XTRF alternative

Move off XTRF without a big-bang cutover

LanguageOps runs the business side of a language company (clients, vendors, rate cards, quotes, POs and invoices) in the same system as the CAT editor, translation memory, AI and QA. Bring your XTRF data across in stages, run both side by side, and switch when the numbers match.

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  • Rate cards and CAT grids migrated
  • Parallel running, nothing deleted
  • Editor, AI and QA included
LanguageOps account dashboard showing active projects, words per target language, costs, purchase orders outstanding and projects by stage
Why agencies look for an XTRF alternative

A business system on one side, the translation work on the other

XTRF is a capable translation business management system, but the work itself happens somewhere else: a CAT tool or TMS connected through integrations, with word counts, assignments and deliveries passed back and forth. Every hand-off is another sync to maintain, another licence, and another place for the numbers to drift apart.

  • One system instead of two or three

    Quotes, projects, vendors, purchase orders and invoices sit beside the editor, memory, terminology, AI translation and LQA. The analysis that prices the job is the one that pays the linguist.

  • A migration you can rehearse

    Import a sample first, review exactly what would change before anything is written, then widen to your full client and vendor base. Re-running the import is safe.

  • Simple or advanced

    Teams that only need clients, quotes and invoices can switch to simple mode and hide workflows, rate cards, jobs and purchase orders. Agencies that want the full LSP toolset keep it.

How an XTRF migration works

From your XTRF instance to LanguageOps, in four steps

  1. Discover

    Inventory your instance

    We read your XTRF instance through its Home API: how many clients, vendors, projects and quotes, which custom fields you use, and which data needs the export macro.

  2. Extract

    Take a read-only snapshot

    A small, read-only export macro (which your XTRF administrator reviews and installs) brings out rate cards, minimum charges, CAT grids and payment terms that the standard API does not expose.

  3. Plan

    Review before anything changes

    Every import starts as a plan: what will be created, updated or skipped, and any conflicts. Nothing is written until you apply the plan you reviewed.

  4. Run in parallel

    Shadow XTRF, then switch

    Re-sync as often as you like while XTRF is still live. Only changed records update, local edits are flagged rather than overwritten, and nothing is ever deleted.

What comes across from XTRF

The commercial data your agency actually runs on

The parts of XTRF that are hardest to rebuild by hand are the ones the migration focuses on first.

  • Clients and contacts

    Company details, billing and correspondence addresses, VAT and company numbers, contact people, and the client’s status.

  • Vendors and linguists

    Provider records, status, contact details and language combinations, so your supply chain is in place on day one.

  • Price profiles and rate cards

    Every client and vendor price profile, with rates by job type, unit, language pair and specialisation, in their original currency and full precision.

  • CAT grids

    Match-band discounts (context, repetitions, 100%, 95-99% and down to no match) per price profile, converted to LanguageOps analysis bands.

  • Minimum charges and payment terms

    Minimum fees per rate, and payment terms as structured rules, including end-of-month terms and staged payments.

  • Custom fields

    Client and vendor custom fields are preserved with each imported record, so nothing you track in XTRF is silently dropped.

  • Stable identities

    Each record keeps its XTRF ID, so repeat imports update the right record instead of creating duplicates.

  • Email quote requests

    Connect the shared quotes mailbox (Microsoft 365 or Gmail). LanguageOps reads it, recognises quote requests, extracts languages, deadline and volume, and suggests the client.

Pricing

Business management and the full TMS in one subscription

The business side (quotes, POs, supplier and client invoicing, Xero sync) is the Operations module: £500/month on Professional or Team, included in Agency and Enterprise. The CAT editor, translation memory, terminology, AI translation and QA are on every plan, with unlimited production collaborators. Migration support is scoped with you during onboarding.

See pricing

What migrates from XTRF, and how

XTRF exposes most records through its Home API, but not all of them. Rate cards, CAT grids and payment terms live deeper in its object model, so the migration combines the API with one reviewed, read-only export macro.

XTRF data How it is read In LanguageOps
Clients, addresses, tax numbers Home API Client accounts with billing details
Client contact persons Export macro Client contacts
Vendors and language combinations Home API Provider records and language pairs
Price profiles and rates Export macro Price profiles and rate rules per job type, unit, language pair and specialisation
CAT grids Export macro Match-band percentages per rate
Minimum charges Export macro Minimum charge per rate
Payment terms Export macro Structured payment terms, including end of month
Custom fields Home API and macro Preserved with each client and vendor record
Projects, quotes, invoices Home API Later migration stage, reconciled before cutover

Rates are imported in their original currency and full precision, never from converted base-currency columns, so a rate of 0.065 stays 0.065.

