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With so many academic proofreading services on the market, how do you know which will best meet your needs? Finding the answer to this question would take hours of research. Luckily, I’ve done all the research for you!
I’m a trained proofreader who has screened over 70 proofreading services and narrowed them down to six highly rated, reputable businesses that stand above the rest for polishing academic texts.
The Best Academic Proofreading Services
Here are the top six academic proofreading companies.
Best Academic Proofreading Services
| Company | Trustpilot Rating | Fastest Turnaround Time |
| 1. Scribbr | 4.4 | 3 hours (3,000 words or fewer) |
| 2. Cambridge Proofreading | 4.9 | 12 hours |
| 3. Wordvice | 4.8 | 9 hours |
| 4. Proofed | 4.8 | 3 hours (up to 3,000 words) |
| 5. ProofreadingPal | 4.5 | 30–60 minutes (up to 800 words) |
| 6. Scribendi | 4.4 | 2 hours (up to 1,000 words)* |
Trustpilot ratings, turnaround times, pricing, and other details were collected in June 2026 and are subject to change. Please visit each company’s website for the most up-to-date information.
To create this list, I screened more than 70 proofreading companies using Trustpilot ratings. Companies that passed the initial screening were evaluated on their experience with academic writing, review counts, review recency, website quality, turnaround times, pricing, and other factors.
I’ve looked up price quotes so you can see what each company charges for a 1,000-word document depending on various turnaround times.
If you don’t know whether you need proofreading, editing, or both, please see the first question in this article’s FAQ: “What’s the difference between proofreading and editing?”
Although many well-known businesses do a great job of proofreading a wide variety of texts, few focus solely (or primarily) on academic documents.
Scribbr is the first company on this list because they specialize in academic proofreading. Furthermore, they’ve received over 15,000 Trustpilot reviews—far more than most proofreading services.
Cambridge Proofreading and Wordvice are next since they work extensively with academic documents and are highly rated.
The remaining businesses handle a wide range of documents but are included because they are highly rated.
To be included in this article, a company had to meet the following criteria:
- specialize in academic proofreading, have a high Trustpilot rating, or both
- provide an instant price quote
- offer a turnaround time (TAT) of 24 hours or less
- have at least 100 reviews on Trustpilot
- have recent reviews on Trustpilot
- have a professional website that’s relatively free of grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors
If you’re on a budget, Wordvice offers 50% off your first editing order, and I have a link for an additional 10% off.
Top-Notch Tip: If you need your document back ASAP, say so. Most companies can negotiate a faster turnaround time for you.
Note: These businesses have guidelines regarding the extent to which they can intervene in academic texts. If you’re a college student, none of these proofreading services will write any portion of your paper for you since this violates universities’ academic policies.
Each Service Has a Unique Selling Point
To help you choose the best option, see if you have any specific needs listed below.
The Unique Offerings of Each Business
| Business | Best Bet if You . . . |
|---|---|
| 1. Scribbr | want to go with the most popular service or have a text written in another language |
| 2. Cambridge Proofreading | want to choose the most highly rated company |
| 3. Wordvice | want 50% off your first editing order |
| 4. Proofed | need proofreading only (no editing) |
| 5. ProofreadingPal | have a tight TAT or want lots of TATs to choose from |
| 6. Scribendi | want specialized scientific editing for a journal manuscript |
Let’s see the details for each company.
1) Scribbr
Scribbr offers a combined proofreading and copyediting service.
They specialize in proofreading and copyediting academic documents written in English and other languages. They also work with business documents.
Headquarters/Location: Netherlands
Fastest TAT Available: 3 hours (3,000 words or fewer)
Trustpilot Rating: 4.4
Free Sample Edit: If your text is over 20,000 words, you’ll receive a sample edit of about 2,000 words within 12 hours of placing your order.
About the Editors: Their editors have passed the Scribbr Academy, which has a passing rate of just 2%.
Number of Editors Assigned to Document: 1
Services Offered: Combined Proofreading and Copyediting (add-on services available)
Combined Proofreading and Copyediting: They check grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, consistency, style, tone, the presence of inflated or subjective language, and overuse of the passive voice. They also give feedback.
If you also want line editing (not just proofreading and copyediting), you’ll need to purchase the structure check and clarity check mentioned below.
Scribbr offers the following services for an additional cost:
- Structure Check: Ensures your writing is structured, focused, and concise (does not involve heavy rewriting or restructuring)
- Clarity Check: Makes sure you’ve communicated your ideas clearly and logically
- Paper Formatting: Ensures your document is formatted consistently so it looks professional
- Citation Editing: Verifies that your citations and references are consistent and follow style guide conventions
To give you an idea of rates, the table below shows the cost of a 1,000-word document based on the TAT.
Price for Proofreading and Copyediting a 1,000-Word Document
| TAT | Price* |
|---|---|
| 3 hours (fewer than 3,000 words) | $76 |
| 6 hours (fewer than 6,000 words) | $76 |
| 12 hours (fewer than 12,000 words) | $76 |
| 24 hours | $59 |
| 3 days | $51 |
| 7 days | $42 |
Get a price quote from Scribbr.
