Loco Translate vs Multilingual Press
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Loco Translate v2.8.9 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details | Multilingual Press v2.11.3 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 1M+ | — |
| Last updated | September 30, 2026 | — |
| Editions | Loco Translate | MultilingualPress · MultilingualPress Pro ($) |
| Pros | In-admin PO editor, no desktop translation tools needed; Extracts strings and builds POT templates from source code; Compiles MO and JSON files without gettext installed; Machine translation through your own API keys | Each language runs as its own site with its own URLs; Translations linked from the original post editor; Automatic hreflang output for search engines |
| Cons | Machine translation needs keys from DeepL, OpenAI, Gemini or OpenRouter; Translates interface strings only, not site content; Not a multilingual content plugin; no translated URLs | Requires WordPress multisite; Version 2 is announced as retired; version 4 is the successor; Does not translate content for you |
| Mentioned in our posts | 2 | 2 |
| Features (Translation plugins checklist) | ||
| Machine translation | Yes | No |
| Visual editor | Yes | No |
| SEO-friendly URLs | No | Yes |
| WooCommerce | No | No |
| Languages limit | — | 174 editable |
| Free version | Yes | Yes |
| More features | ||
| Other features | In-admin PO editor, String extraction to POT templates, Native MO compilation, JSON (Jed) file export for script translations, Protected languages directory, WP-CLI commands for extract, fetch and sync, Fetch official translations from translate.wordpress.org | Unlimited site relationships in the site manager, Language manager with editable languages, Edit translations from the original post editor, Language switcher widget and nav menu links, Automatic hreflang output, Custom post type support, Duplicate a site as a template for a new language, Pro version hooks and licence status ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Other | OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, DeepL, WordPress.org translations (GlotPress) | — |
| Requires WordPress | 6.6 | 4.7 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | — |
| Tested up to | 7.1.2 | 5.2 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | translate.wordpress.org, api.openai.com, generativelanguage.googleapis.com, openrouter.ai | — |