Softwr

Translation · head to head

wxrks vs Smartling

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
Smartling logo

Smartling

Translation

Enterprise translation management sold alongside first-party language services priced per word

From
On request
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.; Smartling translation memory is retained for only 180 days on the Core tier, so the asset that would make a future migration cheap expires on the plan most likely to be used by a team testing the water.
  • They diverge on capability: wxrks covers Published price ladder, Smartling covers Translation memory.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which wxrks and Smartling actually diverge.

Attributes where wxrks and Smartling differ
AttributewxrksSmartling
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer year by processed word volumequote
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 Smartling

  • Translation memory
  • Visual context CAT editor
  • Configurable workflows
  • First-party language services
  • Linguistic quality assurance
  • Connectors and API

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 Smartling
  • Content operations with many occasional reviewers, since seats are unlimited and only analytics users are chargednot Smartling
  • Developer-led localisation pulling strings from GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket rather than a content management systemnot Smartling
  • Small teams and side projects that can live inside 60,000 words a year on the permanent free tiernot Smartling

Smartling

  • A company that wants one supplier answerable for both the translation platform and the quality of the translated outputnot wxrks
  • Marketing sites where a translator needs to see the rendered page, not a spreadsheet of strings, to get tone and length rightnot wxrks
  • Replacing a platform vendor plus several separate agencies with a single contract and a single invoicenot wxrks
  • Content operations at a volume where per-word rates are the dominant cost and the tooling fee is noisenot 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.

Smartling

  • Translation memory is retained for only 180 days on the Core tier, so the asset that would make a future migration cheap expires on the plan most likely to be used by a team testing the water.
  • The platform subscription is not published while the per-word service rates are, so you can model the variable cost precisely and cannot model the fixed cost at all until you have been through a sales sizing exercise.
  • The vendor earns on words routed through it, so the commercial relationship rewards volume flowing to Smartling rather than volume being avoided through better reuse of existing memory.
  • Per-word pricing multiplies by target language, so adding a market to a product that ships in twelve languages costs a thirteenth of the current translation bill rather than a marginal amount.
  • Minimum contract term, minimum annual spend and whether individual connectors carry their own charge are all absent from the public site, so three of the numbers that determine total cost only appear inside a proposal.

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

Smartling

On request
  • Core$undefined/year
    • Subscription price not published
    • Basic workflow, user and project management
    • Browser CAT editor with visual context
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Subscription price not published
    • Fully configurable dynamic workflows
    • Translation memory with unlimited storage
  • Language services, charged separately per word$undefined/year
    • Machine translation from 0.0075 USD per word
    • AI translation from 0.06 USD per word
    • AI translation with human review from 0.12 USD per word

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 Smartling if

  • You need translation memory.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want visual context cat editor.
Smartling review

Questions people ask

Is wxrks or Smartling better?
Neither clearly leads. wxrks starts at Free and Smartling at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, wxrks or Smartling?
wxrks has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for wxrks and On request for Smartling.
Does wxrks or Smartling 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. Smartling starts at On request.
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 Smartling is typically brought in for.
What can wxrks do that Smartling cannot?
wxrks covers Published price ladder, Unlimited user seats, Four parallel meters, Published overage rates. Smartling covers Translation memory, Visual context CAT editor, Configurable workflows, First-party language services.

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.

Smartling: Is there a free plan?

The Core tier is advertised as free to start, but translation memory is kept for only 180 days on it and any production deployment is a quoted subscription. Treat it as an evaluation route, not a plan.

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.

Smartling: What does the platform actually cost?

Smartling does not publish it. The published figures are per-word service rates. Expect an annual subscription sized against your content volume, workflows and language count, quoted after a scoping call.

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.

Smartling: Can I use Smartling with my own translators?

Yes, the platform works with your own vendors and freelancers. You then pay for software and forgo the services revenue the pricing model is built around, which weakens your negotiating position on the subscription.

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.

Smartling: What happens to my translation memory if I leave?

Translation memory is exportable, but on Core it only covers the previous 180 days, so leaving after two years on the entry tier means most of the asset is already gone.

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