LanguageTool - a *foss Grammarly alternative (potentially not foss)

jackpot@lemmy.mlbanned from sitebanned from site to Technology@lemmy.ml – 349 points –
LanguageTool - Online Grammar, Style & Spell Checker
languagetool.org

*hearing in comments certains parts aren't foss

54

I think it's better to link to their github since the website has references to a premium sister project that isn't FOSS: https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool

I haven't used this myself but I'm curious if anyone likes it

I self host a server. It works on my laptop and android. I like it, but some of the suggestions are bad.

Haven't used grammarly in years, so I can't compare.

Their extension isn't open source anymore, see here, so I don't recommend it personally, especially with how sensitive the data it collects is, its basically a keylogger, so trust is super important imo.

If they don't trust you with the source, you can trust them with your data.

While I appreciate the sentiment, isn't that effectively the same as "if the restaurant won't give you the complete recipe for their pizza sauce, how do you know they're not trying to poison you?"

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

Except a restaurant is not asking to log every word of yours in exchange for pizza.

1 more...
1 more...

Thanks for pointing out! This tool seems to look and work awesome, but non-foss browser extension is an instant 'NO'...

Ouch, thought that if you used the extension with a self-hosted local server that it was fully open source. Looks like I'll be uninstalling then.

I'm okay with some proprietary extensions and stuff, but when it comes to the stuff that I type, I'd rather be able to know exactly what it's doing with it.

By extension do you mean the browser extensions only or also the add-on for word processor ?

tell me anything that isn't

2 more...

Opinions vs deepl?

Note about deepl: according to their EULA they collect all what you type there and use it for training their algorithm. They are much smaller that Google and co, what makes me thinking that your data could be more "visible" in the training results.

The service as such is good, though.

I think this is only the case with the free version. Source: I worked with some big German companies which wanted to have an autotranslate function for their software. DeepL was the top choice, because the quality is very good and the data protection agreements for the paid service left no questions.

Most probably this is correct. One can say the same about most enterprise targeting offers, for example by Microsoft.

People who consider it for private usage should make decisions knowing such details.

EULA they collect all what you type there and use it for training their algorithm

This isn't the case for some specific corporate contract for the pro version. But, it's not publicly available.

Interesting thought about the visibility

Disclaimer: this is a personal impression/thoughts, I could be dramatically wrong here.

They have total different use cases. DeepL is a translator, language tool checks for style and grammar.

I use both frequently and both do a very good job. I have a prime membership of language tool and I like it. Both are German companies and operate under GDPR.

It's not bad at all, and multilingual. I like it as I can write in multiple language making less mistakes.

off topic: is deepl down or something ? thing doesn't respond :/

edit: now works

1 more...

Just wish there was a language tool keyboard for android

You can use it in Firefox/Fennec/other forks on Android. It's better than nothing.

I am but it would be nice to have it in other apps on my phone

Interestingly I knew about Languagetool long before I got to constantly see Grammarly ads. With the right tools it's useful for checking latex etc.

I use this often when I'm writing articles, it's incredibly easy to use and I've yet to have any issues with it.

I use it on Waterfox, for what it's worth. Absolutely recommend.

Why do you use waterfox?

When I switched from FF to WF it was lighter on system resources, faster and cut out a lot of the telemetry included in FF.

I've not used Firefox for well over a year now, so I can't speak to that still being the case, but those were the main draws for me.

I switched off of waterfox and back to firefox with arkenfox user.js when I noticed they were behind on a security update.

I wonder how grammarly desktop is for privacy

Their whole service is built to collect everything you type.

My foss alternative was an English class

Usually not foss and rather expensive.

Not really. There's even English classes in remote Africa. It's FOSS because textbooks and dictionaries exist.

Dunno where you live where textbooks are free and not proprietary.

They're not free, they're accessable.

Good bit, spelling accessible wrong was the cherry

you got free schooling? lucky bastard

First time I've heard someone say they're jealous of an America's free schooling system lol. Even in deep Africa villages they have free schooling systems, so idk where you are where that doesn't exist.