shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use GPTZero?

Best free AI detector - paste text for an AI score and sentence-by-sentence detection. - gptzero.me

Depends. Fine as a free spot-check when you're merely curious about a suspicious text. Don't pay or act on its verdicts for grades, hiring, or firings — false positives are well documented.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources; accuracy claims conflict sharply between G2 reviewers and Reddit/Trustpilot users.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Individual plans$12.99–$24.99/mo

Best for

  • Teachers casually screening student drafts
  • Editors triaging suspect freelance content
  • Individuals curious about one specific text

Not for

  • High-stakes academic misconduct decisions — false positives documented
  • Anyone needing provable, defensible accuracy
  • Teams uncomfortable uploading confidential text to a third party
  • Buyers who think any AI score is courtroom-grade evidence

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Never use scores to accuse anyone — false positives on human writing are documented, even by professors

medium

Individual plans run $12.99–$24.99/month; check whether free limits actually cover your volume

medium

Your submissions are stored — don't paste sensitive or unpublished material

low

Domain appears in infostealer logs with 7,054 exposed credentials — use unique passwords

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free tier gives instant overall and sentence-level AI scoring
  • Rated 4.3/5 on G2 across 101 reviews
  • Profitable business with $10M Series A and ~10M users
  • Offers an API for integration into other tools
  • Claims student privacy compliance since 2024

Cons

  • Flagged fully human-written essays as 100% AI
  • Critics argue AI writing detectors generally are not credible
  • Trustpilot sits at 2.2/5 from 139 reviews
  • Independent testers find accuracy mixed and contested
  • Submitted text is stored, per third-party privacy review

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 12 sources - privacy/security pages and student-privacy compliance; no known breaches, but the domain appears in infostealer credential logs.

official x4review x5security x2news x1
  • Domain tied to 7,054 infostealer credentials, Hudson Rock lists in cybercrime stealer logs, meaning some users' credentials were captured by infostealers — a user-hygiene signal, not a confirmed breach of GPTZero.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Free tier useful; paying for contested accuracy is risky
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Paste text, instant score — no setup
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Sentence-level detection, API, authorship tools, source checking
  • Support quality: 2/5. 2.2/5 Trustpilot across 139 reviews
  • Security posture: 3/5. Privacy pages and student compliance, but domain in stealer logs
  • 4.3/5 G2 rating 101 reviews
  • 2.2/5 Trustpilot rating 139 reviews
  • $12.99–$24.99/mo Paid plans Free tier available
  • $10M Series A Funding June 2024; profitable per TechCrunch

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Paste text for AI score
  • Sentence-level detection

Individual plans

$12.99–$24.99/mo

  • Higher scan limits
  • Advanced detection features

Security

privacy/security pages and student-privacy compliance; no known breaches, but the domain appears in infostealer credential logs.

  • Domain tied to 7,054 infostealer credentialsHudson Rock lists in cybercrime stealer logs, meaning some users' credentials were captured by infostealers — a user-hygiene signal, not a confirmed breach of GPTZero.10

What users say

Users split sharply: G2 reviewers find it practical, while Reddit is full of false-positive complaints and skepticism about detection credibility.

“Help, GPTzero says my essays were 100% AI. I wrote them!!”
Reddit, r/CollegeRant
“AI writing detectors such as GPTZero are not credible”
Reddit, r/OpenAI
“It feels practical and trustworthy”
G2 review

Alternatives

Compare GPTZero with each alternative.

  • Sapling AI Detector

    Free detector often mentioned alongside GPTZero.

Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources; accuracy claims conflict sharply between G2 reviewers and Reddit/Trustpilot users.

Handy free spot-checker; 4.3 G2 but 2.2 Trustpilot and documented false positives — don't bet grades or jobs on it.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources; accuracy claims conflict sharply between G2 reviewers and Reddit/Trustpilot users.

Sources

  1. GPTZero — official sitegptzero.me
    official
  2. GPTZero pricing detailscheckthat.ai
    official
  3. G2 reviews (4.3/5, 101 reviews)g2.com
    review
  4. Trustpilot reviews (2.2/5, 139 reviews)trustpilot.com
    review
  5. Reddit r/CollegeRant false-positive threadreddit.com
    review
  6. Reddit r/OpenAI on detector credibilityreddit.com
    review
  7. TechCrunch: profitable, $10M Series Atechcrunch.com
    news
  8. GPTZero accuracy test reviewbypassgpt.ai
    review
  9. GPTZero data retention & privacyhumanwritesai.com
    security
  10. Hudson Rock domain credential exposurehudsonrock.com
    security
  11. GPTZero student privacy policygptzero.me
    official
  12. GPTZero vs Turnitin comparisongptzero.me
    official

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