Best for
Best for small and mid-sized app and game teams that want a straightforward string-based localization tool with a free starting point.
Translation & Localization Comparison
POEditor vs. Smartling
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for larger companies that want translation software and the translators behind it from a single vendor.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | POEditor | Smartling |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free; Start from 17 US Dollar / month Start plan billed yearly (15 percent off); 18 per month every six months, 20 billed monthly. Shown on the pricing page with "$" and no currency code. | Not stated |
| Free trial | Free plan with 1,000 strings and 5 contributors; 10-day trial starts automatically with the first project, no credit card needed | Core plan is described as free to start; trial length not stated |
| API | Yes, REST API, plus an official MCP server | Yes, APIs and SDKs, plus an official MCP server |
| Languages | 270+ languages | Not stated |
| Hosting | Not stated | Customer data housed in Amazon Web Services locations across the globe |
| Language coverage | 270+ languages | Hundreds of languages and locales |
| Files and formats | 22 formats, among them Gettext PO, XLIFF 1.2, iOS XLIFF, Apple Strings and Xcstrings, Android string resources, several JSON variants, Flutter ARB, .NET resources, YAML, CSV and Excel | JSON, XML, YAML, HTML, Markdown and Gettext PO, iOS strings and Android XML, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF, InDesign IDML, SVG, and SRT and VTT subtitles |
| Machine, human or both | Both. Team translation in a web editor, automatic translation through Google Translate, DeepL and Azure AI Translator (10,000 characters included, more as paid packages), AI translation through your own OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Azure AI or Amazon Bedrock account, and human translation ordered from Gengo or TextMaster | Both. 20+ large language models and machine translation engines through the AI Hub, and human translation from a network of 4,000+ linguists; Enterprise customers can also bring their own translators |
| Glossary and terminology | Yes, glossaries and translation memory | Yes, translation memory (kept 180 days on Core, unlimited on Enterprise), customizable glossaries and style guides on Enterprise, and terminology connectors for Lexeri, Quickterm and TermWeb |
| Review and collaboration | Role assignment, progress tracking, visual context, inline comments and quality checks, with audit logs and change history | CAT and transcreation tools with visual context, in-platform communication, automated quality checks, linguistic quality assurance with a quality dashboard, and fully customizable workflows on Enterprise |
| Integrations and connectors | GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps repositories, Figma, WordPress, Slack and Microsoft Teams notifications, and scheduled backups to Azure Blob Storage and Google Cloud Storage | 50+ integrations, among them Adobe Experience Manager, Contentful, Sitecore, WordPress, Shopify, GitHub, Figma, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk and Jira |
| Data handling and privacy | Hosted on POEditor's own physical infrastructure in the European Union, ISO 27001 audited information security management, GDPR aligned with a DPA on request, TLS encryption in transit | SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS Level 1, HITRUST and HIPAA, GDPR with customizable DPAs, and ISO 27001, ISO 42001 and ISO 17100 among its certifications; customer data housed on AWS |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| MCP-ready | Yes | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding |
| Company size | Not stated | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, Figma, WordPress, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Translate, DeepL, Azure AI Translator, OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Amazon Bedrock, Gengo, TextMaster, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage | more entries Adobe Experience Manager, Contentful, Contentstack, Sitecore, Drupal, Storyblok, Sanity, Webflow, WordPress, WPML, Shopify, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Figma, Sketch, Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Marketo Engage, Braze, HubSpot, Oracle Eloqua, Salesforce, Zendesk, Intercom, ServiceNow, Jira, Slack, Google Drive, Zapier |
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
- Free trial POEditor Free plan with 1,000 strings and 5 contributors; 10-day trial starts automatically with the first project, no credit card needed Smartling Core plan is described as free to start; trial length not stated
- AI features POEditor No Smartling Yes
- API POEditor Yes, REST API, plus an official MCP server Smartling Yes, APIs and SDKs, plus an official MCP server
- Language coverage POEditor 270+ languages Smartling Hundreds of languages and locales
- Files and formats POEditor 22 formats, among them Gettext PO, XLIFF 1.2, iOS XLIFF, Apple Strings and Xcstrings, Android string resources, several JSON variants, Flutter ARB, .NET resources, YAML, CSV and Excel Smartling JSON, XML, YAML, HTML, Markdown and Gettext PO, iOS strings and Android XML, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF, InDesign IDML, SVG, and SRT and VTT subtitles
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
POEditor
Strengths
- Free plan for small projects and free use for OSI-licensed open-source software
- Brings your own LLM account for AI translation instead of a fixed engine
- Human translations can be ordered from inside the account
- Data hosted on its own infrastructure in the EU
Limitations
- Plans are capped by string count, from 1,000 strings on Free to 100,000 on Enterprise
- Machine translation beyond the included 10,000 characters costs extra
- No Word, PowerPoint or PDF among the supported file formats
Smartling
Strengths
- Translation software and human translation services are bought together
- Per-word rates for machine, AI and human translation are published
- Long certification list, including HITRUST and PCI DSS Level 1
- Large connector catalogue for marketing, commerce and content systems
Limitations
- No plan price is published for either plan
- Translation memory is kept for only 180 days on Core
- Custom workflows, glossaries and style guides are reserved for Enterprise
Plans
Pricing
POEditor
- Free Free Up to 1,000 strings and 5 contributors, no credit card.
- Start 17 US Dollar / month Billed yearly; 18 every six months, 20 monthly. 3,000 strings.
- Plus 51 US Dollar / month Billed yearly; 54 every six months, 60 monthly. 10,000 strings.
- Premium 136 US Dollar / month Billed yearly; 144 every six months, 160 monthly. 30,000 strings.
- Enterprise 221 US Dollar / month Billed yearly; 234 every six months, 260 monthly. 100,000 strings.
Smartling
- Core Not stated For individuals and small teams; described as free to start. Translation services are charged per word, from 0.0075 US Dollar for machine translation to 0.20 US Dollar for human translation.
- Enterprise Not stated For companies and large teams; no price published.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
POEditor
- 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.
Smartling
- 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.
Every review is read by a person before it appears. We require a working email address and use it to come back to the author, so a review has a reachable sender rather than being anonymous. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.
What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on what they tell us, plus the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.
A vendor cannot have a review removed, cannot buy one, and cannot have one changed. Paid placement and a paid listing have no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
POEditor https://poeditor.com · checked against the official source on 2026-10-22
Smartling https://www.smartling.com · no check date recorded yet
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.