WordPress Translation Plugins Compared: How to Choose the Right One

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The best WordPress translation plugin depends on two decisions more than on brand. First, where your translations should live: inside your WordPress database (WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress) or on the vendor’s cloud (Weglot, GTranslate’s paid plans, ConveyThis). Second, who does the translating: you and your translators by hand, or automatic translation that you then review. Answer those two, check the price at your real word and language count, and you are usually left with one or two plugins.

Below is a criteria-based comparison of the main options, with prices and WordPress.org figures checked on each vendor’s own site on 28 September 2026. We make ConveyThis, which is one of the options, so we say where the others are the better choice.

Key takeaways

• In-database plugins (WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress) keep translations in your own WordPress database. They give you control and suit sites that will only ever run on WordPress, but they cost more server load and more of your time.
• Cloud services (Weglot, GTranslate paid, ConveyThis) translate and host the language versions outside WordPress. They launch faster and don’t depend on the platform, but you pay a subscription for as long as you use them.
• A free client-side widget (like GTranslate’s free version) does not create indexable translated pages. If you want search traffic in other languages, you need separate URLs.
• Compare prices at your real size: number of words, number of languages and number of sites. Every tool caps at least one of these.
• Loco Translate does a different job. It translates theme and plugin text strings, and leaves your posts and pages alone.

The two architectures, in plain terms

In-database plugins add language versions of each post, page and product inside WordPress. You, a translator or an automatic engine fill them in, and WordPress serves them like any other content.

The translations are stored on your server, you pay no per-word subscription for content you translate yourself, and these plugins integrate deeply with WordPress themes, menus and WooCommerce. On the other side, you get more database content and admin work, compatibility checks whenever themes or page builders update, and automatic translation that usually needs paid credits or your own API key.

Cloud translation services read the content your site outputs, translate it on their servers, and serve each language on its own URL, typically a subfolder or subdomain.

Setup takes minutes, the service works the same if you later move off WordPress, and the vendor handles hreflang, translated URLs and caching. The costs recur and are tied to words and languages, and the translations live in the vendor’s system, so check that you can export them.

Comparison table (as of 28 September 2026)

WordPress.org figures are from each plugin’s official directory listing. Prices are the entry paid tier shown on the vendor’s own pricing page; always recheck before buying.

Sources for prices: WPML purchase page, Polylang pricing, TranslatePress pricing, Weglot pricing, GTranslate, ConveyThis pricing.

The options, one by one

WPML

WPML is the long-standing commercial choice for complex WordPress sites. Plans are €39/year for Multilingual Blog (1 production site), €99/year for Multilingual CMS (3 production sites, 22,500 words of AI translation) and €199/year for Multilingual Agency (unlimited sites, 45,000 AI words), with a 30-day money-back guarantee (WPML).

It fits larger WordPress and WooCommerce sites that want translations in their own database and a mature ecosystem of compatible themes and plugins. Note that the Blog plan doesn’t include AI translation, and each site’s translations add to your WordPress database.

Polylang

Polylang is the most-installed free multilingual plugin that stores content in WordPress: 800,000+ active installs and a 4.7 rating from 2,993 reviews on WordPress.org. The free version lets you create translations manually. Polylang Pro starts at €99/year and adds DeepL machine translation, which requires your own DeepL API key (Polylang).

It suits sites that will translate by hand or with their own DeepL account and want a lightweight, free starting point. It is also the direct answer to “can I use DeepL with WordPress?”. Free Polylang has no automatic translation, and WooCommerce needs a separate paid add-on.

TranslatePress

TranslatePress is a self-hosted plugin with a front-end visual editor: you translate while looking at the page. Paid plans are billed yearly: Personal €99 (1 site, 50,000 AI-translated words), Business €199 (3 sites, 200,000 words) and Developer €349 (unlimited sites, 500,000 words). It stores all translations in your site’s database, and TranslatePress offers a 15-day refund (TranslatePress). AI words are counted per word, per language: a 2,000-word page in two languages uses 4,000 (TranslatePress docs).

It works well for WordPress-only sites that want visual editing and translations stored locally. Adding more than one extra language needs a premium version, and DeepL is on Business and above.

Weglot

Weglot is a cloud service with a well-known WordPress plugin (50,000+ installs, 4.8 from 1,935 ratings). Prices are set in euros: Starter €15/month for 10,000 words and 1 language, Business €29 for 50,000 words and 3 languages, Pro €79 for 200,000 words and 5 languages; each paid plan has a 14-day free trial (Weglot).

