Top 11+ Best Free Plagiarism Checkers For Teachers & Students
If you are looking for the best free plagiarism checkers in 2024 that are ACTUALLY FREE. You’re in the right place!
And when I say free, I really mean it! Zero. Nada. Zilch!
To test these plagiarism checkers, I have created a piece of unique content with some plagiarised text, so I can actually see how these free services perform.
So whether you are a student or a teacher, you are bound to find a service down below that will make your life easier, while also saving money!
How I Ranked These Free Plagiarism Checkers
Quickly just before I get stuck into this list, I will briefly explain how I scored each of these tools.
Below is an article that I have uniquely written (represented in BLACK) with some inserted plagiarised text (represented in RED).
In total, there are 450 words in this “test post” with 350 words being unique and 100 words being plagiarised.
When doing some simple math, 22.22% of this document is plagiarized, which is what I will be using as a benchmark. So ideally, a score of 22-23% is what I am aiming for.
Top 11+ Best Free Plagiarism Checkers For eLearning Professionals In 2024
1. SearchEngineReports
- Plagiarism detected: 25%
- Searches: Unlimited
- Percentage shown: Yes
- Word limit: 2,000 words per search
- Price: Free
First on my list is SearchEngineReports.net which is a surprisingly great free tool that doesn’t get much attention.
From my testing, I received a plagiarism score of 25% which is incredibly close to my initial benchmark. SearchEngineReports also uncovered all of the inserted text that I added. But I’m not sure why it was scored higher at 25%.
Like any good plagiarism checker, SearchEngineReports shows percentages of unique/ copied text and links to matched sources. They also have the ability to upload from Dropbox, copy in text, check plagiarism from a URL, detect plagiarism in 16 different languages, and of course uploading multiple file formats.
As for the limits of the number of documents you can check… there is none! The only limitation is that there is a 2,000-word limit that can be checked at one time. So for teachers grading essays, homework, projects, and short stories, this is a great pick!
- Very accurate
- Unlimited amount of checks
- Online interface
- 16 different languages
- Shows percentages
- Shows plagiarized matches
- Can upload .Doc, .PDF, .Plaintxt
- Can download reports
- Can paste in text
- Check plagiarism by URL
- Limited to 2,000 words per search
- Includes ads on the website
2. Quetext
- Plagiarism detected: 23%
- Searches: 5
- Percentage shown: Yes
- Word limit: 500
- Price: Free
Next on my list is Quetext, which from my testing, was the most accurate free tool that I used. When testing the platform, I got a plagiarism score of 23%, which is incredibly close to the actual score of 22.22%.
What I also liked is that it gave me citations and links to the plagiarised text in the document.
After a bit more digging into the tool, I found that they are using “DeepSearch Technology” which doesn’t only look at exact matches in Google, but also surrounding context, swapped out words, books, journals, forums, and papers.
As for the downsides of Quetext, the free version only allows for 5 tests/ searches per day and you will have to sign up for a free account. So for heavy users such as teachers, this may not be the best tool for grading high volume.
But if you are looking for a free plagerism checker that does an incredible job at detecting coppied text, this is a phenomial free plagiarism checker.
- Incredibly accurate
- Online interface
- Shows percentages
- Shows plagerised matches
- Can upload .Doc, .PDF, .Plaintxt
- Can paste in text
- Contextual Analysis
- Only 5 searches per day
- Have to sign up for an account
3. PlagiarismDetector
- Plagiarism detected: 28%
- Searches: Unlimited
- Percentage shown: Yes
- Word limit: 1,000 words per search
- Price: Free
Moving onto my next pick is PlagiarismDetector.net which is another great tool for uncovering stolen, or copied text. From my tests, I received a plagiarism score of 28% which is quite close to my original score.
However, only around 80% of my inserted copied text was detected. For the rest, it detected plagiarism from my uniquely written content which was quite strange. While this is not a perfect score, it still did do an OK job at finding a majority of plagiarized text.
