# Lingo.dev vs SYSTRAN Translate API

> Lingo.dev scores 62.3 (B) on agent readiness against SYSTRAN Translate API's 40 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SYSTRAN Translate API leads on payments & pricing. Both do translate text. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lingo-dev-vs-systran
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lingo-dev-vs-systran.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lingo-dev-vs-systran.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lingo-dev-vs-systran.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

Lingo.dev scores 62.3 (B) on agent readiness against SYSTRAN Translate API's 40 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SYSTRAN Translate API leads on payments & pricing. Both do translate text.

- Lingo.dev: grade B, 62.3/100, rank #341 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lingo-dev.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lingo-dev.json
- SYSTRAN Translate API: grade E, 40/100, rank #691 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/systran.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/systran.json

## Which one, for what

### Lingo.dev (B)

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 25
- Schema & documentation, 54 against 42
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 54
- Security & auth, 62 against 55
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 4
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 51

Watch for: No public OpenAPI file was found, `llms.txt` holds one title line and docs pages have no Markdown version

### SYSTRAN Translate API (E)

Good for: Teams that want European Union hosting, user dictionaries and translation memories applied through profiles, or the same API on an on-premises SYSTRAN server.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: The terms forbid benchmark tests and automated access that exceeds normal human volumes, which matters for any agent workload


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Lingo.dev | SYSTRAN Translate API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 71 | 25 | Lingo.dev +46 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 54 | 42 | Lingo.dev +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 54 | Lingo.dev +21 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 62 | 55 | Lingo.dev +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | SYSTRAN Translate API +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 4 | Lingo.dev +83 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 51 | Lingo.dev +20 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.3 · B** | **40 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Lingo.dev | SYSTRAN Translate API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Replexica, Inc. | SYSTRAN (ChapsVision) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.lingo.dev/account` | `https://api-translate.systran.net` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | 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 | Proprietary service under the SYSTRAN Translate PRO terms and conditions |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| MCP registry | `dev.lingo/main` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2023-06-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-05-07 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-07 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 5.4k stars, 92k npm/wk, 2k PyPI/wk | none |

## Verdicts

**Lingo.dev.** Lingo.dev suits teams that want glossary and tone control on every translation call, with a published fee of $2 per million output tokens and model costs passed through. It has no public OpenAPI file, its `llms.txt` is one line, and scoped keys, roles and audit logs are limited to the Enterprise plan.

**SYSTRAN Translate API.** Five documented REST APIs cover text, files, dictionaries, translation memories and profiles, with a Google-compatible mode and a public price of €14.99 per million characters. The reference pages date from June 2023, and no changelog, status page, rate limit, SDK or downloadable OpenAPI file was found. The terms bar benchmark tests and automated use beyond human volumes.

## Before you call either

### Lingo.dev

1. Send `X-API-Key` to https://api.lingo.dev and keep the key server-side. On non-Enterprise plans a personal key reaches every engine its creator can
2. Use `POST /process/localize` for one language pair and `POST /jobs/localization` with an `idempotencyKey` for several. Pipeline stages run on async jobs only
3. Treat 402 (credit limit) and 429 (daily token quota) as limits to report, not to retry. Retry 500 with backoff
4. Read `usage.cost` on each sync response to track spend. Sandbox stops at 100,000 tokens a day
5. Connect MCP clients to https://mcp.lingo.dev/account. Its tools can create and revoke API keys and invite members, so ask before those calls

### SYSTRAN Translate API

1. Send the key as `Authorization: Key <api_key>` and avoid the documented `?key=` query option, which puts the secret in URLs and logs
2. Expect HTTP 400, not 401, when credentials are missing. The body reads `No key / credentials provided`
3. Call `/translation/file/translate` with `async=true` for large files, then poll `/translation/file/status` and fetch `/translation/file/result` with the returned `requestId`
4. Apply dictionaries and translation memories through a profile and pass its UUID as `profile`. `withDictionary` and `withCorpus` are deprecated
5. Read the terms before automating. They bar benchmark tests and request volumes beyond normal human use, and SYSTRAN may throttle or suspend access

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Lingo.dev or SYSTRAN Translate API?

Lingo.dev scores 62.3 (B) on agent readiness against SYSTRAN Translate API's 40 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SYSTRAN Translate API leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Lingo.dev and SYSTRAN Translate API need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Lingo.dev and SYSTRAN Translate API without installing anything?

Yes. Lingo.dev has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.lingo.dev/account and SYSTRAN Translate API at https://api-translate.systran.net.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Lingo.dev or SYSTRAN Translate API

- [Amazon Translate vs Lingo.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-translate-vs-lingo-dev.md)
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