It suits teams that want a polished dashboard, many integrations and a fast start. The Starter allowance of 10,000 words is smaller than several alternatives at a similar price, and exporting translations as CSV or XLIFF is limited to the Advanced plan and above (Weglot help). Our Weglot alternatives guide compares it in detail.

GTranslate

The free version adds a language selector that translates in the visitor’s browser. GTranslate states it directly: “with the free version, your website URL does not change and translations are not stored.” Paid plans start at $12/month and work as a translation proxy that hosts each language on its own URL so it can be indexed (GTranslate).

The free version is fine as a quick “read this in my language” button when search traffic in other languages doesn’t matter. Only the paid plans give you indexable translated pages.

ConveyThis

This one is ours. ConveyThis is a cloud service: it translates your WordPress site automatically into any of 210 languages and publishes each language as a subfolder, subdomain or ?lang URL (subfolders and subdomains are on the Business plan and higher) with hreflang tags, translated meta titles and descriptions, and translated JSON-LD. You review wording in a visual editor, keep terms consistent with a glossary and translation memory, and give translators their own team roles. You can import existing translations as CSV or TMX on every plan, including the free one, which helps if you are moving from another tool; exporting them requires the Pro+ plan or higher (help centre).

Plans start with a Free plan (5,000 words, 1 language, 1 site) and Starter at $12/month (30,000 words, 1 language); Business is $24/month for 100,000 words and 3 languages (pricing). Words are counted only when translated content is shown to a visitor, and bots don’t count.

It fits site owners who want automatic translation with review, indexable URLs and no database changes, and agencies that work across more than one CMS. The downsides: our WordPress.org install base (1,000+) is much smaller than Polylang’s or TranslatePress’s, translation export is limited to Pro+ and higher, and like any cloud service it is a subscription. If keeping translations inside your own database matters most, an in-database plugin is the better fit.

Loco Translate (a different job)

Loco Translate has 1,000,000+ active installs, but it edits the translation files (.po/.mo) that themes and plugins use for their interface strings, with optional connections to DeepL, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI (WordPress.org) (“Add to cart”, “Read more”). It does not translate your posts and pages. Many multilingual sites use it alongside one of the plugins above.

Others worth a look

Linguise (1,000+ installs, 4.9 from 31 ratings), Falang (1,000+, 5.0 from 112) and WPGlobus (9,000+, 4.5 from 228) all have active WordPress.org listings as of 28 September 2026. They are smaller projects; check their support forums and update history before committing.

How to choose: five questions

1. Do you need search traffic in other languages? If yes, rule out anything that only translates in the browser. You need one URL per language with hreflang; our multilingual SEO overview explains what to check.
2. Where should translations be stored? Your database (WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress) or a cloud service (Weglot, GTranslate paid, ConveyThis).
3. How big is the job? Count words on your site, multiply by the number of languages, and price each shortlisted tool at that size. Check what happens when you exceed the limit.
4. Who reviews translations? If a colleague or freelancer will edit, look for a visual editor, a glossary and user roles.
5. Can you leave? Confirm you can export translations in a standard format (CSV, XLIFF, TMX) on the plan you will actually buy.

Test before you commit

Install your top two candidates on a staging copy of the site, translate the same five pages (home, a product or service page, a blog post, contact, and checkout if you have one), and check:

• page speed of the translated pages
• whether menus, forms, widgets and page-builder blocks are translated
• the HTML source: lang attribute, hreflang tags, translated title and meta description
• how easy it is to fix one wrong word

Our step-by-step WordPress translation guide shows how to do this with ConveyThis, and the WordPress integration page lists what it covers.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free WordPress translation plugin that is good for SEO? Polylang is free and creates real translated pages, but you translate them yourself. ConveyThis has a free plan for small sites (5,000 words, 1 language) with automatic translation and indexable URLs.

Can I use DeepL with WordPress? Yes. Polylang Pro connects to DeepL with your own API key, and TranslatePress includes a DeepL add-on on its Business and Developer plans.

Will a translation plugin slow my site down? In-database plugins add queries and content to your WordPress install; cloud services add a request to their network. Measure both on staging with your theme rather than relying on general claims.

Next step

If a cloud service suits your site, create a ConveyThis account and test it on a staging copy against your other shortlisted plugin. The Free plan covers a small site with one language.