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Translation · head to head

Google Translate vs Smartling

Google Translate logo

Google Translate

Translation

Free consumer translation app and website, backed by the paid Cloud Translation API priced per million characters

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 Google Translate has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Google Translate the free consumer app and the metered developer API are commercially separate products despite sharing branding, which confuses buyers evaluating cost for an integration project.; 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: Google Translate covers Text translation, Smartling covers Translation memory.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Google Translate and Smartling actually diverge.

Attributes where Google Translate and Smartling differ
AttributeGoogle TranslateSmartling
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer million charactersquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, ChromeWeb, API

Identical on both: 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 Google Translate

  • Text translation
  • Real-time conversation mode
  • Camera translation
  • Document upload
  • Cloud Translation API
  • Custom models (AutoML Translation)

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.

Google Translate

  • An individual traveller or student using the free consumer app with no volume constraintsnot Smartling
  • A developer embedding translated user-generated content into an app, paying per million characters translatednot Smartling
  • A company needing occasional bulk document translation and using the per-page document API pricingnot Smartling
  • A business training a custom domain-adapted model for specialised terminology using AutoML Translationnot Smartling

Smartling

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

Where each one falls short

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

Google Translate

  • The free consumer app and the metered developer API are commercially separate products despite sharing branding, which confuses buyers evaluating cost for an integration project.
  • API costs scale linearly with content volume, so a high-traffic application can accumulate significant monthly spend even at $20 per million characters.
  • Custom model training pricing starts as high as $80 per million characters at low volumes, a steep premium over the standard NMT rate for domain adaptation.
  • Machine translation output for low-resource language pairs or specialised terminology often still needs human post-editing, so the API alone does not replace professional translation for anything customer-facing at high stakes.
  • There is no bundled human-in-the-loop quality tier; a business needing verified accuracy has to pair the API with a separate service such as Unbabel or Gengo.

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

Google Translate

Free
  • Google Translate (consumer)Free
    • Free web, mobile and browser extension use
    • No published usage cap for personal use
  • Cloud Translation API (NMT)$20/month
    • $20 per million characters translated
    • First 500,000 characters per month free, recurring
  • Cloud Translation API (Translation LLM)$10/month
    • $10 per million characters input, $10 per million output
  • Document translation$0.08/month
    • $0.08 per page for DOCX, PPT and PDF translation

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 Google Translate if

  • You need text translation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Chrome.
  • You also want real-time conversation mode.
Google Translate 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 Google Translate or Smartling better?
Neither clearly leads. Google Translate 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, Google Translate or Smartling?
Google Translate has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Google Translate and On request for Smartling.
Does Google Translate or Smartling run on more platforms?
Google Translate runs on Web, iOS, Android, Chrome. Smartling runs on Web, API.
Can I use Google Translate for free?
Yes. Google Translate has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Smartling starts at On request.
What is Google Translate best used for?
Google Translate is most often used for an individual traveller or student using the free consumer app with no volume constraints, a developer embedding translated user-generated content into an app, paying per million characters translated, a company needing occasional bulk document translation and using the per-page document api pricing, a business training a custom domain-adapted model for specialised terminology using automl translation. Of those, an individual traveller or student using the free consumer app with no volume constraints and a developer embedding translated user-generated content into an app, paying per million characters translated are not what Smartling is typically brought in for.
What can Google Translate do that Smartling cannot?
Google Translate covers Text translation, Real-time conversation mode, Camera translation, Document upload. Smartling covers Translation memory, Visual context CAT editor, Configurable workflows, First-party language services.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Google Translate: Is the consumer Google Translate app really free with no limits?

Yes, for personal use there is no published cap or charge; usage limits only apply to the metered developer API.

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.

Google Translate: How much does the developer API cost?

$20 per million characters for standard neural machine translation, after a recurring 500,000-character monthly free allowance.

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.

Google Translate: Can I train it on my own terminology?

Yes, through AutoML Translation custom models, priced separately and starting at $80 per million characters at low volumes.

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.

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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