2) Cambridge Proofreading
Cambridge Proofreading provides a combined proofreading and editing service for academic and business documents.
Headquarters/Location: United States (founded in England)
Fastest TAT Available: 12 hours
Trustpilot Rating: 4.9
Free Sample Edit: No. I confirmed via email with Nicci Schmidt, Lead Editor at Cambridge Proofreading, that the company no longer offers free sample edits of client documents. However, you can view samples of their editing and proofreading work.
About the Editors: They have years of editing experience and advanced degrees from top universities worldwide.
Number of Editors Assigned to Document: 1 or 2 (you choose)
Services Offered: Combined Proofreading and Editing
Combined Proofreading and Editing: They check for grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, word choice, style, tone, concision, clarity, and flow.
For longer documents, they provide feedback in an Editor’s Summary Report, along with comments to help you become a better writer.
Price for Proofreading and Editing a 1,000-Word Document (One Editor)
| TAT | Price |
|---|---|
| 12 hours | $34 |
| 24 hours | $29 |
| 2 days | $27 |
| 3 days | $26 |
| 7 days | $25 |
Get a price quote from Cambridge Proofreading.
3) Wordvice
Wordvice provides a combined proofreading and editing service to a broad spectrum of clients.
Headquarters/Location: They have operations in the United States, Turkey, China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.
Fastest TAT Available: 9 hours
Trustpilot Rating: 4.8
Free Sample Edit: Yes (up to 500 words) for potential institutional and VIP clients, or individuals submitting lengthy documents
About the Editors: They have extensive editing experience, and many have advanced degrees (master’s and PhDs).
Number of Editors Assigned to Document: 1 (you can opt for 2 editors if you have an academic or university assignment document)
Services Offered: Combined Proofreading and Editing
Combined Proofreading and Editing: They check for grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, formatting, word choice, clarity, concision, logic, tone, and flow. They also give substantive feedback on topic development.
Here are the editing service types and their prices.
The price per word is based on the slowest turnaround time for that particular service.
| Editing Service Type | Price per Word |
|---|---|
| Academic | $0.044 |
| Admissions | $0.023 |
| Premium Admissions | $0.22* |
| Assignment | $0.044 |
*Yes, Premium Admissions editing costs $0.22 per word, not $0.022.
The turnaround times they offer depend on the editing service type.
Let’s look at the price for a document submitted for academic editing.
Price for Proofreading and Editing a 1,000-Word Academic Document (One Editor)
| TAT | Price |
|---|---|
| 9 hours | $132.00 |
| 13 hours | $110.00 |
| 24 hours | $88.00 |
| 2 days | $77.00 |
| 3 days | $66.00 |
| 4 days | $55.00 |
| 5 days | $51.00 |
Top-Notch Tip: Take advantage of Wordvice’s 50% discount on all first editing orders. You’ll get an extra 10% off by using the link below.
Get a price quote from Wordvice.
4) Proofed
Proofed offers proofreading and editing services to a broad clientele.
Headquarters/Location: United States, United Kingdom, and Australia
Fastest TAT Available: 3 hours (3,000 words or fewer)
Trustpilot Rating: 4.8
Free Sample Edit: Yes, for their proofreading service (up to 500 words)
About the Editors: They have received comprehensive training via Knowadays, Proofed’s sister company, to ensure they can copyedit and proofread to a high standard.
Number of Editors Assigned to Document: 1
Services Offered: Proofreading and Editing
Proofreading: They check for grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and style. They also suggest where additional edits may be useful and point out references that don’t adhere to your specified referencing style.
Editing: Everything included in their proofreading service, plus checking for flow, clarity, concision, word choice, and tone. You’ll also get feedback and advice on content and writing style.
Price for Proofreading vs. Editing a 1,000-Word Document
| TAT | Proofreading Price | Editing Price |
|---|---|---|
| 3 hours (Rapid) | $105.00 | $156.00 |
| 12 hours (Express) | $70.00 | $104.00 |
| 24 hours (Regular) | $35.00 | $52.00 |
Note: For a 24-hour delivery, the word limit is 8,000.
Get a price quote from Proofed.
5) ProofreadingPal
ProofreadingPal provides a combined proofreading and editing service to a broad clientele.
Headquarters/Location: United States
Fastest TAT Available: 30–60 minutes (800 words or fewer)
Trustpilot Rating: 4.5
Free Sample Proofread: Yes. They’ll proofread up to 400 words.
About the Editors: They are highly skilled proofreaders and copy editors, many of whom have a master’s degree or are pursuing a PhD.
Number of Editors Assigned to Document: 1 or 2 (you choose)
Services Offered: Combined Proofreading and Editing
Combined Proofreading and Editing: Checks for grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, style, clarity, and formatting consistency. You’ll also receive helpful comments and recommendations.
