9 Best WordPress Translation Plugins for Multilingual Websites!

In today’s globalized world, language is no longer an excuse not to reach a wider audience using your blog. However, WordPress is only accessible in English, which isn’t great if you plan to expand your readers and customer base.

Fortunately, there are several WordPress translation plugins available that can help you easily create a multilingual website. 

This blog post will guide you through some of the best translation plugins to empower you to create an immersive experience for users across the globe. These plugins have much to offer, like automated translations, customizable language switchers, and editors, to meet your unique website requirements.

Best WordPress Translation Plugins

A recent study found that over 65% of internet users would love to read content in their native language, even if the quality is not as good as in other languages. The same report shows that another 40% prefer to browse websites in their native language. This means you could miss out on many potential readers and sales if your blog is unavailable in multiple languages. 

In light of this, let’s discuss the top WordPress multilingual plugins that bloggers can use to create a multilingual website.

TranslatePress

TranslatePress is one of the most installed translation plugins by WordPress enthusiasts, and Google Translate powers it. It also offers users a free version that translates text content, images, buttons, menus, and more. The company also prides itself in prioritizing simplicity since it translates WordPress sites directly from the front end, with full support for WooCommerce, complex themes, and site builders. 

Additionally, it’s an ideal option for small blogs and enterprise ones. However, if you need to translate to more than one language, upgrade to Pro to access extra add-ons, which start at around $99/year.

TranslatePress also has the confidence of over 300,000 websites and has received positive user feedback, praising its ease of use, reliability, and expert customer support.

Key Features

• Free Version: TranslatePress has a free version with enough features to support bilingual sites. 

• Easy to Use: Users can translate everything on the front end, including WooCommerce products, page builder content, forms, and more.

• SEO Support: This feature automatically generates SEO elements like page slug, title, description, social graph info, lang attribute, and multilingual sitemap. It helps improve website ranking in SERPs and drive traffic.

• Translator Accounts: This unique feature keeps your project organized and secure. You can create dedicated “translator” user accounts to invite people to collaborate on your translations without granting them access to the entire backend of your site.

• Multiple languages: Supports a whopping 221 languages to provide your audience with content in their preferred language.

• Offer automatic user language detection:  When users land on your website for the first time, they’ll redirect them to their preferred language based on their browser settings or IP address. 

• Translation of Anything: TranslatePress allows you to translate nearly everything on the front end of your website, including images, editor (Gutenberg) blocks, custom fields, custom post types, WordPress forms, and WordPress menus. Etc.

WPML

WPML (The WordPress Multilingual Plugin) is a powerful translation plugin for corporate sites and blogs. You can use it for anything on your blog. I’m talking pages, posts, custom types, taxonomy, menus, and even the theme’s texts.

One of the best things about this plug-in is its translation management feature. This one allows you to decide what to translate, who will translate it, and the target languages, all from one dashboard. WPML also includes a glossary and memory feature to improve translation accuracy and consistency.

Unfortunately, the software does not offer a free version as most of them do. But that should encourage you since you can get a refund in the first 30 days if you don’t like the software. The most basic plan starts at $39, while the multilingual plan costs $199. 

Key Features

• Professional Human Translation: You can add your team of translators to your site for human translation. Alternatively, you can send your site’s content to one of the many professional translation services they partner with.

• Fast and automatic translations: WPML’s Automatic saves 90% of your time with automatic translation. Then, you can review and improve the translations to make them accurate and natural-sounding.

• Compatibility with Themes and Plugins: WPML works seamlessly with many WordPress themes and plugins. Developers keep running tests to ensure compatibility is maintained. 

• SEO-Friendly: This feature lets search engines index and rank your translated content properly. It has features such as hreflang tags,url controls, sitemaps, and meta tags which help search engines understand your content.

• Easy Setup and Configuration: With the help of WPML’s user-friendly setup wizard, you’ll be guided through the initial configuration process. 

