You have a great website, but it only speaks one language? In our globalized world, that's a no-go! If you really want to reach an international audience, you need to be multilingual. But don't worry, you don't have to become a translation genius to achieve this. The solution is easier than you think: API interfaces for translations that can translate entire websites with little effort.
In this article, I'll give you an overview of 10 translation providers that can make your life easier. I'll take a look at their pros and cons, what they cost and what cool features they have. This way, you can make the best decision for your project without getting lost in the translation jungle.
Table of contents
Commercial translators at a glance
This table gives you an overview of the best commercial providers. Further down, I also present translation models that you can install completely on your server yourself and thus have lower costs for large projects (except for the complete setup, of course).
| Name | Advantages | Disadvantages | Languages | HTML | Costs | API price URL |
| DeepL | - high quality - data protection - 500,000 characters free per month - glossary | - does not support as many languages - Support is often slow to respond | 30+ | yes | 20,00 € per 1 million characters (500.000 per month free) | About |
| Google Translate | - over 130 languages - automatic speech recognition - glossary | - privacy concerns | 130+ | yes | 20 $ per 1 million characters (500,000 per month free) | About |
| Microsoft Translator | - price - automatic speech recognition - glossary | - Quality is better from e.g. Google/DeepL | 129 | Yes | 10 $ per one million characters | About |
| Amazon Translate | - high quality - free entry - glossary | - AWS account required | 75 | Yes | $15 per million characters (2 million characters per month for 12 months for non HTML translations) | About |
| Yandex Translate | - 100 languages - Glossary | - Quality of translations not always good - Data protection concerns (from Russia) | 100 | Yes | 15 $ per 1 million characters (for less than 50 million characters; if a lot is to be translated, the price can go down to 6 $) | About |
| MyMemory | - very large database - easy use of the API interface | - Quality of translations not always good | 150 | no | 299 $ for 500,000 words per month (10,000 words per month free or 5000 characters per day free) | About |
| PROMT.One Online Translator | - Specialized translations | - Only a few languages - Quality of translations not always good | 20+ | yes | no information | info |
| iTranslate | - versatile functions - user-friendliness | - Quality of translations not always good | 50+ | yes | 15 $ per 1 million characters | About |
| NLP Translation | - very many languages - very cheap | - test only possible with (free) subscription - sometimes offline according to comments | 110+ | yes | 10 $ per 15 million characters | About |
| Deep Translate | - very many languages - extremely cheap | - no documentation | 100+ | yes | 9 $ for 10 million characters / 49 $ for 100 million characters / 199$ for 1 billion characters | About |
| Albit Translator | - very many languages - extremely cheap | - good translation quality and very fast | 110+ | Yes | 9.99 $ for 200,000 requests, 49.99 $ for 2 million requests and 149.99 $ for 10 million requests. | Info |
| Lecto Translation API | - very inexpensive - simple API | - no online demo | 90+ | yes | 29.90 $ for 10 million characters or e.g. 75 million characters for 59 $ per month | Info |
The HTML column indicates whether the translation API can also translate HTML directly. This is always important if, for example, formatting is contained in the text, which of course must not be lost after translation. Such as in this blog article you are currently reading.
You can find many more paid API translation tools in this list.
Free translators at a glance
This table provides an overview of the best free providers. Keep in mind, however, that most of them require their own server and knowledge of Linux.
| Name | Advantages | Disadvantages | Languages | HTML | costs | API URL |
| LibreTranslate | - Very simple API - very good documentation - simple server is sufficient | - not all languages are completely translated perfectly (quality similar to Google 4 years ago) - does not support glossaries | 30+ | yes | free (install on own server) or as cloud version 29 $ per month (80 transactions per minute) | Info / Live-Demo / YouTube |
| Seamless from Meta | - over 100 languages - over 30 as audio output | - is brand new and still has various quality errors - no HTML translation - the server should have a good AI graphics card, otherwise the translation is much too slow - does not support glossaries | 100+ | no | free of charge (install on your own server) | Info |
We are currently in the process of having TutKit.com translated into several languages. We have not yet completely decided on a tool. We would prefer to use DeepL, but with the massive number of characters we have, it costs quite a lot if we really want to offer it in more than just 2 languages. That's why we are currently looking for inexpensive alternatives that are just as good. If you read this post and have a recommendation, feel free to write to me at info@tutkit.com.