---
title: "Compare Verbatra with Lingo.dev, Tolgee, Crowdin and more"
description: "Verbatra vs Lingo.dev, Tolgee, Weblate, Crowdin, Lokalise and Phrase: license, providers, own API keys, CI, MCP and formats, each with a dated source."
---

# How Verbatra compares

Verbatra next to Lingo.dev, Tolgee, Weblate, Crowdin, Lokalise, Phrase and a manual workflow. Every product cell says what the vendor's own pages stated and links its source; the manual column cites note M.

Ways to keep locale files translated: Verbatra, Lingo.dev, Tolgee, Weblate, Crowdin, Lokalise, Phrase and a manual workflow

| Criterion | Verbatra | Lingo.dev | Tolgee | Weblate | Crowdin | Lokalise | Phrase | Manual workflow |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Open source, license | Yes, MIT [1] | Repository Apache-2.0; the current CLI has no license field; the platform is not described as open source [13] | Apache-2.0 core, enterprise parts under a non-commercial license; CLI MIT [25] | Yes, GPL-3.0-or-later, the `wlc` CLI too [37] | CLI and GitHub Action MIT; no public platform source found [49] | CLI BSD-3-Clause; no public platform source found [61] | CLI and setup-cli Action MIT; no public platform source found [73] | Not applicable, no product [M] |
| Self-hosting | Runs on your machine and in your CI; there is no hosted service [2] | No self-hosted platform offering found; the older open source CLI can run against a local Ollama model [14] | Yes; advanced features need a license [26] | Yes, or hosted by Weblate [38] | Unknown: the pricing page names no on-premises option and no statement either way was found [50] | No: on-premises and private cloud deployments are not supported [62] | Unknown: the pricing page names no self-hosted option and no statement either way was found [74] | Not applicable, no product; depends on the service you choose [M] |
| Pricing model | Free; your provider bills its usage to you directly [3] | Usage-based, with a free Sandbox tier [15] | Free plan; paid tiers priced by hosted words [27] | Hosted: priced by hosted strings, free Libre plan for public open source projects; self-hosted: free [39] | Paid plans priced mainly by hosted words; trials; free licenses for open source projects [51] | Four paid tiers, 14-day trial [63] | Paid plans metered by seats and words, 14-day trial [75] | Developer time plus the service you choose, no product [M] |
| AI and machine translation providers | Built in: Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, DeepL, Google Cloud Translation, OpenCode (Available from 0.12.0), OpenAI-compatible, LibreTranslate (Available from 0.12.0) [4] | LLMs from many vendors, among them OpenAI, Anthropic and Google; no classic machine translation engine such as DeepL listed [16] | Machine translation: DeepL, Google, Amazon, Azure, Baidu (self-hosted only); LLMs: OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenAI-compatible APIs [28] | 29 built-in services, including DeepL, OpenAI, Anthropic and LibreTranslate [40] | Machine translation: DeepL, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and more; AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini and more [52] | Google Translate and DeepL; LLMs in Pro AI [64] | Phrase Language AI, Google, Amazon, Microsoft; DeepL removed from Strings on 2026-06-30 [76] | Any service you paste into, no product [M] |
| Bring your own API keys | Yes, from environment variables only [5] | An Enterprise feature per the pricing page; the older open source CLI uses your own keys [17] | LLM keys yes; own machine translation keys stated for self-hosted [29] | Yes, administrators set up each service with their own credentials [41] | Yes: third-party machine translation engines take your own keys; AI providers use your own key or are managed by Crowdin [53] | Unknown: not mentioned in the machine translation and AI docs [65] | Ecosystem engines under your own contract; within Strings not confirmed [77] | Your own accounts, no product [M] |
| Incremental translation | Yes, a per-key hash in a lock file [6] | Yes, a lockfile diff in the CLI [18] | Auto-translates untranslated targets (2.x docs) [30] | Automatic translation add-on for strings not yet translated [42] | Pre-translation can be limited to "Untranslated strings" [54] | Automations and pre-translation fill empty values [66] | Pre-translation fills empty translations and skips keys that already have one [78] | By hand, no product [M] |
| Command-line tool (CLI) | Yes, `verbatra` [7] | Yes, `@lingo.dev/cli`; the older open source CLI `lingo.dev` is still published [19] | Yes, `@tolgee/cli`, MIT [31] | Yes, `wlc` [43] | Yes, Crowdin CLI [55] | Yes, Lokalise CLI v2 [67] | Yes, Phrase Strings CLI [79] | Not applicable, no product [M] |
| CI and GitHub Action | Official Action; `check` exits 1 on missing or stale keys [8] | GitHub App; the repository also ships an action.yml [20] | No official Action found [32] | Git integration that pushes commits and opens pull requests; no official GitHub Action found [44] | Official GitHub Action [56] | Official push and pull GitHub Actions [68] | CLI in CI; official setup-cli GitHub Action [80] | Not applicable, no product [M] |
| MCP server | Yes, local over stdio [9] | Yes [21] | Yes [33] | No official MCP server found [45] | Yes, hosted [57] | Yes, hosted, in beta [69] | Yes, hosted, signed in with a Phrase account [81] | Not applicable, no product [M] |
| In-context editing | No [10] | Unknown: not mentioned in the platform docs or the repository README [22] | Yes, Alt-click or Option-click on an element opens the editor [34] | No official in-context editor found [46] | Yes, Crowdin In-Context [58] | Yes, the LiveJS web editor [70] | Yes, In-Context Editor with official framework adapters [82] | Not applicable, no product [M] |
| Web interface for translators | Local review dashboard (Studio); no hosted interface [11] | Web platform for engine configuration; no official string editor for translators found [23] | Yes, the web platform, hosted or self-hosted [35] | Yes, a web translation interface [47] | Yes, the online editor in the browser [59] | Project key editor documented; the page does not say it is web-based [71] | Yes, the Strings Editor in the browser [83] | The chosen service's own interface, no product [M] |
| File formats | 14 formats, listed in the docs [12] | 18 listed [24] | 17 on the overview page [36] | 50 listed [48] | 17 listed for string-based projects [60] | 30 listed [72] | 47 format entries listed [84] | Whatever you copy by hand, no product [M] |

