Top 8 Translation Plugins for WordPress Multilingual Sites

Top 8 Translation Plugins for WordPress Multilingual Sites

If you’re thinking of using WordPress as your CMS, you’re not alone. After all, WordPress powers 35% of the world’s websites.

That’s way more than any other content management system.

What’s more, WordPress offers the simplicity and convenience that business owners need. A strong CMS makes it simpler to get companies up and running online.

However, WordPress isn’t perfect. There are certain features that you may need, which aren’t available via WordPress.

For instance, if you want to speed up your website website, you might need to look at some caching plugins.

Alternatively, if you want to reach customers across the globe, you’ll need to make sure you’re displaying content in the right languages.

That means you’re going to need a plugin to get the functionality you want.

The good news?

There are plenty of WordPress translation plugins available. And these plugins make appealing to global customers simpler than ever.

That’s why today, we’re going to be looking at the top plugin solutions for WordPress multilingual sites, to help you display your site’s content in your target audience’s language.

The Benefits of Multilingual Websites

Before we jump into looking at multilingual plugins, let’s start simple.

Why do you would want your website to have multiple language options?

Any plugin added to your WordPress site adds weight to your pages. This means that if you want to avoid a slow website you need to choose plugins carefully.

Small companies that are only selling to local clients don’t need multilingual plugins to thrive online.

However, if you’re running a global company, that’s a different matter. To ensure your brand can thrive worldwide, you need to think about using WordPress translation plugins.

Multilingual websites:

  • Demonstrate your brand’s credibility: customers are more likely to see global brands with multilingual websites as established companies. If you have the money and the demand to go comprehensive with your organization, you could seriously impress your audience. The more your audience trusts you, the lower your risk of cart abandonment.
  • Achieve better accessibility: we live in a digital world where the borders between countries are quickly being broken down. If you sell a downloadable or global product, you need to go multilingual. Plugins that support various languages will convert more customers.
  • Improved SEO: competition for English language SERPs is often high. However, you can boost your chances of a ranking if you look into other languages. Neil Patel, a leading marketing guru, suggests that using multilingual websites can lead to a 47% increase in organic traffic.

The Best Multilingual Plugins for WordPress

So, how do you choose the perfect WordPress translation plugins?

Well, you have two options.

The first choice is a WordPress multilingual plugin, which allows you to add multilingual content to your site manually. This allows you to access highly accurate translations.

The second option is an automated WordPress translation plugin. These automated tools are great for saving time, but you might sacrifice some accuracy.

That said, here are some of the best WordPress translation plugins from both categories.

1. TranslatePress

Multilingual plugins: TranslatePress

TranslatePress is a manual multilingual plugin designed for simplicity. With it, you can easily switch between different languages to support your customers and edit aspects of your website on the front-end.

Additionally, you can translate things like plugins, theme content, and meta-data, without changing the interface.

What’s more, a significant benefit of TranslatePress is that it works with various tools that you may already be using, including WooCommerce for online selling.

If you want the accuracy of manual translations, this is the
option for you.

Features include:

  • Translate entire pages at once
  • Support for dynamic strings added by WordPress
  • Translation blocks for more significant amounts
    of content
  • Image translation
  • Automatic translation with Google translate available
  • Customizable language switcher
  • Support for WooCommerce

TranslatePress an excellent manual plugin for WordPress translation. However, it allows website owners to add aspects of automated translation through Google Translate too.

Additionally, there’s the option to add various “extras” to your translation experience with add-ons, like an SEO pack for search optimization, and automatic user language detection.

Price: There’s a free demo to get you started, followed by a premium price of £79 ($103.50) per year for the personal pack, which works on one site. Business packages for 3 sites are available for £139 ($182.00) per year. Developer packs are £199 ($260.50) per year for unlimited sites.

2. Polylang

Polylang for multilingual sites

Polylang is one of the most popular WordPress translation plugins in the market.

With this plugin, building multilingual websites in seconds is easy. You can also define languages for each of the posts on your site according to your needs.

