Compare WP - Plugin Comparison - Multilingual
Provides a comparison of various multilingual plugins for WordPress, detailing their features, costs, and developer confirmations regarding the accuracy of the information. It is currently a work in progress and includes contact information for contributors.
Content article
This article compares eight multilingual plugins for WordPress, examining aspects such as cost, developer information, translation capabilities, and features.
The plugins under review include Polylang, Stella, WPML, Xili Language, MultilingualPress, Babble, Multisite Language Switcher, and qTranslate X. Notably, Polylang is free, while Stella offers a basic version for free and a full version priced at $14.99, with additional blog and full packages costing $29 and $79, respectively. The remaining plugins, including Xili Language and MultilingualPress, are also available at no cost.
In terms of developer involvement, Polylang's lead developer is @chouby, while WPML is developed by OnTheGoSystems, and MultilingualPress is associated with Inpsyde. Notably, Babble is developed by Automattic, while the other plugins do not have publicly confirmed developers listed. The team size for most plugins is unspecified, except for Polylang, which has one developer confirmed.
When it comes to contributions back to WordPress Core, only MultilingualPress and Babble have confirmed their contributions through patches and unit testing. Additionally, MultilingualPress and Babble are the only plugins that have public GitHub repositories for collaboration, with MultilingualPress having its releases available at a specific GitHub link.
The first release dates vary, with Polylang being launched on September 22, 2011, while the other plugins do not have specified release dates. Supported WordPress versions are also inconsistent; Polylang and WPML support version 4.3, while others lack this information.
Regarding database management, Polylang creates one additional table for term metadata, while WPML has a more complex structure with 17 custom tables. Other plugins either do not create additional tables or have unspecified configurations.
In the translations section, all plugins support translating post types and taxonomies, with WPML allowing for the translation of post type slugs and taxonomies. Menus and site information can be translated with most plugins, though Babble does not support menu translations, and Xili Language lacks support for translating site descriptions.
For translation management, WPML stands out by allowing content copying for translation and the duplication of languages for master/slave posts. Taxonomy syncing is supported by Polylang and WPML, while custom field syncing is also a feature of WPML. Additionally, WPML can automatically pull WP language files from the WordPress.org repository for specific languages.
In terms of features, Polylang and WPML both offer object caching and browser language detection, while all plugins except for Xili Language are compatible with multisite installations. Notably, WPML provides shortcodes, whereas the other plugins have varying support for this feature.
When examining language URL structures, Polylang does not support sub-domains, while Stella, WPML, and MultilingualPress do. All plugins except for Babble support sub-directories, and similar patterns emerge with top-level domain support, where most plugins allow it except for Babble.
The comparison highlights the diversity among these multilingual plugins, showcasing their varying capabilities in cost, developer engagement, translation management, and feature sets.