Best for
Best for enterprises and public sector organisations that want AI translation and human verification from one vendor under strict security requirements.
- Enterprise
Translation & Localization Comparison
LILT vs. Phrase
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for localization teams that run documents, marketing content and software strings through one managed process with outside vendors.
- Freelancers
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | LILT | Phrase |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Not stated | From 27 US Dollar / month Freelancer plan with 1 TMS seat, billed annually. Business plans start with Team at 1,245 US Dollar / month, billed annually. Quarterly billing only through sales. |
| Free trial | Not stated | 14-day free trial with Enterprise features; no free plan |
| API | Yes, APIs for translation, content generation and connectors, plus an official MCP server | Yes, REST APIs, webhooks, CLI and over-the-air SDKs, plus an official MCP server |
| Hosting | Public cloud, private cloud, on-premises or bare metal; fully air-gapped on the Government plan | Not stated |
| Language coverage | 200+ languages with AI and machine translation, most of them pairable between any source and target, and unlimited further languages through translation memory with human translators; human verification is offered for every combination a LILT or third-party model covers | Language-independent: practically any standard language and script can be enabled, right-to-left languages included |
| Files and formats | Microsoft Office 2007+, OpenOffice and LibreOffice, PDF, InDesign IDML and FrameMaker MIF; JSON, YAML, XML, HTML, Markdown, iOS strings, Java properties, PO, RESX and DITA; SRT, VTT and TTML subtitles; XLIFF 1.2 plus Memsource, memoQ and Trados XLIFF; TMX and TBX for memories and termbases. Files export in their upload format, legacy DOC, XLS and PPT only as text or XLIFF | 50+ file formats, including DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, JSON, XML, YAML, HTML, XLIFF 1.2 and 2.0, IDML, RESX, PO, properties and Markdown |
| Machine, human or both | Both. AI translation by LILT's own models and connected third-party LLMs, with optional verification by certified linguists, routed automatically by risk, audience or content type | Both. 30+ machine translation engines, among them Google, DeepL, Microsoft and Amazon, with automatic engine selection and custom engines; human translation in the built-in CAT editor by your own linguists or any language service provider |
| Glossary and terminology | Yes, terminology, style guides and translation memories, which are also used to tune custom models | Yes, term bases and translation memory, with glossary and terminology enforcement in machine translation |
| Review and collaboration | Review copilots and workflow agents on all plans, managed expert human verification on Enterprise and Government, and central management of roles, permissions and access levels | Shared workspace for vendors and linguists with comments, screenshots and approvals, several vendors per job, custom workflow steps, continuous jobs, automated project creation and a drag-and-drop workflow builder |
| Integrations and connectors | Prebuilt connectors for content systems such as Adobe Experience Manager, Contentful, Figma, GitHub, Salesforce, Shopify and Zendesk; deeper enterprise integrations on Enterprise | Integrations catalogue with GitHub, Figma, Contentful, Storyblok, Google Drive, Braze and Zendesk among them |
| Data handling and privacy | SSO/SAML on Enterprise; deployment in public or private cloud, on-premises, bare metal or air-gapped, with certification for Impact Level 6 workloads on the Government plan | ISO 27001 certified and SOC 2 Type I, with Type II expected in 2026 according to Phrase; hosted on Amazon Web Services; GDPR, PCI DSS and CCPA named in its security statement |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| MCP-ready | Yes | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), On-premise | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Enterprise | more entries Freelancers, Enterprise |
| Integrations | more entries Adobe Experience Manager, Box, Braze, Contentful, Figma, GitHub, Google Drive, Salesforce, Shopify, Zendesk | GitHub, Figma, Contentful, Storyblok, Google Drive, Braze, Zendesk, WordPress, Sanity |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Deployment LILT Cloud (SaaS), On-premise Phrase Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
- Company size LILT Enterprise Phrase Freelancers, Enterprise
- AI features LILT No Phrase Yes
- API LILT Yes, APIs for translation, content generation and connectors, plus an official MCP server Phrase Yes, REST APIs, webhooks, CLI and over-the-air SDKs, plus an official MCP server
- Language coverage LILT 200+ languages with AI and machine translation, most of them pairable between any source and target, and unlimited further languages through translation memory with human translators; human verification is offered for every combination a LILT or third-party model covers Phrase Language-independent: practically any standard language and script can be enabled, right-to-left languages included
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
LILT
Strengths
- Deploys in public cloud, private cloud, on-premises or fully air-gapped
- Human verification by certified linguists can be routed automatically by risk or content type
- An MCP server on every plan brings translation into existing AI assistants
- Third-party LLMs can be connected and assigned to the use case they suit best
Limitations
- No published prices on any plan
- Full API access starts on the Enterprise plan
- Built for enterprises and the public sector, with no self-serve plan for individuals
Phrase
Strengths
- Translation projects and software strings live in one subscription
- More than 30 machine translation engines, chosen per job automatically or by hand
- Vendors and freelance linguists work in the same workspace as the client team
- Over-the-air SDKs push new strings to mobile apps without a release
Limitations
- No free plan, only a 14-day trial
- Business plans start at 1,245 US Dollar / month, billed annually
- SOC 2 Type II not yet in place according to Phrase's own security page
Plans
Pricing
LILT
- Business Not stated For growing global content teams. AI platform, prebuilt connectors, tuned models, review copilots and workflow agents.
- Enterprise Not stated Adds managed expert human verification, full API access, SSO/SAML, a 99.9% uptime commitment and 24/7 support.
- Government Not stated Adds air-gapped deployment, Impact Level 6 certification and on-site support from cleared U.S.-based staff.
Phrase
- Freelancer 27 US Dollar / month Billed annually. 1 TMS seat, no Strings seats, basic capacities. For freelance translators.
- Professional 525 US Dollar / month Billed annually. Unlimited TMS seats and 15 Strings seats. For language service providers.
- Software UI/UX 525 US Dollar / month Billed annually. 15 Strings seats, 1 million managed Strings words, unlimited languages, 5 Strings projects. For developers and designers.
- Team 1,245 US Dollar / month Billed annually. Unlimited TMS seats, 20 Strings seats and all Phrase products with standard capacities.
- Business Custom Unlimited TMS seats, 150 Strings seats, high capacities. Quoted by Phrase sales.
- Enterprise Custom Unlimited TMS seats, more than 150 Strings seats, customised capacities. Quoted by Phrase sales.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
LILT
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
Phrase
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Reviews are not published yet. The form on a tool's page works and reaches us, but nothing from it appears on this site, so no score here is based on a review. The rules below are the ones that will apply once reviews go live.
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
LILT https://lilt.com · no check date recorded yet
Phrase https://phrase.com · checked against the official source on 2026-10-22
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.