Grid Genius vs Crossword Compiler: Which One Do You Need?

Crossword Compiler is software for constructing crosswords. Grid Genius is an app for making and sharing them. That one difference decides most cases.

If you fill themed grids for newspapers and want the best fill tools, buy Crossword Compiler; it runs on Windows. If you want a finished, playable puzzle from a word list or a topic, on any device, Grid Genius does that for free. The rest of this page shows where the line falls. Grid Genius is our product, so we lay out its limits as plainly as Crossword Compiler's.

How we checked. Crossword Compiler facts and prices come from crossword-compiler.com in US dollars, checked November 4, 2026. Grid Genius facts come from our own product as it works today.

The two at a glance

What Crossword Compiler is

Crossword Compiler is a Windows program from WordWeb Software. Its latest version, 11.52, came out on November 3, 2026, so it is actively maintained. The developer's homepage says most puzzles for the New York Times and other publications are made with help from it.

Its strength is the fill. You place black squares (or let the pattern generator suggest a grid), lock in your theme entries, and autofill completes the rest from word lists you can score and edit in place. Grid Insight works in the background and flags duplicate words and areas that cannot be filled. The Professional Grid Filler, sold in the Pro Bundle, runs a multithreaded search, can list the 10 or 100 best-scoring fills, and analyzes each candidate word before you commit to it.

Pricing, from its US ordering pages on November 4, 2026:

• Subscription: Basic $29 a year, Pro Bundle $78 a year (adds the Professional Grid Filler, the WordWeb Pro dictionary and extra word lists), Business $300 a year.
• One-time: the program alone $65, the Professional Bundle $189, each with a year of minor updates.
• Demo: free to download. It includes only a few sample word lists and installs for one user.
• AI tokens: each subscription year includes a fixed AI quota; extra tokens cost $25 per million.

What Grid Genius is

Grid Genius makes crosswords for people who are not constructors, and lets anyone solve them. There are three ways in:

• Word list. The free Word List Builder takes your words and clues, one pair per line, and lays out a numbered grid. A dash, colon, tab or equals sign separates word from clue, and multi-word answers close up (ice cream fills as ICECREAM).
• Freeform. The Freeform Editor lets you type letters square by square when you want a specific shape.
• AI from a topic. Type a topic and AI builds the complete puzzle: the words, the clues and the grid. A free account includes 3 AI puzzles to start.

Both website makers work without an account. They export .puz, .ipuz and .jpz files, and print a worksheet with Name and Date lines plus a separate answer key. Saved puzzles get a link that solvers open in a browser or the app. When a solver gets stuck, AI Hints rephrase the clue or add a related fact, each one a little more helpful than the last, instead of revealing letters. Our guide to making a word list crossword walks through the first route.

Four jobs, and which tool fits

A themed 15x15 for a newspaper submission

Use Crossword Compiler. This is the job it was built for: symmetric black squares, theme entries locked in place, autofill that prefers high-scoring words, and a quick-set button that applies review and submission settings. Grid Genius cannot do this. It places your words where they fit, so you cannot set a pattern or ask it to fill the gaps with good entries. If you are on a Mac or not ready to pay, start with a free constructor such as Crosshare or Exet, both covered in our Crossword Compiler alternatives roundup.

A vocabulary puzzle for Friday's class

Use Grid Genius. Paste the list, download the worksheet and key, and share a link if students should solve on Chromebooks. Crossword Compiler can make freeform vocabulary puzzles too, and it sells teacher network licenses, but you would be installing Windows construction software to do a job a browser does for free. Write a backup hint for any word and a stuck student sees your second clue before any AI help. See backup hints for how that works.

A puzzle about a person or a topic, with no word list

Use Grid Genius. Type a topic, such as "Jane Austen novels" or "our trip to Lisbon," and AI drafts the whole puzzle for you to edit. For a birthday or anniversary, the personalized crossword maker takes a few facts about someone and writes the clues. Crossword Compiler's AI helps with parts of this (a theme word list, simple clues), but you still build and fill the grid yourself.

Sharing a puzzle you already built

Use both. Export a .puz from Crossword Compiler and import it into the Grid Genius website maker. From there you can print it, or share it as a link that friends solve on their phones, with AI Hints if they get stuck. Imported puzzles start out private to you: to share one, you sign in and confirm that you made it or have the right to share it. Two limits apply: grids must be square, and rebus squares do not import. Crossword Compiler has its own route too: a solving applet licensed for one website, and uploads to its crossword.info account.

Where Crossword Compiler is better

• Fill quality. Scored word lists, autofill, Grid Insight and the Pro filler are what professional fill is made with. Grid Genius has no equivalent.
• Puzzle range. Cryptic, barred, coded, clues-in-squares and shaped grids, plus word searches and sudoku. Grid Genius makes square crosswords only.
• Rebus and big grids. Crossword Compiler handles multi-letter squares. Grid Genius holds one letter per square and tops out at 15x15.
• Publishing workflow. Review and submission settings, Oxford, Chambers and Collins dictionaries and lists on the Business plan, and a custom-brandable web applet.

Where Grid Genius is better

• No install, any device. It runs in a browser on a Mac, a Chromebook or a phone, and in the iOS and Android apps.
• A puzzle from nothing but a topic. AI writes the words, the clues and the grid.
• Solving built in. Every saved puzzle is a link, solvers need no account, and AI Hints help without spoiling the answer.
• Free for the common jobs. Word lists, freeform grids, printouts, answer keys and .puz export cost nothing.
• Classroom extras. Backup hints, an AI clue writer for bare word lists, and, on Pro, class sets of 2 or 4 shuffled versions with their own keys.

The verdict

Many constructors will want both: Crossword Compiler to build, Grid Genius to put a puzzle in front of people who have never opened a .puz file.

Frequently asked questions