Open your Shopify language settings and you can add Spanish, French, and German alongside English. The help docs say up to 20 languages, so four looks free.

Then you start actually running it, and language three stops you. Shopify's own Translate & Adapt app auto-translates a maximum of two languages. From the third language onward, every product title, every description, and every meta field is typed in by hand.

The limit is documented in the Shopify Help Center. It is not shown in the admin dialog where you add a language. On August 2, 2026, a merchant left a review on the App Store saying the app only auto-translates two languages, that this is not mentioned anywhere, and that you only find out when you hit the ceiling.

This article covers what Shopify's multilingual stack gives you for free, what Translate & Adapt can never translate, and what each paid app actually counts when it bills you. Researched August 31, 2026.

The short answer

If two languages are enough, you need no app. Translate & Adapt is free and covers you.

From the third language, you need either a paid app or your own translations imported by CSV. That is where cost begins.

When comparing apps, ignore "supported languages" and look at two numbers: how many languages are free, and how many words are free. langify's free plan covers five languages but only for manual translation. Weglot's free plan is one language and 2,000 words, so you can run out of words while you still have language headroom.

Only the first-party app has a non-English admin interface. langify lists German, English, Italian, French, and Spanish. Weglot lists English only.

What Shopify gives you without an app

The Help Center states that every Shopify plan except Lite lets you sell in up to 20 languages from a single store. The requirements are the Basic plan or higher, a theme compatible with multiple languages (all free Shopify themes are), a language selector in that theme, and either Translate & Adapt, a compatible third-party translation app, or your own CSV import.

Publishing a language creates unique URLs for each translated page. If your primary domain is example.com and you publish French and German, you get example.com/fr and example.com/de. hreflang tags are added automatically, and every published language is included in your sitemaps. That part is genuinely handled for you, and it is the foundation of international SEO.

Checkout is covered too. Shopify maintains professional translations for 33 checkout languages, so the payment flow appears in the shopper's language even if your storefront translations are incomplete.

In other words, the machinery for selling in multiple languages is standard. The only open question is who produces the translated text.

What "two languages" actually costs you

Translate & Adapt is developed by Shopify, is free, and launched on August 16, 2022. As of August 31, 2026 it holds a 4.5-star rating across 1,397 reviews on the App Store, and the admin interface is available in 21 languages.

The Help Center is explicit: you can automatically translate a maximum of two languages. The catch is that those two slots are consumed per language, and a July 30, 2026 review describes a language the merchant was translating by hand quietly taking one of the two free auto-translate slots.

Three behaviors are worth knowing before you plan around this.

Auto-translate only touches content that is untranslated or out of sync. Anything you edited by hand is left alone. That is the safe design, but the consequence is that every time you add a product, you have to go back into the app and run auto-translate again, for each language. On a store with frequent catalog turnover, that becomes a standing chore.

Policies are excluded from auto-translation. Refund and terms pages must be translated manually. The Help Center suggests consulting a professional translator for legal pages.

One inconsistency is worth flagging. Shopify's own two sources describe the translation engine differently: the App Store listing says auto-translate uses Google Translate, while the Help Center says automatic translations are provided by AI translations from Shopify. Which one reflects the current implementation cannot be determined from public documentation.

What Translate & Adapt cannot translate

The Help Center lists content types the app does not handle. The ones with real operational impact:

• Tags (product tags, article tags, blog tags)
• Collection filters
• Product images
• Forms created with the Shopify Forms app
• Manual payment method instructions
• Third-party app content not registered as a Shopify translatable resource or storefront locale file

The tag exclusion feeds straight into merchandising. If your storefront filters are built on product tags, shoppers browsing in another language will not see that filter at all.

URLs have their own constraints. You can translate /products/en-ca/shoes into /products/es-mx/zapatos, but the word products cannot be translated. URL handle translations also cannot be scoped per market — they apply to every market where that language is visible.

SEO fields behave in a way that surprises people. If a product's meta title and meta description are left at their default settings, they are not translatable — the defaults pull from the product title and description, so they automatically use the translated versions. The flip side is that if you have customized those fields, you have just created more translation work.

Some languages are excluded outright. Fourteen languages cannot be translated with Translate & Adapt, including Bengali, Tagalog (Filipino), Hawaiian, and Latin. If Tagalog is on your Southeast Asia roadmap, this app is off the list before you start.

What disappears and what survives

Multilingual stores rarely break while translations are being created. They break when translations are removed.

Uninstalling the app does not delete your translations. That is the good outcome. To remove them, delete inside the app before uninstalling, or use CSV export and import afterward.

Unpublishing a language keeps the translations but makes that language's URLs return 404. The Help Center tells you to create redirects first. Skip that step on a language search engines have already indexed and you lose the traffic outright.

Deleting a language permanently deletes all translations for it. Adding the language back later does not bring them back.

The most easily missed one: changing your store's default language deletes any existing translations for the language you switch to. Move a Japanese-default store to English and your English translations are gone. The Help Center recommends exporting first.

Your options from language three

There are three.

CSV. Shopify supports exporting and importing translations natively, and you can scope the export to untranslated content only, or outdated content only. You supply the text yourself, and it costs nothing extra. If you already work with a translation agency, this is the most direct path. Note that imports only apply to secondary languages — you cannot update default-language content this way.

