Head to head · Translation · October 2026 research run
Localazy vs Phrase
Phrase scores 67.2 (B) on agent readiness against Localazy's 54.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Localazy leads on payments & pricing. Both do translation.
Best machine translation APIs for AI agents · All 105 translation comparisons
Which one, for what
Localazy C
Best for App and game teams that keep source strings in a TMS and want agents to push keys, pull translations or run AI translation with a glossary.
Ahead on
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 30
Watch for
No OpenAPI spec, and llms.txt only lists top-level pages
Phrase B
Best for Teams that keep translation projects, term bases and translation memories in Phrase and want an agent to run them, or to translate through engines chosen per language pair.
Ahead on
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 51
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 62
- Security & auth, 58 against 37
- Maintenance & community, 83 against 75
- Transparency & trust, 74 against 57
Also in its favour
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
Watch for
status.phrase.com lists nine incidents between 4 August and 2 November 2026, each confined to one component, one region or some users
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Schema & documentation Phrase +36
Localazy 51
No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract was found (0). localazy.com/llms.txt is a six-link index of top-level pages, with no Markdown docs for agents (5). Each endpoint page states which token types can call it, whether write permission is needed and the minimum role, and the limits page says to use the CDN, not the API, for production fetches (14). Request bodies list required and optional fields with limits, such as 512 characters for a key and 1,000 for a comment (12). Sample requests, responses and error responses per endpoint (13). Docs pages carry 'last updated' dates and the blog posts dated release updates, but there's no API version or changelog (7). 0+5+14+12+13+7 = 51.
Phrase 87
OpenAPI 3 specs for all nine APIs at developers.phrase.com/openapi, among them Strings with 301 operations and TMS with 547 (25). llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page (10). Every Strings and Language AI operation has a description, 390 of 547 TMS operations do, and a page titled Choose the right API says which API fits which job. Few operations say when not to use them (14 of 20). Language AI inputs carry length limits, item counts and enums. The Strings spec has 49 enums across 301 operations (11 of 15). Strings documents 400, 401, 403, 404 and 429 on nearly every operation with 896 examples, while the Language AI error responses have no body schema (12 of 15). Versioned paths, four TMS versions to pin, and a dated changelog (15).
Security & auth Phrase +21
Localazy 37
Bearer tokens in the Authorization header. A project token reaches every endpoint of one project with read and write access; a translation token reaches only the AI Translation endpoint; organisation tokens are in beta on request (20). The translation token is the only least-privilege option, and project tokens can delete keys and glossary items without a confirmation step (10). The API returns strings written by translators and contributors, with no guidance on untrusted content (5). No per-call log or audit trail for tokens found (2). localazy.com/.well-known/security.txt and /security return 404, and we found no disclosure policy or certification (0). 20+10+5+2+0 = 37.
Phrase 58
The hosted MCP server uses OAuth with PKCE, dynamic client registration and three scopes. Service accounts use the client credentials grant limited by product and scope, and platform tokens are exchanged for JWTs that last about four hours (30). Less 10 because the Strings docs give an access_token query parameter as an option, and still document Basic authentication with email and password (20 of 30). View, create and delete consents on MCP, revocable under the Consents tab, with role permissions still applied. No confirmation step for destructive calls was found (15 of 20). Tools return customer strings, comments and translations, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (3 of 15). Each user sees their login history, while audit logs are held by Phrase engineers and supplied on request (6 of 15). ISO 27001 certificate, SOC 2 Type I with Type II expected in 2026, annual third-party penetration tests and a disclosure address at security@phrase.com. No security.txt and no bug bounty found (14 of 20).
Transparency & trust Phrase +17
Localazy 57
Editorial half only. Closed service under terms that name Localazy s.r.o. of Brno and Czech law; the CLI is BSD-3-Clause and the API client MIT (15). The privacy policy keeps data while the service is used and 24 months after, and includes a DPA, but says nothing on whether content sent to Localazy AI is used for training (15). No deprecation policy or dated notices found (0). The DPA links a list of suppliers and subprocessors on an external knowledge base we didn't read (10). 15+15+0+10 = 40.