Last checked: October 15, 2026

Verbatra is a CLI and SDK; the other columns are translation platforms and a manual workflow, compared as ways to keep locale files translated. Each cell states what the vendor's own pages said on that date, and "no official ... found" means our search found none, not that the product lacks it.

Lingo.dev cells refer to the current `@lingo.dev/cli` and the hosted platform unless they name the older open source CLI `lingo.dev`.

Format counts come from each vendor's own list and are not normalized against each other.

Tolgee, Crowdin, Lokalise and Phrase offer in-context editing, which Verbatra does not. For review, Verbatra has the local Studio dashboard, not a hosted editor for translators. [10] [11] [34] [58] [70] [82]

## Try it yourself

- [Start with the quickstart](https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/quickstart.md)
- [Back to the Verbatra home page](https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/)

## Sources

Every source below was checked on October 15, 2026.

1. Verbatra: https://github.com/verbatra/verbatra/blob/main/LICENSE
2. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/data-handling.md
3. Verbatra: https://github.com/verbatra/verbatra/blob/main/packages/sdk/src/config/provider-billing.ts; https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/providers.md
4. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/providers.md
5. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/providers.md#keys-come-from-the-environment
6. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/the-lock-file.md
7. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/cli.md
8. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/github-action.md; https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/ci-and-exit-codes.md
9. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/cli/mcp.md
10. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs.md
11. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/review-in-studio.md
12. Verbatra: https://verbatra.kreitz-webdev.de/docs/formats.md
13. Lingo.dev: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lingodotdev/lingo.dev/main/LICENSE.md; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lingodotdev/lingo.dev/main/packages/cli/package.json; https://registry.npmjs.org/@lingo.dev%2Fcli/latest; https://lingo.dev/en/docs/platform
14. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/pricing; https://github.com/lingodotdev/lingo.dev; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lingodotdev/lingo.dev/main/packages/cli/src/cli/localizer/explicit.ts
15. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/pricing
16. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/en/docs/platform/llm-models; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lingodotdev/lingo.dev/main/packages/cli/src/cli/localizer/explicit.ts
17. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/pricing; https://lingo.dev/en/docs/platform/llm-models; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lingodotdev/lingo.dev/main/packages/cli/src/cli/localizer/explicit.ts
18. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/en/docs/cli; https://lingo.dev/en/docs/cli/ci
19. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/en/docs/cli
20. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/en/docs/cli/ci; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lingodotdev/lingo.dev/main/action.yml
21. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/en/docs/mcp
22. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/en/docs/platform; https://github.com/lingodotdev/lingo.dev
23. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/en/docs/platform; https://lingo.dev/en/docs
24. Lingo.dev: https://lingo.dev/en/docs/cli/formats
25. Tolgee: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tolgee/tolgee-platform/main/LICENSE; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tolgee/tolgee-platform/main/ee/LICENSE; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tolgee/tolgee-cli/main/LICENSE
26. Tolgee: https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/self_hosting/licensing; https://github.com/tolgee/tolgee-platform
27. Tolgee: https://tolgee.io/pricing
28. Tolgee: https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/translation_process/machine_translation; https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/translation_process/ai_translator
29. Tolgee: https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/translation_process/ai_translator; https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/projects_and_organizations/llm-providers; https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/translation_process/machine_translation
30. Tolgee: https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/2.x.x/translation_tools
31. Tolgee: https://docs.tolgee.io/tolgee-cli/push-pull-strings; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tolgee/tolgee-cli/main/package.json
32. Tolgee: https://github.com/tolgee; https://docs.tolgee.io/tolgee-cli/push-pull-strings
33. Tolgee: https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/integrations/mcp_server/about
34. Tolgee: https://github.com/tolgee/tolgee-platform; https://docs.tolgee.io/js-sdk/in-context
