Making your e-commerce business accessible to different countries is easier than you think with Magento language translation extensions. If you are a shop owner, you know the power of entering new markets and gaining a new audience to grow your business. If you are a Magento shop owner and haven’t done that yet, you will be surprised to see how easy it is!
The Power of an Open-source E-commerce Platform
Magento is an open-source e-commerce platform that was initially released in 2008. It is written in PHP and benefits the advantages of MySQL, Apache, HTML5, CSS3 and JQuery.
However, you can create your online shop without any coding skills and it is the beauty of it!
Moreover, its community passionately supports this open-source system. There are limitless solutions for any project on Magento. In fact, there are multiple ways and solutions for you to prepare your Magento shop for internationalization. For instance, you can enable Inline Translations for the frontend or backend of your store and keep your translations in the database. Alternatively, you can translate a specific theme in your Magento shop and keep your translations in a .csv file.
In this article, we are going to focus on Language Translation Extensions developed by the community and companies. The reason is that these extensions make your internalization process extremely easy and offer the opportunity to hire professionals for the task. Even though Magento 2 is released to fix the shortcomings of the original platform, not all users upgraded their shops to the new system. Therefore, we will include both Magento 1 and Magento 2 extensions in our list!
Top 5 Magento Language Translation Extensions
#1 – Lingotek Translation Inside
Lingotek Translation Inside is a cloud-based translation technology. They offer Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools to facilitate faster and more efficient translation services.
Pros
- You can request a demo that includes their Machine Translation services for the 10,000 characters for free.
- Real-time project status display.
- You can request several rounds of reviews for your translation tasks.
Cons
- Lingotek Translation Inside system does not provide extensive SEO support.
- Their Pricing policy is not clear beyond the demo offer.
- The latest version of the Magento (2.3.x) is not supported.
#2 – MarsTranslation Product Translation
MarsTranslation Product Translation offers a human translation service for businesses. They are working with native and certified translators in 120 languages they support. Their Magento Language Extension allows you to choose the specifications and attributes of the products that you want to translate.
Pros
- You can add instructions for the translators.
- You can follow the real-time process of any given translation task.
Cons
- MarsTranslation Product Translation system does not provide extensive SEO support.
- The latest version of the Magento (2.3.x) is not supported.
#3 – Straker Translations
Straker Translations offers a cloud-based translation service that combines human translation expertise and machine learning. Their API can be integrated with Magento shops so that you can manage your translation tasks from the backend of your shop.
Pros
- The translated content is saved to memory to reduce future translation costs.
- You can manage and track the translation tasks in real time.
Cons
- Straker Translations system does not provide extensive SEO support.
- Their pricing might be costly for small shop owners.
#4 – Language Translator
Language Translator is developed by Appjetty. Their Magento Extension offers a complete solution for your Magento 1 and Magento 2 stores. They use the Google Translation API that reduces the cost of your translation costs.
Pros
- Their pricing is reasonable for small businesses.
- Language Translator has two extensions for Magento 1 and Magento 2 websites.
Cons
- Language Translator system does not provide extensive SEO support.
#5 – Yappn Translation System
Yappn Translation System offers a machine translation service that specialized in e-commerce. They provide extensive SEO support allowing you to focus on other tasks for your business.
Pros
- Automatic language detection and redirection.
- Yappn Translation System offers a subscription system with multiple tiers.
- The extension has advanced tools for SEO support.
Cons
- Yappn Translation System only supports Magento 1.
- Their basic subscription does not support unlimited languages.
Comparison of Magento Language Translation Extensions
We covered the advantages and disadvantages of the top Magento Language Extensions above. The comparison chart below summarizes the difference between the basic options that are offered.
| Name | Price | Compatibility | Translation Method | Unlimited Languages | SEO Support |
| Lingotek Translation Inside | $500 or more¹ | Community 2.1, 2.2 | Machine Translation | ✔ | ❌² |
| MarsTranslation Product Translation | $400 or more³ | Community 2.0, 2.1 | Human Translation | ✔ | ❌ |
| Straker Translations | $1,900 or more⁴ | Community 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
Enterprise 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 |
Human Translation | ✔ | ❌ |
| Language Translator | $99 or more⁵ | Community 1.5, 1.5.1, 1.6.0, 1.6.1, 1.6.2, 1.7.0, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 | Machine Translation | ✔ | ❌ |
| Yappn Translation System | $14.95 /month | Community 1.3, 1.4, 1.4.1.1, 1.4.2, 1.5, 1.6, 1.6.1, 1.6.2.0, 1.7, 1.8, 1.8.1, 1.9, 1.9.1, 1.9.2, 1.9.3 | Machine Translation | ❌⁶ | ✔ |
¹ Lingotek Translation Inside uses Machine Translation. They offer free Machine Translation for your the 10,000 characters. You can request a demo from their website.
² Lingotek Translation offers limited SEO support by translating the meta tags of your products.
³ MarsTranslation Product Translation uses Human Translation. See their pricing page for additional charges.
⁴ Straker Translations uses Human Translation. See their pricing page for additional charges.
⁵ Language Translator uses Google Cloud Translation API. See their pricing page for additional charges.
⁶ Unlimited language support is only available in advanced packages of Yappn Translation System.
Ready to Create World’s #1 eCommerce Platform?
Just like Shopify Language Plugins, Magento offers a variety of offers for its customers to build their international business. One of the strengths of Magento is that it is open-source, and its community seems to be using this advantage well.
If you are considering to take your business to the next level and go global, you can also read our guide on preparing your online shop for globalization. These tools will let you build skills, gain perspective and venture out into the other markets to grow your income!
