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AI Detector Comparisons (2026)
A high accuracy score is not the whole story. Where does your text or photo actually go? What evidence backs the verdict? Does the workflow fit the risk you're checking for?
These guides line up on-device checks, free online detectors, classroom platforms, APIs, image forensics, and provenance readers side by side, based on public product and pricing pages — read critically, not taken as vendor accuracy claims.
Native Checks Stay On-Device
Native iPhone and Mac checks run on the Apple Neural Engine, so the text or photo stays on your device. Browser checks use the free online detector instead and are deleted after processing.
Match the Tool to the Threat
A deepfake, a stranger's AI-made dating photo, a review no human wrote — each needs a different detector. The guides below point you to the one built for the fake you're up against, text or image.
Slop or Not vs Text Detectors
Text detectors for classroom, writing, publishing, and plagiarism checks — see where each one actually sends your words.
Slop or Not vs GPTZero
GPTZero lives in Canvas and Google Docs and never leaves the browser — and it never checks an image, despite the 'AI Vision' name.
Slop or Not vs ZeroGPT
ZeroGPT needs no account and returns a verdict in seconds, but paste in more than 15,000 characters and it stops reading.
Slop or Not vs Originality.ai
Originality.ai tracks every scan in a dashboard built for agencies, but there's no free tier — every check burns a credit at roughly 100 words apiece.
Slop or Not vs Copyleaks
Copyleaks plugs into seven different LMS platforms and even flags deepfake video, but the sentence-level detail and full reporting sit behind an enterprise account.
Slop or Not vs Winston AI
Winston AI bundles plagiarism checks and writing feedback with its AI verdict, but the free lite checker stops at 2,000 characters and the real trial runs out in 14 days.
Slop or Not vs Turnitin
Turnitin's AI-writing indicator is built into a workflow schools already trust, but there's no public version — access runs through a school subscription or not at all.
Slop or Not vs QuillBot
QuillBot folds its AI detector into a paraphrasing suite writers already use, but the free tier caps at 1,200 words a scan and six scans a day.
Slop or Not vs Scribbr
Scribbr's free detector needs no sign-up and gives paragraph-level feedback, but it's tuned to catch GPT-3.5-class writing, and 1,200 words is the ceiling per submission.
Slop or Not vs Proofademic
Proofademic scores AI likelihood sentence by sentence, but the free tier tops out at 1,000 words, and the 3-day trial is the only way past that without paying.
Slop or Not vs Pangram
Pangram cites real university research behind its 99.98% accuracy number, but it's text-only, and the free plan caps at 4 credits a day sent through Pangram's cloud.
Slop or Not vs Phrasly
Phrasly's free detector needs no sign-up, but the company's real business is the paid humanizer sitting right next to it, built to beat detectors like this one.
Slop or Not vs Image, Forensics, and Moderation Tools
Tools for synthetic photos, provenance clues, API moderation, and manual forensic inspection — same photo, different evidence.
Slop or Not vs AI or Not
AI or Not covers text, images, audio, video, and deepfakes behind one key, but every check outside the free credits draws down a balance a developer has to track.
Slop or Not vs Hive Moderation
Hive Moderation covers image, video, text, and audio detection for trust-and-safety pipelines, but the free credits don't unlock until a payment method is on file.
Slop or Not vs Sightengine
Sightengine reads C2PA and EXIF metadata alongside its AI-image and deepfake detection, but it's API-only, capped at 2,000 free operations a month, and it never checks text.
Slop or Not vs Reality Defender
Reality Defender detects deepfakes across image, audio, and video with SDKs for five languages, but the free tier tops out at 50 scans a month before it turns into a sales conversation.
Slop or Not vs FotoForensics
FotoForensics teaches genuine manual forensic technique for free, but its own FAQ says uploaded images are treated as public, not private.
Slop or Not vs Forensically
Forensically runs its manual forensic tools client-side with a real offline mode, but it never tells you whether an image is AI-generated. That call stays yours.
Two Rivals, Head to Head
Two public AI detectors, compared side by side — the limits, privacy, and workflow of each before you pick between them.
GPTZero vs ZeroGPT
GPTZero brings classroom integrations and an API; ZeroGPT brings speed and a 15,000-character ceiling with no account needed.
GPTZero vs Originality.ai
GPTZero fits a teacher's free plan; Originality.ai fits a publisher's paid credit meter.
GPTZero vs Copyleaks
GPTZero is a teacher's browser tool; Copyleaks is a district's enterprise suite with image and deepfake detection built in.
GPTZero vs Turnitin
GPTZero is self-serve with a free tier; Turnitin only exists inside a school's paid subscription.
Originality.ai vs Copyleaks
Originality.ai bills per credit for solo writers; Copyleaks bills enterprise accounts for LMS-wide integrity checks.
Winston AI vs GPTZero
Winston AI sells trial-based reports; GPTZero gives away classroom integration for free.
Winston AI vs Originality.ai
Winston AI adds image detection but the trial expires; Originality.ai never expires but never stops billing per credit.
ZeroGPT vs QuillBot
ZeroGPT is a bigger single paste with no other tools; QuillBot is a smaller paste with a paraphrasing suite attached.
Scribbr vs QuillBot
Scribbr and QuillBot share a detection engine — one strips it down for students, the other bundles it with writing tools.
AI or Not vs Hive Moderation
AI or Not opens free with no card required; Hive Moderation gates its free credits behind one.
AI or Not vs Sightengine
AI or Not covers five media types behind one key; Sightengine stays image-only but keeps a permanent free tier.
Hive Moderation vs Reality Defender
Hive Moderation screens everything at platform scale; Reality Defender specializes in deepfakes for security teams.
FotoForensics vs Forensically
Forensically keeps images local with real offline privacy; FotoForensics uploads to a server it calls public.
Sightengine vs Reality Defender
Sightengine is a self-serve image API with a permanent free plan; Reality Defender adds audio and video behind a sales-gated ceiling.
Hive Moderation vs Sightengine
Sightengine offers a card-free permanent free tier; Hive Moderation gates its credits behind a payment method.
Pangram vs GPTZero
Pangram sells its cited accuracy number; GPTZero sells its classroom integrations.
Pangram vs Turnitin
Pangram is self-serve with a daily free cap; Turnitin has no public access at all.
Phrasly vs QuillBot
Phrasly bundles its detector with a humanizer built to beat it; QuillBot bundles its detector with grammar and paraphrasing tools instead.