Running XTRF and LanguageOps in parallel

Most agencies cannot stop trading for a migration weekend, so the import is designed to be run repeatedly while XTRF stays the system of record:

  • Snapshots: each extraction is an immutable, checksummed snapshot of a defined set of clients and vendors, so you can compare one week with the next.
  • Change detection: records are compared by content, ignoring counters such as “last project date”. Only real changes show up.
  • Conflicts, not overwrites: if a record changed in XTRF and was also edited in LanguageOps, it is flagged for review by default. You can choose to let XTRF win or to keep the LanguageOps edit instead.
  • No deletions: rates that disappear from XTRF get an end date, and price profiles are deactivated, so quotes priced on them keep their history.
  • Approved plans only: an import applies the exact plan you reviewed and refuses to run if the data changed in the meantime.

When the parallel run shows LanguageOps pricing the same jobs the way XTRF does, you freeze changes in XTRF, run a final sync and switch.

Quote requests straight from your inbox

Many quote requests still arrive as an email with a file attached. LanguageOps can read your shared quotes mailbox on Microsoft 365 or Gmail:

  1. New mail is read every few minutes. LanguageOps only reads it, and never sends, moves or deletes messages.
  2. Each email is checked for a quote request, and the source and target languages, service, deadline, word count and reference are extracted.
  3. The sender is matched to a known client by contact email, billing email or company domain, as a suggestion for the project manager to confirm.
  4. The project manager converts the request. Attachments are size-checked and virus-scanned, and a work request is created, ready to become a draft quote.

Email content is treated as data, never as instructions, and nothing is sent to the client without a person deciding to send it. For teams that use privacy mode, triage runs only on a local model.

XTRF and LanguageOps compared

XTRF LanguageOps
Clients, vendors, quotes, POs, invoices Yes Yes
Built-in CAT editor No, integrates with external CAT tools Yes
Translation memory and terminology Through the connected CAT tool Built in
AI translation with your memory and terms Through connected tools Built in, model per job
Automated QA and LQA Through connected tools Built in
Accounting Accounting integrations Xero sync
Licences to manage Business system plus CAT tool or TMS One subscription

Moving from Plunet instead? See the Plunet alternative page. If you would rather keep XTRF for now, LanguageOps can also sit underneath it as the production system, and the translation project management and translation management system pages cover each side in more detail. For annual cost comparisons across TMS vendors, see the TMS pricing comparison.

XTRF and Plunet are trademarks of their respective owners. LanguageOps is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Comparison reflects publicly available information at the time of writing.

Frequently asked questions

Switching from XTRF, explained

Can I migrate my rate cards and CAT grids from XTRF?
Yes. XTRF’s standard API returns price profiles by name only, so LanguageOps uses a small read-only export macro that your XTRF administrator installs. It exports every price profile with its rates, minimum charges and CAT grids in the original currency and at full precision.
Do we have to switch everything off on one day?
No. You can run XTRF and LanguageOps side by side. Each re-sync updates only what changed in XTRF, flags anything that was also edited in LanguageOps for review, and never deletes records: rates that disappear are end-dated and price profiles are deactivated.
Is the migration read-only on the XTRF side?
Yes. Discovery and extraction only read from XTRF, and the export macro calls no setter, update or delete methods. Your XTRF data is not changed.
What happens to our historical projects, quotes and invoices?
Clients, vendors, contacts, rates, CAT grids and payment terms come first, because they are what new work is priced and assigned from. Historical projects, quotes and financial documents are migrated in a later stage, scoped with you, and reconciled against XTRF totals before cutover.
Will duplicate clients be created if we already started using LanguageOps?
No. A client that already exists with the same name is linked to its XTRF record and only blank fields are filled. Every imported record keeps its XTRF ID, so running the import again updates rather than duplicates.
Can LanguageOps turn emailed quote requests into work?
Yes. Connect your quotes mailbox from Microsoft 365 or Gmail. LanguageOps reads it (it never sends, moves or deletes mail), recognises quote requests, extracts the languages, deadline and volume, and suggests the client. A project manager converts the request, with its attachments virus-scanned, into a work request that becomes a draft quote.
Do you also migrate from Plunet?
Yes. Plunet migrations start from a sample export of your Plunet data, mapped to the same plan-and-review import engine used for XTRF and rehearsed before anything goes live. See the Plunet alternative page for the details.
Does LanguageOps have a translation editor, or do we still need a CAT tool?
The CAT editor is built in, with translation memory, terminology, AI translation, QA and LQA, and support for 80+ file formats. Many agencies moving off XTRF also retire separate TMS or CAT licences.

See your XTRF data in LanguageOps

Book a walkthrough. We will run a discovery against your XTRF instance and show you a sample of your own clients, vendors and rate cards in LanguageOps before you commit.

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