“How can I sell more?” might be a question you ask yourself frequently as an e-commerce entrepreneur. To answer, moving into new territories can be a great option to increase your revenue stream. One of the key steps to selling internationally is to translate your website. A multilingual online store can break the language barrier and create a smoother shopping experience for your potential customers.

While there are plenty of apps that will help online stores display in multiple languages at the click of a mouse, choosing the right app can be not easy, we know. Hence, we have carefully curated a list of 5 selection criteria and reviewed the top 3 Shopify translation apps for you!

5 criteria to select the right Shopify translation app

Before deciding on which Shopify translation app is best for your online store, there are some factors you should consider. Hopefully, these selection criteria will start pointing you in the right direction towards the right app. Let’s start!

Supported Languages

When it comes to Shopify translation app, first and foremost, you need to check what languages are available on the app and whether it supports the language you need. Also, you need to consider what languages you might want in the future.

Machine vs. Human translation

Always check to know whether the app automatically translates your page or allows you to use human translation? Automated translation is beneficial for product pages. However, using professional translators are necessary for your homepage and checkout page to ensure they are well-aligned with your brand message.

Ease of Use

If you are not a developer, naturally, you will want to choose an intuitive and no code-required translation app. A user-friendly app can help you quickly make your website multilingual in just a few clicks.

SEO

Multilingual SEO means optimizing your website content for different languages to make it searchable in new markets. As a result, people from all over the world can find your website. After all, there is no point in translating your online store if it won’t appear in the search results for your new target market. Hence, the Shopify translation app you select should follow Google multilingual SEO best practices.

Support and Updates

Make sure that your selected translation app has a dedicated support team that is willing to help you when you have any difficulties. Also, you should check to identify whether the app updates its features frequently or not. Go to the website of the app provider and search for feature updates! Why is it important? The feature updates show that the app provider always listens to the customers’ feedbacks and continuously improves their products to satisfy them.

Top 3 Shopify translation apps

Langify

Translate your shop into multiple languages

Once it comes to creating a multilingual online store, langify is one of the first choices. Upon installing, you can start translating your website immediately without waiting for your theme to translate. This app will automatically detect the language of your website visitors and redirect to their preferred language, which is translated. Also, they can switch to their preferred language manually. 

Pros

• Allow both automatic and manual language switcher
• Multiple domains per language and full SEO support, which make your translation available to any search engine.
• Import/export translation file into/out of your store.
• Support all kinds of languages including Right-To-Left languages.
• Available for image translation. 
• Great customer service. 

Cons

• Not translate your website automatically: This app only manages already-translated content, so you are required to get the translation done elsewhere. It means the setup process can be quite time-consuming and costly if the language you want to add on your online store is not your native language. 
• No support to translate the checkout page and notifications: The product name, shipping information and payment text will remain in the original language. 

Pricing

Only 1 plan: $17.50/month (7-day free trial)

Rating and Reviews

993 reviews – 4.7/5 rating

LA FESTA1 says “The app works well and it’s easy to use. Customer support is great as well. I submitted an inquiry and they responded almost immediately. Overall, I’m very satisfied with this subscription.” (Posted on June 11, 2020 – Overall rating 5/5).

Nom-studios says “I used this app to translate the texts on my website into Turkish. I really like how organized the dashboard and general use is. It could’ve been better if there weren’t any code related instructions. It’s helpful and convenient to use. Nice!” (Posted on June 8, 2020 – Overall rating 4/5).

Translate Your Store – Weglot

Translate your store into multiple languages.

Translate Your Store – Weglot gives you an easy way to translate and display your online store in new languages. One of the notable features of this app is combining automatic and human translation for high-quality content. 

Pros

• Simple to set-up: Do not need to touch any translation data or codes. 

• Automatically detect and translate all your website content, including both checkout process and email notifications.
• Manage and edit your automatic translation or access to professional translators if you want.
• Active/inactive auto-redirection feature to match your customers’ preferred languages.
• Well-followed Google multilingual SEO practices.
• Fully customize the language switcher button.

Cons

• No import/export translation files.
• Not translate popup or shipping bar which is created by some other Shopify apps.
• Some automatic translations are not good enough, but very easy to edit. 
• Be careful with the pricing plan to avoid being confused. Pricing depends on 2 variables: the number of words in your project and the number of translated languages you need.

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Pricing

Free to install: Free up to 2000 translated words in 1 language.

External charges may apply. These charges are billed by the external provider and won’t appear on your Shopify invoice.

Rating and Reviews

864 reviews – 4.6/5 rating

Cobbler Union EU says “What we need these days is people who solves problems. And Weglot app and the team do that. The team is also fast in responding and solving, an important thing when you are focused on your store and business and expect third party solutions to match your workflow and expectations.

I came up with a few issues in the path of translating and setting up my store with Weglot, and the team helped me efficiently in every case, with a solution. All issues were/are typically things when working with translations, external apps, different themes, etc. The app works perfect and it’s fast.

Regarding the translation, you need to be aware that not even Google or the best AIs on the market are perfect when it comes to translating. The app do really well the automatic part and is super easy/friendly to the add the manual layer of your business/industry. I expect Weglot to keep evolving in this sense and also to add new features in the future. They are doing a great job!” (Posted on June 17, 2020 – Overall rating 5/5).

IBERICA VACUUM says “The app works well and it’s easy to use. Customer support is great as well. I submitted an inquiry and they responded almost immediately. Overall, I’m very satisfied with this subscription.” (Posted on February 25, 2020 – Overall rating 4/5).

Translate your shop GTranslate

Translate your store and reach multilingual markets!

Using Google power, GTranslate is a great app that can automatically translate your online store into another language. Unlike other translation apps, significant features of this app are free. There is also paid plan available for merchants who want to have advanced functions. 

Pros

• Free Google automatic machine translation
• Google Analytics integration
• Allow manual correction
• Support multilingual SEO
• Free live chat support
• Seamless updates
• Support checkout page translation

Cons

• Statistical machine translation (in the free version) and Google neutral translation (in paid version) sometimes are not as good as human translators.
• Only support SEO multilingual in the paid version.
• No import/export translation files.

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Pricing

Free to install

Advanced SEO multilingual and customization functions are limited in paid plans.

Rating and Reviews

890 reviews – 4.8/5 rating

Moonimal says “Great app in good price. Very nice translation editor and quite simple configuration. Includes subdomain support and the ability to replace images. Very efficient and helpful support. Susie quickly resolved my problem by checking the code. Thanks Susie!” (Posted on June 22, 2020 – Overall rating 5/5).

MODU says “Absolutely incredible customer service! Developer Tigran from Gtranslate has been very helpful with all sorts of minor translation-tweaks to our highly customized site. We totally recommend this app based on the customer service alone.

I wish it had a few more features, e.g. proper language codes for sub-domains, the possibility to tweak translations before launching new language, etc.” (Posted on June 22, 2020 – Overall rating 5/5).

Final Words

All Shopify translation apps offer a free trial or free to install, and each one has their benefits and limitations. Hence, the best way to select the right app is testing them out and see which one suits you the best!

If your e-commerce store has distinct needs, and you cannot find a Shopify translation app to meet your requirements, a Shopify custom app may be the right choice for you! This type of app is built exclusively for your business only! Tell us your fantastic idea, and we will make your business stand out among your competitors!