DeepL Write vs Grammarly
DeepL Write is the AI writing assistant from DeepL SE in Cologne, Germany. Grammarly belongs to Superhuman Platform Inc. in San Francisco and hosts on AWS US East. An honest comparison of languages, features, prices and data handling, including DeepL's 2026 move to AWS as a sub-processor.
Cologne’s AI Writing Assistant vs Superhuman’s San Francisco Default
DeepL Write is the AI writing assistant from DeepL SE, the Cologne company best known for DeepL Translator. Write launched in beta in January 2023, and in April 2024 DeepL introduced DeepL Write Pro, its first service powered by its own large language model. Write corrects spelling, grammar and punctuation, suggests alternative words and sentences, and rewrites text in a chosen style (business, academic, casual) or tone (friendly, enthusiastic, diplomatic, confident). It is sold as part of the DeepL subscription, so one licence covers both translation and writing help.
Grammarly was founded in 2009 in Ukraine and became the default writing assistant for English worldwide. After acquiring Coda and the email client Superhuman, the parent company renamed itself Superhuman Platform Inc. in October 2025; the Grammarly product keeps its name. It is headquartered in San Francisco, says it is trusted by over 40 million people and 50,000 organisations, and hosts its service on AWS in the US East region.
The honest framing: DeepL Write is a European company’s product with strong European-language quality and clean data-handling commitments on paid plans. It is not a complete Grammarly clone, and since May 2026 DeepL itself relies partly on US cloud infrastructure. Both points matter when you choose.
Jurisdiction Comparison
| DeepL Write | Grammarly | |
|---|---|---|
| HQ | Cologne, Germany | San Francisco, USA |
| Corporate entity | DeepL SE (Amtsgericht Köln, HRB 104617) | Superhuman Platform Inc. (formerly Grammarly, Inc.) |
| Founded | 2017 (DeepL Translator, out of Linguee); Write in 2023 | 2009 (Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko, Dmytro Lider) |
| Ownership | Private, German parent; VC investors incl. Index Ventures, ICONIQ Growth, IVP, Atomico, WiL | Private, US parent |
| Hosting | DeepL-run servers in Europe plus AWS (EU, US, JP regions) since May 2026; EU-only via Data Residency add-on | AWS, US East region |
| CLOUD Act exposure | Parent: none. Indirect via AWS sub-processor unless EU residency is contracted | Yes (US parent and US hosting) |
| Certifications | ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, C5 Type 2, HIPAA | SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, 27701, 42001 |
| EU transfers | EU controller; AWS sub-processing outside the EU by default | EU-US Data Privacy Framework, SCCs as fallback |
Product Capabilities
Corrections and Rewriting
- DeepL Write: spelling, grammar and punctuation fixes, word and sentence alternatives, a corrections-only mode, and full rephrasing that keeps your meaning.
- Grammarly: spelling and grammar fixes, clarity and fluency suggestions, full-sentence rewrites (Pro), inclusive-language and citation checks.
Style and Tone
- DeepL Write Pro: writing styles (business, academic, casual and more), tones (friendly, enthusiastic, diplomatic, confident and more), and shared style rules applied automatically to every suggestion.
- Grammarly: tone detection on all plans, tone adjustment on Pro, plus a style guide and brand tones for teams.
Notable: both handle audience adaptation well. Grammarly’s English tone engine is more refined; DeepL’s rewrites tend to read more naturally in German, French, Spanish and Italian.
Languages
- DeepL Write: German, English (UK/US), French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (PT/BR), Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese. No Dutch, Polish or Nordic languages.
- Grammarly: advanced suggestions in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese; spelling and grammar in 20+ more languages (beta since March 2026), including Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Danish and Finnish.
Generative AI and Extras
- DeepL Write: improves your own text; no prompt-based generation, plagiarism check or AI detector.
- Grammarly: generative AI prompts (100/month free, 2,000/month Pro, unlimited Enterprise), plagiarism and AI-text detection, AI agents, and the Superhuman suite (Coda, Superhuman Mail, Superhuman Go).
Integrations
- DeepL Write: web editor, browser extension, Windows and macOS desktop app, Microsoft Word, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
- Grammarly: browser extensions, Windows and Mac desktop apps, iOS and Android keyboards, and native integration with the Superhuman suite.
Enterprise Controls
- DeepL: SSO, SCIM provisioning, audit logs, BYOK encryption and network restrictions on business plans.
- Grammarly: SAML SSO, SCIM, BYOK, confidential mode, data loss prevention and an audit logs API on Enterprise.
Sovereignty Model
- DeepL Write: German parent company (DeepL SE) under GDPR and German law. Paid texts are deleted after processing and not used for training. Since 20 May 2026, however, AWS is a sub-processor and customer content may by default be processed in EU, US and Japanese AWS regions. Organisations that need EU-only processing should contract the Data Residency add-on, which is sold through DeepL’s sales team rather than on the website.
- Grammarly: US parent (Superhuman Platform Inc.); US hosting on AWS US East; EU transfers under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. CLOUD Act and FISA Section 702 apply to the company as a US corporation.
So the gap is real but narrower than it was. With DeepL you contract with an EU company that has made binding no-training commitments and offers an EU-only option. With Grammarly, both the company and the default data location are in the US.
