Merlin AI essay writer Review 2025:
I Tried it for 14 days, Here's
What I Found [3 Pros, 5 Cons]

• Merlin AI Essay Writer Review Summary
• 3 Things Merlin AI Essay Writer Does Well
• 5 Big Mistakes Merlin AI Essay Writer Makes
• What Does Merlin AI Essay Writer Cost?
• What are Some Merlin AI Essay Writer Alternatives?
• Is Merlin AI Essay Writer Legit? - My Final Verdict

Merlin AI essay writer Review Summary

3 Things Merlin AI Essay Writer Does Well

• Multiple AI Models: You can switch between different AI models like OpenAI, Gemini, and Claude all in one spot, so you don’t have to hop around different tools to try things out.
 
• Browser Extension: There’s this browser extension you can use right while you’re online, which lets you ask questions or get info about whatever page you’re looking at, so you don’t really have to open a new tab.
 
• Simple Interface: Using Merlin feels pretty easy to learn, even if you're not a tech whiz. The layout is straightforward, so you can get things done without wasting time figuring stuff out.
 
• More on how Merlin AI shines below.

5 Worst Things About Merlin AI Essay Writer

• Awful Customer Service: If you run into trouble, good luck getting help. Their support barely replies, and if they do, they go in circles. Trying to get a refund or cancel is just a huge headache.
 
• Wasted Money on Subscriptions: Merlin locks you into pricey monthly plans, and unused credits just vanish at the end of each month. You basically pay for stuff you never get to use, and that stings.
 
• No OCR for PDFs: If you try to upload textbook scans or image-heavy notes, you’re out of luck. There’s no OCR, so Merlin can’t read scanned PDFs at all, which is rough for students and anyone dealing with images.
 
• Buggy and Slow Interface: The app often glitches or loads at a snail’s pace, making it really frustrating to use when you’re on a deadline or just want things to work smoothly.
 
• Not Actually Unlimited: Even if they claim “unlimited,” that’s not really true. You’ll run into limits or get told you’re out of credits way sooner than you’d expect, which just feels like a rip-off.
 

What Does Merlin AI Essay Writer Cost?

• Free Plan - This one is $0 a year, so you can try out the basics without paying anything. But I found it pretty limited – you only get basic models, some image generation, and not all AI tools or Chrome features are open.
 
• Pro Plan - You’re looking at $29 a month (or $228 for the year, paid up front), which is kinda pricey. It gives unlimited basic models, 50 times usage on Plus-level models, and advanced image tools, but there are “Fair Use” limits. It’s got most features unlocked though, like exclusive models, all AI tools, and fast support.
 
• Teams Plan - This is $19 per seat a month (so it’s $180 a year for each person, and you need at least 5 people). It includes everything in Pro, plus tools for teams like user management, better data safety, and a usage dashboard, but you gotta buy for a whole group, which stacks up fast.
 
• So should you buy Merlin AI essay writer? Honestly, I wouldn’t, since the free plan is super limited and the paid plans can get pretty expensive, especially with those Fair Use limits and minimum team buys.

Merlin AI Essay Writer Review - What Does it Get Right?

1. Multiple AI models:
   • You can pick between OpenAI, Gemini, and Claude right from one dashboard instead of running around to each site.
    
   • People like testing out different models side-by-side to see which one feels best for their project or question.
    
   • Anytime a new AI model comes out, you notice Merlin adds it super quick, so stuff stays fresh.
 
2. Browser extension:
   • With the extension, you can highlight stuff or ask questions about any page you’re looking at, all without jumping between tabs.
    
   • A lot of people like the “read the page” feature because it helps with homework, research, or even social posts in real time.
    
   • Sometimes the extension messes up the view or needs you to log in again, but switching interface versions is possible if you prefer the old look.
 
3. Simple interface:
   • The layout is so straightforward that even if you’re not super techy, you still figure it out pretty quick.
    
   • Clear and short answers in the chat make it helpful for students, plus you can send images and docs without digging around.
    
   • Even if you don’t use Merlin every day, it doesn’t take long to remember how things work when you come back.

“What I liked most about Merlin is its option to use multiple LLMs. This allows me to test and see how each one works, whether they are models from OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, etc.” ― Nicolas G.

Merlin AI Essay Writer Review – What Does it Get Seriously Wrong?

• Awful Customer Service:
  • You’ll probably get stuck talking to one support guy who never really helps. He usually just closes your ticket and moves on, leaving you hanging without answers or solutions.
   
  • If you try to get help, be ready to repeat yourself over and over since they don’t seem to understand your issue. I’ve wasted way too much time explaining basic stuff to them.
   
  • Even something simple, like asking for a refund or a fix, just turns into several emails with no real progress. It feels like nobody is actually listening to what you need.
 
