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Translation & Localization

DeepL Pro & API

EU-Made Report an error

Panel rating · 6 judges · How to read the stars

Category median

Sovereignty: not determined

0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.

by DeepL SE · www.deepl.com

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DeepL Pro & API: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai DeepL Pro & API: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai (dark)

Add ?theme=dark to the image address for dark backgrounds. The badge shows the category and the month of the latest evaluation, and EU-Made where that is the product’s provenance. It never shows a score.

DeepL Pro & API at a glance

Vendor
DeepL SE
Headquarters
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
Data hosting
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
Free plan
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
Panel verdict
The AI panel rates DeepL Pro & API 2.5/5, the mean of 6 judges. DeepL Pro & API is DeepL SE's own neural translation engine, sold as translator seats and a metered API. how scores are made
As of
Vendor pages captured 1 Nov 2026; evaluated by the panel 2 Nov 2026. all sources

DeepL Pro & API alternatives, European ones first →

Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.

The E-Commerce Marketer

Weighted verdict

Runs marketing for a Shopify shop selling cycling apparel from Munich, live in German and English and due in French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish before the spring season. Has no developer and no translator on staff. Wants product pages, checkout and emails translated in days, a way to fix a bad product name by hand, multilingual SEO that search engines index, and a monthly price that does not double when the catalogue grows.

Same scores as the panel view — this lens weights them the way this judge cares.

Scored by The E-Commerce Marketer

Panel median The E-Commerce Marketer This judge’s scores over the panel median. Each label opens its reasoning below.
Scores per criterion, in stars out of 5
Criterion Panel median The E-Commerce Marketer
Machine translation & AI quality 3.5 of 5 0 of 5
Translation memory, terminology & review workflow 2 of 5 0 of 5
Integrations, file formats & developer tools 3 of 5 0 of 5
Confidentiality of translated content 4 of 5 0 of 5
Data export, portability & self-hosting 2.5 of 5 0 of 5
European sovereignty 3.5 of 5 0 of 5
Pricing transparency 3.5 of 5 0 of 5

Machine translation & AI quality

How this is scored

What the machine translation does and how well it is controlled: the languages and language pairs covered, the engine (own neural or LLM model, or a choice of third-party engines such as DeepL, Google, Microsoft or an LLM), glossaries and formality applied during translation, document translation that keeps the layout (Word, PowerPoint, PDF, InDesign), custom or adaptive models trained on the customer's own translations, automatic quality estimation or scoring, and published evaluations of translation quality.

0 — No machine translation of any kind, and no way to connect an engine.

3 — Machine translation is offered or one engine can be connected; languages, glossary use and quality controls are basic or not described.

5 — Machine translation for the major European and world languages with the list published, glossaries applied during translation, a formality or tone setting, document translation that keeps formatting for common office formats, and either an own engine or a choice of several named engines.

8 — Custom or adaptive models that learn from the customer's translation memory or corrections, automatic quality estimation per segment with a threshold that routes weak segments to human review, LLM-based translation with style guides and context, engine selection per language pair stated, and a published quality evaluation with its method.

10 — Translation quality that an organisation can measure and steer: evaluations against named benchmarks or blind human review published with their method, quality estimation calibrated and explained, custom models with their training data and isolation documented, and every machine-translated segment traceable to the engine, model version and glossary that produced it.

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The E-Commerce Marketer

Every language my shop needs — German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish — is on the published list of 126 languages, with regional variants for French, German and Spanish. Glossaries are genuinely useful for product names: grammatical adaptation in context, priority ordering when several are active, terms marked not to be translated, plus formality settings, style rules and custom instructions, and document translation keeps the layout across Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF, HTML, InDesign and image files, with an account-scoped adaptive feature that never feeds other customers. It sits below the top because the quality claim rests on blind tests without a published method, and I found no public information on per-segment quality scoring or routing of weak segments to human review. 2 3 4 9 12 13

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Translation memory, terminology & review workflow

How this is scored

How translation is managed as an ongoing process: translation memory with fuzzy matches, a termbase or glossary managed centrally, style guides, review and approval stages, automated QA checks (placeholders, tags, length, terminology, punctuation), an in-context or visual editor, screenshots and context for translators, tasks and deadlines, roles per language, and ordering or inviting human translators and agencies inside the product.

