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408points
210comments
#113of 3,837 in 2025
Top 3%of 2025 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

7 positive, 30 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 33 critical, out of 72 comments about the project. Thread score -0.28.

Execution: 1 for, 13 againstIdea: 1 for, 6 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 4 againstDocs: 0 for, 4 againstPricing: 3 for, 0 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Local-only, privacy-respecting design

    From 2 comments
    • The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In…
      cjs_ac on HN
    • Severe limitations? You sound like an a*hole tbf. The tool clearly provides the value, and it's a magnificent display how something like a simple LLM can be used to make your…
      menaerus on HN
  • One-time pricing without subscription

    From 2 comments
    • Holy crap, a local-only app with one-time purchase *and* a free demo? You don't see that very often these days
      utf_8x on HN
    • Very cool product. And thank you for not making it a subscription. > Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Feel free to sent us an email at support@refine.sh Should be…
      wkjagt on HN
  • Promising first release

    From 1 comment
    • This is precisely what I've been hoping somebody would build. In my initial testing, it works well. I can even mix sentences with different languages, and it still makes correct…
      InsideOutSanta on HN

Objections

  • Suggestions are unreliable and rewording is erratic

    From 3 comments
    • The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In…
      cjs_ac on HN
    • This is precisely what I've been hoping somebody would build. In my initial testing, it works well. I can even mix sentences with different languages, and it still makes correct…
      InsideOutSanta on HN
    • Neat idea. I see why the fluency feature is off by default. It constantly rewords things, adds random quotations, or does something pretty silly https://imgur.com/oVSWmtN The…
      Nicell on HN
  • Does not work in many apps such as Chrome, Slack, VS Code

    From 3 comments
    • Wonderful! I've given it a go, works in Apple's Notes app, but it does not seem to trigger suggestions in Chrome, Firefox or Slack. It does however highlight misspellings there.…
      jasekt on HN
    • Couldnt make it to show suggestions in vscode/cursor. I would like to use the tool, but i'd expect it to work consistently across all widgets in the system (i.e. like…
      Inviz on HN
    • I've installed it to give it a try but it does absolutely nothing in any application I use. I did give it required permissions.
      nusl on HN
  • Weak support for British and other English variants

    From 3 comments
    • The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In…
      cjs_ac on HN
    • So apparently the tool is slanted toward American English where the non-word practise is properly treated as a spelling error like colour. If you use these words in writing for…
      dreamcompiler on HN
    • I have to go with GP here, being able to set the language to en_UK and en_US and getting the right corrections based on this setting is a minimal requirement for an English…
      jonathanstrange on HN
  • Mac-only release

    From 1 comment
    • I'm a Linux adherent, but I can't understand how a "normie tool" like this wouldn't release to Windows first. You're hitting <15% (<30% for US) of the market. Even if you only…
      zamalek on HN

Requests

  • Support for more English dialects and languages

    From 3 comments
    • How well does it handle standard international English? So many of the tools I've seen seem to only support American English.
      smcleod on HN
    • > English is a bastard of a language and getting messier every day as new nations adopt it is their standard language. I disagree strenuously with this idea, because it suggests…
      cjs_ac on HN
    • Nice product! Does it support other language like Chinese?
      valorantPanda on HN
  • Vim, Emacs or editor integration

    From 2 comments
    • I would pay 50$ a year if this had a vim integration.
      atmosx on HN
    • No API to hook into one's favorite tools, such as emacs.
      diekhans on HN
  • Tone checking

    From 1 comment
    • Does this do tone? That is the single largest feature of Grammarly’s Slack plugin that I absolutely loved, and if my work allowed it, I’d have it again.
      sgarland on HN
  • Windows support

    From 1 comment
    • I'm a Linux adherent, but I can't understand how a "normie tool" like this wouldn't release to Windows first. You're hitting <15% (<30% for US) of the market. Even if you only…
      zamalek on HN

Questions

  • How does it compare to LanguageTool and Harper

    From 2 comments
    • Does anyone know how this compares to other products in its field, such as LanguageTool and Harper? LanguageTool can be hosted locally, and Harper runs entirely as an extension,…
      Deukhoofd on HN
    • Has anyone tested how this works in comparison to locally-hosted LanguageTool?
      odo1242 on HN
  • Does it need an internet connection or API key

    From 2 comments
    • I'm missing some information on how this works (a LLM? which? Do I need to bring an API key? Does this work offline?) and what I can expect in terms of performance/battery hit.
      Yeri on HN
    • I tried it and it worked pretty well. I'm curious about the principle behind it. Is there any model or API being called?
      lessurliu on HN
  • Privacy and future data collection

    From 2 comments
    • Isn't privacy a concern? How do consumers ensure that data is not going to captured in a future update without it being open source or having third party security audits?
      mirrormaster on HN
    • There is no guarantee that this software will not occasionally start acting as a keylogger. If somehow this happens (let's assume not intentionally), will it be the direct…
      reconnecting on HN

Alternatives named

  • LanguageTool

    From 3 comments
    • Does anyone know how this compares to other products in its field, such as LanguageTool and Harper? LanguageTool can be hosted locally, and Harper runs entirely as an extension,…
      Deukhoofd on HN
    • Languagetool is an open source tool you can run as a local spelling and grammar checker. It's different to Grammarly - less AI and more rules based. I often use both tools at the…
      mcapodici on HN
    • You can use a local instance of LanguageTool in a docker container for this: https://github.com/gardner/LocalLanguageTool
      gardnr on HN
  • Harper

    From 2 comments
    • Worth to mention as another alternative: Harper[0] [0]: https://writewithharper.com/
      smartmic on HN
    • Does anyone know how this compares to other products in its field, such as LanguageTool and Harper? LanguageTool can be hosted locally, and Harper runs entirely as an extension,…
      Deukhoofd on HN
  • Grammarly

    From 1 comment
    • I'm really wondering if/why Grammarly still has a business case, in this age of LLMs.
      amelius on HN
  • Apple Intelligence Writing Tools

    From 1 comment
    • Seams weird to not have "How does this compare to Apple Intelligence Writing Tools" at least in the FAQ. Maybe refine is better or has more features, but the page doesn't even…
      planb on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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