TranslateRocket does not sell translations and takes nothing from what you pay. You can translate without any key, or connect one of five services with your own key. You pay that service directly.
First: you may not need a key at all
TranslateRocket can use the translator built into Chrome and Edge. It runs on your own computer: nothing to sign up for, nothing to pay, and your text is not sent anywhere.
- Where: in TranslateRocket → Translations (and on the Memory screen) look for the box Translate with your browser — no API key, then click Translate … missing in this browser.
- What it needs (from the plugin’s readme): Chrome, or Edge 148 or later, on a computer with Windows 10 or 11, macOS 13 or later, Linux or ChromeOS (not Windows Server), 16 GB of RAM or a graphics card with more than 4 GB, 22 GB of free disk space, and your WordPress admin on https.
- Honest limit: the quality is below DeepL and the AI models. It is the quickest free way to a translated site, not the finest.
- Nothing is wasted: what it translates is kept. If you add a key later, only the missing text is sent.
Other no-key options in the plugin: a free Google Translate link on every field (you copy and paste), and a ready-made prompt to paste into ChatGPT or Gemini.
The five services at a glance
OpenAI
Follows your House style, lowest AI cost
Step-by-step guide →
Anthropic (Claude)
Follows your House style, easy monthly limit
Step-by-step guide →
Google Gemini
The only AI here with a free tier and no card
Step-by-step guide →
DeepL
Built only for translation
Step-by-step guide →
Google Cloud Translation
Big free allowance, every month
Step-by-step guide →
Cost column = our example site (20 pages × about 600 words, about 75,000 characters) translated into one language. See “How we estimate” below.
| Service | Card needed? | Free allowance | Example site, 1 language | Main strength | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | Yes (prepaid, minimum $5) | None clearly documented | about $0.02 with gpt-4o-mini (the plugin’s default) | AI model that follows your House style; very low cost with the default model | guide |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Yes (prepaid credit) | None found | about $0.18 with Claude Haiku 4.5 (the plugin’s default) | AI model that follows your House style; easy monthly spend limit | guide |
| Google Gemini | No for the free tier (yes for paid, minimum $5 prepaid) | Free tier with rate limits; on the free tier Google may use your text to improve its products (different rules in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK) | $0 on the free tier; about $0.02–$0.08 paid (Flash-Lite models) | The only AI model here with a free tier and no card | guide |
| DeepL | No for the Developer plan (yes for Growth) | 1,000,000 characters once (Developer plan; does not reset) | uses about 75,000 of the free 1,000,000 characters; on Growth, about €1.65 per extra language beyond the included 1M/month | Service built only for translation; the plugin shows your remaining characters (Check usage) | guide |
| Google Cloud Translation | Yes (billing must be on, even for free use) | 500,000 characters every month | $0 within the monthly free allowance; $20 per million characters beyond it | Large free allowance every month; a hard daily cap is possible | guide |
Notes:
- House style (TranslateRocket → AI Translation) is an instruction about tone and words to keep. Only OpenAI, Claude and Gemini follow it. DeepL and Google Cloud Translation ignore it.
- A subscription to ChatGPT, Claude.ai or DeepL’s online translator does not include an API key. The API is always a separate account.
If you do not know which to choose
Honest suggestions, in order:
- You want to spend nothing and you have Chrome or Edge on a recent computer: start with the browser translator. No key, no account.
- You want better quality, still free, and no card: try DeepL (Developer plan, 1,000,000 characters once) or Gemini (free tier). With Gemini’s free tier, remember that Google may use the text you send.
- You want an AI that follows your tone of voice, at the lowest cost: OpenAI with the default model. The $5 minimum lasts a long time on a small site.
- You already use Google Cloud for something else: Google Cloud Translation, with its free 500,000 characters every month.
You can also combine them. On TranslateRocket → AI Translation, give two services a Fallback priority (1, 2…): when the first runs out of credit or its key is refused, the plugin moves to the next one.
Whatever you choose: set a spending limit at the provider (each guide explains how) and a Daily character limit in TranslateRocket → AI Translation → Usage & limits.
How we estimate
- Example site: 20 pages × about 600 words = 12,000 words, about 75,000 characters of English (about 6 characters per word, spaces included).
- DeepL counts only your original characters, spaces included, not HTML: 75,000.
- Google Cloud Translation counts everything sent, including spaces and HTML tags: we round up to 100,000.
- AI models (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini) charge by tokens. OpenAI’s, Anthropic’s and Google’s rule of thumb is about 4 characters per token, so 75,000 characters ≈ 19,000 tokens. Because the plugin also sends instructions and translations are often longer than English, we count 30,000 tokens in and 30,000 tokens out. Gemini’s newer models may add “thinking” tokens, billed as output.
