In an increasingly interconnected world, accurate website translation has become a crucial factor in expanding global reach and delivering a seamless user experience. As website developers, you understand the significance of breaking down language barriers to engage with a diverse audience.
While Google Translate might be the first tool that comes to mind, there are alternative solutions that can offer better accuracy, customization, and overall user satisfaction.
Why look beyond Google Translate?
Google Translate, undoubtedly a pioneering translation tool, has its limitations. The translations provided by Google Translate can sometimes lack contextual accuracy and might not capture the nuanced meaning of content. Customization to match your brand’s tone and style can be challenging, potentially leading to an inconsistent user experience. Moreover, concerns over data privacy and security have been raised due to the nature of cloud-based translations.
Key criteria for effective website translation solutions
When considering alternatives to Google Translate, several key criteria should guide your decision:
- Accuracy: translations should accurately convey meaning while preserving context and cultural nuances.
- Customization: the ability to tailor translations to maintain your website’s voice and branding.
- SEO-friendliness: Translations need to be optimized for search engines in target languages.
- User experience: a seamless integration that ensures visitors have a smooth experience on your translated site.
- Security and privacy: ensuring that sensitive data and content are protected during the translation process.
Google Translate: advantages and disadvantages
While we are in the process of composing an article discussing substitute options for Google Translate, it remains our opinion that Google Translate stands as the most favorable translation service for the majority of users.
It boasts numerous substantial benefits:
- It boasts support for a broad spectrum of languages, surpassing the language coverage of nearly any other comparable tool. With more than 130 languages in its repertoire, the likelihood of finding the language pairing you require is quite high.
- Its translation accuracy is remarkably high. Although we will present one service that ranks above Google Translate, it is widely acknowledged that Google Translate consistently garners commendable reviews in the realm of automated translation. In essence, locating an alternative boasting superior translation accuracy proves to be a formidable task.
- The complimentary utilization of web browser and smartphone applications is at your disposal. Additionally, an API tailored for website translation is accessible with a cost-free usage tier;
- For end-users, it incorporates practical functionalities such as the capacity to interpret text embedded in images or facilitate voice-based conversations via translation.
However, a range of disadvantages exists which may lead one to consider alternative tools that are better suited for their specific circumstances:
- While Google Translate frequently maintains an impressive level of accuracy, there exist services that offer heightened precision for specific language combinations. This is particularly true in cases requiring nuanced understanding of context and local idiomatic expressions.
- Should financial constraints be a consideration and access to translation API services be necessary, there are alternatives available with more liberal cost-free usage tiers and more economical premium pricing. This notably emerges as a compelling motive to contemplate a substitute for Google Translate, as the cost associated with Google Translate places it within the higher price bracket.
5 best alternative to Google Translate for websites translation
Here are 5 recommendations for Google Translate alternatives to help translate website translations so that they become multilingual.
1. DeepL
DeepL is an excellent option for individuals who value accuracy in translation, especially when it comes to understanding context and local idioms, and can be considered the best alternative to Google Translate.
The DeepL service also provides an application programming interface (API) that can be utilized to translate websites automatically, as well as web- and application-based interfaces to translate text content or text files such as .docx or .pptx.
One of the main drawbacks that DeepL has is the limited choice of languages provided. While Google Translate has support for over 100 different languages, DeepL currently only supports 31+ languages, the full list of which can be found here. Nonetheless, the DeepL service can translate European languages well.
The cost of using the DeepL translation API is also around 25% higher compared to Google Translate.
2. Microsoft Translator
Microsoft Translator provides a variety of tools and applications focused on the general user. Microsoft Translator currently supports 129 languages, which is the highest number in this shortlist. While almost comparable to Google Translate, it’s a lot bigger than what DeepL offers.
The main advantage of Microsoft Translator compared to Google Translate is the cost aspect. If you plan to translate a website or app, Microsoft Translator provides more abundant free tiers and is also more economical if you need paid translation options.
In simple terms, the price advantages of the Microsoft Translator API include:
- Four times the capacity of monthly subtitles on the free tier.
- A paid translation fee that is half the cost of Google Translate.
- What’s more, Microsoft Translator offers additional discounts when the volume of words on order increases.
However, there are two main disadvantages of Microsoft Translator compared to Google Translate:
- Google Translate supports a few additional languages, although this may or may not be very relevant depending on the language pair you need, especially since the differences are relatively small.
- Most people tend to find translations from Google Translate a bit better than Microsoft Translator, this can be seen from the DeepL translation study above.
Overall, Microsoft Translator can be a good choice if you’re looking to cut costs, but still provide several advantages over Google Translate beyond price.
3. Amazon Translate
Amazon Translate, an integral component of Amazon Web Services, is a machine translation solution. Unlike previous tools that encompass translation apps, user interfaces, and translation APIs, Amazon Translate is primarily tailored towards API utilization.
This signifies that while it can facilitate translation for your application or website. At present, Amazon Translate extends support to over 75 languages. Although this is fewer than what Google Translate or Microsoft Translator provide, it surpasses DeepL’s offerings.
Comparable to Microsoft Translator, Amazon Translate holds an edge over Google Translate in terms of pricing.
