Lokalise vs Crowdin

Two mature cloud platforms with different centres of gravity.

Lokalise and Crowdin are the two names that come up first when a software team outgrows spreadsheets and hand-edited language files. Both are cloud platforms, both sync with GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket, both ship over-the-air SDKs for mobile apps, and both now put AI translation front and centre. On a feature checklist they look almost identical.

The differences show up in where each product came from. Lokalise has always pitched itself at product and engineering teams shipping web and mobile apps, and its editor, screenshots and automations reflect that. Crowdin grew up translating open-source projects with large volunteer communities, and it still leans into scale: a big marketplace of apps, unlimited translators on paid plans, and a free licence for open-source work.

At a glance

Pick Lokalise if a product team wants a polished editor, strong design-tool and Jira workflows, and first-party support for Laravel PHP files. Pick Crowdin if you translate with a large community or many vendors, need the widest choice of integrations, or run an open-source project that qualifies for a free licence.

Lokalise vs Crowdin, side by side

How the two platforms differ on the questions that decide most evaluations.

Aspect	Lokalise	Crowdin
Hosting	Cloud only; on-premises and private cloud are not offered	Cloud service; Crowdin Enterprise lets you choose US or EU data hosting
Open source	Closed platform; open-source CLI. Free for open-source non-profit projects	Closed platform; open-source CLI and mobile SDKs. Free licence for open-source projects on request
Pricing model	Tiered plans driven by words, seats, projects and usage; free trial	Driven mainly by hosted words, with unlimited translators on paid plans; free start and trial
How translations reach production	Git sync opens pull requests; CLI and API; OTA SDKs for iOS, Android and Flutter	Git sync opens pull requests from an l10n branch; CLI and API; OTA via CDN for iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native and JavaScript
Integrations	GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos, Figma, Jira, Contentful, Webflow, WordPress	700+ apps and integrations, including GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Figma, WordPress, Contentful and Shopify
Machine translation & AI	Google Translate and DeepL, plus Lokalise AI with glossary and style-guide awareness	Google, Microsoft, DeepL and Amazon engines, plus Crowdin AI on top of major LLM providers
Best for	Product teams localizing web and mobile apps	Community translation, open source and multi-vendor programmes

Hosting

Lokalise: Cloud only; on-premises and private cloud are not offered

Crowdin: Cloud service; Crowdin Enterprise lets you choose US or EU data hosting

Open source

Lokalise: Closed platform; open-source CLI. Free for open-source non-profit projects

Crowdin: Closed platform; open-source CLI and mobile SDKs. Free licence for open-source projects on request

Pricing model

Lokalise: Tiered plans driven by words, seats, projects and usage; free trial

Crowdin: Driven mainly by hosted words, with unlimited translators on paid plans; free start and trial

How translations reach production

Lokalise: Git sync opens pull requests; CLI and API; OTA SDKs for iOS, Android and Flutter

Crowdin: Git sync opens pull requests from an l10n branch; CLI and API; OTA via CDN for iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native and JavaScript

Integrations

Lokalise: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos, Figma, Jira, Contentful, Webflow, WordPress

Crowdin: 700+ apps and integrations, including GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Figma, WordPress, Contentful and Shopify

Machine translation & AI

Lokalise: Google Translate and DeepL, plus Lokalise AI with glossary and style-guide awareness

Crowdin: Google, Microsoft, DeepL and Amazon engines, plus Crowdin AI on top of major LLM providers

Best for

Lokalise: Product teams localizing web and mobile apps

Crowdin: Community translation, open source and multi-vendor programmes

Where they really differ

Over-the-air delivery: Crowdin covers more platforms

Both platforms can push new strings to mobile apps without an app-store release. Lokalise publishes official OTA SDKs for iOS, Android and Flutter, and documents an OTA API you can build on for anything else. Crowdin’s Content Delivery serves translations from a CDN and has official clients for iOS, Android, Flutter and React Native, plus a JavaScript client for web apps. If your product includes a React Native app or a single-page web front end and you want live copy updates without wiring your own client, Crowdin has less glue to write.

Who does the translating

Crowdin’s pricing does not charge per translator on its paid plans, which matters when hundreds of volunteers or several agencies need access. Its project setup, voting and proofreading roles were built for that kind of crowd. Lokalise counts seats and is tuned for a smaller, more permanent group: developers, product managers, designers and a few professional linguists working through tasks and automations. Neither model is better in the abstract; the shape of your contributor list decides it.

Laravel and PHP files

For a Laravel codebase this is a real difference. Lokalise lists “PHP Laravel language files” as a dedicated format alongside generic PHP arrays, so nested Laravel arrays round-trip as a first-class citizen. Crowdin supports PHP files natively, but its documentation notes no plural support in that format, and its Laravel-specific option is a third-party app in the Crowdin Store. Both handle JSON, which covers Laravel’s JSON lang files.

Choose Lokalise if…

Your translators are a stable team of employees and a few professional linguists.
You localize a Laravel app and want its PHP lang files supported as a named format.
Designers work in Figma and you want copy and screenshots flowing between design and the editor.
Your mobile apps are native iOS, Android or Flutter, which the official OTA SDKs cover.

Choose Crowdin if…

You run an open-source project and can apply for a free licence.
Many volunteers or several agencies need access without per-seat costs.
You need OTA updates for React Native or a JavaScript web app out of the box.
Your stack depends on a long-tail integration that only a very large marketplace is likely to have.

Dig deeper

Frequently asked questions

Both have programmes for open source. Crowdin offers a free licence to open-source projects on request and has a long history with volunteer translation communities. Lokalise is free for open-source non-profit projects. Crowdin’s community features make it the more common choice for large public projects.

Yes, for the platforms their SDKs cover. Lokalise has OTA SDKs for iOS, Android and Flutter. Crowdin’s Content Delivery has clients for iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native and JavaScript. For other stacks, both rely on file sync and your normal deploy.

Lokalise has a dedicated PHP Laravel language files format. Crowdin supports generic PHP files without plural support in that format, plus a third-party Laravel app in its store. Both support JSON, which covers Laravel’s JSON translation files.

Lokalise states that on-premises and private cloud deployments are not supported. Crowdin is offered as a cloud service, with Crowdin Enterprise letting you choose US or EU data hosting. If self-hosting is a hard requirement, look at Weblate or Tolgee instead.

Keep exploring

A third option · this is our product

If you are a Laravel team, consider LangSyncer

Lokalise and Crowdin are built for many platforms and many file formats, and both still deliver web translations through a file sync, a pull request and a deploy. LangSyncer does one thing: it works with your existing Laravel lang files and __() calls, translates with GPT or DeepL in one click, finds hardcoded strings with a built-in code scanner, and publishes changes to production without a deploy.

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