Textshine
Textshine is a fully automated German-language proofreading service that corrects spelling, grammar, punctuation, typography and proper nouns without ever rewriting your wording. Every change is tracked, formatting is preserved, and submitted documents are deleted within 24 hours.
What is Textshine?
Textshine is a fully automated German-language proofreading service, published by Kinesis Publishing GmbH in Vienna and marketed as proofreading at the push of a button. It targets people who write professionally: media houses, newsrooms, book publishers, self-publishers and companies producing German copy.
The scope is deliberately narrow. Textshine corrects spelling, grammar, punctuation and typography, along with proper nouns and simple factual slips. Where several spellings are admissible it follows Duden recommendations. It harmonises inconsistent quotation marks and inconsistent gender-inclusive forms across a document, and it treats proper names, jargon and colloquial language as ordinary text, so there is no dictionary to maintain. The publisher describes the engine as a composite of several AI models, rule sets and heuristics built on one design principle: only correct what is genuinely wrong.
What it refuses to do matters just as much. Textshine makes no stylistic interventions, offers no rephrasing and proposes no changes of substance. The vendor states plainly that anyone looking for a general-purpose writing assistant should not use it, and presents that restraint as its main difference from a general model such as ChatGPT.
In practice you create an account, upload a document and receive an automatic quote priced on the exact character count including spaces, binding for thirty minutes. Accepting it starts the correction, and the result arrives by email, usually within fifteen minutes, as a new document carrying tracked change suggestions with formatting largely intact. Word files are supported and PDF handling is offered as a beta feature. Text length is unlimited, so entire books are processed in minutes.
The publisher is unusually open about limits. It admits that Textshine sometimes misses errors, sometimes proposes incorrect changes, and can spell a compound inconsistently across long passages. It places itself slightly below a professional human proofreader and well above non-professional readers, while noting that honest quantification is impossible.
Security is a stated priority: encryption in transit and at rest, irreversible deletion within 24 hours, no training on customer data, and code and server access restricted to staff based in Austria.
What it does
- Correct German spelling, grammar and punctuation across whole documents
- Fix proper nouns for people, places, companies and products with no custom dictionary to maintain
- Apply typographic conventions and harmonise inconsistent quotation marks
- Harmonise inconsistent gender-inclusive spelling throughout a document
- Flag simple factual slips such as a misspelled public figure or a wrong detail
- Return a tracked-changes document with formatting preserved
- Run inside an existing editorial system or CMS on request
When to use Textshine / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Textshine is the right fit.
When to use Textshine
- Professional proofreaders who want routine spelling, grammar and punctuation work taken off their desk
- Newsroom editors and sub-editors handling German copy under deadline pressure
- Book publishers and their editorial departments working on long German manuscripts
- Self-publishers and freelance German-language authors with no in-house proofreading desk
- Companies and content teams that must release linguistically clean German copy
When not to use Textshine
- Anyone writing in a language other than German, which the terms explicitly exclude
- Writers looking for a general-purpose writing assistant, a use the vendor itself advises against
- Teams that want rephrasing, style suggestions or tone-of-voice help, all deliberately refused
- Projects needing a full developmental edit covering structure, argument, tone and deep fact-checking
- Occasional users hoping for a permanently free plan, since every order beyond the trial box is paid
How to use Textshine
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Try it first without an account by pasting up to 500 characters into the box on the home page, free and with no sign-up
- Create a user account with a valid email address, one account per person
- Upload the document you want proofread in one of the accepted file formats
- Review the automatic quote, priced on the exact character count including spaces and binding for thirty minutes
- Accept it by drawing on a character balance you already own, buying a character package, or paying per exact character on the spot
- Let the automated correction run, which starts immediately once the quote is accepted
- Collect the result by email, usually within fifteen minutes
- Open the document and accept or reject each suggested change
- Compare the returned file against your original, for which the publisher recommends Word's compare-two-versions function
- Save both files yourself, because everything is deleted within 24 hours
Pros & Cons
Pros
- A deliberately narrow scope that is genuinely respected: no rewriting, no style suggestions, no interference with your wording
- Proper nouns and specialist jargon handled without maintaining a dictionary, unlike conventional spellcheckers
- Tracked, individually reversible changes with formatting kept intact
- No length limit, so full-length books are processed in minutes
- Precise security commitments: encryption in transit and at rest, deletion within 24 hours, no training on customer data, server access limited to staff in Austria
- Public pricing with no subscription and no commitment, billed to the exact character
- Unusual candour, with the vendor publishing its own limitations on a dedicated page
Cons
- German only, since the terms explicitly exclude proofreading in any other language
- No permanent free plan: beyond the 500-character trial box, every order is paid
- No public API documentation, even though integration into editorial systems is sold in the Business tier
- No data processing agreement offered to customers, and only categories of subprocessors are published rather than names
- Business pricing is not published and requires going through a sales contact
- No contact page, no mobile app and no browser extension; support runs through a generic email address and JavaScript buttons
- The privacy policy gives a different postal address from the imprint, with no explanation
Pricing & Plans
There is no permanent free plan, although a free 500-character trial is available on the home page without registration. The lowest published entry point is a base rate of EUR 0.50 net per 1,000 characters, billed to the exact character with no commitment and no minimum volume. Prepaid packages reduce that unit rate to EUR 0.48 per 1,000 characters, for a 500,000-character package priced at EUR 240, and to EUR 0.46 per 1,000 characters, for a 1,500,000-character package priced at EUR 690. All amounts are quoted net of statutory VAT. Pricing for the Textshine Business tier is not published and is agreed directly with the vendor.
