Pricing comparison
Real pricing based on monthly character volume. All prices in USD.
| Volume | DeepL | Amazon | Microsoft | Langbly | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100K chars/mo | $2 | $2.50 | Free* | Free* | Free | |
| 500K chars/mo | $10 | $12.50 | Free* | Free* | Free | |
| 1M chars/mo | $20 | $25 | $15 | $10 | $19 | |
| 5M chars/mo | $100 | $125 | $75 | $50 | $19 | Save 62–85% |
| 10M chars/mo | $200 | $250 | $150 | $100 | $69 | Save 31–72% |
| 25M chars/mo | $500 | $625 | $375 | $250 | $69 | Save 72–89% |
| 50M chars/mo | $1,000 | $1,250 | $750 | $500 | $199 | Save 60–84% |
| 100M chars/mo | $2,000 | $2,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 | $199 | Save 80–92% |
Feature comparison
| Feature | DeepL | Amazon | Microsoft | Langbly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay-per-use | Pay-per-use | Pay-per-use | Pay-per-use | Plan + overage |
| Base rate per 1M | $20 | $25 | $15 | $10 | $3.80–$1.99 |
| Free tier | $300 credit | 500K/mo | 2M/mo (12mo) | 2M/mo | 500K/mo (forever) |
| Annual discount | 20% off | ||||
| Overage pricing | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate | $4/1M |
| Volume discount | Custom | Custom | Custom | Built-in tiers | |
| Minimum commitment | |||||
| Credit card required | |||||
| Billing granularity | Per character | Per character | Per character | Per character | Per character |
Understanding translation API pricing
Translation APIs charge per character translated. The standard unit is 1 million characters, roughly 150,000-200,000 words or about 500 pages of text.
Most APIs use simple pay-per-use pricing: you pay the same rate whether you translate 1,000 or 100 million characters. Langbly uses plan-based pricing with built-in volume discounts, which significantly reduces costs at higher volumes.
Free tiers compared
Google Translate: No permanent free tier. New GCP accounts get a $300 credit that expires after 90 days. After that, every character costs money.
DeepL: The API Free plan includes 500,000 characters per month. Limited to 3 glossaries and no document translation.
Amazon Translate: 2 million characters per month free for the first 12 months. After that, pay-per-use at $15/M.
Microsoft Translator: 2 million characters per month free (permanently). Best free tier for pay-per-use.
Langbly: 500,000 characters per month, permanently free. No credit card required, no expiration date.
When to choose plan-based vs pay-per-use pricing
Pay-per-use pricing is simpler but more expensive at volume. If you translate less than 1M characters per month, the cost difference is small. At 5M+ characters, plan-based pricing saves significant money.
For example, at 25M characters per month: Google costs $500, DeepL costs $625, and Langbly's Growth plan costs $69, that's 86% cheaper than Google. The savings come from Langbly's flat-rate plans with included character allowances.
Hidden costs to watch for
Cloud setup: Google and Amazon require cloud platform accounts (GCP/AWS) which may incur other charges. DeepL and Langbly only need a simple API key.
Overage charges: Langbly charges $4/M for overage beyond your plan, still cheaper than any competitor's base rate. Other APIs have no overage concept since they're pure pay-per-use.
Output characters: Some APIs charge for both input and output characters. Langbly and most providers only charge for input characters.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a translation API cost per word?
Translation APIs charge per character, not per word. At an average of 5 characters per word: Google costs $0.0001/word ($20/1M chars), DeepL costs $0.000125/word ($25/1M chars), and Langbly costs $0.00001/word at scale ($1.99/1M chars).
Which translation API has the best free tier?
Microsoft Translator offers the best permanent free tier at 2M characters per month. Langbly offers 500K characters per month permanently with no credit card required. Amazon offers 2M per month but only for the first 12 months.
Is Google Translate API expensive?
At $20 per million characters, Google Translate is one of the more expensive options. For comparison, Microsoft charges $10/M and Langbly offers plans from $3.80/M (Starter) to $1.99/M (Scale), that's 81-90% cheaper than Google.
Do translation APIs charge for failed requests?
No, translation APIs only charge for successful translations. Failed requests, validation errors, and rate-limited requests are not billed.
Can I reduce my translation API costs?
Yes. Use caching to avoid re-translating the same content (Langbly includes 7-day caching built-in). Choose a plan-based API like Langbly for predictable costs at volume. Use the 20% annual discount if you commit for a year.