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 | $2.50 | |
| 5M chars/mo | $100 | $125 | $75 | $50 | $22.50 | Save 55-82% |
| 10M chars/mo | $200 | $250 | $150 | $100 | $47.50 | Save 52-81% |
| 25M chars/mo | $500 | $625 | $375 | $250 | $122.50 | Save 51-80% |
| 50M chars/mo | $1,000 | $1,250 | $750 | $500 | $247.50 | Save 51-80% |
| 100M chars/mo | $2,000 | $2,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 | $497.50 | Save 50-80% |
Feature comparison
| Feature | DeepL | Amazon | Microsoft | Langbly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay-per-use | Pay-per-use | Pay-per-use | Pay-per-use | Pay-as-you-go |
| Base rate per 1M | $20 | $25 | $15 | $10 | $5 |
| Monthly base fee | $0 | $5.49 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Free tier | $300 credit | 500K/mo | 2M/mo (12mo) | 2M/mo | 500K/mo (forever) |
| Volume discount | Custom | Custom | Custom | Flat $5/1M rate | |
| 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 charges $5 per million characters (500K/month free), which is significantly cheaper than all major alternatives.
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 lower per-character rates matter
Pay-per-use pricing at $10-25 per million characters adds up at volume. If you translate less than 1M characters per month, the cost difference between providers is small. At 5M+ characters, a lower per-character rate saves significant money.
For example, at 25M characters per month: Google costs $500, DeepL costs $625, and Langbly costs $122.50, that's 75% cheaper than Google. The savings come from Langbly's low $5 per million rate.
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.
Metered billing: Langbly charges $5 per million characters above the 500K free monthly allowance. You pay for what you use, with no overage surprises.
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 $0.000025/word ($5/1M 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 charges $5/M (500K/month free, no base fee), that's 75% 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 metered API like Langbly ($5/1M chars, 500K/month free) for lower costs at every volume level.