ChatGPT is useful because the writing process can be conversational. You can begin with a broad topic, narrow the question, explore possible arguments and then refine an outline through follow-up questions.

It is also useful during revision. For example, you can ask it to identify unclear passages, question your argument or suggest where a paragraph needs stronger support.

Grammarly is most useful after you already have a draft. It can help identify grammatical issues, awkward wording and passages that may be difficult to read.

This makes it more of an editing assistant than a substitute for research, reasoning or essay development.

QuillBot focuses heavily on rewriting existing text. It can be helpful when you have already written a sentence but want to explore another way of expressing the same idea.

It is best used as an editing aid rather than a way to disguise copied material. Sources still need to be cited properly when ideas come from other authors.

ProWritingAid emphasizes detailed writing analysis and can help identify issues such as readability, repetition and style patterns in longer drafts.

That makes it potentially useful for students working on substantial essays where revision involves more than correcting individual grammatical mistakes.

Wordtune is useful when your idea is correct but the wording feels awkward, repetitive or unnecessarily complicated.

Rather than generating an entire essay, it is better suited to improving individual passages during revision.

Claude can be useful for discussing long documents, exploring arguments and asking questions about material you provide.

It can support planning and revision when an essay requires you to work across several sections or larger amounts of source material.

Perplexity can help students discover material related to a topic and identify sources that may be worth reading more closely.

It is most useful as a starting point for research rather than a replacement for reading, evaluating and citing the original sources.