Like the other tools in this list, PlagiarismDetector.net also allows you to upload from Dropbox, view cited plagiarized links/ websites/ research papers, percentage scores, ability to upload multiple file formats, and DeepSearch AI.
Users also have the ability to do an unlimited amount of reports per day, however, this is limited to only 1,000 words per search. Nonetheless, still a great free plagiarism tool for teachers, students, webmasters, and editors.
- Quite accurate
- Unlimited amount of checks
- Online interface
- Shows percentages
- Shows plagiarized matches
- Can upload Doc, PDF, Plaintxt
- Can paste in text
- Check plagiarism by URL
- DeepSearch
- Limited to 1,000 words per search
- Includes ads on the website
4. Copyleaks
- Plagiarism detected: 24.7%
- Searches: 10
- Percentage shown: Yes
- Word limit: 2,500 total
- Price: Free
For those looking for more in-depth analysis beyond the normal plagiarism scores, this is one of the best free plagiarism checkers for the job!
Not only does Copyleaks detected identically copied text from websites, journals, research papers, and forums. It also analyses omitted words, minor changes, and related meanings thanks to it’s AI.
From my testing, Copyleaks was able to detect a 24.7% identical match, with 1.5% showing related and minor plagiarism. So from my original benchmark of 22.2%, it did extremely well and even showed some accidental paraphrased content.
As for the limitations, Copyleaks only allows you to search 10 pages totalling 2,500 words per day. But for light users who wan’t to scan the od document, this is agreat free onlie plagerism tool.
- Very accurate
- Use of AI for detecting paraphrased content
- Online interface
- Shows percentages
- Shows plagiarized matches
- Support for 100 languages
- Can paste in text
- Downloadable reports
-
Can detect several forms of plagiarism
- Limited to 10 searches or 2,500 words
5. PlagScan
÷≥÷
- Plagiarism detected: 25.4%
- Searches: 1
- Percentage shown: Yes
- Word limit: 2,000 total
- Price: Free
Next on my list is another great tool for detecting plagiarism with great detail. From my testing, PlagScan was able to detect my inserted copied text with great accuracy, 22.3% to be exact.
However, they also showed me some additional results relating to golf and biology, which had nothing todo with the article that I had written.
While PlagScan delivers a great tool for detecting cheating, there are some severe limitations for their product. This includes a one time only search for 2,000 words. After that, you will have to purchase credits for further documents/ searches.
So if you are looking to just check one article or assesment, this is a great plagerism checker. Just make sure you upload the right document!
- Quite accurate
- Online interface
- Shows percentages
- Shows plagiarized matches
- Can paste in text
- Dropbox/ Google Drive compatiable
- Downloadable reports
-
Can upload PDF, Doc, Plaintxt, Pages
- Limited to 1 search in total
6. SmallSEOTools
- Plagiarism detected: 11%
- Searches: Unlimited
- Percentage shown: Yes
- Word limit: 1,000 total
- Price: Free
Moving onto my free plagiarism checker is SmallSEOTools, which is a simple online plagiarism detector that scrapes Google and shows exact matches. Just like many of the other tools on this list.
While I have actually used this tool a lot in the past, it seems that the quality of results is starting to drop. After doing my test, it only came back with a plagiarism score of 11% when compared to my original benchmark of 22.2%.
When it comes to the benefits of SmallSEOTools, they allow an unlimted amount of searches, 1,000 word limit, check plagerism from specific URL’s, intergration with Grammerly, and the ability to upload various files as tex, .rtf, .pdf, .docx, .txt, and .odt.
- Ok accuratcy
- Online interface
- Intergration with Dropbox & Google Drive
- Shows percentages
- Unlimited searches
- Shows plagiarized matches
- Can paste in text
-
Can upload tex, .rtf, .pdf, .docx, .txt, and .odt.
- Limited to 1,000 word searches
- Monitized with ads
7. DupliChecker
- Plagiarism detected: 11%
- Searches: Unlimited
- Percentage shown: Yes
- Word limit: 1,000 total
- Price: Free
Next on my list is DupliChecker, which seems to offer a carbon copy service of SmallSEOTools. From my testing, they also gave me a score of 11% when uploading my file to their platform.
