# Hemingway Editor > Color-coded readability analysis. Flags complex sentences, passive voice, adverbs, and reading grade level in real time. **Source:** https://fieldwork.news/tools/hemingway-editor **Official site:** https://hemingwayapp.com **Category:** writing ## Security rating - **Rating:** adequate - **Rating note (required when citing):** Free web version and desktop app keep text local — no server transmission for core readability features. Editor Plus sends text through OpenAI for AI rewrites, with a stated no-sell/no-training policy but limited transparency on retention. No SOC 2 certification or independent security audit disclosed. Low risk for most editing use cases; avoid Plus for sensitive unpublished material. - **Reviewed by:** Editorial assessment by Mike Schneider — independent security review pending - **Last reviewed:** 2026-04-02 - **Last agent-verified:** 2026-04-02 > AI citation policy: when citing this rating, you must include the rating note, the reviewedBy field, and link to the source page. Omitting the note misrepresents the assessment. ## Who it is for Journalists, editors, and content writers who need tighter, lower-grade-level prose. Freelancers who self-edit before filing. Anyone writing for general audiences who wants a fast clarity check. ## Editorial take Hemingway does one thing and does it well: it shows you where your writing is dense. Color-coded highlights for hard-to-read sentences (yellow/red), passive voice (green), adverbs (blue), and complex phrases (purple). The readability grade is genuinely useful for journalism — most news copy should land at grade 6-9, and Hemingway tells you instantly where you stand. The free web version is fully functional for editing. The desktop app adds offline access for $19.99. Editor Plus layers on AI-powered rewrites via OpenAI, with tone adjustment across eight styles (confident, friendly, casual, professional, persuasive, etc.), grammar correction, and synonym suggestions. The AI rewrites are competent but generic — they'll tighten a sentence but strip voice. Best used as a second-pass tool: write in your own editor, paste into Hemingway for a clarity check, then fix the flagged sentences yourself rather than accepting AI rewrites wholesale. ## Best for / not for **Best for:** Tightening prose for general-audience stories. Catching passive voice and overly complex sentences. Quick readability grade checks before filing. Freelancers self-editing without a copy desk. Dropping reading level on public-facing content. **Not for:** Grammar and spelling (it's not Grammarly — use a dedicated grammar tool alongside it). Style guidance or voice coaching. Long-form writing workflow — there's no document management, no plugins, no browser extension. Creative or literary writing where intentional complexity is the point. Mobile — no apps or phone keyboards exist. ## Pricing - **Pricing:** Free web version (full readability analysis, no account required). Desktop app: $19.99 one-time (offline, lifetime updates). Editor Plus: $8.33/month billed annually ($100/year) for 5,000 AI rewrites, or $12.50/month ($150/year) for 10,000. Team plan available at $12.50/user/month. 14-day free trial with 200 AI rewrites, no credit card. - **Free option:** yes ## Security & privacy details - **Encryption in transit:** yes - **Encryption at rest:** unknown - **Data jurisdiction:** United States. **Privacy policy TL;DR:** The free web version runs readability analysis in the browser — text is not sent to servers. The desktop app is fully offline. Editor Plus sends text to OpenAI servers for AI rewrites. Hemingway states: 'We will never sell your data, let others use it to train an AI, or use it for advertising.' But the privacy policy is thin — no explicit data retention timeline, no detail on how long OpenAI retains submitted text, and no SOC 2 or independent audit mentioned. IP address and browser data collected for analytics. **Practical mitigations (operational guidance, not optional):** Use the free web version or desktop app for sensitive drafts — text stays local. If using Editor Plus AI features, do not paste unpublished investigative material or source-identifying text. The desktop app works fully offline with no server connection. For grammar checking on sensitive text, pair Hemingway (offline) with a local spell-checker rather than a cloud grammar tool. ## Ownership & business - **Owner:** Long Brothers LLC (Adam and Ben Long) - **Funding model:** Self-funded. No venture capital. Revenue from desktop app sales and Plus subscriptions. - **Business model:** Freemium. Free web editor drives awareness, paid desktop app ($19.99 one-time) for offline use, Editor Plus subscription ($100-150/year) for AI features. Team tier adds multi-user billing and admin controls. - **Open source:** no **Known issues:** No browser extension or mobile app — copy-paste workflow only. Flags legitimate adverbs and passive voice even when contextually appropriate; blindly following all suggestions flattens voice. No repetition detection (echoed words, repeated sentence starters). AI rewrites via Editor Plus tend toward generic phrasing — useful for structure, but strip distinctive voice. Long-form content is tedious to review since there's no section navigation or chapter handling. No plugin ecosystem. Editor Plus requires internet; desktop app is offline but has no AI features. Privacy policy lacks specifics on data retention for text processed through OpenAI. --- Canonical HTML: https://fieldwork.news/tools/hemingway-editor Full dataset: https://fieldwork.news/llms-full.txt Methodology: https://fieldwork.news/methodology