Bing Translator vs. Google Translate: How do they stack up?

Artificial neural networks have made translation of foreign languages more accessible than ever before. With just a few clicks, one can easily translate foreign articles, decipher travel signs, and even draft simple communications with professionals across various languages. Google Translate and Bing Translator are two widely used translation tools that help achieve these remarkable feats.

In this guide, we’ll compare Bing Translator versus Google Translate head to head, examining the languages they offer, plus features, ease of use, and pricing. You’ll understand when to use each translation tool and how to incorporate them into your translation management system to translate content at scale.

Comparing supported languages

Both Google Translate and Bing Translator (aka Microsoft Translator) offer over 100 languages, and they are constantly expanding. In June 2024, Google announced they added another 110 languages to their catalog, bringing the supported languages to 249. Bing Translator also continues to add options, with 179 supported languages.

These totals are impressive. Still, keep in mind that many of these languages are actually dialects of the same language, stemming from popular languages such as Spanish, English, and Chinese. Although Google Translate supports more languages, Bing Translator has languages Google doesn’t.

Check out Google Translate and Bing Translator to see a full list of languages.

Comparing features

Google Translate and Bing Translator each offer tools to help users understand and communicate in different languages. Here is a list of the features they both provide:

• Text translation: Quickly translates words, sentences, or long paragraphs.
• Image translation: Uses your camera to translate text in pictures, like signs or menus. Also translates uploaded images.
• Speech translation: Allows you to speak into your device and hear or see a real-time translation.
• Offline mode: Download language packs to use without the internet.
• Document translation: Instantly translates entire files, like PDFs.
• Language detection: Automatically detects the input language before translating—especially handy when using the voice translation feature.
• Website translation: Follows an inputted URL and translates the page.
• Real-time conversation translation: Allows two users speaking different languages to communicate via live translation.
• Mobile and desktop accessibility: Available on web browsers, Android, and iOS apps.
• Integration with ecosystems: Both integrate with their respective ecosystems (Google services for Google Translate, Microsoft products for Bing Translator).

Both platforms provide a comprehensive suite of tools covering typical translation needs. However, there are some variations. For example, Google Translate tends to be more effective at automatically detecting languages during speech input.

Google Translate also shines in its text-in-image translation feature. In addition to pointing a phone camera at text on signs, menus, or other printed materials to get real-time translations, users can also use the desktop translator and upload images from their computers. Bing Translator doesn’t offer photo uploads on its desktop translator, meaning you must download the app to access the image translation tool.

Document translation is another feature where Google Translate leads. Users can upload entire files, such as PDFs or Word documents, for direct translation. Bing Translator doesn’t offer direct document upload within its app, but Microsoft supports this function through other integrations.

Integration within their individual ecosystems is strong for both tools. Google Translate API integrates with Google services like Chrome and Maps, improving usability for those already in the Google ecosystem. Conversely, Bing Translator fits well within the Microsoft environment, working smoothly with Office apps like Word and PowerPoint. This may increase its appeal to professional and academic users.

Comparing accuracy

Any evaluation of Google Translate and Bing Translator’s accuracy must consider their performance across various languages and contexts. Accuracy varies, especially with languages that have less digital content or differ structurally from English.

For example, a recent evaluation of Google Translate’s performance across several widespread languages found a message’s meaning was retained 82.5% of the time. Of the evaluated languages, Spanish was the most accurate at 94%, whereas Armenian was the worst, scoring only 55%.

Many studies compare translating with Google to translating with Bing, but results vary on a case-by-case basis with no general consensus. Both are useful for casual communication but may not provide high-quality, fluent translations for professional or nuanced contexts, especially for colloquial expressions and informal phrases.

Although both translation tools have a lot to offer, professional translation options provide the highest level of accuracy and cultural relevance for business use cases.

Comparing ease of use

Google Translate is known for its simplicity and user-friendly interface. Users can quickly type or paste text, select languages, and receive translations almost instantly. The website and mobile apps also feature a camera translation tool, enabling users to instantly translate text without taking a picture.

Built-in language detection means you don’t have to manually select the source language. Additionally, users can save favorite translations and access them offline, improving its usefulness for everyday users.

Like Google Translate, Bing Translator provides instant translation for typed text and a conversation mode for real-time language translation. The interface is simple and easily switches between various different languages.

Bing Translate stands out for its integration with Microsoft Office. Users can translate documents directly within Word or PowerPoint, making it convenient for business professionals using the Microsoft ecosystem.

Comparing plans and pricing

Although most of these services’ features are free, businesses may need to consider the pricing of Google Translate versus Microsoft Translator for advanced features and large-scale translation. Here is a quick breakdown of features included in their free and paid versions:

Google Tradutor

• Free version: Google offers a free tier for its Cloud Translation API, allowing up to 500,000 characters of translation each month at no cost. This tier supports dynamic text translation between languages using Google’s pre-trained Neural Machine Translation (NMT) model. However, it does not support advanced features like glossaries, batch translations, or AutoML models.
• Paid version: Beyond its free tier, Google charges $20 per million characters for text translation using LLMs. The paid version includes additional features such as batch text and document translations, glossaries, and AutoML models for custom translation needs. These features improve translation accuracy and efficiency for businesses and developers.

Bing Translator (Microsoft Translator)

• Free version: Microsoft provides a free tier for its Translator Text API, offering up to 2 million characters per month at no cost. This tier includes features like text translation, language detection, transliteration, and bilingual dictionary. These capabilities are suitable for small-scale applications and personal use.
• Paid version: After exceeding its free tier, Microsoft charges $10 per million characters for standard text translation. The paid version offers additional functionalities, such as document translation and custom translation models. This is one reason why Bing is better than Google, as it offers a cheaper translation tool. 

For more details on their pricing, you can visit their official pages:

• Google Cloud Translation
• Microsoft Translator

A professional translation service is the best option if your business wants to improve the efficiency of its translation process while maintaining security and scalability. Smartling’s cloud-based Translation Management System (TMS) is built to improve efficiency, drive consistency, and scale for growth. You can easily pair your content software with Smartling’s TMS through our pre-built integrations, custom APIs, or the Global Delivery Network.

Smartling’s LanguageAI™ enhances your business localization strategy

Both Google Translate and Bing Translator offer extensive features that suit personal needs. However, accuracy is inconsistent across various languages, and these tools don’t offer translation management capabilities. Without a translation management system, large-scale content localization quickly becomes overwhelming, meaning these standalone MT engines might not be the best option for businesses that must translate content at scale. Instead, businesses should leverage these machine translation (MT) engines within a cloud-based TMS like Smartling’s.

Want to learn how your business can achieve a faster time to market while saving money? Download our eBook, “AI-Powered Localization: Achieving Quality, Cost, and Speed Objectives,” to learn how automation can support your localization project.