Machine translation has revolutionized the way organizations translate business materials and website content. Google Translate It offers unmatched speed, capable of translating thousands of words in seconds — a task that would take professional translators days.
There are several machine translation services available, with Google Translate and DeepL among the most widely used. Both translation tools excel at large-scale translation, but each has unique strengths and weaknesses.
This guide will answer common questions about Google Translate vs. DeepL. We’ll explain how each translator works, compare their language translation performance, and show you how to unlock the full potential of machine translation.
What is Google Translate and how does it work?
Google Translate is a translation tool that converts text, audio, images, documents, and websites into different languages. As of February 2025, it supports over 249 languages and dialects.
Features include basic text translation, live speech translation, and even image translation, which uses your device’s camera to scan signs and menus, converting the text into another language in real time. Google Translate is by far the most widely used machine translation tool , with hundreds of millions of users translating billions of words a day.
This huge volume of translations bahrain whatsapp number data 5 million is possible thanks to neural machine translation. Neural networks work similarly to the human brain, learning patterns and relationships between words by analyzing large amounts of previously translated content.
The result? Google Translate delivers impressive translation accuracy at unprecedented speeds. However, it’s far from perfect. Accuracy varies by language pair, and idioms and contextual nuances are often lost in translation.
What is DeepL and how does it work?
DeepL is an online translation service launched in 2017 as an alternative to Google. Unlike Google Translate, which prioritizes speed and broad language coverage, DeepL focuses on producing accurate translations in a limited set of languages. As of February 2025, DeepL’s translation supports 30 languages, including English, German, Spanish, and Chinese.
DeepL originally differentiated itself how to translate a website into spanish in 5 steps
with convolutional neural networks (CNNs), but has since adopted a transformer-based architecture, similar to Google Translate, to improve performance. It continues to be trained on high-quality bilingual data from Linguee, which improves contextual understanding.
Language services companies praise DeepL for its accuracy , especially in European languages. It can capture longer, more natural-sounding sequences of words, making its translations smoother and more context-aware.
Is DeepL better than Google Translate?
While Google Translate is the most popular translation tool, DeepL is more accurate in specific situations. Your business’s unique needs will determine which machine translation tool is best.
Here, we will compare DeepL vs Google Translate based on accuracy, customization, supported languages, and pricing.
Translation quality and accuracy
To quickly assess the quality of a machine translation engine, turn to the experts. A 2024 survey by the Association of Language Companies (ALC) found that 82% of language services companies use DeepL for translations, while 46% use Google Translate. DeepL also claims that language experts found that DeepL’s translations were 1.3 times more accurate than Google’s in blind tests.
Another 2021 study from UCLA Medical Center found that Google’s neural machine translation preserved meaning singapore number correctly 82.5% of the time. This accuracy varied greatly depending on the language, ranging from 55% to 94%, with Spanish being the highest. While Google Translate performs well in some languages, its accuracy is inconsistent.
On the other hand, DeepL is more reliable across all supported languages and better at capturing linguistic contexts and expressions. Overall, it produces more accurate translations with more context.
Variety of languages supported
DeepL and Google Translate take very different approaches to language support. DeepL currently supports 30 languages, focusing mainly on European languages and some major Asian languages like Indonesian and Chinese. Meanwhile, Google Translate supports 249 languages and dialects, including many lesser-known and region-specific languages.
In 2022, Google announced plans to someday support 1000 languages , further surpassing competitors’ language offerings. If you’re looking for broad language coverage, there’s no better translator than Google Translate.
Customization and flexibility
DeepL and Google Translate cater to different needs for customization and flexibility. Here are some of the features each service has to offer:
Deepl Customization Features
AI-powered glossary generator: Instead of manually adding terms one by one, DeepL can analyze previous translations and suggest terms to include in your glossary. This is ideal for ongoing projects that need consistent terminology across multiple translations.
Tone Selection: For selected languages, users can choose between formal or informal translations depending on the target audience.
Google Translate Customization Features
Custom glossaries via API: Google Translate offers glossary and template customization via the Cloud Translation Advanced API , although these features require technical setup and are geared toward enterprise users.
Translation model customization: Companies that translate large volumes of specialized content, such as legal contracts or scientific research, can train Google’s translation system to recognize their industry’s preferred terminology and writing style.
DeepL offers easy, built-in customization. However, the Google Translate API offers more flexibility for companies that need large-scale translation control, if you’re willing to deal with the setup.
Features and Integrations
Google Translate works on all major operating systems and devices. It offers website translation, allowing users to translate entire web pages by entering a URL. Its Cloud Translation API allows businesses to easily integrate translations into apps, websites, and services, providing a scalable solution for multilingual communication.
DeepL offers similar functionality across devices. It stands out with its desktop app that helps professionals translate large documents. The free tool lacks built-in website translation, but the Pro version offers browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
Google Translate is the best option for maximum flexibility and business integration as it comes with more features and broader platform support.
Prices
In addition to its free translator, DeepL offers three subscription plans:
Starter ($8.74 per user per month): Up to five users can translate 1 million characters and five documents per month.
Advanced ($28.74 per user per month): Unlimited users can enjoy unlimited text translation, 20 documents per month, glossary features, and integration with CAT tools .
Ultimate ($57.49 per user per month): Document translations are increased to 100 per user per month, with a higher file size limit.
Google Translate follows a pay-as-you-go model through the Cloud Translation API. The first 500,000 characters per month are free. After that, rates start at $20 per 1 million characters, with higher rates for custom templates. Document translation starts at $0.08 per page.
DeepL’s fixed monthly pricing per user makes it ideal for small teams that need translation at scale. Google Translate’s pricing model is more flexible and cost-effective for large companies with variable translation needs.
If you’re still having trouble deciding, consider using Smartling’s LanguageAI™ to get the best of both worlds. Our neural machine translation hub integrates Google Translate, DeepL, and other leading translation engines, intelligently selecting the best solution based on the content type and language pair.
How to translate your website with Google Translate or DeepL
Smartling connects to popular content management systems (CMSs), including WordPress, Sitecore, and Contentful, allowing users to route content through Google Translate or DeepL via the Neural Machine Translation Hub. Here’s how to set it up and start translating your site for international users:
1. Install the Smartling connector or plug-in
First, install the appropriate Smartling integration for your CMS. WordPress users can install a plugin, and Contentful users can add the Smartling app. Sitecore users can integrate via Smartling’s dedicated connector, available on the Sitecore Marketplace or directly from Smartling. These tools allow Smartling to pull content from your site and send it for translation.
2. Configure API Credentials
Next, enter your Smartling API credentials (project ID, user identifier, and token secret) into your CMS settings. This links Smartling to your website so it can automatically send and receive translated content.
3. Select content for translation
Once Smartling is connected, select the pages, blog posts, or product descriptions that need to be translated. The Smartling connector pulls this content into our system, preparing it for processing by Google Translate or DeepL.
4. Authorize and route translations through Smartling
your selected content, and route it through the Machine Translation Hub. Here, you can choose between Google Translate, DeepL, or human translation services, depending on your quality and cost preferences.