A translation app. This is where you start paying.

Not adding the language. Two well-maintained languages often outperform five machine-translated ones.

What each app actually meters

App Store listings as of August 31, 2026.

	Shopify Translate & Adapt	langify	Weglot
Developer	Shopify	langify GmbH & Co. KG (Germany)	Weglot (France)
Billing unit	Auto-translated languages only	Languages plus translated words	Languages plus translated words
Free plan	Free (2 auto-translated languages)	Unlimited manual translation, up to 5 languages	1 language, 2,000 words
Cheapest paid plan	None	17.50 USD/month	17 USD/month
Rating	4.5	4.7	4.5
Reviews	1,397	680	788
Non-English admin	Yes (21 languages)	German, Italian, French, Spanish	No
Billing	Via Shopify	Via Shopify	May be billed separately by Weglot

Three things stand out.

"Free" means something different in each case. Translate & Adapt's free tier means two languages auto-translated. langify's means five languages translated by hand. Weglot's means one language and 2,000 words. langify looks widest on language count, but it is not automatic translation.

Word-count pricing tracks copy length, not catalog size. Weglot's 2,000 free words covers a few dozen product pages at most. langify's included word allowances step from 10,000 (Basic) to 200,000 (Premium), with AI translation billed above that. The longer your product descriptions, the sooner you hit the ceiling regardless of how many SKUs you have.

Weglot may bill outside your Shopify invoice. The listing states that external charges may be billed by Weglot separately. If you only review your Shopify invoice, you will not see the full cost.

Where each app fits

Shopify Translate & Adapt

For stores that finish at two languages, or that can supply translations by CSV. The admin is available in 21 languages, and you can open the editor from any resource page via "Localize." Swapping logos and images per language or per market from the theme editor is a first-party integration no third-party app matches.

The constraints are covered above. A June 9, 2026 review additionally reports that unit conversions cannot be turned off and that no-translate markers are not always respected. The 4.5-star rating carries 59 one-star reviews (4%), largely about the two-language limit and inconsistent behavior.

langify

For stores that want five or more languages and will either produce the text themselves or layer in AI translation gradually. Launched March 24, 2014, it advertises the ability to translate third-party app content — which is precisely where Translate & Adapt stops.

As of August 31, 2026: Free covers unlimited manual translation and up to 5 languages; Basic at 17.50 USD/month covers up to 20 languages, 10,000 included AI-translation words, 24/7 support, and third-party app translation; Growth at 29.95 USD/month adds bulk translation and 50,000 included words; Premium at 59.95 USD/month includes 200,000 words and priority support. All in USD, billed every 30 days.

There is no Japanese admin interface, so whoever configures it needs English or German.

Weglot

For stores prioritizing multilingual SEO and hands-on translation quality control. It offers a choice of DeepL, Google, or Microsoft engines, a custom AI language model trained on your brand voice, and glossary rules.

As of August 31, 2026: Free covers 1 language and 2,000 words; Starter at 17 USD/month covers 1 language and 10,000 words; Business at 32 USD/month covers 3 languages and 50,000 words; Pro at 87 USD/month covers 5 languages and 200,000 words. Annual billing saves 17%, and paid plans include a 14-day free trial.

Both limits bind at once. Three languages requires Business or higher, and you still have to fit inside 50,000 words.

Choosing by situation

Two languages

Translate & Adapt alone. No cost. Just write down the rule that adding products means re-running auto-translate.

Three or more languages, translated by an agency

Translate & Adapt plus CSV. Export "untranslated content only," send it out, import what comes back. No app fee.

Three or more languages, launched fast on machine translation

langify or Weglot. Large catalog with long descriptions favors langify (larger included word allowances). Few languages with tight quality control favors Weglot (glossary plus custom AI model).

The admin has to be in your team's language

Only the first-party Translate & Adapt qualifies today. If that is non-negotiable, plan around two languages or lean on CSV.

The App Store also surfaces T Lab - AI Language Translate as a related app; it carries the Built for Shopify badge with a 4.9 rating across roughly 950 reviews. This article did not verify its pricing or language coverage, so it is not in the comparison table. Check the listing directly if you want it on your shortlist.

Pre-install checklist

• Do you need auto-translation for two languages or fewer? If so, the cost is zero
• Are product tags powering your storefront filters? They will not work in other languages
• Have you customized meta titles? That increases the translation workload
• How long are your product descriptions? Essential if you are considering word-metered pricing
• Is your target language among the 14 Translate & Adapt cannot handle?
• Who translates the policy pages? They are excluded from auto-translation
• Might you change the store's default language later? That deletes translations
• Do you have a redirect plan for retiring a language?
• Will billing appear on your Shopify invoice, or separately from the vendor?

In summary

Shopify supports up to 20 languages, but only two of them can be auto-translated for free. Knowing that up front changes the order in which you design your language rollout.

1. Confirm whether two languages is enough. If so, no app
2. Decide whether languages three and up will be machine-translated or human-translated. Human means CSV is sufficient
3. If machine-translated, estimate from your own copy length whether the language cap or the word cap binds first
4. Check the admin language and support coverage, then run one language through a free plan or trial before committing

Pricing and specifications change. Verify against the Shopify Help Center and each app's App Store listing before you install.