How it works

Enter who you are, who you're recommending, how you know them and for how long, what they're applying for, and two or three real examples of their work.
Pick the type of letter and how strong a recommendation you want to give, then click Write the letter.
Read it carefully, fill in any [placeholders], change anything that doesn't sound like you, and sign it. The letter is in your name, so every sentence should be true.

Examples

Sample results for the inputs shown, so you can see the format and quality before you try it.

Example 1: input

About you, the person and your examples: I'm Dana Ruiz, Engineering Manager at Ledgerly. Recommending Sam Patel, who reported to me for 3 years (2023-2026) as a backend engineer. Examples: led our migration from a monolith to a separate payments service with zero downtime; mentored 2 junior engineers who both got promoted; wrote the on-call runbook the whole team uses. He's applying for senior backend engineer roles.

Type of letter: Job reference letter

How strong a recommendation? Strong: among the best I've worked with

Example 1: output

[Date] Dear Hiring Manager, I'm Dana Ruiz, Engineering Manager at Ledgerly. Sam Patel reported to me as a backend engineer from 2023 to 2026, and I'm writing to recommend him for a senior backend engineering role. Sam led our migration from a monolith to a separate payments service, and we completed it with zero downtime. A move like that touches every part of the system, and Sam planned and led it from start to finish. He also makes the people around him better. He mentored two junior engineers during his time on my team, and both were promoted. He wrote the on-call runbook that our whole team still uses, which means his judgment shows up even when he isn't the one on call. Sam is one of the strongest backend engineers I've managed. He's ready for a senior role, and I recommend him without reservation. I'm glad to talk with you about his work. Sincerely, Dana Ruiz Engineering Manager, Ledgerly [email or phone]

Example 2: input

About you, the person and your examples: I managed Priya Shah for 18 months on the marketing team at Brightside Health. She ran our email program: grew the list from 12k to 30k and rebuilt our onboarding emails. Great at writing and really organized. Write a LinkedIn recommendation.

Type of letter: LinkedIn recommendation

How strong a recommendation? Solid and positive

Example 2: output

I managed Priya for 18 months on the marketing team at Brightside Health, where she ran our email program. She grew our list from 12,000 to 30,000 subscribers and rebuilt our onboarding emails from scratch. Priya writes clearly and keeps complex projects organized, which is why I could hand her the whole program and trust it would run well. Any team that needs someone to own email marketing would be lucky to have her.

Example 3: input

About you, the person and your examples: I'm Professor Alan Brooks, Department of Economics, State University. Maya Chen took my Econometrics course (fall 2025, A grade) and was my research assistant for one semester, where she cleaned a 2 million row labor survey dataset and found a coding error in a published variable. She's applying to PhD programs in economics.

Type of letter: Graduate school recommendation

How strong a recommendation? Strong: among the best I've worked with

Example 3: output

[Date] Dear Admissions Committee, I'm Alan Brooks, Professor in the Department of Economics at State University. I'm writing to recommend Maya Chen for admission to your PhD program in economics. Maya took my Econometrics course in fall 2025, where she earned an A, and she worked as my research assistant for one semester. As my research assistant, Maya cleaned a labor survey dataset of about 2 million rows. In the process, she found a coding error in a published variable, the kind of problem that careful, skeptical work catches and routine cleaning misses. She did this on her own initiative, which is the habit I look for in a future researcher. In Econometrics, Maya's performance matched what I saw in the research work: she understood not just how the methods work but when they can mislead. Maya is among the strongest students I have worked with, and I recommend her for doctoral study in economics. I'd be glad to answer any questions about her work. Sincerely, Alan Brooks Professor, Department of Economics State University [email or phone]

Tips for better results

Give specific examples with results. "Led the payments migration with zero downtime" is what makes a reader believe the letter.
Match the examples to the role. For a senior engineering job, lead with technical leadership; for grad school, with independent research.
Choose Brief and factual if you didn't work closely with the person. An honest short letter serves them better than a vague long one.
If someone asks you to write your own recommendation for them to sign, use this to draft it, then send it to them to review and edit.

FAQ

Is this recommendation letter generator free?

Yes. Enter your email once to use it (you'll also get Something Big, our free weekly AI newsletter, and you can unsubscribe anytime). There's no account and no credit card.

What's the difference between a reference letter and a recommendation letter?

People use the terms interchangeably. A recommendation letter usually supports a specific application, such as a job or a graduate program, while a reference letter can be more general. Pick the type that matches where the letter is going.

Will it make up stories about the person?

No. It builds the letter only from the examples you give and leaves [placeholders] for missing facts. A letter with invented anecdotes can hurt the person if a reader checks, so give it real examples.

Can I use it for a LinkedIn recommendation?

Yes. Choose LinkedIn recommendation and you get 60 to 120 words in first person, ready to paste into LinkedIn.

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