Google Language Translator vs Loco Translate
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Google Language Translator v7.0.2 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.7/5 Visit Details | Loco Translate v2.8.9 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 100,000+ | 1M+ |
| Last updated | October 23, 2026 | September 30, 2026 |
| Editions | Google Language Translator | Loco Translate |
| Pros | Language selector, widget and menu flags with no setup of translations; Machine translation covers a long list of languages; Simple shortcodes for placing the selector | In-admin PO editor, no desktop translation tools needed; Extracts strings and builds POT templates from source code; Compiles MO and JSON files without gettext installed; Machine translation through your own API keys |
| Cons | Free use is limited to non-commercial purposes under the vendor terms; Free version gives no SEO benefit and does not keep translations; Indexing, URL translation and in-context editing need a paid plan | Machine translation needs keys from DeepL, OpenAI, Gemini or OpenRouter; Translates interface strings only, not site content; Not a multilingual content plugin; no translated URLs |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 2 |
| Features (Translation plugins checklist) | ||
| Machine translation | Yes | Yes |
| Visual editor | Paid | Yes |
| SEO-friendly URLs | Paid | No |
| WooCommerce | Yes | No |
| Languages limit | 104 | — |
| Free version | Yes | Yes |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Floating language selector loaded from the vendor CDN, Language selector widget, Shortcodes for the translator and language menu, Language flags in navigation menus, Shortcodes run inside text widgets, Search engine indexing of translated pages ($), Translated URL slugs ($) | In-admin PO editor, String extraction to POT templates, Native MO compilation, JSON (Jed) file export for script translations, Protected languages directory, WP-CLI commands for extract, fetch and sync, Fetch official translations from translate.wordpress.org |
| Integrations | ||
| E-commerce | WooCommerce | — |
| Other | GTranslate translation service, Intercom support chat | OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, DeepL, WordPress.org translations (GlotPress) |
| Requires WordPress | 4.5 | 6.6 |
| Requires PHP | — | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1.2 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | cdn.gtranslate.net, widget.intercom.io | translate.wordpress.org, api.openai.com, generativelanguage.googleapis.com, openrouter.ai |
| Shortcodes | 2 | — |