Gboard vs. Grammarly: Which Keyboard Is Best for Android?

It's a battle of the Android keyboards. We compare Gboard against Grammarly to see which keyboard you should use.

You have a wide variety of keyboards to choose from as an Android user—you don't have to stick with the default one that came with your phone. Gboard and Grammarly are two of the most popular keyboard apps.

Both keyboards work well, but what are the notable differences between them, and which one would be the best for you? We're going to break down and compare the main features of Gboard and Grammarly to help you decide.

Gboard vs. Grammarly: Layout and Languages

Both keyboards feature a simple and user-friendly layout. Gboard and Grammarly come with the QWERTY keyboard layout by default.

If you prefer using a different keyboard layout, both keyboards come with a total of six layouts:

1. QWERTY
2. QWERTZ
3. AZERTY
4. DVORAK
5. COLEMAK
6. PCQWERTY

Different languages use one or a combination of these layouts. When choosing your primary typing language, you can also choose which keyboard layout you want.

Speaking of languages, Gboard supports more than 500 languages. It even includes some of the least spoken languages from small countries. Grammarly has less than 30 languages, but it covers most of the widely spoken languages.

Number rows are also available on Gboard and Grammarly. If you don’t want a separate number row, you can easily go to the settings menu and toggle it off on either keyboard.

The keyboards look very much alike, with the most obvious distinguishing feature being the availability of a settings toolbar on Gboard.

Gboard vs. Grammarly: Multimedia Support

By selecting the emoji button on either keyboard, you can access the full range of Unicode emojis. Gboard sets itself apart by also offering GIFs and stickers, which means you can send far more colorful messages.

If you prefer old-fashioned emoticons (faces built from letters, numbers, and punctuation), Gboard is superior there too. It has hundreds compared to Grammarly's measly 15.

Simply put, Gboard is far superior in terms of multimedia support given its massive catalog of emoji, stickers, GIFs, and emoticons.

Gboard vs. Grammarly: Dark Mode

Both Grammarly and Gboard support dark mode, but it works differently on the two keyboards.

You have multiple options on Gboard. System auto makes the keyboard detect your device's display setting and changes the appearance accordingly; if your device is set to dark mode, your keyboard will automatically become dark and vice versa.

Gboard’s other keyboard theme settings allow your keyboard to retain either dark mode or light mode regardless of your device’s theme configuration. Furthermore, you can select from a wide variety of colors besides black and white, including color gradients or a selection of images.

On Grammarly, you must manually switch between dark mode and light mode. The option to automatically switch between the two modes depending on your device setting is surprisingly absent—most Android apps have this feature.

Gboard vs. Grammarly: Autocorrect

Autocorrect works well on Gboard when using any of the available default languages. You don’t have to worry about sending typos in your messages or emails. There's also a good spell check feature that you can use, for whatever autocorrect doesn't catch.

Grammarly’s autocorrect also works well and has a slight edge over Gboard if you’re typing a lengthy document or email. Pressing the Grammarly logo on the top left of the keyboard shows you words or sentences with grammatical errors. This feature also comes in handy when editing pre-written documents.

Other features that you could turn on alongside autocorrect on both keyboards include:

1. Predictive text
2. Emoji suggestions
3. Auto-capitalization
4. Double-space period
5. Gesture typing

When it comes to correcting errors and improving grammar, Grammarly has the edge, especially when working with long chunks of text.

Gboard vs. Grammarly: Clipboard

Gboard comes with a built-in clipboard manager that you can toggle on in the keyboard settings. The clipboard will save your copied texts for up to one hour before self-purging. If you want to keep the copied items for longer, you can pin them.

Grammarly doesn’t have a clipboard manager—you’ll have to make do with the native clipboard function on Android, which is limited. If you want the handy features of a dedicated clipboard manager, Gboard is the better keyboard.

Gboard vs. Grammarly: Unique Features

Grammarly and Gboard aren’t that different in basic functionality, but there are some notable unique features on each of the keyboards.

One feature that Gboard has which Grammarly lacks is the one-handed keyboard mode. Smartphones are growing with each iteration, and this feature is a must-have if you want to use your phone in one hand.

Gboard also allows voice typing—simply tap on the microphone icon on the toolbar and start speaking whatever you want to type. Besides sending messages, you can use voice typing on your Android device for other purposes, like to transcribe scripts or make notes.

You can also type a word in any language and Gboard will detect it and translate it to English within your text. To access the translation function, tap the horizontal menu dots on Gboard’s toolbar and tap Translate.

If you fancy a floating keyboard, Gboard offers this option too. You can move it around your screen to any desired location. This feature adds flexibility and the ability to type faster on your keyboard by allowing you to place it anywhere on your screen and adjust it to any size you want.

Despite being limited compared to Gboard when it comes to unique features, Grammarly does have one stand-out: tone detection. While typing, you can tap on the Grammarly icon to reveal the detected tone in your text. This could help you know whether your written message will have the desired effect depending on the context.

In terms of unique features, Gboard trumps Grammarly—providing you actually have use for them.

Gboard vs. Grammarly: Which Android Keyboard Should You Use?

Gboard is more flexible in terms of functionality, with all the basic typing features you would need and many handy advanced tools like integrated Google Translate and voice typing.

Grammarly stands out with its robust grammar checking capabilities, and you’d want to use it for when the tone and vocabulary of your message is important.

Ultimately, Gboard is more versatile and would be the better choice for daily use. But there’s no harm in installing both and quickly switching from one to the other depending on what you want to type.