PapersOwl is one of the more affordable solutions for academic writing at various levels of difficulty, ranging from high school assignments to thesis research assistance. The platform works with multiple writers who bid on a customer’s projects and offer prices typically based on their expertise, experience, and the number of previously completed works on PapersOwl. Importantly, they guarantee zero plagiarism in their completed works, and these are written without the assistance of AI.
The price for an essay written through PapersOwl may be as low as $13.95 for a one-page paper. This is below the average price; however, whether you can get a quality job for this amount needs further investigation.
What We Heard About PapersOwl
This is a relatively popular essay writing platform that positions itself as a hub connecting writers and students. Most online reviews from users provide favorable feedback noting the ease of signing up to their services, the speed of assignments completion, and overall satisfaction with the quality of the written papers. For instance, PapersOwl holds a 4-star rating on Sitejabber.com, based on 500+ reviews, while 86% of the reviews from the last 12 months are positive.
However, unlike the majority of their customers, many journalists and independent online review platforms have serious doubts about the PapersOwls legitimacy. They often point out the many parallels between this service and Edubirdie — another essay writing company with an owl mascot, identical sign-up flow, and copy-paste-like designs.
So, while the overall positive user reviews and promises of low prices may spark your interest, the negative experts’ judgments might set you off. Continue reading to find out the truth about the quality of their writings, actual prices, and explanations why some consider PapersOwl a scam.
PapersOwl Services
The main service provided by PapersOwl is academic writing. The submission of your project is straightforward. The first step requires typing in details about the work you need completed. They include subject, topic, description, specific formatting format, number of sources, and size (roughly 275 words per page). You can also attach a separate file if you need to add more detailed instructions, outline, or media files that need to be considered. Next you input a specific deadline, and you can also tick a checkbox for an early draft which adds 15% to a final price.
To proceed to the next step you’re required to sign in with your email, and then you’ll start getting messages from the writers who are interested in writing your essay. You can initially choose a writer from three pools, which will influence your final price: all levels (all writers on the platform that specialize in your field), Gold (top-30%) and Platinum (top-10%).
It must be said that there’s no live communication with the writers so it’s problematic to judge their level of expertise in a specific field. It is left unclear what is the difference in quality between the essays done by one of the top-10% writers and the average expert.
Moreover, the writers don’t appear to be real people, and certainly not independent freelancers like you’d expect from a bidding platform like Upwork or Fiverr. They’re rather writers hired by PapersOwl behind made up profiles like Dr Johnn or PR Douglas, responsible for multiple digital personalities.
PapersOwl Prices
Let’s now clarify on the PapersOwl pricing policy: while it’s possible that some papers may cost as low as $13.95 per page, in reality you’ll be receiving offers from writers that are 50–150% more than that price. So, if you’re submitting a university-level project, expect the price to jump to a minimum of $26 per page. Keep in mind that when deciding between different authors, which we doubt are real, you’ll be offered a lower price with a hint that the top-quality is not to be expected.
Another important detail about PapersOwl prices is that many features that you’d normally have included in the main price require additional payments. For example:
- a 15% surcharge if a draft is required (which is often necessary for quality work);
- an outline for $12, regardless of its length, and an abstract for the price of a full page;
- additionally, VIP customer support for a cost of an extra $12.99.
On the bright side, PapersOwl offers some free tools to all. These include an advanced plagiarism checker. Right after it checks your existing work you’ll be offered an estimate to edit or rewrite it from scratch by the PapersOwl writers. Other free tools include AI generators which we found useful for short content like titles, but produce low-quality results for larger pieces like creating the concluding section for our paper.
Quality of Essays From PapersOwl
We’ve reviewed dozens of academic essays written by PapersOwl experts and read hundreds of reviews from students who used their services and submitted papers with their help.
The overall quality of the papers can best be described as mediocre. While the essays often contain well-researched information in specific niches, sentences frequently do not connect smoothly and instead appear as isolated statements. Similarly, paragraphs do not consistently follow the logical progression of thoughts introduced in the previous text.
We also noticed on many occasions that specific formatting styles were not adhered to, and customers’ instructions were not always fully followed.
That said, all of the PapersOwl essays pass plagiarism checks (both their in-house tool and third-party tools) and are generally not flagged as AI-generated. The vast majority of students report that their professors were satisfied with the quality, although some papers required additional polishing.
PapersOwl Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Affordable rates for basic services: PapersOwl offers competitive pricing, with rates as low as $13.95 per page for one-page essays.
- Plagiarism-free guarantee: They ensure all submitted work is original and written without AI assistance, which adds trustworthiness.
- Free tools included: The platform provides helpful AI-driven tools like a plagiarism checker and title generator at no extra cost.
- Wide range of academic services: They cover high school to thesis-level assignments, making the platform versatile for different academic needs.
Cons:
- Hidden costs: Additional fees for features like drafts, outlines, and VIP support make the initially low price rise significantly.
- No direct communication with writers: Limited interaction with writers makes assessing expertise in specific fields more challenging.
- Questionable writer authenticity: Some reports claim that writers’ profiles may be fabricated, with writers possibly operating under multiple digital personas.
- Free version limitations: The free tools are limited in functionality, with the AI generator being useful for titles but underwhelming for longer sections.
PapersOwl: Final Verdict
PapersOwl is evidently run by the same team as Edubirdie, as shown by the shared owl mascot and near-identical platform design. The profiles of the writers on PapersOwl are not genuine; it’s likely that a handful of authors manage multiple profiles to create the illusion of a marketplace connecting students with independent writers. As a result, there’s little time for direct communication with clients, and often the finer details of projects aren’t fully addressed.
Despite advertising prices as low as $13.95 per page, the actual cost typically ends up being doubled, especially for higher-level projects. Nonetheless, PapersOwl does deliver plagiarism-free papers with no detectable AI usage. Their effective marketing strategy capitalizes on students who are pressed for time, making them an appealing choice despite the service’s shortcomings.