35. Tolgee: https://github.com/tolgee/tolgee-platform
36. Tolgee: https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/supported_formats; https://docs.tolgee.io/platform/formats/flat_yaml
37. Weblate: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/main/pyproject.toml; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/main/LICENSE; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WeblateOrg/wlc/main/pyproject.toml
38. Weblate: https://github.com/WeblateOrg/weblate; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/main/README.rst
39. Weblate: https://weblate.org/en/hosting/
40. Weblate: https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/admin/machine.html
41. Weblate: https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/admin/machine.html
42. Weblate: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/main/weblate/addons/autotranslate.py; https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/admin/addons.html
43. Weblate: https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/wlc.html
44. Weblate: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/main/docs/admin/continuous.rst; https://github.com/WeblateOrg
45. Weblate: https://github.com/WeblateOrg; https://github.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/tree/main/docs
46. Weblate: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/main/docs/devel/community.rst
47. Weblate: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/main/docs/user/translating.rst
48. Weblate: https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/formats.html; https://github.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/tree/main/docs/formats
49. Crowdin: https://github.com/crowdin/crowdin-cli; https://github.com/crowdin/github-action
50. Crowdin: https://crowdin.com/pricing
51. Crowdin: https://crowdin.com/pricing
52. Crowdin: https://support.crowdin.com/machine-translation/; https://support.crowdin.com/crowdin-ai/
53. Crowdin: https://support.crowdin.com/machine-translation/; https://support.crowdin.com/crowdin-ai/
54. Crowdin: https://support.crowdin.com/pre-translation/; https://support.crowdin.com/uploading-files/
55. Crowdin: https://github.com/crowdin/crowdin-cli
56. Crowdin: https://github.com/crowdin/github-action
57. Crowdin: https://support.crowdin.com/developer/crowdin-mcp-server/
58. Crowdin: https://support.crowdin.com/in-context-localization/
59. Crowdin: https://support.crowdin.com/online-editor/
60. Crowdin: https://support.crowdin.com/uploading-files/
61. Lokalise: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lokalise/lokalise-cli-2-go/master/LICENSE
62. Lokalise: https://lokalise.com/product/security/
63. Lokalise: https://lokalise.com/pricing
64. Lokalise: https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/5166158-machine-translation; https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/11776521-what-is-standard-ai-mt-and-pro-ai; https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/12292275-ai-frequently-asked-questions
65. Lokalise: https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/5166158-machine-translation; https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/12292275-ai-frequently-asked-questions
66. Lokalise: https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/5166158-machine-translation; https://developers.lokalise.com/docs/github-actions
67. Lokalise: https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/3401683-lokalise-cli-v2
68. Lokalise: https://developers.lokalise.com/docs/github-actions
69. Lokalise: https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/13547066-setting-up-and-using-the-lokalise-mcp-server
70. Lokalise: https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/1592525-livejs-web-in-context-editor
71. Lokalise: https://docs.lokalise.com/en/articles/2059009-key-editor-and-key-actions
72. Lokalise: https://docs.lokalise.com/en/collections/2909229-supported-file-formats
73. Phrase: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/phrase/phrase-cli/master/LICENSE; https://github.com/phrase/setup-cli; https://github.com/phrase/react-intl-phraseapp
74. Phrase: https://phrase.com/pricing/
75. Phrase: https://phrase.com/pricing/
76. Phrase: https://support.phrase.com/hc/en-us/articles/5821202515996-Machine-Translation-Strings; https://support.phrase.com/hc/en-us/articles/5709660879516-Phrase-Language-AI
77. Phrase: https://support.phrase.com/hc/en-us/articles/5709660879516-Phrase-Language-AI
78. Phrase: https://support.phrase.com/hc/en-us/articles/5822187934364-Pre-translation-Strings
79. Phrase: https://developers.phrase.com/en/developer-tools/strings-cli
80. Phrase: https://support.phrase.com/hc/en-us/articles/5822060164508-Continuous-Integration-Strings; https://github.com/phrase/setup-cli
81. Phrase: https://developers.phrase.com/en/mcp-server
82. Phrase: https://github.com/phrase/react-intl-phraseapp
83. Phrase: https://support.phrase.com/hc/en-us/articles/5822638157340-Strings-Editor-Overview
84. Phrase: https://support.phrase.com/hc/en-us/articles/9652464547740-List-of-Supported-File-Types-Strings

M. The manual workflow is not a product, so it has no source: the column describes copying strings into a translation service and back by hand.