# DeepL API vs Lingo.dev (slim)

> DeepL API scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Lingo.dev's 62.3 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Lingo.dev leads on reliability. Both do translate text. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepl-api-vs-lingo-dev.md (~2,350 tokens) · this version ~780 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepl-api-vs-lingo-dev.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepl-api-vs-lingo-dev
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

DeepL API scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Lingo.dev's 62.3 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Lingo.dev leads on reliability. Both do translate text.

- DeepL API: BB 72, rank #98 of 722 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepl-api.min.md
- Lingo.dev: B 62.3, rank #341 of 722 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lingo-dev.min.md
- DeepL API, good for Agents that need terminology control, formality and document layout kept, in European and Asian languages, and teams that want an MCP server today. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 95 against 54; Agent ergonomics, 83 against 75; Security & auth, 82 against 62; Payments & pricing, 30 against 20; Transparency & trust, 80 against 71. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; Runs on your own machine; Free to start without a card.
- Lingo.dev, good for Product teams that translate interface strings and content into many locales and want glossary, tone and rule control held in one place, driven from code, CI or a coding assistant. Ahead on Reliability, 71 against 52.

| Category | DeepL API | Lingo.dev |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 52 | 71 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 95 | 54 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 83 | 75 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 82 | 62 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 30 | 20 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 87 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 80 | 71 |

| Fact (where they differ) | DeepL API | Lingo.dev |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | DeepL | Replexica, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.deepl.com/v2/translate` | `https://mcp.lingo.dev/account` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Licence | MIT (MCP server) | Proprietary hosted service under Lingo.dev's terms of service. The lingodotdev/lingo.dev repository (legacy CLI, JavaScript SDK, compiler) and the Python SDK are Apache-2.0. The `@lingo.dev/cli` package states no licence on npm |
| Tools exposed | 13 | none |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | `dev.lingo/main` |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-01 | 2026-05-07 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-01 | 2026-05-07 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 117 stars, 328k npm/wk, 291k PyPI/wk | 5.4k stars, 92k npm/wk, 2k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |