Translation · head to head
Plunet vs Smartling
Plunet
Translation
Business and translation management system for language service providers and in-house translation departments
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Smartling
Translation
Enterprise translation management sold alongside first-party language services priced per word
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Plunet pricing is never published and licensing is per user, so a growing agency faces a recurring negotiation each time it adds project managers.; 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: Plunet covers CAT tool connectors, Smartling covers Translation memory.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Plunet and Smartling actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), 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 Plunet
- CAT tool connectors
- Automated pricing
- Vendor and resource management
- Workflow templates
- Financial reporting
- Client and vendor portals
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.
Plunet
- A translation agency running dozens of concurrent projects across freelance vendors that needs automated quoting from CAT analysesnot Smartling
- A corporate localisation department wanting margin and vendor-cost visibility across internal and outsourced worknot Smartling
- An LSP replacing spreadsheet-based project tracking that is causing missed deadlines and billing disputesnot Smartling
- An agency needing client and vendor self-service portals to cut manual email coordinationnot Smartling
Smartling
- A company that wants one supplier answerable for both the translation platform and the quality of the translated outputnot Plunet
- Marketing sites where a translator needs to see the rendered page, not a spreadsheet of strings, to get tone and length rightnot Plunet
- Replacing a platform vendor plus several separate agencies with a single contract and a single invoicenot Plunet
- Content operations at a volume where per-word rates are the dominant cost and the tooling fee is noisenot Plunet
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Plunet
- Pricing is never published and licensing is per user, so a growing agency faces a recurring negotiation each time it adds project managers.
- Configuration to match an agency real workflow is substantial, and firms report months of setup before the system reflects how they actually work.
- It manages the business layer only; you still need and pay for separate CAT tools, so total software spend is higher than the Plunet quote alone suggests.
- The interface is dense and built for full-time project managers, which makes it a poor fit for occasional users or very small teams.
- Reporting and dashboards are functional rather than modern, and firms wanting BI-grade analytics typically export data to a separate tool.
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
Plunet
On request- Plunet BusinessManager$undefined/year
- Licensed per named or concurrent user
- Implementation and configuration charged separately
- Pricing not published, quote depends on user count and modules
Smartling
On request- Core$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 Smartling if
- You need translation memory.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want visual context cat editor.
Questions people ask
- Is Plunet or Smartling better?
- Neither clearly leads. Plunet starts at On request and Smartling at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Plunet or Smartling?
- Plunet starts at On request and Smartling at On request.
- Does Plunet or Smartling run on more platforms?
- Plunet runs on Web. Smartling runs on Web, API.
- What is Plunet best used for?
- Plunet is most often used for a translation agency running dozens of concurrent projects across freelance vendors that needs automated quoting from cat analyses, a corporate localisation department wanting margin and vendor-cost visibility across internal and outsourced work, an lsp replacing spreadsheet-based project tracking that is causing missed deadlines and billing disputes, an agency needing client and vendor self-service portals to cut manual email coordination. Of those, a translation agency running dozens of concurrent projects across freelance vendors that needs automated quoting from cat analyses and a corporate localisation department wanting margin and vendor-cost visibility across internal and outsourced work are not what Smartling is typically brought in for.
- What can Plunet do that Smartling cannot?
- Plunet covers CAT tool connectors, Automated pricing, Vendor and resource management, Workflow templates. Smartling covers Translation memory, Visual context CAT editor, Configurable workflows, First-party language services.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Plunet: Does Plunet translate documents?
No. It manages quoting, workflow, vendor assignment and billing around translation work performed in separate CAT tools.
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.
Plunet: Is pricing public?
No. Plunet is sold on a quote basis licensed per user, and cost depends on user count and modules selected.
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.
Plunet: Who actually buys it?
Translation and localisation agencies and corporate in-house translation departments, not the companies commissioning a one-off translation.
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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