- One language only. Each extra language costs about the same again.
- Text that TranslateRocket has already translated (menus, footer, repeated phrases) is reused and not sent twice, so real costs are often lower.
- Prices are in US dollars, except DeepL, which we read on its Italian page in euro with VAT included. Your country may show other amounts or taxes.
Questions people ask
Do I need an API key to translate my WordPress site?
No. TranslateRocket can use the translator built into Chrome and Edge, which runs on your own computer: nothing to sign up for and nothing to pay. An API key gives better quality and translates in bulk.
Which translation API is free?
Three have a free start without spending money: Gemini has a free tier with no card, DeepL's Developer plan gives 1,000,000 characters once with no card, and Google Cloud Translation gives 500,000 characters every month but asks for a card. OpenAI and Claude are prepaid.
How much does it cost to translate a small website with AI?
For a site of 20 pages with about 600 words each, translated into one language: about $0.02 with OpenAI's gpt-4o-mini, about $0.18 with Claude Haiku 4.5, $0 on Gemini's free tier, and within the free allowance of DeepL and Google Cloud Translation.
Is a ChatGPT, Claude or DeepL subscription the same as an API key?
No. ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro and the DeepL Translator subscription are separate products. The API always has its own account and its own billing.
Sources we checked (23 September 2026)
Every fact in the five guides and on this comparison page was checked on 23 September 2026 on the pages below. Where a fact could not be confirmed on an official page, it is listed at the end under “Not verified”.
TranslateRocket (the plugin itself)
| Source | Checked | Used for |
|---|---|---|
translate-rocket/src/Admin/Admin.php, menu() |
23 Sep 2026 | Menu TranslateRocket → AI Translation (slug translate-rocket-ai); other screens (Translations, Memory) |
translate-rocket/src/Admin/Admin.php, render_ai_page() |
23 Sep 2026 | Card names (DeepL, OpenAI, Google Translate, Google Gemini, Anthropic (Claude)), box Provider & keys, field API key, Active provider, Model, Load available models, Fallback priority, Check usage (DeepL), House style, Usage & limits → Daily character limit, button Save AI settings, “Get a %s API key ↗” links (platform.openai.com/api-keys, console.anthropic.com/settings/keys, aistudio.google.com/apikey, deepl.com/en/pro, console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials) |
translate-rocket/src/Providers/*.php |
23 Sep 2026 | Default models: gpt-4o-mini, claude-haiku-4-5, gemini-flash-lite-latest; Google uses Translation v2 (Basic); DeepL chooses api-free.deepl.com when the key ends in :fx |
translate-rocket/src/Translator.php, AiUsage.php |
23 Sep 2026 | Daily character limit applies to every provider, not only the AI models |
translate-rocket/src/Admin/BrowserEngine.php |
23 Sep 2026 | Box Translate with your browser — no API key, button Translate %d missing in this browser |
translate-rocket/readme.txt (Stable tag 1.5.2) |
23 Sep 2026 | Browser translator exists (“In your browser, with no key”), its requirements (Chrome or Edge 148+, Windows 10/11, macOS 13+, Linux/ChromeOS, 16 GB RAM or GPU > 4 GB, 22 GB disk, https), quality below DeepL/AI |
OpenAI
| Source | Checked | Used for |
|---|---|---|
https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (redirect from platform.openai.com/docs/pricing; read as .md) |
23 Sep 2026 | Standard prices per 1M tokens: gpt-4o-mini $0.15/$0.60, gpt-4.1-mini $0.40/$1.60, gpt-4o $2.50/$10.00, gpt-4.1 $2.00/$8.00 |
| https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8264644-how-can-i-set-up-prepaid-billing | 23 Sep 2026 | New API accounts are prepaid; Add payment details; minimum purchase $5, default $10; Use auto-reload on by default; credits expire after 1 year, non-refundable; Buy credits / Add to credit balance; balance is not an instant cutoff |
| https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8983040-what-does-phone-verification-look-like | 23 Sep 2026 | Phone verification required for the first API key; SMS or WhatsApp only |
| https://help.openai.com/en/articles/4936850-where-do-i-find-my-openai-api-key | 23 Sep 2026 | Full key shown only at creation; delete with the trash can icon; do not share |
| https://help.openai.com/en/articles/5112595-best-practices-for-api-key-safety | 23 Sep 2026 | Sharing keys is against the Terms of Use; rotate if leaked; monitor usage |
| https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8867743-assign-api-key-permissions | 23 Sep 2026 | Permissions All (default), Restricted, Read Only |
| https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/spend-limits | 23 Sep 2026 | Organization limits page, Spend → Edit spend limit → Monthly spend limit → Enforce a hard limit → Save; enforcement not instantaneous; 429 codes |
| https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/error-codes | 23 Sep 2026 | 401 Invalid Authentication / Incorrect API key; 429 credit_balance_exhausted, spend-limit and rate-limit errors |
| https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/rate-limits | 23 Sep 2026 | Usage tiers, including a “Free” tier (no detail on free usage) |
