A usable TMS needs enough capacity for source words, AI pre-translation, automated LQA, human review, memory, terminology, and delivery. Compare two representative annual workloads and see which costs still need a commercial quote.
Commercial evidence and public plan information reviewed 15 July 2026.
Choose a workload
One million or five million source words per year
The AI assumption deliberately processes the same volume twice: once for pre-translation and once for LQA. Actual token or unit usage varies by language, model, context, matches, and vendor rules.
Source volume
1,000,000 words/year
5,000,000 words/year
AI workload
Pre-translate + LQA the same 1M words
Pre-translate + LQA the same 5M words
Workflow
CAT, TM, terminology, translation, review
CAT, TM, terminology, review, API, automation
LanguageOps
Transparent capacity
£12,000 / year
Team · £1,000 monthly
Volume fit
12M platform words/year, 20 users, API allowance, and the full suite cover the 5M-word workflow with operational headroom.
AI treatment
60M model tokens/year included and shared across pre-translation, LQA, content, audio, and video workflows.
Cost warning
Model token usage is workload-specific; representative files provide the most reliable forecast.
£3,000 / year
Professional · £250 monthly
Volume fit
2.4M platform words/year gives headroom above the 1M-word scenario; five users included.
AI treatment
12M model tokens/year included across translation, LQA, research, and media. Top-ups remain available without changing plan.
Cost warning
Exact token fit depends on model, prompt context, target languages, and how often LQA or refinement is rerun.
XTM Cloud
From $96,000 + API / capacity
$60,000 Business + AI Pack from $36,000
Volume fit
The published Business plan includes only 3M processed words/year. A 5M source-word workflow needs another 2M words of contracted capacity.
AI treatment
The Advanced AI Pack starts at $36,000/year; additional AI words start at $9,000/year. Price both pre-translation and Intelligent Score/LQA at the full required volume.
Cost warning
API use is a further five-figure add-on. The $96K subtotal excludes the extra 2M processed words, extra AI usage, implementation, and services.
$52,500 + API / extra AI
$16,500 Team + AI Pack from $36,000
Volume fit
The published Team plan includes up to 2M processed words/year, so it covers the 1M source-word allowance before AI processing is considered.
AI treatment
The Advanced AI Pack starts at $36,000/year. Its included Intelligent Score allowance is up to 100K AI words/month; additional AI words start at $9,000/year.
Cost warning
API access is a further five-figure add-on. Confirm whether full-volume pre-translation and LQA require additional AI-word capacity.
Phrase
€26,000 / year
Supplied Phrase quote · 21M TMS words
Volume fit
The quoted TMS processed-word capacity exceeds the 5M scenario, but Strings and other product allowances were materially lower.
AI treatment
The quote must be checked for MTUs, AIUs, LQA usage, AI Translation Agent usage, and required top-ups.
Cost warning
A large TMS-word allowance does not mean every Phrase product or AI pool has matching 21M capacity.
$14,940 / year
Team list-equivalent · annual billing
Volume fit
2.5M TMS processed words/year covers the 1M scenario, with unlimited TMS seats.
AI treatment
12M MTUs and 25K AIUs/year are separate pools; Auto LQA and AI translation consume them at different ratios.
Cost warning
Phrase Studio is an add-on, and processed words, MTUs, AIUs, Strings capacity, and workflow actions have separate limits.
Lokalise
€70,000 / year
Supplied commercial price at this volume
Volume fit
The supplied €70K annual figure represents the business-scale requirement around this level, rather than a small published self-service tier.
AI treatment
400K Pro AI words/year remains below a 5M-word pre-translation and LQA workload.
Cost warning
Confirm the exact processed-word capacity and price AI top-ups separately, along with advanced seats and integrations.
$11,988 / year
Advanced · $999/month with annual billing
Volume fit
The published 1M processed-word allowance matches the source-volume scenario.
AI treatment
150K Pro AI words/year is well below pre-translating and LQA-processing the same 1M words; Standard AI has different rules.
Cost warning
AI allowances and processed words are separate. Confirm which AI tier performs each translation and quality step.
Smartling
TMS quote + from $300K AI
Enterprise workflow plus 5M AI Translation words
Volume fit
Enterprise platform pricing is quote-based, with extensive workflow and integration capabilities.
AI treatment
At the published $0.06 starting rate, 5M AI Translation words are $300K; LQA, AI Toolkit, or human review can add cost.
