Best Website Translation Software Compared

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Disclosure: ConveyThis publishes this page, and ConveyThis is one of the products compared here. We have tried to apply the same criteria to every tool, link each competitor fact to the vendor’s own page, and keep our opinions clearly labeled. How we compare products is described on our comparison methodology page, and one-to-one comparisons are collected on our alternatives page. Competitor details were checked in September 2026; vendors change plans often, so confirm on their sites before you buy.

There is no single best website translation software. The right tool depends on how your site is built, who will review translations, how much you care about search traffic in other languages, and how your costs will grow. Hosted services such as ConveyThis, Weglot, and GTranslate’s paid plans work on almost any platform and are quick to launch. WordPress-native plugins such as WPML, Polylang, and TranslatePress keep translations inside your own WordPress site. Developer libraries such as i18next suit teams that write and ship their own translation files.

This guide compares these options on five criteria, then suggests which kind of buyer each one fits.

The five criteria we use

We score every product on the same five questions. They match our published comparison methodology.

1. Website deployment. How much effort it takes to launch, which platforms it works on, how translated pages are delivered (separate URLs or not), and how visitors switch language.
2. Localization workflow. Whether you can edit machine output, keep terminology consistent with a glossary, reuse past translations, bring in translators or teammates, and move translations in or out.
3. Multilingual SEO. Whether each language gets its own indexable URL, whether metadata and page slugs can be translated, and whether hreflang tags are handled for you.
4. Cost model. Not just the entry price, but what the bill scales with: words, languages, sites, translation credits, or nothing at all.
5. Governance and support. Team permissions, who holds the translations if you stop paying, and what support and updates the plan includes.

Product facts below come from each vendor’s own pages, linked where we state them. Anything marked “Our take” is ConveyThis’s analysis.

Quick comparison

Products are grouped by type (hosted services, WordPress plugins, developer libraries), not ranked. This table summarizes what each vendor’s own pages said in September 2026. It shows the pricing model rather than a full price list, because prices change more often than models do.

Weglot

Verifiable facts (pricing, integrations, checked September 2026). Weglot is a hosted service with a free tier and paid tiers from Starter to Extended, plus Enterprise. Plans are priced in euros, and yearly billing gives two months free. Each plan is limited by translated words, languages, team members, and projects. Weglot counts the total unique words translated across all your languages, and its pricing page describes that as a fixed limit that does not renew. Paid plans come with 14 free days. Weglot lists 50+ integrations, including a WordPress plugin, a Shopify app, and a general JavaScript option, and states it is “compatible with all website technologies.” SEO features on the pricing page include subdirectories or subdomains, translated URLs, and hreflang, with a separate top-level domain on higher plans. It also offers glossary rules, editing of translations, and access to professional translators on Business plans and above.

Our take. Weglot is the closest like-for-like alternative to ConveyThis: same hosted approach, similar platform coverage, similar word-and-language plans. Compare how words are counted and how many languages and team members each tier includes. Our detailed comparison is at Weglot vs ConveyThis.

GTranslate

Verifiable facts (gtranslate.io, checked September 2026). GTranslate has a free version that adds a language selector and translates pages in the browser with JavaScript. GTranslate itself says that in the free version “translated pages do not have separate URLs, so they are not indexed” by search engines. Paid plans work as a hosted translation delivery network. They add separate, indexable URLs on subdomains, subdirectories, or country domains, plus translation editing. The pricing section lists four paid tiers, monthly or yearly, with AI translation and unlimited words and pageviews. URL translation starts on the Business plan and language hosting on the Enterprise plan. Paid plans include a 15-day trial.

Our take. The free version gives visitors a readable translation but does nothing for search traffic in other languages. The paid tiers, which don’t scale with words, are attractive for large sites; check which tier you need for URL translation and hosted languages. More detail: GTranslate vs ConveyThis.

ConveyThis

Verifiable facts. ConveyThis is a hosted website translation service founded in 2008. It supports 210 languages and has 35 integrations, including a WordPress plugin, a Shopify app, and a JavaScript option for any other website. Translated pages can be served from subfolders, subdomains, or a ?lang parameter, with second-level domains available on the Extreme plan. Hreflang tags are added automatically, and meta tags and JSON-LD structured data are translated. The workflow tools are a visual editor, glossary, translation memory, team roles, and CSV/TMX import, which is useful if you are moving existing translations over from another service. There is also an MCP server for AI agents.

Plans are limited by translated words, number of languages, and number of sites. The Free plan covers 5,000 words, 1 language, and 1 site. Paid plans start with Starter at $12 a month and go up through Business ($24, 100,000 words, 3 languages) to Extreme, with Enterprise priced on request. Yearly billing costs ten times the monthly price. Starter is $12 a month. Words are counted only when translated content is shown to visitors, and bot traffic doesn’t count. The full table is on the pricing page.