0 — No management of translations at all; text goes in and comes out with nothing stored or reviewed.

3 — Translations can be edited or a glossary kept; translation memory, review stages and QA checks are basic or not described.

5 — A translation memory reused across projects, a central glossary, at least one review or approval stage, automated QA checks for placeholders and terminology, comments and screenshots for context, and roles that limit translators to their languages.

8 — Configurable multi-step workflows with automation rules, an in-context or visual editor for apps or websites, QA checks configurable per project with blocking rules, style guides applied by the AI, translation memory and termbase shared across projects with penalties and priorities, vendor or agency management with ordering inside the product, and progress and cost reporting per language.

10 — A translation process an enterprise runs on: workflows per content type with conditional routing on quality scores, linguistic quality assessment with a named framework (MQM or similar), termbase with approval workflow and forbidden terms, full revision history per segment, and productivity and quality metrics per translator and vendor.

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The E-Commerce Marketer

Translation memories can be uploaded as TMX, shared with the team, activated in the translator and reused so the same product description is not translated twice, glossaries are managed centrally and shared across teams, and clicking a word in the web translator to pick a better product name is exactly the manual fix I need. However, I found no public information on review or approval stages, automated checks for placeholders or terminology, comments and screenshots for context, or translators restricted to specific languages; the described workflow capability is stated only in general terms. Workable for a shop without a translator on staff, but thin as a managed process. 4 11 13 16 17

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Integrations, file formats & developer tools

How this is scored

How content gets in and out: the file formats supported (XLIFF, PO, JSON, YAML, Android XML, iOS strings and xcstrings, Office documents, InDesign), a REST API and CLI, SDKs and over-the-air updates for apps, Git repository sync (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) and CI pipelines, connectors for CMS, shop and design tools (WordPress, Contentful, Shopify, Figma), browser and office add-ins, webhooks, and a JavaScript snippet or proxy for website translation.

0 — No documented way to get content in or out except typing or pasting by hand.

3 — File upload and download or a basic API; formats, repository sync and connectors are basic or not described.

5 — A documented REST API, a list of supported file formats covering the common software and document formats, sync with at least one Git host or CI, and connectors or plugins for several named CMS, shop or design tools.

8 — A CLI and SDKs for named platforms, over-the-air updates for mobile or web apps, Git sync with branching, webhooks, connectors for the main CMS, shop, design and support tools, office or browser add-ins, a public status page, and API limits documented.

10 — Integration that scales across an organisation: an API covering every function of the product with versioning and SDKs, an app or connector framework third parties build on, continuous localization in CI with pull requests opened automatically, and every connector documented with its limits and the fields it syncs.

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The E-Commerce Marketer

The REST API is documented in real detail — including translation-memory import and export endpoints with their limits and error codes — and there are named connectors for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Zendesk, Adobe Experience Manager, Google Drive and SharePoint, plus browser extensions and an AWS Marketplace listing. Files are supported across office formats, PDF, HTML, SRT, InDesign and Contentful JSON. For a shop system like the one my store runs on, I found no connector documented, and I found no public information on Git or CI sync, SDKs, a CLI or webhooks. 3 5 11 15 16 19

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Confidentiality of translated content

How this is scored

What happens to the text a customer translates: whether source and target texts are stored and for how long, deletion after translation, whether customer content is used to train the vendor's or a third party's models, which machine translation and LLM providers a TMS sends text to and whether that can be restricted or switched off, encryption in transit and at rest, single sign-on, roles and audit logs, and certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) with their scope. Where the text is processed is scored under sovereignty.

