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Translation · head to head

Gengo vs Phrase

Gengo logo

Gengo

Translation

Human translation marketplace and API, priced per word from $0.06, owned by Lionbridge since 2019

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Phrase logo

Phrase

Translation

A flexible platform with product capacities that scale with your team

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Gengo it is not a fit for specialised legal, medical or literary translation, since the crowdsourced model is built for higher-volume, lower-complexity content.; Phrase business and Enterprise tiers require contacting sales for pricing
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Gengo and Phrase actually diverge.

Attributes where Gengo and Phrase differ
AttributeGengoPhrase
Pricing modelPer wordsubscription

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), platforms (Web), 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 Gengo

  • Standard and Pro quality tiers
  • Developer API
  • No minimum spend
  • Crowdsourced translator network
  • Bulk file upload
  • CMS and platform integrations

Only in Phrase

Nothing recorded that Gengo does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Gengo

  • An e-commerce seller translating product listings into multiple languages without a minimum spend requirementnot Phrase
  • A company integrating the Gengo API into a content pipeline to automatically route text for human translationnot Phrase
  • A support team needing occasional human-translated responses without committing to Unbabel’s enterprise minimumnot Phrase
  • A publisher needing straightforward, transparently priced human translation for shorter, lower-stakes contentnot Phrase

Phrase

  • Software localizationnot Gengo
  • Translation managementnot Gengo
  • Multi-language content deliverynot Gengo

Where each one falls short

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

Gengo

  • It is not a fit for specialised legal, medical or literary translation, since the crowdsourced model is built for higher-volume, lower-complexity content.
  • Quality consistency depends on which individual translator from the crowdsourced network is assigned, which can vary more than a dedicated agency relationship would.
  • Turnaround, while fast for its category, is still meaningfully slower than a machine translation API, since every job requires a human to complete it.
  • Since being acquired by Lionbridge in 2019, Gengo’s product direction is now set within a much larger localisation company’s priorities rather than as an independent business.
  • Per-word pricing, while transparent, is still substantially more expensive per unit of content than a machine translation API, so it is a poor fit for translating very large volumes of low-stakes content.

Phrase

  • Business and Enterprise tiers require contacting sales for pricing
  • Multimedia localization (Phrase Studio) is a paid add-on across all plans

Pricing, plan by plan

Gengo

On request
  • Standard$0.06/month
    • Human translation, $0.06 per word starting rate
    • No minimum spend or setup fee
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • Higher-quality tier, rate varies by language pair and content type
    • Human translation with additional review

Phrase

On request
  • Freelancer$27/month
    • 1 TMS Seat
    • 200K managed words
    • Annual billing
  • Software UI/UX$525/month
    • 15 Strings seats
    • 1M managed words
    • Developer Portal with APIs
  • Team$1245/month
    • Unlimited TMS Seats
    • 20 Strings Seats
    • 1.2M Strings Managed Words
  • Business$null/mo
    • Unlimited TMS Seats
    • 150 Strings Seats
    • 3M Strings Managed Words

Which should you pick?

Choose Gengo if

  • You need standard and pro quality tiers.
  • You also want developer api.
Gengo review

Choose Phrase if

Nothing in the data separates Phrase from Gengo on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Phrase review

Questions people ask

Is Gengo or Phrase better?
Neither clearly leads. Gengo starts at On request and Phrase at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Gengo or Phrase?
Gengo starts at On request and Phrase at On request.
Does Gengo or Phrase run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Gengo best used for?
Gengo is most often used for an e-commerce seller translating product listings into multiple languages without a minimum spend requirement, a company integrating the gengo api into a content pipeline to automatically route text for human translation, a support team needing occasional human-translated responses without committing to unbabel’s enterprise minimum, a publisher needing straightforward, transparently priced human translation for shorter, lower-stakes content. Of those, an e-commerce seller translating product listings into multiple languages without a minimum spend requirement and a company integrating the gengo api into a content pipeline to automatically route text for human translation are not what Phrase is typically brought in for.
What can Gengo do that Phrase cannot?
Gengo covers Standard and Pro quality tiers, Developer API, No minimum spend, Crowdsourced translator network.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Gengo: Is Gengo machine translation or human translation?

Human translation. It should be compared with Unbabel, not with Google Translate, Microsoft Translator or Amazon Translate, which are machine translation APIs.

Phrase: What is the lowest-cost Phrase plan?

The Freelancer plan starts at $27/month when billed annually, including 1 TMS Seat and 200K managed words.

Source
Gengo: Is there a minimum spend?

No, Gengo publishes per-word pricing with no minimum spend or setup fee, unlike Unbabel’s enterprise-gated rate structure.

Phrase: Does Phrase offer a free trial?

Yes, Phrase offers a 14-day free trial of Enterprise features across all plan types.

Source
Gengo: Who owns Gengo?

Lionbridge, a larger localisation and AI data services company, acquired Gengo in January 2019.

Phrase: What are the per-seat costs for higher Phrase tiers?

The Team plan ($1,245/month) provides unlimited TMS seats and 20 Strings Seats. Business and Enterprise plans have unlimited seats but require custom quotes for pricing.

Source
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