- Base rate — EUR 0.50 net per 1
- 000 characters
- billed to the exact character
- with no commitment and no minimum volume
- 500
- 000-character package — EUR 240
- which works out at EUR 0.48 per 1
- 000 characters
- 1
- 500
- 000-character package — EUR 690
- which works out at EUR 0.46 per 1
- 000 characters
- Textshine Business — quotation only
- covering integration into editorial systems and CMS platforms
- single-tenant infrastructure in the EU
- and pricing described as flexible and predictable
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Textshine handles your data.
GDPR overview
Implementation is concrete rather than declarative. The privacy policy, effective 11 August 2026, names Kinesis Publishing GmbH as controller and states that processing follows Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Austrian data protection law; the terms repeat that commitment and confirm written agreements with processors. Data subject rights are listed article by article, from Article 12 through Article 22, with datenschutz@textshine.com as the contact and the Austrian Data Protection Authority named as supervisory body. The legal bases cited are Article 6(1)(a), (b), (c) and (f). Analytics run on Plausible, presented as a cookie-free European alternative, while Google Web Fonts may transfer data to the United States for one day. Two gaps remain: only categories of subprocessors are published, never names, and no data protection officer is designated.
Who owns the data?
The customer keeps ownership throughout. Under the terms you must hold every right needed to process a document, and you alone are responsible for storing the original and the returned file, because Kinesis Publishing keeps neither once the result has been sent. The publisher states that it does not use submitted material to train its proofreading software or for any other purpose, and that its processors may not feed their own AI models with it. In return, the terms forbid you from using Textshine output to develop or train your own or a third party's AI models. A separate express agreement can allow longer storage for product development.
Reuse rights
Once the corrected file reaches your inbox it is yours to use. You accept or reject each suggested change yourself, and nothing in the terms restricts publishing, selling or otherwise reusing the finished text. Two limits apply. You may not use Textshine results to develop or train your own or a third party's AI models, rights the publisher expressly reserves. And you are contractually required to compare the returned document against your original, because changes can occur that are not flagged as suggestions. The publisher also offers its own non-binding view that proofread documents should not fall under AI-labelling obligations, while stressing that it gives no legal advice.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
The publisher names no hosting country, no data centre and no cloud provider for the standard service. The only geographic commitment appears in the Business tier, which advertises secure single-tenant infrastructure in the EU, and on the product page, which offers dedicated EU deployments on request. Two further statements bear on where data is handled: documents are encrypted in transit and at rest, and access to code and servers is restricted to authorised staff based in Austria, which also covers the rare cases where an employee opens a document manually. The privacy policy publishes categories of processors, including cloud providers, payment providers, communication providers and IT administrators, but never their names. The only transfer outside the EU that is disclosed concerns Google Web Fonts, processed partly in the United States and stored for one day, and it relates to the website rather than to customer texts. Jurisdiction is Austrian: Vienna is the place of performance, Austrian law applies, and the Austrian Data Protection Authority is named as the supervisory body.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Textshine.
- The vendor warns that no suggestion is guaranteed correct, so the final check always stays with you
- The terms require you to compare the result against your original, because some changes may not be marked as suggestions
- Formatting can be lost in places, which the terms state outright
- Relying on an automatic pass can quietly erode a human proofreader's own vigilance over time
- Everything is deleted within 24 hours, so losing the returned file without saving it means paying for the correction again
- An express contractual agreement can allow your texts to be kept longer and processed to develop the vendor's products
- Uploaded documents may in rare cases be opened manually by an employee, and liability is capped at the value of the order
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Very low for standard use. Nothing is installed and nothing is configured: you can proofread a short text from the home page without even creating an account, and a full order needs only an email address, a file upload and acceptance of the automatic quote. There is no dictionary to populate and no terminology list to maintain. Handling the result calls for Word's tracked-changes mode, a routine editorial skill. The one genuinely technical step is integrating Textshine into an editorial system or CMS, which belongs to the Business tier, is carried out with the vendor, and has no public documentation.
Deployment
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind Textshine
Fundraising
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement Textshine.
Frequently asked questions
Which languages can Textshine proofread?
Will Textshine rewrite or rephrase my sentences?
How is this different from using ChatGPT?
Are my texts used to train the AI?
How long are my documents kept?
What does it cost?
Can I try it without creating an account?
Does Textshine replace a human proofreader?
Does it replace a developmental edit?
Who publishes Textshine?
Should you pick Textshine?
Textshine is a niche tool that knows exactly what it is. One language, one job, done with discipline. Its refusal to rewrite is not a limitation dressed up as a feature but the core of the proposition, and it is what separates the product from the general-purpose assistants that keep offering to improve prose nobody asked them to touch. That restraint appears to be why German-speaking newsrooms and publishing houses put their names to the testimonials on the site.
The transparency is unusual. An entire section of the product page is devoted to what Textshine gets wrong, and the security commitments in the terms are specific enough to be checked: encryption in transit and at rest, irreversible deletion within 24 hours, no training on customer data, and code and server access restricted to staff based in Austria. Pricing is public, per character and free of any subscription, which is rare in this segment.
The gaps are real too. The service handles German and nothing else. There is no permanently free plan, no data processing agreement offered to customers, and no named list of subprocessors, only categories. Integration into editorial systems is sold in the Business tier but no public API documentation exists to describe it. And the privacy policy gives a postal address that differs from the one in the imprint, an inconsistency the publisher does not explain.
For a German-language editorial team that wants a reliable extra pass before publication, and that accepts a final human check, Textshine makes a credible case. For anyone working outside German, or expecting an editor rather than a proofreader, it is the wrong tool, and the vendor says so first.
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