0 — Customer texts are stored indefinitely and used for the vendor's own purposes, or no statement on data handling exists at all.

3 — The product is described as secure or GDPR-compliant and a privacy policy exists; retention of translated texts, model training and third-party engines are basic or not described.

5 — A documented statement that customer texts are not used to train models, retention or deletion of translated texts stated, the third-party engines or LLM providers named, encryption in transit and at rest, single sign-on on a business tier, and a data processing agreement offered.

8 — Texts deleted immediately after translation or after a retention period the customer sets, third-party AI processing switchable per project or account, zero-retention terms with the named LLM providers, audit logs, granular roles, ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certification stated with its scope, and a private or dedicated deployment option.

10 — Confidentiality that can be verified: an on-premise or customer-controlled deployment, customer-managed encryption keys, every subprocessor that sees content listed with its role, independent audit reports available, and every data flow of a translation request documented end to end.

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The E-Commerce Marketer

Pro texts are never used for model training and are deleted after processing, with only a narrow 72-hour debugging exception, and the engine is DeepL's own, so no third-party machine translation provider sits in the chain. TLS and advanced encryption, bring-your-own-key, audit logs, granular roles, SSO over SAML and OIDC, ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II with its scope stated and BSI C5 are all documented, and the data processing agreement is downloadable from the Trust Centre. What keeps it from the top: I found no public information on a private or dedicated deployment option, and the free API tier reserves a right to perpetual storage of content — a reason to stay on paid plans. 1 7 9 10 17

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Data export, portability & self-hosting

How this is scored

Whether translation assets stay the customer's and can leave with them: export of translation memory and termbase in open formats (TMX, TBX, XLIFF, CSV), export of all projects and files, import from another TMS, an API that can read every asset, the return or deletion of data on termination, open-source code and a self-hosted or on-premise edition.

0 — Translations cannot be exported; they exist only in the vendor's interface or engine.

3 — Translated files can be downloaded; export of translation memory and glossary, import and termination terms are basic or not described.

5 — Translation memory exportable as TMX and glossary as TBX or CSV, all project files downloadable, import of translation memory and glossaries from another tool, and an API that reads translations and keys.

8 — Complete export of every asset (memory, termbase, files, comments, history) in open formats, a documented migration path from named competitors, the data returned or deleted on termination under stated terms, and a self-hosted or on-premise edition with its own documentation.

10 — The customer owns the assets end to end: open-source code under a named licence that runs fully self-hosted with feature parity stated, a complete export another tool can import without loss, and the deletion of every copy on termination documented.

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The E-Commerce Marketer

Translation memories export and import as TMX through the API — the export runs as a background job with a short-lived download link — glossaries can be built from uploaded files, and any content DeepL was asked to keep is deleted 90 days after the agreement ends. TMX is the only format on both the export and import side, and I found no public information on exporting glossaries, complete projects, comments or history, or on a self-hosted edition. My translation memory would travel with me; the terminology lists look like a manual job. 4 10 19 20

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European sovereignty

How this is scored

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where texts are translated, stored and processed, and who the subprocessors are (hosting, machine translation engines, LLM providers, CDN for over-the-air delivery, support and payment tools). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; translated texts often hold personal data and trade secrets, so the whole chain counts, including the engines a TMS calls. A self-hosted edition the customer runs on its own European servers counts as the customer's chain, whatever the vendor's seat.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no data processing agreement offered.

3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the subprocessors are not listed.

5 — EU hosting available and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, but parts of the chain (machine translation or LLM providers, CDN, support, payment) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard.

8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, subprocessors listed with their locations including the engines and LLM providers, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated — or a self-hosted edition documented that keeps every text on the customer's own servers.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting, engine and every subprocessor, or a self-hosted open-source edition with no call home, data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.

