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While generative AI tools like ChatGPT have many positive uses, they are not always used in an ethical manner. Leaders in various industries consider these generative AI tools inappropriate – sometimes even a security risk. Teachers consider generative AI tools as threats to excellence in academics.
Consequently, there is a great need for AI detector tools. AI content detector software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify text written with a generative AI model. The software aims to provide readers with transparency and ensure that only quality content is published.
We analyzed the best AI detector software, including their unique features, costs, and pros and cons to help you determine the best option for your organization’s needs.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Top AI Detectors: Comparison Chart
Here is a head-to-head feature summary comparison of the best AI content detectors to help you choose the right one for your needs.
| Software | Best for | Plagiarism checking | Highlight AI text | Batch file upload | Chrome extension | Free plan | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Originality AI | Best overall | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | $14.95 per month |
| Content at Scale AI Detector | Ease of use | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | $49 per month |
| Winston AI | Content writers | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | $18 per month |
| GPTZero | Educators | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | $15 per month |
| GLTR | GPT2 model-generated content | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Free |
| Writer AI Content Detector | Integration | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | $18 per user per month |
| Copyleaks | Content marketing agencies | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | $9.16 per month, billed annually |
| Sapling.ai | Agencies and customer-facing teams | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | $25 per month |
| Hugging Face | Technical teams | No | Limited | No | No | Yes | Free |
| Crossplag | Institutions | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | €9.95 for up to 5,000 words or 50 credits |
| Undetectable AI | Writers and content creators | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | $9.99 per month |
| ZeroGPT | Freelancers and copywriters | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | $9.99 per month |
For more information about generative AI providers, read our in-depth guide: Generative AI Companies: Top 12 Leaders
12 Best AI Content Detector Software
Originality AI: Best Overall AI Detector
Originality AI is one of the best AI detector tools on the market. It can be used to scan text for AI and plagiarism. It requires 50-word counts and above. It boasts 94%+ accuracy on the text generated with GPT-3, GPT-3.5, and ChatGPT, 99%+ accuracy on GPT-4 content and 94.5% accuracy on paraphrased content. Scanning content with this tool returns the AI percent score and the original percent or human score.
Cheat code to save on credit: You can reduce Originality AI credit usage by selecting only one action at a time. See Figure A below.
With Originality AI, managers or owners can manage teams by assigning roles to team members, making it ideal for organizations with distributed editorial teams. Compared to other tools, originality AI deploys great computing power to scan text when running its detection model.
Pricing
- Pay as You Go: $30 one-time payment for up to 3,000 credits. Limited capability and credits expire after two years.
- Base subscription: $14.95 per month for up to 2,000 credits.
Originality AI allows you to set up auto top-up when you run low on credits. Originality AI will charge you $0.01 to scan 100 words when your base or pay-as-you-go subscription ends. Pricing for extra credit is as follows:
- 2,000 credits: $20
- 5,000 credits: $50
- 10,000 credits: $100
- 25,000 credits: $250
- 50,000 credits: $500
- 100,000 credits: $1,000
Originality AI’s Standout Features
- Team management capability.
- It can predict AI writer text from tools like ChatGPT, GPT-4, GPT-3, GPT-2, GPT-NEO, GPT-J, or Quillbot.
- Offers Chrome extension that enables users to scan text in Google documents.
- The tool can be used to scan email text, Google doc, WordPress content and website content.
Pros
- Responsive customer support team.
- High accuracy score.
- Built-in plagiarism checker.
- Chrome extension.
- Hard to fool.
Cons
- False positives.
- Doesn’t offer a free trial.
- Sometimes highlights human text as AI.
- Only supports English.
For a complete portrait of the AI sector, read our extensive guide: 150+ Top AI Companies 2024
Content at Scale AI Detector: Best for Ease of Use
Content at Scale AI detector tool is designed for content marketers and academics, and does not require a steep learning curve. With little prep by users, the tool can check for AI content generated with ChatGPT, GPT-3, and other AI models. Its content score is based on the text’s predictability, probability, and pattern. Content at Scale is also in the generative AI business; the tool can be used to create long-form content with over 2,000 words.
