head to head · open source
LibreTranslate vs Weblate
LibreTranslate has 16,674 GitHub stars, 1,707 forks, 126 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. Weblate has 6,080 stars, 1,359 forks, 493 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LibreTranslate leads on adoption by 174% (16,674 vs 6,080 stars). LibreTranslate is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; Weblate is written in Python under GPL-3.0. LibreTranslate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Weblate 22%. Weblate was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (translation), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| LibreTranslate | Weblate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-03 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LibreTranslate if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Weblate if
- You want the Weblate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Weblate fits your workflow better
About LibreTranslate
LibreTranslate is a free and open source machine translation API written in Python and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It lives in the open source translation ecosystem and is positioned as a self hosted alternative to hosted translation services. The project does not rely on proprietary software such as Google or Azure for translation. Instead, it uses the open source Argos Translate library as its translation engine.
read the full LibreTranslate overview →
About Weblate
Weblate is a libre, web based continuous localization system — a Python and Django application that connects translators to version control so translation happens alongside the code it belongs to, and it is used by more than 2,500 libre projects and companies in over 165 countries.
read the full Weblate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LibreTranslate or Weblate more popular?
LibreTranslate has 16,674 GitHub stars and Weblate has 6,080. LibreTranslate has the larger community by that measure.
Are LibreTranslate and Weblate free?
Both are open source. LibreTranslate is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Weblate under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LibreTranslate and Weblate?
LibreTranslate is written in Python and Weblate in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, LibreTranslate or Weblate?
Choose LibreTranslate if you want the larger community (16,674 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Weblate if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.