Best DeepL Alternative for Enterprise Teams [2025]

Want the best DeepL alternative for your team? You’re in luck—plenty of alternatives to DeepL Pro are available. While DeepL is a popular CAT tool (particularly among Europeans), there are several reasons you might be searching for DeepL alternatives for enterprise use.

However, you must consider the fact that all premium CAT software is a significant investment. 

You should get clear on why exactly you’re looking for a better alternative to DeepL. That way, you don’t adopt another platform that presents the same challenges you encountered with your original software.

We’re here to help you do just that!

In this post, you’ll explore various DeepL drawbacks and user-specific needs you might identify with. As a result, you can conclude whether alternatives to DeepL could fill these gaps. This will equip you to find the best tool for your needs. 

You’ll also see a recommendation for the best DeepL alternative at the bottom of this post.

10 reasons to adopt a DeepL alternative

1. Larger file size allowance with a DeepL alternative

One of the top reasons you might seek a DeepL alternative is the 50MB file size limit. If you want to upload a file for translation in DeepL, it must be no larger than 50MB. For enterprises that need to translate large files (especially files with graphics or images), this will hinder productivity. 

2. Language pair compatibility

With DeepL alternatives, you have more flexibility and access to language pairs. While DeepL is known for high translation satisfaction in select European language pairs, there are limited language pairs available for general translation.

Additionally, these same language pairs aren’t necessarily available for glossaries.

Underneath their language pairs list, DeepL presents exceptions. These are difficult to remember and can make it confusing for enterprises who wish to scale their multilingual communication projects using DeepL alone.

To illustrate this, we’ll provide a preview of the DeepL language pair compatibility exceptions below.

3. Number of translated files 

On DeepL Pro’s plans page, you’ll notice they present limits on numbers of files you can translate within each subscription tier. For example, the Advanced plan allows up to 20 document translations per user per month, while the Ultimate plan permits up to 100. 

If your company needs to translate more files each month than what they accommodate, your best DeepL alternative will be a solution that charges by # of words versus files.

4. Non-European language needs

If your company plans to expand outside of European markets or reach audiences outside of Europe, you’re right to seek a DeepL alternative. For example, a significant amount of Asian languages aren’t supported. This has to do with the translation engine they use. 

DeepL has made strides in expanding its language selection, recently adding Arabic, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Traditional Chinese, and Ukrainian. But if your business needs support for less common languages, such as Thai, Swahili, or certain Indian and African languages, you may find DeepL’s offerings don’t cover all your needs.Look for translation software that uses Microsoft’s or Google’s translation engine, for more options.

5. Identity and Access Management (IAM)

This argument for adopting a DeepL alternative is focused on security.

If your organization is serious about security, your IT team is likely requiring software solutions to include IAM integrations. They provide a great balance between accessibility and security. Some examples of IAM tools include Single Sign-On, OKTA and Microsoft Azure AD. 

While DeepL now supports Single Sign-On (SSO) for enhanced user authentication, there is no official mention of direct support for MFA or other tools aside from SSO.

If DeepL isn’t compatible with your organization’s IAM tool of choice, this is one reason you might need to find a better option.

6. Web-based translation of multiple documents

According to DeepL’s website, “Multiple documents can only be translated with the DeepL for Windows and DeepL for Mac apps.” However, they have added an option to switch back to an older version within the Windows app to support batch file translations.

So if you prefer to translate batches of files online and this limitation is inhibiting your productivity, find a web translator alternative to DeepL Pro

7. DeepL’s file type compatibility is expanding – but still limited

Recently, DeepL added support for Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) and subtitle files (.srt), which is a step in the right direction. The platform now fully supports .docx, .pptx, .pdf, .html, .txt, and .xliff (version 2.1). 

However, if you wish to translate Google Drive files or need an InDesign file translator, you will be out of luck with DeepL. 

The full list of files that DeepL can currently translate are listed below, in this screenshot taken from their website.

As you can see, they include several important file types. However, the list is rather small. When you invest in a DeepL alternative, make sure you have a list in hand of all the file types your company will possibly need to translate

8. Can’t translate into multiple languages simultaneously

If your team wants to translate a document into multiple languages at once, they're out of luck when it comes to DeepL. As a DeepL Pro user, you can only translate one document into one target language at a time.

9. Alternatives to DeepL might be more secure

DeepL promises “Maximum Data Security” which includes end-to-end encryption and data scrubbing. They have also recently achieved ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2 certifications, enhancing their enterprise-grade security offerings. 

However, there are additional security measures you must look for as an enterprise user. 

If your organization requires enterprise-level security including multi factor authentication, compliance audits (such as HIPAA, GDPR, or SOC 2 compliance requirements), a Well-Architected Review or ongoing vulnerability scans, we advise you to find a more secure alternative to DeepL. 

Handling sensitive data?

Companies handling sensitive customer data or proprietary business information may need to look deeper into security and compliance certifications before fully committing. There are high societal risks of uninformed machine translation use, particularly in healthcare and legal contexts, where inaccuracies can lead to severe consequences.

10. Collaboration tools

If your company collaborates on translations, it appears this currently isn’t fully possible with DeepL. However, if it is a priority, you can use APIs to integrate with third party tools that can make collaboration possible. 

For basic collaboration, teams can copy translated text into shared documents for feedback, or use DeepL Pro to share glossaries. DeepL Voice also allows real-time spoken translations, which can be helpful in multilingual meetings.

Unfortunately, it is still limited compared to full-fledged Translation Management Systems.  Alternative options can provide the tools required for collaborative translation efforts such as real-time collaborative editing.

Look for features such as translation tracking, in-project instant messaging, segment edit history and bookmarking, as well as the sharing of translation memories and glossaries.

11. eLearning translations

Does your company use eLearning for internal training? If so, a DeepL alternative could provide you with the ability to translate eLearning files. While DeepL supports .txt file translation, XLIFF translation and .srt subtitle file translations, it lacks native support for specialized eLearning file formats. Look for a translation solution with .sub subtitle file compatibility, as well as a foreign language voice-over generator.

Reasons to stick with DeepL

Even with its limitations, DeepL remains one of the top machine translation engines, especially for Western European languages. 

Despite what you read in this article, you should do additional research on forums (such as ProZ and Quora) as well as independent review websites, to see if a switch is truly right for your company. In some cases, you very well might want to stick with using DeepL for your translation needs.

After all…

• DeepL has the core functionality offered by many CAT tools
• It can be integrated with some 3rd party apps such as Trados Studio and memoQ
• DeepL has a great command of select European language pairs 

That said, if your business needs greater security, support for more languages, larger file limits, or enhanced collaboration features, you may need to look for an alternative.

DeepL integration within Pairaphrase

Pairaphrase recently announced the integration of DeepL as part of its suite of translation engines. This means Pairaphrase users can now leverage DeepL’s engine alongside Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, OpenAI’s GPT-based translation, and AWS Translate within a single platform.Read more about choosing the best machine translation engine for your needs.

Recommended DeepL alternative

Want to get started with the best alternative to DeepL? Try Pairaphrase. It’s the AI-powered translation management system for teams that value smarter, faster and safer translation.

Pairaphrase supports 140+ languages and 20,000+ language pairs. Translate into Spanish, English, French, German, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese and more. Not to mention, Pairaphrase performs file translation for 24 file types.

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