Polylang comes with the option to use as many different languages as you want. Additionally, you can add RTL scripts. With Polylang, WordPress language packs are downloaded automatically

This means that you don’t have to worry about any translations becoming outdated. Polylang doesn’t feature eCommerce support, or support for translating your WordPress theme, unfortunately. However, you can set up SEO-friendly URLs for each language you want to choose.

Features include:

  • Support for multiple languages and RTL language
    scripts
  • Translate media, pages, posts, post tags,
    categories, widgets, and menus
  • Natural language switching with a sidebar widget
  • Categories, post tags, and meta descriptions are
    automatically copied when adding new translations
  • Custom post types, sticky posts, and default WordPress
    widgets are supported
  • WPML to Polylang translation

Polylang is a convenient and easy-to-use WordPress translation plugin. However, as a free plugin, it is missing a few more advanced features, like integration with WooCommerce.

Price: Free

3. WPML

WordPress translation plugins: WPML

WPML is one of the better-known WordPress translation plugins in the market. This plugin comes with a powerful back-end management system. That allows website owners to translate themes, content, plugins, and so much more.

If you want to become one of the large global brands that power their sites with WordPress today, then WPML can help with that. The product comes in multilingual CMS and Multilingual blog licensing plans. If you need page builder support, eCommerce,  and other advanced features, you’ll need the CMS solution.

Features include:

  • Easy installation with over 40 languages to choose
    from
  • Add your own language variants with the WPML
    language editor
  • Manage your translation experience with a robust
    back-end
  • Use WPML for your eCommerce strategy
  • Translation for theme and plugin texts
  • Professional human translation available
  • Works with most WordPress themes

Aside from offering a wide range of features and the ability
to translate various WordPress themes, WPML also delivers proactive, reliable,
and engaging support for users. There’s guidance from a professional team
available 19 hours per day, and 6 days per week, in 9 different languages.

Pricing: Prices start at $29 for the Multilingual blog package or $79 for the Multilingual CMS solution. Multilingual Agency is available for $159 and offers support for multiple multilingual websites.

4. Weglot

Weglot for WordPress multilingual sites

Weglot is another globally renowned solution for WordPress
multilingual sites.

This cloud-focused platform for translation works seamlessly with Shopify, WordPress, BigCommerce, and so much more. You’ll need to enter the Weglot API into your WordPress site to connect your website to the platform. However, after that, it’s easy to choose the array of languages that you want to add.

Weglot’s website also makes it easy to manage translations. You can translate your content, update your pages, and access support for things like WooCommerce selling.

Features include:

  • Quick install to make running a multilingual
    website easier
  • Automatic content detection
  • Team collaboration features
  • Easy-to-manage design with an in-context editor
  • Both human and mechanical translation options
  • Access to professional translators
  • SEO optimization
  • Auto-redirection for visitors
  • WooCommerce integration

Weglot is a highly professional multilingual WordPress plugin. This plugin comes with both automated and manual translation options .

What’s more, there’s plenty of excellent support from the Weglot support team if you get stuck.

Price: 2 months free if you pay yearly, followed by a starter price of £99 ($129.50) per year. Business pricing is available at £190 ($250.00) per year, while the WeGlot “Pro” package offers unlimited translated languages for £490 ($641.50) per year. The pricing goes all the way up to a Corporate option at £4990 ($6532.50) per year.

5. MultilingualPress

MultilingualPress for multilingual websites

MultilingualPress is a leading WordPress translation plugin
that takes a unique approach to designing global websites. Rather than running
a typical WordPress install, the MultilingualPress site uses the multisite
WordPress network for every language.

This means that your plugin can efficiently upgrade your multilingual content. What’s more, you protect your page performance. Because the plugin only uploads one language at a time, there’s less pressure on your domain. This plugin also supports pages, posts, custom post types, and more.

Features include:

  • WooCommerce optimization
  • PHP7 powered for faster web call response and
    lower memory optimization
  • Easily manage your cache system
  • Translate default WordPress content
  • Automatic language redirection
  • Duplicate site options
  • Performance benchmark tracking
  • Inline Docs and Developer support

MultilingualPress is an exciting and easy-to-use solution for Multilingual websites.

