Microsoft Translator
Microsoft's translation service: the personal app translates conversations, menus, and road signs offline, while enterprises can add text and speech translation to their apps via Azure APIs.
About Microsoft Translator
Microsoft Translator is Microsoft's translation service, comprising a translation app for individual users and Azure cloud translation services for developers and enterprises. Individual users can translate live conversations, menus, and road signs offline, as well as web pages and documents. Developers can use Azure's Translator text translation API and Speech service to add multilingual capabilities to their apps and workflows. Translator on Azure is a cloud-based neural machine translation (NMT) service that supports both instant translation and batch processing. Every subscription includes a free tier whose features are identical to the paid plan and never expire, making it easy to try before deciding whether to pay.
Best for
Best use cases
Offline translation of menus, road signs, and face-to-face conversations while traveling abroad
Integrating text, document, or bulk translation capabilities into apps or workflows
Enabling multilingual customer interactions through the Translator API and Speech service
Providing live captions and cross-language understanding for students and parents who speak different languages in class
Features
Offline live translation
Use the Translator app to translate live conversations, menus, and road signs while offline
Cloud neural machine translation
Azure Translator is a cloud-based neural machine translation service supporting instant translation and batch processing, suitable for a wide range of business needs
Enterprise-grade APIs and speech services
Translate text and speech through the Translator API and Speech service (both part of the Azure AI services family) to globalize your business and customer interactions
Live captions for education
Use live captions and cross-language understanding to create more inclusive classrooms for students and parents who speak different languages
Pros
- The translation app works offline, letting you translate conversations, menus, and road signs without a network connection
- Azure's translation free tier offers the same features as the paid plan and never expires
- Covers personal apps, enterprise API integration, and education use cases alike
Cons
- Document Translation is only available on paid tiers and is not supported on the free tier
- Only one free tier resource can be created per Azure subscription
- When used in Language Studio, only S1 or D3 instance tiers are supported
Pricing Plans
Free tier
- Same features as the paid plan
- Never expires
- Only one free tier resource can be created per subscription
- Document Translation is not supported (paid tiers only)
* Pricing information is for reference only. Please refer to the latest announcement on Microsoft Translator's official website.