2026 Translation API Selection: Developers measured, who can play the best
Connect translation functions to your content platform and touch all the mainstream translation APIs. Tencent Translation has a free quota of 5 million characters and Chinese and English quality online; Baidu has strong colloquialism but a small quota;DeepL has a crush on European languages but requires binding cards. A list explains clearly how to choose.
Recently, when connecting translation functions to my content platform, I need a reliable translation API-Chinese-English Translation, which can handle markdown. The larger the free amount, the better.
It took me some time to go through all the mainstream translation APIs, and the conclusions are directly here.
Free Credit List
| service | Free quota/month | China-UK Quality | Registration threshold | For whom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tencent Translation | 5 million characters | good | Real name of Tencent Cloud | First choice for domestic developers |
| Baidu Translation (Advanced Version) | 1 million characters | Good, strong colloquialism | Baidu account + personal authentication | Scenes requiring spoken Chinese style |
| Volcano Translation | 2 million characters | good | Byte account number | Byte Ecological Users |
| DeepL Free | 500,000 characters | Okay, Europe has the strongest language | Credit card required | European language-based projects |
| Google Cloud | 500,000 characters | medium | Credit card + GCP project required | GCP infrastructure in place |
| Microsoft translation | 2 million characters | medium | Azure account | Existing Azure infrastructure |
| MyMemory | co. | difference | no | Prototype verification only |
In a word: When doing Chinese-English translation for domestic projects, Tencent translation is the most cost-effective . Five million characters are given away for free, the quality ranks among the top in Chinese-English translation evaluations, and registration is not troublesome.
Several points worth saying
Tencent Translation : 5 million characters per month are free and will be sent immediately after activation, and no corporate certification is required. The API is signed with TC3-HMAC-SHA 256, which is a little more troublesome, but you don't have to worry about it once. The Chinese-English translation has scored one of the highest scores in automatic evaluation. The actual measurement results show smooth sentences and good technical terms.
Baidu Translation : The standard version only has 50,000 characters, but you can get 1 million if you upgrade to the advanced version through personal certification. Baidu has advantages in colloquial Chinese translation, such as online terms and idioms, which are more authentic when translated. But the API uses the old MD5 signature, and the interface design feels like it stopped in 2018.
DeepL : The king of word-of-mouth in the translation world, European languages indeed crush other countries. But the free version only has 500,000 characters and requires a credit card. Chinese support is a new model that will only be added in 2024. The quality has improved a lot (officials say it is 1.7 times better than the old model), but it has no obvious advantage compared with Tencent and Baidu. In addition, the free version of the text will be used by DeepL to train models, so those who care about privacy should pay attention.
Google Cloud Translation : 500,000 characters free but never expires. The problem is that it is cumbersome to set up GCP projects, open APIs, and configure billing accounts. The quality of translation is moderate and has not improved significantly since 2022. Unless you're already using GCP, there's no need to create a special set for translation.
MyMemory : Zero threshold, you can adjust it without registering. But the quality is too poor, so "circle of friends" is turned into "circle of friends", and "posting photos" is turned into "tanning photos". It is only suitable for writing a demo verification process.
My Choice
In the end, I chose Tencent Translator. The reason is simple:
- 5 million characters/month, my website has 10,000 - 20,000 characters per article, enough to turn hundreds of articles
- Chinese-English translation quality online, technical articles can be read out
- does not need to tie a credit card, just need to use a real name for your domestic ID card.
- exceeds the free limit and only costs 58 yuan/million characters, which is not expensive
After receiving it, every time a Chinese article is published, it is automatically translated into English, and there is no feeling during the whole process. This is what a translation API should look like-you shouldn't even realize it exists.