Free AI Check
Paste nothing, upload nothing. Learn the tells, run the list, decide for yourself.
Most people who search for a free AI check want one honest question answered: does this text read like a machine wrote it? This page gives you the two things that actually help you answer it — the concrete tells that separate machine-ish prose from human prose, and a self-check list you can run in a couple of minutes without handing your text to anyone. Everything here runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
free AI writing self-check
Tick every line you can actually hear in the text in front of you. You are not scoring the writing — you are counting how many of these patterns are present.
Nothing marked yet. Work down the list and tick what you can hear.
What the list covers
- No signup, no account, and no email required to use the list.
- Your text stays in the browser tab. There is no upload step and no server-side copy.
- A concrete list of tells, ordered by how reliably they actually separate human from machine writing.
- Honest about limits: these are signals, not proof, and this page says so on every result.
- Names the cases where a free check is the wrong tool and a proper detector is worth paying for.
- Works offline once the page has loaded, because nothing depends on a network call.
How to run it
- Paste a paragraph you want to check into the box at the top of this page.
- Read the list below and mark each tell that applies to your text.
- Count how many apply. A handful of tells means very little on their own.
- Look at which tells fired, not just how many — a repeated stock phrase matters more than a long sentence.
- If the text is going somewhere that matters, run it through a proper detector before you rely on it.
Worked examples
| Sample | Why it reads machine-made | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Every challenge is an opportunity in disguise. | Stock phrase, no specifics, could be swapped into any article unchanged | Tells: generic wording, zero detail |
| The results were significant. | Significant how, measured how — the sentence does not say | Tells: unfilled claim |
| First, we assess. Second, we refine. Third, we deliver. | Even rhythm, same sentence shape three times | Tells: mechanical parallelism |
| I rewrote that paragraph four times and the third draft is the one I kept. | A specific, slightly untidy detail only the writer would know | Reads human: particular, uneven |
| It is worth noting that the implementation matters. | Filler opener padding a sentence that says very little | Tells: throat-clearing opener |
| We shipped it on a Tuesday, broke the checkout page, and fixed it by lunch. | Concrete, dated, mildly embarrassing | Reads human: consequences and detail |
| Numerous factors contribute to overall performance outcomes. | Abstract nouns stacked with nothing behind them | Tells: abstraction stacking |
| Honestly, I am not sure that was the right call. | Hedged opinion with a first-person stance | Reads human: judgement, not summary |
Frequently asked questions
Is this really free, and what is the catch?
It is free in the sense that there is no account, no trial and no word limit on the self-check list you see above. The honest catch is that a list of tells is not a measurement. A paid detector runs a model over your text and gives you a probability. This page helps you look at the writing yourself, which is useful, but it is a different thing.
Can a self-check list really tell me if text was AI-written?
No, and any page that promises that is overselling. These tells are patterns that are more common in machine writing, but human writers produce them too, especially when writing quickly or in a second language. Treat a high tell count as a reason to look more closely, not as a verdict.
Does my text get sent anywhere?
No. The page runs in your browser and the checking happens locally. Nothing you paste is uploaded, stored, logged or emailed. That is deliberate: most people checking a piece of writing are checking something they would rather not hand to a stranger.
Which tells matter most?
In practice, a repeated stock phrase is stronger evidence than a long sentence, and an unfilled claim is stronger evidence than a generic one is. The weak tells are things like sentence length or word choice on their own, because good human writers vary these freely. If you only remember one, remember to look for stock phrasing that repeats.
I write in English as a second language. Will this flag me unfairly?
It might, and that is worth saying plainly. A careful non-native writer can produce textbook-clean prose that trips several tells, while a careless native writer produces messier text that trips almost none. If you are writing in a second language, treat the list as a style checklist to work against, not as an accusation.
When should I stop using a free check and pay for a detector?
When the answer carries consequences: an academic submission, a client deliverable, a published article with your name on it. In those cases a self-check list is not enough, because you need a documented score you can point at, not a few observations. Use this page first to see whether the question is even open, then use a proper detector for the parts that matter.
Why do you say 'machine-ish' instead of 'AI-written'?
Because the tells you can see in text do not identify an author, they describe a style. Text that was edited heavily by a person, translated by a tool, or written by someone copying a template can all read machine-ish. Being precise about that keeps the check honest about what it actually shows.
Is anything on this page misleading me into a paid product?
There is one link on this page, it goes to a detector, and it is labelled. Nothing here is gated, no result is faked, and there is no countdown or 'upgrade now' interstitial. If a free checker hides its limits until after you paste something, that is the pattern worth avoiding.
Where to go next
- prosechecker — a proper detector with a documented score, when a self-check list is not enough
- Sitemap — every page on this site