In this post, I’ll share my experience testing the best free AI detection tools.
I’ve personally tested each one so you don’t have to.
I’ve focused only on free tools because they perform just as well as paid options.
Let’s dive in!
Top Picks
For those short on time, here are my top recommendations:
By the way, here’s a video I made about the top 3 tools:
Now, let’s break down my reviews and results for each tool.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.
How I Tested Them
Two years ago, I tested AI detection tools, and they were terrible. They often misclassified human-written text as AI-generated and vice versa.
Even simple tricks, like adding typos, could fool them.
This time, I repeated the same experiment with updated tools.
I tested each AI detector with:
- 3 AI-generated texts
- 3 human-written texts
If a tool passed these tests, I tried manipulating the AI-generated text to make it appear human.
You can find the prompts and more details about the experiment at the end of this post.
1. QuillBot
QuillBot is an AI writing tool known for paraphrasing, grammar checking, and summarizing. It’s popular among students, writers, and professionals.
Let’s see how its AI detector performed.
Results
Human-written texts:
3/3 correctly identified as human-written.
AI-generated texts:
3/3 correctly identified as AI-generated.
Noteworthy
The AI detector is free to use, but after 5 attempts, it asks you to create an account.
I also tried fooling it by adding typos to AI-generated text, but it still identified the content correctly:
Impressive!
2. Scribbr
Scribbr is a proofreading and editing service that also offers an AI detector.
Let’s see how it performed.
Results
Human-written texts:
3/3 correctly identified as human-written.
AI-generated texts:
3/3 correctly identified as AI-generated.
Noteworthy
Scribbr’s detector was accurate and even flagged AI-generated text with intentional typos as AI-written:
However, it doesn’t work with texts shorter than 80 words.
3. CopyLeaks
CopyLeaks AI Detector identifies AI-generated text by analyzing patterns and writing styles.
Results
Human-written texts:
3/3 correctly identified as human-written.
AI-generated texts:
3/3 correctly identified as AI-generated.
Noteworthy
CopyLeaks performed well, even with manipulated AI text:
It’s a reliable tool, though it struggled slightly with one AI-generated sample.
4. ZeroGPT
ZeroGPT is a free AI text detection tool.
Results
Human-written texts:
3/3 correctly identified as human-written.
AI-generated texts:
3/3 somewhat correctly identified as AI-generated.
Verdict
ZeroGPT is easy to use and free, but it wasn’t entirely accurate with AI-generated text.
5. Grammarly
Grammarly is a popular writing assistant, but its AI detection feature is less impressive.
Results
Human-written texts:
3/3 correctly identified as human-written.
AI-generated texts:
0/3 correctly identified as AI-generated.
Noteworthy
Grammarly’s AI detector is slow and not very accurate.
6. GPTZero
GPTZero is designed to detect text generated by models like GPT.
Results
Human-written texts:
3/3 correctly identified as human-written.
AI-generated texts:
2/3 correctly identified as AI-generated.
Noteworthy
GPTZero is fast but not entirely accurate.
7. Isgen
Results
Human-written texts:
3/3 correctly identified as human-written.
AI-generated texts:
1/3 correctly identified as AI-generated.
Noteworthy
Isgen struggled with AI-generated text and has input limitations.
8. Undetectable AI
Undetectable AI claims to be the #1 AI detection platform, but it didn’t live up to expectations.
Results
Human-written texts:
2/3 correctly identified as human-written.
AI-generated texts:
1/3 correctly identified as AI-generated.
Noteworthy
Undetectable AI performed poorly and has a clunky interface.
Thanks for reading!
PS. Find the prompts I used here towards the end of the post. There you'll also find some more results!
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