DeepL vs Crowdin: game localization pricing and translation rights
Side-by-side from each vendor's own pricing and terms pages, checked 2026-10-15. Prices shown exactly as displayed (promos and billing period noted).
The licence question first
- DeepL: free tier: not stated. Paid: not stated (Same Terms; paid plans list 'No data training'). Details
- Crowdin: free tier: commercial use allowed. Paid: commercial use allowed (Same s.12.3 on every plan). Details
| DeepL | Crowdin | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | DeepL API Developer: free, one-time credit of 1 million characters, 1 API key (no web translator). DeepL Pro: 30-day free trial | Free: $0/mo, 60K hosted words, 1 private project, Crowdin AI included; free-plan users 'donate translations to Crowdin's translation memory' |
| Paid price (as shown) | API Growth $26/mo billed annually + usage ($27.50 per extra 1M characters; 12M characters/yr included). Translator Pro (Germany, EUR): Individual €7.49/mo billed annually (300,000 characters), Team €24.99/user, Business €49.99/user; Enterprise custom | Pro from $50/mo billed annually ($600/yr); Team from $150/mo billed annually ($1,800/yr); Enterprise custom |
| Credits / cost per asset | API: $27.50 per 1,000,000 extra characters on Growth | Plans scale by hosted words |
| Licence: free tier | DeepL Pro Terms: no clause on ownership of translations found; API Developer plan may not process personal data (s.8.3.11) | Terms s.12.3: 'Supplier respects your right to exclusive ownership of your Client Data' (Client Data includes translations). On the free plan, translations are donated to Crowdin's translation memory |
| Licence: paid | Same Terms; paid plans list 'No data training' | Same s.12.3 on every plan |
| Export / engines | CAT tool integration on Growth; MCP access announced for Copilot, ChatGPT and Claude | Localization platform; engine integrations not verified |
| Engine integrations | not stated | not stated |
| API / MCP | REST API; MCP announced on the developer pages | REST API |
| IP indemnity | No vendor IP indemnity found in the terms; you must indemnify the vendor | No vendor IP indemnity found in the terms; you must indemnify the vendor |
| Affiliate | not stated | not stated |
Sources
- https://www.deepl.com/en/pro-api
- https://www.deepl.com/en/pro
- https://www.deepl.com/en/pro-license
- https://crowdin.com/pricing
- https://support.crowdin.com/terms/
- https://support.crowdin.com/intellectual-rights-for-translations/
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