DeepL review
- Made by
- DeepL SE
- Headquarters
- Cologne, Germany
- Launched
- August 2017
- Languages
- 114 translation languages (DeepL's list)
- Free plan
- Yes: 50,000 characters a month, 1 file a month
- Paid plans from
- $8.74/month billed annually (Individual, US price)
- Platforms
- Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, browser extensions, Word, Outlook, Gmail, API
- Business customers
- 200,000+ (DeepL's figure)
DeepL is an AI translation service that turns text and whole documents into another language while keeping them natural and correctly formatted. Paste text or upload a Word, PowerPoint or PDF file, pick a language, and DeepL returns a translation you can refine with alternative wordings, a formal or informal tone, and glossaries that lock in your own terms. Its list now covers 114 languages. A sister tool, DeepL Write, rewrites text in the same language so it reads fluently.
DeepL is free to try with limits. Paid DeepL Pro plans raise those limits, add team features and, importantly, promise that your text is deleted after translation and never used for training. It ranks #2 in our best AI for translation ranking, just behind Google Translate, and DeepL Write appears in our grammar checker, paraphrasing and proofreading rankings.
DeepL is worth paying for if you translate business documents, contracts or client work regularly. Its output reads naturally, translated files keep their layout, and Pro plans do not keep or train on your text. For casual use the free version is enough, but do not paste confidential text into it. Skip it if you need rare languages, want unlimited free use, or would rather adapt tone with a general AI chatbot.
Score breakdown
Best for
- Professionals translating contracts, reports and slide decks
- Teams that need consistent terminology through shared glossaries
- Companies with confidentiality rules that forbid training on their text
- Non-native writers who want fluent rewrites with DeepL Write
Skip it if
- People who need rare or low-resource languages that DeepL does not list
- Anyone wanting unlimited free translation of large files
- Writers who want every edit explained, as in a teaching-style grammar checker
What we like
- Natural, fluent output in major languages
- Keeps the formatting of Word, PowerPoint and PDF files
- Glossaries, style rules and translation memory for consistent terms
- Pro plans delete text after translation and never train on it
- Apps for desktop, mobile, browsers and Microsoft and Google tools
Watch out for
- Free version may use your text to train DeepL's models
- Fewer languages than Google Translate
- Write Pro costs extra below the Business plan
- File limits are tight on cheaper plans (3 a month on Individual)
- Trustpilot reviewers complain about renewals and refunds
Key features, explained
Text translation
DeepL translates between 114 languages, with varieties such as British or American English, Brazilian or European Portuguese, and Latin American Spanish on its next-generation model. Click any word to see alternatives, and switch between formal and informal tone for supported languages. The free version allows 50,000 characters a month; Individual 300,000, Team 1,000,000 per user, and Business is unlimited under a fair usage policy.
Document translation
Upload a Word, PowerPoint, PDF or other supported file and DeepL returns it translated with the original layout, fonts and images in place, so a translated deck still looks like your deck. Plans set how many files you can translate: 1 a month free (up to 5 MB), 3 on Individual and 20 on Team (up to 30 MB), and 100 on Business (up to 100 MB). Team and above add bulk file translation.
Glossaries, style rules and translation memory
A glossary tells DeepL how to translate specific terms, such as product names, every time. Free and Individual allow one glossary with 5 entries per language pair; Team allows 5 glossaries with 1,000 entries and shares them across the team; Business is unlimited. Team and Business also get shared style rule lists, and Business adds translation memory, which reuses your past approved translations as context.
DeepL Write
DeepL Write improves text in the same language, fixing grammar and spelling and suggesting smoother wording, with choices of style and tone on the paid version. It supports Chinese, English (UK and US), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (including Brazilian) and Spanish. Free use is limited to 1,500 characters at a time. Write Pro removes the limit and adds maximum data security.
Apps and integrations
DeepL runs on the web, as desktop apps for Windows and macOS, on iOS and Android, and as browser extensions. It plugs into Microsoft Word, Outlook, Gmail, Google Docs and Google Slides, and professional translators can use it inside CAT tools (computer-assisted translation software) through an API plan. Paid Translator plans also include 30 minutes of DeepL Voice, its live speech translation, per user each month.
