As businesses expand globally, effective multilingual communication is essential. Translation Management Systems (TMS) simplify and automate the localization process, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and cost savings.
With features like translation memory, machine translation, real-time collaboration via CAT tools, or integrations with other systems, these platforms help organizations manage content across languages.
This article explores some of the ten most widely known and used TMS solutions and their key advantages in optimizing global communication. Furthermore, you can find more of them on the Nimdzi Language Technology Atlas or analyze each specific TMS feature in Nimdzi's TMS Feature Explorer.
With features like translation memory, machine translation, real-time collaboration via CAT tools, or integrations with other systems, these platforms help organizations manage content across languages.
This article explores some of the ten most widely known and used TMS solutions and their key advantages in optimizing global communication. Furthermore, you can find more of them on the Nimdzi Language Technology Atlas or analyze each specific TMS feature in Nimdzi's TMS Feature Explorer.
General TMS Features
While each of the following Translation Management Systems boasts unique features that set them apart, they all share a core set of functionalities essential to modern localization workflows.
Scalable translation for the entire organization:
TMSs offer scalable translation management by enabling organizations to manage translations at any scale, ensuring consistency across departments, teams or units and global markets.
Localization program:
These platforms give you full control over your localization program, allowing you to tailor the translation process to your needs. With flexible workflows, automation and integrations you can customize every step to align with your global growth goals.
Cost and Time Efficiency:
Organizations utilizing TMSs have reported significant improvements, including a 50% increase in translation quality, a 50-80% reduction in translation costs, and a threefold acceleration in time-to-market.
Support for Diverse File Formats:
A good thing about TMSs is that they support a wide array of file formats, allowing users to process and translate different content types efficiently.
AI-Powered Translation and Human Collaboration:
By combining the speed of AI with the nuanced understanding of human linguists, the Translation Management Systems achieve translation accuracy starting at 82%, improving to 95% over time through adaptive learning.
Quality Assurance Tools:
To maintain consistency and accuracy, most of the TMSs include termbases or glossaries and automated QA checks to identify common errors such as mismatched punctuation, broken placeholders, or incorrect markup early in the translation process.
Dedicated Workspace:
These workspaces are basically designed for managing and controlling translation projects, offering full visibility over workflows, team roles, and translation progress. They help PMs track performance, ensure timely delivery, and collaborate seamlessly with the team.
TMSs offer scalable translation management by enabling organizations to manage translations at any scale, ensuring consistency across departments, teams or units and global markets.
Localization program:
These platforms give you full control over your localization program, allowing you to tailor the translation process to your needs. With flexible workflows, automation and integrations you can customize every step to align with your global growth goals.
Cost and Time Efficiency:
Organizations utilizing TMSs have reported significant improvements, including a 50% increase in translation quality, a 50-80% reduction in translation costs, and a threefold acceleration in time-to-market.
Support for Diverse File Formats:
A good thing about TMSs is that they support a wide array of file formats, allowing users to process and translate different content types efficiently.
AI-Powered Translation and Human Collaboration:
By combining the speed of AI with the nuanced understanding of human linguists, the Translation Management Systems achieve translation accuracy starting at 82%, improving to 95% over time through adaptive learning.
Quality Assurance Tools:
To maintain consistency and accuracy, most of the TMSs include termbases or glossaries and automated QA checks to identify common errors such as mismatched punctuation, broken placeholders, or incorrect markup early in the translation process.
Dedicated Workspace:
These workspaces are basically designed for managing and controlling translation projects, offering full visibility over workflows, team roles, and translation progress. They help PMs track performance, ensure timely delivery, and collaborate seamlessly with the team.
1. XTM
XTM International is a powerful, Translation Management System designed to streamline localization for enterprises. It offers automation, scalability, and seamless integration with various platforms, making it a top choice for global businesses.
But, what are its main advantages?
- AI-Powered Linguistic Capabilities: Leveraging artificial intelligence, XTM Cloud enhances translation quality and accelerates the localization process.
- Centralized Asset Management: All localization assets are stored in a single platform, ensuring real-time updates and accessibility for authorized teams.
- Real-Time Data Exchange with many APIs: Ensures smooth communication between XTM Cloud and external platforms, allowing real-time updates of translation status and project progress.
