5 best WordPress translation plugins

We know that there are currently dozens of translation plugins for WordPress, but, the vast majority are outdated or disused, which makes choosing one even more difficult. 

The reality is that there is no perfect plugin for every project. Choosing between them will always depend on the characteristics and needs of your project. 

With this in mind and to save you some work, we have compared, selected and analyzed WordPress translation plugins in detail and here are our top 5 best plugins to translate WordPress.

Discover the solution for your business!

What is a translation plugin for? 

A WordPress translation plugin is a tool that allows you to translate your website into multiple languages, which will help you expand your brand's global reach and appeal to a wider audience around the world.

Several WordPress translation plugins offer a wide variety of functions and features to translate your website easily.

There are thousands of options on the market today, but some of them have certain drawbacks, as some translation plugins will not be as complete as others. The most frequent problems are:

• They are not compatible with WordPress themes
• They are not compatible with the latest versions of PhP
• They do not offer technical support 
• They do not offer service guarantees.

This is why you should be extra careful when choosing a plugin and analyze your needs and the characteristics of your website beforehand.

Which translation plugin should you choose?

The million dollar question: what is the best WordPress translation plugin?

Before we tell you what our favorite plugins are, here are the criteria we use when choosing a translation plugin:  

• Machine translation: most translation plugins offer machine translation, which will save you some time and effort. 

But watch out! 

Don’t forget that these tools are not currently 100% accurate and do not understand double meanings, metaphors or puns. If you want to learn more about this topic, take a look at our article “Why does machine translation require post-editing?”. 

• Intuitive user interface: not all translation plugins have an intuitive and easy-to-use user interface.
• Compatibility with existing themes and plugins: lots of translation plugins are not compatible with some themes or other WordPress plugins. Make sure you choose a translation plugin that is compatible with your current theme. 
• Customization: some plugins provide an option to customize the translation according to your specific needs. If you are looking for a more customized translation experience, look for a plugin that offers this option.
• Support and updates: look for a plugin that has good technical support and regular updates to make sure your website runs smoothly.
• Ratings and reviews from other users: read other users' ratings and reviews about their experiences to get an idea of the quality of the plugin and whether it suits your needs.

Obviously, the best way to get a multilingual site using WordPress translation plugins is to get professional advice. A translation agency will know how to fully analyze your project and provide an appropriate solution for your needs.

5 best WordPress translation plugins

There are tons of WordPress plugins on the market that can help you translate your website. However, from our experience we recommend the following: 

WPML: the most complete translation plugin

WPML is a very powerful and complete WordPress translation plugin that offers an easy user experience. Please note that it is a paid plugin and does not offer a free trial. 

This plugin is compatible with most WordPress themes and plugins.

Polylang: the most intuitive translation plugin

Polylang is a highly versatile WordPress translation plugin that features an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making it ideal for users with no translation experience.

In addition, it is 100% free and compatible with most WordPress themes, allows you to translate manually in a contextual editor, or use machine translation.

Weglot: the most modern translation plugin 

Weglot is a paid plugin for WordPress that works as a translation proxy. This makes things easy and instant, although it may not be that great for SEO.

TranslatePress: the simplest translation plugin 

TranslatePress is a front-end based WordPress translation plugin that offers a free version. The free version has some limitations, but there is also a premium version with more features, such as SEO support.

This plugin is very easy to use and offers an intuitive user experience. It has a free version; however, the paid version allows you to unleash its full potential.

Google Language Translator: the free translation plugin

Google Language Translator is a WordPress translation plugin that uses Google's technology to machine translate your content.

This plugin is a favorite for many, as it is free; however, you need to be careful, as you will not be able to edit the translation. This means that if the machine translation is off, there is nothing you can do. 

After reading this review you may be wondering: are these plugins able to translate WordPress properly? 

To finish off this review, here is a chart comparing the criteria we used to rate plugins:

These are some of the best WordPress translation plugins. However, we cannot continue this article without commenting on some of the problems that may come along with this type of solution. 

Problems that come with some WordPress translation plugins

Some plugins for translating your website come with certain drawbacks:

• Your website is generated in subsystems outside the web server itself, so the server loses control and statistics.
• The language selector is outside the server, and you depend on external solutions to access your translations. 
• URLs are not translated or differentiated between languages, which seriously harms SEO because they are not indexed correctly in Google.
• The page loading speed of a user’s browser is slowed down by external processes.

There are undoubtedly many factors to consider when translating a website hosted on WordPress. This is why the team at iDISC is here for you. We are a translation agency specialized in marketing, SEO and multilingual content translations.

We also encourage you to check out iDISC Singoolar for WordPress, the easy, reliable and hassle-free integrated translation solution for multilingual websites.

Get in touch for more information. We would be delighted to help you. The team at iDISC, a translation company, is here for you as website translation and localization experts.

We hope you found this article useful. You will find tons of more interesting content on our blog.