Best Multilingual WordPress Plugins for Automated Website Translation
If you want to expand your audience globally, it's essential to offer your website in multiple languages, as customers typically prefer accessing content in their primary language. Fortunately, for those who own WordPress websites, there are plugins available that automatically translate it. In this article, we will explore leading WordPress plugins for automated translations of the website into various languages. We'll also address the benefits of utilizing a multilingual plugin and how it can enhance accessibility for people worldwide.
What is the WordPress language translation plugin?
WordPress translation plugins are extensions designed to facilitate the translation of WordPress websites into multiple languages. Many translation plugins can detect the language of website visitors and provide content in the appropriate language, while some of them offer manual language selection instead.WordPress offers a variety of add-ons designed to enhance content comprehension for international audiences. These features achieve this by either utilizing automated machine translations or allowing manual translation entry for each piece of content. Some plugins also support a combination of both methods. WordPress also offers comprehensive multilingual solution plugins that facilitate the website's complete transition into other languages as it allows users to administer multiple languages simultaneously. Language translation plugins have become extremely popular in recent times among WordPress users who are looking to extend their reach to global audiences and capture a larger customer base.
Benefits of Using a Multilingual WordPress Translation Plugin
Making sure your WordPress website is available in multiple languages has several benefits. First and foremost, it allows you to reach potential customers who may not speak the language of your original content. This can be especially important if you are running an international business or targeting customers in other countries. Moreover, it demonstrates your commitment to customer-centric values. having a multilingual WordPress website can also help with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). By optimizing your content for different languages and regions, you can increase your visibility on search engines like Google and Bing.
The Best WordPress Translation Plugins for Websites in 2024: Free and Paid
The market provides numerous choices, from free plugins for small to medium websites seeking broader reach without significant investment to premium plugins offering advanced features. With this variety, website owners can find a solution that fits their needs, whether prioritizing cost-effectiveness, translation quality, user-friendliness, or language support. In the following selection, we'll highlight the best WordPress translation plugins, including both free and paid options, known for their effectiveness in creating engaging multilingual websites.
WPML
The WPML plugin is one of the best for translating a WordPress website into multiple languages. It supports over 65 languages and provides you with the opportunity to incorporate your linguistic variations (e.g Canadian French)
WPML supports both automatic and manual translation workflows. It enables content translation into multiple languages by integrating with machine translation services like Google Translate, DeepL, and Microsoft Translator. Additionally, WPML provides access to its dictionary on wpml.org, which is updated weekly to aid in translations. For those seeking more control or accuracy, WPML allows users to connect with professional translation services or assign translation tasks to their chosen translators directly from the WordPress dashboard.
WPML includes a built-in interface for translation management. Additionally, the plugin integrates with other widely-used plugins, including WooCommerce for e-commerce functionality and Yoast SEO for search engine optimization.
WPML is a paid plugin, offering three pricing tiers: $39, $99, or $199, depending on the features included.
Gtranslate
Gtranslate WordPress Translation Plugin is an amazing tool that enables multilingual websites to be created with ease. It supports over 100 languages, making it versatile for many users. It offers a free version that includes machine translation for all languages, with unlimited words and pageviews.
The free multilingual WordPress plugin version relies on statistical machine translations, while the paid versions upgrade to neural translations, offering significantly higher accuracy. In addition to improved translation quality, the paid versions of Gtranslate feature URL translation, language hosting, search engine indexing, and the capability to edit translations, enhancing both the functionality and user experience of multilingual websites.
Gtranslate offers flexible pricing with options for both monthly and yearly plans. Monthly plans range from $9.99 to $39.99, while yearly plans are available from $99 to $399.
Weglot
Designed with an intuitive interface, Weglot is accessible to users of all skill levels, including those with no coding or web development background. It supports automatic translations in more than 100 languages. Weglot can be integrated with any website technology. This plugin also provides a chance to explore its functionalities through an interactive demo, showcasing the process of translating a website. This demo guides participants from the initial setup to unveiling a fully multilingual website in just 2 minutes.
Weglot's free version supports translations of up to 2,000 words into one language, featuring AI translation, a glossary tool, and additional functionalities, including basic SEO and editing controls.
