Comparing Polyglot and Lokalise for developer teams. See how a CLI-first approach differs from Lokalise's dashboard-first workflow, plus pricing details.
Lokalise is a full-featured translation management system built around a polished web dashboard. Polyglot is a CLI tool that scans your codebase for untranslated strings, translates them with LLMs, and lets you preview the results — all without leaving your terminal.
The fundamental difference is where the work happens: Lokalise centralizes everything in a browser-based editor, while Polyglot keeps everything in your codebase and terminal.
| Feature | Polyglot | Lokalise |
|---|---|---|
| String detection (AST-based) | ✓Yes (~98% precision) | ✕No |
| AI/LLM translation | ✓Yes, built-in | ✓Yes (bundled) |
| Output formats | JSON, YAML, ARB, iOS .strings, Android XML | Many |
| Local preview | ✓Yes (polyglot preview) | Via SDK integration |
| IDE integration | VS Code extension (inline diagnostics) | Editor plugins |
| CI/CD integration | ✓Yes (GitHub Action) | ✓Yes |
| CLI support | Primary interface | Available |
| Web dashboard | Review workbench (optional) | Full-featured |
| Free tier | Unlimited scanning, 500 free | No (withdrawn late 2025) |
| Starting price | $0 | $144/mo (Explorer) |
| Translation memory | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
| Glossary support | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
| Screenshots/context | ✕No | ✓Yes |
| Over-the-air delivery | ✕No | ✓Yes |
Lokalise has one of the best translation dashboards on the market:
Lokalise lets you upload screenshots and link them to translation keys, so translators see exactly where each string appears in the UI. This meaningfully improves translation quality.
Their web editor lets translators see strings in a simulated version of your app. For teams working with non-technical translators, this reduces back-and-forth.
Lokalise supports translation branching that mirrors your git branches, plus task assignment and review workflows for larger teams.
Polyglot parses your code with tree-sitter and finds untranslated strings — JSX text nodes, string literals, component props, and API call arguments across seven frameworks: Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, React Native, Vue, Angular, and Flutter. Detection runs at ~98% precision on the strings it flags, measured across real open-source codebases. Lokalise manages strings that have already been extracted into translation files. If you need help finding what's missing, that's a gap Lokalise doesn't fill.
Run polyglot scan and you immediately see untranslated strings in your project. No uploading files, no configuring integrations, no waiting for syncs.
A VS Code extension flags untranslated strings inline as you write code — scan-on-save, a sidebar of findings, and one-click mark-for-translation. You catch missing strings before they ever reach a commit.
polyglot preview shows you translations in your app locally. Lokalise's in-context preview requires installing their SDK and configuring it per project.
Polyglot's fine-tuned translation engine scores 4.96/5 across 49 languages on a reproducible benchmark you can run yourself — a public, verifiable quality measure no TMS publishes.
| Polyglot Free | Polyglot Pro | Lokalise Explorer | Lokalise Growth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $49/mo ($39 annual) | $144/mo | $375/mo |
| String detection | Unlimited | Unlimited | N/A | N/A |
| Translation | 500 free | 10,000 strings | 60K processed words/yr | 300K processed words/yr |
| Languages | 2 | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contract term | None | Monthly | Annual or monthly | Annual or monthly |
Lokalise withdrew its free plan in late 2025. As of July 2026, its cheapest plan is Explorer at $144/month (60K processed words per year), followed by Growth at $375/month, Advanced at $999/month, and a demo-only Enterprise tier. Machine translation, previously a paid add-on, is now bundled into the plans.
Polyglot's scanner is free forever with no project limits. The Pro plan is $49/month ($39/month billed annually) with no contract.
Lokalise is the right choice if
Polyglot is the right choice if
Im Terminal starten
Installieren Sie die CLI, führen Sie einen Scan durch und sehen Sie genau, was Ihnen fehlt. Kostenlos, kein Konto erforderlich.