# LibreTranslate vs Lokalise

> Lokalise scores 71.3 (BB) on agent readiness against LibreTranslate's 49.8 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. LibreTranslate leads on payments & pricing. Both do translate text. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lokalise
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lokalise.md (~2,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lokalise.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lokalise.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: 2026-10-08

Lokalise scores 71.3 (BB) on agent readiness against LibreTranslate's 49.8 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. LibreTranslate leads on payments & pricing. Both do translate text.

- LibreTranslate: grade D, 49.8/100, rank #602 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/libretranslate.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/libretranslate.json
- Lokalise: grade BB, 71.3/100, rank #115 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lokalise.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lokalise.json

## Which one, for what

### LibreTranslate (D)

Good for: Operators who must keep text on their own servers or want a fixed cost, and for light hosted use.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No status page, SLA or terms of service for the hosted API

### Lokalise (BB)

Good for: Agents that manage localisation work, such as adding keys, uploading and exporting string files, keeping a glossary and starting AI or machine translation tasks for a team that already uses Lokalise.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 84 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 76 against 65
- Security & auth, 73 against 45
- Maintenance & community, 84 against 40
- Transparency & trust, 81 against 60

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: The Master Service Agreement forbids using the service for benchmarking or competitive analysis


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | LibreTranslate | Lokalise | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 84 | Lokalise +49 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 76 | Lokalise +11 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 69 | Lokalise +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 73 | Lokalise +28 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 30 | LibreTranslate +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 40 | 84 | Lokalise +44 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 81 | Lokalise +21 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **49.8 · D** | **71.3 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | LibreTranslate | Lokalise |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | LibreTranslate | Lokalise, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://libretranslate.com` | `https://api.lokalise.com/api2` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary service under the Lokalise Master Service Agreement. The CLI and the Node SDK on GitHub are BSD 3-Clause |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-05-26 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2025-11-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-23 | 2026-03-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 17k stars, 4.5k PyPI/wk | 124 stars, 338k npm/wk, 39k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

**Lokalise.** The REST API has public OpenAPI files, Markdown docs, published rate limits, read-only tokens, scoped OAuth and an audit log endpoint. Access needs a paid plan after a 14-day trial, a person signs up in a browser, and the Master Service Agreement forbids benchmarking. No idempotency keys or deprecation policy were found in the reviewed documentation.

## 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

### Lokalise

1. Send the token in the `X-Api-Token` header to `https://api.lokalise.com/api2`. OAuth access tokens go in `Authorization: Bearer` and expire after about 60 minutes.
2. Stay under 6 requests a second per token and 10 concurrent requests per project. On 429, back off exponentially and read `X-RateLimit-Reset`.
3. Use a read-only token for reads. A read/write token can call `PUT /projects/{project_id}/empty`, which deletes every key and translation.
4. Use `pagination=cursor` on `/keys` and `/translations`, with `limit` at most 500 on keys, and follow `X-Pagination-Next-Cursor`.
5. Projects above 10,000 key-language pairs need `/files/async-download`. Poll `/processes/{process_id}` for the bundle URL, and do the same after `/files/upload`.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, LibreTranslate or Lokalise?

Lokalise scores 71.3 (BB) on agent readiness against LibreTranslate's 49.8 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. LibreTranslate leads on payments & pricing.

### Do LibreTranslate and Lokalise need an API key?

LibreTranslate needs an API key. Lokalise takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call LibreTranslate and Lokalise without installing anything?

Yes. LibreTranslate has a hosted endpoint at https://libretranslate.com and Lokalise at https://api.lokalise.com/api2.

### Are LibreTranslate and Lokalise open source?

LibreTranslate is open source (AGPL-3.0). No open-source release is listed for Lokalise.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lokalise.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lokalise.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "libretranslate", "b": "lokalise"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare libretranslate lokalise`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/libretranslate.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lokalise.json

## Other comparisons with LibreTranslate or Lokalise

- [Amazon Translate vs LibreTranslate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-libretranslate.md)
- [Amazon Translate vs Lokalise](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-lokalise.md)
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- [LibreTranslate vs Lingo.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lingo-dev.md)
- [LibreTranslate vs Lingvanex Translation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-lingvanex.md)
- [LibreTranslate vs Phrase](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-phrase.md)
- [LibreTranslate vs SYSTRAN Translate API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/libretranslate-vs-systran.md)
- [Lingo.dev vs Lokalise](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lingo-dev-vs-lokalise.md)
- [Lingvanex Translation API vs Lokalise](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lingvanex-vs-lokalise.md)
- [Lokalise vs Phrase](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lokalise-vs-phrase.md)
- [Lokalise vs SYSTRAN Translate API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lokalise-vs-systran.md)