| https://developers.openai.com/api/llms-full.txt | 23 Sep 2026 | “1 token is approximately 4 characters or 0.75 words for English text” |
Anthropic (Claude)
| Source | Checked | Used for |
|---|---|---|
https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read as .md; docs.anthropic.com redirects here) |
23 Sep 2026 | Haiku 4.5 $1/$5, Sonnet 4.6 $3/$15, Opus 4.8 $5/$25 per 1M tokens; “1 token ≈ 4 characters or 0.75 words in English” |
| https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/get-api-key | 23 Sep 2026 | Console at platform.claude.com; Settings → API keys; Create key; name, expiration, Linked account; key starts with sk-ant-, shown only once |
| https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/manage-claude/authentication | 23 Sep 2026 | Expiration presets (3 hours, 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, custom, Never); Disable (reversible, Re-enable) vs Delete (permanent); expired key → 401 |
| https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/api/rate-limits | 23 Sep 2026 | Settings > Billing → Spend limits → Set limit / Adjust limit; tier caps (Start $500/month); message when your own limit is reached |
| https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/api/errors | 23 Sep 2026 | 401 authentication_error, 402 billing_error |
| https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/model-deprecations | 23 Sep 2026 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001: retirement “not sooner than October 15, 2026” |
| https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8977456-how-do-i-pay-for-my-claude-api-usage | 23 Sep 2026 | Prepaid credits; Buy credits; auto-reload (Edit); credits expire after 1 year, non-refundable; only successful calls charged; no credit = no API |
| https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8114531-i-created-a-claude-console-organization-how-do-i-start-using-the-claude-api | 23 Sep 2026 | Organisation / use-case questions before paying |
| https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9876003-i-have-a-paid-claude-subscription-pro-max-team-or-enterprise-plans-why-do-i-have-to-pay-separately-to-use-the-claude-api-and-console | 23 Sep 2026 | Claude subscription does not include API access |
curl on https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys |
23 Sep 2026 | 301 redirect to https://platform.claude.com/settings/keys |
Google Gemini
| Source | Checked | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/api-key | 23 Sep 2026 | Default project and key created for new users after accepting the Terms; Create API key; auth keys default since 28 May 2026; standard keys rejected from September 2026; Blocked dormant keys; leak checklist; treat key like a password |
| https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing | 23 Sep 2026 | Free tier “Free of charge”; free-tier content used to improve products; paid prices: 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.10/$0.40, 3.5 Flash-Lite $0.30/$2.50, 2.5 Flash $0.30/$2.50; output price includes thinking tokens |
| https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/billing | 23 Sep 2026 | New accounts on Free tier; Set up billing; prepay minimum $5, max $5,000; Buy credits; credits expire after 12 months; 402 at $0; Spend page → Monthly spend cap → Edit spend cap (experimental, ~10 min latency); Manage auto-reload → Monthly Limit; Dashboard > Usage |
| https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/rate-limits | 23 Sep 2026 | Limits per project, RPD reset at midnight Pacific; limits shown in AI Studio; 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED |
| https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/troubleshooting | 23 Sep 2026 | 400/402/403 = key, prepay credits or request problems; 429 retry |
| https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models | 23 Sep 2026 | “latest” aliases are hot-swapped to the newest release |
| https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/tokens | 23 Sep 2026 | 1 token ≈ 4 characters |
| https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms | 23 Sep 2026 | Unpaid Services: data used to improve products, human reviewers; EEA/CH/UK: paid-service data terms apply to all; “only Paid Services when making API Clients available to users in the EEA, Switzerland, or the UK” |
| https://cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets-spend-caps | 23 Sep 2026 | Spend cap budgets (preview) eligible for Gemini API, not for Cloud Translation |
DeepL
| Source | Checked | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| https://www.deepl.com/en/pro-api (opened as the Italian page www.deepl.com/it/pro#api, API tab, Mensile and Annuale) | 23 Sep 2026 | Developer free, one-time 1M characters, 1 key; Growth €29.75/month (monthly) or €23.80/month billed yearly, VAT incl.; 1M chars/month or 12M/year included; €22.00 per extra 1M; 50M/month usage limit |
| https://www.deepl.com/en/developers | 23 Sep 2026 | “Start free, no credit card required.” |
