Free Translation APIs in 2026: DeepL, Google, Azure, Amazon and LLMs

Machine translation APIs bill by the character, and four of the big ones give a free allowance: Azure Translator and Amazon Translate 2 million characters a month (Amazon for the first 12 months), Google Cloud Translation 500,000 a month, and DeepL 1 million characters once. Free LLM APIs can translate too, with rate limits instead of a character budget. Every number below was checked on the vendor's own pricing or docs page on 2026-10-25; where a page could not be read automatically, the row says so.

The four translation APIs are not in our catalog yet, so their rows link to the vendor's page; the LLM offers link to our verified offer pages.

Compare the free translation APIs

About DeepL: the "Free API Key" button on DeepL's API page now signs you up for the Developer plan; the plan data on that page gives 1,000,000 characters and one API key at €0. DeepL's help article blocks automated reads, so we read its indexed text: once the Developer allowance is used it "is not reset". The same article still describes the older DeepL API Free plan (500,000 characters a month); third-party plugin docs say new users can no longer buy it, and that sign-up asks for a card to prevent multiple accounts. Neither point is on a DeepL page we could read, so check both when you sign up.

Free LLM APIs that translate

A general LLM translates well between common languages, follows instructions such as "keep the Markdown and the placeholders", and costs nothing on these free tiers; the trade-off is rate limits and output that is less predictable than a dedicated engine.

Why an LLM may translate worse into your language: low-resource languages. Whether a free tier keeps your text: does it learn from my chats?

Which one to pick

• Most free characters every month: Azure Translator (2 million, no expiry) or Amazon Translate (2 million, first 12 months).
• Already on Google Cloud: Cloud Translation's $10 monthly credit covers 500,000 characters; set a budget alert, because usage above it is billed to the card on the project.
• A one-off job in DeepL quality: the DeepL Developer plan's 1 million characters, once.
• No card at all: Amazon Translate for most new AWS accounts, a free LLM API, or LibreTranslate on your own machine.
• Private or confidential text: avoid the Gemini unpaid tier outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, or self-host LibreTranslate.

Steps

Azure Translator

1. Create an Azure account, then a Translator resource in the Azure portal with the Free F0 pricing tier (one per subscription).
2. Copy a key and the region from Keys and Endpoint.
3. Translate: curl -X POST "https://api.cognitive.microsofttranslator.com/translate?api-version=3.0&to=vi" -H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: $AZURE_TRANSLATOR_KEY" -H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Region: $AZURE_REGION" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '[{"Text": "Hello, world"}]'

Amazon Translate

1. Create an AWS account and an IAM user or role allowed to call Translate.
2. Translate: aws translate translate-text --source-language-code auto --target-language-code vi --text "Hello, world"
3. Watch the Free Tier page in the billing console: the 2 million characters a month last 12 months from your first request.

Google Cloud Translation

1. Create a Google Cloud project, enable billing and the Cloud Translation API.
2. Create an API key (or use a service account) and save it as GOOGLE_API_KEY.
3. Translate (v2): curl -X POST "https://translation.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2?key=$GOOGLE_API_KEY" -d "q=Hello, world" -d "target=vi"

DeepL

1. Choose Free API Key on deepl.com/pro-api and create an account.
2. Copy the key from the API Keys tab; free keys end in :fx.
3. Translate: curl -X POST https://api-free.deepl.com/v2/translate -H "Authorization: DeepL-Auth-Key $DEEPL_API_KEY" -d "text=Hello, world" -d "target_lang=VI"

An LLM (Gemini example)

1. Get a free key in Google AI Studio (see the free Gemini API key guide).
2. Send a system instruction such as "Translate the user's text into Vietnamese. Keep Markdown, URLs and {placeholders} unchanged. Reply with the translation only."

LibreTranslate (self-hosted)

1. pip install libretranslate (Python 3.8 or newer), then run libretranslate --load-only en,vi to load only the languages you need.
2. Translate: curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/translate -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"q": "Hello, world", "source": "en", "target": "vi"}'

Limits and the catch

• Characters, not words. Every API here bills the characters you send, spaces included, not words or tokens. On Azure, translating one text into three languages counts it three times.
• Document translation is extra. Azure's F0 tier has no document translation, Google's credit doesn't cover formatted documents ($0.08 a page), and DeepL limits free document uploads to 10 MB.
• Billing is live on Google and Azure. Above the free allowance the card on the account is charged; set a budget or quota before you run a batch job.
• Amazon's 12 months and the new AWS free plan. Accounts created since July 15, 2025 start on a 6-month free plan with up to $200 in credits; AWS's pages don't say how that combines with the 12-month Translate allowance.
• Free tiers change. We re-check offers monthly. The free LLM API comparison lists more models you can use for translation.