10 Best AI Detector Free Versions 2024 and Their Pros and Cons

Editor / January 28, 2025

• Tools

An AI detector free version is sufficient for almost all the detective work you may want to carry out to ascertain the genealogy of a piece of writing. 

Besides, all AI detectors are unreliable, and paying money to get one is downright stupidity.

In this FastLinky blog post, I’ll suggest the 10 best free AI detectors you can use in 2024 and logically prove that you should rely on anything other than them.

What is an AI Detector?

Good question. The honest answer is most times, an AI detector is nothing but a hilarious joke.

And jokes apart, it is a digital tool that is supposed to tell you whether a written composition is human-written or AI-generated.

AI Detector Free Versions Vs AI Detector Premium Versions

For all practical purposes, the difference between a free AI detector and its premium counterpart is that the first one is free and you pay to use the second one. 

As for reliability, both are equally worthless and frequently, downright dangerous.

Of course, the premium versions come with some extra tools like plagiarism checker and grammar checker. That’s all. In terms of usability, they are as bad as the free versions.

So stick to the AI detector free versions, at least it will save you some money.

The Use of AI Detector Free Version

When you set an AI detector on content, it will compare the write-up’s words and sentences with the training data their developers have rammed into it.

The moment it finds boring hackneyed words and sentences that an AI content generator generally uses in the write-up, it will immediately highlight it as AI-generated. End of the story. 

There are a lot of technical blah blah blah like perplexity, bursting et al. I’ll touch upon them when the appropriate time comes. 

Simply put, an AI detector, after reading content, asks itself if it would write like this. If its training data says yes, it would raise the red flag.

Okay, let’s see how our 10 best AI detector free versions 2024 look like.

10 Best Free AI Detectors 2024

1. Scribbr AI Detector

Scribbr started out with a plagiarism-checking tool and later took the plunge into the murky waters of AI following the launch of ChatGPT.

Features

• AI detector.
• Plagiarism checker.
• AI proofreader.
• Grammar checker.
• Paraphrasing tool.
• Summariser.

What We Liked

1. It is a free AI detection tool. That is the best part. 
2. It has an easy and catchy user interface. You can use it without cursing its developers.

What We Disliked

Inaccurate AI detection. But this is a common feature of all AI detectors in this top 10 list.

But what is alarming is that its unreliability varies widely in different content formats.

Price Point

It is a free AI detector, thank God! I don’t like to pay for worthless tools.

2. ZeroGPT AI Detector

The developers of ZeroGPT, another AI content detector, have big ideas. They claim their tool will provide you with 98% accuracy in its detection results.

Features

• An easy-to-use interface.
• AI detection.
• Supports multiple languages.

What We Liked

1. It claims that it can offer a 98% detection accuracy. I liked it: howled with laughter after reading this.
2. It has a user-friendly easy user interface and you don’t have to be one of its developers to understand the results it returns.  
3. It claims that it doesn’t save what you paste in the detection panel and your content will not be used to train the tool. Frankly, I don’t believe this claim. It is too good to be true.

What We Disliked

1. Erratic unreliable results with high percentages of false positives.

Price Point

Apart from its AI detector free version, it offers another two premium versions namely Pro Plan ($9.99 a month) and Max Plan ($26.99 a month).

I’m sure they were inspired by Apple’s iPhone’s suffixes like pro, max etc. How I wish they had Apple’s efficiency too!

3. Quillbot AI Detector

Quillbot is another AI detector free version. This company has a relatively competent paraphrasing tool that it incorporates in the package. 

Features

• AI detector.
• Paraphraser.
• Summariser.
• Grammar checker.
• Plagiarism checker.

What We Liked

1. The tool is easy to use and accepts a variety of file formats. You can paste or upload content for AI detection.
2. There are quite a few related tools that come with the package. 
3. It is a free AI content detector.

What We Disliked

You can only paste a maximum of 1200 words for every AI detection.

Price Point

Its free plan offers only 125 words of paraphrasing at a time. 

If you are planning to trick AI detectors by paraphrasing AI-generated content, forget it. It will take a whole day to paraphrase a 3000-word copy.

4. BrandWell AI Detector

BrandWell was previously known as ContentAtScale. The developer says it will address all your AI pain points. Strictly for birds.

Features

• Unlike most other AI detector free versions, BrandWell at least doesn’t hide its inefficiency behind a lot of complicated detection procedures. It has a simple User interface.
• This is a tool built specifically for AI content detection. It has no added features but sticks to efficient AI detection.

What We Liked

1. No irritating registration or signing up preamble..
2. An easy user-friendly interface.
3. Fast scanning and quick results.

What We Disliked

1. You can scan only 2500 characters at a time.
2. No URL scanning.

Price Point

The free version can scan only 2500 characters at a time. The premium version offers unlimited scanning but will set you back by $49 per month.

5. GPTZero AI Detector

This is another AI detector free version, though they have a premium version too. GPTZero claims that they use the latest AI detection technologies.

Features

• Uses the latest AI detection technologies.
• Scans for perplexity score for more accurate detection.
• Has a plagiarism checker for more accurate detection.

What We Liked

1. A simple interface and a convenient pasting box.
2. Fast scanning.
3. Has a plagiarism checker.
4. No registration is required for the free version.

What We Disliked

1. You can scan only 10,000 words every month.
2. No Paraphrasing tool.
3. Low accuracy rate.
4. Only the basic ChatGPT analysis is free.

Price Point

It’s free but you can scan only the ChatGPT model in the free version. Multi-model unlimited scanning offering starts from $15.

6. CopyLeaks AI Detector

This company is famous for bringing out robust plagiarism checkers. Now CopyLeaks has entered the AI market too. 

