PERRLA has formatted student papers since 1998.

A small company, a rule engine written and tested by people, and a support team that answers every day until 10 PM Central. PERRLA formats the paper you write in APA, MLA, and Turabian, and it never writes a word of it.

The name is a medical acronym: Pupils Equal, Round, and Reactive to Light and Accommodation. It's pronounced pur-lah.

Try PERRLA free for 7 days How to reach us
PERRLAThe record
Document type
Software
Founded
1998
Formats
APA 7; MLA 9; Turabian 9
Works in
PERRLA Online; Microsoft Word; Google Docs; Chrome
Helped
1.5+ million students and faculty
Support
Every day: Mon to Fri 10 AM to 10 PM Central, weekends 1 to 10 PM
Leadership
Graysen Pack, CEO and Co-Owner; Joey Nixon, Co-Owner and CTO

It started with a pile of APA papers.

Our founder, Gary, was a nursing student tired of formatting them. He built a tool to make the process less painful, shared it with friends, and PERRLA was born.

That was 1998. Since then, PERRLA has helped more than 1.5 million students and faculty get through the worst part of paper writing and on to the next chapter. The tool grew into PERRLA Online, a Word add-in, a Google Docs add-on, and a Chrome extension, covering APA 7, MLA 9, and Turabian 9, with one library of references behind all of them.

The idea has not changed. The student writes the words. PERRLA handles every rule about how they appear on the page.

Then and now1998 to 2026
1998
A nursing student's tool for APA papers, shared among friends
Formats
APA 7, MLA 9, and Turabian 9, including real Turabian footnotes
Where
PERRLA Online, Microsoft Word on desktop and the web, Google Docs, and a Chrome extension on 85+ research databases
Sources
47 reference types, each with its own guided form, built from the real record when you look a source up
Students and faculty
1.5+ million helped
References built
2.4+ million in the past year
Rated in PERRLA
4.8 out of 5, from 1,600+ ratings

Human built. Human tested.

PERRLA's rule engine was written by people reading the manuals, and it is tested against them. The same input gives the same output every time. Nothing in it guesses.

AI reads, never writes. In one narrow spot, when you upload a PDF of an article, AI reads its first pages to help build the reference. It never puts a word in your paper, your paper is never sent to it, and we don't use your content to train AI. Papers written in PERRLA pass AI detectors with flying colors, because there's nothing artificial in them.

When you look up a source in PERRLA, the reference comes from the real record, like PubMed or the DOI, and PERRLA never makes one up. If it can't find the source, it says so and leaves the form open for you.

  • Every rule, from the manual. APA 7, MLA 9, and Turabian 9, title page to references, footnotes included.
  • 47 source types. Journal articles, books, government reports, legal sources, clinical references, interviews, scripture, and more, each with the form that source needs.
  • Never writes for you. The ideas and the sentences are the student's. By design.
  • Never invents a source. Look up a DOI, ISBN, or link and the reference comes from the published record.
  • Your content stays yours. Not sent to an AI service, not used to train anything.

What we promise.

The plain version of the terms, the ones you'd actually want to know before you pay.

  • Seven days free, every feature, no credit card. Write a real paper before you decide.
  • A 30-day refund on any purchase or renewal, for any reason. Email [email protected].
  • The price you see is the price you pay. Every plan includes every feature, every format, and every place PERRLA works.
  • We don't use your content to train AI. Your papers and references are yours.
  • Your work is still yours. If your subscription ends, your files are kept for at least 90 days, and you can sign in to download your references as a .bib file, your papers, and all of your files, zipped.
  • Support answers every day. Until 10 PM Central, by email, from a US-based team.

How to reach us.

Email is the fastest way, every day until 10 PM Central.

ContactPERRLA, LLC
Support
[email protected], Mon to Fri 10 AM to 10 PM Central, weekends 1 to 10 PM
Help Center
perrla.com/help, guides and walkthroughs for every platform
Schools
Institutional partnerships, a 15-minute call with the people who run PERRLA
Elsewhere
YouTube, LinkedIn

Questions about PERRLA, the company

Is PERRLA associated with APA, MLA, or the University of Chicago Press?
No. PERRLA is not associated with or endorsed by the American Psychological Association, the Modern Language Association, or the University of Chicago Press. PERRLA's rules are written and tested against their published manuals, APA 7, MLA 9, and Turabian 9.
Does PERRLA use AI?
In the software, in one narrow spot. When you upload a PDF of an article, AI reads its first pages to help build the reference. It never writes anything in your paper, your paper is never sent to it, and we don't use your content to train AI. Everything else in PERRLA is a rule engine people wrote.
How many people use PERRLA?
PERRLA has helped more than 1.5 million students and faculty since 1998, from first-semester nursing students to doctoral writers, plus the programs that license it for every student.
Who answers support?
Our US-based support team, by email, Monday to Friday 10 AM to 10 PM Central and weekends 1 to 10 PM Central. They also run the free live PERRLA 101 sessions four times a week. The Help Center has written guides for every platform.

You write the paper and PERRLA formats it.

Try PERRLA free for 7 daysSee how PERRLA works