• Translate Texts Easily String Translation: WPML’s String Translation interface allows you to translate texts in other plugins and Admin screens effortlessly.

• Stable and Secure Plugin: WPML conducts internal and external audits to maintain the highest level of protection for your website. In the rare event of any issues, they promptly address and resolve them. 

Weglot

Bloggers worry that installing third-party plugins on WordPress might need to be more technical. But that’s not the case with Weglot because it has a special feature -the no-code installation. This means that you just need to install the plugin without hiring an IT expert to make it work. You just need to download it from the WordPress plugin repository or watch this tutorial to get started. 

Regarding downsides, Weglot might be feature-rich but has problems like other machine translation services. First, you need to understand that automated translation could be better. This requires you to review translations manually or hire a professional translator.

 Weglot is also relatively expensive, especially for large websites with over 100,000. The price tier for such starts at $299/year. However, even if you rely on a professional translator, it will still cost an arm and leg. So the plug-in wins as the most affordable option if you want a multilingual website and want to start small.

Key Features

• No code installation: Enables efficiently running your website translation project without assistance from a developer or IT team.

• Automatic workflow: Weglot streamlines the translation process by automatically detecting and translating the content of your website. It does this using leading neural machine translation providers.

• Editing translations: Comes with editing tools for machine translations, allowing you to make human edits and improve the quality of the translations.

• Translated website displaying: After translation, your website will be displayed under language subdomains or subdirectories, making it accessible to users in your preferred languages.

• Visual translation editing: Has powerful visual editing capabilities, allowing you to directly change the translated visual content on your website.

• Multilingual SEO: Weglot integrates with a multilingual SEO setup. For example, adding hreflang tags and optimizing your website for search engines in different languages.

• One dashboard: They have a centralized dashboard where you can manage all aspects of your website translation project. This dashboard includes adding translators and teammates, ordering professional translations, and accessing support.

Polylang

Polylang is one of the most popular and preferred WordPress translation plugins. The popularity is for a good cause since it supports manual and automatic translation. You can translate your content instantly or manually if you’re critical about automatic translations. 

The best part is that it also has a translation management system tool. So you’re sorted if you want your team members working on your projects or even professional translators.

However, as you incorporate this plug-in into your multilingual strategy, note there needs to be help with using it. But it is okay since they have a tutorial or two, enough to get started.

Key Features

• Multilingual Support: Polylang allows you to add multiple languages to your website, from just one extra language to 10 or more, depending on your needs.

• A customizable language Switcher: It provides a customizable language switcher that can be displayed as a widget or a navigation menu item, allowing visitors to switch between languages quickly.

• Translation of content: With Polylang, you can translate various types of content, including posts, pages, media, categories, tags, custom post types, custom taxonomies, widgets, navigation menus, and URLs.

• Easy to use and efficient: Create your languages, add a language switcher, and you can start translating.  Polylang perfectly integrates with the WordPress admin interface not to change your habits. It also integrates content duplication across languages for an efficient workflow.

• High performance: Polylang uses WordPress’ built-in core features (taxonomies). This makes it a lightweight plugin that only requires a little memory or slows down your site.

• SEO Friendly: Polylang can automatically generate hreflang tags for you or manually add them to your pages. It supports other multilingual SEO features, such as canonical URLs and language meta tags.

• Duplicate content across post translations: Users can easily duplicate content across translations or change all translations simultaneously. For example, suppose you have a post translated into English, Spanish, and French. In that case, you can easily duplicate the post in all three languages without visiting each site individually. 

MultilingualPress

Multilingual Press is a free, freemium plugin, meaning it can be downloaded for free or purchased as the Pro Version from MarketPress.com. The Pro version offers superior functionalities such as interlinking, duplicating sites, and editing translations from the original post editor.

One of the best things about Multilingual Press is its ability to duplicate sites. Users can use another blog as a template when creating a new blog, copying everything from settings to user roles and even attachments. This one-click setting can save users much time when starting a new language site.