Cost warning
Request one cost model covering TMS, AI subscription, processed words, toolkit, review, and services. Supplied buying experience indicates a multi-year commitment is required.
TMS quote + from $60K AI
Enterprise workflow plus 1M AI Translation words
Volume fit
The Core free-to-start route is not treated as equivalent to this production workflow; advanced memory and workflows sit in Enterprise.
AI treatment
Public AI Translation service pricing starts at $0.06/word, making 1M translated words $60K before any additional LQA or human step.
Cost warning
TMS, processed-word fees, AI Toolkit, managed services, and human workflows may be separate charges. Supplied buying experience indicates a multi-year commitment is required.
Smartcat
Custom quote
Autonomous · 6M Smartwords
Volume fit
The 6M pool covers one 5M-word AI pass with limited headroom, but not two complete 5M-word AI passes.
AI treatment
Pre-translation plus equivalent AI review would require more than the included pool before other Smartword-consuming actions.
Cost warning
Anticipate starts at $60K/year but includes only 2M Smartwords, below this scenario.
$24,000 / year
Accelerate · 1M Smartwords
Volume fit
The included 1M Smartwords can cover one AI translation pass into one target language, but not automatically a second full LQA pass.
AI treatment
AI translation and automatic TM insertions normally consume Smartwords; other actions can use different multipliers.
Cost warning
Target languages, multiple engines, re-uploads, and review actions can exhaust the balance faster than source word count suggests.
Business is the default view because it better represents a team buying a TMS for ongoing operations. XTM’s base-plan and AI Pack prices are published in USD; its API figure, the Phrase quote, and the Lokalise figure are supplied commercial information. Check every proposal for term, implementation, and exact allowances. Smartling AI totals are simple calculations from its published starting per-word rate and exclude its unlisted TMS price.
Production feature comparison
What the business workflow still needs
A dash means the capability was not established as available in the compared plan or commercial information. A vague public description alone does not earn one.
Capability
LanguageOps
XTM
Phrase
Lokalise
Smartling
Smartcat
Translation operations
Browser CAT editor
Included
Included
Included
Included
Included
Included
Translation memory and terminology
Included
Included
Included
Growth+
Enterprise for advanced TM
Included
Translation, revision, and approval stages
Included
Configurable
Configurable
Advanced by tier
Enterprise
Higher-tier coworkers/workflows
Parallel collaboration
Included
Included
Included
Included
Included
Add-on or Autonomous
API access
Team+
Five-figure add-on
Available; limits apply
Included; limits apply
Enterprise
Anticipate+
AI and quality
AI pre-translation
Token pool
AI Pack / model terms
MTU pool
Standard or Pro AI words
Per-word AI subscription
Smartwords
Automated AI LQA
Token pool
Intelligent Score / AI Pack
AIU pool
Limited / tier-dependent
LQA Agent / Toolkit
Reviewer coworker / Smartwords
Bring your own AI key
Agency+
Available
Managed-engine options
—
AI Hub
—
One shared AI allowance across tools
Yes
Confirm quote
No—MTUs and AIUs
No—Standard and Pro pools
Prepaid budget; service rates differ
Smartwords; multipliers differ
Beyond core TMS
Video, subtitles, and dubbing
Included
Separate XTM ecosystem
Studio add-on
—
—
Smartword-metered
OCR and editable complex-file recovery
Included
File filters / PDF conversion
File conversion
Document localisation
—
Smartword rules
Content research and transcreation workspace
Included
—
—
Limited marketing tools
Transcreation tools
Content Writer coworker
Live interpreting
Channel-hour add-on
—
—
—
—
—
Managed translation service
Available
Vendor/service ecosystem
Vendor workflows
Partner ecosystem
Per-word services
Marketplace experts
Indicative annual cost · 1M workflow
£3,000
$52,500+ plus API / extra AI
$14,940
$11,988
TMS quote + from $60K AI
$24,000
Indicative annual cost · 5M workflow
£12,000
$96,000+ plus API / capacity
€26,000
€70,000
TMS quote + from $300K AI
Custom quote
Feature availability can depend on contract, tier, region, and add-ons. — means unavailable or not evidenced for this comparison. It is intentionally easier to scan than repeating ‘not stated on pricing page’.
