Is Crowdin or Lokalise better for open-source projects?

Crowdin is significantly better for open-source projects — it offers free localization for open-source on GitHub/GitLab with crowdsourced community translations. Lokalise does not have an equivalent free open-source program. For community-driven localization, Crowdin is the industry standard.

How much does Crowdin cost vs Lokalise?

Crowdin free tier for open-source is unlimited. For commercial use, Crowdin starts at $50/month (Basic). Lokalise starts at $120/month. Crowdin is typically more affordable, especially for smaller teams. Both offer custom enterprise pricing.

Crowdin vs Lokalise (2026): Which Dev-Focused Localization Tool Wins?

By ToolVS Research Team · Updated April 10, 2026

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Quick Answer

Crowdin wins for open-source projects (free), community-driven translations, and its slightly more affordable commercial plans. Lokalise wins for modern SaaS companies wanting the best developer experience, Figma integration, and a polished UI that's easier to sell to non-technical stakeholders.

Crowdin

8.8/10

Best for open-source & community

Lokalise

8.9/10

Best for modern SaaS dev teams

Feature Comparison

Feature	Crowdin	Lokalise
Pricing	Free (open source); from $50/month	From $120/month
Open Source	Free unlimited plan for OSS	No OSS free plan
Community Translations	Crowdsource community translators	Limited community features
GitHub Integration	Excellent	Excellent
Figma Integration	Available	Best-in-class Figma integration
In-Context Editor	Good	Excellent live in-context editing
Machine Translation	DeepL, Google, Microsoft MT	DeepL, Google MT
Best For	OSS projects, community-driven apps	SaaS products, mobile apps

Which do you use?

Crowdin

Lokalise

Who Should Choose What?

→ Choose Crowdin if:

You're maintaining an open-source project and want free, community-powered translations. You're on a tight budget and need commercial localization for $50/month vs $120/month. You want to leverage volunteer translators from the community to localize your tool.

→ Choose Lokalise if:

You're a funded SaaS company that wants the best designer-developer localization experience. You use Figma and want design strings to flow directly into your localization workflow. You want a polished UI that your whole team (including non-technical) can use easily.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which companies use Crowdin?

Crowdin is used by thousands of companies including Notion, Stripe, Gitlab, Sketch, and many open-source projects. Its open-source free tier has made it the default choice for many popular projects — WordPress plugins, game mods, open-source software — that rely on community volunteers for translation into dozens of languages.

Does Lokalise have better API than Crowdin?

Both Crowdin and Lokalise have comprehensive REST APIs. Lokalise's API is generally considered more modern, with better documentation and webhook support. Crowdin's API is also solid and actively maintained. For most developer use cases, both APIs are capable — the difference is marginal and the integration quality matters more than raw API feature count.

Editor's Take

My team tested both Crowdin and Lokalise for a month each. The surprising winner? It came down to one thing — customer support. When things broke (and they always do), the tool with better support won.

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Last updated: April 10, 2026