However, one limitation of Multilingual Press is its price. To access the Pro Version and its additional features, users must pay $99/year for one domain, $299 for six domains, or $599  for ten domains. This is expensive, considering some bloggers only want to start with the basics -pay for a domain and page builders.

But despite this, Multilingual Press has a user base of over 200,000 downloads and has received positive feedback from users.

Key Features

• Optimized for WooCommerce: It enables you to sell your products in over 800 languages. You can translate product descriptions, categories, tags, and WooCommerce content and set up different prices.

• SEO-friendly URLs and permalinks: MultilingualPress generates SEO-friendly URLs for your multilingual website. This will help search engines like Google or Bing index and understand your content. 
• Top-level domains per language: They also let you use top-level domains (TLDs) for each language site, like .com or co.uk for English, .fr for French, .pt for Portuguese, .es for Spain, and .de for German.

• Automatic language redirection: It redirects visitors to the correct language version based on their website’s settings. So visitors will always see your website in their language, even if they type in the wrong URL.

• Duplicate sites: MultilingualPress lets you create a new site as a copy of an existing site. It’s helpful if you want to create a new language version of your website without starting from scratch.

• Language manager: This comes with a built-in language manager to help easily manage the languages on your website. You can add new languages, edit existing languages, and delete languages.

• Create your language switcher: You can create a custom language switcher for your website. This allows visitors to switch between your website’s different language versions easily.

Lokaise

This WordPress translation plugin has the most user-friendly, clear, and clean graphic environment, making it easy to navigate and control. It also integrates with well-known translation engines, providing valuable suggestions to translators and ensuring accurate and precise translations. 

One limitation of Lokalise is the absence of macro functions to automate repetitive tasks. Users on review platforms like G2  have expressed a desire for features that can simultaneously translate multiple instances of a word or understand the context of the original word for more accurate translations. These limitations may impact projects that require extensive automation or a deep understanding of the content.

How this has not stopped, Lokalise from receiving positive reviews from WordPress users on platforms like G2. That’s why Lokalise suits bloggers seeking a reliable and efficient translation solution. 

Key Features

• AI Translation: They use AI technology to provide accurate and automatic translations. This saves you time and resources you would use to do it manually.

• AI Quality Assurance: The platform employs AI LQA, a quality assurance tool to identify and correct any potential errors or inconsistencies in translated content. Your blog will maintain the accuracy and consistency of all the localized content.

• Collaborative translation: You add your team to work together, making the localization process manageable.

• Localization process automation: With Localise, no manual downloads or uploads of files. Their automation tools will make your localization transition simple and fast. 

• Lokalise apps: You will get seamless integrations with your favorite apps and platforms, making localizing content within existing workflows easier. This includes Slack, Gmail, Github, Asana, and many more.

• Real-time support translation: Localise allows real-time interaction with your customers. This means instant translation of support content, such as live chat messages and support tickets on platforms like  Intercom, Zendesk, HubSpot, and more.

• Security: The team cares about the security of user data and translation content. It employs encryption, secure data storage, and strict access controls to ensure data confidentiality and integrity.

Loco Translate

Loco Translate is a popular free plugin available on the WordPress.org repository, which makes it super accessible to all WordPress users. It offers several notable features, like a user-friendly interface, the ability to generate language files, and the option to translate strings directly from the WordPress admin dashboard.

One of the unique aspects of Loco Translate is its simplicity and helpful team. For instance, it allows users to search for specific strings, translate them, edit them, and save the changes. This eliminates manual file editing, which is convenient for blogs offering content in multiple languages. The team also has a reputation for giving proper customer guidance through email, phone, and video guides. 

But like many plugins, it also has a few limitations: its inability to translate complex website content, such as dynamic data or database-driven content. So you should explore other options if a more robust translation solution is required.

However, the good news is that Loco Translate has garnered a significant user base, with over 1 million active installations and 380 five-star reviews. So that means it’s a good choice for multilingual bloggers. 

