Website translation

A Closer Look at the Top WordPress Translation Plugins

A Closer Look at the Top WordPress Translation Plugins
Alex Denning
Written by
Alex Denning
Alex Denning
Written by
Alex Denning
Reviewed
Alex Denning
Reviewed by
Updated on
November 9, 2023

Looking to translate your WordPress website into multiple languages? A multilingual WordPress website speaks to everyone — not just to your English-speaking audiences. Casting a wider net means speaking to your audience in a language they understand.

With a plethora of multi-language plugins available, it's easier than ever to provide content in various languages, catering to visitors from around the globe. This not only enhances user experience but also opens doors to new markets and opportunities for growth. However, choosing the right solution takes time and research. Luckily, we’ve done the hard work for you!

So, let's explore the top WordPress multi-language plugins that can help your website communicate across language barriers with grace and precision.

Why Should You Use a Multi Language WordPress Plugin?

When you look at the numbers, the web caters overwhelmingly — and disproportionately — to English speakers.

English is ranked the third most popular spoken language in the world, with 360 million native speakers. But it claims the top spot amongst the most commonly spoken languages online, with 873 million internet users. And then there’s the fact that 59.9% of online content is written in English.

There’s a clear language divide online. But for astute business owners, this divide presents opportunities to sell products and services to people overseas who would otherwise ignore sites that aren’t available in their native language.

Fortunately, a quality WordPress multi-language plugin can translate the words on your site into any language with ease. It can take your WordPress website’s default language and translate pages into all the new languages that you want to make your content available.

Before diving into our tutorial and seeing how you can translate your regular WordPress site into a multilingual site, let’s understand the benefits and challenges that come with creating and maintaining a WordPress multi-language site.

What Challenges Can a WordPress Multi Language Plugin Overcome?

Incorporating multiple languages into your WordPress site can be a gateway to international markets, but it comes with its own set of challenges. WordPress multi-language plugins are designed to simplify this process and help you navigate the complexities of creating a multilingual website. Let's look at some of the common hurdles these plugins can help you overcome:

Language Selection

Deciding which languages to include on your website is crucial when targeting specific international markets. A quality multi-language plugin for WordPress doesn't just offer a wide range of languages but also supports regional dialects and variations. For instance, while Tagalog is the national language of the Philippines, a comprehensive plugin would also enable translation into Spanish, English, and various local dialects prevalent in the country.

Cultural Nuance and Accurate Translation

Translating website content is not just about word-for-word translation; it's about conveying the correct meaning, tone, and context. A mistranslation can lead to blunders, like the famous Parker Pen example, where a word mix-up in Spanish led to a humorous and embarrassing slogan about pregnancy instead of a leak-proof pen. Advanced WordPress translation plugins often come with AI that understands the subtleties of language, including colloquialisms and idioms. Moreover, they provide access to professional translation services to ensure cultural nuances are respected.

Layout and Design Adaptation

Languages differ significantly in how much space they consume on a page. For example, logographic languages like Chinese can express a lot more in a single character than languages such as English or Spanish. WordPress translation plugins excel in automatically adjusting the layout of your site to accommodate these differences. Whether it's a character-dense language like Japanese or a longer-text language like German, these plugins help ensure your site's design remains clean and user-friendly across all language versions.

WordPress multi-language plugins tackle these issues head-on, allowing you to focus on your business strategy rather than the intricacies of website localization. By addressing language choice, accurate translation, and design considerations, these tools streamline the process of creating an engaging multilingual website that resonates with audiences worldwide.

WordPress Multilingual Plugins vs Auto Translation Plugins

When choosing the right tools for translating your WordPress site, it's important to understand the difference between WordPress multilingual plugins and auto-translation plugins, as they cater to distinct needs.

WordPress Multilingual Plugins

These plugins are comprehensive solutions designed for full-scale multilingual website management. They allow for a high degree of control over the translation process, including manual translation options, integration with professional translation services, and support for complex multilingual SEO strategies. These plugins are ideal if you want to create and manage content in multiple languages, provide language switcher options, and ensure that the translation fits the context and cultural nuances of the target audience.

