Softwr

Translation · head to head

wxrks vs Smartcat

wxrks logo

wxrks

Translation

Translation platform formerly called Bureau Works, priced by processed words per year with unlimited seats and a real free tier

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Smartcat logo

Smartcat

Translation

Translation platform and freelancer marketplace billed in Smartwords, where every added target language multiplies consumption

From
$1200/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only wxrks has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: wxrks connectors are marked as billed separately on the pricing page with no rate published anywhere, so the integration that justifies buying the platform carries a cost you cannot discover until you ask.; Smartcat smartwords are consumed as source words multiplied by target languages, so a product going from five to ten locales doubles consumption on identical source content and the plan you sized last year no longer fits.
  • They diverge on capability: wxrks covers Published price ladder, Smartcat covers Smartword allowance.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which wxrks and Smartcat actually diverge.

Attributes where wxrks and Smartcat differ
AttributewxrksSmartcat
Starting priceFree$1200/year
Pricing modelPer year by processed word volumePer year by Smartword volume
Free tierYesNo

Identical on both: platforms (Web, API), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Translation).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in wxrks

  • Published price ladder
  • Unlimited user seats
  • Four parallel meters
  • Published overage rates
  • Marketplace
  • Repository and design connectors

Only in Smartcat

  • Smartword allowance
  • Freelancer marketplace
  • Payer of record
  • Unlimited users
  • Browser CAT editor
  • AI agents

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

wxrks

  • A team that needs to model localisation cost from published numbers rather than sit through a sales cycle to get a figurenot Smartcat
  • Content operations with many occasional reviewers, since seats are unlimited and only analytics users are chargednot Smartcat
  • Developer-led localisation pulling strings from GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket rather than a content management systemnot Smartcat
  • Small teams and side projects that can live inside 60,000 words a year on the permanent free tiernot Smartcat

Smartcat

  • A company that wants to hire and pay many freelance linguists without opening a supplier account and payment channel for each onenot wxrks
  • Translation programmes with high volume in a small number of target languages, where the multiplier does the least damagenot wxrks
  • Teams that need unlimited internal users on the platform without paying per seat for occasional reviewersnot wxrks
  • Consolidating an existing freelancer roster onto one contract, one invoice and one payment railnot wxrks

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

wxrks

  • Connectors are marked as billed separately on the pricing page with no rate published anywhere, so the integration that justifies buying the platform carries a cost you cannot discover until you ask.
  • Four separate meters run in parallel and any one of them can be exhausted while the others have headroom, so a workload heavy on API calls or AI tokens can force a plan upgrade long before the word allowance is touched.
  • Word allowances are annual rather than monthly, so a single large launch early in the term can consume most of the year and leave the remaining months on overage rates.
  • The marketplace is promoted as a way to reach agencies and translators, but whether the vendor takes a commission and how linguists are paid is not disclosed anywhere on the public site.
  • The company rebranded from Bureau Works in March 2026, so existing documentation, third-party guides, integration listings and internal references still carry the old name, and the vendor is small with no disclosed funding behind it.

Smartcat

  • Smartwords are consumed as source words multiplied by target languages, so a product going from five to ten locales doubles consumption on identical source content and the plan you sized last year no longer fits.
  • The gap between the entry tier at 1,200 USD a year and the next at 24,000 is twentyfold with nothing between them, so a team that outgrows Adapt faces a step change rather than an increase.
  • Subscription Smartwords expire at renewal and monthly plan credits expire each cycle, so unused allowance is lost rather than banked and overbuying is a straight write-off.
  • Marketplace access, the reason many buyers choose Smartcat at all, does not exist on the entry plan, and API access with single sign-on only appears two tiers up at 60,000 USD a year.
  • The published commission table in the help centre still names retired plan tiers, so the rates a buyer would use to model marketplace cost cannot be reliably mapped onto the plans actually on sale.

