DeepL: translation quality first, with tone and glossary as paid extras
DeepL focuses on translation accuracy over feature count, and gates its Tone and Glossary options behind a paid plan. We check what's free and what isn't.
DeepL's pitch isn't language count — it's translation quality on a shorter list of languages, plus a writing-assistant angle none of the other picks here offer.
What it gives you
Camera, photo, and file translation, along with dictation and text-to-speech for the translated result.
DeepL Write, a built-in tool that suggests clearer phrasing for text you write yourself, not just text you're translating — available for a subset of supported languages.
Alternative translations for single words and short phrases, so you can see more than one option instead of a single machine guess.
What it costs
A narrower language list — around 30 languages, against Google Translate's 249. DeepL trades breadth for depth.
Tone (choosing formal or informal phrasing) and Glossary (defining your own or your organization's terms) are explicitly paid-plan features, per the developer's description — not available on the free tier.
Who it's for
Anyone who cares more about translation accuracy for a shorter list of major languages than about covering as many languages as possible. For the widest language coverage instead, Google Translate is the better fit.
The rest of the picks are in our best translator apps roundup.
Common questions
- Is DeepL available on Android?
- Yes, on both iPhone and Android. We checked both stores on September 21, 2026 — the developer name on Google Play, DeepL SE, matches the App Store seller exactly.
- Is DeepL free?
- The core translation features are free to use without an account. Two specific features — Tone (formal or informal phrasing) and Glossary (custom terms for an organization) — are explicitly marked as available only with a paid plan in the developer's own description.
- What languages does DeepL translate?
- Around 30 languages, fewer than Google Translate's 249 — DeepL trades breadth for translation quality on the languages it does support.