on the main webpage to have it checked out. The writing tools check spelling, grammar and punctuation, and display fixes for issues detected. There is also a paraphrase option available, which is powered by AI and limited for free users of the service. It works similarly to Deepl Write in this regard, but is older than the newcomer.
The press release provides little details on the acquisition and the future of LanguageTool. Learneo, which describes itself as a "platform of learning and productivity brands", was established in 2022 by Andrew Grauer, who co-founded EdTech unicorn Course Hero. One of the main goals of Learneo, which had "over 100 million active users and a combined revenue of more than $200 million across its six businesses", is to "develop and acquire productivity and learning technologies".
LearningTool will join the six existing brands CliffsNotes, Course Hero, LitCharts, QuillBot, Scribbr and Symbolab. Learneo explains that the acquisition is bolstering the company's suite of writing solutions and also "advancing the comapny's larger international expansion strategy". LanguageTool brings along with it its 60.000 paying subscribers and millions of free users.
Neither company provided information on the future of LanguageTool at the time, but judging from the previous brands integrated into Learneo, it looks as if LanguageTool services remain as is. There are synergies between the now seven services under Learneo's umbrella.
Learneo is targeting 50 million subscriptions per year by the end of 2030. Currently, it has surpassed 3 million subscriptions per year.
Now You: do you use LanguageTool for spelling and grammar checks?
I think, this is not really interesting.
For the English language there are already some good alternatives. For the German language there is among others WhatImean, which can check style and grammar.
http://www.whatimean.com
Martin, thanks for the breaking news.
I preferred this browser extension (Firefox).
However, I usually “disable” it and only “enable” it when needed.
When a company is acquired by a commercial company, past acquisition’s case have frequently resulted in “secret databases of user data collection and other privacy violations”. This is a cautionary event. I will REMOVE it, and sever all relationships until proven innocent.
Hopefully, you will have an article on the immediate alternatives.
In past cases of acquisitions of “browser extensions” by commercial companies:
Privacy violations, such as “secret collection of users’ personal information,” and
obfuscated and planted “malicious remote code executers”, and
Malicious code is added to extensions after they have been reviewed and released to the public, and
Such, there is no end to the number of cases where browser extensions have been unregistered due to malicious intent discovered (after the fact).
This extension:
https://languagetool.org/
Addons Mozilla.org, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/languagetool/
Chrome Webstore, https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grammar-spell-checker%E2%80%94lan/oldceeleldhonbafppcapldpdifcinji
Microsoft Edge Add-ons, https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/hfjadhjooeceemgojogkhlppanjkbobc
Mac App Store, https://apps.apple.com/app/id1534275760
Mozilla has reviewed the extension and given it a “Recommendation” status.
“Recommended” means that the extension has been reviewed by Mozilla, and is a strict review by Mozilla (a human), Even so, there have been a few cases of “acquired extensions slipping through the review process”.
In the case of “acquired” cases, Users should also be vigilant.
Too users should be wary, and avoid “It’s too late.”,
Maybe users should be REMOVE it, even if it is truth or not is unknown, and sever all ties with the company until it is proven to be innocent.
I use LanguageTool and find it to be invaluable; it identifies all sorts of minor mistakes that I make when typing comments, messages and e-mails, and is far more useful than a basic spell checker. Usually these mistakes are made because I’m typing fast, but sometimes it’s just that my grammar and vocabulary aren’t quite as perfect as I like to think they are! :)
I decided to pay for the Premium individual license, and I am pleased with it. I don’t understand why they don’t make it more clear, but a single premium license allows you to install Language Tool across ALL your devices and ALL the different APIs. That makes it a very good deal.
After checking this article, by https://languagetool.org, the result was:
Suggestions 29
14Possible spelling errors
3Grammar errors
2Style issues
10Punctuation errors
Lol!