Auto Translation Plugins

Auto translation plugins, on the other hand, focus on simplicity and automation. They use machine translation services, like Google Translate, to instantly translate website content without human intervention. This can be incredibly efficient and cost-effective, especially for site owners who need quick translations and have content that does not require nuanced understanding. However, the trade-off can be less accurate translations and occasional cultural faux pas due to the lack of human oversight.

So which should you choose? If your goal is to ensure high-quality, contextually accurate translations with the flexibility to fine-tune content for different languages, a WordPress multilingual plugin is the way to go. If speed and efficiency are your priorities and you are willing to accept some imperfections in the translation, an auto translation plugin may be sufficient. The best choice depends on your specific needs, the nature of your website's content, and your audience's expectations.

Best WordPress Multi Language Plugins

In the following sections, we will introduce and explore some of the best WordPress multi-language plugins available in the market. Each plugin comes with its unique set of features and strengths, tailored to suit different website needs and translation goals. Let's delve into the details of these top contenders to help you find the most suitable multi-language solution for your WordPress site.

Weglot

Weglot homepage - the best WordPress translation plugin

Weglot is a stand-out solution that simplifies website translation with a seamless, no-code solution that's trusted by over 70,000 global brands. Its powerful automatic content detection and machine translation streamline multilingual website management, offering editing control and multilingual SEO to reach new audiences effectively.

Here are some of the key features and benefits:

  • Weglot integrates seamlessly with any WordPress site, automatically detecting and translating your written content and adapting to your plugins and themes.
  • More than 110 different languages are supported, which, impressively, you can manually edit in context on the front end of your site using Weglot’s intuitive visual editor.
  • If you’re not a polyglot, you can order professional WordPress language translations right from the Weglot Dashboard.
  • The Weglot WordPress plugin follows Google's best practices in terms of multilingual SEO, so you can trust that your translated pages will be properly indexed. In fact, when you add new languages to your WordPress website with Weglot, Weglot creates language subdirectories or subdomains for each of the new languages and automatically adds those notoriously tricky to implement hreflang tags.
  • With Weglot’s built-in team functionality, you can add new members to your account for easy collaboration.

What’s more, Weglot’s translation service counts Microsoft, IBM, and Nielsen among its customers!

Pricing starts from €15 per month.

WPML

WPML homepage - WordPress translation plugin

WPML is a comprehensive solution for creating multilingual websites on WordPress. Suitable for everything from corporate sites to personal blogs, this plugin provides a robust environment for website translation.

Key features and benefits include:

  • The plugin offers a mix of automatic and human translation services, boasting partnerships with Google, DeepL, and Microsoft for machine translations, supplemented by professional translation options for manual refinements.
  • WPML includes a translation management system that allows website administrators to specify what content needs translation and to manage the translation workflow, providing control over multilingual content creation.
  • Catering to multilingual SEO requirements, WPML enables users to control URL structures and set SEO meta information for translations. It ensures that search engines can understand the site structure and direct traffic appropriately to the respective language versions.
  • WPML has compatibility with various themes, plugins, and WordPress page builders. Regular testing with updates ensures smooth integration without breaking existing functionalities.

Pricing starts from €39 per year.

TranslatePress

TranslatePress homepage WordPress translation plugin

TranslatePress is a user-friendly WordPress translation plugin, notable for its straightforward functionality and compatibility with a multitude of themes and plugins, including WooCommerce and various site builders. With over 300,000 websites using TranslatePress, it caters to a wide audience through its robust feature set.