Key Features

• Easy to use: Loco Translate is simple, and you don’t have a Loco account to get the plugin starters. For example, they have a  beginner’s guide to translating a language on WordPress. 

• Quality client support: This team provides quality customer support based on WordPress and Trustpilot reviews.

• An excellent Free version: The free version add-on supports Yandex Page Translate Widget. This translation widget allows you to translate any plugin or theme’s translatable plain text strings without limitation.

• Translation editor: It has a beginner-friendly interface that allows you to edit language files directly from the WordPress admin dashboard.

• Manage language files: You can create and manage new language files for all your WordPress themes or plugins or even edit the existing ones.

• Multiple language support: Loco Translate allows you to translate text into any language you have added to your admin dashboard.

• Compatibility: Loco Translate is compatible with all WordPress versions, modern web browsers, and translation APIs like DeepL, Google, Microsoft, and Lecto AI.

• Video tutorials: Loco Translate provides simple videos that show how to translate WordPress themes and plugins using the plugin. These are usually step by videos that anyone can understand.

GTranslate

The GTranslate team will always win my heart because it continuously improves its translation quality which is rare to see from its competitors. Also, this is one of the best WordPress translation plugins in terms of quality. Moreover, they are satisfied with pricing because they have great price tiers for everyone. For example, they have GTranslate Free, GTranslate Pro, and GTranslate Enterprise. They even offer a free 15-day trial, allowing you to explore its capabilities before committing.

Another powerful feature of this tool is that it offers language hosting, ensuring your website is optimized for the target region. This means you can host multiple languages as long as you have people who would be interested in your content.  G Translate can also automatically translate your allowing readers to find your blog and products in their native language easily. 

While the tool has some limitations, such as variations in translation quality. It still remains a fine tool for flawless translations and outstanding customer support.

Key Features

• Machine translation: This feature can automatically translate your content into multiple languages upon installation. You will save time and effort, while  Google and Bing provide free translation. 

• SEO friendly: Your readers will easily find your blog and the products you sell if they search for something relatable in their native language. They also allow you to have a  separate URL for each language. For example, https://es-mx.domain.com for Spanish speakers in Mexico. 

• Language hosting: A separate domain for each language ensures your website is optimized for the target audience and language. For example, domain. en-us will rank higher on search engine results in the United States.

• URL translation: You can rest assured that your website’s URLs will be translated. When you translate, make some changes to get accurate and relevant translated URLs. 

• Usage statistics: The interface has a dashboard that shows data for translation for each language.For example, the number of translations and traffic that each language brings. 

• Automatic software updates: The tool offers automatic software updates. So you can access the latest features and improvements updates daily. 

• Translation editing: You can manually edit translations using their inline editor directly from the context.

Google Website Translator

Finally, we have the Google Website Translator. This is one of the most affordable options for website translation for WordPress users. For a one-time fee of $50, you can have lifetime access to the plugin and translate your website into over 100 languages. So this is a steal if you’re a small-scale blogger or small business owner. 

Still, on its affordability, this plugin has the simplest user interface that’s easy even for users without technical knowledge, saving you time and money on hiring a professional translator. You can also explore other great features like SEO tools, responsive design for all devices, and 24/7 customer support on different channels like Email. 

Despite its affordability and other strong features, the Google Website Translator is not a perfect translator. So from time to time, expect to experience occasional translation errors. However, the plugin translation editor offers limited control over the translation process, which is of great help.

Key Features

• Easy to set up: The Google website translator plugin is simple to use, even for users without technical knowledge. You also get a user-friendly interface that makes translating your website’s content easy.

• Reliable support: The Prisna team offers reliable customer support if you encounter any problems. 

• SEO friendly: It is SEO friendly so that search engines index your translated content. This will help you to reach your target audience with your translated website.

• Cost-effective: For a fee of $50, you get lifetime access to and translate your website into multiple languages.

• 100% responsive: The plugin is 100% responsive, so your translated website looks good on all devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

• You can edit the translations: Google website translator allows you to edit the translations to ensure they are accurate and up-to-date.