• Wasted Money on Subscriptions:
  • When you buy credits and don’t use them all up in a month, those are gone for good. You don’t get to keep them, so you pay for stuff you never got to use, and that’s just super unfair.
   
  • Even if you paid for a whole year, you only get a limited amount of credits every month that don’t roll over. I feel cheated every time I see my leftover credits just disappear.
   
  • If you want to cancel or get a refund, good luck. The whole process is confusing and just makes you feel more ripped off than before, which is really frustrating.
 
Here's a review by Two Sense US talking about their customer support and UI issues:
 

“Customer support sucks 1. Their support team consists maybe of ONE guy who literally closes the tickets without confirming if he's managed to resolve your issue. 1.1. I'd be embarrassed to have him on the team he is NO help whatsoever. 1.2 Their support wastes your time literally you have to keep asking them same questions again and they never understand what you are talking about. 1.3 This is a buggy support system run by what seems to be ONE incompetent guy eager to close your ticket and not resolve your problem 1.4 FIRE him and get someone who listens to customers. And doesn't make them go back and forth 25 times on simple issues. 2. Their UI sucks, is slow loading and buggy This is an ongoing problem with their team buggy UI, buggy customer service, buggy product.” ― Two Sense US

 
• No OCR for PDFs:
  • If you try uploading anything scanned, like textbooks or handwritten notes, Merlin just won’t read them. There’s no OCR built in, so it can’t get text out of images or scanned pages.
   
  • This is a total deal-breaker for students or anyone who works with study materials or images. I can’t use Merlin for any class notes or study guides that aren’t typed out.
   
  • Instead of uploading one simple PDF and having it read everything, you’d have to upload dozens of separate images, which is not practical at all and takes way too long.
 
• Buggy and Slow Interface:
  • Merlin’s website is slow to load and freezes up a lot. It gets really annoying, especially when you’re in a rush and just need your essay done fast.
   
  • I’ve had the app randomly crash or the buttons just stop working for no reason. Stuff like this makes me spend more time waiting instead of actually working.
   
  • It’s just not a reliable experience—every time I use Merlin, I expect some glitch or bug to show up and get in my way. This ruins the whole workflow.
 
• Not Actually Unlimited:
  • They claim it’s unlimited, but you’ll hit a wall when you run out of credits way sooner than you expect. It’s super misleading and feels like they’re just trying to trick you.
   
  • If you contact support about running out of credits, you’ll just get some copy-paste answer that never really explains what “unlimited” really means. You always get less than promised.
   
  • After getting hit with these limits myself, I totally lost trust in their unlimited plan. It’s just another marketing ploy, not something that actually helps you.
 
Here's a review by Tom DE about their experience with Merlin AI Pro:
 

“Great Potential, but Unsuitable for Students Due to Missing OCR. As a student, I rely heavily on AI tools to help me study and review my class notes. I purchased Merlin AI Pro with the expectation that I could easily upload my documents and interact with them. Unfortunately, the product has a significant flaw that makes it unusable for my academic needs. The main issue is that Merlin AI lacks Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This means it cannot process PDFs that contain scanned text or images, which is very common in academic materials and my own exported notes. While I can upload my notes as individual images, this is not a practical solution when I have to upload 20-40 images for a single document. This limitation was a major disappointment and is a critical missing feature for any student who works with scanned textbooks, handouts, or image-heavy notes. On top of this core issue, I've also found the application to be buggy at times, which can disrupt the workflow. In summary, while Merlin AI Pro might be a useful AI assistant for browsing the web, I cannot recommend it to students or anyone who needs to work with scanned documents or PDFs containing images. The lack of OCR is a deal-breaker for academic use.” ― Tom DE

What Does Merlin AI Essay Writer Cost?

• I know "free" always sounds good, but with Merlin AI's Free plan, you get barely anything useful. You only get up to 500 words for essays each month—seriously, that's just one short page!
 
• Models like GPT 5 and Claude 4 Sonnet are capped at just a few messages per day—so you'll run out fast. It also limits things like image creation, uploads, and most of the cool features.
 
• It's honestly just a teaser, and if you actually want to get work done, you'll hit a wall almost instantly. To me, it’s more like a quick taste before they push you to upgrade.

• This is the “real” Merlin plan most people end up on—but let’s be honest, $19/month is steep, especially since you’re just getting the same pool of credits refreshed every month.
 
• While you do get access to better models (like GPT 5, Claude Opus, and Gemini 2.5), all your usage eats into this “shared fair usage” pool. If you chat more, craft more, or do a bunch of images, you burn through your essay credits quicker—I found myself always worrying about hitting limits.
 
• You can write essays with unlimited “fair access” but that just means you get a bit more until you hit another usage wall. The essay writer can do custom styles and references, but again, if you’re heavy on any feature, your account gets throttled.
 