Here’s an overview of the key features and benefits:

  • TranslatePress provides a front-end editing experience, allowing users to translate content directly on the webpage, ensuring that translations align perfectly with the displayed content.
  • The plugin offers automatic translation capabilities powered by Google Translate or DeepL, with the flexibility for manual tweaks, which gives you the best of both worlds - speed and precision.
  • You have full ownership of your translations with TranslatePress, which means even if you decide not to renew your license, your translations remain intact and functional on your site.
  • TranslatePress is designed with SEO in mind, supporting multilingual SEO for slugs, titles, meta descriptions, and social media information, along with sitemap integration for popular SEO plugins.
  • The plugin not only works seamlessly for non-technical users but also provides flexibility for developers with customizable language switchers, support for dynamic strings, and the ability to create translator accounts.

TranslatePress offers various pricing tiers, including a free version, with more advanced features available in paid versions, which start from €7.99 per month.

Multilanguage by BestWebSoft

Multilanguage by BestWebSoft WordPress translation plugin

Multilanguage by BestWebSoft offers a hands-on approach to creating a multilingual WordPress site. It’s a free plugin that allows manual translation of content, including pages, posts, and menus, with support for RTL languages and a straightforward language switcher featuring flag icons.

Some of the key features and benefits include:

  • Users have the ability to manually translate various elements of their WordPress site, including pages, posts, widgets, and menus, offering a high level of precision in translation.
  • The plugin includes over 80 pre-installed languages and the option to add more, providing a wide range of language possibilities for site translation.
  • A modern language switcher with flag icons can be easily integrated into navigation menus or widgets, enhancing user experience for site visitors.
  • This plugin works well with Classic Editor, Block Editor (Gutenberg), and is compatible with the latest WordPress version, ensuring a smooth operation for most WordPress users.
  • For extended functionality, there's a pro version that includes translation for custom post types, taxonomies, fields, and compatibility with popular plugins like Elementor Page Builder and Yoast SEO.

Multilanguage by BestWebSoft positions itself as a solid and user-friendly plugin for webmasters who prefer to translate their content manually while still providing a professional and accessible interface for website visitors.

Translate WordPress with GTranslate

GTranslate WordPress translation plugin

Translate WordPress with GTranslate leverages the power of Google Translate to provide automatic translations for WordPress sites. It offers a straightforward way to make a website accessible in 103 languages, with options for both automatic and manual corrections to ensure content quality.

  • The free version of the plugin offers automatic machine translation and browser language detection, allowing users to effortlessly browse your website in their preferred language.
  • The paid plan offers SEO-friendly URLs, enabling search engines to index the translated content, which can significantly boost international traffic and sales.
  • Premium features include multilingual SEO support, seamless integration with Yoast SEO and WooCommerce, and subdomain or subdirectory options for creating language-specific URLs, catering to a professional and expansive multilingual presence.
  • Offering support through forums and a dedicated live chat for paid users, GTranslate emphasizes accessibility and ease of use, positioning itself as a practical choice for businesses looking to internationalize their WordPress websites.

The plugin is available for free. However, for those seeking enhanced functionality, GTranslate's paid plans start at $9.99 per month

MultingualPress

MultilingualPress - WordPress translation plugin

MultilingualPress stands out as a distinctive plugin for creating a multilingual WordPress site, utilizing the platform's multisite capabilities. It's optimal for those who prefer having each language run on a separate site within their WordPress multisite network.

Here’s an overview of the key features that make MultilingualPress an option worth considering:

  • By harnessing the power of WordPress multisite, MultilingualPress assigns each language to an individual site, enhancing performance since only the relevant language is loaded for a user.
  • The plugin offers an accessible interface for managing translations, which supports posts, pages, custom post types, taxonomies, and more. Each language version can be set up on its subdomain, directory, or custom domain, providing flexibility in site structure.
  • It includes new compatibility features such as WP Auto Translate, allowing connections to translation services like DeepL and Google Translate, and compatibility with Advanced Custom Fields for easier management of custom field translations.
  • MultilingualPress promotes SEO by ensuring better performance through its architecture, which is favorable for search engine rankings. It adheres to Google’s guidelines, including automatic hreflang tag support, and provides SEO-friendly URLs and permalinks.

