Plagiarism Checker FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

A plagiarism checker is software that automatically compares your text against billions of online sources to detect copied or improperly cited content. Our tool uses PlagAware, which searches publicly available sources (about 70 billion texts, according to PlagAware) and flags copied passages and closely reworded text. The results come in a PDF report with the matches highlighted and a direct link to every source found.

The process is simple:

1. Upload your document, PDF, DOCX, DOC, or TXT, and choose your scan type.
2. Enter your email address and complete payment.
3. Our plagiarism checker forwards the document to PlagAware, which checks every passage against publicly available sources (about 70 billion texts, according to PlagAware).
4. Within 15 minutes, a detailed PDF report is sent to your email with the matches highlighted and linked to their original sources.

Our plagiarism checker is built for students at all levels (bachelor's, master's, PhD), researchers, academics, authors, and content creators. The engine behind it, PlagAware, is a German plagiarism checker that works on publicly available sources.

PlagAware is a German plagiarism detection engine. According to PlagAware, it searches about 70 billion publicly available texts, including web pages and freely accessible publications such as open-access papers. It has no access to paywalled or subscription journals or to non-public databases, so it can only match what's freely available online, and every match in the report links to the public source. For checking a thesis or essay against the open web, that's a broad base at a per-page price. If your paper leans heavily on subscription literature, ask your university which system it uses.

Not necessarily. We use PlagAware, and your university may use a different system, such as Turnitin, with a different database. A check here shows you what matches publicly available sources, so you can fix missing citations and copied passages before you submit. It can't predict your university's exact similarity score.

Our plagiarism checker accepts the following file formats: PDF, DOCX, DOC, and TXT. For the best text extraction, we recommend exporting your document directly from Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or another word processor rather than printing and scanning. The file must contain selectable text, image-only (scanned) PDFs without OCR text layers cannot be processed.

The maximum file size is 50 MB. If your file exceeds 50 MB, try saving it as a DOCX rather than PDF, DOCX files are typically much smaller.

On the order page, Step 2 contains a drag-and-drop upload zone. Either drag your file onto the zone or click it to open a file picker. Once you select your file, it uploads automatically and we calculate the number of standard pages. The page count determines your total price, which is shown in Step 4 before you complete payment.

Unfortunately we cannot process image-only (scanned) PDFs. Our system extracts text from the document file, if the PDF contains only images of text without a text layer, there is nothing to analyze. Please export a fresh PDF from your word processing software. If you only have a scanned version, run it through OCR software first to create a text-based version.

This depends on what information you want. If you want the most accurate plagiarism score for your written content, remove the bibliography, reference lists naturally match sources by design. If you want to see what a university check on your complete submission would look like, upload the full document. Both approaches are valid.

The price is based on the number of standard pages in your document. One standard page = 1,800 characters including spaces. Our plagiarism checker counts the characters in your uploaded file automatically, divides by 1,800, and rounds up to the next full page. Pricing: Plagiarism Scan = $0.29/page · Combo (Plagiarism + AI) = $0.39/page · AI Scan = $0.29/page. Minimum charge: $0.90. Your total is the higher of the minimum charge and the per-page price times the number of billed pages.

Yes. The minimum order amount is $0.90. Your total is the higher of $0.90 and the per-page price times the number of billed pages, with the page count rounded up to a full page. In practice, the minimum applies to Plagiarism and AI scans of up to 3 pages ($0.87 at $0.29/page) and to Combo scans of up to 2 pages ($0.78 at $0.39/page). A 3-page Combo scan costs $1.17.

Yes. Use the code plagiat-scan10 during checkout for an instant 10% discount. Enter the code in the "Discount Code" field on the order page and click "Apply", the discount will be reflected in the total before you pay.

No. There are no subscriptions, no recurring charges, and no hidden fees. You pay once per order. The price displayed on the order page before payment is the full, final price. We will never automatically bill you.

We accept all major payment methods through our secure Stripe checkout: Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. All payments are processed via encrypted SSL connections. You do not need a Stripe account to pay.

In most cases, your plagiarism checker report arrives by email within 15 minutes of uploading your file and completing payment. For very large documents (200+ pages) it may take longer. If you have not received your report after 30 minutes, check your spam folder. If it is not there, contact us at info@plagiarism-checker-online.net.

The PDF report contains: (1) an overall plagiarism percentage; (2) the matched passages highlighted in your text (the colors identify the source and don't rate the match); (3) direct clickable URLs linking to every original source. The report is clear, professional, and ready to share with an academic supervisor.