Reference Customers
DeepL says it is used by more than 200,000 business teams worldwide; Grammarly says it is trusted by 40 million people and 50,000 organisations. Typical DeepL Write scenarios:
- Multilingual teams that write emails, reports and presentations in a second language (German, French, Spanish, Italian)
- Researchers and students polishing academic text in the academic style
- Marketing and communications teams enforcing a shared house style with style rules
- Freelancers and consultants who already pay for DeepL Translator and want writing help in the same subscription
Pricing
| Plan | DeepL Write | Grammarly |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free version (texts may be used for training) | Free (100 AI prompts/month) |
| Individual | Write Pro add-on €6.99/month + DeepL Individual €7.49/month (annual) | Pro €12/month annual (€144/year) or €30 monthly |
| Team | Write Pro add-on €6.99/user/month + Team €24.99/user/month (annual) | Pro (per member) |
| Business | Included in Business €49.99/user/month (annual) | Enterprise (quote-based) |
| Enterprise | Included, quote-based | Quote-based |
DeepL prices are German EUR prices (VAT included for the Write Pro add-on); Grammarly EUR prices are before VAT. All prices as of October 2026.
Who Should Switch?
DeepL Write is the stronger choice for:
- European organisations that want their writing assistant contracted with an EU company and paid texts kept out of AI training
- Teams writing in German, French, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese, where DeepL’s language quality is a clear strength
- Existing DeepL customers who can add Write Pro for €6.99 per user or already have it in Business and Enterprise
- Regulated organisations willing to contract the Data Residency add-on for EU-only processing
Grammarly remains the right choice for:
- English-first writers who want the most refined tone and clarity engine
- Users who need plagiarism checks, AI-text detection or prompt-based generation
- Teams writing daily in Dutch, Polish or Nordic languages
- Organisations already standardised on the Superhuman suite
The Bottom Line
Grammarly is still the most complete writing assistant on the market: deep English expertise, generative AI, plagiarism and AI detection, and integrations almost everywhere. Its weakness for European buyers is structural: a US parent, US hosting and transfers under the Data Privacy Framework.
DeepL Write is the European alternative for people who mainly want better text rather than more generated text. It comes from a German company, it is very good in the major European languages, and paid texts are deleted and never used for training. Be aware of two limits: no Dutch or Nordic languages yet, and since May 2026 DeepL processes data on AWS outside the EU by default unless you contract EU data residency. For most European teams writing in German, French, Spanish or Italian, that trade-off still favours DeepL Write.
Looking for more European writing and language tools? See also: DeepL vs Google Translate, LanguageTool (self-hosted) vs Grammarly, and Mistral AI vs ChatGPT.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is DeepL Write really European, and where is my text processed?
DeepL Write is made by DeepL SE, registered in Cologne, Germany (Amtsgericht Köln, HRB 104617). DeepL's translator launched in 2017 out of Linguee, and the company is led by CEO Jaroslaw Kutylowski. Its investors include Index Ventures, ICONIQ Growth, IVP, Atomico and WiL. One important nuance: in April 2026 DeepL announced it would add Amazon Web Services as a sub-processor and would 'no longer process data exclusively within Europe'. Since 20 May 2026, customer content may by default be processed in AWS regions in the EU, the US and Japan. Customers who need EU-only processing can contract a Data Residency add-on through DeepL's sales team. Grammarly, by contrast, is operated by Superhuman Platform Inc. in San Francisco and hosts data in AWS data centres in the US East region.
Which languages does DeepL Write support compared with Grammarly?
According to DeepL's API documentation, DeepL Write supports German, English (UK and US), French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese. Dutch is not supported. Grammarly was English-only for 15 years, added French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese in September 2025, and in March 2026 added spelling and grammar checks for 17 more languages in beta, including Dutch, Polish, Swedish and Czech. Its advanced rewrite features are still limited to six languages.
Do DeepL or Grammarly use my texts to train their AI?
DeepL states that it does not use customer data from paid services to train its AI models, and that Pro texts are only stored temporarily as technically needed and then deleted. On the free version, DeepL's privacy policy allows texts to be used for a limited period to improve its models, and its terms say free services must not be used for personal data. Grammarly lets users switch off AI training through a Product Improvement and Training control in account settings; its help centre says this is on by default for individual accounts. Content in organisation-managed Grammarly accounts is processed under the organisation's contract.
How much do DeepL Write and Grammarly cost?
As of October 2026, DeepL Write has a free version. Write Pro is an add-on at €6.99 per user per month (billed annually, VAT included in German pricing) on DeepL's Individual (€7.49/month billed annually) or Team (€24.99/user/month) plans, and is included in Business (€49.99/user/month billed annually) and Enterprise. Grammarly has a free plan; Grammarly Pro costs €144 per year (€12 per month) on annual billing or €30 on monthly billing, before VAT. Enterprise is quote-based for both.
Can DeepL Write replace Grammarly's generative AI features?
Partly. DeepL Write corrects spelling, grammar and punctuation, rephrases sentences and adapts style and tone, but it improves text you have written rather than generating new text from prompts. Grammarly Pro adds 2,000 generative AI prompts per month, full-sentence rewrites, plagiarism and AI-text detection, and enterprise features such as data loss prevention. If you mostly need a polished second pair of eyes in European languages, DeepL Write covers it; if you want a prompt-driven AI assistant, Grammarly or a European LLM such as Mistral's Le Chat is a better fit.
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