• The worst part? You’re paying $19 *every month*, and whatever credits or limits you don’t use just vanish. No rolling over. I feel like I’m being charged rent for a tool even if I don’t use it each month.
 
• Toss in that the extension and other tools ARE handy, but if you're only using the essay writer, it's overkill for the price—and you might not even need all those flashy extras.

• This isn’t even a true Merlin subscription—it’s just paying OpenAI directly for ChatGPT Plus, and Merlin tries to show you it has “more models,” but for $20/month you actually get capped pretty hard: only 80 messages per 3 hours for top models, way fewer features, and no Merlin Chrome extension or workflow tools.
 
• If you just want ChatGPT features, might as well go to the source and skip Merlin. You can’t even use most image or advanced writing features here, and there’s zero essay credits—anything extra is basically unavailable at this tier in Merlin.
 
• So you’re paying $20 each month but losing out on most extras and still getting monthly usage caps. For me, this plan just makes no sense unless you’re doing only pure ChatGPT stuff and nothing else.

• All Merlin AI essay writer plans just refill your credit limits each month—if you don’t use them, you lose them. That’s a raw deal if you skip a month or just need a burst every now and then.
 
• It's honestly pretty expensive. You’re shelling out $19 (or $20) every month, forever, even if you only use one essay a month. And when I tried to get more out of it, I always hit some “fair use” wall—so much for “unlimited”.
 
• The "free" plan is just bait to get you to upgrade. And even the paid plans are built to keep you paying month after month, with nothing rolling over. It’s kind of frustrating after a while.
 
• If you’re serious about writing essays or creating high-quality content, there are way better options out there that don’t just gobble your money on a subscription treadmill.

• If you want a smarter deal, AIDetectPlus is a way better pick—all features are actually included.
 
• Instead of monthly subscriptions, you can buy credits one time—and they NEVER expire. Seriously, I got 5,000 words for a single $9 payment, and I use them whenever I want. No stress, no monthly charge, no wasted credits.
 
• You also get a full suite: totally undetectable, plagiarism-free essays, citation tools, built-in AI detector, humanizer, paraphraser, PDF chat, and a free LLM chatbot—all in one place. For me, it’s just plain more useful.
 
• And you’ll save a ton. You can write, edit, and humanize 30 full essays for the price of a single month of Merlin or ChatGPT Plus. And because the credits never expire, you only pay again if you run out of words.
 
• I highly recommend comparing Merlin AI to AIDetectPlus—it’s not even close when you look at price, features, and the fact your credits don’t disappear if you take a break.

What are some Merlin AI Essay Writer alternatives?

#1 - Merlin AI Essay Writer vs AIDetectPlus

• Both Merlin AI and AIDetectPlus help you write essays with AI, but they’re pretty different:
  • Merlin AI is all about giving you access to different AI models (like OpenAI, Gemini, and Claude) in one place, plus it has a browser extension and a simple layout. But it’s got some big downsides—like buggy performance, no OCR for scanned PDFs, and support that’s honestly a pain.
  • AIDetectPlus is an all-in-one writing tool that makes undetectable, plagiarism-free essays with just one click. It’s got built-in humanization, citations, AI detection, paraphrasing, PDF chat, and even a free LLM chatbot. It’s super easy to use and covers way more ground than Merlin.
 
• Where is AIDetectPlus Better?
  • One-click, ready-to-submit essays: AIDetectPlus writes essays that pass AI and plagiarism checks, with citations and everything. You just click and go.
   
  • PDF Chat & Summarizer: You can upload up to 100 PDFs at once and chat with them—super handy for research or homework. Plus, you can compare answers from different AI models right inside the chat.
   
  • All-in-one platform: It’s got an AI detector, humanizer, plagiarism remover, essay writer, paraphraser, PDF chat/summarizer, and even a free LLM chatbot—all in one spot.
   
  • No subscriptions, no wasted money: You get a generous free trial, and after that, you just buy credits that never expire. No monthly fees, no losing unused credits.
   
  • Way better support: If you get stuck, AIDetectPlus has fast, real people to help you out—no endless waiting or ticket loops.
   
  • Works for more than just essays: It’s awesome for assignments, blog posts, marketing stuff, and more—not just schoolwork.
 
• Where is Merlin AI Essay Writer Better?
  • Multiple AI models in one place: If you want to try out OpenAI, Gemini, and Claude all together, Merlin makes that easy.
  • Browser extension: You can use Merlin right on any webpage, which is handy if you like working inside your browser.

#2 and #3 - Other Merlin AI Essay Writer Alternatives

• Jenni AI: Great for structured academic writing, with features like autocomplete, citation tools, and research help. But it’s more focused on formal essays and less on making your work undetectable or plagiarism-free.
 
