# ScanForAI vs Originality.ai — Free Alternative (2026)

ScanForAI vs Originality.ai in 2026: detection accuracy, false-positive handling, pricing and paste limits — compared honestly, with evidence.

- Source: https://scanforai.com/compare-originality
- ScanForAI — AI-writing detection. A score is a signal, not a verdict.

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# ScanForAI vs Originality.ai: evidence, without the meter.

★★★★★ 4.6 from 1050 user ratings

Originality.ai charges per credit and targets high-volume publishers. ScanForAI is free and returns something different: the AI-leaning lines marked in the text itself — feedback an editor can send straight back to the writer.

## The short version.

|   | ScanForAI | Originality.ai |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing model | **Free** — no credits, no card | Pay-per-credit (per ~100 words scanned) or subscription |
| Built for | Anyone acting on a result: editors, teachers, writers checking their own work | Publishers, SEO agencies, content-mill QA at volume |
| Evidence per result | AI-leaning lines marked **in the text** + plain-English reasons — feedback a writer can act on | Percentage score with sentence highlighting |
| Beyond AI detection | [Injection scan](https://scanforai.com/image-prompt-injection) · image AI check · batch · URL scan · PDF reports | Plagiarism check, fact-check aid, readability (credit-priced) |
| Writer disputes | Shareable marked-up result — turns a standoff into an edit list | Score-centric; writers often contest the number |
| API | Free, [documented + OpenAPI](https://scanforai.com/docs/api) | Credit-priced API |

Competitor details paraphrased from public pages, last reviewed July 2026, and may change — check [originality.ai](https://originality.ai) for current pricing. Originality.ai is a trademark of its owner; ScanForAI is not affiliated with or endorsed by it. We publish no accuracy percentages for either tool.

## Credits make sense at volume. Do you need them?

Originality.ai is genuinely built for high-volume publisher pipelines — plagiarism plus AI checks, team seats, per-credit billing. If you're scanning thousands of articles a month with a paid QA budget, it's a fair fit. If you're an editor checking a handful of freelance deliveries, a teacher checking essays, or a writer checking your own drafts, you're paying credit prices for something ScanForAI does free — with feedback the writer can actually use.

### Editors: send reasons, not scores

A writer can argue with "62% AI". It's harder to argue with six marked lines and the patterns named. See [the editor workflow](https://scanforai.com/for-editors).

### Batch without a meter running

Drop up to 20 files or URLs, get a scored table + CSV — no mental math about credits per word.

### Check the live page

Paste a URL and scan what's actually published — a writer's portfolio, a suspect article, your own site.

### What we don't do (yet)

Plagiarism detection — that's a different problem than AI detection. If you need both in one bill today, Originality covers it; our citation checker is on the roadmap.

## Common questions.

For AI detection, yes — scanner, batch, URL scan, PDF reports and API are free, with no credit system. Originality.ai still fits high-volume pipelines that also need plagiarism checking in the same bill.

Not yet — plagiarism (copied text) and AI detection (machine-written text) are different problems. We focus on the second; a citation-existence checker is on our roadmap.

Paste the text or the live URL. You get a score band, the AI-leaning lines marked in place, and a PDF report you can attach when you send feedback — which turns a dispute into an edit list.

No honest answer exists — independent testing shows every detector misses edited AI and sometimes flags human writing. We publish our failure modes and show per-line evidence instead of quoting a marketing accuracy number.

It sells credits (roughly per 100 words scanned) and subscription plans — check originality.ai for current numbers, they change. The comparison point that doesn't change: ScanForAI's detection, batch and API are free, with no per-word meter.

If you pay for words, yes — but as a triage tool, not a judge. Scan deliveries, look at what got marked, and send the marked lines back as edit feedback. The goal isn't catching writers; it's making sure you're not paying human rates for unedited machine output.