Stand-alone or standalone?
stand-alone is an adjective meaning “Operating, functioning, or existing without additions or assistance…”; standalone is an adjective meaning “Alternative form of stand-alone”. stand-alone is written with a hyphen and standalone as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between stand-alone and standalone?
| stand-alone | standalone | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | Operating, functioning, or existing without additions or assistance; independent; able to be separate or separated; not attached to anything Not part of a series, or not requiring familiarity with that series Something that is not a part of some series or sequence | Alternative form of stand-alone |
| Example | They offer an inexpensive add-on for a computer, or a stand-alone system with all the functions built in | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈstænd əˌləʊn/ [ˈstænd‿əˌləʊn] /ˈstænd əˌloʊn/ | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 2.5 times per million words |
Sources: stand-alone and standalone in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of stand-alone and standalone
stand-alone
- 1
Operating, functioning, or existing without additions or assistance; independent; able to be separate or separated; not attached to anything
They offer an inexpensive add-on for a computer, or a stand-alone system with all the functions built in
- 2
Something that is not a part of some series or sequence
Near-synonym: one-off
- 3
Not part of a series, or not requiring familiarity with that series
a stand-alone sequel
standalone
- 1
Alternative form of stand-alone
- 2
Alternative form of stand-alone
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, stand-alone or standalone?
stand-alone is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; standalone 2.5 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search stand-alone vs standalone?
“stand-alone vs standalone” is searched about 210 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“standalone vs stand-alone”, “stand-alone or standalone”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.