Important July 2026 update: DeepL API Free and API Pro can no longer be purchased. DeepL now directs new API customers to Developer or Growth. Older articles that quote a monthly API Pro fee plus a fixed per-character rate describe a retired plan.
This guide explains the current structure. Because DeepL presents current prices during plan selection and may localize them, verify the live amount before making a purchasing decision.
Current DeepL API plans
| Plan | Included characters | Recurring? | Intended use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | 1 million total | No recurring monthly allowance | Development and evaluation |
| Growth (monthly) | 1 million per month | Yes, plus overage | Production |
| Growth (annual) | 12 million per year | Yes, plus overage | Production with annual billing |
DeepL documents a 50-million-character monthly limit for Growth. If you need more, confirm the available enterprise route directly with DeepL.
Developer is not the old monthly free tier
Developer provides one million characters in total. It is useful for trying language pairs, integrating the API and building a representative test set. It should not be modeled as one million free characters every month.
Use the allowance to test your actual content. Translation quality varies by language pair, terminology, tone and document type, so a generic online example is not a reliable procurement test.
Growth combines included usage and overage
Growth is the recurring production plan. A fair cost calculation includes:
- the current monthly or annual subscription;
- the included one million monthly or twelve million annual characters;
- the current overage rate;
- your billing period and locale;
- any required product features or volume limit.
Do not reuse the old API Pro rate. Open DeepL's live plan selection and record the date, currency and billing option used in your calculation.
Compare totals on the same basis
Price comparisons often mix a provider's headline rate with another provider's bill after included usage. That produces inflated savings percentages.
For example, Google Cloud Translation Basic and Langbly both include the first 500,000 characters each month. At exactly one million monthly characters, Google's current total is $10 and Langbly's is $2.50. The difference is 75%, the same as their published post-allowance rates of $20 and $5 per million.
DeepL Growth uses a different subscription-plus-overage model, so insert its live subscription and overage into the same workload instead of applying a legacy flat rate.
DeepL versus Langbly
DeepL is an established translation platform with its own API format, glossaries, formality controls and document workflows. Langbly uses the Google Translate v2 request and response format, which can reduce migration work for teams already using that specification.
Langbly requires payment details to activate API access. The first 500,000 input characters each month are included; additional usage costs $5 per million input characters and there is no base fee.
Neither pricing nor a vendor's broad quality claim should decide the choice alone. Test both on representative production content, have fluent speakers review the output, and include engineering migration and operational requirements in the comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still buy DeepL API Free or API Pro?
No. DeepL says these plans can no longer be purchased. New customers use Developer or Growth.
How much usage does DeepL Developer include?
One million characters in total. It is not a recurring monthly allowance.
How much usage does DeepL Growth include?
One million characters per month with monthly billing or twelve million per year with annual billing, followed by overage. Check the live plan for current prices.
Is Langbly always a fixed percentage cheaper than DeepL?
No universal percentage is responsible. DeepL Growth combines a subscription, included usage and overage. Compare the current total for your own workload and billing option.