The plagiarism percentage shows how many words of your text match suspected sources, compared with all words in the text. A result of 0% means no matching sources were found. It doesn't prove the text is original. There is no universal threshold: PlagAware leaves the judgment to the reviewer, and universities set their own rules. Matches in correctly cited quotations or reference lists can raise the number, so read each highlighted passage and its source before you judge the result. If you're unsure what your university accepts, ask your instructor or check its guidelines.

If we can't process your order because of a technical failure, we refund your payment in full. Consumers have a 14-day right of withdrawal. For paid services, it expires on full performance only with prior express early-performance consent and acknowledgment of that consequence. Payment or delivery alone does not establish those conditions. Details are in our Cancellation Policy. Questions? Email us at info@plagiarism-checker-online.net.

Yes. The PDF report is professional, clearly formatted, and suitable to share with a professor, thesis supervisor, or academic board. It shows the date and time of the check, the document name, the overall score, and all highlighted matches with source references. Whether a specific university officially accepts it as documentation depends on that institution's policies.

Your document is used only to run the scan you ordered. For plagiarism and AI scans, it is forwarded to PlagAware GmbH in Germany, which processes it on our behalf under a data processing agreement. We also keep the file temporarily on our German server, and its download token is valid for 48 hours. The document is not added to PlagAware's comparison database or to any public plagiarism pool, and it is never used to train AI models or shared with AI companies for these scans. Our paid AI writing tools are a separate service: they send your text to Anthropic only after payment. See the Privacy Policy for details.

We process personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our web servers are in Germany (Strato AG), and plagiarism scans are processed by PlagAware GmbH in Germany under a data processing agreement. The paid AI writing tools are separate: after payment they send your text to Anthropic in the USA under Standard Contractual Clauses. We collect the data the service needs, such as your email address to deliver the report, your document to run the scan, and order data. Payments are handled by Stripe. For full details, please read our Privacy Policy.

Scan files are stored temporarily on our server, and their download tokens are valid for 48 hours. Expired files are removed opportunistically when another upload triggers cleanup or when our cleanup endpoint is run. There is no scheduled deletion timer, so a file can remain physically stored after its token has expired, even though the token no longer gives access. Content from the paid AI writing tools is encrypted and becomes eligible for cleanup 72 hours after completion or failure, or after 24 hours for unpaid orders (counted from creation) and stalled paid orders (counted from the last update). That cleanup is also triggered by requests, not by a timer. Order, accounting, and consent records are kept as long as needed for proof and for statutory retention duties. See the Privacy Policy for details.

No. When you use our service, your document is scanned against PlagAware's index of publicly available sources, but it isn't added to it. PlagAware doesn't keep submitted documents in a plagiarism pool, so your paper won't show up as a match in anyone else's check. Institutional systems such as Turnitin, by contrast, can add submissions to a repository for future comparison, depending on the institution's settings.

Yes. All payments are processed through Stripe, one of the world's most trusted payment processors. We never store payment card details on our servers. All payment communication is encrypted via SSL/TLS. Stripe is PCI DSS Level 1 compliant, the highest standard of payment security.

Our AI checker measures AI typicality: how strongly a sentence uses expressions that occur more often in AI-generated text than in human writing. PlagAware, which runs the analysis, describes these patterns for text from generative tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and LLaMA. The detector assesses AI-typical phrasing rather than identifying a particular model, and detection isn't guaranteed for every model, version, or edited passage. Every sentence receives its own score.

No AI detector is fully accurate, and ours is no exception. PlagAware states that a prompt can produce text with less conspicuous language, which the detector may miss, and that human writing can be flagged when it uses phrases typical of AI or closely follows the style of typical publications in its field. Editing, prompts, and subject-specific language all affect the scores. We don't publish accuracy figures for this service, so treat a result as a pointer for review, not as proof. If your own writing is flagged, review the passage in context and follow your institution's AI policy.

PlagAware calculates AI typicality for each sentence on a scale from 0 to 100, with 50 as the neutral midpoint. Values below 50 mean the wording is more typical of natural text, values near 50 mean the wording appears about equally in natural and AI-generated text, and values above 50 mean the wording is more typical of AI-generated text. The further a value is from 50, the stronger the accumulation of such phrases. The score is not the probability that AI wrote a sentence, and it is not proof of AI use.

It depends on how the text was written and edited. Lightly edited AI text can still contain many AI-typical phrases, while heavily rewritten text may contain fewer. Human writing can also score high when it uses common, formulaic phrasing. The checker measures how typical the wording is of AI-generated text, not who wrote it or whether AI help was allowed. If your course permits AI assistance, follow its disclosure rules.

Choose based on what you need to review and your assignment's requirements. The Combo package at $0.39/page includes both plagiarism and AI scans. The standalone AI Scan costs $0.29/page and assesses AI-typical phrasing, not source matches. Neither package establishes whether your work complies with a university's academic integrity rules.