Choose an AI provider and keep API costs low

Because you bring your own API key, your provider bills you directly. This tutorial helps you choose a provider and keep spending predictable.

Step 1: shortlist two providers

Pick two from Providers. Choose the ones whose consoles you can use today. If you have no paid key, start with Free basic and Gemini's free tier. See Free basic and local models.

Step 2: run the same test

Translate the same short page with each provider. Ask a native reader to compare. Quality in your language pair matters more than general reputation.

Step 3: check current pricing

Prices and free tiers change. Open each provider's own console and pricing page and note how usage is billed. Do not rely on old figures.

Step 4: set limits before you scale

1. Create a separate API key for this site.
2. Set a spending or usage limit in the provider console if one is available.
3. Turn on usage alerts if the provider offers them.

Step 5: translate only what you need

• Start with your most important pages.
• Skip old, low-traffic posts until the main pages are done.
• Do not re-translate pages that have not changed.
• Avoid repeating a full run to fix a few strings. Fix those by hand in TranslatePress.

The plugin helps: it sends only untranslated strings by default, translates identical strings once, and skips strings with no letters. The Dashboard shows how many strings and characters you have translated, which helps you compare with your provider's bill.

Step 6: measure and adjust

After a pilot run, check usage in the provider console. Multiply by the number of similar pages to estimate the full cost, then decide whether to continue, change provider, or use a free option.

Keep keys safe

Read Security. Revoke keys you no longer use.