To begin with, the no-cost tier of Amazon Translate permits a larger monthly limit in contrast to Google Translate:
However, the free tier of Amazon Translate remains active for only 12 months; it lacks the lifetime validity of Google Translate’s free tier. Consequently, if your translation requirements extend beyond a year, this could be a factor to contemplate.
For those necessitating the premium tier, Amazon Translate is more budget-friendly compared to Google Translate, though not as economical as Microsoft Translator:
- Amazon Translate API incurs a fee of $15 for every one million translated characters.
- Google Translate API, on the other hand, charges $20 for every one million translated characters.
4. Yandex Translate
Yandex Translate is the machine translation solution developed by the Russian search giant, Yandex. It provides support for over 98 languages, which is quite impressive, although it doesn’t match the comprehensiveness of Google entirely.
Similar to Google Translate, it offers user-oriented applications (such as a web-based translation interface) alongside a translation API for automated website translation.
Given its origin in a Russian company, Yandex Translate is particularly well-suited for handling translations involving Russian language pairs.
The most significant advantage of Yandex Translate lies in its remarkably economical pricing, especially when compared to other translation services. The cost for translation is a flat rate of $3.9376 per one million characters, which is merely one-fifth of Google Translate’s price.
Regarding pricing, Yandex provides an attractive proposition compared to Google Translate, though not as enticing as Microsoft. The standard rate per million characters initiates at $15 for orders up to 50,000,000 characters. As the volume escalates, the cost per character drops substantially. For instance, if you require translation within the range of 500,000,001 to 1,000,000,000 characters per month, the fee is merely $6 per million characters.
5. Google Cloud Translation AI
Google Cloud Translation AI is an automated translation service provided by Google Cloud Platform. It is a tool used to automatically translate text or content from one language to another using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
This service is designed for use by developers and organizations in a variety of contexts, such as translating website content, applications, documents, and more.
Google Cloud Translation AI enables customers to adopt and train a translation model that is tailored to the language and style used in their domain. This allows for translation results that are more suitable and consistent with a particular brand or need.
These services are designed for larger scale and used in more complex business and application scenarios. It is suitable for companies that have large or regular translation needs.
However, keep in mind that Google Cloud Translation AI is a paid service and requires some understanding of technical development and configuration. It is better suited for developers or organizations that have specific needs regarding translation and the ability to manage the necessary technical integrations.
The price offered by Google Cloud Translation AI starts from $ 20 per 1 million characters while the usage reaches 500,000 to 1 billion characters per month.
Those are some alternatives to Google Translate that can be used to translate websites. All of these services provide APIs that can be integrated into websites so they can translate automatically.
Apart from those mentioned above, you can also use a translation plugin as an alternative to Google Translate. As we know there are many types of translation plugins available and they offer many interesting features.
Linguise, alternative to Google Translate for websites translation
One of the best translation plugins is Linguise. Linguise is an automated translation solution seamlessly integrated with diverse content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, and other CMS platforms.
Leveraging neural network technology, Linguise delivers translation outcomes that closely resemble human translations. As a result, it not only ensures rapid translations but also generates more organic and authentic renditions.
Furthermore, Linguise presents an array of compelling functionalities designed to enhance the translation process. These include a real-time front-end editor, translation exclusion capability, and a variety of other features. For individuals intrigued by its potential, Linguise provides the opportunity to explore its offerings through a complimentary one-month trial version.
The Linguise plugin provides over 80 languages, although not as many as other platforms but you are free to add any language to your site. In addition, Linguise has also used neural network technology to produce translations that are as natural as human translation.
Linguise feature for alternative to Google Translate
- Linguise front-end live editor: Linguise incorporates a front-end live editing tool, enabling direct modification of translation outcomes directly on the website’s front page. This convenient functionality is easily accessible through the Linguise dashboard.
- Possibility to add translators: to achieve immaculate translation results, the option exists to collaborate with translators proficient in various languages. You possess the capability to add these translators to your website, facilitating seamless teamwork.
- Multilingual SEO: Linguise negates the need to grapple with SEO concerns. This aspect holds special significance for multilingual websites, as they bear the responsibility of translating all website components into the chosen language while maintaining optimal SEO. Fortunately, Linguise adeptly addresses this issue upon plugin installation and activation. It encompasses diverse aspects such as Hreflang generation, alternative URLs, canonicals, and XML sitemaps.
- Translation exclusion rules: beyond its direct editing capabilities, Linguise also furnishes the ability to exclude certain content from translation. The inclusion feature retains the originality of translated words or phrases. To access these functionalities, one can navigate to the Linguise dashboard and select the Rules menu.
- Filter translation: filter translation is a Linguise feature that makes it easier for you to filter the results of your translation. You can filter the results by language, date, and the original text.
Conclusion
Now you know what are the alternatives to Google Translate for website translation, some of them are DeepL, Microsoft Translator, Amazon Translate, Yandex, Google Cloud Translation AI.
In addition, there is also a plugin that can be used as an alternative, namely Linguise. You can use the Linguise plugin for free for a 1-month trial. After that you can subscribe to enjoy more features and translate more words.
