People paste a lot into Google Translate, from a landlord’s emails to medical letters, contracts and messages from a partner’s family. All of it goes to Google.
Google now groups Translate with its Search services. Media you give those services, such as recordings from Translate’s speaking practice, can be saved to your account under Search Services History. Google says it may use saved media to improve AI models and services, and it names Translate among them.
The best replacement depends on how private the text is. For everyday text, use a better translator. For sensitive text, use one that never leaves your device.
Quick Comparison
| Alternative | Best for | Price (Oct 2026) | Privacy | Based in | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepL | Best quality for emails and documents | Free (50,000 characters/month); Individual about €7.49/month billed yearly | Free texts used for training; paid texts deleted | Germany | No |
| Firefox translation | Reading web pages privately | Free | Runs on your device | USA (Mozilla) | Yes |
| Offline Translator | Text, photos and files on Android | Free | Runs on your device | Independent developer | Yes (GPL-3.0) |
| Apple Translate | iPhone, iPad and Mac | Free with the device | Downloaded languages work offline | USA | No |
| Kagi Translate | High quality, plus web page translation | Web pages free; text needs a free account | Account needed for text | USA | No |
| LibreTranslate | Self-hosting and developers | Free to self-host; hosted API (check site) | Your own server if self-hosted | Self-hosted | Yes (AGPL-3.0) |
Which One Should You Pick?
- For anything sensitive (medical, legal, money, family), use a translator that runs on your device. That means Firefox for web pages, Offline Translator on Android, or Apple Translate with downloaded languages.
- For everyday text where quality matters, use DeepL’s free plan. If the text is both important and personal, pay for DeepL so it’s deleted after translation.
- For travel, download languages before you leave. Use Offline Translator on Android or Apple Translate on iPhone, and add RTranslator if you need spoken conversations.
- If you run a home server or build apps, look at LibreTranslate.
The Alternatives, One by One
DeepL
DeepL SE is based in Cologne, Germany. It translates text and documents on the web and in its apps, and the mobile apps have a Camera button under the source text field for translating photos of signs and menus.
- Pick it because its translations read the most naturally of the tools here, and it’s European.
- Watch for these deal-breakers. The free plan uses your texts to train DeepL’s models, and DeepL’s own policy says the free service shouldn’t be used for texts with personal data. It’s closed source. It covers fewer languages than Google, so check that yours is on the list.
- Prices (Oct 2026) start at free, with 50,000 characters a month, one file a month up to 5 MB, and image translation up to 1,500 characters a day. Individual is about €7.49/month billed yearly, with 300,000 characters and 3 files a month. It has a 30-day free trial, and prices vary by country.
Firefox’s Built-In Translation
Firefox translates web pages on your computer or phone. Mozilla says translations happen entirely on your device, so your text never goes to a cloud server. The first time you translate a language, Firefox downloads a small language file of a few megabytes, and after that it works offline. The technology came out of the Bergamot project, an EU-funded research consortium coordinated by the University of Edinburgh.
- Pick it because it’s free, open source, private and already in the browser. Select some text, right-click and choose Translate selection to for a quick pop-up.
- Watch for these deal-breakers. It only does web pages and selected text, with no camera or voice. Firefox lists Translations under its AI features, so the Block AI enhancements switch in Settings → AI Controls hides it too.
- It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, Firefox for Android from version 126, and Firefox for iOS from version 146.
Offline Translator
Offline Translator is a free Android app on F-Droid that translates text, photos and PDF or ODT files on your phone. It reads the text in a photo and lays the translation over the original, and it can read results aloud. It uses Firefox’s translation models, and its developer says no requests are sent to outside servers.
- Pick it because it’s the closest thing to the Google Translate app with nothing leaving your phone. It’s licensed GPL-3.0 or later.
- Watch for these deal-breakers. It’s young (version 0.8.5, September 2026) and Android only. It asks for broad permissions, including storage, camera and drawing over other apps, so read the list on F-Droid before you install.
- For spoken conversations, try RTranslator. It’s open source, works offline and supports a two-phone conversation mode. Install it from its GitHub page, and expect it to need a phone with at least 6 GB of RAM.
Apple Translate
On iPhone, iPad and Mac, Apple’s Translate app translates text, speech and photos, and you can download languages for offline translation. Live Text in the Camera and Photos apps has a Translate button too, so you can translate a sign without opening another app.
- Pick it because it’s built in, free and works offline once languages are downloaded.
- The deal-breaker is that it’s Apple only, and it’s closed source.
Kagi Translate
Kagi, the paid search engine, runs a translator at translate.kagi.com. You can translate whole websites for free with no account. Text translation needs a free Kagi account, which comes with a monthly allowance, and each input can be up to 20,000 characters. It also has proofreading, a dictionary and document translation.
- Pick it because you want a high-quality alternative and already like Kagi.
- The deal-breakers are that it needs an account for text, it’s a US company, and Kagi describes these as AI features. A paid Kagi Translate plan adds more use, so check the current price on its site.
LibreTranslate
LibreTranslate is a free, open-source translation server under the AGPLv3 license, built on the Argos Translate engine. It works offline, and you can run your own copy on a home server in a few minutes.
- Pick it because you want full control and a translation service that never leaves your network.
- The deal-breaker is quality, which is below DeepL. It’s more of a building block than an everyday app. LibreTranslate also sells a hosted API, so check the current price on its site.
Translating With an AI Chatbot
Chatbots are good at explaining tone, slang and politeness, which plain translators skip. They also read everything you paste, so pick a privacy-focused one. Proton’s Lumo says it doesn’t train on your chats and keeps your chat history encrypted. Duck.ai from DuckDuckGo needs no account and stores your chats only on your device. Both still run in the cloud, so on-device tools remain the safer choice for sensitive text. Our Gemini alternatives page compares the options.
How to Switch From Google Translate
There’s no import from Google Translate into any other tool. If you starred translations to build a phrase list, copy the ones you still need into a note before you leave.
Stop Google Keeping Your Translations
- On a computer, open myactivity.google.com (My Google Activity) and sign in.
- Select Search Services History and uncheck Save Media.
- Delete the history and media already saved there. Unchecking the box doesn’t delete anything by itself.
Our guide to turning off Google tracking covers the rest of your activity settings.
Set up Firefox for Web Pages
- In Firefox on your computer, open Settings → General → Language and Appearance → Translations and install the languages you read most.
- Open a page in another language. Click the translation icon in the toolbar, or right-click the page and choose Translate page, then click Translate.
- If you use the AI kill switch, open Settings → AI Controls and check that Translations is still allowed.
New to Firefox? Our Chrome alternatives page explains the switch.
Set up Your Phone
- On Android, install Offline Translator from F-Droid, open it and download the language pairs you need while you’re on Wi-Fi.
- On iPhone, open Apple’s Translate app and download your languages for offline use.
- Uninstall or disable the Google Translate app.
Keep DeepL for Documents
- Use DeepL on the web or in its app for emails and documents where quality matters.
- Before pasting something personal, decide whether it belongs in the free plan. If not, use an on-device tool or a paid DeepL plan.