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How to Translate a WordPress Site for Free

You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars to translate your WordPress site. This guide shows you how to set up a fully multilingual WordPress site using only free tools.

What You'll Need​

ToolCostPurpose
PolylangFreeMultilingual structure (pages, switcher, SEO)
Loco TranslateFreePlugin/theme string translation
Langbly$0 base; first 500K input chars includedMachine translation engine

Usage cost: $0 for sites under 500K input characters (~100 pages), after adding payment details to activate API access.

Step 1: Install Polylang​

Polylang creates the multilingual structure for your site.

  1. Go to Plugins → Add New
  2. Search for "Polylang"
  3. Install and activate
  4. Follow the setup wizard:
    • Select your default language (e.g., English)
    • Add target languages (e.g., Dutch, German)
    • Choose URL structure (recommended: /nl/, /de/ subdirectories)

Step 2: Install Loco Translate + Langbly​

  1. Install and activate Loco Translate from the plugin directory
  2. Download Langbly for Loco Translate from langbly.com
  3. Upload and activate the plugin
  4. Add your API key to wp-config.php:
define( 'LANGBLY_API_KEY', 'your-api-key-here' );

Create your API key at langbly.com/signup. Payment details are required to activate API access; the first 500K input characters each month are included.

Step 3: Translate Your Theme Strings​

Theme strings are the UI elements: "Read more", "Search", "Leave a comment", etc.

  1. Go to Loco Translate → Themes
  2. Select your active theme
  3. Click New Language → choose your target language
  4. Select all strings (Ctrl/Cmd+A)
  5. Choose Langbly from the auto-translate dropdown
  6. Translate → Save

Step 4: Translate Plugin Strings​

Repeat for your important plugins (WooCommerce, contact forms, etc.):

  1. Go to Loco Translate → Plugins
  2. Select a plugin
  3. New Language → auto-translate with Langbly → Save

Step 5: Translate Page Content​

For page content, Polylang creates translated versions of each page:

  1. Go to Pages in the admin
  2. You'll see language columns next to each page
  3. Click the + icon for your target language
  4. This creates a new page linked to the original

For the actual content translation, you have two options:

Option A: Copy + Langbly API (technical)​

Use the Langbly API directly to translate content blocks:

curl -X POST https://api.langbly.com/language/translate/v2 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q": "Your page content here", "target": "nl", "format": "html"}'

Option B: Use TranslatePress Free (visual)​

For a visual approach, add TranslatePress (free) instead of Polylang:

  1. Install TranslatePress + Langbly for TranslatePress
  2. Enable automatic translation with Langbly engine
  3. Browse your site in the target language, and it translates automatically

How Much Is Included?​

Langbly includes the first 500,000 input characters per month after payment activation. That's approximately:

ContentCharactersIncluded-usage coverage
Blog post (1,000 words)~5,000100 posts/month
Product page~2,000250 products/month
Full small site (50 pages)~250,000Covered in 1 month
Full medium site (200 pages)~1,000,000Covered in 2 months

For most small sites, the included usage covers the entire initial translation. After that, only new or updated content needs translation.

SEO for Multilingual WordPress​

Once your site is translated, make sure SEO is set up correctly:

Polylang handles automatically:​

  • hreflang tags in the <head>
  • Language-specific sitemaps
  • Language switcher widget

You should configure:​

  • Translated slugs: /about → /over-ons (Polylang Pro feature, or edit manually)
  • Translated meta titles/descriptions: Use Yoast or Rank Math per language
  • Translated image alt text: Important for image SEO

Upgrading When You Grow​

When your site grows beyond the included 500,000 monthly input characters, additional usage costs $5 per 1M input characters with no base fee. This is a 75% lower published usage rate than Google Cloud Translation Basic's $20 rate.

Next Steps​