Phrase 74
Closed service with published terms, and the CLI, clients and local MCP server under MIT (15). The privacy notice of 6 October 2026, the Data Processing Addendum and the AI statement agree on processor status, a 60-day deletion period and which products train on customer content. The terms still permit training non-text models, and any model for internal research, on customer content without approval (22 of 30). Deprecations are announced in the changelog with dates, such as the Quality Evaluator v1 and v2 endpoints on 2 July 2026, but without removal dates, and no written notice period was found (10 of 20). A sub-processor list with locations and transfer mechanisms, a choice of EU or US data centre, and hosting on AWS and Google Cloud disclosed (18 of 20).
Agent ergonomics Phrase +8
Localazy 62
API reading. List endpoints return whole projects, files and keys with few output controls (13). Filtering by file, language and tags, and batch imports of up to 1,000 keys and 50 files a request (14). Error responses are documented per endpoint, with HTTP codes and messages (12). No idempotency keys, and the docs warn against parallel imports into the same new file (8). Official TypeScript API client, a CLI and Android and iOS libraries, with few required fields (15). 13+14+12+8+15 = 62.
Phrase 70
API reading of the checklist, with the hosted MCP server noted where its behaviour is documented. Strings lists return 25 items by default with per_page up to 100, and locale downloads support ETag. The hosted MCP server's tool list isn't published, and the deprecated local server listed 145 tools (17 of 25). page and per_page with Link headers, and filters on list endpoints (18 of 20). Strings returns a message on 400 and field-level errors on 422, and names the limit hit on 429. Language AI error bodies are undocumented (14 of 20). No idempotency keys. Conditional GETs are safe to repeat, and the MCP consent separates view, create, and modify and delete (8 of 20). Language AI needs three fields, six official Strings clients and a CLI exist, but a missing User-Agent header earns a 400 and the clients cover Strings alone (13 of 15).
Maintenance & community Phrase +8
Localazy 75
@localazy/api-client 2.3.2 on 26 October 2026 (30). Releases 2.3.0 (12 August), 2.3.1 (29 September) and 2.3.2 (26 October) in the last 90 days (20). Support by email, blog release updates, and public GitHub repositories, but we didn't read issue reply times (7). The TypeScript client and the CLI (2.0.12 on 31 July 2026) are current (13). The client repository shows coverage badges; we didn't confirm CI runs (5). 30+20+7+13+5 = 75.
Phrase 83
The changelog's latest entry is 22 October 2026, CLI 2.71.0 is of 23 October and phrase-js 3.31.0 was tagged on 28 October (30). 39 dated changelog entries since 4 August 2026, and CLI and phrase-js releases in October (20). A public changelog, a help centre and written support around the clock on paid plans. We didn't read the GitHub issues (11 of 15). The hosted MCP server is in the official MCP registry as io.github.phrase/mcp, and phrase-js 3.31.0 is current (15). The CLI has release and vulnerability workflows. The local MCP server was deprecated on 7 August 2026, under six months after its first tag (7 of 10). Total 83.
Payments & pricing Localazy +5
Localazy 35
No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public ($34, $78 and $175 a month billed annually) and credits are $1 each, with Localazy AI at about $0.005 a word on average, so partial per-unit credit (15). A free plan for small projects and a 14-day Business trial with no credit card (20). A person signs up in a browser and mints tokens in the developer settings (0). 0+15+20+0 = 35.
Phrase 30
No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public, $27, $525 and $1,245 a month billed annually, with included capacities and the MTU conversion published. Top-up prices and the Business and Enterprise plans are quoted by sales, so plan-only credit (10). A 14-day trial whose signup form asks for an email address and a password, with no automatic charge afterwards (20). A person signs up in a browser, and the MCP server needs a Phrase account login (0).