| https://support.deepl.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020685720-Usage-count-and-billing-in-DeepL-API | 23 Sep 2026 | Developer: 1,000,000 characters in total; Growth inclusions; legacy API Free 500,000/month; source characters counted, spaces included; HTML tags not counted with tag handling |
| https://support.deepl.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021200939-DeepL-API-plans | 23 Sep 2026 | Plan list (Developer, Growth, Enterprise, API Free, API Pro); API plans do not include the web translator |
| https://support.deepl.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020695820-API-key-for-DeepL-API | 23 Sep 2026 | Account → API Keys & Limits; Create key; Developer = 1 active key; Deactivate key (permanent); copy icon |
| https://support.deepl.com/hc/en-us/articles/9773914250012-About-DeepL-API | 23 Sep 2026 | Leak response: create new key, deactivate old one |
| https://developers.deepl.com/docs/getting-started/quickstart | 23 Sep 2026 | Sign up from the plans page; existing Translator account holders must log out and create a new account; keys at deepl.com/your-account/keys |
| https://developers.deepl.com/docs/admin/managing-api-keys | 23 Sep 2026 | Popup shows new key; full key never shown in table; Set limit per key; emails at 80% and 100%; 456 at 100% |
| https://developers.deepl.com/docs/best-practices/cost-control | 23 Sep 2026 | API Usage tab → activate limit → Submit; password/key reset advice |
| https://developers.deepl.com/docs/best-practices/error-handling | 23 Sep 2026 | 403 authorization failed; 429 too many requests; 456 quota exhausted |
Google Cloud Translation
| Source | Checked | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| https://cloud.google.com/translate/pricing | 23 Sep 2026 | Basic (v2): first 500,000 characters/month free (as a $10 monthly credit, no roll-over); $20 per 1M from 500k to 1B; every character counted, including whitespace and tags |
| https://cloud.google.com/translate/docs/setup | 23 Sep 2026 | Project → billing required → enable Cloud Translation API (link apis/enableflow?apiid=translate.googleapis.com); daily characters unlimited by default |
| https://cloud.google.com/translate/docs/authentication | 23 Sep 2026 | Basic (v2) supports API keys; Advanced (v3) does not |
| https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication/api-keys | 23 Sep 2026 | Create credentials → API key; add at least one restriction; Authenticate API calls through a service account checkbox; API key created dialog; Restrict key; Rotate key; Delete the previous key; restore within 30 days (Restore deleted credentials) |
| https://cloud.google.com/translate/quotas | 23 Sep 2026 | Lower quotas to control costs; “Characters sent to general model per project per day” default unlimited; 403 “Daily Limit Exceeded”; reset midnight Pacific; up to 24 h to apply; quotas page link |
| https://cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets | 23 Sep 2026 | Budgets & alerts; alerts-only budgets do not cap spending; Finish |
| https://cloud.google.com/free/docs/free-cloud-features | 23 Sep 2026 | Free Trial $300 / 90 days; card or other payment method required; temporary hold $0–$1; bank verification in some countries |
Not verified (said as such in the guides, or left out)
- OpenAI: the exact label of the button that creates a key (“Create new secret key”) — found only in a search-engine summary of an OpenAI help page, not on the current page. Also: how much, if anything, a new account can use for free on the “Free” usage tier.
- Anthropic: the minimum credit purchase; whether any free credit is given to new accounts; whether phone verification is required.
- Gemini: the exact free-tier limits (Google shows them only inside AI Studio); which model
gemini-flash-lite-latestpoints to today; the exact buttons to delete a key inside AI Studio; whether the free tier is allowed for a business website in the EEA/UK (legal reading of Google’s terms). - DeepL: whether keys of the new Developer plan end in
:fxand use api-free.deepl.com (this decides which server TranslateRocket calls); prices outside Italy. - Google Cloud Translation: the exact wording of the “API not enabled” and “billing required” errors; whether Cloud Translation is covered by the $300 Free Trial credit.
Notes for the developer (not for customers)
Things found while checking that may need a change in the plugin:
- DeepL help text in
render_ai_page()says “Free keys end in ‘:fx’. Use ‘Check usage’ below for your live monthly quota.” The new Developer plan is 1,000,000 characters once, not monthly. The error string “DeepL: the monthly character allowance is used up. It resets at the start of your DeepL billing cycle.” is wrong for Developer accounts. Also check that Developer keys still end in:fx. - Gemini:
GeminiProvider.phpsends the key in the URL (?key=). Google’s API reference now says every request must include thex-goog-api-keyheader, and new keys are “auth keys”. Worth testing with a key created today. - Anthropic: default
claude-haiku-4-5has a retirement date “not sooner than October 15, 2026”. The signup linkconsole.anthropic.com/settings/keysstill works (301 to platform.claude.com). - Signup link label: “Get a %s API key ↗” produces “Get a OpenAI API key” and “Get a Anthropic (Claude) API key” (should be “an”).