Content at Scale’s sentence-by-sentence breakdown helps users identify sentences written with the AI tool by highlighting its AI detectability using various colors.
Pricing
- Free plan: Available at no cost for up to 2,500 words scan.
- Premium: This plan costs $49 per month.
Content at Scale AI Detector’s Standout Features
- Detects GPT-2, GPT-3, 3.5, and ChatGPT.
- It can be used to scan various types of text, including SEO, educational, marketing, and academic content.
- API is available on request.
- Image AI detection.
- Scan by URL capability.
- Multiple language support.
Pros
- Easy to use.
- Highlights AI text.
- Scan starts at 25 words.
- Offers additional content optimization services.
Cons
- False negatives – it sometimes highlights human written text as AI generated when the content is in long form.
- The tool detection capability can be improved.
Winston AI: Best for Content Writers
Winston AI is an AI detector tool built for writers, educators, and web publishers. It can detect content generated with generative AI tools like Bard, ChatGPT, GPT-4, and other large language models (LLM). Winston AI supports optical character recognition (OCR) technology, which allows users to scan image files for AI content.
To appeal to the content creator crowd, the tool is straightforward to use, and it allows you to scan for AI content in a few simple steps:
- Paste the text you want to scan into the text area.
- Toggle the plagiarism button ON or OFF, depending on your needs.
- Click on the scan text at the bottom right of the page.
You will receive a prompt to view your results in a few seconds.
Pricing
Winston AI offers a free plan and two paid plans, payable monthly or annually.
- Free: Available at no cost for up to 2,000 words scan or for one week.
- Essential: It costs $12 per month when billed annually or $18 per month when billed monthly. It allows you to scan up to 80,000 words per month.
- Advanced: It costs $19 per month when billed annually or $29 per month when billed monthly. It allows you to scan up to 200,000 words per month.
It also gives users the option to request a custom plan. You can contact the Wiston AI sales team to request for quotes.
Wiston AI Standout Features
- Its OCR capability enables it to scan pictures and handwriting.
- Plagiarism detection capability.
- Enables users to generate shareable PDF reports.
Pros
- It shows human, plagiarism, and readability scores.
- Supports multiple file documents, including .docx, .png, and .jpg.
- Multi-language support: English and French.
Cons
- The free plan is limited to 2,000 words scan.
- Requires sign-up to use.
For comparison of two leading AI bots, see our in-depth guide: ChatGPT vs. Google Bard: Generative AI Comparison
GPTZero: Best for Educators
GPTZero is a classification model developed by Princeton University student Edward Tian to help educators predict and detect AI written text.
It analyzes texts based on their perplexity – a measurement of the randomness of a text – and burstiness, which measures the predictability of content based on patterns. According to the developer, the tool was trained on a large and diverse human-written and AI-generated text, with a focus on English prose. Those looking to integrate GPTZero into their system can request the API, but it comes with a fee.
Pricing
GPTZero offers a free plan and three paid plans.
- Basic: No charge for up to 10,000 words of AI detection per month and 3 file limit per batch.
- Essential: $10 per month, billed yearly or $15 per month, billed monthly — up to 50K character limit per AI scan, 10 file limit per batch, and up to 150K words of AI detection per month.
- Premium: $16 per month, billed annually or $24 per month, billed monthly — up to 300K words per month and plagiarism scanning.
- Professional: $23 per month, billed annually or $35 per month, billed monthly — up to 500K words per month.
- Enterprise API plans: Starts at $49.99 per month.
GPTZero’s Standout Features
- Batch file upload.
- Detects ChatGPT, GPT-3, GPT-2, and LLaMA.
- Perplexity score to show the randomness of text.
- Burstiness score to determine the uniformity or pattern of text.
- Requires a minimum of 250 characters.
Pros
- Highlight AI text.
- Free plan option.
- Accepted file types include pdf, docx, and txt.