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Localazy | Phrase | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 68 | 70 | Phrase +2 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 51 | 87 | Phrase +36 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 62 | 70 | Phrase +8 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 37 | 58 | Phrase +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 35 | 30 | Localazy +5 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 75 | 83 | Phrase +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 57 | 74 | Phrase +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | C 54.4/100 | B 67.2/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Localazy | Phrase |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Localazy s.r.o. | Phrase a.s. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | https://mcp.eu.phrase.com |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | Token | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the Phrase Terms of Service. The CLI, the Strings API clients and the deprecated local MCP server on GitHub are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | io.github.phrase/mcp |
| Last release | 2026-10-26 | 2026-10-28 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-06 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 61k npm/wk | 49 stars, 40k npm/wk, 14k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |
How the scores have moved
Localazy
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
Localazy
Localazy is a localisation platform whose REST API, CLI and AI Translation endpoint use project-scoped bearer tokens, with published limits, a free plan and a no-card trial. There's no OpenAPI spec, no 429 guidance, no security.txt or disclosure policy, and project tokens carry full read and write access.
Phrase
Nine APIs with public OpenAPI specs, Markdown docs and a hosted MCP server that signs in with OAuth and separates view, create and delete consents. Every status incident in the last 90 days touched one component, region or group of users. Capacity top-up prices aren't public, and the terms permit training some models on customer content and prohibit benchmarking.
Before you call either
Localazy
- Ask for a translation token when the task is only machine translation, rather than a project token
- Keep under 10 requests a second and the plan's daily import and fetch caps per project
- Use the Localazy CDN, not the API, to fetch translations in a live app
- Import at most 1,000 keys and 50 files a request, and don't run parallel imports into the same new file
- Check the account's credit balance before bulk AI translation, since each word uses credits
Phrase
- Exchange a Phrase Platform API token at
https://eu.phrase.com/idm/oauth/token(orus.phrase.com) for a Bearer JWT, which lasts about four hours, and refresh it before it expires - Send a
User-Agentheader naming your application on every Strings and TMS call. The Strings API answers 400 without one - Keep Strings calls under 1,000 in five minutes and eight in parallel, and read
X-Rate-Limit-ResetandX-Rate-Limit-Reasonon a 429 - Send at most six texts of 2,000 characters to
/v2/textTranslations, withconsumerIdandtargetLang. Term bases and translation memories work only with an AI translation agent profile - Use the MCP URL for the account's region,
https://mcp.eu.phrase.comorhttps://mcp.us.phrase.com, and ask the user for the view consent alone unless the task writes
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Localazy or Phrase?
Phrase scores 67.2 (B) on agent readiness against Localazy's 54.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Localazy leads on payments & pricing.
Do Localazy and Phrase need an API key?
Localazy needs an access token. Phrase takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.
Can an agent call Localazy and Phrase without installing anything?
No hosted endpoint is listed for Localazy. Phrase has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.eu.phrase.com.
Other comparisons with Localazy or Phrase
- Amazon Translate vs Localazy
- Amazon Translate vs Phrase
- Azure Translator vs Localazy
- Azure Translator vs Phrase
- Crowdin vs Localazy
- Crowdin vs Phrase
- DeepL API vs Localazy
- DeepL API vs Phrase
- Google Cloud Translation vs Localazy
- Google Cloud Translation vs Phrase
- Lara Translate API vs Localazy
- Lara Translate API vs Phrase
- LibreTranslate vs Localazy
- LibreTranslate vs Phrase
- Lingo.dev vs Localazy
- Lingo.dev vs Phrase
- Lingvanex Translation API vs Localazy
- Lingvanex Translation API vs Phrase
- Localazy vs Lokalise
- Localazy vs Smartcat
- Localazy vs SYSTRAN Translate API
- Localazy vs TranslatePlus
- Lokalise vs Phrase
- Phrase vs Smartcat
- Phrase vs SYSTRAN Translate API
- Phrase vs TranslatePlus
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/localazy-vs-phrase.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/localazy.json·/api/v1/tools/phrase.json - From a terminal
anchor compare localazy phrase(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "localazy", "b": "phrase"}at/mcp, no key