On review sites, as of September 2026, ConveyThis has 4.8/5 on Capterra from 36 reviews and 3.9/5 on G2 from 16 reviews. The WordPress.org plugin has 4.4/5 from 145 ratings and 1,000+ active installs.

Our take. ConveyThis fits sites that are not on WordPress, or that run on several platforms, and teams that want to launch quickly and still keep SEO basics like separate language URLs and hreflang. The tradeoffs are real. Plans are word-based, so a large catalog or a site with many languages moves up the tiers faster than a small brochure site does. Language counts are capped per plan, so adding a fourth or sixth language can mean a plan change. The two review scores also point in different directions: Capterra is strong, while G2 is middling on a small number of reviews. Read recent reviews on both before you decide. As with every hosted service, your translated pages depend on the subscription staying active, although CSV/TMX export and import lowers the lock-in.

WPML

Verifiable facts (pricing, product page, checked September 2026). WPML is a WordPress plugin sold as a yearly license. It has three tiers, Multilingual Blog, Multilingual CMS, and Multilingual Agency, which differ mainly in the number of production sites (one, three, or unlimited). The two higher tiers include a set amount of AI translation words, and you can choose between WPML’s own engine, DeepL, Google Translate, or Microsoft Translator. All plans include support and updates for a year. WPML’s product page describes an Advanced Translation Editor that integrates with translation agencies, control over URL structure, SEO meta per translation, per-language sitemaps, and full WooCommerce integration covering products, checkout, and automated emails.

Our take. WPML suits WordPress sites with complex content, WooCommerce stores, and agencies running many client sites, especially where translations must live in the WordPress database. The cost of that control is setup and maintenance time, and it only covers WordPress. More detail: WPML vs ConveyThis.

Polylang

Verifiable facts (pricing, checked September 2026). Polylang has a free plugin on WordPress.org. Polylang Pro is a yearly license and adds translated URL slugs, DeepL machine translation inside the editor, content duplication when you create a translation, and synchronized posts. WooCommerce support is a separate add-on, and a Business Pack bundles both. Pro includes a year of updates and premium support.

Our take. Polylang is a good fit for WordPress site owners who are happy to translate content post by post, or who want a free starting point. It is a manual-first workflow. Machine translation is available in Pro, but the model is still “one translated copy of each post,” so large sites need editorial time. More detail: Polylang vs ConveyThis.

TranslatePress

Verifiable facts (product page, pricing, checked September 2026). TranslatePress is a WordPress plugin with a free version and yearly paid plans that differ by number of sites and a yearly allowance of AI-translated words. It lets you translate “visually, from the front-end.” Its SEO features cover page slugs, titles, descriptions, social graph tags, the HTML lang attribute, and multilingual sitemaps for common SEO plugins. Translator accounts, a domain per language, and a DeepL add-on come with the Business plan. It also integrates with Google Translate and DeepL, for which you supply your own API keys. TranslatePress describes itself as GPL and self-hosted, and says translations keep working if your license expires. It also sells extra AI word packages and offers a 15-day refund.

Our take. TranslatePress is the WordPress plugin closest in feel to a hosted visual editor, while keeping translations in your own database. It is a strong pick for WordPress-only sites that want visual editing and ownership of their data. More detail: TranslatePress vs ConveyThis.

Developer i18n libraries (and the old jQuery plugins)

Older lists of “jQuery translation plugins” named tools like jsperanto, jQuery.tr, jTextTranslate, and SundayMorning. Most are small projects with no active development for years, and the on-the-fly ones depended on free translation APIs of that era. We would not start a new project with them.

The dictionary approach lives on in maintained libraries. i18next is a current example. It is an open-source internationalization framework for JavaScript with support for vanilla JS, React, Angular, Vue, and jQuery (through jquery-i18next), among others. It handles language detection, loading translation files, plurals, and formatting. It does not translate anything for you. Your team writes or orders the translations and keeps the files up to date.

Our take. A library like this suits a web application where interface strings live in code and translations ship with releases. It is usually the wrong choice for a marketing site or store run by non-developers, since every text change needs a developer. Teams with large string catalogs often pair a library with a localization platform; see our comparisons with Lokalise and Transifex.

Criterion by criterion

Website deployment

Hosted services (ConveyThis, Weglot, GTranslate paid) work across platforms, so one account can cover a Shopify store, a Webflow landing site, and a WordPress blog. The WordPress plugins only work on WordPress, but integrate more deeply with posts, custom fields, and WooCommerce. Developer libraries need a developer for every change.

