Best Free Translation Tools for Apps & Websites (2026)

Why Google Translate Isn't Enough for Your App or Website

Let's be honest — when most people think about translating their app or website, the first thing that comes to mind is Google Translate. You paste some text in, get a translation out, and copy it back. Simple, right?

For a quick email or a social media post, that works fine. But when you're translating an entire app or website, things get complicated fast. Your content isn't just a block of text. It's broken into dozens — sometimes hundreds — of small pieces: button labels, menu items, error messages, marketing headlines, form placeholders, and more.

Copy-pasting each one into Google Translate is painfully slow. Worse, machine translation without context often misses the mark. A button that says "Submit" might get translated literally when a more natural phrase would work better in another language. And you'll have no easy way to keep everything organized across multiple languages.

That's why purpose-built translation tools exist. They're designed to handle structured content — the kind that lives inside apps and websites — in a way that's faster, more organized, and produces better results.

The Four Types of Translation Tools

Before we dive into specific tools, it helps to understand the main categories. Each solves the translation problem differently, and the right choice depends on your budget, team size, and technical skills.

1. Free Machine Translation Services

Examples: Google Translate, DeepL, Microsoft Translator

These are the tools everyone knows. You type or paste text, and they give you a translation instantly. DeepL is particularly well-regarded for European languages, producing translations that sound more natural than Google Translate in many cases.

Best for: Quick, one-off translations of short text. Great when you just need to understand what something says.

Not ideal for: Translating structured app content. They don't understand your content's structure, so you'll spend hours copying, pasting, and reorganizing. They also can't remember your preferred translations or maintain consistency across your project.

2. Professional Translation Services

Examples: Gengo, One Hour Translation, TransPerfect

These services connect you with human translators who produce high-quality, nuanced translations. If you're translating marketing copy, legal content, or anything where tone really matters, human translators are hard to beat.

Best for: High-stakes content like legal pages, marketing campaigns, or brand messaging where quality is critical.

Not ideal for: Small teams or startups on a budget. Professional translation typically costs $0.05–$0.20 per word, and turnaround can take days. Translating an entire app with 2,000 text entries across 5 languages could easily cost thousands of dollars.

3. Translation Management Platforms

Examples: Lokalise, Phrase (formerly Memsource), Crowdin, Transifex

These are full-featured platforms designed for larger teams. They offer collaborative workflows, version control, translation memory, and integrations with development tools. They're powerful — but that power comes with complexity and cost.

Best for: Larger companies with dedicated localization teams who need advanced collaboration features and workflow automation.

Not ideal for: Small teams, solo founders, or anyone who doesn't want to spend time learning a complex platform. Most of these tools charge monthly fees starting at $40–$120/month, and their interfaces can be overwhelming if you just want to edit some translation files.

4. AI-Powered Translation Editors

Examples: Glot

This is the newer category — tools that combine the ease of a simple editor with the power of AI translation. Instead of managing complex workflows, you open your translation files directly in the browser, edit them visually, and use AI to fill in translations with a single click.

Best for: Small teams, non-technical users, startup founders, and anyone who wants a fast, simple way to translate their app or website content without learning a complex platform.

Not ideal for: Large enterprises with complex multi-team workflows that need advanced permission systems and audit trails.

What to Look For in a Translation Tool

No matter which category appeals to you, here are the key factors to consider when choosing a translation tool:

• Ease of use: Can you start using it in minutes, or does it require hours of setup and training? If you're not a developer, this matters a lot.
• Format support: Does it work with the file formats your app or website uses? Most modern apps use standard translation file formats that good tools will support.
• Translation quality: If the tool offers machine or AI translation, how good is the output? Does it understand context, or does it translate word-by-word?
• Pricing: Is there a free tier? What happens when you grow? Some tools are free to start but become expensive as your project scales.
• Privacy: Where does your data go? Some tools process everything on their servers. Others, like Glot, keep your files in your browser — nothing is uploaded unless you choose to use AI translation.
• No account required: Can you try it without signing up? This is a surprisingly important factor. Many tools require you to create an account, set up a project, and invite team members before you can even see the interface.

Why Glot Stands Out for Small Teams

We built Glot specifically for the people who fall through the cracks of existing tools — the startup founder who needs to add a second language to their app, the small business owner who wants their website in two languages, or the product manager who needs to review and edit translations without bothering the development team.

Here's what makes Glot different:

• No sign-up needed: Open the editor, drag in your translation files, and start editing. It's that simple.
• Works entirely in your browser: Your files never leave your computer unless you choose to use AI translation. There's no cloud storage, no sync issues, and no privacy concerns.
• Visual editing: See your translations organized in a clean, tree-like structure. No need to understand file formats — just click and type.
• AI-powered translation: When you're ready, use AI to translate your content with context awareness. The AI understands that "Submit" on a form button should be translated differently than "Submit" in a legal document.
• Free to start: The editor itself is completely free. You only pay a small amount if you want to use the AI translation feature, and new users get free credits to try it out.
• Multiple export formats: Whether your app needs standard translation files, Android format, iOS format, or something else, Glot exports to all common formats.

A Quick Comparison Table

Here's how the different approaches stack up for a typical small team:

The Bottom Line

If you're a large company with a dedicated localization team and budget, platforms like Lokalise or Phrase are solid choices. If you just need to translate a few sentences, Google Translate or DeepL will do the job.

But if you're somewhere in the middle — a small team, a startup, a solo founder, or a non-technical person who needs to manage translations for an app or website — Glot gives you the power of a professional tool with the simplicity of a text editor. No setup, no monthly fees, and no learning curve.

The best translation tool is the one you'll actually use. And if it takes more than 30 seconds to get started, most people won't bother. That's why we made Glot open-in-browser simple.