colinleroy

This plugin has no setting or UI. It just does one thing : use the php-gettext library to handle translations. This results in much faster translation than using the default PHP gettext implementation of WordPress.
If the extension is not available, the plugin will simply do nothing.
You can verify that the plugin is working by looking for an HTTP header: X-Native-Gettext: 1, that will be sent as soon as a string will be translated by the native library.
If your WordPress install is in English, this plugin has no purpose. Otherwise, it can help speed up your install quite a lot.
Requirements: 
– php-gettext 
– OS-level support for the locale(s) you want to translate to.

Native Gettext for WordPress

Great Plugin.

It does one job and it does very good!

With the help of the Query Monitor Plugin, I was able to measure a drop of almost 45% of PHP memory usage using "Native Gettext for WordPress" for a simple Dashboard-request.
Really cool.

The plugin author is answering friendly and helpful to support requests.

Fast & Friendly

No problems found, after testing on several sites. My sites are all heavily dependent on fast loading of text domains, and all have the PHP gettext extension. PHP 8.0 and 8.1.

However, may not work in combination with other WordPress plugins overriding load_textdomain.


Works as it says, fast

A very light wrapper plugin that uses the native gettext library for faster localization.

SimplePoTranslate

SimplePoTranslate is the safest way to translate WordPress themes and plugins with AI — directly from your dashboard. It auto-detects every translatable theme and plugin on your site, translates into 39 languages, and writes ready-to-use <code>.po</code>/<code>.mo</code> files without touching a single line of your theme or plugin code.
Unlike generic AI translators, SimplePoTranslate is built for gettext: it is designed to keep placeholders (<code>%s</code>, <code>%1$s</code>), HTML tags, and plural forms intact, so your strings stay valid after translation.
Why developers and agencies choose it:
<ul>
<li>Auto-detect everything — Recursively scans every active theme and plugin and finds <code>.po</code>, <code>.pot</code>, and untranslated projects, with 3-layer name resolution that handles non-standard slugs (e.g. ACF Pro).</li>
<li>Translate many languages at once — Each language runs as its own job, so if one fails the rest still complete.</li>
<li>Built for gettext — Designed to preserve placeholders (<code>%s</code>, <code>%1$s</code>), HTML tags, and plural forms during translation.</li>
<li>Manual or automatic — Download, translate and upload the files yourself, or add an API key and click Auto Translate.</li>
<li>Inline string editor — Fix fuzzy and untranslated strings in your browser, filter by status, and save with one click.</li>
<li>POT file generation — Scan your plugin or theme source code and generate a fresh <code>.pot</code> template.</li>
<li>Safe imports — Upload a ZIP or a bare <code>.po</code>; an automatic backup is taken before every import and the <code>.mo</code> is compiled for you.</li>
<li>No subscription lock-in — A free tier plus an optional one-time plan; no recurring fee required.</li>
</ul>
Perfect for:
Theme and plugin developers, freelancers, and agencies localizing WordPress, WooCommerce, LMS plugins (LearnDash, LifterLMS), and membership sites.
Supported Languages:
Turkish, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Arabic, Dutch, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Romanian, Greek, Thai, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Indonesian, Malay, Filipino, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Persian, Serbian, Croatian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, and Slovenian.
How It Works:
<ol>
<li>Install and activate the plugin.</li>
<li>Navigate to SimplePoTranslate in the admin menu.</li>
<li>Scan your site to discover all translation files.</li>
<li>Choose your target languages and translate — either via the API or manually.</li>
<li>Import the translated files and your site is localized!</li>
</ol>
<h3>External services</h3>
This plugin connects to the SimplePoTranslate API (a third-party service operated by the plugin author) to provide optional AI-assisted translation of PO files. The service is only contacted when you explicitly choose to use it.
What the service is and what it’s used for:
The SimplePoTranslate API is a cloud translation service that accepts a PO file and a target language code, returns a translated PO file, and reports account quota usage. It is used to power the “Auto Translate” feature in the plugin. Use of the service is entirely optional — the plugin’s manual translation workflow works without it.
When data is sent:
The plugin contacts the service only in the following situations, all of which require a signed-in administrator to take explicit action:
<ul>
<li>When you enter an API key in SimplePoTranslate → Settings and click Test API Key (sends the key to <code>GET /account</code> for validation).</li>
<li>When you open the SimplePoTranslate Dashboard while an API key is configured (fetches account plan and quota from <code>GET /account</code>). The result is cached for one hour.</li>
<li>When you click Auto Translate on the Scanner page (uploads the selected PO file to <code>POST /jobs/create</code>).</li>
<li>While a translation job is running, the plugin polls <code>GET /jobs/{id}/status</code> in the background until completion, then downloads the translated ZIP from a signed URL returned by the service.</li>
</ul>
What data is sent:
<ul>
<li>The Bearer API key you entered in Settings (required for every request).</li>
<li>The contents of the selected PO file (only when you submit a job — never otherwise).</li>
<li>The target language code you selected (e.g. <code>tr_TR</code>, <code>de_DE</code>).</li>
<li>The translation mode (<code>empty_only</code>).</li>
</ul>
No site URL, user identity, or other personal data is transmitted. The API key is stored encrypted (AES-256-CBC) in the WordPress options table.
Service provider and legal terms:
The SimplePoTranslate API is provided by the plugin author. Use of the service is governed by the following documents, which you should review before entering an API key:
<ul>
<li>Terms of Service: <a href="https://simplepotranslate.com/terms" rel="nofollow ugc">https://simplepotranslate.com/terms</a></li>
<li>Privacy Policy: <a href="https://simplepotranslate.com/privacy" rel="nofollow ugc">https://simplepotranslate.com/privacy</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Privacy</h3>
This plugin does not collect or transmit any data on its own. It only sends data to the SimplePoTranslate API when you explicitly use the Auto Translate feature or connect an API key (see the External services section above for details on what is sent and when). All translation work performed without an API key happens entirely on your own server.

AI-translate WordPress themes and plugins into 39 languages from your dashboard — keeps placeholders, HTML tags and plural forms intact.

Native Gettext for WordPress vs SimplePoTranslate