Google Translate vs. DeepL: Find the best translation engine for your business

Machine translation has revolutionized the way organizations translate business materials and website content. It offers unmatched speed, capable of translating thousands of words in seconds—a task that would take professional translators days. 

Numerous machine translation services exist, with Google Translate and DeepL ranking among the most commonly used. Both translation tools excel at large-scale translations, but each has unique strengths and weaknesses.

This guide will answer common questions regarding Google Translate vs. DeepL. We’ll explain how each translator works, compare their performance for language translation, and show you how to unlock the full potential of machine translation.

What is Google Translate, and how does it work?

Google Translate is a translation tool that converts text, audio, images, documents, and websites into different languages. As of February 2025, it supports over 249 languages and dialects.

Features include basic text translation, live speech translation, and even image translation, which uses your device’s camera to scan signs and menus, converting the text into another language in real time. Google Translate is by far the most commonly used machine translation tool, with hundreds of millions of users translating billions of words per day.

This enormous volume of translations is made possible by neural machine translation. Neural networks work similarly to a human brain, learning patterns and relationships between words by analyzing vast troves of previously translated content.

The result? Google Translate provides impressive translation accuracy at unprecedented speeds. However, it’s far from perfect. Precision varies depending on the language pair, and idioms and contextual nuances are often lost in translation.

What is DeepL, and how does it work?

DeepL is an online translation service launched in 2017 as an alternative to Google. Unlike Google Translate, which prioritizes speed and broad language coverage, DeepL focuses on producing accurate translations in a limited set of languages. As of February 2025, DeepL translation supports 30 languages, including English, German, Spanish, and Chinese.

DeepL originally differentiated itself with convolutional neural networks (CNNs), but has since adopted transformer-based architecture—similar to Google Translate—for improved performance. It continues to train on high-quality bilingual data from Linguee, which enhances contextual understanding.

Language service companies praise DeepL for its accuracy, especially in European languages. It can capture longer and more natural word sequences, making its translations smoother and context-aware.

Is DeepL better than Google Translate?

Although Google Translate is the most popular translation tool, DeepL is more accurate in specific situations. Your business’s unique needs will determine which machine translation tool is best.

Here, we’ll compare DeepL vs. Google Translate based on accuracy, customization, supported languages, and pricing.

Translation quality and accuracy

To quickly judge the quality of a machine translation engine, look to the experts. A 2024 survey by the Association of Language Companies (ALC) found that 82% of language service companies use DeepL for translations, while 46% use Google Translate. DeepL also claims that language experts found DeepL’s translations to be 1.3 times more accurate than Google’s in blind tests.

Another study from UCLA Medical Center in 2021 found Google’s neural machine translation preserved meaning correctly in 82.5% of cases. This accuracy varied widely depending on the language, ranging from 55% to 94%, with the highest being Spanish. Although Google Translate performs well for some languages, its accuracy is inconsistent.

Conversely, DeepL is more dependable across supported languages and better at capturing context and language idioms. Overall, it produces more accurate translations with more context.

Range of supported languages

DeepL and Google Translate take very different approaches to language support. DeepL currently supports 30 languages, focusing primarily on European languages and a few major Asian ones, like Indonesian and Chinese. Meanwhile, Google Translate supports 249 languages and dialects, including many lesser-known and regionally-specific languages.

In 2022, Google announced plans to someday support 1000 languages, pushing it even further beyond competitors’ language offerings. If you’re looking for broad language coverage, there’s no better translator than Google Translate.

Customization and flexibility

DeepL and Google Translate serve different customization and flexibility needs. Here are some of the features each service has to offer:

Deepl’s customization features

• AI-powered glossary generator: Instead of manually adding terms one by one, DeepL can analyze past translations and suggest terms to include in your glossary. It’s ideal for ongoing projects that need consistent terminology across multiple translations.
• Tone selection: For select languages, users can choose between formal or informal translations to suit their intended audience.