Features

1. Offers AI detection along with plagiarism and grammar checking.
2. Customisable API integration.
3. Supports a variety of AI models.

What We Liked

• Fully customisable API integration.
• Overall satisfactory results of academic content scanning.
• A convenient plagiarism checker.

What We Disliked

• Clumsy complicated user interface.
• Irritatingly slow scanning.
• Limited daily scan.
• Poor accuracy in general AI scanning.
• Scan results are difficult to interpret.

Price Point

Basic AI detection is free but with very limited daily scans.

7. Kazan SEO AI Detector

This is another AI detector free version you may try. It offers several services like SEO, keyword research, AI detection etc.

Features

1. Offers AI detection service.
2. Has SEO and keyword research facilities. 
3. Outreach email finder and email verifier.
4. AI content optimisation.

What We Liked

• Several related tools along with the AI detector.
• Fast scanning and results.
• User-friendly interface.
• Free platform.

What We Disliked

• Serious bugging issue.
• Frequent crashing.
• Below average AI detection accuracy.
• No plagiarism checker.

Price Point

It is completely free and promises to remain so in future (inspired by Facebook perhaps). 

This is the only platform in my list of free AI detectors that doesn’t hang a free bait to lure you into a premium subscription.

8. WordTune AI Detector

A cheap option if you want some useful AI tools, including an AI detector. WordTune AI Detector AI detector free version has an upgraded version offering more useful features.

Features

1. AI detection tool.
2. Paraphrasing tool.
3. Summariser.
4. Grammar checker.

What We Liked

• A cost-effective Option. WordTune is cheaper than most other AI detector free tools in this list.
• Incorporates some useful tools related to AI content generation and detection.
• Outstanding customer service.

What We Disliked

• The AI detector is unreliable with a high percentage of false positives.

Price Point

Free basic services with premium versions starting from $9.99.

9. Detecting-AI

Detecting-AI offers AI detection services for multiple AI models including ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude.

Features

1. AI detection tool.
2. Plagiarism Checker.

What We Liked

• A convenient AI detector-plagiarism checker combination.
• The free version is quite useful, though it has premium subscription options.
• Fast scan and results.
• Highlights detected AI-generated content.

What We Disliked

• High false positives.
• Lacks related tools like paraphraser and grammar checker.

Price Point

Free with two premium subscription options starting from $10 per month.

10. Contetdetector.AI

Contentdetector is the last entry in our list of AI detector free version tools. It claims 85% AI detection accuracy.

Features

1. AI Content detector.
2. Grammar checker.
3. Multi-platform AI detection.

What We Liked

• A Simple user-friendly interface.
• Easy-to-understand scan results.
• Has multi-platform AI scanning capability.

What We Disliked

• High rate of false positives.
• The results are somewhat too simplistic. 

Price Point

Free to use. No hassles there.

Limitations of AI Detector Free 2024 Tools

 All said and done, this AI detection business is confusing, to say the least. None of these 10 AI detection tools I’ve tested could come up with more than 60 per cent accuracy. 

To understand why you should use them sparingly, you have to understand at least the basics of the technology that powers them. So here is a lowdown on this.

How AI Detectors Work?

Training Data

AI Detectors, free or premium, are software previously fed with huge datasets called training data. 

They have three main features in the algorithms.

1. Classifier: Classifiers allow an AI detector to group words and sentences as per the training data instructions. 
2. Perplexity Score: While scanning content, the AI detector refers to its training data to find out which words are used frequently by the AI content generators. If the content has very little of such words, the detector gives it a high perplexity score. In short, the detector marks words with low perplexity scores as AI-generated.
3. Bursting Score: Apply the perplexity score model to the sentence level and you get a bursting score. An AI detector will give sentences that AI content generators usually use a low bursting score. Hence, a low bursting score denotes an AI-generated sentence.

Why AI Detectors Aren’t Reliable

The problem is, the human thought process is a complex mechanism. It can use creative words and sentences with high as well as low perplexity and bursting scores.

But no matter what, an AI content detector will inevitably mark contents with high perplexity and bursting scores as human-written and low perplexity and bursting as AI-generated.

This may not be the case, given our complex thought process. 

Besides, competent writers intentionally mix simple and complex words and sentence structures to make their compositions effective. 

It is impossible to classify content written by human beings based on datasets, no matter how comprehensive they are. 

Dangers of False Positives

Suppose an educator judges a student’s academic integrity by what an AI content detector says. 

If the detector yields a false positive report, the student’s academic and future professional career may get ruined, even if he didn’t use any AI tool to generate his content. 

The same will happen to a professional content writer if his employer does the same.

They are Easy to Manipulate

Another point, these AI content detectors are easy to manipulate. 

Just make a few changes in the content or change the structure using a good paraphrasing tool, an AI detector will give it a high perplexity and bursting score.

So, their judgements may not be accurate considering this weakness. 

Conclusion

Though I’ve carefully chosen my top 10 AI detector free versions 2024, I must warn you against believing in their efficacy blindly. 

The weakness of these AI detectors is inherent in the technology that powers them. None of the 10 AI detectors I reviewed yielded results with more than 70% accuracy. 

The AI content detectors, given the shape they are in now, can at best be used as supplementary tools, never the only judge of the actual source of content. 

FAQs.

Q. What is an AI detector?

A. An AI detector is a software that scans content to ascertain whether it was written by a human being or an AI content generator.

Q. Are AI content detectors reliable?

A. No. They are not reliable. Not yet.

Q. Are AI detectors free to use?

A. Some of them are. But almost all companies have a free version and a much better premium version.

Q. Can AI detectors be wrong?

A. Yes, they can and they are in most cases.