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 addons.
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 | ✓ | ✗ |
| Plugin code time per page | ~1 ms median; see benchmarks | Not published |
| Translation Tools | ||
| String translation | ✓ (scanner + file/database modes) | ✓ (in free; XLIFF/PO export is Pro) |
| 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 | ✓ | ✗ (single-step locale fallback for gettext in Pro; no content fallback chains) |
| XLIFF export/import | ✓ (XLIFF 2.0) | ✓ (Pro only) |
| Block editor integration | ✓ | ✓ (language metabox + Pro: copy/sync block content) |
| 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, Rank Math, SEOPress, TSF |
| Page builders | Elementor, Beaver Builder, Bricks, Oxygen | Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi (compatibility documented) |
| Custom fields | ACF, MetaBox, Pods | ACF (Pro), Meta Box (via MB Multilingual) |
| 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) | ✓ (with Polylang for WooCommerce) |
| Multi-currency with auto exchange rates | ✓ (5 providers, extensible via filter) | ✗ (recommends third-party plugin) |
| Order emails in customer's language | ✓ | ✓ (with Polylang for WooCommerce) |
| Cart fragment isolation per language | ✓ | ✓ (cart synchronization across languages with Polylang for WooCommerce) |
| Developer Tools | ||
| REST API | ✓ (full CRUD) | ✓ (basic) |
| Stateless machine-translation endpoint | ✓ (POST /block-translate) | ✗ |
| WP-CLI | ✓ (full command set) | ✓ (wp pll in Pro 3.8+; community CLI for free) |
| Helper API (template functions) | Fluent PHP API (perflocale()) | pll_ functions |
| Hooks and filters | 200+ | Documented filter & action set |
| WordPress Abilities API (WP 6.9+) | ✓ | ✗ |
| WordPress 7.0+ Native Integration | ||
| WordPress AI Client provider (translate via host's configured AI — no second API key) | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI quality scoring (1–5 score + “needs review” badges) | ✓ (opt-in background job) | ✗ |
| AI-grounded glossary auto-suggest as you type | ✓ | ✗ |
| WordPress Connectors API key sharing (env > constant > Connectors > DB) | ✓ | ✗ |
JS Abilities shim (wp.abilities.invoke('perflocale/...')) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Block Hooks auto-insert of language switcher in FSE headers | ✓ | ✗ |
Modern admin theme palette (uses --wp-admin-theme-color tokens) | ✓ | ✗ |
Key Differences
Free vs Pro features
Polylang's free version is excellent for simple multilingual sites. WooCommerce support, ACF integration, XLIFF export, and DeepL machine translation require paid addons (Polylang Pro and Polylang for WooCommerce, from €99/year each). 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 documented compatibility with several SEO plugins, ACF, and the major page builders, but each integration tends to be its own configuration recipe rather than zero-touch.
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). The importer batches its SELECTs so peak memory stays bounded on very large sites - regression-tested at 5,000 translation groups × 3 languages under 32 MB peak delta. 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.