Turnitin’s AI detector is built for universities. It sits inside their plagiarism system, so only instructors can see results. iLang is different. It’s free, no signup needed, and you get a sentence-by-sentence breakdown of vocabulary, tone, logic, and more. Each flagged spot comes with a fix suggestion.
But Turnitin has a big problem. Several schools turned it off because of false positives. A 1% error rate could wrongly accuse hundreds of students. iLang avoids that controversy by focusing on help, not punishment. So which one actually helps you write better?
Side by side
scroll sideways on small screens →| Feature | iLang Detect | Turnitin AI Writing Detection |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Institutional subscription only; no public pricing, contact sales |
| Free tier | Free to use, no signup | None. No individual self-serve checker; enabled only inside institutional subscriptions. |
| Output style | Sentence-level issue list across 6 dimensions (vocabulary, structure, tone, punctuation, logic, rhythm) plus an AI probability score | AI-writing percentage inside the Similarity Report |
| Languages | English (Chinese version at detect.ilang.cn) | English, Spanish, Japanese. Long-form only, 300 to 30,000 words; the Spanish and Japanese models exclude AI-paraphrase detection (guides.turnitin.com). |
| Fix suggestions | Yes: every flagged fragment gets a problem explanation and a fix suggestion, plus overall rewrite advice | Not advertised; detection only |
| API | Not public yet | Enterprise-only (Core API/LTI for institutions and partners, developers.turnitin.com; no public standalone AI-detection API) |
| Best for | Writers and editors who want to fix the text, not just get a score | Universities and K-12 institutions, instructors and academic integrity offices; not sold to individual students |
| Vendor accuracy claim | No accuracy percentage claimed. iLang shows the markers themselves, so you can judge every flag instead of trusting a number. | Launch press release cited a 98% confidence rating; the official blog states a false positive rate under 1% for documents with more than 20% AI content. |
Where they differ
Pricing and access
Turnitin is only available through institutional subscriptions. No free trial, no individual checkout. You have to be a student or teacher at a paying school. iLang is completely free with no signup and no limits. Anyone can paste text and get a full analysis right away.
What you get back
Turnitin gives a percentage score inside the Similarity Report. It tells you how much of the text might be AI written. iLang goes deeper. It highlights fragments and explains what’s wrong with vocabulary, structure, tone, punctuation, logic, or rhythm. Each issue has a fix suggestion, plus overall rewrite advice.
False positive track record
Turnitin’s press release claimed a 98% confidence rating and a false positive rate under 1% for documents with more than 20% AI content. But Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and Michigan State all disabled the tool because of misplaced accusations. Turnitin itself warns that scores below 20% are less reliable. iLang has no such controversy because it’s focused on improvement, not judgment.
Which one to pick
Pick Turnitin if you run an academic integrity office.
Turnitin is built for institutions that need to check thousands of papers. It integrates with Canvas and Moodle, and its AI Writing Report sits inside the existing workflow. For large scale enforcement, it’s the standard tool.
Pick iLang if you want to improve your writing.
iLang is for writers, editors, and students who want to know why a sentence sounds off. It gives you a concrete fix for each issue. And it’s free. No signup, no institutional gatekeeping. Just paste and get feedback.
Use both if you need an institutional check and personal edits.
Let Turnitin handle the official detection report for your school. Then use iLang to rewrite flagged sections into your own voice. That way you satisfy the system and actually learn to write better.
Frequently asked questions
No. Turnitin is only sold to institutions. There is no self-serve checker for students or individuals. If you are not part of a subscribing school, you cannot use it. iLang is free and open to everyone with no signup.
iLang has a Chinese version at detect.ilang.cn. The main English version works for English text. Turnitin supports English, Spanish, and Japanese, but its Spanish and Japanese models do not detect AI paraphrasing. iLang’s analysis covers six dimensions regardless of language.
Turnitin’s English model claims to detect AI paraphrasing and bypass tools. But its Spanish and Japanese models exclude that feature. The company also warns that scores below 20% are less reliable. iLang does not claim to detect every tool, but it flags stylistic issues that often come from AI.
Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and Michigan State turned off the feature in 2023. Vanderbilt calculated that a 1% false positive rate could wrongly flag about 750 of its 75,000 yearly papers. They also worried about bias against non native English writers. Turnitin itself marks the 0 19% range as low confidence.
See the issues, not just the score
Paste the same draft you ran through Turnitin. Free, no signup, nothing stored.