QuillBot is best known as a paraphrasing tool: you paste in text you already have, and it rewords it. It also offers grammar checking and summarising. Hemmingway starts from the other end. You tell it who a message is for and what you want said, and it writes the message for you, in your voice.
So the question is where you are starting from. If you have the words and want them said differently, that is paraphrasing, and QuillBot is built for it. If you have only the facts, or a rough note, and want the finished message, that is writing, and Hemmingway is built for that. We have not tested QuillBot, so this page compares what each is for, not which does it better.
The short version
| Hemmingway | QuillBot | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | What you want to say | Text you already have |
| Main job | Writing the message | Rewording and polishing |
| Knows who you are writing to | Yes, through People | Not what it is built around |
| Drafts replies from your inbox | Yes, in the apps | Not what it is built around |
| Output | One finished message, nothing around it | A reworded version of your text |
| Tested by us | Yes | No |
Rewording and writing are different jobs
Paraphrasing keeps the meaning and changes the words. That is useful when you have a paragraph that is clumsy, too long, or too close to how someone else put it, and you want it said another way.
Writing starts earlier. You know you need to tell your landlord the boiler is still broken, or turn down a client's extra request, or chase an invoice. You have not written anything yet, and the hard part is not the words. It is deciding what to say, how much, and in what tone for this particular person.
A paraphraser cannot help much with that, because it needs text to work on. A writing model can, because it only needs the facts.
A worked example
Say a client has asked for one more round of changes, outside what you agreed, and you want to say yes but charge for it.
With a paraphraser, you first write a draft yourself. Then you paste it in and get it reworded. If your draft said the wrong thing, or said it too apologetically, the new version still does, because keeping the meaning is the point of paraphrasing.
With Hemmingway, you give it the facts in a line or two:
"Reply to Dana. Happy to do another round of changes, but it's outside what we agreed, so it's billed at my usual rate. I can start Monday. Only use these facts. Just the message."
You get one message back, in the register the situation calls for, with nothing around it to cut. If you have told Hemmingway who Dana is in People (a client, how formal you are with her, what language you use), it writes to her the way you would. If something is off, change it, or ask for another go.
The difference is not the quality of the rewording. It is that you skipped writing the first draft.
When a paraphraser is the right tool
- You wrote something and it reads badly, and you want another way to say it.
- You need a long passage shorter.
- English is your second language and you want to check a sentence sounds natural.
- You are summarising a source for your own notes.
For those, a paraphrasing tool is a quick, focused fit.
When Hemmingway is the right tool
- You have not written anything yet, and you do not want to.
- The message is to a person, and the tone matters: a hard ask, an apology, a no.
- You want replies drafted from your mail and chats. In the Mac, Windows and Android apps, Inbox reads Gmail, Outlook, WhatsApp, Slack and Teams, and iMessage on the Mac, and drafts each reply for you to send. Nothing goes out until you do. How that works.
- You want it to sound like you, not like a tidied version of you.
Hemmingway can also rewrite. Paste in a stiff draft and say "make this sound like me", and it rewrites it once, gives you only the text, and keeps the facts you gave it without adding new ones. More on making AI text sound human.
Try HemmingwayDownload the app
How good Hemmingway-1 is at writing messages
Hemmingway-1 is our own 27B model, trained for the writing people do every day. We tested it on eighty real email and message requests, in blind head-to-head matchups against some of the largest models there are, run in both orders so position could not sway the judge. It came first on everyday writing (1026), and first when the judge was asked which of two replies a person wrote (1032). Both tests, CommunicationBench and Human-Likeness, are our own benchmarks, and the method is on the model card.
QuillBot was not in those tests. They compare models that write, not tools that reword.
It has limits. It is English-first, so for a message in another language, check it with someone who speaks it. It can be wrong and still sound sure. And it should not be trusted with medical, legal or money decisions.
A word on school and work
Neither tool should be used to pass off someone else's writing as yours, or to hide that you used AI when you were asked not to. If a school or employer asks for your own words, write your own words, and credit your sources when you use someone else's ideas. We do not build Hemmingway to get past AI detectors or plagiarism checks, and this page will not tell you how.
Hemmingway is for the messages that go out under your own name, where the point is saying what you mean to the person reading it.
Privacy
We never train our models on your chats, memory or People. On the web and on Android you can keep chats only on your device. Our privacy page lists everything we keep. For QuillBot, read its own policies.
How to choose
- Look at what you have. If it is a finished paragraph, you need a paraphraser or an editor.
- If it is a few facts, or a feeling that you should reply to someone, you need a writer.
- If you do both often, use both. They do not overlap much.
For plans, see pricing. There is a free trial and no card is needed.
Common questions
Is Hemmingway a paraphrasing tool?
Not mainly. It writes messages from what you want to say, rather than rewording text you already have. It can rewrite a draft you paste in, if you ask it to make it sound like you.
Which is better for writing emails, QuillBot or Hemmingway?
If you have no draft yet, Hemmingway, because it writes the email from the facts and can draft replies straight from your inbox. If you have a draft and only want it reworded, a paraphraser does that. We did not test QuillBot, so we have no score for it.
Can Hemmingway help me avoid AI detectors?
No. That is not what it is built for, and we will not advise on it. If you are asked for your own words, write them yourself.
Does Hemmingway keep my text?
We never train our models on your chats, memory or People. On the web and on Android you can keep chats only on your device. The privacy page lists exactly what is kept.