• QuillBot: Awesome for paraphrasing and rewriting text, plus it has a grammar checker and summarizer. But it doesn’t do full essay writing or AI detection like AIDetectPlus does.

#2 - Merlin AI Essay Writer vs Jenni AI

• Both Merlin AI Essay Writer and Jenni AI help you write essays with AI, but they aren’t really the same kind of tool:
  • Merlin AI Essay Writer is kind of an all-purpose AI writing buddy. You can switch between different AI brains like OpenAI or Gemini, use a browser extension to ask questions right on web pages, and the whole thing’s pretty straightforward—even if you’re not super techy. It tries to make things fast and easy, whether you’re writing, searching, or just need quick help.
  • Jenni AI is built mainly for academic writing—especially if you need to do research-based stuff. It helps you with outlines, writes with you one line at a time, adds citations, catches plagiarism, and even checks your writing for originality. Plus, the free plan gives you 200 AI-generated words each day, with unlimited paid for around $12–20/month.
 
• Where is Jenni AI Better?
  • Helps with big school assignments: Jenni AI guides you through essays step-by-step, gives you smart autocomplete, and keeps your writing organized with outlines and built-in citations.
  • Plagiarism checker built in: It checks your work as you write, so you don’t have to worry about copying by accident.
  • Decent free plan and cheaper unlimited plan: You can use a free version to try it out, and the paid plan is a lot more affordable than most ($12-$20/month).
 
• Where is Merlin AI Essay Writer Better?
  • Swaps between different AIs easy: If you want to try out OpenAI, Gemini, or Claude, it’s all in one spot, so you don’t have to sign up everywhere.
  • Browser extension is handy: You can use Merlin right on any webpage—no extra clicking around.
  • Simple for anyone: The layout is really straightforward, and you don’t need to be a tech genius to figure it out.

Try Merlin AI Essay Writer | Try Jenni AI

#3 - Merlin AI Essay Writer vs Duplichecker

• Both Merlin AI essay writer and Duplichecker can help you check your work and write better, but they’re made for different kinds of folks.
  • Duplichecker is totally free and super easy—you just hop onto the website and start checking for plagiarism or grammar mistakes. I think it’s awesome if you just want a quick check or need a free tool for simple stuff.
  • Merlin AI essay writer, though, is more like a full-on Swiss Army knife. You can use all sorts of AI models, and it’s got a cool browser extension so you can get help while you’re still surfing the web or writing online. It even has a simple layout so you won’t get lost, which I liked a lot.
 
• Where is Duplichecker Better?
  • Duplichecker is 100% free, with no sign-up needed. It’s awesome for speedy plagiarism or grammar checks when you can’t be bothered making an account or paying for anything.
   
  • Plus, it’s straightforward and super quick for small jobs, like if you’re writing a blog post or just want to check an email.
 
• Where is Merlin AI Essay Writer Better? It gives you more choices for AI models and a browser extension, so you can work right where you already are online. Plus, the design is simple so it’s not hard to use at all.

Is Merlin AI Essay Writer Legit?

• Reason #1: Customer Service Is Just Awful: If you ever get stuck or need a refund, good luck. I barely got replies when I reached out, and when I did, they just bounced me around with no real help. Canceling? That’s just painful.
 
• Reason #2: Subscriptions Waste Your Money: You pay for a monthly plan, but if you don’t use up all your credits by the end of the month, they just disappear. Yeah, you paid for something you can’t even use the next month. That doesn’t sit right with me.
 
• Reason #3: Super Buggy and Missing Features: The app is slow and buggy almost every time I use it, and forget about uploading scanned PDFs or images—there’s no OCR. For anyone with textbook scans, it’s basically useless.

“It's not unlimited, far from it. Also has random bugs and overall not an optimized experience.” ― Louie Bartholomew Ouzman (US)

• #1 Real Undetectable, Plagiarism-Free Essays with Citations: With AIDetectPlus, I can whip up essays that pass AI and plagiarism detectors on the first try. It even does citations for you in APA, MLA, and other styles—so it’s basically ready to hand in the minute you’re done.
 
• #2 Credits That Never Expire: Unlike Merlin, the credits I buy don’t disappear after a month. I use them when I want, and only buy more if I actually run out.
 
• #3 Actual Real Customer Support: When I needed help, I got answers fast—usually in a few hours, and from a real person, not just some bot. They actually care, which is rare these days.
 
• #4 Everything You Need for Writing, All in One Place: AIDetectPlus isn’t just an essay writer. It handles everything from making your writing undetectable to generating citations, removing plagiarism, paraphrasing, and giving you a free chat with an LLM. Whether you’re a student, researcher, or writer, you get all your tools here. Just check out the menu above if you want to see what else is inside.