Considering Amazon as a Google Translate alternative? This guide is for you

Accurate translations can make all the difference as businesses seek to connect across cultures and expand their reach in global markets. Whether you’re a startup exploring new regions or an established enterprise managing multilingual support, your choice of translation tool can directly impact your success. 

Many businesses employ machine translation engines as a standalone or in tandem with artificial intelligence (AI), allowing them to quickly and affordably translate internal communications and vast content libraries. Tech giants Amazon and Google provide two of the most popular translation engines.

But how do you choose between Amazon Translate vs. Google Translate? Which provides greater accuracy in your most needed languages? Which option better scales to meet your needs?

This guide compares Amazon and Google’s translation services, assessing accuracy, language support, pricing, and user experience. It provides essential information to help you decide which tool is right for you.

Is Amazon better than Google Translate?

There’s no single answer to this question. The best translation service depends on your organization’s unique needs.

Amazon Translate and Google Translate are both part of broader cloud ecosystems—AWS and Google Cloud, respectively. They each leverage neural machine translation (NMT) to quickly convert text to another language, but they have distinct strengths and weaknesses. 

Use this rundown of their core competencies and differences to help you decide:  

Translation and contextual accuracy 

Google Translate has long been the go-to for quick translations, benefiting from its large multilingual dataset. Its neural machine translation system, GNMT, analyzes entire sentences for better contextual accuracy.

As they localize their content and communications, many multinational enterprises want to know what language Google Translate is best at. Although Google’s translation accuracy varies, it excels in common language pairs like Spanish (over 90% accuracy), French (80–90% accuracy), and Mandarin Chinese (80% accuracy), to name a few. 

Amazon Translate, or AWS Translate, focuses on enterprise applications. It excels at translating technical and structured content, like technician reports and knowledge-base articles, while providing contextual awareness for more accurate translation. 

Note that these studies may not be applicable to all scenarios and companies should test engines for themselves to determine the best accuracy for their use case.

Verdict:

• Google Translate is often better for conversational and general-purpose translation, although translation quality can vary widely depending on language pair and content format. 
• Amazon Translate is often better for structured documents and business applications, maintaining tone and formatting. 

Language options

To date, Google Translate supports 243 languages, with 110 new languages added in 2024, thanks to its PaLM 2 large language model. Ultimately, the developers want to leverage machine learning models to support the 1,000 most spoken languages. 

Amazon currently supports 75 languages and plans to expand its library, focusing on business-critical language pairs.

Verdict:

• Google Translate has access to an extensive list of languages, including low-resource languages and regional dialects.
• Amazon Translate prioritizes the languages most often used in enterprise scenarios. 

Prissättning

Both tools offer limited free usage, but global businesses that require extensive translation will quickly move into usage-based pricing. Here’s how the pricing stacks up:

• AWS Translate pricing: Free for 2 million characters each month for 12 months; $15 per million characters after that. 

• Google Translate pricing: Free for 500,000 characters/month; $20 per million characters after that for standard translation. 

Pricing can increase further based on usage and requested features. For example, Google Translate’s cost per character increases if you opt for add-ons, such as custom models (Google AutoML Translation). However, Google also offers bulk discounts once you surpass certain character thresholds. Amazon Translate has similar added expenses for custom translations, but this pricing is flat regardless of volume. 

Verdict:

• Amazon Translate is more affordable for basic translation.
• Google Translate offers multiple pricing tiers based on the translation engine and volume, making it more attractive for large-scale, high-quality translations.

Features and functionality

Core features are another key consideration when selecting a tool—as are their integrations into your workflow and existing tech stack. It’s also important to note that Google makes many translation features freely available through its web and mobile apps, giving it a clear edge for users who need instant, low-effort access without technical setup.

Here’s how the capabilities of the paid services compare for businesses and developers:

• Custom glossaries and terminology: Amazon Translate offers Custom Terminology and Active Custom Translation (ACT) features, which let businesses upload glossary files and parallel data to maintain brand consistency, domain-specific language, and preferred style choices. Google Cloud Translation offers similar capabilities through its advanced service, Google AutoML. These are especially valuable for batch translations and whenever you want to maintain your company tone and voice. 
• Supported file formats: Through integration with AWS services like Amazon S3 and Amazon Lambda, users can upload multiple file types for batch processing, including HTML, JSON, and XML. Advanced Google Cloud Translation also supports many batch-process document types, including plain text, HTML, DOCX, PPTX, and PDF.
• Integrations and add-ons: Both services integrate with larger software ecosystems, expanding their functionality. Amazon Translate integrates with Amazon Polly for text-to-speech applications and Amazon Comprehend to extract and summarize insights from text. On the Google side, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, and Contact Center AI (CCAI) enable real-time translation for customer service and communication workflows.

The true strength of both tools is the API integration, which allows developers to refine and customize it as needed.

Fortunately, you don’t need to choose between Amazon and Google’s services with Smartling’s AI Hub, which provides access to numerous machine translation engines and large language models. In addition, Smartling’s AI-powered AutoSelect service intelligently routes translations through the most effective provider depending on the language pair, subject matter, and format, giving you fast and accurate translations at scale.

Vanliga frågor

Is Amazon Translate free?

Amazon Translate offers a free tier of 2 million characters per month for the first 12 months. After users surpass this cap, the service transitions to a pay-as-you-go model starting at $15 per million characters.

Is Amazon Translate better than Google?

Each tool has strengths. Although Amazon excels in structured, business-focused content, Google offers a better interface for high-volume use, with access to more languages. 

How many languages does Amazon Translate support?

AWS Translate currently supports 75 languages and intends to continue expanding that offering.

What is the difference between Amazon Translate and Transcribe?

Amazon Translate converts text from one language to another, whereas Amazon Transcribe converts video and audio speech into written text. However, these services can work together to support audio translation workflows.

Scale your business with Smartling’s translation services

A single machine translation engine can’t always meet a business’s global expansion needs. International brands need the flexibility to mix and match while exploring new solutions, such as LLMs and SLMs.

Instead of choosing between Amazon, Google Translate, or alternative platforms, partner with Smartling to gain the benefits of numerous leading translation services. Smartling’s AI-powered translation platform covers over 450 language pairs, combining cutting-edge workflows for optimal price, quality, and speed. If you’re looking for automated translation, Smartling’s AI Hub offers access to 15+ machine translation engines and LLMs with dozens of supporting features that reliably delivers the highest-quality outcome.

Still searching for a translation platform that suits your business needs? Download our eBook, “What To Look for in a Translation Solution: A Buyer’s Guide,” to explore the key features and criteria of a service that supports long-term growth.