Tool profile
Weblate: cost, fit and limits
Weblate is an open source web-based localization system made by Weblate s.r.o. under the GNU GPLv3+ license that hosts translation projects with version control, quality checks and review workflows, either on Weblate's hosted service or on a team's own infrastructure.
What to know first
Weblate is free to self-host with unlimited strings, languages, projects and components. Hosted Premium Cloud starts at €47 a month for 10,000 hosted strings, rises to €114 for 160,000 and €616 for 10,240,000, and yearly billing saves 20%. Libre projects can request free hosting with 160,000 strings and one project. Hosted tiers are priced by string count, not by user.
Weblate at a glance
| Maker | Weblate s.r.o., Czech Republic |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | €47 per month billed monthly (Premium Cloud, 10,000 hosted strings) |
| API access | No |
| Category | Best AI Localization Software in 2026, rank 5 of 12 |
| Website | weblate.org |
Who Weblate is best for
Open source maintainers
Gratis Weblate hosting is available on request for libre projects, with 160,000 hosted strings and one project, at no charge.
Teams with their own infrastructure
Self-hosted Weblate has unlimited strings, languages, projects and components, and the team can inspect and modify the GPL code. Because the license allows inspection and modification, a team can audit exactly how its text is processed.
Projects with many contributors
Contributors translate, discuss wording and review each other's work in one place, and the project decides when edits are accepted and approved.
Weblate plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Premium Cloud 10,000 strings | €47 per month (€470 yearly) | Unlimited languages, projects and components on the smallest hosted tier, priced by hosted strings. Yearly billing saves 20% against paying monthly. |
| Premium Cloud 160,000 strings | €114 per month (€1,140 yearly) | Unlimited languages, projects and components on the mid-size hosted tier. Yearly billing saves 20% against the monthly price shown here. |
| Premium Cloud 10,240,000 strings | €616 per month (€6,160 yearly) | The largest hosted tier shown on the homepage pricing table. Yearly billing saves 20% against the monthly price shown on the page. |
| Gratis Weblate | Free, on request | For libre projects: 160,000 hosted strings and one project, granted on request. The vendor decides each request, and the page lists no formal eligibility test. |
| Self-hosted | Free | Unlimited strings, languages, projects and components, with optional paid support from the vendor. The team runs and maintains the server itself, and paid support is optional. |
Checked November 2026.
What Weblate does
- Review workflow
- Translation can run with or without AI and machine translation, and the project chooses when people edit, accept and approve. Review stages can be tightened for sensitive content.
- Translator context
- Contextual information, shared terminology and quality checks help translators decide wording. The same glossary serves every language in a component. Teams that work with many contributors use these checks to keep reviewers focused on real problems.
- Repository round trip
- New strings are sent to translators and translations return to the repository, so Git stays the source of truth while Weblate acts as the editing front end.
- Hosted or self-run
- A team can use hosted Weblate or its own infrastructure and switch later. That option limits lock-in, because both modes use the same file formats.
- Format coverage
- The homepage names GNU gettext PO, XLIFF 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0, Android string resources, Apple iOS strings, i18next JSON, YAML and .NET RESX files. Because open standards dominate that list, moving files in or out of another tool is usually straightforward.
How Weblate handles your data
The privacy policy covers personal data of site users and customers, not the content held in translation projects. It names Hetzner Online GmbH as the hosting provider without a location, keeps personal data until contract obligations end and deletes it on account closure with exceptions, and keeps invoice data at least 10 years. It names no certification and does not address AI training. Because the AI or machine translation step is optional and the providers are not named on the pages we read, a team should check which engine it enables before sending content.
Where Weblate falls short in practice
- You run the instance. Self-hosting is free, but the customer installs updates, backs up data and scales the server. Teams without ops capacity may find the hosted tiers cheaper than the staff time.
- AI is unspecified. The page offers AI and machine translation inside the workflow but names no providers or models, so quality and data routing depend on which engine a project enables.
- Pricing page missing. The separate pricing page returned 404 during our check, so the hosted amounts come from the homepage table. A buyer should confirm them on the live site.
Works with
Alternatives to Weblate
Weblate: common questions
Is Weblate really free?
Self-hosted Weblate is free and open source under GNU GPLv3+, with optional paid support. Hosted Premium Cloud starts at €47 a month, and libre projects can request free hosting with 160,000 strings and one project. Free software still costs staff time, so count the hours needed to run it.
How is hosted Weblate priced?
Hosted tiers are priced by hosted strings, not seats: €47 a month for 10,000, €114 for 160,000 and €616 for 10,240,000, with yearly billing saving 20%. Languages, projects and components are unlimited. Count your source strings once, not per language, before picking a tier.
Does Weblate support AI translation?
Weblate says translation can work with or without AI and machine translation, and the project sets when people edit, accept and approve. The homepage names no AI or machine translation providers, so ask which engines are available on hosted plans and how content reaches them.
Can I move from hosted Weblate to self-hosting later?
The homepage says teams can use hosted Weblate or their own infrastructure and switch later. It does not describe the migration steps. Export projects, test the import on a staging server and plan downtime before moving a live project with active contributors.
Which file formats does Weblate handle?
The homepage names GNU gettext PO, XLIFF 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0, Android string resources, Apple iOS strings, i18next JSON, YAML and .NET RESX files. It also describes Git repository integration. Check the documentation for the exact variant your framework uses before importing.