WhiteSmoke writing tool review

Writing software has become a go-to tool for a large segment of English users today, hence there’s no shortage of such solutions for both personal use and businesses. Amongst plenty of other alternatives, WhiteSmoke is easily remarkable as an all-round writing tool, packing up all the necessary features to write impeccable texts, under a minimalist interface.

With excellent correction features for grammar, style and orthography, the software is a good choice to write not only lengthy documents or essays, but also academic pieces and professional emails. As a result, the tool is for anyone aiming to improve their writing, from students to bloggers, professional writers or government employees.

Although it might not be the most popular writing tool on the market, WhiteSmoke has been out for years now, and it is recognized as a powerful all-in-one writing tool and advanced English proofreading software. So, despite several users being disappointed with its use limited to only 3 devices for the business subscription, and to only one device for the other plans, the program remains one of the first and most appreciated such tools on the market.

Plans and pricing

WhiteSmoke subscription plans are billed as one-time payments only, either through a yearly or 3-year plan. In both cases, there are three different plans available: Web, compatible with all browsers and including Grammar Checker, Plagiarism Checker and Translation; Premium, with all the features from the Web plan, plus compatibility with Windows 7, 8, 10, macOS Sierra, MS Office and Gmail, and the One-click instant Proofreading feature, integrated with all writing platforms and 1-computer license; and Business, with a 3-computer license, extended download warranty and phone customer support added to all the other benefits in the Premium plan.

The prices for each plan are taken as one-time payments, with a 50% discount applied to each of the six subscription plans available. As a result, the prices are as follows: the Web plan costs $5/month for the yearly subscription and as low as $3.47/month for the 3-year subscription; for the Premium plan you’ll be charged $6.66/month for the yearly subscription and $5.55/month for the 3-year subscription; whereas for the Business plan, you’ll have to pay $11.50/month for the yearly subscription and $8.82/month for the 3-year subscription.

Free Online Checker used to be the free trial available for WhiteSmoke, limited to 250 characters, where you could test the tool on a short text before getting the full version. However, it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere anymore. There is a Demo category on their website, but that only runs a video explaining how to use the program, not a free tool to test. They also have no mention about a return period, and these facts can become some real deal-breakers for those not willing to invest their money into a product they have no way to try beforehand or to get their money back from, if not satisfied.

Features

As an all-in-one tool, WhiteSmoke provides all the features one may need to correct and improve the level of their writing. A grammar checker, a plagiarism checker and a translation feature are integrated within the tool, which will not only correct grammar errors, but style and spelling as well. These features will all be available, no matter the subscription plan you paid for.

Besides, the entire software is built to make writing improvement easily accessible, offering an overall image upon the level and quality of each text through a report that reviews sentence length, structure, voice, redundancy, word choice, informal expressions, as well as word/sentence/character count, along with improvement suggestions.

Interface and in use

The interface of WhiteSmoke is clean and intuitive, focused on the text corrections and improvement suggestions. Different colors are used to highlight different types of errors and corrections identified, whereas actually using the tool to apply the suggested changes is as easy as clicking on the corrected form of each word. It is a very minimalistic design, which some interpret as easy-to-use and focused on doing the job, whereas others consider it less user-friendly than other similar alternatives on the market.

Support

There is an email address and a phone number available for queries about sales, but if you need to reach out to the WhiteSmoke team to address other issues, there’s the option to submit a ticket for one of the ten departments available. There’s also a knowledge base available for self-help, with 50 different subjects plus 10 popular articles. For the paid business plan, phone customer support is included, although there aren’t any additional details upon what this support is about and how it is offered.

The competition

Grammarly and ProWritingAid are two of the most reputable competitors of WhiteSmoke amongst many other similar alternatives. However, the former remains the main competitor as both Grammarly and WhiteSmoke compete for the title of an all-around writing tool.

With a more user-friendly interface, more popularity and plans available with monthly subscription instead of one-time payments for longer periods of time, Grammarly is preferred by many especially for the free version provided to individuals who want to test the basic writing suggestions before buying the premium plan.

Yet, WhiteSmoke keeps a solid position on the market as a powerful alternative, with more affordable prices long-term, and with a translation feature that supports over 60 languages, a feature that is not available for Grammarly.

Final verdict

WhiteSmoke is a very decent solution on its segment of the market, a smart long-term investment providing excellent features aimed to satisfy the exigent requirements of grammar, spelling, punctuation and style not only for personal use, but also in academic writing or professional corporate reports.

However, it is not a perfect tool yet, users’ main complaints regarding the inexistence of a free trial and of the live chat, as well as the license limit to 1 or 3 devices, when some of these users need to switch from one computer to another depending on the work they are performing. Hence, the company should consider adding back the free online trial version, a live chat support, as well as change the license limits, before getting a chance to the title of the best writing software available on the market.

We've also featured the best free writing software and best laptops for writers