If you're choosing a translation API for your application, pricing is one of the hardest things to compare. Every provider uses a different billing model: some charge per character, some per word, some per request. Free tiers vary from permanent to promotional to non-existent. And the fine print often hides setup fees, minimum commitments, and overage penalties.
In this guide, we break down the actual pricing of the five most popular translation APIs in 2026 (Google Translate, DeepL, Azure Translator, Amazon Translate, and Langbly) and show you what you'd actually pay at real-world volumes from 500K to 100M characters per month.
Google Translate API Pricing
Google's Cloud Translation API comes in two versions, both priced at $20 per million characters:
- v2 (Basic): $20/M characters. Simple REST API with API key authentication.
- v3 (Advanced): $20/M characters for the base model, plus additional charges for custom models and document translation.
Free Tier
Google offers a $300 promotional credit for new Google Cloud accounts. This credit applies across all GCP services (not just translation) and expires after 90 days. There is no permanent free tier for the Translation API.
How Billing Works
Google charges strictly per character with no volume discounts. Every character you send, including spaces, HTML tags, and punctuation, counts toward your usage. Billing is pay-as-you-go with no monthly plans or commitments. You must have a Google Cloud billing account enabled, which means providing a credit card even before using any promotional credit.
What You'd Actually Pay
| Monthly Volume | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 500K characters | $10 | $120 |
| 1M characters | $20 | $240 |
| 5M characters | $100 | $1,200 |
| 25M characters | $500 | $6,000 |
| 100M characters | $2,000 | $24,000 |
DeepL API Pricing
DeepL offers two API plans: a free tier and a paid "Pro" tier.
- DeepL API Free: 500,000 characters/month. Limited to 33 languages. Requires credit card on signup.
- DeepL API Pro: $5.49/month base fee + $25 per million characters. Supports all 33 languages with higher rate limits.
How Billing Works
DeepL Pro uses a hybrid model: a monthly base fee ($5.49) plus per-character charges at $25/M. The base fee is charged regardless of usage. Characters are counted after removing XML/HTML tags, so only the actual translatable text counts, which is a meaningful advantage if you translate HTML content frequently.
What You'd Actually Pay
| Monthly Volume | Free Tier | Pro Monthly Cost | Pro Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500K characters | $0 | $18.00 | $216 |
| 1M characters | Over limit | $30.49 | $366 |
| 5M characters | Over limit | $130.49 | $1,566 |
| 25M characters | Over limit | $630.49 | $7,566 |
| 100M characters | Over limit | $2,505.49 | $30,066 |
Azure Translator Pricing
Microsoft's Azure Translator has a complex tiered pricing structure:
- Free (F0): 2 million characters/month, but only for the first 12 months of an Azure account.
- Standard (S1): $10 per million characters. Pay-as-you-go.
- Higher tiers (S2-S4, C2-C4, D3): Volume commitments with lower per-character rates. S2 starts at $2,055/month for up to 250M characters.
How Billing Works
Azure counts all characters including spaces. The free tier is genuinely free but temporary; after 12 months, you automatically switch to S1 pricing at $10/M. The higher commitment tiers (S2+) require significant monthly minimums and are designed for enterprise volumes. Like Google, you need an Azure account with billing enabled.
What You'd Actually Pay (S1 Tier)
| Monthly Volume | S1 Monthly Cost | S1 Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 500K characters | $5 | $60 |
| 1M characters | $10 | $120 |
| 5M characters | $50 | $600 |
| 25M characters | $250 | $3,000 |
| 100M characters | $1,000 | $12,000 |
Amazon Translate Pricing
Amazon Translate charges $15 per million characters on a pure pay-as-you-go basis.
- Free tier: 2 million characters/month for the first 12 months of an AWS account.
- Standard: $15 per million characters after the free period.
- Active Custom Translation: $60 per million characters (custom terminology and parallel data).
How Billing Works
Amazon counts all characters per request, with a 1,000-character minimum charge per request (even if you send fewer). This means translating many short strings (like UI labels) can be more expensive than the per-character rate suggests. The 12-month free tier is generous at 2M/month but expires, and there's no way to extend it.
What You'd Actually Pay
| Monthly Volume | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 500K characters | $7.50 | $90 |
| 1M characters | $15 | $180 |
| 5M characters | $75 | $900 |
| 25M characters | $375 | $4,500 |
| 100M characters | $1,500 | $18,000 |
Langbly Pricing
Langbly uses flat monthly plans with included character volumes, instead of pay-as-you-go per-character billing:
| Plan | Monthly Price | Characters Included | Effective Per 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 500,000 | N/A |
| Starter | $19 | 5,000,000 | $3.80 |
| Growth | $69 | 25,000,000 | $2.76 |
| Scale | $199 | 100,000,000 | $1.99 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom |
How Billing Works
Langbly's model is straightforward: pick a plan, get a fixed character allowance each month. If you go over your plan limit, overage is charged at $4 per million characters, and your service never stops. Annual billing is available at 20% off. No billing account setup beyond providing an email; you can start with the free tier and upgrade when needed.
