Turnitin vs Drillbit – Which Plagiarism Checker is Better?
Plagiarism detection tools have become essential for researchers, students, and educators to ensure academic integrity. Among the most popular plagiarism checkers are Turnitin and Drillbit, both widely used by universities and institutions worldwide. However, mostly scholars do not have the freedom to choose the plagiarism detection software themselves. The decision is made by universities, colleges, and research journals, which specify the required tool in their guidelines. This article compares Turnitin and Drillbit based on their features, accuracy, and institutional preferences to help you understand their differences.
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Overview of Turnitin and Drillbit
Turnitin
Turnitin is one of the oldest and most widely recognized plagiarism detection software. It is primarily used by universities, colleges, and research institutions to check for plagiarism in academic work. Turnitin’s vast database of academic papers, journals, and web sources makes it a powerful tool for plagiarism detection.
Drillbit
Drillbit is a newer plagiarism detection software gaining popularity, especially in India and other developing nations. It provides cost-effective solutions for academic institutions while maintaining high accuracy. Drillbit is designed to be affordable, user-friendly, and efficient, making it a strong competitor to Turnitin.
Accuracy and Database Comparison
Feature
Turnitin
Drillbit
Database Size
Extensive (billions of academic papers, journals, and web sources)
Update (27 Jan 2026): Turnitin is continuously expanding its database as millions of submissions happening across the globe.
Growing fast but limited compared to Turnitin.
Update (27 Jan 2026): In 2025 we have seen some cases in which plagiarism reports of DrillBit were even higher than plagiarism reports of Turnitin when the same file was checked on both tools. It means DrillBit has expanded its database now. This change was seen in certain subjects and certain regional Indian languages.
Accuracy
Very high due to a vast database
Good but dependent on the available database
Update (27 Jan 2026): Now its plagiarism reports are comparable to Turnitin in many subjects.
Real-time Web Search
Yes
Yes
Institutional Repository Access and presence in World
Yes, integrates with major universities worldwide
Limited, but growing briskly. It has shown good growth in the past 2 years in India and many parts of the world. To date, it is available in the following countries other than India:
- Southeast Asia: Philippines, Indonesia
- South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka
- Middle East: UAE
- Africa: Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Liberia
- South America: Colombia
Language Support for Plagiarism Reports
Supports many international Languages (175+) besides English, like Korean, Arabic, French, German, Swedish, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, etc.
When any file is submitted on Turnitin, it auto-detects the language and provides a plagiarism report.
DrillBit supports 190+ languages for plagiarism checks, covering both national languages (18+) and international languages (175+).
The user needs to select a language before submitting any file on DrillBit. If the wrong language is selected, the report generation fails.
Click here to see the full list of 175 international languages available in DrillBit.
Support for Indian Regional Languages for Plagiarism Reports
Limited Support and Limited Effectiveness.
DrillBit specifically supports 18+ regional languages: Hindi, Kannada, Urdu, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Santhali, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, and Punjabi. It’s effectiveness is increasing day by day as it’s database is growing fastly.
Click here to see the full list of 18+ regional languages available in DrillBit.
Available Features in Dashboard and Report
Functions
Turnitin
Drillbit
AI Detection
Yes, the AI report is available in Turnitin.
Yes, the AI report is easily accessible in DrillBit.
Grammar & Spell Check
Not available
A detailed grammar report is available.
Customization in Reports
Yes, reports are customizable to match recommendations of universities or journals.
Users can filter the following things from the report:
- Bibliography
- Quotations
- Citations
- Small matches on basis of number of words or by %
Yes, reports are customizable to match recommendations of universities or journals. Even more customization options are available to match or exclude specific types of databases that are not available in Turnitin.
Besides the options available in Turnitin, extra options available in DrillBit are as follows: Phrases, Specific Databases (Student Paper, Journals or Publishers, Internet or web, Institutional Repositories)
But, these extra filters can’t be applied post checking any document. They need to be applied before scanning any document for plagiarism or AI-generated content.
Images of Available Options
Details of excluded sources
Yes, excluded sources are mentioned in the report of Turnitin.
Yes, excluded sources are mentioned in the report of DrillBit.
Intigrity Flags
Turnitin shows different integrity flags in the report to highlight wrong practices adopted by some students or various service providers to reduce plagiarism in unethical ways. Flags are not available in the dashboard.
DrillBit shows different integrity flags in the dashboard as well as in the report to highlight wrong practices.
Types of Integrity Flags Available
2 types of Integrity Flags are available in Turnitin
- Letters are swapped with similar characters from another alphabet.
- Text is altered to blend into the white background of the document.
7 types of Integrity Flags are available in DrillBit:
- The document is corrupted/encrypted.
- The document is in more image formats / The document does not have a minimum of 50 words.
- The document contains hidden characters or symbols
- The document contains small fonts in between the words, which shall be not visible to naked eyes without any zoom exceeding 800% (the limit of Zoom in MS Word is 800%)
- The document is illicitly modified using alphanumeric characters.
