Translation · head to head
Gengo vs Microsoft Translator
Gengo
Translation
Human translation marketplace and API, priced per word from $0.06, owned by Lionbridge since 2019
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Microsoft Translator
Translation
Azure AI Translator, priced at $10 per million characters for standard text translation with volume commitment discounts available
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Microsoft Translator has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- 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.; Microsoft Translator published free-tier detail is thinner than Google’s or Amazon’s clearly stated character allowances, making it harder to estimate cost from public documentation alone.
- They diverge on capability: Gengo covers Standard and Pro quality tiers, Microsoft Translator covers Text translation API.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Gengo and Microsoft Translator actually diverge.
| Attribute | Gengo | Microsoft Translator |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | On request | Free |
| Pricing model | Per word | Per million characters |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Web | Web, iOS, Android, Windows |
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 Gengo
- Standard and Pro quality tiers
- Developer API
- No minimum spend
- Crowdsourced translator network
- Bulk file upload
- CMS and platform integrations
Only in Microsoft Translator
- Text translation API
- Document translation
- Speech translation
- Custom Translator
- Microsoft Translator app
- Volume commitment pricing
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 Microsoft Translator
- A company integrating the Gengo API into a content pipeline to automatically route text for human translationnot Microsoft Translator
- A support team needing occasional human-translated responses without committing to Unbabel’s enterprise minimumnot Microsoft Translator
- A publisher needing straightforward, transparently priced human translation for shorter, lower-stakes contentnot Microsoft Translator
Microsoft Translator
- A developer already building on Azure who wants translation billed through the same cloud account as other servicesnot Gengo
- An enterprise with high, predictable translation volume that negotiates a commitment-tier discountnot Gengo
- A Microsoft 365 organisation using built-in document and Teams translation without a separate integration projectnot Gengo
- A team needing speech translation as part of a broader Azure AI Speech deploymentnot 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.
Microsoft Translator
- Published free-tier detail is thinner than Google’s or Amazon’s clearly stated character allowances, making it harder to estimate cost from public documentation alone.
- Translation quality for major language pairs is broadly comparable to Google Translate and Amazon Translate, so there is little functional differentiation beyond price and Azure ecosystem convenience.
- Commitment-tier discounts require a negotiated minimum spend, so smaller developers without predictable volume do not get Microsoft’s most competitive published rate.
- Custom Translator model training and management add operational complexity beyond simple API calls, requiring parallel training data the buyer must supply and maintain.
- Adopting it while already using a different primary cloud (AWS or Google Cloud) means managing a second cloud billing relationship purely for translation, which is administratively unappealing for some teams.
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
Microsoft Translator
Free- Microsoft Translator (consumer app)Free
- Free text, voice and camera translation
- Azure AI Translator (standard)$10/month
- $10 per million characters translated
- Free tier for limited monthly volume
- Azure AI Translator (commitment tier)$undefined/month
- Discounted per-character rate for a committed minimum monthly volume, quoted by Microsoft
Which should you pick?
Choose Microsoft Translator if
- You need text translation api.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
- You also want document translation.
Questions people ask
- Is Gengo or Microsoft Translator better?
- Neither clearly leads. Gengo starts at On request and Microsoft Translator at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Gengo or Microsoft Translator?
- Microsoft Translator has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Gengo and Free for Microsoft Translator.
- Does Gengo or Microsoft Translator run on more platforms?
- Gengo runs on Web. Microsoft Translator runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
- Can I use Microsoft Translator for free?
- Yes. Microsoft Translator has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Gengo starts at On request.
- 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 Microsoft Translator is typically brought in for.
- What can Gengo do that Microsoft Translator cannot?
- Gengo covers Standard and Pro quality tiers, Developer API, No minimum spend, Crowdsourced translator network. Microsoft Translator covers Text translation API, Document translation, Speech translation, Custom Translator.
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.
Microsoft Translator: How does Microsoft’s per-character price compare to Google’s?
Microsoft charges $10 per million characters for standard translation, about half Google’s $20 NMT rate.
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.
Microsoft Translator: Is there a free tier?
Yes, for limited monthly volume, though Microsoft publishes less specific detail on the exact allowance than Google or Amazon do.
Gengo: Who owns Gengo?
Lionbridge, a larger localisation and AI data services company, acquired Gengo in January 2019.
Microsoft Translator: Can I get a discount for high volume?
Yes, through commitment-tier pricing negotiated with Microsoft for a minimum monthly spend.
Related pages
More on Microsoft Translator
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