Smartling

Overview

Smartling is an AI-powered translation and localization platform built for global enterprises, combining AI translation, automated workflow orchestration, managed language services and enterprise-grade security in one cloud system. It is the #1-rated translation management system (TMS) on G2 for 15 consecutive quarters, landed on Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies list for both 2025 and 2026, and took #2 on G2's 2026 Best Software Awards for Content Management Systems. Smartling customers typically get content to market up to 50% faster and cut translation costs by up to 70%.

Key Features

• AI Hub: one interface into 20+ leading LLMs and machine-translation engines supporting 450+ languages. Auto Select MT and Auto Select LLM automatically route every string to the best-performing engine for the language pair, with auto fallback and hallucination mitigation; RAG-powered prompts reference your translation memory and glossaries at translation time for on-brand output.
• AI translation line-up: AIHT (AI efficiency with human linguistic review, backed by a Translation Satisfaction Guarantee) and AIT (fully automated translation that replaces traditional MTPE, in Tier 1 / Tier 2 variants), plus Instant AI Translation via a synchronous API for connectors (AEM, Drupal, WordPress, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Figma).
• LQA Agent (2026): automated translation evaluation built on the MQM framework — categorizes errors by type and severity, scores every language, and either publishes error-free content automatically or routes flagged content to human review. Reached 90% agreement with human reviewers and 99% accuracy on severe errors in internal testing.
• Quality tooling: Style Rules for AI (punctuation, dates and regional standards for 30+ locales), Language Adaptation (e.g. US English to UK English, BR-PT to EU-PT without full retranslation), AI Image Translation (extracts text from images and rebuilds them with translated text), LQA Suite, glossary/style-guide enforcement and live visual context so translators see their words on the real page.
• Automation: Smartling automates up to 99% of the translation process — auto-detecting new content, authorizing and submitting jobs instantly, AI post-editing with quality estimation, and auto-publishing completed translations via workflow rules.
• Integrations: 50+ native connectors (Adobe AEM, Contentful, Sitecore, WordPress, Shopify, Zendesk, Salesforce, Figma, GitHub), open APIs, Zapier, and a Global Delivery Network (GDN) web proxy that translates entire sites with zero code changes. An MCP server lets AI assistants like Claude Code, VS Code and Cursor call Smartling directly.
• Scale & collaboration: cloud-native platform handling millions of words daily across hundreds of locales, unlimited users at no extra cost, and a vetted in-network linguist community (no separate LSP relationship needed).

Pricing

Smartling is a tiered SaaS platform with custom pricing (a sales conversation is required — it is enterprise software, not self-serve):

• Free to Start: for individuals/small teams translating business documents — basic workflows, drag-and-drop files, CAT tool with visual context, 180-day translation memory, essential reporting and automated quality checks.
• Core / Growth: for growing teams — everything in the free tier plus dynamic workflows, advanced translation memory, customizable linguistic packages (glossary, style guides) and reporting, plus the LQA Suite.
• Enterprise: full capabilities — configurable user permissions, agency/vendor management, custom workflows, SmartMatch, processed-words analytics, and access to Smartling Professional and Managed Services.
• Translation service rates (per word, "starting at"): machine/AI translation from $0.06/word, bring-your-own translators from $0.0075/word, AI human translation (AIHT) from $0.12/word, and professional human translation from $0.20/word.
• AI Subscription: a flexible prepaid budget drawn down at service-specific rates across AI offerings (AI Hub, AI Toolkit, AIHT, AIT, LQA Agent); top-ups available, with add-on capacity for extra integrations.

Best For

Enterprise teams localizing marketing, product, support and legal content across many brands and regions — especially those already on Adobe AEM, Contentful, Sitecore, WordPress, Shopify or Zendesk who want human-quality translation at machine speed with measurable ROI. Smaller teams and developer-first workflows should compare Lokalise or Crowdin.

FAQ

How much does Smartling cost?

There is no published list price. The platform is billed as a tiered SaaS subscription (Free to Start, Core/Growth, Enterprise) plus per-word translation services — MT/AI from $0.06/word, AI human translation from $0.12/word, professional human translation from $0.20/word. Contact sales for a quote.

Does Smartling use AI for translation?

Yes. AI Hub provides 20+ LLMs and MT engines with Auto Select routing, RAG prompts that enforce your glossary and translation memory, AI post-editing, fully automated AIT translation, and the MQM-based LQA Agent that evaluates quality automatically.

Which platforms does Smartling integrate with?

50+ native connectors including Adobe AEM, Contentful, Sitecore, WordPress, Shopify, Zendesk, Salesforce, Figma and GitHub, plus open APIs, Zapier, and the Global Delivery Network (GDN) proxy for translating websites without touching code.

Is Smartling secure?

Yes — SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, HITRUST e1, HIPAA, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 (AI management systems), one of the localization industry's most comprehensive compliance programs.

How fast is Smartling?

Up to 99% of translation is automated and high-confidence MT publishes without human review, so customers report up to 50% faster time to market.