WriterPi vs Merlin
Merlin is a big, mature, well-funded AI sidebar with a lot of surface area. WriterPi is smaller, cheaper, asks for fewer permissions, and does one thing nobody else does. Here's the honest split — including where you should pick Merlin.
So read it with that in mind. We've tried to be straight about what Merlin does better, because a comparison page that finds no faults in its own product isn't worth reading.
The short version
- Pick Merlin if you want the broadest feature list, a mature mobile and web app alongside the extension, and you don't mind paying a full subscription for it.
- Pick WriterPi if you mainly want a sidebar that reads the page, you'd rather pay $1–$9 than $15–$30, you care what an extension asks permission for — or you want the word games, which no other AI extension has.
Where Merlin is genuinely better
Not a token paragraph. These are real:
- Breadth. Merlin has been building for years and it shows — more integrations, more surfaces, more polish in the corners.
- Beyond the browser. If you want the same assistant on your phone and on the web, Merlin has that story. WriterPi is a browser extension and a thin account page, and that's it.
- Team features. If you're buying for a team rather than yourself, Merlin is set up for it. WriterPi is not.
- Track record. WriterPi is built by one person. That's a real risk factor and you should weigh it. Merlin has a company behind it.
Where WriterPi is better
Price
WriterPi runs $6/mo for Pro and $9/mo for Max, with a $1 three-day pack to try the premium tier and a free plan of 25 messages a month that doesn't expire. Merlin's paid tiers sit in the range most of this category charges — meaningfully more. If your actual usage is "a few good drafts a day", you're likely paying for headroom you never touch.
There's a full breakdown in what AI extensions really cost.
Permissions
This is the one most people never check. WriterPi asks for activeTab,
storage, contextMenus, scripting,
alarms and notifications — notably not
tabs, which is what makes Chrome warn "read your browsing history"
at install.
Avoiding it wasn't free. The screen-time feature had to be rewritten to count inside the page and report only a hostname, rather than reading tab URLs from the background. It's the harder implementation and the better trade. Whatever extension you end up with, read the install prompt.
The games
WriterPi turns the article you're on into Word Hunt, a quiz, Wordle or a typing race, built from that page's own words. No other AI extension does this — it's not a feature Merlin is missing so much as one nobody thought to build.
It's free on every plan, and it exists because reading a page properly is the hard part of both jobs. Details in word games from any webpage.
Reminders that arrive written
Draft the follow-up while you're looking at the thread, attach it to a reminder, and at 4pm you get the finished message rather than a note telling you to write one. See the reminders guide.
Side by side
| WriterPi | Merlin | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads the current page | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $1 for 3 days · free tier forever | Full subscription |
| Main paid tier | $6/mo | Higher |
| India pricing (UPI, ₹) | Yes, native | Card, usually USD |
| "Read browsing history" prompt | No | Check the install screen |
| Word games from the page | Yes | No |
| Reminders with a written draft | Yes | No |
| Screen time tracking | Yes, free | No |
| Mobile / web app | No | Yes |
| Team plans | No | Yes |
| Company size | One person | Funded team |
On "credits"
Most extensions in this category price in credits, where different actions cost different amounts and you can't predict a month. WriterPi counts messages, and when you run out of premium ones the fast model carries on rather than stopping you dead. You will not hit a wall mid-sentence and be asked to upgrade.
That's a genuine difference in how it feels to use, and it's the thing most people tell us they noticed first.
Ten messages before you sign in at all. Sign up and Lite runs free for 3 days — no card.
Honest recommendation
If you already pay for Merlin and use its breadth, stay. Switching to save a few dollars while losing features you rely on is a bad trade.
If you're choosing now, and what you actually want is "an AI that can see this page" — install both. They're free to try. Use each for a week. The one you keep opening is the answer, and no comparison table beats that.