What You'd Actually Pay
| Monthly Volume | Best Plan | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500K characters | Free | $0 | $0 |
| 1M characters | Starter | $19 | $182 (annual) |
| 5M characters | Starter | $19 | $182 (annual) |
| 25M characters | Growth | $69 | $662 (annual) |
| 100M characters | Scale | $199 | $1,910 (annual) |
Side-by-Side Cost Comparison
Here's what each provider costs at the same monthly volumes. All prices are for standard translation (no custom models or premium features):
| Monthly Volume | Google ($20/M) | DeepL Pro ($25/M) | Azure S1 ($10/M) | Amazon ($15/M) | Langbly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500K | $10 | $18 | $5 | $7.50 | $0 (free) |
| 1M | $20 | $30 | $10 | $15 | $19 |
| 5M | $100 | $131 | $50 | $75 | $19 |
| 25M | $500 | $631 | $250 | $375 | $69 |
| 100M | $2,000 | $2,506 | $1,000 | $1,500 | $199 |
At 5 million characters per month, Langbly is 81% cheaper than Google, 85% cheaper than DeepL, 62% cheaper than Azure, and 75% cheaper than Amazon. At 100 million characters, the savings grow to 90% vs Google and 80% vs Azure.
Hidden Costs to Watch For
The per-character rate doesn't tell the whole story. Here are costs that often catch developers off guard:
1. Cloud Account Setup
Google, Azure, and Amazon all require full cloud platform accounts with billing enabled. For Google and Azure, this means navigating their cloud consoles, enabling APIs, creating projects, and setting up IAM permissions. If you're not already on these platforms, the overhead is significant, especially for a team that just needs a translation API.
2. Expiring Credits
Both Google ($300 for 90 days) and Amazon/Azure (2M/month for 12 months) offer free credits that expire. If you prototype with these credits and then launch six months later, you may find that your "free" tier is gone. Langbly's 500K/month free tier is permanent, with no expiration, no surprises.
3. Minimum Charges Per Request
Amazon Translate charges a minimum of 1,000 characters per request. If you're translating short UI strings (like "Save", "Cancel", "Next") that are 5-10 characters each, you're paying 100-200x the actual character cost. This can dramatically inflate costs for applications that translate many short strings.
4. Base Fees
DeepL Pro charges a $5.49/month base fee on top of per-character charges. This is small at higher volumes but adds up at lower usage. You pay the base fee even in months where you translate zero characters.
5. Overage Penalties
Most providers don't explicitly penalize overage; they just keep charging at the standard rate. But with pay-as-you-go billing, an unexpected spike in usage can lead to a surprisingly large invoice. Langbly's flat plan model gives more predictability: you know your maximum cost is $199/month plus $4/M for anything over 100M characters.
6. HTML/Tag Counting
Google, Azure, and Amazon count HTML tags and attributes as characters. If you're translating HTML content, the tags can double or triple your character count. DeepL strips XML/HTML tags before counting, which can be a significant cost advantage for HTML-heavy content. Langbly counts all characters including tags, consistent with Google's approach.
The Bottom Line
Translation API pricing in 2026 ranges from free to thousands of dollars per month depending on your volume and choice of provider. Here's how to think about it:
- If budget is your primary concern: Langbly offers the lowest cost at every volume tier, from free up to 100M+ characters per month. At scale, it's 81-90% cheaper than Google and DeepL.
- If you're already on a cloud platform: Azure Translator at $10/M is the cheapest of the big cloud providers, but it still costs 5x more than Langbly's Scale plan at the same volume.
- If you're locked into Google's ecosystem: Google Translate at $20/M is the most expensive mainstream option, but the integration with other GCP services may justify the premium for some teams.
- If you need the best European language quality and cost isn't the top priority: DeepL Pro delivers strong quality for European languages, but at $25/M it's the most expensive per-character option.
For most developers and SaaS businesses, the decision is straightforward: start with Langbly's free tier, test the quality with your actual content, and scale to a paid plan when you're ready. You'll save 81-90% compared to the alternatives while getting translation quality that matches or exceeds what traditional NMT engines deliver.
Related Articles
- How to Cut Your Translation API Costs by 90% Without Sacrificing Quality. Deep dive into why advanced translation is cheaper and how the cost structure works.
- The 5 Best Free Translation APIs in 2026. Comparison focused specifically on free tiers and getting started without spending money.
- How to Replace the Google Translate API v2 Without Changing Your Code. Step-by-step migration guide with code examples.