AI Translation pricing compared
What 6 ai translation tools actually cost — free tiers, the cheapest paid plan, and where each free plan runs out. Each figure is taken from the vendor’s own pricing page and dated, so you can see when we last checked.
| Tool | Free tier | Cheapest paid plan | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smartling | Yes | $0.005/per word · AI translation (usage) | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Taia | Yes | €9/mo · Basic | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Weglot | Yes | €15/mo · Starter | 14 Jul 2026 |
| DeepL Write | Yes | $26/month · Pro | 14 Jul 2026 |
| DeepL | Yes | $26/month · Pro | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Lokalise | No | $144/mo · Start | 14 Jul 2026 |
Prices are as published by each vendor and may be region-specific — many vendors price by country. Confirm on the vendor’s page before buying.
Sorted cheapest paid plan first. A “free tier” means there is a genuinely free plan — tap through to any tool to see the full tier breakdown and exactly where the free plan stops. We list no fabricated prices: where a vendor only quotes “contact sales” we say so.
What drives ai translation pricing
Volume of text is the master meter here, but it is expressed in four different units. DeepL charges a monthly base plus usage at $27.50 per additional million characters; Smartling prices raw AI translation at $0.005 per word; Taia sells credits, roughly one page per block, from a free 5,000 a month up to a million; Weglot meters translated words and the number of target languages. Localization platforms like Lokalise add a second axis on top of volume, charging per seat with data-transfer limits from $144 to $999 a month. So two questions set the bill: how many words or characters you translate, and whether you also need the workflow platform, seats, review states, and integrations that surround the raw translation. A developer piping text through an API pays almost purely on volume; a localization team pays for the platform first and the words second.
How to choose on price
Start by separating raw translation from managed localization, because they price on opposite axes. If you just need machine translation output, buy on volume: DeepL's per-million-character overage or Smartling's $0.005-per-word rate lets you pay for exactly what you process, and Taia's free 5,000 credits a month covers genuine light use before its per-page tiers. Website owners should count target languages and translated words, since Weglot gates both, and adding a fifth language can jump you a tier regardless of traffic. If you run continuous localization with translators, reviewers, and CMS integrations, Lokalise's $144-$999 seat-plus-data tiers are the real purchase, and the raw word rate is almost incidental. The false economy is buying a full localization platform to translate a static page a per-word service would handle for cents. Match the meter, whether words, characters, credits, languages, or seats, to what you actually consume.
AI Translation pricing FAQ
Am I paying per word, per character, or per seat?
It depends on the tool. DeepL bills characters at $27.50 per extra million, Smartling bills $0.005 per word, Taia bills page-like credits, and Weglot bills translated words plus languages, while Lokalise bills per seat with data limits. Identify the unit before comparing, since the same job costs very differently across them.
Why does adding a language raise Weglot's price so much?
Because Weglot meters both translated words and the number of target languages, and its tiers cap language count. Moving from four to five languages can push you into a higher tier even if word volume is unchanged, so plan for every language you intend to support.
When is a localization platform worth it over raw machine translation?
When you need workflow, not just output: translator seats, review and approval states, glossaries, and CMS or repository integrations. Lokalise's $144-$999 tiers price that platform. If you only need translated strings and no human process around them, a per-word or per-character service is far cheaper.
Are the free tiers enough for a real project?
For evaluation and very small jobs, yes. Taia's 5,000 free credits a month, DeepL's free API test, and Weglot's 2,000-word single-language free plan let you trial quality, but any production website or ongoing localization quickly exceeds them and forces a paid tier.
See the full breakdown
Open any tool for its complete pricing tiers, free-tier limits, screenshot and honest review.