DeepL API
Developers can build DeepL into their own apps and websites through a REST API that also covers DeepL Write and speech-to-text translation. New customers can start on API Developer, which is free for 1,000,000 characters in total, then move to API Growth or a custom Enterprise API plan. API plans are separate from Pro plans and do not unlock Pro features in DeepL's own apps.
Where DeepL ranks
Our scores come from our category rankings, where each tool is scored 0–10 on weighted criteria against its rivals.
| Ranking | Listed as | Position | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best AI for Translation | DeepL | #2 of 7 | 8.6 |
| Best AI Paraphrasing Tools | DeepL Write | #7 of 9 | 7.8 |
| Best AI Grammar Checkers | DeepL Write | #7 of 9 | 7.5 |
| Best AI Proofreaders | DeepL Write | #8 of 9 | 7.2 |
What users say about DeepL
App users are very positive. DeepL Translate scores 4.8 out of 5 from 13,277 ratings on Apple's App Store and 4.7 out of 5 from about 430,000 ratings on Google Play. People praise translations that sound natural, the handling of long and complex sentences, and how easily it fits into email, messaging and office apps. Trustpilot tells a different story, at 2.4 out of 5 from 777 reviews. Most complaints there are about money rather than translation quality: subscriptions that auto-renewed after people thought they had cancelled, refunds refused, and usage caps that surprised paying users. Others mention slow or generic support, frequent logouts and a desktop app that feels cluttered. As with many subscription apps, Trustpilot mostly attracts billing disputes, while app store ratings reflect everyday users.
Users praise
- Translations read naturally, not word for word
- Handles long, complex sentences well
- Keeps document formatting intact
- Convenient apps and integrations for email and office tools
Users complain about
- Auto-renewals and refused refunds (Trustpilot)
- Usage caps that surprise paying users
- Slow or generic customer support
- Frequent logouts and a cluttered desktop app
| Review site | Rating | Reviews | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| App Store | 4.8/5 | 13,277 | 2026-09 |
| Google Play | 4.7/5 | 429,868 | 2026-09 |
| Trustpilot | 2.4/5 | 777 | 2026-09 |
Ratings are third-party aggregates and change over time. They are context, not part of our score.
DeepL's cheapest paid plan is Individual at $8.74 a month billed annually ($104.88 a year), or $10.49 billed monthly, for 300,000 characters and 3 file translations a month. Team costs $28.74 per user a month billed annually and Business $57.49, with Enterprise priced by sales. The free version gives 50,000 characters a month but may use your text for training. Prices here are DeepL's US prices in US dollars; DeepL charges different amounts by region (for example €7.49 a month for Individual in Germany, VAT included).
DeepL Write Pro is a $7.49-a-month add-on (billed annually) on Individual and Team, and is included in Business. Developers need a separate API plan: API Developer is free for 1 million characters in total, and API Growth costs $32.50 a month with 1 million characters included. The older API Free and API Pro plans can no longer be bought.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Individual | $8.74/month billed annually ($104.88/year); $10.49 billed monthly |
| Team | $28.74/user/month billed annually ($344.88/user/year); $34.49 billed monthly |
| Business | $57.49/user/month billed annually ($689.88/user/year); $68.99 billed monthly |
| Enterprise | Custom |
| Write Pro add-on | $7.49/user/month billed annually |
| API Developer | $0 |
| API Growth | $32.50/month; $312/year ($26/month) billed annually |
Full DeepL pricing breakdown, hidden costs and money-saving tips
Privacy: free versus Pro
This is the most important difference between DeepL's free and paid tiers.
- Free Translator and free DeepL Write: DeepL's privacy policy says it processes the text you submit, and its translations or improvements, for a limited time to train and improve its neural networks. That includes corrections you make to its suggestions.
- DeepL Pro, API Pro and Write Pro: texts and documents are kept only as long as needed to produce the result, then deleted, and are not used to improve DeepL's services. Paid Translator plans list "no data training" as a feature.
- Legacy API Free: it is not covered by the Pro data terms, so treat it like the free translator.
In practice: never paste contracts, patient data or unreleased plans into the free version. A logged-in Pro user also needs Write Pro (or Business) to get the paid data terms in DeepL Write; a Pro Translator plan alone does not cover Write.
