# LibreTranslate vs Lingvanex Translation API

> LibreTranslate has a score of 49.8 (D) against Lingvanex Translation API's 37.2 (F). Both do translate text. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 34 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lingvanex
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lingvanex.md (~1,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lingvanex.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lingvanex.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

LibreTranslate has a score of 49.8 (D) against Lingvanex Translation API's 37.2 (F). Both do translate text. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 34 points.

- 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
- Lingvanex Translation API: grade F, 37.2/100, rank #434 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lingvanex.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lingvanex.json

## Which one, for what

Pick LibreTranslate for schema & documentation (+17), agent ergonomics (+15), security & auth (+8), payments & pricing (+25), maintenance & community (+34), transparency & trust (+11).

Pick Lingvanex Translation API for reliability (+5).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | LibreTranslate | Lingvanex Translation API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 40 | Lingvanex Translation API +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 48 | LibreTranslate +17 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 50 | LibreTranslate +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 37 | LibreTranslate +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 15 | LibreTranslate +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 40 | 6 | LibreTranslate +34 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 50 | LibreTranslate +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **49.8 · D** | **37.2 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | LibreTranslate | Lingvanex Translation API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | LibreTranslate | Lingvanex |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://libretranslate.com` | `https://api-b2b.backenster.com/b1/api/v3` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | none |
| 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 | no | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-05-26 | none |
| Popularity | 17k stars, 4.5k PyPI/wk | 3 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Lingvanex Translation API.** $5 per million characters list price. Product pages disagree on bulk and on-premise prices.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Lingvanex Translation API

1. Call the https:// server, not the http:// one the spec also lists
2. Send `platform` as api on every call, since the spec marks it required
3. Use locale codes such as en_GB and de_DE, not two-letter codes
4. Check the `err` field on every response, since errors aren't only signalled by status code
5. Send an array in `data` to translate several strings in one call

## Other comparisons with LibreTranslate or Lingvanex Translation API

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