Noun Plus is a free grammar check and spell check tool available via a website and two mobile apps.
It is one of the only wholly free services we’ve come across. Sure, a lot of grammar and spell checkers out there, like Grammarly, have a limited free option. Most also let you purchase a subscription with additional features.
We put Noun Plus through several tests to see how it ranked against some of the best grammar checkers on the market today.
Find out more in this Noun Plus review.
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Our Verdict
Noun Plus tries to pass itself off as a way for non-English speakers to learn how to read and write English. If you’re going to learn, it should be the right way. You can’t learn properly from a service that has broken English on its site. We recommend Grammarly instead. It is on the pricey side, you can save 20% with our link.
Grammarly Best All-Around
PROS
- 86/86% accuracy
- 16+ billion database
- 150k+ word limit
- 5 device limit
- 1-hour response
CONS
- Only English
- Expensive without our link
Noun Plus Limited Features
PROS
- Completely free
- Mobile apps
CONS
- No plagiarism detector
- Form only customer service
- Spelling & grammar mistakes
- Limited services
Grammarly Premium Walkthrough Video
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pros of Noun Plus
Completely Free
The first major bonus of Noun Plus is that it is an entirely free service. There is no way to upgrade it and pay for additional features. You will never have to enter your payment information, and there is no possibility of hidden fees or charges.
That’s great because a lot of services that say they are free are only offering you the bare minimum and borderline harass you into subscribing to their paid memberships. This was a significant issue I had when reviewing GradeProof.
But Noun Plus users can rest easy knowing that this service isn’t after their money. What you see is what you get, and you’re not being lured in to be sold some upgraded membership.
Mobile Apps
Noun Plus doesn’t have a lot to offer in terms of desktop-based applications. You can use it from your browser on the official site, but there are no Windows or Mac desktop apps, nor is there a browser extension like those used by GradeProof and Grammarly.
However, they do have a mobile presence, which shocked me. I was not expecting a completely free grammar checker to have apps for mobile devices. You can access Noun Plus via apps on both the iOS and Android app stores.
It’s always great to see a service make itself available through mobile platforms. Mobile internet use has skyrocketed in recent years. Any way to bring desktop-level services to a mobile device should be celebrated.
Cons of Noun Plus
Separate Screens for Grammar and Spelling
Noun Plus hails itself as a grammar and spelling checker.
I thought nothing of that as that’s a common way for most of the services that we review to describe themselves. But when I looked at the top menu of its site, I saw something odd.
What in the what now?
Grammar checking and spell check are listed as two separate pages. Surely they don’t mean that to get full grammar and spelling corrections on my piece, I’m going to have to enter my work twice, right?
Wrong.
That’s precisely what they mean.
Where other services have grammar and spelling all built into one platform, Noun Plus separates them for whatever reason. You have to run a grammar check and then a spelling check.
They even have different colors for the pages based on what service you’re using.
Green is grammar, and blue is the spell checker.
Also, I’d like to point out that in the above images, you’ll see the services are marked 2018 and 2017. That means we’re dealing with potentially outdated systems.
This is an unnecessary extra step. Even the built-in grammar and spelling checkers in writing programs like Microsoft Word can check spelling and grammar at the same time.
Swing and a miss on this one, Noun Plus.
Form Only Customer Service
Customer support is a big deal for me. I like to know that if I’m having an issue with a service, I can get the help that I need when I need it.
That means services with a live chatbot get high marks from me.
Noun Plus doesn’t have that.
They do have a contact form, at least.
I asked some simple questions with the hopes that I’d get an answer quickly. Typically, if a company can give me a quality response in a short amount of time, I’m willing to forgive a lack of instant communication.
Well, it has been more than 24 hours, and I’ve received no response. So needless to say, I’m not thrilled with this branch of Noun Plus’s organization.
No Plagiarism Detector
Something that people don’t realize about plagiarism is that not all of it is intentional. Plagiarism can happen to even the best writers, entirely by accident. That’s why it’s always good to have a plagiarism detector build into your grammar checker.
Unfortunately, that’s not a service offered by Noun Plus.
We’re a content marketing agency that has clients paying us tens of thousands each month. If our writers ever plagiarized something on their behalf – we’d BOTH be in a huge amount of trouble.
If you want a quality plagiarism checker, check out our list of the top plagiarism checkers on the market today.
Limited Services
At first look, Noun Plus might seem too good to be true. A free service with no limitations?
That’s not the case at all.
I can understand why one would think that. They don’t give you any information about the actual specs of the grammar or spell check services. That includes word count limitations.
I pasted our sample text, which is 3,900 words, into Noun Plus.
The door got slammed in my face.
Too long? I saw nothing about a word count limit. And this error message is also infuriatingly unhelpful.
“Reduce it” is the only direction. By how much? How do I actually use your service?
With no answers, I reduced the word count to 2,500 words and tried again.
AHHHH!!!!
Now I was frustrated and cut it back down to 2,000 words. This time it worked. So the correct number is under 2,000.
In the following examples, you’ll see how the interface looks.
It’s simple enough to understand, but I was also shocked at a few easy errors that went completely unnoticed.
Just like the experts from our MasterClass review can attest, it’s the details that make all the difference!
Above, you’ll see this floating period just sitting there. It goes right over Noun Plus’s head. That’s got to be one of the most obvious corrections in the book, and it was missed several times throughout the piece.
I felt as though it also offered very little in terms of sentence structure and writing style.
Then I tried the spelling function.
Again, it missed many issues that were flagged by other services. All in all, I was extremely disappointed with the limitations of this checker.
Spelling and Grammar Mistakes on Website
I don’t wanna be “that guy,” but when you’re touting yourself as a service that can check grammar and spelling, it helps not to have grammar and spelling mistakes all over your website.
Take a look at that mastery of the English language.
“Smart Grammar Checker Online Tool Free”
And my personal favorite:
“NounPlus Help You Check Grammar and Spelling.”
How are you going to check my grammar and spelling when your own site has such glaring mistakes?
NounPlus Costs, Plans, & Payment Options
NounPlus is a completely free service. There are no paid plans, and no payment methods are accepted.
Do I Recommend Noun Plus?
Heck no.
Look, if you’re a student and you want to check your basic essay somewhere for free, there are still better options for you. Head over to GradeProof and use their free service. Or Grammarly. They’re going to inundate you with ads for their paid version, but at least you’ll actually get some proper results.
A lot goes into a grammar check. Your system has to have a mastery of verbs, tenses, indefinite pronouns, singular nouns, vocabulary, and so much more. I have no faith that this service can handle all of that based on my hands-on test.
Noun Plus also tries to pass itself off as a way for non-English speakers to learn how to read and write English. If you’re going to learn, it should be the right way. You can’t learn properly from a service that has broken English on its site.
When it comes to NounPlus, I can’t recommend it to anyone for any reason.
