Machine translation, despite its imperfections, has changed the game, making online content accessible across language barriers. Now, the multiple benefits obtained by running a multilingual WordPress site can be reaped even by a novice in no time. This is largely due to the availability of WordPress plugins that allow you to get the entire site translated in just a few clicks. Yet, manual translation hasn’t become less important and WordPress plugins are equally indispensable for this task. Below, we list the most popular plugins (ratings are indicated only for those listed on WordPress).
7 Most Popular Translation Plugins
- WPML, $29/year – basic plan, $79 – intermediate, $159 – premium
The paid version of WPML has by far the most advanced functionality. This includes great language support which can be further extended. Most importantly, it allows both manual translation and machine translation. Human translation can be performed directly using an incorporated editing tool or by conveniently recruiting professional translation agencies via a dashboard.
Alternatively, WPML can help assign specific translation jobs to volunteer visitors. For automatic translations, WPML can be set up to use the tools of your choice, including the machine translation engine of Microsoft Azure. What WPML is missing is an easy way to perform sitewide translation.
- GTranslate – 4.9 out of 5 based on 2284 ratings, free or paid, subscriptions start at $6 a month
Powered by Google Translate, this plugin runs automatic translation of 103 languages in the cloud and offers Google Analytics integration. The free version is very easy to install, but doesn’t allow you to manually edit translations, nor does it make them SEO compatible – these features are only available in the paid version, which uses advanced neural machine translations, can translate metadata, etc.
- Polylang – 4.7 out of 5 based on 1958 ratings, free or paid
Polylang is a user-friendly self-translation plugin. It allows manually picking the desired language for each post, page, and category. One advantage of manual translation tools like Polylang is the possibility of recruiting the best human translation services and simply asking them to perform the translation using the plugin’s editor. The free version is very satisfactory, but there is also a Pro version offering support and additional features.
- WeGlot Translate – 4.8 out of 5 based on 1237 ratings, 99 to 1990 euro/ year
WeGlot is both easy to use and SEO-friendly. Just activate the plugin, and it will automatically translate your entire site while allowing you to introduce corrections later. Alternatively, you could translate yourself or contract a translation service. The free trial only covers 2000 words translated into 1 language.
- TranslatePress – 4.6 out of 5 based on 462 ratings (note that the rating on WordPress is for the limited free version), 79-199 euro per year.
This plugin allows manual translation via a visually friendly front-end interface as well as sitewide machine translation via Google Translate API or DeepL, which can be edited later. Translations are stored on your server and TranslatePress allows assigning different user roles to visitors, which might be shown in different languages.
- MultilingualPress – $99-$599
The most important thing to mention is that it supports WordPress Multisite, a feature that enables one to manage multiple WordPress sites from a single dashboard. While this may result in improved performance/ compatibility since only one language is loaded per site, it also means that only manual translation is available. The plugin enables performing it yourself or conveniently outsourcing it to Eurotext.
- Loco Translate 4.8 out of 5 based on 366 ratings, Free or Paid – $6-$30/ month
It offers a simple interface for manual translation but also integration with automatic translation APIs, such as Google, DeepL, Yandex, and Microsoft. It also offers localization tools for developers, allows the extraction of translatable strings from the source code, etc. The free one allows up to 2000 translations and limits the number of projects, translatable assets, languages, etc.
Final Remarks
As it turns out, WordPress Plugins differ greatly with regard to their intended functionality and benefits. Nevertheless, collectively, they manage to offer the best of two worlds: machine translation, which is speedy and effortless, and manual translation, which is precise, controlled, and oftentimes, the only way.
