Is Grammarly GDPR compliant?

Grammarly Business is GDPR compliant and includes a Data Processing Agreement. The Business plan is designed for company use and includes GDPR-appropriate data processing terms. Grammarly Free and Premium (personal plans) do not include a GDPR DPA and should not be used for processing work data containing personal information. Employees using personal Grammarly accounts for work documents is a common compliance gap.

Does Grammarly use your text to train AI models?

Grammarly Business customers can opt out of having their text used to improve Grammarly's AI models. For free and personal premium users, Grammarly's terms allow use of content for product improvement by default. On Grammarly Business, review your account settings for the AI training opt-out option and verify your admin settings reflect your policy.

What data does Grammarly collect from employees?

Grammarly's browser extension and desktop app process the text users type in web applications, email clients, documents, and other interfaces. This can include email content, support ticket responses, code comments, internal messages, and any other text the employee types while Grammarly is active. The extension sends this text to Grammarly's servers for analysis. For Business customers, this data is covered by the Grammarly Business DPA.

What are the SOC 2 implications of employees using Grammarly?

Grammarly creates SOC 2 considerations under CC9.1 (vendor management, Grammarly processes text from your systems), CC6 (access controls, who has Grammarly installed and on which devices), and CC1 (acceptable use policy, guidance on what data employees may have Grammarly process). If customer support agents use Grammarly while responding to tickets, customer data flows to Grammarly. This must be documented and risk-assessed.

Can I block personal Grammarly accounts on company devices?

Yes. For Grammarly Business, you can enforce use of company-managed accounts through your MDM or browser management policies. Some organizations block the consumer Grammarly extension via browser extension policy and deploy only the Business extension under managed accounts. This ensures all Grammarly usage is covered by the Business DPA rather than consumer terms.

Grammarly GDPR and SOC 2 compliance: what happens to your text

Grammarly is installed in browsers, desktop apps, and productivity tools used by millions of employees. It works by reading and analyzing text as employees type, which means it processes a significant amount of potentially sensitive content: customer emails, support responses, internal Slack messages, code comments, and more.

Grammarly reads everything: your auditor will ask about it

Most compliance reviews miss Grammarly because it looks like a spelling checker. It is not. It is a cloud-based text processing service that sends content to Grammarly's servers for analysis.

What Grammarly actually sends to its servers

When Grammarly is active, the text you type in browser-based applications, email clients, and other supported interfaces is sent to Grammarly's servers for grammar and writing analysis. This happens in near real-time as you type.

For employees using Grammarly in:

Gmail or Outlook Web → Email content, including customer emails
Zendesk, Intercom, or other support tools → Support ticket content, which may include customer personal data
Notion, Confluence, or other wikis → Internal document content
Slack via the browser → Message content
Any other web application → Whatever text is typed in that application

The scope of data exposure depends on where employees have the Grammarly extension installed and active.

GDPR requirements

Plan tier matters

Tier	DPA	Training opt-out	Appropriate for work data
Free	No	No	No
Premium (personal)	No	No	No
Business	Yes	Yes (configurable)	Yes
Enterprise	Yes	Yes	Yes

The compliance threshold is Grammarly Business. Free and Premium plans do not include a DPA and use consumer terms that permit use of content for product improvement. This is a common gap: employees sign up for Grammarly Free or Personal Premium and use it with company accounts.

The shadow Grammarly problem

Many organizations have employees using personal Grammarly accounts on company devices, often installed before they joined the company. These personal accounts are not covered by the company's Grammarly Business DPA. The text processed by these personal accounts, including potentially sensitive work content, is processed under consumer terms.

Remediation: audit Grammarly installations on managed devices via your MDM, deploy the Grammarly Business extension centrally, and communicate to employees that personal Grammarly accounts should not be used on company devices.

Training data configuration

For Grammarly Business, administrators can configure whether employee text is used to improve Grammarly's AI. Review your admin settings at account.grammarly.com/admin and verify the AI improvement setting aligns with your policy.

Subprocessors

Grammarly uses third-party infrastructure providers (cloud hosting) to process text. Grammarly's DPA includes provisions for subprocessor use and Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers of EU personal data. Review Grammarly's current subprocessor list for specific providers.

SOC 2 requirements

Vendor inventory (CC9.1)

Add Grammarly Business to your vendor inventory:

Service scope: AI-powered writing assistant; processes typed text across browser applications
Data processed: Employee-typed content in web applications, email, documents, support tools, may include customer personal data
Risk tier: High if customer support agents or sales teams use Grammarly; Medium if limited to internal documentation
DPA status: Grammarly Business DPA in effect
Security documentation: Grammarly publishes security information and compliance documentation via trust.grammarly.com
AI training opt-out: Configured per your policy

Access controls (CC6)

Are Grammarly installations managed centrally (MDM) or employee-installed?
Do departing employees have their Grammarly Business accounts deprovisioned?
Are employees blocked from using personal Grammarly accounts on managed devices?
Is Grammarly enabled in high-sensitivity applications (e.g., is it active in your HRIS or financial systems)?

Acceptable use policy (CC1)

Your policy should address:

Which Grammarly account type employees must use (Business accounts only)
Whether employees may install personal Grammarly accounts on company devices
Which applications are approved for Grammarly use (and which should have it disabled)
Specific guidance for customer-facing employees about Grammarly and customer data

Reducing Grammarly's data access

Tip

If you want to allow Grammarly while limiting data exposure:

Use the Grammarly Business desktop app rather than the browser extension, it has more targeted access than a browser extension that reads all web content
Disable Grammarly in sensitive applications: browser extensions can be configured to not run on specific sites
Deploy via MDM with a configuration that limits the sites where Grammarly is active
Review and approve the Grammarly Business application allowlist in your MDM to ensure only managed accounts are in use

Getting Grammarly audit-ready comes down to mapping its data flows to your SOC 2 and GDPR controls, confirming the DPA and sub-processors, and keeping that evidence current as the service changes. If you would rather a security leader owned that work than track it in a spreadsheet, book a call.

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