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✓ Checked against Google Cloud's official pages on 23 September 2026. Screens and prices change: if something looks different, trust what Google shows you.
A Google Cloud Translation API key is a secret code that lets TranslateRocket send your site’s text to Google Translate’s professional service and get the translation back; the first 500,000 characters each month are free, but Google asks for a card before you can start.
📖 Words you will meet
- API key: a long secret code. Whoever has it can use the service at your expense, so treat it like a password.
- Google Cloud console: Google’s website for its paid cloud services, at console.cloud.google.com. It is more technical than the other services in these guides; the steps below keep it simple.
- Project: a container Google uses to group a service, its keys and its bill.
- Billing account: where your card is registered. Google Cloud needs one even if you stay within the free allowance.
- Characters: Google charges by the number of characters you send, spaces included.
What you need before you start
- A Google account (a Gmail address works).
- A payment card. Google says you must enable billing to use Cloud Translation. When you create a billing account, Google may place a small temporary hold on the card (between $0 and $1) to check it; it is not a charge. In some countries Google also asks to verify your bank account.
- About 15 minutes.
Step by step
A. Create a project
TranslateRocket.B. Turn on billing
C. Turn on the translation service
D. Create the key
Keep the key somewhere safe until you paste it into WordPress (a password manager is ideal). Do not send it by email or chat.
How much it costs
Official price (Cloud Translation pricing page, “Basic” edition, which is the one TranslateRocket uses; checked 23 Sep 2026):
| Monthly use | Price |
|---|---|
| First 500,000 characters per month | Free (Google applies it as a $10 credit every month; it does not roll over) |
| From 500,000 to 1 billion characters per month | $20 per 1,000,000 characters |
Google counts every character you send, including spaces and HTML tags.
What that means for a small site. Our example: a site of 20 pages with about 600 words each (12,000 words), which is about 75,000 characters. We round up to 100,000 characters for HTML tags and menus.
- One language: about 100,000 characters. That fits in the free 500,000 per month, so it costs $0.
- Five languages in the same month: about 500,000 characters, still around the free allowance.
- Above the free allowance, each extra language would cost about 100,000 × $20 / 1,000,000 = $2.
Every language is counted separately. Text that TranslateRocket has already translated is reused and not sent again.
Safety (please read)
Google Cloud does not stop spending automatically unless you tell it to. Please do both of these.
1. Put a hard daily cap on characters (this is the one that actually stops spending). Google says the number of characters you can send per day is unlimited by default, and that you can lower this quota to control costs.
- Open the Quotas page of the Cloud console, already filtered on translation: https://console.cloud.google.com/iam-admin/quotas?service=translate.googleapis.com (make sure your project is selected).
- Find the Cloud Translation quota for characters sent to the general model per project per day (v2).
- Edit it and enter a number of characters per day.
How to pick the number: the cap is per day, so in a month you could reach about 30 times it. For example, 100000 per day lets you translate our example site in one language per day; in the worst case it allows about 3,000,000 characters a month, which is about $50 after the free 500,000. A cap of 15000 per day keeps even the worst month inside the free allowance, but translation will take several days. You can raise it while you translate and lower it afterwards.
When the cap is reached, Google answers with a “Daily Limit Exceeded” error until midnight Pacific time. New quota values can take up to 24 hours to apply.
2. Add a budget alert (this only sends emails).
- Open the menu ☰ → Billing → Budgets & alerts.
- Create a budget for your project, set an amount (for example $5) and the alert thresholds, then click Finish.
Google is clear: a budget of this type does not cap spending; it only emails you. That is why step 1 matters.
3. Set a limit inside TranslateRocket too. In TranslateRocket → AI Translation, section Usage & limits, fill in Daily character limit (for example 200000). When the limit is reached, automatic translation stops until the next day. 0 means no limit.
4. Never share the key. Do not put it in emails, chats, screenshots or support tickets.
5. If you think the key has leaked, replace it.
- Go to https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials and click the key’s name.
- Click Rotate key, give the new key a name and click Create. Copy the new key and paste it into TranslateRocket.
- Back on the new key’s page, in the Previous key section, click Delete the previous key.
If you delete a key by mistake, Google lets you restore it within 30 days (Restore deleted credentials on the Credentials page).
Where to paste it in TranslateRocket
- In your WordPress dashboard, open TranslateRocket → AI Translation.
- In the Provider & keys box, find the card called Google Translate (this is Google Cloud Translation).
- Paste your key into the API key field.
- At the top of the box, set Active provider to Google Translate.
- Click Save AI settings at the bottom of the page.
Google Translate has no “model” to choose. The House style instructions on the same page only work with the AI models (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini); Google Translate ignores them.
If something does not work
| What you see | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| An error saying the key is not valid (exact wording varies) | The key was copied wrongly, or it was deleted. | Paste it again carefully, or create a new key (section D). |
| An error saying the API is not enabled, or that billing is required (exact wording varies) | Step B or C was skipped, or done on a different project. | Check that the project selected at the top of the console is the one with the key, then enable billing and the Cloud Translation API for it. |
| “Daily Limit Exceeded” (403) | Your own daily cap from the Safety section did its job. | Wait until the next day (midnight Pacific time), or raise the quota. |
Also check the key’s restriction: if under API restrictions you selected a different service, Cloud Translation will refuse the key.
Questions people ask
Is the Google Translate API free?
The first 500,000 characters every month are free, but Google asks you to turn on billing with a card even if you stay within the free allowance. Beyond it, the price is $20 per million characters.
How do I stop Google Cloud Translation from charging me?
Set a daily quota on characters in the Google Cloud console: that is the limit that actually stops spending. A budget only sends alert e-mails; it does not stop anything.
Is the Google Translate API the same as Gemini?
No. Google Cloud Translation is the professional version of Google Translate, with keys from the Google Cloud console. Gemini is Google's AI model, with keys from Google AI Studio.
Why does Google say my API key is not valid or needs billing?
Usually one of three things: the wrong project is selected, billing is not linked to the project, or the Cloud Translation API is not turned on for it.
Which one should I choose?
See our comparison page for a simple comparison of all five services, and for the free option that needs no key at all.
Other guides: OpenAI · Anthropic (Claude) · Google Gemini · DeepL · Which one should I choose?
