I spent 20+ years reading student papers. Formatting kept getting in the way.

I'm Dr. Kyle Griffith, founder of Formatr.

I've spent over two decades in academia across the US, UK, and Europe: teaching, supervising students, grading assignments, and publishing research.

Students could do the research, make a strong argument, and spend weeks getting a paper right, then lose marks at the final hurdle: a citation, a reference, a spacing rule. After 20+ years on the other side of the submission process, I know how much those details matter, and how little anyone wants to spend an evening checking them by hand.
-Dr. Kyle Griffith, assistant professor, and founder of Formatr

The tools students already use weren't built for this

Students have more writing tools than ever, but academic formatting is still surprisingly manual. Word and Google Docs help you write. Reference managers have their own learning curve. Grammarly focuses on writing, not formatting. ChatGPT can answer formatting questions, but it also produces references that don't exist.

None of them let a student upload a paper they'd already written and see exactly what needed attention before submitting it. So, in 2025, I launched Formatr.

Keep your paper. Check the details.

Formatr is built around a simple idea: you shouldn't have to change how you write just to check how your work is formatted. Write your paper wherever you normally write it, then upload the draft when you're ready to submit.

Formatr checks your formatting, structure, citations, and references against the style you're using, then gives you a detailed error report showing what needs attention. You decide what to change, and fix it knowing exactly where you stand.

Your ideas and your writing stay yours, always. Formatr handles the checking.

Try it free →

Built from academic experience, improved by students

I started Formatr with 20+ years of academic experience behind me, but I didn't want to assume I knew exactly what students needed. So we've kept listening.

Since launching in 2025, Formatr has reached 15,000 installs, with real student feedback helping shape how the platform works. That feedback has informed a major UX and UI refresh designed to make checking a paper simpler, clearer, and easier to fit into how students already work.

The goal hasn't changed. I want you to reach the end of a paper, run one final check, and know exactly what still needs fixing before you hit submit.

Dr. Kyle Griffith

Founder, Formatr