Amazon Translate

What it does

Amazon Translate takes in text and documents in one language and returns translated output in another. Standard text translation runs in real time across 75 languages, real-time document translation keeps source formatting for TXT, HTML and DOCX files, and batch document translation processes collections of TXT, HTML, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX and XLIFF files stored in Amazon S3 folders.

Developers use it through a single API call, either for real-time responses inside applications such as chat, email, helpdesk or ticketing tools, or asynchronously for large document sets. Active Custom Translation lets a user supply parallel examples with a batch job so the output adapts to brand names and specific terms without building a separate custom model. Parallel data storage includes 200 GB per account.

It suits developers and engineering teams adding translation to products, and organisations localising content at volume. Access is through the AWS console and SDKs, and an AWS account is required. Pricing is pay-as-you-go per character, and the free allowance of 2 million characters per month lasts 12 months from the first request. Document translation has its own rates and some formats have no free tier, so cost estimates should be checked with the pricing calculator.

What it can do

• Standard real-time text translation across 75 languages
• Real-time document translation preserving source formatting for TXT, HTML and DOCX
• Batch document translation of files stored in Amazon S3 folders via one asynchronous API call
• Active Custom Translation using parallel data examples supplied with batch jobs
• Customisation of output for brand names, model names and unique terms

Works with

• Amazon S3 (batch document translation reads from and writes to S3 folders)

Example workflows

Translating support messages in real time

Input: a customer message in Spanish sent to an English-speaking agent's helpdesk. Steps: the application calls the real-time text translation API with the source and target language codes. Output: an English translation shown to the agent, with the reply translated back to Spanish before sending.

Batch localisation of a document set

Input: a folder in an S3 bucket containing DOCX and XLSX product manuals. Steps: create a batch translation job with one API call specifying the source and target languages, optionally adding parallel data examples. Output: translated files written to an output S3 location, with formatting from the source files preserved.

Before you choose

• Pricing is per character including white space; cost estimates should use the AWS Pricing Calculator.
• The 2 million character free allowance is time-limited to 12 months and does not roll over; some translation types have no free tier.
• Real-time document translation has different formats and rates from text translation, so check the price for each type used.

Listed under

• Coding
• API
• Batch translation
• Developers
• Document translation
• Enterprise
• Localization

Get started

Free tier entitlement is offered on signup; the console is used to begin translating.

1. Create an AWS account and sign in to the Amazon Translate console.
2. Choose the source and target languages and test a sample translation in the console.
3. Install the AWS SDK for your programming language and call the translation API from your application, or create a batch job for documents stored in S3.

Billed per character translated per month. The free allowance is time-limited (12 months) and is not a permanent free tier. Real-time document translation (Docx) and Active Custom Translation carry higher rates. Parallel data storage beyond 200 GB is charged per GB per month. For volumes over 1 billion characters a month, contact AWS for a volume discount. Check the pricing page and calculator for current rates.

Source: aws.amazon.com/translate/pricing, checked 28 Oct 2026. Prices can change; check before you buy.

Sources for this overview

Product pages, documentation, and pricing checked 28 Oct 2026. Each source supports part of the overview; availability and prices can change.

• Machine Translation Service — Amazon Translate — Amazon Web Services ↗aws.amazon.com
• Amazon Translate Pricing - Amazon Web Services (AWS) ↗aws.amazon.com
• Getting Started with Amazon Lex ↗aws.amazon.com

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Last checked 28 Oct 2026. Every field keeps its source and date; unknown means we couldn’t confirm it.