Pricing for MultilingualPress begins at $99 a year for a single multisite license.

Loco Translate

Loco Translate - WordPress translation plugin

Loco Translate differentiates itself by offering direct translation of WordPress themes and plugins within the WordPress dashboard. This plugin caters especially to developers with features like in-browser editing and Gettext/localization tools.

Key features include:

  • It offers a built-in translation editor, allowing you to edit translations directly within the WordPress admin area.
  • The plugin integrates with several automatic translation services, including DeepL, Google, and Microsoft.
  • Provides tools for developers to extract strings, generate templates, and handle localization files without needing Gettext on their system.
  • Features configurable PO file backups with the ability to diff and restore, ensuring your translations are safeguarded.

The core plugin is free, with Loco Pro plans starting at $5.95 per month for additional functionality and support.

Prisna GWT

Prisna GWT - WordPress translation plugin

Prisna GWT offers a straightforward way to integrate Google’s automatic translation service into your WordPress site, enabling you to offer content in over 100 languages. Its easy setup and practical features like widgets and shortcodes, combined with a near-zero impact on page loads, make it an efficient choice for simple translation needs.

Some of the key features and benefits are as follows:

  • Prisna GWT harnesses Google Translate to provide instant automatic translations for your website, presenting a no-frills, uncomplicated multilingual solution.
  • It boasts an intuitive setup process with inline help, ensuring that even users with minimal technical knowledge can navigate its features effectively.
  • The plugin provides several display options, including three inline and four tabbed styles, and the ability to choose which languages are available to your site visitors.
  • With an emphasis on convenience, settings can be exported and imported easily, allowing for quick configurations across different WordPress installations.

This plugin is free to use, making it suitable for those with tight budgets.

What Makes Weglot the Best WordPress Translation Plugin?

While there are many translation tools and plugins available for WordPress, but the leading solution in terms of price, quality, clarity, and ease of use is the Weglot language plugin.

Weglot has quickly gained in popularity in recent years because, well, it just works. If you’ve tried other WordPress translation plugins, you know how much of a headache it can be to set up a WordPress multi-language site. With Weglot, you can say goodbye to technical issues.

With that said, if you’re still not sure which plugin is right for you, check out our quick rundown on choosing the best translation plugin for your WordPress website:

Now, let's take a look at how to set it up — and yes, that’s all in under 5 minutes!

How to Create a Multi Language WordPress Website with Weglot

After installing and activating the Weglot plugin through your WordPress admin and setting up your first translated language, head over to the  Weglot site and log in to your account.

When you first set up Weglot on your site, automatic translations are provided by the best machine learning providers in the world — Microsoft, DeepL, and Google, depending on the language. It’s a great way for you or your translator not to start from scratch and save a lot of time.

When you’re ready to take the quality of your translations to the next level, you can then order translations from vetted professional agencies directly from your Weglot account or add your own translation team.

Weglot’s professional translations give you the following benefits:

  • High quality. Order quality translations with a human translator. A native translator will start translating your order right away.
  • Flexible and affordable. Pricing from €0.08 per word, depending on the language.
  • Fast and easy integration. Professional translations will be automatically added to your Weglot account and displayed on your site within 24-48 hours.

WordPress Language Translation Is Just the Beginning

The future of the web is undeniably multi-language. Fortunately, WordPress multi-language solutions such as Weglot make reaching global audiences easier and faster than ever before.

If you’re on WooCommerce, the opportunity is arguably even bigger.

Here are some resources to help you take your multi-language website translation and localization one step further:

With Weglot, you can translate your site in as little as 5 minutes and increase your online visibility, scale your business, reach new markets, and achieve the high ROI that comes with investing in WordPress language translation. Weglot even supports a WordPress multisite setup so you can use it on different domains.

Start your free trial now! For websites with 2,000 words or less, you can use Weglot’s free version, premium versions start from €15 a month.

Discover weglot

Ready to display your website in multiple languages?

Try Weglot on your website for free (no credit card required).

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