Check one thing on any shortlist: does each language get its own URL? GTranslate’s own documentation is clear that its free, browser-only version does not create separate URLs. The same limit applies to any “translate in the browser” widget, including browser translation features. Google’s old free website translator snippet is no longer offered to new sites; Google points site owners to the Cloud Translation API instead. Our Google Translate widget alternatives guide covers that in more detail.

Localization workflow

Every tool here can produce a machine translation. The difference is what happens next. Look for:

• Editing in context. ConveyThis and TranslatePress offer visual, on-page editing, and Weglot includes translation editing on all plans. WPML and Polylang work mostly inside the WordPress editor.
• Terminology control. ConveyThis and Weglot have glossaries. On other tools, check the vendor’s documentation.
• People. Team roles (ConveyThis), team member limits (Weglot), translator accounts (TranslatePress Business), or agency integration (WPML).

For when machine output is good enough and when to bring in people, see human vs machine translation.

Multilingual SEO

For search traffic in other languages you need three things: a separate, crawlable URL per language, translated metadata, and correct hreflang annotations. All the paid hosted plans and WordPress plugins compared here offer separate language URLs. Translated slugs vary by tool and by plan: GTranslate adds URL translation from its Business plan, Polylang with Pro, and TranslatePress and Weglot list it on their pages. See our multilingual SEO page and hreflang guide for detail.

One honest caveat for every tool: machine-translated pages are not penalized just for being machine-translated, but Google does care about low-value content published at scale. Reviewing your most important pages, starting with the ones that bring in traffic or sales, matters more than which tool produced the first draft. Our multilingual SEO tips go into this.

Cost model

The billing unit decides how your cost grows:

• Translated words (ConveyThis, Weglot). Cost grows with content size and number of languages. Weglot counts unique words as a fixed total. ConveyThis counts words when translated content is shown to visitors, excluding bots. Either way, estimate your word count times your languages before choosing a tier.
• Sites, billed yearly (WPML, Polylang Pro, TranslatePress). Cost grows with the number of sites, plus any machine translation beyond the included allowance or your own API bills.
• Flat plans without word limits (GTranslate paid). Cost grows with the features you need, such as URL translation or hosted languages.
• Developer time (i18next and similar). The library is free; the translations and maintenance are not.

To estimate your own total, see how much it costs to translate a website.

Governance and support

Ask who can change a translation, and who owns the translations if you leave. The WordPress plugins store translations in your own database, and TranslatePress explicitly says they keep working after a license expires. Hosted services serve translations while you subscribe, so ask any hosted vendor, us included, how you would export your translations before you commit. ConveyThis supports CSV/TMX import for moving translations in. On support, WPML and Polylang Pro state that a year of support and updates is included with the license. For hosted services, check support terms on the vendor’s own site.

Which tool fits which buyer

This section is our analysis, based on the facts above.

• Your site is not on WordPress, or you run several platforms. Shortlist hosted services: ConveyThis, Weglot, and GTranslate’s paid plans. Compare word counting, language caps per tier, and whether you need translated URLs.
• You run a large site where word counts would be expensive. Look closely at pricing that does not scale with words (GTranslate paid) or with site-based licenses (WordPress plugins), and weigh that against the editing and SEO features you need.
• You are on WordPress and want translations in your own database. Look at TranslatePress for visual editing, WPML for complex sites, WooCommerce, and agency work, and Polylang for a free, manual-first start. Our WordPress translation guide walks through the options.
• You run a Shopify store. Compare Shopify’s own options with apps; see adding multiple languages to Shopify and Shopify Translate & Adapt vs ConveyThis.
• You only need visitors to read the page, and SEO in other languages doesn’t matter. A free browser-based widget can be enough, but its translations won’t be indexed.
• You build a web app and translations go through code releases. Use an i18n library such as i18next, often with a localization platform.
• You want a quick launch on any platform with SEO basics built in, and your content fits a word-based plan. That is where ConveyThis is strongest. Check your word count and language needs against the pricing page first, and read recent reviews on both Capterra and G2.

How to choose in practice

Write down your platforms, languages, rough word count, and whether search traffic in those languages matters. Drop any tool that doesn’t run on your platform, or that doesn’t give each language its own URL if SEO matters. Estimate cost with each vendor’s billing unit, then trial your top two on real pages: edit a few translations, add a glossary term, and view the page source to confirm the language URLs and hreflang tags are there. Finally, ask how you would get your translations out if you switched later.

If you want the step-by-step version of launching, see how to translate an entire website. If you spot an error in this comparison, our editorial policy explains how to report it and how we correct it.