Price for Proofreading and Editing a 1,000-Word Document (One Editor)
| TAT | Price |
|---|---|
| 30–60 minutes | — |
| 90 minutes | $115.00 |
| 3 hours | $69.00 |
| 6 hours | $50.00 |
| 10 hours | $38.00 |
| 24 hours | $34.00 |
| 36 hours | $29.00 |
| 2 days | $26.00 |
| 3 days | $23.00 |
| 5 days | $22.00 |
| 7 days | $22.00 |
Get a price quote from ProofreadingPal.
6) Scribendi
Scribendi offers a combined proofreading and editing service to a wide variety of clients.
They advertise their editing and proofreading services as being separate; however, you’ll notice that no matter whether you select editing or proofreading, the cost of the service doesn’t change.
I asked someone via live chat about this, and they confirmed that their service combines editing and proofreading.
Headquarters/Location: Canada
Fastest TAT Available: 2 hours (1,000 words or fewer)
Trustpilot Rating: 4.4
Free Sample Edit: Yes (up to 500 words)
About the Editors: Typically, their editors have two or more degrees, 15 years of experience, and have been published in their chosen field.
Number of Editors Assigned to Document: 1
Services Offered: Combined Proofreading and Editing
Combined Proofreading and Editing: The scope of work varies by document type. However, they generally check for grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and formatting (including references and citations where needed).
Editors also make changes and recommendations to improve structure, flow, clarity, and readability. They comment on any remaining issues and provide a brief summary of the work they’ve done, along with any major concerns.
Price for Proofreading and Editing a 1,000-Word Document
| TAT | Price |
|---|---|
| 2 hours* | $195.10 |
| 4 hours | $100.34 |
| 8 hours | $85.13 |
| 12 hours | $67.94 |
| 24 hours | $60.17 |
| 2 days | $55.23 |
| 3 days | $52.29 |
| 7 days | $47.71 |
Get a price quote from Scribendi.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between proofreading and editing?
Although people sometimes use the terms proofreading and editing interchangeably, they are not the same thing.
I’ve created a table that briefly explains all four stages of the editorial process: developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading.
The stages are listed in order, and they overlap to some degree. The editorial process starts with developmental editing and ends with proofreading.
Developmental editing is the most in-depth and expensive stage of editing. Each subsequent stage becomes cheaper, with proofreading being the fastest and least costly.
The Four-Step Editorial Process
| Editing Stage | What’s Involved |
|---|---|
| 1) Developmental Editing | Adds/subtracts/reorganizes entire sections of text to improve the overall content and structure |
| 2) Line Editing | Refines the language to improve flow, clarity, and consistency in style and tone |
| 3) Copyediting | Makes writing correct, comprehensive, consistent, clear, and concise; fixes mistakes with sentence structure |
| 4) Proofreading | Corrects errors with grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and basic formatting issues; checks for repeated and omitted words |
Is academic proofreading considered cheating?
You should check your university’s proofreading policy to determine whether academic proofreading is considered cheating. This information is usually in your college’s academic policies and procedures manual.
Academic misconduct is a serious offense, so knowing the answer to this question is crucial!
Generally speaking, universities encourage (and often require) graduate students to use a third-party proofreading service before submitting a thesis or dissertation. Some colleges even specify which proofreading service students are required to use.
However, at the undergraduate level, it can vary.
For example, if you’re taking an ESL course, an English composition course, or another class where your professor evaluates your writing skills, using an outside proofreading service may be considered cheating.
Furthermore, some universities prohibit students from using proofreading services for any undergraduate courses.
Bottom Line: Be sure to check your university’s proofreading policy before submitting your writing to a proofreading service.
Which proofreading service is best?
The best proofreading service is the one that effectively meets your needs. With many competent proofreading companies on the market, choosing one “best” service is challenging. However, you can look at consumer review websites like Trustpilot to see how proofreading businesses perform. Of course, Trustpilot isn’t a perfect system, but it usually steers you in the right direction.
Most Highly Rated Company: Cambridge Proofreading
Cambridge Proofreading is the most highly rated proofreading service on Trustpilot. It also offers affordable prices.
Best Companies Offering Stand–Alone Proofreading: ProofreadNOW.com and Proofed
ProofreadNOW.com is an excellent option if you’re looking for a company that provides stand-alone proofreading rather than a combined proofreading-and-editing service. It’s highly rated on Trustpilot, offers reasonable prices, and supports many document types (though it specializes in business documents).
Proofed is another solid option. Although its Trustpilot rating is slightly lower than ProofreadNOW’s, it has received more than 2,500 Trustpilot reviews and works with a wide range of document types.
How much does proofreading cost for a 1,000-word document?
Typically, proofreading costs about $30–$60 for a 1,000-word document if you hire a proofreading service. This calculation is based on a rate of 3–6 cents per word.
Hiring a freelance proofreader costs roughly $10–$30 (1–3 cents per word) for a 1,000-word text. However, the price depends on the document’s technical complexity, quality of writing, and turnaround time.
If you’d like more information about how much proofreading costs and the pros and cons of hiring a freelance proofreader versus an online proofreading company, check out this article on Om Proofreading.
I hope this post has given you all the information you need to decide on the academic proofreading service that’s right for you.
Good luck with your academic endeavors!
Best wishes to you!
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
– Albert Schweitzer
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