- Extensive File Format Support and Integrations: Supports various file formats and integrates with numerous content management systems and business tools, facilitating seamless translation processes within existing workflows.
- Scalability & Security: Designed to accommodate businesses of all sizes, XTM Cloud offers scalable solutions with robust security measures, including encryption and compliance with data protection regulations.
2. Lokalise
Lokalise is a cloud-based TMS designed for agile teams, simplifying localization for software, apps, and websites. It empowers collaboration, automation, and integration to accelerate global expansion. Furthermore, it helps teams manage multilingual content efficiently.
Main advantages of Lokalise:
- Over-the-Air (OTA) Updates: Lokalise's SDKs allow for real-time updates to translations without requiring a new release, enabling teams to fix typos, alter UI text, and add translations on the fly.
- Extensive Integrations: The platform integrates seamlessly with various development and design tools such as GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Figma, and Sketch. These integrations ensure that translation updates are automatically synchronized with source code repositories and design files, streamlining the localization workflow. They usually come at no extra price when you get the Lokalise license (which makes it different from most competitors who charge per integration).
- Automation Capabilities: Lokalise supports automated workflows to reduce manual tasks. Features include automatic translation updates, synchronization with version control systems, and integration with machine translation engines, saving time and minimizing errors.
- Localization Analytics: Useful for managers to track progress, team performance, quality, costs, and trends. It provides real-time dashboards, error detection, budgeting insights, and custom reports, helping optimize workflows and ensure high-quality translations.
3. Bureau Works
Bureau Works is a cutting-edge TMS designed to automate and optimize localization workflows, but also a really good and affordable CAT Tool for freelancers. With AI-powered automation, robust quality control, and seamless integrations, it helps enterprises scale their global content with efficiency and accuracy.
Its main advantages are:
- Augmented Actions: Leveraging Generative AI, these tools assist translators in working more efficiently while maintaining high-quality standards.
- Branding Customization: Users can customize the platform's branding, including domain and subdomain configurations, allowing for a tailored experience that aligns with their corporate identity.
- Kanban-style Terminology Management: Bureau Works employs a Kanban approach for managing terminology, providing a visual and organized method for tracking and updating terms throughout the translation process.
- In-context Video Preview: This feature allows translators to see real-time previews of video content as they work, ensuring translations are contextually accurate and synchronized with visual elements.
- Data Security & Compliance: Bureau Works ensures security and compliance with SOC 2 Type 2 certification, TLS encryption for secure data sharing, and Single Sign-On (SSO) for secure access. It also offers a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) to comply with data protection regulations.
If you want to find out more about Bureau Works and explore its functionalities, don’t miss our courses series titled “Bureau Works Essentials”.
4. Smartling
Smartling is a leading TMS tool that helps businesses scale their multilingual content efficiently. By combining automation, AI-driven translation, and advanced collaboration tools, it streamlines localization workflows while maintaining high-quality output. It is characterized by a neat appearance and ease of use, but Smartling is also one of the most expensive systems in the market.
Smartling’s main advantages:
- Improved translation quality and consistency: Real-time visual context helps ensure translations fit the intended meaning and tone, TMs ensure accurate and consistent use of terminology, and glossaries maintain brand voice and terminology consistency across languages.
- Integration with CMS: This TMS integrates seamlessly with your existing CMS or tools, offering three options for easy translation management: the Global Delivery Network (a web translation proxy), proprietary integrations with platforms like Contentful, WordPress, and Drupal, and a custom API solution.
- Global Delivery Network: Smartling's Global Delivery Network (GDN) ensures that your website stays up-to-date with automatic translations. It detects changes made on your site and instantly sends them for translation, keeping your site current in all languages without manual intervention.
- Integrated OCR (Optical Character Recognition): Smartling includes OCR capabilities, allowing for the extraction and translation of text from images and scanned documents.
5. Crowdin
Defined as a flexible localization platform for agile teams, Crowdin is a versatile TMS designed to support fast-paced development and localization processes.
Built with agility in mind, it enables teams to translate and manage multilingual content efficiently, whether for software, apps, games, websites, or more. It simplifies the complexities of global content management.
Built with agility in mind, it enables teams to translate and manage multilingual content efficiently, whether for software, apps, games, websites, or more. It simplifies the complexities of global content management.
