ShortlyAI
Discontinued Last verified: September 2026Retired long-form AI writer. As of August 2026 shortlyai.com serves a different product, a multi-model AI chat app
What is ShortlyAI?
ShortlyAI was one of the oldest AI writing tools of its generation. It launched in 2020 as a pure long-form writing assistant and was one of the first GPT-3 wrappers that felt like a real writing companion rather than a template generator. It was deliberately minimal: no templates, no marketing funnels, no SEO graders. Just a clean document editor with three simple commands, /write (continue writing), /instruct (give the AI specific instructions), and /rewrite (rephrase a selection). The tool was popular with novelists, short story writers, bloggers, and long-form non-fiction authors who wanted an AI that helped them push through writer's block without the distraction of a template marketplace. The pricing was also refreshingly simple: $65/month on the annual plan or $79/month monthly, both with unlimited credits, no word caps, no per-generation charges, no overage fees. That flat-rate unlimited model was rare, and it made ShortlyAI a solid pick for writers who used AI heavily throughout long drafting sessions.
None of that is available any more. When we rechecked shortlyai.com on 2 August 2026, the domain no longer hosted a long-form writing tool at all. It serves a multi-model AI chat product branded Shortly AI: a chat interface over 100+ models, with web search and the ability to chat over uploaded images and documents. There is no document editor, no /write, /instruct, or /rewrite, and no unlimited flat-rate plan. The pricing page lists two paid tiers, Plus and Pro, and no free plan. The vendor's own blog carries an August 2025 post describing the rebuild into "the clean, focused, and fast AI workspace that became the current Shortly AI experience", which is the closest thing to an official retirement notice we could find. Writers who want the old distraction-free long-form workflow should look at a dedicated long-form editor such as Lex instead. The rest of this page is kept as a record of the retired product.
⚡ Quick Verdict
Retired. Checked 2 August 2026: shortlyai.com now serves a different product, a multi-model AI chat app
Novelists, bloggers, and long-form writers who wanted minimalist tools with unlimited AI usage
Annual $65/mo · Monthly $79/mo (both unlimited), no longer sold
Shortly AI chat: Plus $19/mo · Pro $49/mo · Yearly toggle saves 21% · No free plan listed
Flat-rate unlimited generations with no word credits or caps
A dedicated long-form editor such as Lex; the current Shortly AI chat app is not a replacement workflow
Bottom line: the 4.2/5 score below reflects ShortlyAI as it existed when we reviewed it, a focused, minimalist long-form writing tool with unlimited usage. That product no longer exists, so treat this page as history rather than a buying recommendation.
Pricing
Current pricing at shortlyai.com, checked 2 August 2026. The domain now sells the Shortly AI chat product on two tiers, with a monthly/yearly toggle advertised as a 21% saving on yearly. No free plan or trial is listed.
Plus, $19/month billed monthly, positioned for everyday productivity: 100+ AI models, web search with AI, chat with images and documents, standard support.
Pro, $49/month billed monthly, positioned as the most capable tier: everything in Plus, 3x higher usage limits, expanded file storage, priority support. Shortly AI does not publish the underlying usage-limit numbers, and the yearly dollar amounts do not render on the pricing page.
Historical pricing for the retired ShortlyAI writer, no longer available. Annual Plan $65/month and Monthly Plan $79/month, both flat-rate with unlimited credits, unlimited generations, a distraction-free editor, /write /instruct /rewrite commands, document export, and no overage fees. A short free trial was offered before committing. These plans cannot be purchased any more.
Key Features
What shortlyai.com offers today (Shortly AI chat), verified 2 August 2026:
- Chat interface with access to 100+ AI models
- Web search inside the assistant
- Chat over uploaded images and documents
- Pro tier advertised at 3x the usage limits of Plus, with expanded file storage
- Monthly or yearly billing, yearly advertised as a 21% saving
What the retired ShortlyAI writer offered (no longer available):
- Distraction-free long-form document editor
- Unlimited AI generations with no word credits
- Three simple commands: /write, /instruct, /rewrite
- No templates, clean blank-page workflow
- Document history and revision tracking
- Export to common formats (PDF, Word, plain text)
- Free trial available before commitment
- Flat-rate monthly or annual billing
Pros & Cons
These apply to the retired ShortlyAI long-form writer, not to the Shortly AI chat app that occupies the domain today.