Cons
- False negatives, though infrequently.
- Presentation of scores can be confusing.
GLTR: Best for GPT2 Model-Generated Content
GLTR, or Giant Language Model Test Room, is a project jointly developed by the MIT-IBM Watson AI lab and Harvard Natural Language Processing group. The tool analyzes each word in a sentence or document and predicts the likelihood of it being generated by a GPT-2 model or AI services built on the model. While this tool efficiently detects GPT-2 text, it may not be suitable for analyzing text from recent models like ChatGPT or GPT-4. GLTR integrates with the 117M language model from OpenAI, making detecting AI text produced by GPT-2 117M easy – indeed, it is the speciality of this platform.
Pricing
GLTR is free to use.
GLTR’s standout features
- Breakdown of different language patterns used in a text via histogram.
- Provides forensic analysis of a language model’s text input.
Pros
- High accuracy for GPT 2 generated text.
- Visual feedback.
Cons
- Complex UI.
- Model capability is limited to GPT2 NLP.
Writer AI Content Detector: Best for Integration
Writer is an AI writing assistant tool with a generative AI feature, plagiarism checker, and AI detection capability. Writer stands out due to its extensive integration with third-party services like Contentful, Figma, and Chrome. Unlike other tools that require you to copy and paste text in their text box area, Writer AI allows you to enter the URL of the page containing the text and it will automatically extract the first 1,500 characters and analyze for AI content.
Although Writer doesn’t highlight AI text, it displays the content score as a percentage. The first sample is a text generated with ChatGPT, which Writer accurately scored 0% human-generated, while the second sample is 100% human-written, and the tool scored it 99% human-generated.
Pricing
Writer offers a free plan and two paid plans. You can also try its paid plan for free for 14 days. Note that Writer AI detection is free; those looking for more than AI detection may consider the paid plan for additional features.
- Free plan: No charge for basic AI content detection.
- Team (for up to 5 people): $18 per user per month, billed monthly or $162 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: Custom quotes.
Writer AI Content Detector’s Standout Features
- Teams role and permission.
- Integrates with third-party services like Chrome, Google Docs, Word, Outlook, Figma, and Contentful.
- Bulk upload capability.
- Detects GPT-3 and ChatGPT.
Pros
- 24/7 phone, video, and email support.
- Easy to use.
- Scans content via website URL.
Cons
- 1,500 character limit per analysis.
- Easy to trick.
- Accuracy rate can be improved.
Copyleaks: Best for Content Marketing Agencies
Copyleaks is a plagiarism and AI content detection tool designed to help individuals, educators, and agencies detect AI generated text. The platform boasts 99.12% accuracy and it detects content created with ChatGPT, GPT-4, GPT-3, Jasper, and other language models. We tested Copyleaks with original human-written text (first image) and Google Bard AI-generated text (second image) to check its accuracy. The platform scored our AI text with 99.9% probability for AI and scored our human text with a 99.9% probability for humans – this test validates Copyleaks accuracy claims. However, there are instances where human text is ranked lower than 99.9% but still accurately categorized as human written.
Pricing
Copyleaks pricing depends on the number of credits you need. It starts from $8.33 per month when billed annually or $9.99 per month when billed monthly – with no specific upper limit. Note that one credit equals 250 words.
| Monthly plans | Credit | AI + Plagiarism Detection | AI Content Detector | Annual plans | Credit | AI + Plagiarism Detection | AI Content Detector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | $16.99 | $9.99 | 1,200 | $14.17 | $8.33 | ||
| 250 | $30.99 | $13.99 | 3,000 | $25.83 | $11.67 | ||
| 500 | $53.99 | $25.99 | 6,000 | $45.00 | $21.67 | ||
| 1,000 | $99.99 | $48.99 | 12,000 | $83.33 | $40.83 | ||
| 2,500 | $243.99 | $119.99 | 30,000 | $203.33 | $100.00 | ||
| 5,000 | $466.99 | $233.99 | 60,000 | $389.17 | $195.00 | ||
| 10,000 | $908.99 | $455.99 | 120,000 | $757.50 | $380.00 | ||
| Enterprise and LMS | Custom quotes. | ||||||
Copyleaks’s Standout Features
- Supports multiple languages, including Portuguese, English, German, French, and Spanish.