More workflow for a lower platform cost
What the LanguageOps price already includes
The £12,000 Team plan is the whole platform: the production TMS, API, a shared AI allowance and the specialist localisation tools, with no multi-year contract attached.
API included
Team includes 10K API requests each month. Automate file intake, translation, QA/LQA, terminology, status tracking, and delivery without buying a separate API licence.
AI for multiple passes
The 60M annual token allowance is shared across translation, automated LQA, refinement, research, audio and video, in one pool rather than a handful of small ones.
Low-cost extra usage
Team token top-ups cost £55 per 1M tokens and remain available without a forced plan upgrade. Bundles do not expire while the plan is active.
Built for unusually large files
Process multi-million-word files and split work across collaborators instead of breaking the source into fragile manual batches or relying on desktop limits.
Specialist tools included
CAT, TM, terminology, alignment, term extraction, OCR, AV dubbing and subtitles, transcreation, Content Studio, and automated QA/LQA are part of the suite.
Straightforward commitment
LanguageOps plans are billed monthly and can be cancelled monthly. Capacity can grow with actual usage instead of an enforced multi-year platform agreement.
AI tokens and vendor word-based units are not like-for-like. Run representative files to estimate the precise number of translation, LQA, and refinement passes your allowance supports.
No competitor websites are linked from this page. The comparison records the commercial basis so readers can distinguish published capacity, supplied quotes, and calculated examples.
Published price + supplied API detail
XTM
Published XTM Cloud pricing is $16,500/year for Team with up to 2M processed words and $60,000/year for Business with up to 3M. Its Advanced AI Pack is an add-on from $36,000/year, additional AI words start at $9,000/year, and API access is a further five-figure add-on.
Supplied quote
Phrase
Approximately €26,000/year for 21M TMS processed words. Strings and other product allowances were much lower, so the headline word capacity must not be applied to every module.
Published plan arithmetic
Lokalise, Smartling, and Smartcat
The supplied Lokalise commercial price was €70,000/year around the business-scale requirement. Smartling’s $60K/$300K examples multiply its published $0.06/word starting AI Translation rate by 1M/5M words; its TMS remains additional and unlisted, and supplied buying experience indicates multi-year deals are required. Smartcat totals use its published Smartword plans.
Current LanguageOps plans
LanguageOps
Professional is £250/month with 200K platform words and 1M tokens monthly. Team is £1,000/month with 1M platform words and 5M tokens monthly. All advertised tools remain available across paid tiers.
All figures exclude tax unless stated. Treat supplied quotes as indicative until currency, billing term, implementation, support, AI usage, overages, contract length, and scope are confirmed. Product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Quote checklist
Ask every vendor to price the same two-pass workload
A large source-word allowance can hide a much smaller AI or quality pool. Put each cost on a separate line.
Count every target language
Confirm whether a source word processed into three target languages consumes one unit, three units, characters, tokens, or a vendor-specific multiplier.
Price pre-translation and LQA
Ask for the cost of translating the entire annual volume and then running automated LQA across that same volume. Importing it is the cheap part.
Separate API and add-ons
Show API, connectors, AI packs, multimedia, implementation, support, seats, workflow actions, and managed services separately from the base licence.
Comparison FAQ
Reading the figures correctly
Why is the 5M-word business view selected first?
It represents an ongoing localisation operation that needs automation, API access, review stages, and enough AI capacity to process real annual volume. Trial and teaser tiers are not useful anchors for that buyer.
Why can AI capacity be lower than the TMS word allowance?
Many platforms meter imported or processed words separately from machine translation, generative AI, or AI quality checks. A plan may accept five million source words while including only a fraction of that volume for a particular AI feature.
Which figures are published prices and which are supplied quotes?
XTM’s $16,500 Team plan, $60,000 Business plan, and AI Pack from $36,000 are published prices; its five-figure API detail is supplied commercial information. Phrase’s €26,000 and Lokalise’s €70,000 figures are supplied commercial quotes or prices. Confirm term, modules, usage allowances, implementation, and contractual scope before purchasing.
How should we compare model tokens with words or Smartwords?
Use representative files. Model tokens vary with source language, target language, prompts, context, output length, and repeated AI passes. Word-based units are easier to count but may use multipliers or separate pools for different actions.
Run the comparison on your actual workload
Send representative files, annual volume, languages, team size and expected AI steps. We’ll map the workflow and give you a transparent LanguageOps capacity estimate.