DeepL Write in brief
DeepL Write is best seen as a fluency tool. It rewrites a sentence so it sounds like a native speaker wrote it, which is why second-language writers like it. It explains little about why it changed something, so it is weaker for learning or for strict proofreading where you want only errors fixed; our best AI proofreaders ranking notes it rewrites rather than corrects. Write Pro costs $7.49 per user a month billed annually as an add-on, or comes included in the Business plan. See DeepL pricing for details.
Who should skip DeepL
Skip DeepL if you mostly need rare languages, free translation of long files, or tone-heavy marketing adaptation. Google Translate covers more languages for free, and general AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude can adapt tone and follow detailed instructions. Compare them on our DeepL alternatives page.
- Create a glossary for product names and technical terms before translating a big document, so every instance comes out the same.
- Use the formal or informal tone switch for German, French, Spanish and similar languages; it changes forms of address, not just word choice.
- Translate sensitive files only while logged into a paid Pro account, where DeepL deletes texts after translation.
- On the Individual plan, merge several short documents into one file before uploading, since the limit is 3 files a month, not 3 pages.
- Run important translations through a native speaker or a second pass in DeepL Write before publishing; fluent does not always mean correct.
DeepL alternatives
Google Translate
Best for everyday translation, travel and rare languages
ChatGPT
Best for marketing copy, emails and anything where tone matters
Claude
Best for long, nuanced documents such as reports, fiction and legal drafts
Gemini
Best for context-aware translation inside Gmail, Docs and other Google apps
Jargon explained
- Character
- DeepL's billing unit: every letter, number, space and punctuation mark in the text you send for translation.
- Glossary
- A list of fixed translations for specific terms, such as product names, that DeepL must use every time.
- Translation memory
- A store of your past approved translations that the tool reuses so repeated sentences stay consistent.
- CAT tool
- Computer-assisted translation software used by professional translators, such as Trados or memoQ, which can call DeepL through its API.
- Formality
- A setting that chooses between formal and informal forms of address, for example Sie or du in German.
Frequently asked questions
Is DeepL better than Google Translate?
For major European and Asian languages, many users find DeepL's output more natural, and it keeps document formatting well. Google Translate supports more languages and is free without the same limits. In our ranking Google Translate is #1 and DeepL #2, very close behind.
Is DeepL free?
Yes, there is a free version with 50,000 characters a month and 1 file translation a month (up to 5 MB). Paid plans start at $8.74 a month billed annually for 300,000 characters and 3 files a month.
Does DeepL use my text for training?
On the free version, DeepL's privacy policy says it may process your text for a limited time to train and improve its models. On paid Pro, API Pro and Write Pro plans, texts are deleted after translation and not used to improve the service.
How many languages does DeepL support?
DeepL's help centre lists 114 translation languages, including varieties such as British and American English and Brazilian Portuguese. DeepL Write supports fewer: Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.
What is DeepL Write?
DeepL Write is DeepL's writing assistant. It corrects grammar and spelling and rewrites sentences to sound more fluent in the same language. The free version handles 1,500 characters at a time; Write Pro removes the limit and adds DeepL's paid data protections.
Can DeepL translate PDF and Word files?
Yes. DeepL translates Word, PowerPoint, PDF and other files while keeping their layout. The free version allows 1 file a month, Individual 3, Team 20 and Business 100.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from public information. Vendor figures are labelled as vendor claims.
- DeepL Pro plans and pricing (DeepL)
- About DeepL plans (DeepL Help Center)
- DeepL API plans (DeepL Help Center)
- Usage count and billing in DeepL API (DeepL Help Center)
- About DeepL Write (DeepL Help Center)
- DeepL Translator languages (DeepL Help Center)
- Request a refund (DeepL Help Center)
- Privacy Policy (DeepL)
- DeepL Translator (Wikipedia)
- DeepL Translate (Apple App Store)
- DeepL translate (Google Play)
- DeepL reviews (Trustpilot)
- Cloud Translation pricing (Google Cloud)
- Azure AI Translator pricing (Microsoft Azure)
- ChatGPT pricing (OpenAI)
- Claude pricing (Anthropic)
- Google AI subscriptions (Google)
- Grammarly plans (Grammarly)