DeepL API Pricing and Features for Developers 2026: Complete Guide
The DeepL API gives developers access to the same high-quality neural translation engine that powers deepl.com. Here is everything you need to know about pricing, endpoints, limits, and getting your first translation call working.
Try DeepL free: deepl.com offers 5,000 characters per translation with no account required. The free API tier at deepl.com/pro-api includes 500,000 characters/month for developers.
DeepL API Plans (2026)
| Plan | Cost | Characters | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| API Free | $0 | 500K/month | Development, testing, small apps |
| API Pro | $5.49/1M chars | Unlimited | Production applications |
Getting Your API Key
- Go to deepl.com/pro-api and create a free account
- Navigate to Account → API Keys
- Click Add Key — your key looks like
xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx:fx - Free API keys end in
:fxand useapi-free.deepl.com— paid keys useapi.deepl.com
First API Call: Python
# Install DeepL Python SDK pip install deepl import deepl translator = deepl.Translator("YOUR_DEEPL_API_KEY") # Translate text result = translator.translate_text( "Hello, how are you?", target_lang="DE" # German ) print(result.text) # "Hallo, wie geht es Ihnen?" # Translate multiple texts at once results = translator.translate_text( ["Good morning", "Thank you", "Goodbye"], target_lang="FR" # French ) for r in results: print(r.text)
REST API Direct Call
# Direct HTTP request (any language) curl -X POST "https://api-free.deepl.com/v2/translate" -H "Authorization: DeepL-Auth-Key YOUR_KEY_HERE" -d "text=Hello+world" -d "target_lang=ES" # Response: { "translations": [{ "detected_source_language": "EN", "text": "Hola mundo" }] }
Document Translation via API
import deepl, pathlib translator = deepl.Translator("YOUR_API_KEY") # Translate a Word document translator.translate_document_from_filepath( "report_en.docx", "report_de.docx", target_lang="DE" ) # Translated file saved to report_de.docx # Preserves all formatting, tables, images
Key API Features
- Language detection: DeepL auto-detects source language — you only need to specify target
- Formality control: Pass
formality="more"orformality="less"for languages that support formal/informal registers (German, French, Spanish, etc.) - HTML handling: Set
tag_handling="html"to translate only text nodes while preserving HTML tags - Glossaries via API: Create and apply glossaries programmatically for consistent terminology
Yes. DeepL offers a free API tier (DeepL API Free) with 500,000 characters per month at no cost. This is sufficient for development, testing, and small-scale applications. The free API key has the same endpoints as the paid version but with monthly character limits.
The free API tier allows 500,000 characters per month. DeepL API Pro charges $5.49 per million characters translated, with no monthly character cap. Characters are counted per API call including HTML tags when present.
Yes. The DeepL API supports translating multiple texts in a single request by passing an array of text strings. This reduces API calls and improves throughput for applications translating many short strings simultaneously.
Yes. The DeepL API supports document translation via the /v2/document endpoint. You upload the file, DeepL processes it asynchronously, and you download the result. Supported formats: .docx, .pptx, .pdf, .txt, .html, .xlf.