The Smartcat free plan: what it includes

Smartcat offers a free plan — also called the Forever Free plan — that lets you use Smartcat at no cost, with no time limit. The free plan also provides access to the core platform: the CAT editor, Translation Memory, glossaries, and the Marketplace. You keep unlimited users, projects, and languages.

The free plan is built for individuals and small teams who want to translate real content without committing to a subscription. As your translation volume grows or you need higher-tier capabilities, you move to a paid plan — without losing the work, resources, or settings you already have. This article explains what the free plan includes and what requires a paid subscription.

• You want to try Smartcat on real content before deciding on a paid plan

• You translate occasionally and stay within the free Smartwords allocation

• You are an individual or a small organization managing your own translations

• You want to use the free, initial Smartword allocation to evaluate the CAT editor, Translation Memory, and glossary workflow at no cost

📌 The initial Smartword allocation is a one-time allocation for free trials. The allocation expires after 14 days.

The free plan covers the essentials you need to translate and manage content in Smartcat.

• Smartwords allocation — a starting balance of Smartwords to spend on AI translation

• AI translation across a wide range of languages

• CAT editor — full access to the cloud-based editor for translating and reviewing content

• Translation Memory — unlimited storage, so your past translations are reused automatically

• Glossaries — store and apply approved terminology across your projects

• Project creation — create and manage your own translation projects

• File format support — common formats including DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, and more

• Marketplace access — order translation services from vendors (prepayment mode)

• Unlimited users — pricing does not depend on the number of seats

• Unlimited projects and languages

• Integrations — connect Smartcat to the tools you already use

Paid plans build on the free plan. You keep everything above and gain higher volume, more AI Co-workers, more content types, and stronger support. Pricing is not seat-based — the main variables are your annual Smartwords volume and the number of AI Co-workers, which determine the content types you can work with.

• Higher Smartwords volume — paid plans scale annual Smartwords volume by tier

• More AI Co-workers — unlocking more content types such as video, website, and course translation

• Advanced AI workflow automation — translation rules, AI Co-workers, and bulk processing

• Reduced Marketplace commission — see the comparison table below

• Pay-as-you-go Marketplace access — available on higher tiers

• Multiple workspaces — available on higher tiers

• Assignment Templates — activated automatically when you move to any paid plan

• Priority support — free plan users receive standard support; paid plans include priority or dedicated support

• Advanced reporting — detailed analytics on higher tiers

• Full integration hub access — for connecting to CMS, TMS, and other platforms

• SSO and enterprise security controls — available on Enterprise

🔍 Needs verification — Confirm current paid plan names, starting prices, per-tier Smartwords volumes, and every checkmark in this table against the live pricing page and the product team before approval. Plan names and prices are currently in flux (research surfaced Basic ~$1,200/year, Team ~$24K/year, Enterprise ~$48K/year, and a repackaged "Smartcat Rise" tier). Verify which names and figures are current and customer-facing, then add a concrete plan-by-plan breakdown.

• The free plan is intended for the occasional individuals and small teams — organizations needing team collaboration at scale, advanced automation, or premium AI features likely need a paid plan

• The free plan does not include Assignment Templates — this feature is activated automatically when you move to any paid plan

• Marketplace access on the free plan uses prepayment mode ; pay-as-you-go billing is available on higher tiers

• The free Smartwords allocation is limited — once it runs out, you purchase Smartwords or upgrade to a paid plan to continue AI translation 🔍 (confirm whether the allocation recurs or is one-time, per the note above)

• Higher-volume content types such as video and website translation require a paid plan because they need additional AI Co-workers

• No credit card is required to create a free account