As for the rest of their features, they offer the same intergration with Dropbox/ Google Drive, unlimted searches, 1,000 word limited, links to cited websites/ sources of plagerism, and support for multiple file formats.
- Ok accuratcy
- Shows percentages
- Unlimited searches
- Shows plagiarized matches
- Online interface
- Can upload tex, .rtf, .pdf, .docx, .txt, and .odt.
- Intergration with Dropbox & Google Drive
- Can paste in text
- Limited to 1,000 word searches
- Monitized with ads
8. PrePostSEO
- Plagiarism detected: 9%
- Searches: 1 per session
- Percentage shown: Yes
- Word limit: 500 per search
- Price: Free
As you might be able to tell, as I’m going down the list, so too does the quality and ability to detect plagiarism in articles, assessments, resumes, and papers.
When testing PrePostSEO, their tool was only able to detect 9% of plagiarism over the 450 word document. So for teachers/ students looking for an in-depth look, over their, or others work, this may not be for you.
- Poor accuratcy
- Shows percentages
- Shows plagiarized matches
- Supports Spanish, German, Turkish
- Can paste in text
- Limited to 500 word searches
- Monitized with ads
- Does not use DeepSearch
- 1 search per session
9. Plagium
- Plagiarism detected: Not shown
- Searches: Unlimited
- Percentage shown: No
- Word limit: 1,000 characters
- Price: Free
Moving onto my next pick is Plagium, which offers a very stripped down and simple free plagiarism checker. Unfortunately, when using their free version, it did not show me exact percentages, instead, they show links to websites where plagiarism is detected.
As for the upload limit, it’s capped at 1,000 characters, which is around 200 words only. So if you wanting to get any real use from this tool, you will need to upgrade to the paid version.
- Shows plagiarized matches
- Can paste in text
- Limited to 1,000 characters
- Can’t upload files
- Does not use DeepSearch
- Does not sure percentages
What Constitutes As Plagerism?
While many think of plagiarism as copying someones text and representing it as your own, there is more to the story. In total, there are 6 different types of plagiarism which include:
- Paraphrasing: Re-wording someone’s work without recognition or citations
- Global: Submitting an entire assessment/ paper which belongs to someone else
- Citing incorrectly: Not giving or incorrect citing of someones work
- Verbatim: Copy and pasting sentences, paragraphs, or pages from websites, journals, books, or papers
- Mosaic: Combining work from multiple sources and not citing references
- Self-plagiarism: Recycling or repurposing your existing work into new submissions
How Do Free Plagiarism Checkers Work?
Traditionally, plagiarism detection tools will take the text of a document and break it up into bite-sized chunks (usually broken down into sentences). From there, these tools will do automated searches for these sentences, and then show a report of any identical results on Google.
This system is quite flawed as it typically does not show reworded results, or results from journals, books, and magazines.
Fortunately, there are new technologies used by plagiarism tools such as DeepSearch, which uses algorithms and AI to further detect copied, or uncited content.
Are Free Plagiarism Checkers Any Good?
In short, yes and no. At the end of the day, these are free tools, so there will be limitations that can’t be worked around. Typically, these limitations come in the form of heavily advertised websites, capped searches, and also word limits.
However, if you are a student, business, webmaster, or teacher that is looking to check a couple of documents, assessments, or even a resume. Free plagiarism tools can be a great place to start.
To further your skills for assessments, or writing a resume, check out my guide on the best free online writing classes!
Can You Trust Free Plagiarism Tools?
In most cases yes. With the introduction of GDPR and strict guidelines for webmasters, plagiarism checkers also have to adhere to these rules. However, there have been some reports of free tools that sell on the uploaded text to third parties.
Conclusion
From my testing, I found Quetext and SearchEngineReports to be the most accurate tools for detecting plagiarism. From my comparisons, they were able to detect 23% of copied text from a document that had 22.22% plagiarized text.
