How to choose the right Translation Management System

Choosing the right translation management system (TMS) can be a challenge. There are various vendors — how do you know which one to pick?

We wrote this guide to help you select the best translation management system option to reach your localization goals.

Define business objectives

Each TMS has its own features and is designed for various purposes. It’s crucial to identify the business objectives you’d like to reach with the localization platform:

Is it improving translation quality?
Accelerating product release-cycle?
Automating the translation process?
Increasing productivity?
Reducing translation costs?

Localization projects vary in their scope and generally touch various parts of your business — marketing, sales, support, engineering, etc. Assign a project owner, bring together key stakeholders from different units, and clearly define your goals. This will increase the likelihood of success and lead to faster implementation.

Once you have absolute clarity regarding your goals and objectives, start collecting the requirements.

Gather the requirements

TMS will be used by many different people. For example, a project manager requires features which are different from the ones that the developer needs.

It is advised to make a list of all desired features and rank them. For example, from top to low priority. Or from “critical” to “nice to have”. This will help you understand your requirements better as well as choose the most suitable TMS.

There is a lot of functionality and options being offered and you may not need all of them. Here is a short list of the most popular ones:

Developers	Project Managers	Translators
iOS and Android SDK API Webhooks Integrations Branching	Dashboard Project activity Project chat Tasks Real-time statistics	Translation memory Live-edit module Spelling and grammar check Bilingual and multilingual views

Check available integrations

You might already have a well-established workflow and a set of preferred development tools. In this case, you should check if there are any integrations available. In some cases, your desired integration may not be included in the integrations list, but TMS providers may build it for you.

Search for tools

In order to have some help while comparing the products, you may use a software comparison website like G2Crowd or Capterra where you can read user reviews.

In addition, you can use software comparison websites like Nimdzi, where you can sort TMS by functions.

Evaluate the price

Some TMS solutions may be cheaper than others. Obviously, the price is an important parameter to look at, and you want to get the best value for your money. Check the features you get for each of the subscription plans. In case you want to clarify something, it is always better to ask for a consultation.

Get a demo or trial

Most TMS providers offer their product with a free trial. Nothing can be more important than taking some time to try all the desired solutions. Of course, you should test only those TMS systems which are the closest to your requirements.

There is generally an option to request a demo. They will explain to you how their product works, what kind of features do they have, what is the best way to use the software for your business needs.

Features	Lokalise	PhraseApp	Crowdin	Transifex	POEditor
Online translation editor	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Mobile in-context live editor	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Web in-context live editor	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
Screenshots	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
Inline machine translations	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
Translation memory	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Translation history	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
Spelling and grammar checks	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Glossary	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Translation upvoting	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌
iOS and Android SDK	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
Mobile SDK statistics	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
API/CLI	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Project activity	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
Statistics and reporting	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Automatic snapshots (backup)	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Chained tasks	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Translate documents (Word, HTML)	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
Multi/bilingual view	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌

Integrations	Lokalise	PhraseApp	Crowdin	Transifex	POEditor
Github	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Bitbucket	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Webhooks	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
GitLab	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅
Sketch	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Zendesk	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
Amazon S3/GCS	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Docker	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Jira	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Fastlane	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