Pricing, plan by plan

wxrks

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 60,000 processed words per year
    • 2,300 API calls
    • 300,000 stateless AI tokens
  • Starter$38/month
    • Billed yearly
    • 1 million words per year
    • 38,000 API calls, 5 million AI tokens, 330,000 MT words
  • Boutique$180/month
    • Billed yearly
    • 3.2 million words per year
    • 122,000 API calls, 16 million AI tokens, 1 million MT words
  • Clockwork$470/month
    • Billed yearly
    • 9.6 million words per year
    • Overage at 0.0005 USD per word

Smartcat

$1200/year
  • Adapt$1200/year
    • Starting price, billed annually
    • 100,000 Smartwords
    • 1 workspace
  • Accelerate$24000/year
    • Starting price, billed annually
    • 1 million Smartwords
    • 1 workspace
  • Anticipate$60000/year
    • Starting price, billed annually
    • 2 million Smartwords
    • 2 workspaces
  • Autonomous$undefined/year
    • Price not published, tailored to requirements
    • 6 million Smartwords
    • 7 workspaces

Which should you pick?

Choose wxrks if

  • You need published price ladder.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want unlimited user seats.
wxrks review

Choose Smartcat if

  • You need smartword allowance.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want freelancer marketplace.
Smartcat review

Questions people ask

Is wxrks or Smartcat better?
Neither clearly leads. wxrks starts at Free and Smartcat at $1200/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, wxrks or Smartcat?
wxrks has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for wxrks and $1200/year for Smartcat.
Does wxrks or Smartcat run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, API, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use wxrks for free?
Yes. wxrks has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Smartcat starts at $1200/year.
What is wxrks best used for?
wxrks is most often used for a team that needs to model localisation cost from published numbers rather than sit through a sales cycle to get a figure, content operations with many occasional reviewers, since seats are unlimited and only analytics users are charged, developer-led localisation pulling strings from github, gitlab or bitbucket rather than a content management system, small teams and side projects that can live inside 60,000 words a year on the permanent free tier. Of those, a team that needs to model localisation cost from published numbers rather than sit through a sales cycle to get a figure and content operations with many occasional reviewers, since seats are unlimited and only analytics users are charged are not what Smartcat is typically brought in for.
What can wxrks do that Smartcat cannot?
wxrks covers Published price ladder, Unlimited user seats, Four parallel meters, Published overage rates. Smartcat covers Smartword allowance, Freelancer marketplace, Payer of record, Unlimited users.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

wxrks: Is this still Bureau Works?

Yes. The company rebranded to wxrks on 23 March 2026 and bureauworks.com redirects to wxrks.com. The legal entity is Bureau Translations Inc.

Smartcat: What is a Smartword?

A credit. One Smartword is consumed per source word per target language, so 1,000 words into five languages costs 5,000 Smartwords. AI dubbing costs ten Smartwords per dubbed word.

wxrks: Is the free plan permanent?

Yes. It allows 60,000 processed words a year along with API call, AI token and machine translation allowances, and unlimited user seats. A fourteen day trial of paid features is offered separately.

Smartcat: Does Smartcat take a cut from freelancers?

No. The vendor states it does not deduct a platform commission from supplier earnings; the marketplace commission is charged to the client. Freelancers pay withdrawal fees, a fixed one to ten dollars plus half a percent, and a two and a half percent currency conversion markup.

wxrks: What happens when I exceed the word allowance?

You pay a published per-word overage rate, from 0.0009 USD on Starter falling to 0.0003 USD on the largest plans, rather than being cut off.

Smartcat: Is there a free plan?

No. There is a fifteen day trial of the full platform. A legacy free tier still appears in help articles but is not on the current pricing page.

wxrks: Do connectors cost extra?

The pricing page states connectors are billed separately but publishes no rate. Get the figure in writing before signing, because it is the one unbounded item in an otherwise transparent price list.

Smartcat: What happens if I do not review delivered work?

After fifteen days the system verifies the work automatically and triggers supplier payment, so silence is treated as acceptance.

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