The 5 Best Tools for Detecting Content Plagiarism (2021 Edition)

[mks_highlight color=”#81d742″]This article has been updated for 2021 with some new recommendations.[/mks_highlight]

Plagiarism is a real issue that cannot be ignored by professional content marketers.

A lot of hard work goes into the production of high-quality unique content, and the very thought of others trying to get a free pass and benefit themselves from our hard work is a tough thing to bear.

So, what can we as content writers and marketers do to safeguard ourselves from plagiarism?

For blog owners, inserting an RSS footer on each new item within a feed works a treat against scraping bots.

For business websites, disabling the ability to copy and paste text from web pages is a good method of stemming content plagiarism.

As well as these on-site methods to fight plagiarism, there are tools online which can aid you in detecting plagiarism before it gets published. These tools can also keep tabs on any web pages that steal your content in the future.

Five of the best online content plagiarism detectors

These are the best plagiarism detectors in 2021:

• Copyscape 
• Scribbr
• Grammarly
• Duplichecker
• Quetext

Let’s take a closer look at these 5 top anti-plagiarism tools in no particular order of favouritism:

1. Copyscape

Visit the website.

The good: A trusted tool, good detection rate, some core are features free.

No list of plagiarism detectors would be reputable without a thumbs up for Copyscape. Considered to be the original tool for detecting plagiarism, this tool has barely changed over the years and offers a no thrills user interface which gets the job done.

In its most basic form, Copyscape allows you to input any URL and scan for web pages that share the same content. Also of note is Copyscape Premium and Copysentry, two paid features which allow you to keep track of content and get the heads up towards any web pages that steal content.

2. Scribbr

Visit the website.

The good: Well designed user interface, good detection rate, scans more than just websites.

Scibbr is a UK plagiarism detector aimed at students, but you can use it no matter who you are. It checks your content against 70 billion web pages and 69 million scholarly publications.

This plagiarism checker claims to have industry-leading technology via an algorithm developed with Turnitin. Having used the platform, we can confirm it’s very good. We particularly liked the speed results were given to us. The results were on par or better than Copyscape, making it a top Copyscape alternative.

3. Grammarly

Visit the website. 

The good: High detection rate. ProQuest database search.

The Grammarly plagiarism detector has one of the best detection rates we’ve seen. It also searches against the ProQuest database to detect plagiarised academic, corporate, government, public and school documents.

The tool itself is a copy and paste widget. You have to sign up for it to see the results, but they are thorough enough to warrant it. The Grammarly proofing tool is excellent too. It recommends too many things in our opinion, but it can definitely help you write better.

4. Duplichecker 

Visit the website.

The good: Excellent copy and paste function, solid detection rate, reliable.

Duplichecker lets you copy and paste content into a search box with a maximum 1,000-word count and search the internet for any websites that share the same or some of the same content.

This plagiarism tool is great for both online and offline content checking, to ensure that your content is unique. We have personally used Duplichecker a number of times when designing and developing websites. It is easy to use and best of all it’s free.

5. Quetext 

Visit the website. 

The good: It’s completely free and it works very well.

Quetext is a new find for us. This service works in the same way as Duplichecker, but the Quetext website is more modern.

Simply copy and paste your text into the box, and press go. You will be presented with a list of URLs with identical or near-identical content to your own if any exist. This plagiarism detector is also available as a widget. We recommend you use Quetext to check any articles that you have written. It’s fast and free.