---
title: "Edit rate"
canonical: https://replypen.com/glossary/edit-rate
description: "Edit rate is the share of AI-written drafts that a person changed before sending."
question: "What is edit rate for AI drafts?"
author: "ReplyPen team"
published: 2026-09-30
operator: ProBackup BV (Hasselt, Belgium)
---

# What is edit rate for AI drafts?

Edit rate is the share of AI-written drafts that a person changed before sending. It shows how often the drafts were not good enough as written. Read it together with what the edits were: fixing a wrong fact tells you much more than changing a greeting.

Edit rate is counted from what was actually sent. Drafts that were thrown away or never sent are
usually left out, or counted separately, so the number reflects replies that reached customers.

## Why it matters

Edit rate is useful because of the detail behind it. Grouping edits by kind points to the fix:

| Kind of edit | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Wrong or missing fact | A source is outdated, or missing entirely |
| Tone or length | The tool has not learned how you write yet |
| Answered the wrong question | The email was ambiguous, or the draft misread it |
| Personal touch | Fine; the draft was right, you made it yours |

A falling edit rate for one kind of email, over several weeks, is the best evidence that drafts for
that kind of email can be trusted more.

## An example

Out of forty drafts sent this week, ten were edited. Eight of those edits were small wording
changes; two corrected a delivery time that changed last month. The fix is to update the shipping
page, not to rewrite the tone.

The mirror image of edit rate is the [sent-unchanged rate](https://replypen.com/glossary/sent-unchanged-rate.md).

## Related

- [Sent-unchanged rate](https://replypen.com/glossary/sent-unchanged-rate.md): The sent-unchanged rate is the share of AI-written drafts sent to customers exactly as written, without a single edit.
- [Resolution rate](https://replypen.com/glossary/resolution-rate.md): A resolution rate is the share of customer conversations a support tool counts as resolved, often without a person getting involved.
- [Human in the loop](https://replypen.com/glossary/human-in-the-loop.md): Human in the loop means a person reviews and approves what an AI system produces before it takes effect.