# Amazon Translate vs LibreTranslate

> Amazon Translate has a score of 69.8 (B) against LibreTranslate's 49.8 (D). Both do translate text. The largest gap is reliability, 55 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-libretranslate
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-libretranslate.md (~1,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-libretranslate.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-libretranslate.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

Amazon Translate has a score of 69.8 (B) against LibreTranslate's 49.8 (D). Both do translate text. The largest gap is reliability, 55 points.

- Amazon Translate: grade B, 69.8/100, rank #105 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-translate.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-translate.json
- LibreTranslate: grade D, 49.8/100, rank #367 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/libretranslate.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/libretranslate.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Amazon Translate for reliability (+55), schema & documentation (+25), agent ergonomics (+15), security & auth (+30), transparency & trust (+12).

Pick LibreTranslate for payments & pricing (+20), maintenance & community (+15).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amazon Translate | LibreTranslate | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 35 | Amazon Translate +55 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 65 | Amazon Translate +25 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 65 | Amazon Translate +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 75 | 45 | Amazon Translate +30 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | LibreTranslate +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 25 | 40 | LibreTranslate +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 61 | Amazon Translate +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.8 · B** | **49.8 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amazon Translate | LibreTranslate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | LibreTranslate |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://translate.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | `https://libretranslate.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | AGPL-3.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2023-10-31 | 2026-05-26 |
| Popularity | 601k npm/wk | 17k stars, 4.5k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Amazon Translate.** IAM policies scope access per action and resource, with a `TranslateReadOnly` managed policy, and CloudTrail logs each call. AWS may store and use text to improve Amazon AI services unless the organisation sets an opt-out policy.

**LibreTranslate.** Open source under AGPL-3.0, self-hosted with no text leaving your network. No status page, SLA or terms of service for the hosted API.

## Before you call either

### Amazon Translate

1. Chunk real-time text under 10,000 bytes, not characters, so multibyte scripts fit less per call
2. Pass `SourceLanguageCode` auto to detect the source language, and handle `DetectedLanguageLowConfidenceException`
3. Read `AppliedSettings` in the response, since unsupported formality or profanity settings are dropped without an error
4. Retry `TooManyRequestsException` with backoff, which the AWS SDKs do by default
5. Set the AI services opt-out policy before sending private text

### LibreTranslate

1. Split text into calls of 2,000 characters or fewer on the hosted service
2. Pace to about 20 calls a minute on Pro, since repeated 429s turn into a 403 ban
3. Pass `source=auto` to detect and translate in one call
4. Set `format=html` for markup
5. Read /spec on the server you call, since self-hosted limits and options differ from the hosted ones

## Other comparisons with Amazon Translate or LibreTranslate

- [Amazon Translate vs Azure Translator](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-azure-translator.md)
- [Amazon Translate vs DeepL API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-deepl-api.md)
- [Amazon Translate vs Google Cloud Translation](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-google-cloud-translation.md)
- [Amazon Translate vs Lara Translate API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-lara-translate.md)
- [Amazon Translate vs Lingvanex Translation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-lingvanex.md)
- [Azure Translator vs LibreTranslate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-translator-vs-libretranslate.md)
- [DeepL API vs LibreTranslate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepl-api-vs-libretranslate.md)
- [Google Cloud Translation vs LibreTranslate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-cloud-translation-vs-libretranslate.md)
- [Lara Translate API vs LibreTranslate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lara-translate-vs-libretranslate.md)
- [LibreTranslate vs Lingvanex Translation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lingvanex.md)