Here are its main advantages:
- Extensive Integrations: With over 600 integrations and plugins, Crowdin connects effortlessly with various tools and platforms, including content management systems (CMS), marketing tools, design software, and customer support platforms.
- Advanced Translation Editor: Crowdin's online translation editor enhances translator efficiency with features like voting, proofreading, automated quality assurance checks, and in-context translation, allowing translators to preview their work within the live application.
- Over-the-Air Content Delivery: Crowdin provides iOS and Android SDKs that support over-the-air content delivery, allowing for real-time content updates in mobile applications.
- Flexible Collaboration Options: Users can choose to work with their translators, find vendors through the Crowdin Store, or engage the community for translations.
- Security and Compliance: The platform is ISO/IEC 27001 certified, offers Single Sign-On (SSO), and two-factor authentication, and complies with EU GDPR standards, ensuring data security and privacy.
Do you want to learn how to master Crowdin Enterprise? We have the perfect solution for you. Enroll in our course “Optimize your Localization with Crowdin” and explore new opportunities to optimize your localization workflows. Discover more by reading our Crowdin blog post.
6. Trados
Trados Enterprise is a cloud-based TMS tailored for enterprises seeking efficiency, scalability, and high-quality localization.
It combines AI-powered automation with robust workflow management, thus enabling organizations to streamline multilingual content production while maintaining consistency and control.
It combines AI-powered automation with robust workflow management, thus enabling organizations to streamline multilingual content production while maintaining consistency and control.
Trados Enterprise's main advantages:
- Integration with Linguistic AI: Trados integrates advanced AI capabilities, such as Generative Translation, Generative Subtitles, Smart Review, and Content Analyzer. These tools enhance translation quality, streamline video localization, and optimize content analysis, reducing post-editing efforts and accelerating time-to-market.
- Integration with Trados Studio: Trados Enterprise offers native integration with Trados Studio, the market-leading Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tool.
- Enterprise-Grade Security and Scalability: The platform ensures data security with end-to-end protection measures and is designed to scale according to organizational needs.
- Custom Reporting: This TMS provides both standard and customizable reporting options, enabling users to measure key translation performance metrics such as quality, costs, savings, and turnaround times. These insights support informed decision-making and continuous process improvement.
7. Smartcat
Smartcat is an all-in-one TMS that combines AI-driven automation with a built-in marketplace of linguists, offering a flexible solution for businesses of all sizes.
By integrating translation, collaboration, and vendor management into a single platform, Smartcat streamlines and accelerates the localization process.
By integrating translation, collaboration, and vendor management into a single platform, Smartcat streamlines and accelerates the localization process.
What are its main advantages:
- Access to a Vast Marketplace of Linguists: Smartcat connects users to a marketplace of over 500,000 vetted linguists, facilitating instant matching with subject matter expert translators.
- Flexible Data Storage Options: Smartcat provides a choice of data storage locations in the US, Ireland, and Hong Kong, along with a private cloud option that excludes access to the freelancer marketplace, catering to specific security and compliance requirements.
- Proprietary Machine Translation Engine: In addition to integrating with various machine translation providers, Smartcat offers its machine translation engine, providing users with an additional translation resource.
- Integrated Payment Automation Solutions: Smartcat streamlines financial transactions by automating payments to linguists and vendors directly within the platform, simplifying the payment process.
8. Translated
Translated built an innovative TranslationOS for global enterprises, providing a comprehensive solution to manage and scale translation projects efficiently, ensuring high-quality multilingual content across industries.
It also allows you to manage and optimize translation memories, glossaries, and other clients' instructions to deliver the best translations.
It also allows you to manage and optimize translation memories, glossaries, and other clients' instructions to deliver the best translations.
TranslationOS' main advantages:
- Centralized Translation Ordering: Featuring a user-friendly interface, TranslationOS centralizes the translation ordering process. Team members can access the platform via single sign-on (SSO) to place translation orders using predefined service agreements, simplifying management and budgeting.
- Tailored AI Translation Models: TranslationOS enables organizations to customize AI translation models to align with their brand voice.
- Localization metrics: TranslationOS delivers detailed data on localization activities, enhancing productivity and guiding better decision-making. It offers complete visibility into project contributors, from project managers to linguists, allowing for granular insights and prompt issue resolution within the platform.
