Both plugins translate the rendered page with an on-page visual editor, and both store your translations in your own WordPress database — no lock-in on either side. The real differences are elsewhere: how many languages the free version allows, what the multilingual SEO costs, and how AI translation is billed. Here is the honest breakdown, with every figure checked on the official sources in July 2026.
Side by side
| TranslateRocket | TranslatePress | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — every feature | Free version + Personal €99/yr (1 site) · Business €199/yr (3 sites) · Developer €349/yr (unlimited) — “billed yearly, auto renewed annually” |
| Languages in the free version | Unlimited (36 built in + custom) | One additional language — unlimited languages require a paid plan |
| Translated slugs, SEO meta, multilingual sitemap | Included, free | SEO Pack — paid plans only (from €99/yr) |
| hreflang tags | Included, free | Included, also in the free version |
| AI translation | Bring your own key: DeepL, OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google Gemini, Google Cloud — you pay the provider directly, no middleman, no word counter in the plugin | TranslatePress AI (hosted service): 50k words on Personal, 200k on Business, 500k on Developer; extra words from €24/100k to €1,050/10M; words are counted once per target language and, per their docs, “words used” are not refunded if you remove a language or content |
| DeepL with your own key | Free | Business plan and up (€199/yr) |
| Google Translate with your own key | Free (manual copy-paste helper, no key needed at all) | Free version: Google Translate v2 with your own API key (plugin has a configurable daily character limit; Google Cloud billing applies beyond Google’s free quota) |
| Where translations live | Your database | Your database — same, to be fair |
| Huge sites | Load-tested at 500,000 strings (indexed per-page lookups, flat memory) | No equivalent documented |
| Preview before going live | Preview mode: admins see translations, visitors don’t, until you publish | No equivalent documented |
| Move your translations over | One-click importer from TranslatePress (dictionary + translated slugs, rollback safe) | — |
Prices and features as shown on translatepress.com/pricing and wordpress.org/plugins/translatepress-multilingual, checked July 2026. They may change — always verify on the official pages.
Where TranslatePress is genuinely strong
- Track record: 400,000+ active installations and a 4.7/5 rating on WordPress.org (July 2026) — a maturity TranslateRocket, as a newcomer, simply doesn’t have yet.
- Zero-config AI: TranslatePress AI needs no API key — according to TranslatePress, their hosted service picks the engine for each language pair. If you don’t want to create a provider account, that’s more convenient than bring-your-own-key.
- Fair licensing: existing translations keep working after the license expires, unused AI words carry over to the next year, and there’s a 15-day refund policy.
- Free manual translation is unlimited, with the same kind of front-end visual editor.
Why people pick TranslateRocket instead
- The €99–€349 a year becomes €0. Unlimited languages, translated slugs, SEO meta and the multilingual sitemap are exactly the features TranslatePress sells — TranslateRocket ships them free.
- No word counters. With your own DeepL/OpenAI/Claude/Gemini key you pay cents directly to the provider, with no per-language multiplication of a prepaid balance.
- Your content goes only where you choose. AI text is sent only to the provider you configured, when you ask — there is no intermediary service in between.
- Built for big sites: past ~20,000 strings the engine switches to indexed per-page lookups — load-tested at 500,000 strings where whole-map approaches hit the PHP memory limit.
Switching is a 5-minute, reversible job
TranslateRocket ships a dedicated importer: your TranslatePress dictionary and translated slugs come over in one click, TranslatePress’ tables are never touched (they remain as your rollback), and with Preview mode you can check the result on the real pages before visitors see anything.
Read the full migration guide →
FAQ
Is TranslateRocket really 100% free?
Yes. Every feature and unlimited languages, no paid tier. You only ever pay your own AI provider, directly, if you choose to use AI.
Do I lose my TranslatePress translations if I switch?
No — the importer reads TranslatePress’ own tables and copies the work over; nothing is deleted, so you can roll back anytime.
Does TranslatePress store my translations on external servers?
No — like TranslateRocket, TranslatePress stores translations in your own database. The difference is in the AI path: TranslatePress AI is a hosted service that forwards your content to the engines, while TranslateRocket sends text only to the provider whose key you configured.
See also: Migrate from TranslatePress · Migrate from WPML · Full comparison.
TranslatePress is a trademark of its respective owner. This is an independent comparison and we are not affiliated with TranslatePress.
Want a hand with your site? I can do it for you
I am Federico, the developer of TranslateRocket — and building and translating WordPress sites is what I do for a living. That is how this plugin stays free: it is not crippled to sell you an upgrade, it is the tool I use every day on the sites I am paid to build.
A new multilingual site from scratch, a design put right, an existing site taken from one language to ten, custom development, reviewed translations, or a migration off a plugin that charges you every month: tell me what you need and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it. You get the person who wrote the engine, not a support queue.