• Pixel-perfect design: The translator interface has a clean and modern design that can be personalized to match the design of any website. It can be adjusted with various interface settings, layouts, sizes, and colors.

What Is a WordPress Translation Plugin?

A WordPress translation plugin is software that allows your global audience to access your WordPress blog in several languages. Therefore it’s safe to say it gives your website the necessary functionality to create and manage multilingual content. 

For instance, these plugins can help translate various elements of your blog, like posts, pages, menus, widgets, and even plugins or themes. The plugin enables you to achieve this through an interface where you can input the translations or connect to external translation services for automation.

They also possess robust features such as language switchers, which allow visitors to switch between different language versions of your website. Another feature they offer is translation management tools, allowing you to organize and control the translation process, collaborate with translators, and ensure consistency across translations.

WordPress translation plugins can be free or premium, with varying levels of functionality and support. Some famous examples of WordPress translation plugins include WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin), Polylang, and Weglot.

What Are the Benefits of WordPress Multilingual Plugin?

WordPress Multilingual Plugin is a powerful tool that can help you reach your readers in their native language if they so desire. So what happens is that when an international audience visits your website regularly, your website will rank higher on search engines, gain more sales, and much more.

Here are some key benefits of using WordPress Multilingual Plugin:

Expanded Reach

A Multilingual WordPress plugin can help your blog reach readers across multiple languages and markets—which we all want. This means that people who speak languages other than their native tongue can visit your blog, read your thoughts, read about your products, and even purchase them. 

Improved SEO

So let me paint a scenario, imagine you blog about the latest smart gadgets like smart Samsung TVs and iPhones, but it’s only in English. However, Samsung products and iPhones are popular on almost every corner of this earth. So having it translated to languages like Hindi or French with a multilingual plugin would do wonders for your content and sales.

This brings new opportunities to rank higher in local search results and attract organic traffic from different countries.

Increased Conversion Rates 

When visitors feel that you understand and cater to their needs, they are more likely to engage with your website and take desired actions. 

For instance, imagine you have an e-commerce store selling fashion products. If you offer multiple language options, such as English, Spanish, and French, you can attract more customers and enhance their shopping experience. Personalization can increase conversions, whether purchasing, signing up for a newsletter, or completing a form.

Localization

This involves adapting your blog content to suit different regions’ holidays, local slang, events, and legal requirements. For example, if you’re a finance blogger who provides investment advice and financial tips. A translation plugin can accommodate Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, and Chinese. 

To make this work, you’d ensure compliance with specific local financial regulations, familiarity with events, and financial slang used in each country by providing region-specific financial advice. Localization builds trust and credibility with readers, as they know the advice is tailored to their jurisdiction.

Building an International Brand

We all know an international corporate or solo blogger who serves and inspires people beyond their country of origin. For instance, a self-development blog like MindValley is American. Still, they’ve established themselves as an international brand by offering translations of their self-help content in Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese and planning on expanding to Chinese, Korean, and Arabic. 

As their content reaches a broader audience, they gain recognition and credibility as motivational figures on a global scale. This has led to collaborations, course sales, and the potential to monetize their expertise internationally.

Consistency Across Websites

When dealing with multiple websites in different languages, website owners often face several challenges. These challenges include coordinating updates, managing translations, ensuring consistency in design and content, and dealing with technical complexities. 

These tasks can be time-consuming and prone to errors without a proper solution. But managing multilingual websites is simple with a solution like a WordPress multilingual plugin. Once installed, you will get a user-friendly interface and a range of features that make website management more efficient and effective.

FAQ

Final Thoughts

Thank you for reading this massive guide on the best WordPress translation plugins in 2023. You should implement the download of one of these plugins and make it part of your multilingual strategy.

Remember, if one doesn’t work for your website, you can always try the other one till you find one that aligns with your blog and audience. 

And if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below. I would love to know which is your favorite translation plugin.