Blog multi-language plug-in selection｜Free VS payment, server VS browser, measured comparison + configuration tutorial

In the last article, I shared with you the core original intention of my blog multilingual – breaking language barriers and allowing sharing to reach a wider audience. Today, we will enter the practical link – the selection and configuration of the plug-in. This step directly determines the efficiency of subsequent translations, website loading speed, and the reading experience of overseas users. Stepping on the wrong pit will waste a lot of time, and it will also affect the effect of sharing.
Before selecting the model, I first clarified my core needs, and also gave reference to bloggers who have shared the same and long-term sharing as me (to avoid blind selection):

1. Priority free plug-in: I just simply share the content, I don’t want to invest extra costs in the plugin, and I can meet the basic translation needs;
2. Simple operation: no need for complicated code, Xiaobai can quickly start configuration, without spending a lot of time research operation;
3. Stable translation: support full-scene translation such as articles, classifications, tags, menus, etc., to ensure that overseas users can fully view all shared content;
4. Does not affect the speed of the website: Avoid the slow loading of the page due to the plug-in, which affects the reading experience of overseas users;
5. There is no need to circumvent the wall on the server side: my server is from Alibaba Cloud and Hangzhou, and the manufacturer has restrictions on overturning the wall, and cannot configure the wall over the server. This is the core limitation of my selection.
   Based on the above requirements, I have screened 3 mainstream schemes. After the actual measurement and comparison, I finally determined the best choice. Among them, I have also stepped on the pit of PolyTranslate AI for Polylang. Today, I will share with you:

1. Measured comparison of 3 types of multilingual schemes (with advantages and disadvantages + experience of stepping on the pit)

Option 1: Browser-side translation plug-in (such as Google Translation plug-in, Youdao translation plug-in)
Principle: Through the browser plug-in, the Chinese content is translated into English in real time, and there is no need to do any configuration in the background of the website.
Advantages: completely free, zero configuration, no need to invest time;
Disadvantages: low translation accuracy, many professional terms are translated incorrectly, which will mislead overseas users; the user experience is poor, and the user needs to manually click the plug-in translation to increase the reading threshold; It is included by the search engine (the search engine cannot climb the translated content), and it is difficult for overseas users to find my sharing through search, which violates the original intention of ‘reaching the broader audience’.
Conclusion: Give up directly, suitable for temporary viewing of foreign language content, not suitable for multilingualization of long-term sharing blogs.

Option 2: Server Translation Plugin (Free Version) – Polylang + AutoPoly
Principle: Install the plug-in in the background of the website, and realize the content translation through the server. The translated content will be stored in the database. The search engine can be included normally and supports multi-language switching. Overseas users can directly search and view the translated content. AutoPoly supports a variety of translation solutions, in which the Chrome AI solution does not need to go over the wall on the server side, and can be used on the local device over the wall environment.
Advantages: free, simple operation, support full-scene translation such as articles, classification, tags, etc., which can ensure the integrity of the shared content; AutoPoly can Realize one-click automatic translation of articles, save time, so that I can focus on content creation and sharing, without spending a lot of time manually translation; the core advantage is support Chrome AI free translation solution, no need to go over the wall on the server (in line with the restrictions of my Alibaba cloud server), relying on the VPN installed on my local computer, chrome AI It can be used normally; it supports language prefix (such as /en/), and the URL structure is standardized, which is conducive to the search and search of overseas users.
Disadvantages: AutoPoly free version does not support automatic translation of classification and tags, and needs to be supplemented manually; the translation accuracy is medium, and professional terms need to be manually corrected to avoid misleading users; autopoly Some advanced features (such as batch translation) need to be upgraded and paid, but for a blogger like me who simply shares, the free function is enough.
Conclusion: The key consideration is that it meets my core needs, which can not only ensure the sharing effect, but also avoid the restriction of the server overturning the wall. In the later stage, the paid version can be upgraded according to the needs.

Scenario 3: Server-side translation plugin (giving after trial) – PolyTranslate AI for Polylang
Principle: The translation plug-in adapted to Polylang supports a variety of translation engines (DeepL, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter), and can realize automatic translation of articles, classification, etc., which belongs to the scope of server-side translation.
Advantages: There are many choices of translation engines, among which DeepL has high translation accuracy, and can be used without circumventing the wall. In the early stage, I chose the DeepL engine first; the operation is simple, the adaptability with Polylang is good, and the translation efficiency is high.
Disadvantages: Free quota, deepPL The engine has only a one-time free 1 million-character free quota, which is completely inadequate for long-term sharing; even if it is a free quota, it needs to be bound to a credit card to use it, which increases the operating threshold;
Conclusion: Give up after the trial, although the translation accuracy has advantages, but the free limit is insufficient and the credit card needs to be bound, which does not meet the needs of my long-term free sharing.

2. Final selection: Polylang + AutoPoly (free version)
After comprehensive comparison, I finally chose the combination of polylang (responsible for multilingual switching, classification/tag association) + autopoly (responsible for one-click translation of the article), the core reason is that autopoly is perfect for my core limitations: support chrome The AI free translation solution does not need to go over the wall on the server side, and it can be used normally by relying on the VPN that my local computer has installed.

3. Detailed steps of plug-in configuration (with screenshots)

Plug-in installation: background → plug-in → install plug-in, search for ‘polylang’ and ‘autopoly’ respectively, install and activate.

Polylang basic configuration (core steps):
① After activation, the configuration wizard will pop up, select the language to be added (I only added English, Chinese is the default language), click Next (Figure 1);

② Allow polylang to translate media, enable, click Next (Figure 2);

③ For content without language, select the default language Chinese (as shown in Figure 3);

④ Language prefix setting: select ‘url prefix’, Chinese do not need prefix, English prefix is set to ‘en’, so the URL of English content will be displayed ashttps://www.shuijingwanwq.com/en/, help overseas users to find through search engines (as shown in Figure 4);

AutoPoly basic configuration (focusing on Chrome AI translation):
① After activation, enter the AutoPoly setting page, select the translation language (Chinese → English), test the translation, and find that the translation result is acceptable (as shown in Figure 5);

② Enable ‘Chrome AI’ in the translation engine, disable ‘Yandex Translate’, no need to go over the wall on the server, and you can use it normally by relying on the local VPN. For the specific usage, you can click docs to view (as shown in Figure 6);

After the configuration is completed, the one-click translation and multi-language switching of the article can be realized, so that my sharing can successfully reach overseas users. The next step is the translation of classification and labeling. Only by completely translating the classification and labels, overseas users can find the content they need more clearly. In the next article, I will share the complete process of classification translation and the pits I have stepped on in the next article.