- LMS integration.
- Source code plagiarism detection.
- OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology.
- GPT-2, GPT-3, ChatGPT, GPT-4, T5, Bert, and Jasper.
Pros
- White-label option available.
- API integration into your enterprise system.
- Chrome extension available.
Cons
- Users must hover over text to get a percentage score.
- False positives.
Sapling.ai: Best for Agencies and Customer-Facing Teams
Developed by former researchers at the University of California, Berkeley; Stanford; and Google, Sapling is a multipurpose AI tool with various functions, including grammar checker, punctuation checker, sentence rewriter, and AI detector. Because the platform has so many tools built it, it’s well set up for the needs of fast-paced agencies and customer-facing teams.
Sapling detects GPT-3, GPT-3.5, ChatGPT, and GPT-4 AI contents. Sapling provides the total percentage of fake or AI-generated content in a given text and highlights the AI-generated content in red. Sapling boasts of detecting 97% of AI-generated text.
Pricing
Sapling offers a free plan and two paid plans – Pro and Enterprise. Users can test-run the Pro plan for 30 days before making a purchase decision.
- Free: No monthly or annual charges.
- Pro: $25 per month, billed monthly or $12 per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: Custom quote.
- API: Metered.
Sapling’s Standout Features
- Detects GPT-3, GPT-3.5, ChatGPT, and GPT-4.
- Auto-complete, snippets, and chat assist.
- AES-256 and TLS (HTTPS) encryption.
- Integration with third-party apps like Salesforce, Pipedrive, HubSpot, Jira, and more.
Pros
- Generous free plan.
- Fast analysis.
- It can analyze 50 words and above.
Cons
- False positives and false negatives.
- Lacks plagiarism checks.
Hugging Face: Best for Technical Teams
Hugging Face is an AI tool designed to help AI and ML experts develop and deploy deep learning models. The AI content detector scans and analyzes text for the probability of real (human-generated) and fake (AI-generated) content.
Hugging Face AI detector results are displayed in decimals, making it difficult and complex for non-technical users to understand. The platform makes up for this by redirecting users to a more user-friendly free AI Content Detector, which analyzes text based on patterns and perplexity. The tool highlights AI text and shows the perplexity score when you hover over the text – it also displays the human score result in percentage.
Pricing
Hugging Face AI detector is free to use. However, individuals looking for additional AI capability may be charged a fee for the service.
Hugging Face’s Standout Features
- PDF upload option via the AI content detector.
- Open source.
- Community support.
Pros
- Easy to use.
- Fast analysis.
Cons
- Lacks plagiarism checker.
- AI detection score may be hard to interpret.
Crossplag AI Content Detector: Best for Institutions
Crossplag AI detection tool can be used to flag AI-generated content. Because it supports so many languages and so many file formats, it’s suitable for institutional use.
To use this tool, copy and paste text in the text box, click check, and wait for a few seconds for the analysis to complete. The result is displayed via the AI Content Index, which ranges from 0% to 100%, with the latter being human-written and the former being AI-generated. A score of 50% means the copy is both AI and human-written.
Pricing
Crossplag offers tier pricing plans, allowing you to select the best plan for your budget.
- Free: No charge for up to 3,000 words.
- Pay-as-you-go: €9.95 for up to 5,000 words or 50 credits.
- Bundle: €149.95 for up to 100,000 words or 1,000 credits.
- Institution: Contact the Crossplag sales team for custom quotes.
Crossplag AI Content Detector’s Standout Features
- Detects citations in the document.
- Plagiarism checking capability.
- Supports over 100 languages.
- LTI integrations.
Pros
- Dedicated reporting APIs.
- Free plan available.
- Supports multiple file formats.
Cons
- False negatives.
- Accuracy can be improved.
