PerfLocale vs Polylang
A detailed, honest comparison to help you choose the right multilingual plugin for your site.
Polylang is one of the most popular free multilingual plugins with a clean, lightweight approach. PerfLocale shares the same translation philosophy (separate posts per language) but includes many features that Polylang reserves for its paid Pro and WooCommerce add-ons.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | PerfLocale | Polylang |
|---|---|---|
| General | ||
| Price | Free, open source (GPL-2.0+) | Free core + Pro from €99/year |
| Translation approach | Separate posts per language | Separate posts per language |
| Open source | ✓ | ✓ (core only - Pro is proprietary) |
| Auto-detected plugin & theme addons | ✓ (20+) | ✗ (community integrations only) |
| Multisite support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Performance | ||
| Caching architecture | 3-layer cache (static, object cache, transients) | No dedicated caching layer |
| Batch preloading | ✓ | ✗ |
| Smart query optimization | ✓ | ✗ |
| Overhead per page | <5ms | Not published |
| Translation Tools | ||
| String translation | ✓ (scanner + file/database modes) | ✓ (Pro only) |
| Machine translation providers | DeepL, Google, Microsoft, LibreTranslate | DeepL (Pro only) |
| Translation memory | ✓ | ✗ |
| Translation glossary | ✓ | ✗ |
| Translation workflow | ✓ | ✗ |
| Publish gate | ✓ | ✗ |
| Content sync (images, meta) | ✓ | ✓ (basic - Pro) |
| Content change detection | ✓ | ✗ |
| Language fallback chains | ✓ | ✗ |
| XLIFF export/import | ✓ (XLIFF 1.2) | ✓ (Pro only) |
| Block editor integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| URL and Routing | ||
| URL modes | Subdirectory, subdomain, per-domain | Subdirectory, subdomain, per-domain |
| Self-healing URL rules | ✓ | ✗ |
| GeoIP redirect | ✓ (5 providers, extensible via filter) | ✗ |
| Automatic hreflang tags | ✓ (cached) | ✓ |
| SEO & Modern Web Features | ||
| hreflang in HTML head, XML sitemap, AND HTTP Link header | ✓ (all three) | ✓ (HTML head only) |
JSON-LD inLanguage + workTranslation schema enrichment | ✓ (integrates with your SEO plugin's schema) | ✗ |
| IndexNow push-indexing (Bing, Yandex, Google via Cloudflare) | ✓ (translation-aware - also pushes siblings) | ✗ |
Content-Language HTTP response header | ✓ | ✗ |
Fallback-content data-nosnippet guard | ✓ | ✗ |
| Speculation Rules prerender on language-switcher hover | ✓ (integrates with WP 6.8+ Core API) | ✗ |
| View Transitions API smooth switching | ✓ (Chrome 126+, Safari 18.2+) | ✗ |
| Integrations | ||
| SEO plugins | Yoast, Rank Math, SEOPress, AIOSEO, TSF, Slim SEO | Yoast SEO only |
| Page builders | Elementor, Beaver Builder, Bricks, Oxygen | Community integrations only |
| Custom fields | ACF, MetaBox, Pods | ACF (Pro only) |
| WooCommerce | ||
| WooCommerce support | ✓ | ✓ (separate €99/yr addon) |
| Product translation | ✓ | ✓ (paid) |
| Variation translation | ✓ | ✓ (paid) |
| Attribute translation | ✓ | ✓ (paid) |
| Category translation | ✓ | ✓ (paid) |
| Inventory sync (SKU, stock, weight) | ✓ (automatic) | ✗ |
| Multi-currency with auto exchange rates | ✓ (5 providers, extensible via filter) | ✗ |
| Order emails in customer's language | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cart fragment isolation per language | ✓ | ✗ |
| Developer Tools | ||
| REST API | ✓ (full CRUD) | ✓ (basic) |
| Stateless machine-translation endpoint | ✓ (POST /block-translate) | ✗ |
| WP-CLI | ✓ (full command set) | ✓ (basic - Pro) |
| Helper API (template functions) | Fluent PHP API (perflocale()) | pll_ functions |
| Hooks and filters | 120+ | Limited |
| WordPress Abilities API (WP 6.9+) | ✓ | ✗ |
Key Differences
Free vs Pro features
Polylang's free version is excellent for simple multilingual sites. However, string translation, WooCommerce support, ACF integration, and WP-CLI commands require paid add-ons (€99-€198/year). PerfLocale includes all of these features in the free version.
Translation tools
PerfLocale includes translation memory, a glossary for consistent terminology, and a full workflow system with translator roles and email notifications. Polylang takes a simpler approach - you create translations through the standard WordPress editor, which works well for smaller sites.
Integration breadth
PerfLocale auto-detects and integrates with 20+ plugins and themes out of the box, including 6 SEO plugins, 4 page builders, 3 custom field plugins, and 3 form plugins. Polylang has strong core WordPress integration and relies on community-built integrations for third-party plugins.
Migration from Polylang
PerfLocale’s bundled Polylang importer reads the post_translations and term_translations taxonomies and rebuilds your translation groups as native PerfLocale rows. Polylang’s data is read-only during the import, re-runs are idempotent, and the importer works whether Polylang is active or deactivated (it detects the data, not the plugin). String translations from Polylang String Translations are not imported - use PerfLocale’s string scanner after the migration to rebuild that catalogue. See the step-by-step Polylang migration guide for pre-flight checks, verification, and troubleshooting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I migrate from Polylang to PerfLocale?
Yes. PerfLocale includes a built-in Polylang importer that handles post and term translation groups. Activate PerfLocale, add your languages under PerfLocale → Languages, then trigger the import from PerfLocale → Settings → Export & Import or from the CLI with wp perflocale migrate polylang. Note: Polylang String Translations aren’t carried across - use the string scanner afterwards to rebuild that catalogue. See the Polylang migration guide for the full walk-through.
I'm using Polylang Pro. Is it worth switching?
If you're happy with Polylang Pro, there's no urgent reason to switch. PerfLocale offers additional features like machine translation, translation workflow, and a dedicated caching layer - but the decision depends on your specific needs.
Does PerfLocale work the same way as Polylang?
Both use the same fundamental approach: separate WordPress posts for each language, linked together in translation groups. If you're familiar with Polylang, PerfLocale will feel similar in how content is structured.