Loco Translate vs WPML String Translation
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 | WPML String Translation v3.5.4 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Paid Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 1M+ | — |
| Last updated | September 30, 2026 | — |
| Editions | Loco Translate | WPML String Translation ($) |
| Pros | In-admin PO editor, no desktop translation tools needed; Extracts strings and builds POT templates from source code; Compiles MO and JSON files without gettext installed; Machine translation through your own API keys | Scans theme and plugin files for translatable strings; Translates strings, PO and MO files and post slugs in one place; Provides a wpml-string shortcode for inline translation |
| Cons | Machine translation needs keys from DeepL, OpenAI, Gemini or OpenRouter; Translates interface strings only, not site content; Not a multilingual content plugin; no translated URLs | Needs WPML core installed and active; Sold with the WPML subscription, no free edition; Scanning large themes or plugin sets can be slow |
| Mentioned in our posts | 2 | — |
| Features (Translation plugins checklist) | ||
| Machine translation | Yes | No |
| Visual editor | Yes | No |
| SEO-friendly URLs | No | Yes |
| WooCommerce | No | — |
| Free version | Yes | No |
| More features | ||
| Other features | In-admin PO editor, String extraction to POT templates, Native MO compilation, JSON (Jed) file export for script translations, Protected languages directory, WP-CLI commands for extract, fetch and sync, Fetch official translations from translate.wordpress.org | Scan theme and plugin files for translatable strings ($), Import PO strings into the string table ($), Translation memory for reusing earlier translations ($), Track where each string appears on the front end ($), Batch translation of registered strings ($), wpml-string shortcode for inline translated text ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | — | WPML ($) |
| Other | OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, DeepL, WordPress.org translations (GlotPress) | — |
| Requires WordPress | 6.6 | — |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | — |
| Tested up to | 7.1.2 | — |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | translate.wordpress.org, api.openai.com, generativelanguage.googleapis.com, openrouter.ai | — |
| Shortcodes | — | 1 |