Undetectable AI: Best for Writers and Content Creators
Unlike the other tools we analyzed above, Undetectable AI doesn’t just detect AI content. It combines the capabilities of an AI content detector, checker, and humanizer, allowing you to detect AI-written text and make AI-generated content more human. This combination of tools makes the solution particularly well suited for writers, bloggers, researchers, and content creators. The tool integrates with eight AI detector tools, including GPTZero, Crossplag, and Copyleaks – making it easy for it to recognize text from GPT3, GPT4, Claude, Bard, and other AI writing tools.
Pricing
- Monthly: $9.99 per month — up to 10,000 words per month.
- Yearly: $5 per month, billed annually — up to 10,000 words per month.
- For Business: Custom quotes.
Undetectable AI Content Detector’s Standout Features
- Writing level matching.
- AI content humanizer capability.
- It integrates with third-party AI detectors like Sapling, Content at Scale, Writer, Copyleaks, and more.
Pros
- Easy to use.
- Leverage the capabilities of other tools for increased accuracy.
- With registration, you receive 250 free words to test out the platform.
Cons
- Output may need editing.
- Edited humanized content may not always pass AI detection.
ZeroGPT: Best for Freelancers and Copywriters
Often mistaken for GPTZero, ZeroGPT AI content detector tool is one of the most aggressive AI detectors on the market. It highlights AI-written text in sentences and automatically generates .pdf reports for every detection session. It supports batch file upload and multiple languages. ZeroGPT model can identify AI-generated content like Chat GPT, GPT 3, GPT 4, Bard, and LLaMa models. The company trains its data on extensive text collections from the internet, educational datasets, and its proprietary synthetic AI datasets produced using various language models. If you’re a freelancer who needs a heavy duty tool to spot AI fakes, this solution could work for you.
Pricing
- Free: No charge for up to 15,000 characters per AI detection.
- Pro: $9.99 per month or $89.88 per year.
- Plus: $29.99 per month or $179.88 per year.
ZeroGPT AI Content Detector’s Standout Features
- Batch file upload.
- Highlight AI written sentences.
- Multi-language support.
- Includes AI summarizer, paraphraser, and grammar and spell checker.
Pros
- It automatically generates .pdf reports for every detection.
- Ability to detect AI-generated text at document, paragraph and sentence level.
- You can run batched inference over several files.
Cons
- Sometimes flag human-written content as AI generated.
Honorable Mentions: AI Detectors
Although the following five noteworthy AI detector software didn’t make it to our top 12 list, they are also worth considering.
- Corrector App: This is a free online spelling and grammar checker that enables you to analyze text in multiple languages. Corrector App also offers AI detection capability that uses its own GPT-3 algorithm to identify AI-written text.
- Kazan SEO: This tool lets you scan text to determine whether it is AI-generated (fake) or human-written (real). It also offers a bulk detection feature that allows you to scan for domains or URLs from a bulk amount of text.
- Hive Moderation’s AI-Generated Content Detection: Hive Moderation uses ML models to detect AI-generated content. It is capable of detecting text generated with ChatGPT and GPT-3 and works best with text greater than 750 characters.
- TurnItIn’s AI Detection Model: This tool is designed to help educators analyze students’ work to determine where AI writing tools have been used by students.
- AI Detector Pro: This tool checks for AI-generated content and uses its AI eraser capability to find sections of your document flagged for AI and provide alternative words.
To learn more about the generative AI sector, read our guide to the next-gen companies: Generative AI Startups
Key Features of AI Detector Software
When shopping for the best AI detector software for your organization’s use cases, there are certain key features to look out for. While not all the tools embody all these features, it’s important to select a solution that has the most important feature for your needs.
AI Text Highlight
AI detector software that highlights text makes it easy for users to identify parts of their content that need to be rewritten to sound more human. Some parts of your copy may be flagged as AI-generated when in fact, it was 100% human-written – the highlighted text might help you know where to adjust or modify so that your text won’t be flagged.
