WPML automatic translation without credits: AutoLingo
October 2026 · 7 min read
Running WPML and its AI translation credits aren’t enough? Keep WPML for the multilingual side and translate with your own DeepL, Google or Microsoft keys: about 3,000,000 free characters a month.
No need to leave WPML. It keeps managing your languages, URLs, menus and language switcher. AutoLingo takes over the one part that costs you: automatic translation. It creates translations with DeepL, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI or DeepSeek, on your own accounts, and WPML links them just as if it had made them itself.
The problem: WPML’s AI credits
WPML sells automatic translation as a word quota. The Multilingual Blog plan (€39/yr) includes none. Multilingual CMS (€99/yr) includes 22,500 words of AI translation a year, Multilingual Agency (€199/yr) 45,000. The quota is topped up at each renewal; beyond that, you buy more credits.
22,500 words is about fifteen 1,500-word posts, translated into one language. Translate them into three languages and you have enough left for five posts. An existing site with a few dozen pages uses up the quota on its first translation.
What automatic translation costs
The free quotas: DeepL 500,000 characters a month, Google 500,000, Microsoft 2,000,000. That is about 500,000 words, some twenty times the WPML CMS quota. Beyond that, each provider bills its API directly at its public rate; AutoLingo adds no markup. Your WPML licence price doesn’t change.
What AutoLingo translates on a WPML site
Free: Gutenberg content (title, blocks, excerpt), categories and tags (names and descriptions), navigation menus, image alt text, and content from shortcode builders (Divi, WPBakery, Flatsome), with shortcodes preserved.
With Premium: Elementor, Bricks and Beaver Builder, SEO meta (Yoast, RankMath, SEOPress, The SEO Framework), ACF fields and WooCommerce attributes.
Each translation is real WordPress content, saved in the right language and linked to the original in WPML: you’ll find it in the post list with its flags, and in the language switcher.
Set up in 3 steps
1. Install AutoLingo
From Plugins → Add New, search for “AutoLingo”. It detects WPML on its own: nothing to configure on the WPML side, your languages are used as they are (including codes like en-us or pt-br).
2. Add your keys
Create free DeepL, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure accounts, then paste the keys into Settings → AutoLingo. When one provider’s quota runs out, AutoLingo switches to the next one automatically.
3. Publish, or translate the whole site
Every post you publish is translated into all your languages. For an existing site, a button translates a post on demand, and the WP-CLI command wp pdat translate-missing translates everything that’s missing, menus included with wp pdat translate-menus.
WPML alone or WPML + AutoLingo
✓ Yes · text = partial · – no
Who is it for?
AutoLingo is for you if…
- ✓Your WPML AI word quota has run out, or soon will
- ✓You’re on Multilingual Blog, which has no AI translation
- ✓You want to translate a whole existing site, not just new posts
- ✓You’d rather pay DeepL or Google directly, with no middleman
Stick with WPML’s translation if…
- ✗Your translations go through human translators in WPML
- ✗You translate little and the included quota is plenty
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to uninstall WPML?
No. AutoLingo doesn’t replace WPML, it builds on it. WPML keeps managing languages, URLs, menus and the switcher; AutoLingo only creates the translations.
Should I turn off WPML’s automatic translation?
Yes, for the content AutoLingo translates. Otherwise both would translate the same post, and WPML would spend your credits for nothing.
Which WPML plan should I pick with AutoLingo?
Since AutoLingo doesn’t use WPML’s AI credits, pick the plan for the WPML features you need, not for the word quota. The Blog plan (€39, 1 site) doesn’t include menu translation, page builders, WooCommerce or String Translation; CMS (€99, 3 sites) and Agency (€199, unlimited sites) do. AutoLingo is tested on a WPML site with those features, not on the Blog plan.
Does WPML recognise the translations?
Yes. Each translation is saved in its language and linked to the original, like a translation made in WPML. It shows up with its flags in the post list and in the language switcher.
Can I correct a translation by hand?
Yes, it’s a normal WordPress post. AutoLingo won’t overwrite it afterwards: when the original is updated, it skips the edited translation and notes it in the log.
Which WPML version does AutoLingo work with?
AutoLingo is tested on a real WPML 5.2 site. It handles WPML 5’s language codes (en-us, pt-br, zh-hans).
Do I need a credit card?
Not for AutoLingo free. DeepL, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure may ask for one at sign-up to verify your identity, but their free quotas aren’t charged.
Try AutoLingo on your WPML site
The free plugin translates posts, pages, categories, tags and menus. No credit card, no credits.
Get the plugin