For broader translation requirements, Weglot provides several paid plans, priced from €15 to €699 monthly, or €150 to €6990 annually. The premium features available in these plans include translated URLs, access to professional translators, and more.
Polylang
The Polylang WordPress plugin is another great choice to facilitate the creation of multilingual websites. It supports an extensive array of more than 90 predefined languages. One of the standout features of Polylang is its comprehensive approach to content translation. Users have the flexibility to translate not just posts and pages, but also media, categories, tags, custom post types, and even URLs. However, it's important to note that Polylang focuses on manual translation, requiring content to be translated by the user or assigned to professional translators. For those seeking automatic translation, an additional plugin will need to be installed.
Furthermore, Polylang prioritizes performance by utilizing WordPress' native capabilities, avoiding additional tables or dependence on shortcodes. This design ensures compatibility with the majority of cache plugins.
Polylang offers a free multilingual WordPress plugin version and paid versions ranging from €99 to €139 yearly.
Translate Press
TranslatePress as one of the best WordPress translation plugins stands out with its unique feature allowing front-end site translation with live previews, eliminating the need for multiple editing interfaces. The plugin supports over 130 languages. It also offers automatic translation options through Google Translate or DeepL, while allowing for manual adjustments to refine translations. TranslatePress is fully compatible with all themes and plugins, ensuring integration regardless of your website's complexity. It prioritizes SEO, enhancing multilingual SEO efforts by supporting page slugs, titles, descriptions, and social media information.
The plugin offers three pricing tiers: Personal Plan (€89/year), Business Plan (€169/year), and Developer Plan (€269/year).
MultilingualPress
MultilingualPress represents a new approach by utilizing the WordPress Multisite feature. This method allows each language to be hosted on a separate site within the network, which significantly improves website performance by loading only the content of the active language, MultilingualPress offers extensive customization options. With support for over 800 languages, users have extensive customization options, allowing them to tailor each language site with different designs, functionalities, and plugins.
Moreover, the plugin has recently expanded its capabilities by introducing automatic translation features, with platforms like DeepL and Google Translate. It integrates with popular WordPress tools like Beaver Builder, Elementor, and WooCommerce, while also prioritizing SEO-friendliness for improved search engine rankings.
The plugin is available in various licensing options, including Standard ($99.00/year), Pro ($299.00), Agency ($599.00), and Custom Enterprise Solutions.
Loco Translate
Loco Translate is a WordPress translation plugin designed to facilitate the translation of themes and plugins within the admin. It integrates with popular translation APIs like DeepL and Google Translate to streamline the translation process. Although it simplifies translating WordPress content, users must manually update translations when themes or plugins are updated. It also provides several keyboard shortcuts to speed up the translation process.
The dashboard offers tools for monitoring translation progress and assigning tasks, helping teams stay organized.
Loco Translate is available in several pricing tiers: Free, Pro at $5.95/month, Business at $19.95/month, and Agency at $29.95/month.
Google Website Translator
The Google Website Translator plugin by Prisna GWT is an automated solution for WordPress users seeking to make their websites accessible in over 100 languages. Unlike other plugins that may offer limited versions of Google's translation capabilities, the Google Website Translator by Prisna GWT provides all the functionalities of the original Google Website Translator. This plugin prioritizes speed by avoiding external file loading and storing all settings in a single database record.
This plugin is available for a one-time fee of $50.
Lingotek
The Lingotek WordPress Plugin is an innovative connector designed to enhance the capabilities of websites by integrating with the Polylang plugin. This incorporation enables machine translation, allowing for quick conversion of content into multiple languages. It also features a translator workbench for accurate, side-by-side translation comparisons and uses translation memory to save and reuse previous translations.
While pricing specifics are not listed, Lingotek provides free translation for the initial 100,000 characters, making it a cost-effective option for expanding a website's global reach.
Integrating multilingual functionality into your website is a strategic decision reflecting a commitment to inclusivity. The careful selection of a plugin is essential as it influences your ability to connect with global audiences. While there are different options available that claim to automate translation and make content accessible in many languages, the decision-making process should be guided by your company's priorities and budget considerations.
