Readability Analysis Tool (RAT) vs TextGears

Readability Analysis Tool (RAT) checks German text for readability anomalies using configurable rules. It accepts .docx files and marks detected issues as comments in a separate copy with a -rat.docx suffix, leaving the original intact. RAT also creates an HTML report with statistics, readability formulas, anomalies, and a quality gate indicating whether text may be too trivial or difficult. Its documented formulas are Flesch and Wiener Sachtextformel. Report details can include reading and speaking time, sentence and word counts, average word and sentence measures, common parts of speech, and configured keyword percentages. Users can adjust anomaly rules and thresholds; the report records anomalies they reject as false positives or mark as incorporated. RAT runs from the command line using a Java JAR, with configuration and output-directory options. The project lists performance of 40 seconds for 10,000 words, or 50 pages. It runs on Linux and Windows, uses Java, UIMA, and DKPro Core, and is licensed under GPLv3.

TextGears checks writing for spelling, grammar, style, and readability, through its website and API. The API also provides autocorrection, text analysis, language detection, summarization, and keyword extraction, returning JSON through HTTP or HTTPS requests. Its documentation lists 11 languages, including English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and Greek, as well as dialect codes such as en-US, en-GB, and pt-BR. A Postman collection and JavaScript library link are available for integration. Free access includes 500 requests per month, 200k characters per month, and a 4k-character request limit. PRO costs $2.48 a month and includes unlimited checks, translations, and paraphrases of long texts, custom dictionary rules, and an option not to store texts. TextGears says AI does not support every language and recommends standard plans when language breadth matters more than AI analysis quality. Readability metrics are recommended for texts of at least 30 words. The maker is headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia.