XTM vs Smartcat

No contest.

XTM is a centralized, AI-powered platform built for scale, consistency, and control—everything modern enterprises need to grow globally without compromise.

Smartcat handles simple translation needs, but it’s limited when it comes to enterprise workflows, quality governance, and system integration. XTM, on the other hand, connects directly to your CMS, automates complex processes, and gives you full visibility across every project.

If you’re serious about global growth, XTM is the smarter long-term choice. It supports high-volume content, delivers consistent quality across languages, and scales effortlessly as your business expands.

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Trusted by teams at over 1,000 of the world’s leading organizations

Why XTM beats Smartcat for serious localisation work

Structured workflows

XTM creates workflows based on your business rules. You decide who does what and when. Smartcat uses its freelancer marketplace where translators bid on jobs. That works for simple projects but you lose control fast.

Real visual context for translation

XTM’s SmartContext shows translators exactly what they’re working on. They see the full webpage, document layout or app interface. Smartcat only shows isolated text strings. Your translator might be working on “Submit” without knowing if it’s a button, menu item or form label.

Clear AI processes you control

XTM lets you bring your own AI models and see exactly how quality scoring works. Smartcat keeps its AI processes hidden. You don’t know which models they use or how they make decisions. That’s a problem for companies that need to audit their AI usage.

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The results only XTM can deliver

Whether you’re a localization manager, marketer, or product team, we streamline the entire process—saving time, reducing costs, and boosting quality

125%

increase in translation quality

40%

cost savings on external vendors

90%

faster time-to-market

XTM vs Smartcat - the differences explained

The biggest gap between these platforms is control and scale.

Smartcat is good for small teams doing occasional translation work. Their marketplace model keeps things simple when you just need quick turnarounds on basic content.

XTM is for companies with ongoing localisation needs. You get custom workflows, secure deployment options and detailed project oversight. Many companies start with Smartcat and switch to XTM when they need better governance and quality control.

XTM

Smartcat

Feature

Custom workflows

Visual context

AI transparency

Multiple deployment choices

Enterprise TM control

Native integrations

60+ connectors

Limited options

Security compliance

Enterprise-ready

Basic cloud security

Workflow automation that grows with your business

Once your translation volume increases beyond basic tasks, Smartcat’s limitations become obvious.Their marketplace system works like this: you post a job, freelancers bid, you pick someone, they deliver the work. Simple enough for small projects. But there’s no way to create rules for handling different content types or priority levels.

XTM Cloud builds workflows around your actual business needs. Marketing content can automatically route to your brand-specialist translator. Technical documentation can require extra quality checks. High-priority content can skip the queue. You set the rules once, then the system handles everything.

This matters when you’re translating hundreds of pages instead of just a few documents.

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XTRF process workflow graphic showing the progress of a task

Context that helps translators do better work

Good translations need context. Translators work best when they understand what they’re actually translating.

Smartcat shows plain text in isolation. A translator might see “Click here” with no clue whether it’s a big call-to-action button or a tiny footnote link. This guesswork leads to inconsistent results and extra revision rounds.

XTM’s SmartContext solves this problem completely. Translators see the actual webpage, document layout or mobile app screen. They understand how text fits into the bigger picture. Font sizes, colours and surrounding content all provide valuable clues for better translation choices.

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AI features you can actually trust

Translation AI should be transparent and controllable, not a mystery box.

Smartcat offers AI suggestions and quality checks, but they don’t explain how these work. You can’t see which language models they use or how they generate scores. You can’t bring your own AI keys or adjust the prompts. This creates compliance headaches for regulated industries.

XTM’s Advanced AI Pack gives you complete visibility. Intelligent Score uses industry-standard quality metrics so you understand exactly how AI evaluates translations. Language Guard catches potential problems before human reviewers see them. You can use your own AI models or XTM’s hosted options with full transparency.

Security and deployment that meets enterprise standards

Not every company can use cloud-only software. Security requirements vary wildly between industries.

Smartcat only offers cloud deployment. Your translation data lives on their servers with limited control over data location or access. This blocks adoption for healthcare companies, financial services or government contractors with strict security requirements.

XTM provides multiple deployment options. You can use their cloud service, private cloud hosting or install everything on your own servers. Healthcare companies can maintain HIPAA compliance. Financial services can keep sensitive data within their own infrastructure. Government contractors get the security controls they need.

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Security shield icon with padlock and ISO 27001 certified badge, representing XTM’s commitment to data protection and compliance

Translation memory management that maintains quality

Consistency relies on proper memory management but platforms handle this differently.

Smartcat treats translation memories as shared resources across their entire user base. Your approved terminology gets mixed with translations from other companies. This sharing model reduces consistency because external contributions can dilute your carefully maintained linguistic standards.

XTM keeps your translation memories completely separate from other organisations. You control who can contribute to your linguistic assets. Different product lines or regions can maintain their own standards while sharing common corporate terminology when appropriate.

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