- Data curation: The platform offers robust tools to manage and optimize translation memories, glossaries, and style guides, empowering language professionals to deliver superior-quality translations. By leveraging this curated data, TranslationOS trains its AI to create a custom translation model that accurately reflects the brand's essence.
- Seamless Integrations: The platform integrates with various translation and content management systems, repositories, SaaS applications, and legacy systems. Customizable connectors ensure that localization processes align with the organization's specific technological requirements, facilitating smooth content intake and distribution.
9. POEditor
Simple yet powerful, POEditor is a versatile and user-friendly TMS designed to simplify the localization process. With its intuitive interface and robust features, it helps businesses efficiently manage translation projects of different kinds.
POEditor integrates seamlessly with development workflows, offering a smooth localization experience for teams of all sizes.
POEditor integrates seamlessly with development workflows, offering a smooth localization experience for teams of all sizes.
Main advantages of POEditor:
- Integration Capabilities: The platform integrates with various platforms and services, including Git Hosting Services (GitHub, Bitbucket), Design and CMS Tools (Figma, WordPress), and Communication Platforms (Slack, Microsoft Teams).
- Multiple Translation Options: You have a lot of options here when it comes to translation methods. This TMS allows its users to assign project contributors, order human and machine translations, or crowdsource translations.
- Tagging System: POEditor features a tagging system that allows users to organize and categorize strings or projects efficiently, enhancing project management.
- Webhooks, Callbacks, and PR Presets: The platform offers webhooks, callbacks, and pull request presets, facilitating integration with development workflows and automating tasks.
- Comprehensive History Module: The platform includes a history module that tracks changes made to translations, allowing users to review and revert to previous versions if necessary.
10. Phrase
Phrase is a comprehensive TMS for teams, designed to help businesses automate and streamline their localization processes.
With advanced features that cater to both technical teams and translators, Phrase offers a powerful platform to manage translation workflows and ensure consistent high-quality multilingual content.
With advanced features that cater to both technical teams and translators, Phrase offers a powerful platform to manage translation workflows and ensure consistent high-quality multilingual content.
Main advantages of Phrase:
- Attention for your Brand and TOV: Phrase helps protect brand tone and consistency by allowing teams to create and manage a centralized term base. This ensures uniformity in language use, aligning translations with the brand’s voice. The system also supports style guides to maintain consistency across different languages, preventing deviations in tone, terminology, or messaging.
- Mobile App Updates On Air: The platform supports over-the-air updates for mobile applications, allowing for real-time content delivery and localization without requiring users to download new versions from app stores.
- Custom Action Scripting: Phrase allows users to define custom scripts within workflows, enabling automation of specific tasks and tailoring processes to meet unique project requirements.
- Phrase Analytics for Data-Driven Decision Making: The platform includes Phrase Analytics, which empowers users to make data-based decisions, track goals, and share actionable insights. With customizable visuals and reports, Phrase Analytics mobilizes the platform's business intelligence capabilities. Notably, it is designed to be user-friendly, eliminating the need for SQL knowledge and enabling a broader range of stakeholders to create and distribute insightful reports swiftly.
Conclusion
As businesses expand into international markets, Translation Management Systems have become essential for streamlining localization and ensuring effective multilingual communication.
With features like AI-powered automation, seamless integrations, and real-time collaboration, these platforms enable organizations to manage translation projects efficiently and deliver consistent, high-quality content.
Choosing the right TMS is key to improving workflow, reducing costs, and reaching a global audience with accuracy. Whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, platforms like the one mentioned above, or others that may better reflect your needs, offer tailored solutions to help businesses scale their localization efforts and strengthen their international presence.
Choose the best TMS for your business and enjoy the journey!
With features like AI-powered automation, seamless integrations, and real-time collaboration, these platforms enable organizations to manage translation projects efficiently and deliver consistent, high-quality content.
Choosing the right TMS is key to improving workflow, reducing costs, and reaching a global audience with accuracy. Whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, platforms like the one mentioned above, or others that may better reflect your needs, offer tailored solutions to help businesses scale their localization efforts and strengthen their international presence.
Choose the best TMS for your business and enjoy the journey!
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