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The E-Commerce Marketer

DeepL SE is the contracting entity, registered in Cologne with a German VAT ID, and the privacy policy states documents are translated exclusively on DeepL's own infrastructure in the EEA — reassuring for a Munich shop. Subprocessors are named with addresses, including Stripe in Dublin, Payrails in Berlin and Cloudflare in San Francisco for the website CDN, and ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II and BSI C5 certifications plus a published data processing agreement all appear on the vendor's own pages. The one line I would want clarified before signing: the license terms reserve processing on third-party cloud infrastructure with DeepL determining the location of data processing. 8 9 10 11 17

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Pricing transparency

How this is scored

Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: price per tier by characters, words, keys, hosted words or seats, what happens when the volume exceeds the tier, the number of users, projects and languages included, which features (machine translation volume, AI credits, SSO, integrations, API access) cost extra, the free tier and its limits, the self-hosted edition and its support, minimum term and setup.

0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.

3 — A starting price or a free tier exists, but how cost scales with volume, seats or features is unclear.

5 — Tiers are public with their price per volume band and main inclusions, but at least one commonly needed piece (overage, extra seats, machine translation or AI volume, SSO, connectors) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every tier priced publicly with its scaling rule (characters, words, keys, seats), overage handling stated, add-ons and AI credits priced, the self-hosted edition's cost or licence stated, minimum term and VAT treatment stated.

10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given volume, seat count and feature set, with every add-on, setup, support and overage fee and the cancellation and data-return terms published.

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The E-Commerce Marketer

I can nearly compute my real annual cost from public pages alone: Individual at €7.49, Team at €24.99 and Business at €49.99 per user/month billed annually, the Write Pro add-on at €6.99 per user, and the API Growth plan at €23.80 per month plus €22.00 per extra million characters, all with VAT included and a stated 20 % saving on annual billing. Volumes per tier — characters per user, file translations, glossaries, seats, and monthly caps on the API — are listed, so a growing catalogue does not silently double my bill on Business, which shows unlimited characters. Two caveats: that "unlimited" sits under a fair usage policy whose limits are not defined, and Enterprise is contact-sales only. 1 10 16 18

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European sovereignty — proven facts

0 of 6 dimensions proven

Built only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.

Hosting location Not determined — uncited Report an error
Hosting options Not determined — uncited Report an error
Open source Not determined — uncited Report an error
Data processing agreement Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Transfer impact assessment Not determined — uncited Report an error

Questions about DeepL Pro & API

Is DeepL Pro & API European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies DeepL Pro & API as EU-Made.

Where does DeepL Pro & API store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

Does DeepL Pro & API have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

What are the best alternatives to DeepL Pro & API?

As of 2 Nov 2026, the panel rates SimpleLocalize (3.5/5), LILT (3.5/5) and Phrase Localization Platform (3.5/5) highest among the other 12 Translation & Localization products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is SimpleLocalize (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: DeepL Pro & API alternatives.

Where this could be wrong

What we left out

A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.

Do you know more about DeepL Pro & API? Tell us Report an error on this page

Sources (20)

The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.

  1. 1 Vendor homepage (with pricing) www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  2. 2 Features page www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  3. 3 Features page (document translation) www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  4. 4 Features page (glossary) www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  5. 5 Integrations page www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  6. 6 API documentation developers.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  7. 7 Security / trust page (data security) www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  8. 8 Legal notice www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  9. 9 Privacy policy www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  10. 10 Terms of service (with data processing terms) www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  11. 11 Machine translation & AI quality — found from sitemap www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  12. 12 Machine translation & AI quality — found from sitemap developers.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  13. 13 Translation memory, terminology & review workflow — found from sitemap www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  14. 14 Translation memory, terminology & review workflow — found from sitemap www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  15. 15 Integrations, file formats & developer tools — found from sitemap www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  16. 16 Integrations, file formats & developer tools — found from sitemap www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  17. 17 Confidentiality of translated content — found from sitemap www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  18. 18 Confidentiality of translated content — found from sitemap www.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  19. 19 Data export, portability & self-hosting — found from sitemap developers.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  20. 20 Data export, portability & self-hosting — found from sitemap developers.deepl.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →