Phrase vs. Crowdin Téma indítója: Cristina Feletto
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Hi everyone,
I’m a client-side PM currently evaluating Phrase vs. Crowdin for our software, support content, and multimedia localization.
Since translator adoption and experience directly impact quality and turnarounds, we want to make sure we choose a platform that linguists actually enjoy working in.
If you’ve translated or reviewed in either (or both) of these tools, I’d love to hear your honest thoughts:
- What do you love about them?... See more Hi everyone,
I’m a client-side PM currently evaluating Phrase vs. Crowdin for our software, support content, and multimedia localization.
Since translator adoption and experience directly impact quality and turnarounds, we want to make sure we choose a platform that linguists actually enjoy working in.
If you’ve translated or reviewed in either (or both) of these tools, I’d love to hear your honest thoughts:
- What do you love about them?
- What drives you crazy?
- How do they handle key features like Concordance/TM lookup, segment filtering, QA checks, tag handling, and in-context previews?
- If you had to work in one of them every day, which UI/UX would you prefer and why?
Thanks in advance for sharing your daily workflow experiences!
[Edited at 2026-09-05 01:56 GMT]
[Edited at 2026-09-05 01:57 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Whichever platform you choose, translators should have the option to download the project, work offline in their preferred CAT tool, and upload the completed translation back to the platform.
Sion
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Siontrans wrote:
Whichever platform you choose, translators should have the option to download the project, work offline in their preferred CAT tool, and upload the completed translation back to the platform.
Sion
They should also be able to download any resources like glossaries (termbases) and TMs.
| | | | Li-Hsiang Hsu 
Franciaország
Local time: 19:17
francia - kínai
+ ...
I am not going to tell you which CAT tool provider is preferable, but...IMO, the interoperability of a CAT tool is a crucial feature for agencies that outsource jobs to freelance translators. It offers great flexibility in task allocation, eliminating the need to verify whether a translator is proficient in a specific piece of software. Simply make the translation materials available to translators, by allowing them to download the source or bilingual text in a compatible format and to wo... See more I am not going to tell you which CAT tool provider is preferable, but...IMO, the interoperability of a CAT tool is a crucial feature for agencies that outsource jobs to freelance translators. It offers great flexibility in task allocation, eliminating the need to verify whether a translator is proficient in a specific piece of software. Simply make the translation materials available to translators, by allowing them to download the source or bilingual text in a compatible format and to work with their preferred editing tool. This is the simplest way to manage a translation project in my view.
Furthermore, the possibility for a translator to work outside a cloud environment is very essential, too, as it allows to preserve translator’s productivity. Generally, cloud-based CAT tools can’t match locally installed software in terms of editing ease and speed. Consequently, using a cloud-based editing tool often slows down the translator's workflow and reduces their productivity. This is a crucial point to consider if you want your translators to maintain their productivity within an optimal working environment. ▲ Collapse
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Luca Tutino
Olaszország
Tag (2002 óta)
angol - olasz
+ ...
| Thorough and careful project setup is more important than platform name | Sep 7 |
I strongly agree with what has been said before, but much more important in my experience is the thorough preparation and the right setup of the tools operated by the Client/PM side.
The availability of export/import options is just one among many that most clients tend to limit, forget or forbid, with the effect of hindering and slowing, if not degrading, the work of the translators.
A major problem is that such wrong choices are too often set in stone. On the contrary, my advice ... See more I strongly agree with what has been said before, but much more important in my experience is the thorough preparation and the right setup of the tools operated by the Client/PM side.
The availability of export/import options is just one among many that most clients tend to limit, forget or forbid, with the effect of hindering and slowing, if not degrading, the work of the translators.
A major problem is that such wrong choices are too often set in stone. On the contrary, my advice is to always request a feedback on this matter and followup accordingly as much as possible. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Zea_Mays
Olaszország
Local time: 19:17
angol - német
+ ...
| Phrase wins for now | Sep 7 |
Cristina Feletto wrote:
If you’ve translated or reviewed in either (or both) of these tools, I’d love to hear your honest thoughts:
- What do you love about them?
- What drives you crazy?
- How do they handle key features like Concordance/TM lookup, segment filtering, QA checks, tag handling, and in-context previews?
- If you had to work in one of them every day, which UI/UX would you prefer and why?
A few thoughts that just come to mind (no complete list):
- What do you love about them?
Phrase: once you're familiar with the tool, I'd say it's among the better ones for translators (I don't know how it's from a PM perspective).
Crowdin: The shared comment feature actually working, where translators, project managers and clients can discuss issues and questions.
I also like Smartling (good shared comment feature too, useful preview feature), but it takes some time to familiarize with it.
- What drives you crazy?
Phrase: The tendency to continously change the UX, often disimproving it; the live QA feature which slows down work considerably (never enable it!); false positive QA findings en masse like endings or parts of words (which you're often forced to dismiss en masse too, leading to potentially overlooking real issues) - a careful setup of this feature is key.
Crowdin: The UX in general (it's improving but it's partly quite confusing; Search and Replace feature (it's improving); Concordance/TM lookup has still no shortcuts AFAIK; automatic completion feature not working (or I didn't manage to get it working); confusing matches that are often also hard to read.
- How do they handle key features like Concordance/TM lookup, segment filtering, QA checks, tag handling, and in-context previews?
Phrase: partly ok, see also above.
Crowdin: still improving
- If you had to work in one of them every day, which UI/UX would you prefer and why?
Phrase: UI more intuitive and clear, useful shortcuts and menus; UX sometimes a bit frustrating. (see above)
| | | | Luca Tutino
Olaszország
Tag (2002 óta)
angol - olasz
+ ...
| Did you try the Term Morphology Editor | Sep 9 |
Hi Zea, I agree with your remarks. I also have two questions:
Cristina Feletto wrote:
- What drives you crazy?
Zea_Mays wrote:
Phrase: (...) the live QA feature which slows down work considerably (never enable it!); false positive QA findings en masse like endings or parts of words (which you're often forced to dismiss en masse too, leading to potentially overlooking real issues) - a careful setup of this feature is key.
I read that applying the new "Term Morphology Editor" tool, available only for Phrase and memoQ, should greatly improve this. It is an expensive tool, so I am not sure I would use it, but I will certainly not consider it if it does not deliver on the promises. Do you know if the extensive QA issues occur on a project developed with or without the TME?
Zea_Mays wrote:
Crowdin: (...) Concordance/TM lookup has still no shortcuts AFAIK
I found it useful to place it under F3 via AutoHotkey. It is an easy workaround if you have AHK. I hope it helps.
| | | | Laura Kingdon
Egyesült Királyság
Local time: 18:17
Tag (2015 óta)
francia - angol
+ ...
I largely agree with Zea's points - I really detest Crowdin, in fact, as I don't find the UI to be intuitive at all. Phrase's QA is horrible, especially since project managers only rarely seem to understand how to set up QA for Korean in the first place (leaving options like "Detect initial capitalisation differences" checked or setting QA to throw up alarms if the target length is more than a couple of characters longer than the source, which it almost always will be...) However, I don't find a... See more I largely agree with Zea's points - I really detest Crowdin, in fact, as I don't find the UI to be intuitive at all. Phrase's QA is horrible, especially since project managers only rarely seem to understand how to set up QA for Korean in the first place (leaving options like "Detect initial capitalisation differences" checked or setting QA to throw up alarms if the target length is more than a couple of characters longer than the source, which it almost always will be...) However, I don't find actually working in it to be too much of a hindrance apart from the QA.
Although I'd say Phrase is better, one thing I really hate about Phrase is that I now have about ten different logins for it, mostly variations on my name, and it's never clear which one actually corresponds to which agency. Granted this could be solved by me writing them down somewhere, but I find it annoying that I should have to do that (and I tend to forget since, in the moment, I'm thinking about getting into the project, setting things up, replying to emails to confirm the project, etc.) If you're going to use Phrase, then for goodness' sake assign translators usernames that include your agency's name or initials or SOMETHING in them so we don't have to cycle through a dozen trying to find the right one. ▲ Collapse
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