Plagiarism Checker
Educators, content marketers, and SEO experts may find this feature beneficial. Using multiple tools to evaluate content based on different parameters like grammar, plagiarism, readability, and AI-generated may be time-consuming and inefficient. AI detectors with plagiarism checkers take the burden of using multiple tools off editors and managers (think of it as killing two birds with one stone), as it enables them to check copy originality and quality.
API Integrations
With API integrations, AI content detector software can seamlessly integrate with other tools and platforms, such as content management systems (CMS), social media platforms, and e-commerce platforms. This feature makes automating the content moderation process easier and reduces the need for manual review.
Cost
The cost of AI content detector software is a major factor to consider. Before making a purchase decision, consider your budget. Different tools have different pricing models; ensure you select a tool that balances quality service and affordability.
Accuracy
The accuracy of the AI content detector software is critical to its effectiveness. The tool should be able to accurately identify and flag inappropriate or harmful content, as well as spam and copyrighted material. It’s important to select a solution that has a high accuracy rate, as false positives and false negatives can have significant consequences.
How to Choose the Best AI Detector For Your Needs
No one-size-fits-all exists when it comes to choosing an AI content detector tool. Most of the solutions on the market boast of over 90% accuracy rates, but keep in mind that these solutions are still being trained and have a long way to go.
Nonetheless, the best solution for your business is one that meets your needs and serves your company’s purpose. Follow the steps below to select the best AI software for your business.
- Research multiple solutions.
- Consider the features you need.
- Analyze at least 5-10 AI-generated articles and human-written copy, respectively.
- Compare each tool, false positives and false negatives.
- Pick the one with the highest accuracy rates within your budget.
You can also keep the second runner-up and the third-best as a backup analysis tool to double-check your scan texts in order to eliminate doubts.
FAQs About AI Detector Tools
To help you make the best decision, we answered the most commonly asked questions about AI detector software.
How do AI content detectors work?
AI content detectors measure content’s perplexity and burstiness to identify patterns in the text. Perplexity and burstiness are two techniques that can be used by AI content detectors to identify patterns in text. Perplexity is a measure of how well a language model can predict a sequence of words – think of it as the randomness of words. While burstiness is the frequency of word usage in a given context, consider burst the uniqueness of the random words.
Are AI content detectors accurate?
While most AI content detectors boast of over 90% accuracy rate, it’s important to note that these tools are still a work in progress. Generative AI companies are training their models to pass as human writers or creators. AI content detectors need equal or greater training to compete. Some tools have a higher accuracy rate than others – but none is perfect.
Can Google detect AI content?
Yes, Google can detect AI-generated content by searching for patterns like text structure, grammar, syntax in the text, and inconsistencies.
Should I use an AI content detector?
AI content detectors are invaluable solutions for your overall SEO strategy. Consider using it if you need to verify the authority, authenticity, quality, and transparency of your content.
Can an AI detector detect AI text with 100% accuracy?
No, AI content detectors cannot detect AI-generated text with 100% accuracy. While AI content detectors have improved significantly in recent years, they still have limitations and can produce false positives and false negatives.
AI Detectors: Review Methodology
We analyzed 30+ AI content detector tools and narrowed down our list to the top 17 solutions. We used each tool to gain first-hand experience. We also gathered primary data from each tool provider’s website, including pricing details, features, support and more. We selected each software based on five key data points: ease of use, over 70% AI detection accuracy rate, affordability, quality service, and user satisfaction.
Bottom Line: AI Detector Software
With the stunning rise in generative AI, an untold number of individuals are using tools like ChatGPT to create content in a manner that is partially or totally not ethical. The use of these powerful tools can invalidate an educational experience or in some cases expose sensitive corporate data to security and compliance risks.
With these risks in mind, organizations of all types will likely want to select an AI detector tool that works best for their unique situation. Also realize: generative AI will be changing rapidly in the years ahead, so a solution that’s chosen today may need to be upgraded on a constant basis.
For more about tools that can help you create great text, see our guide: The Best AI Writing Tools