Pros
- Unlimited generations at a flat monthly rate
- Minimalist interface removes distractions from writing
- Simple command system (/write, /instruct, /rewrite) is easy to learn
- No word credits means you never interrupt flow to check usage
Cons
- Underlying models are older than frontier LLMs in newer tools
- No templates, SEO grader, or marketing-focused features
- Retired: the $65 to $79 per month plans can no longer be bought at all
FAQ
Is ShortlyAI still available in 2026?
No. Checked on 2 August 2026, the ShortlyAI long-form writing tool is retired. The shortlyai.com domain is live but serves a different product, a multi-model AI chat app branded Shortly AI with 100+ models, web search, and chat over images and documents. The minimalist document editor, the /write, /instruct, and /rewrite commands, and the flat-rate unlimited plan are all gone. If you want that specific distraction-free long-form workflow, use a dedicated long-form editor such as Lex instead.
Does ShortlyAI have a free plan?
The current Shortly AI pricing page lists no free plan and no trial, only two paid tiers: Plus at $19/month and Pro at $49/month, both billed monthly. Yearly billing is advertised as a 21% saving, though the yearly dollar amounts do not render on the page. The retired ShortlyAI writer offered a short free trial and then a $65/mo annual plan or a $79/mo monthly plan; neither can be purchased any more. For a long-form writing tool with a free tier, see Lex.
ShortlyAI vs Jasper, which is better?
This comparison no longer applies as written, because the ShortlyAI writing product was retired. When both existed, Jasper won on features, templates, team collaboration, brand voice control, and advanced AI models, while ShortlyAI won on simplicity, a distraction-free writing environment, and unlimited flat-rate pricing. Today the shortlyai.com domain sells a general multi-model chat app rather than a marketing writing platform, so if you are choosing a long-form writing tool, compare Jasper against Lex or another dedicated editor instead.
How does the /write command work?
It no longer exists. In the retired ShortlyAI editor you typed "/write" and the tool continued your text in the direction you had been going, usually producing 1-3 paragraphs of new content. /instruct took a specific instruction ("/instruct write a paragraph about X from the perspective of Y") and /rewrite rephrased selected text. Those three commands were the entire core workflow. The current Shortly AI product is a chat interface over 100+ models, so there are no slash commands.
What kind of writing was ShortlyAI best for?
The retired ShortlyAI editor was designed for long-form writing: novels, short stories, blog posts, essays, non-fiction books, journaling, and creative writing. It performed well on narrative and descriptive text where the model could follow established tone and context. It was less useful for short-form marketing copy (ads, emails, social), SEO-optimized blog content with specific keyword targets, or technical documentation requiring accuracy. The current Shortly AI chat app is a general-purpose assistant rather than a long-form drafting environment.
Are there any word limits or hidden caps?
The old flat-rate unlimited promise went away with the product. The retired ShortlyAI plan really was uncapped, with no overage fees, soft caps, or throttling, and that was the main reason heavy drafters picked it. The current Shortly AI tiers are explicitly differentiated by usage: Pro is advertised as offering 3x higher usage limits than Plus, along with expanded file storage and priority support, which means Plus has a ceiling. Shortly AI does not publish the specific limit numbers on its pricing page.
Which AI models does shortlyai.com use now?
The current Shortly AI app advertises access to 100+ AI models rather than a single fixed model, and does not name a default model on its pricing or home page. This is a change from the retired ShortlyAI writer, which ran on a single undisclosed GPT-based configuration that lagged the frontier models used by competitors.
📋 Good to know
No longer applicable. shortlyai.com now opens a chat app, not a document editor, and there is no free trial or slash-command workflow to set up.
Our May 2026 note read "content is private to your account, no training on user content, exports available anytime". That referred to the retired writing product, and we could not re-confirm it against the current Shortly AI chat app, which publishes only a Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Treat it as unverified.
The old single-tier choice is gone. On the current Shortly AI chat app the step is Plus to Pro, which buys 3x the usage limits, expanded file storage, and priority support for $49/mo billed monthly.
The retired writer was very low: three commands and a blank page, productive within minutes. The chat app that replaced it is a conventional model-picker chat interface.
