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The 10 Best WordPress Multilingual Plugins to Streamline WordPress Translation
July 28, 2023
WordPress is by far the most popular website content management system (CMS) in the world. But it's not always ideal for translation or localization. This is where WordPress multilingual plugins come in.
When you are looking to expand the reach of your WordPress website to global markets, it's important to find a plugin that makes localization easy.
The right plugin can transform the localization process from a potential development nightmare into a smooth and streamlined experience.
There are many multilingual plugins to choose from and they are not all equal. Some are more suited to particular types of website than others.
Here is an introduction to 10 of the best and most popular WordPress translation plugins…
WordPress: The good and the bad for translation
There's no denying that WordPress is extremely popular, with 43% of all websites using it according to W3Techs web technology survey.
This wide popularity can be highly beneficial. It means that WordPress has a huge active community, which can help you overcome even the most integration challenges. There are also many highly featured plugins for almost any use case.
For this reason, we listed WordPress in our list of the top content management systems for localization.
The problem?
WordPress isn't actually that good for translation and localization, at least natively. While there are some internationalization features for WordPress theme developers, if you are a regular user, there are almost no localization features in the core platform.
Why use WordPress multilingual plugins?
Thankfully, an entire ecosystem of plugins has grown out of the need for multilingual functionality. This is part of the great power of WordPress — most advanced functionality is provided by third parties.
Adding a well-designed, well-supported WordPress multilingual plugin has many benefits, including:
- Improved user experience — By providing website content to your global audiences in their native language, you improve the experience of all your users. The right plugin can make this seamless.
- Enhanced SEO — Different languages and markets will have different keywords for search engine optimization. Some plugins provide functionality to make this SEO easier.
- Easier, faster localization — Working with translations can be complex if the localization process isn't streamlined. With the right multilingual plugin, you can remove many of the roadblocks that slow down this process.
The Top 10 WordPress Multilingual Plugins
There are many WordPress translation plugins available. But which are worth considering for your global company?
Here are 10 of the best and most popular multilingual plugins for WordPress:
1. WPML
WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin) is one of the most popular plugins out there. It has an impressively rich array of features for helping end users and developers to create localized websites.
Some features include a translation management system, eCommerce integrations, and optional automatic translations.
2. Google Translator Powered Plugins
Of course, Google Translate is a popular option for generating automatic translations. There are various plugins available that act as a WordPress frontend for this functionality.
Two popular plugins for this, that are part of the same product family, are Google Language translator and GTranslate. However, beware of relying too heavily on automated translations, which need special treatment for accurate translation.
3. PolyLang
PolyLang is an easy to use, feature-rich plugin that allows you to translate posts, pages, media, categories, and almost any type of content in your WordPress site.
A notable feature of PolyLang is its compatibility with major SEO plugins, which allows it to automatically take care of multilingual SEO.
4. TranslatePress
TranslatePress is a popular translation plugin that allows you to visually translate webpages using its graphical editor.
It offers full support for WooCommerce for eCommerce sites and also offers automatic translations, with integrations for various popular services.
5. Weglot
Weglot is an intuitive localization plugin that aims to reduce the lengthy "back-and-forth" that often happens during translation.
The plugin also has an impressive selection of integrations with other platforms and services. This includes integrations with Webflow, Shopify, Square, WooCommerce and more.
6. Multilingual Press
Multilingual Press is a powerful multilingual plugin that provides page builder compatibility out of the box, integrating with the popular Beaver Builder and Elementor.
The developers of Multilingual Press have prioritized site performance and future proofing to any changes to the WordPress core.
7. Lokalise
Lokalise is a collaborative translation platform that makes it easy to manage translation projects in a single tool. Its WordPress plugin makes it easy to combine this tool with your website.
We featured the core Lokalize platform in our list of the top Translation Management tools
8. Lingotek
Lingotek is another complete translation management tool with a dedicated WordPress plugin.
With this plugin, you can create your content in WordPress and send it for translation with just one click. Once completed, the translated content is returned directly to your site, ready for display.
9. Babble
Babble is a simple translation plugin that aims to provide high performance with minimum overhead. It includes functionality for your translators to see when a post is ready for translation.
The software interface places both the original and translated content side by side, so translators quickly compare.
10. Loco Translate
Loco Translate is an advanced WordPress plugin specifically designed for developers, offering features to extract strings and generate templates.
The plugin provides in-browser editing of WordPress translation files and integration with popular automatic translation services like DeepL, Google, Microsoft, and Lecto AI.
How to choose the best WordPress translation plugin for you
Now that you are aware of some of the popular WordPress multilingual plugins, what do you do next?
How can you choose the best plugin for your needs?
Consider factors like usability, language support, and compatibility with your existing systems and processes. Look at the plugins and functionality you are already using in your WordPress website. Assess how these may interact with the multilingual plugin.
It can be helpful to consult an experienced language services provider. They can help you determine which of these factors are most important for your localization process.