MateCat
Free hosted translation jobs with memory, machine translation, sharing and an optional professional marketplace.
Technical Profile & Specs
verified 2026-08-11
- Cost
- $0 / forever (Open Source)
- License
- LGPL-3.0
- Hosting Model
- Local or hosted (your machine or their cloud)
- Platforms
- webself-hostedthey host it
- Installation
- Use the free hosted service, or follow the manual Ubuntu server installation guide
- Operational Setup
- None for the hosted service; self-hosting is a specialist stack involving Ubuntu, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Redis, ActiveMQ, Node, certificates, compiled assets, and long-running daemons.
- Where Your Data Lives
- On the hosted service, source files, segments, translation memories, project state, and output files reside on MateCat's servers; self-hosted data resides in MySQL plus the server's storage and supporting services.
- The Catch / Trade-off
- MateCat covers CAT editing and machine translation, but its marketplace, vendor procurement, payments, team administration, document AI, and end-to-end job management are much thinner than Smartcat's.
Replaces 1 paid app
MateCat FAQ
Common questions
Is MateCat free and open source?+
MateCat is an open-source tool licensed under LGPL-3.0 that runs on local or hosted. Free hosted translation jobs with memory, machine translation, sharing and an optional professional marketplace.
What paid software does MateCat replace?+
MateCat serves as a free replacement for 1 paid SaaS application: Smartcat.
How do you install and set up MateCat?+
Installation: Use the free hosted service, or follow the manual Ubuntu server installation guide. Setup notes: None for the hosted service; self-hosting is a specialist stack involving Ubuntu, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Redis, ActiveMQ, Node, certificates, compiled assets, and long-running daemons.
What is the catch or trade-off with MateCat?+
MateCat covers CAT editing and machine translation, but its marketplace, vendor procurement, payments, team administration, document AI, and end-to-end job management are much thinner than Smartcat's.