Google Translate’s customization features

• Custom glossaries via API: Google Translate offers glossary and model customization via its Cloud Translation Advanced API, though these features require technical setup and are geared toward enterprise-level users. 
• Translation model customization: Businesses that translate large volumes of specialized content, such as legal contracts or scientific research, can train Google’s translation system to recognize their industry’s terminology and preferred writing style.

DeepL provides easy, built-in customization. However, Google Translate’s API offers more flexibility for businesses that need large-scale translation control—if you’re willing to handle the setup.

Features and integrations

Google Translate works on all major operating systems and devices. It offers website translation, enabling users to translate entire web pages by entering a URL. Its Cloud Translation API allows businesses to easily integrate translations into apps, websites, and services, providing a scalable solution for multilingual communication.

DeepL provides similar functionality across devices. It stands out with its desktop app that assists professionals in translating large documents. The free tool lacks built-in website translation, but the Pro version offers browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.

Google Translate is the better choice for maximum flexibility and business integration, as it comes with more features and broader platform support.

Pricing

Beyond its free translator, DeepL offers three subscription plans:

• Starter ($8.74 per user per month): Up to five users can each translate 1 million characters and five documents per month.
• Advanced ($28.74 per user per month): Unlimited users can enjoy unlimited text translation, 20 documents per month, glossary features, and CAT tool integration.
• Ultimate ($57.49 per user per month): Document translations are raised to 100 per user per month with an increased file size limit.

Google Translate follows a pay-as-you-go model through its Cloud Translation API. The first 500,000 characters per month are free. From there, rates start at $20 per 1 million characters, with higher rates for custom models. Document translation starts at $0.08 per page.

DeepL’s flat monthly price per user makes it ideal for small teams that require large-scale translation. Google Translate’s pricing model is more flexible and cost-effective for large businesses with variable translation needs.

If you’re still struggling to decide, consider using Smartling’s LanguageAI™ to get the best of both worlds. Our Neural Machine Translation Hub integrates Google Translate, DeepL, and other leading translation engines, intelligently selecting the best solution based on content type and language pair.

How to translate your website with Google Translate or DeepL

Smartling connects with common content management systems (CMSs), including WordPress, Sitecore, and Contentful, allowing users to route content through Google Translate or DeepL via the Neural Machine Translation Hub. Here’s how to set it up and start translating your website for international users:

1. Install the Smartling connector or plugin

First, install the appropriate Smartling integration for your CMS. WordPress users can install a plugin, and Contentful users can add the Smartling app. Sitecore users can integrate via Smartling’s dedicated connector, available through the Sitecore Marketplace or directly from Smartling. These tools allow Smartling to pull content from your website and send it for translation.

2. Configure API credentials

Next, enter your Smartling API credentials (Project ID, User Identifier, and Token Secret) in your CMS settings. This links Smartling to your website so it can automatically send and receive translated content.

3. Select content for translation

Once Smartling is connected, select the pages, blog posts, or product descriptions that need translation. The Smartling connector pulls this content into our system, preparing it for processing by Google Translate or DeepL.

4. Authorize and route translations through Smartling

Log in to your Smartling dashboard, review the selected content, and route it through the Machine Translation Hub. Here, you can choose between Google Translate, DeepL, or human translation services, depending on your quality and cost preferences.

Leverage AI translation with Smartling’s Machine Translation Hub

Machine translation engines aren’t one-size-fits-all. Some engines specialize in a narrow range of languages, whereas others struggle with accuracy and context. Relying on a single engine can mean sacrificing quality.

Smartling’s Machine Translation Hub removes the guesswork. It connects you to top translation engines like Google Translate and DeepL from one platform, automatically selecting the best option for your content. With built-in preprocessing, translation memory, AutoSelect, and postprocessing, Smartling enhances basic machine translation to deliver faster, smarter, and more accurate results—all at a fraction of the cost of human translation.

Ready to maximize your translation efficiency without compromising quality? Download our eBook, “AI-Powered Localization: Achieving Quality, Cost, and Speed Objectives,” and discover how AI-driven translation can transform your global content strategy.