This plugin design is SEO friendly, so you don’t have to worry about making the most of your search engine optimization. Getting started is just as simple as learning how to start your WordPress blog.

Price: Prices start at $199 for a single multi-site license. This makes MultilingualPress one of the slightly more expensive options in the market today.

6. GTranslate

GTranslate WordPress translation plugin

GTranslate stands out among WordPress translation plugins powered
by one of the best-known companies in the world – Google.

The solution is built on top of the Google Translate function. That means that you can translate your site content into up to 103 different languages. Additionally, you can manually correct any issues with the automatic translation that Google provides.

Features include:

  • SEO compatibility
  • Machine translation with Google and Bing
  • Search engine indexing
  • Translation editing options
  • Language hosting with different domains for each
    language
  • Usage statistics for useful reports
  • URL translation
  • Regular updates

This easy to install plugin comes with various widget options. This means you can choose the style that fits your website. What’s more, the pro version of the plugin also works well with integrations.

With GTranslate, you can use WooCommerce and Yoast SEO. This means you can make the most out of your ranking and sales potential.

Price: You can get started with GTranslate using a 15-day free trial.What’s more, there’s also a free version of the plugin, though it only comes with minimal features.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a custom package for $7.99 per month. Alternatively, there’s a startup package for $17.99 per month. Or, you can access a business package for $27.99 per month, and an enterprise solution for $37.99 per month.

7. Google Language Translator

Google Translate for multilingual sites

Google Language Translator is another leading WordPress translation plugin. This app is built on top of the Google translation API. This lightweight WP solution makes it super easy to design a multilingual website from scratch.

Once you’ve activated your plugin on WordPress, you can head into the plugin settings page. Here, you can activate the status of the plugin with a checkbox.

After that, you choose the original language of your website. Next, you can choose which languages you want to translate into.

This tool is part of the GTranslate family. As such, it powers more than 500,000 websites worldwide.

Features include:

  • Free automatic translation from Google
  • Suggest better translation pop-up hidden
  • Google Analytics integrations
  • Translate pages and posts
  • Right to left language support
  • WooCommerce shop support
  • Floating language selector widget

The free version of the Google Language Translator is the most popular. However, there are paid features available. These include multilingual SEO, neural machine translation, and Search engine friendly URLs if you need them.

Price: Free version available or paid options are accessible through the GTranslate family.

8. LingoTek

Lingotek for WordPress multilingual sites

Finally, LingoTek is a free-to-use multilingual plugin that eases the process of maintaining a useful multilingual website.

There’s more to this plugin than automatic machine translating. With this tool, you can connect to a rapidly-evolving translator community. Here, you can hire a professional to translate content on your behalf.

The great thing about LingoTek is that everything you need, from automatic to human translation is available within the same WordPress dashboard. Additionally, the free LingoTek plugin automates file transfer between LingoTek and your WordPress site.

Features include:

  • Professional translation available
  • Community support from thousands of people
  • Free automatic machine translation
  • Commercial API for Microsoft translator included
  • Excellent Polylang plugin support
  • Admin interface is easy to use
  • Custom post types supported
  • Lightweight (doesn’t slow down your site)

LingoTek is a simple and straightforward option for those in search of the perfect tool for WordPress multilingual sites. This plugin is great for people in search of professional translators. With Lingotek, you can hire experts, instead of using machines.

Which Are The Best WordPress Translation Plugins?

If you’re looking for the number one multilingual plugin to translate content on your website with excellent accuracy, manual plugins are the way to go. In this case, TranslatePress is our top choice. It’s great for beginners and brimming with excellent community support. On the other hand, Weglot is likely to be your preferred option if you’re looking for a combination of human and manual translation.

Finally, if you need a multilingual plugin that’s all automated, you’re likely to get the best results from the GTranslate plugin. That plugin comes with access to Google’s sensational language features.

Still not sure whether WordPress is the right global CMS for you? Then check out our 5 compelling reasons to start using WordPress today.  

Have you ever translated your WordPress site using any of the above-mentioned plugins? If so, we’d love to hear all about it in the comment below!

The post Top 8 Translation Plugins for WordPress Multilingual Sites appeared first on WPHacks.

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