- The document is created by an unsecured editor
- The document is created by an unsecured PDF converter
Examples of Integrity Flag in Report
Example of Integrity Flag in the Dashboard
Integrity Flags are not shown in the Dashboard of Turnitin.
Bulk Load
Yes, available.
Yes, available.
Digital Reciept
Yes, available.
Yes, available. But needs extra inputs to generate digital reciept.
Saftey Feature
Not available
A QR code is given to download the original plagiarism report.
File types supported and limitations for Plagiarism Reports
File size Limit
less than 100 MB
less than 100 MB
Page Limits
maximum 800 pages
maximum 800 pages
Word Limits
minimum 20 Words
minimum 50 Words
Major File formats supported (Extensions)
- .doc, .docx
- .pptx, .ppsx, .pps
- .xls and .xlsx
- .txt
- .rtf
- .html
- .odt
- .hwp
- .hdpx
- .doc, .docx
- .txt
- .rtf
- .xlsx, .xml
- .ppt, .pptx
- .html, .htm
- .odt
- .dotx
- .tiff
- .tex
- .wpd
- .dot
Details about AI Reports
Availability and types
Yes
Turnitin offers AI reports, and it categorizes AI-generated content into 2 types and shows different colors to highlight them:
- Light blue color to highlight the content, which is likely to be generated by AI.
- Purple color to highlight the content, which is likely to be generated by AI and then paraphrased by AI.
Yes
DrillBit offers AI reports, but it shows AI highlights in a single color. It doesn’t categorize AI generated content into categories.
Understanding AI report
It is easy to understand AI reports generated by Turnitin because they are highlighted in 2 different colors, and the report is available in the same formatting as the submitted file. So scholars can easily locate the part highlighted as AI-generated and paraphrase it.
It is very difficult to understand the AI reports of DrillBit because it disrupts the entire formatting of the submitted file. Sometimes it misses some characters, like it may show “Ankur’s” as “Ankurs” in AI report, so it is difficult to locate the text in the AI report and paraphrase it.
Accuracy of AI Report (False Positives and False Negatives)
Turnitin does not show any % in its AI report if the AI-generated content is detected between 1% and 19%.
It acknowledges that its AI detection model is itself an AI, and thus mistakes are possible. It means it can mistakenly mark human-generated content as AI-generated and vice versa. So, it does not mention any specific number and does not highlight anything in such cases to avoid any negative consequences to scholars.
To know more about Turnitin AI reports, read our blog.
DrillBit claims that it can handle false positives and false negatives in a much better way in its AI detection. It means Drillbit believes that it accurately highlights AI-generated content. Thus it mentions specific percentages when AI is even below 10%.
File types supported and limitations for AI Reports
File Size Limit
less than 100 MB
less than 100 MB
Page Limits
800 Pages
800 Pages
Word Limits
Turnitin can generate AI reports only if the file contains a minimum of 300 words and a maximum of 30,000 words. It shows an error if these word limits are not followed.
DrillBit has not specified any minimum limits about words, but its personal user guide mentions a minimum of 8 standard sentences should be present in a document to get an AI report. It can generate an AI report for up to 2 lakh words (800 pages).
Major File formats supported (Extensions)
- .docx
- .txt
- .rtf
- .doc, .docx
- .txt
- .rtf
- .xlsx, .xml
- .ppt, .pptx
- .html, .htm
- .odt
- .dotx
- .tiff
- .tex
- .wpd
- .dot
Language Support for AI Reports
Turnitin AI reports are available in 3 languages: English, Spanish, and Japanese.
DrillBit AI reports are available in 4 languages: English, Spanish, French, and Indonesian.
Institutional Preferences and Global Adoption
Scholars cannot choose plagiarism detection software on their own. It is universities, colleges, and research journals that decide whether Turnitin or Drillbit should be used. Some institutions strictly require Turnitin reports for thesis and research paper submissions, making it the more globally recognized choice. Drillbit, while gaining popularity, is mostly preferred by institutions in India and South Asia due to its affordability and ease of use.
Conclusion: Which One Should You Use?
If your university or research journal mandates a specific plagiarism checker, you must follow their guidelines. Before using any software, confirm with your institution or supervisor whether Turnitin or Drillbit is required.
Most of the time, the decision is not in the hands of the scholar, as universities and journals set their own plagiarism policies. Always verify with your institution before selecting a plagiarism checker to ensure compliance with academic requirements.
If your university gives you flexibility to choose plagiarism-checking software, then we hope this article was able to help you. If you still have any questions in your mind, please feel free to contact us, and we will try our best to answer your queries.
To get your Turnitin Report, submit your file here on WhatsApp.
To get a quotation for Plagiarism removal by Turnitin, submit your file here on WhatsApp
To get your DrillBit Report, submit your file here on WhatsApp
To get a quotation for Plagiarism removal by DrillBit, submit your file here on WhatsApp
You can also submit your file on the Submission Page with your specific requirements.
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