MAITO offers two translation engines: DeepL Cloud Translation and Local AI Translation. This guide helps you understand the differences and choose the right one for each task.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | DeepL Cloud | Local AI |
|---|---|---|
| Translation Quality | Excellent (professional-grade) | Very Good (general use) |
| Privacy | Data sent to cloud | 100% private - nothing leaves PC |
| Internet Required | Yes | No - works completely offline |
| Cost | €4.99/mo + usage or 500K free chars/mo | Free |
| Setup | API key | Download 2-8GB model |
| Speed | Consistently fast | Depends on your hardware |
| Text Translation | ✅ Up to 130,000 chars | ✅ Unlimited (intelligent chunking) |
| Document Translation | ✅ DOCX, PDF, PPTX, HTML, TXT | ❌ Not yet (text extraction possible) |
| Website Translation | ✅ Full support | ❌ Not yet (copy-paste works) |
| Formality Control | ✅ Formal/Informal/Default | ❌ Neutral tone only |
| Languages | 30+ languages | 32 languages |
| Streaming | ❌ All-at-once results | ✅ Word-by-word streaming |
| Performance Metrics | ❌ | ✅ Tokens/sec, time estimates |
Best Approach
Configure both engines and switch based on your needs! Most users use Local AI 80% of the time for privacy and zero cost, switching to DeepL for documents or when they need the highest quality.
Translation Quality Comparison
DeepL Quality
Strengths:
- Industry-leading translation accuracy
- Excellent handling of idioms and context
- Professional-grade output for publications
- Consistently polished phrasing
- Great with technical and specialized content
Best For:
- Business documents
- Marketing materials
- Content for publication
- Legal documents
- Academic papers
- Official correspondence
Example (English → German):
- Source: “The meeting was productive, and we made significant progress.”
- DeepL: “Das Treffen war produktiv, und wir haben bedeutende Fortschritte gemacht.”
- Quality: Near-perfect, publication-ready
Local AI Quality
Strengths:
- Very good translation accuracy for general use
- Understands context well
- Natural-sounding output
- Excellent for comprehension
- Good with everyday language
Considerations:
- Occasionally less polished phrasing than DeepL
- May need review for published content
- Best for understanding, not always for publishing as-is
Best For:
- Reading foreign content
- Email comprehension
- Chat messages
- Personal documents
- Quick translations
- Sensitive/confidential content
Example (English → German):
- Source: “The meeting was productive, and we made significant progress.”
- Local AI: “Das Treffen war produktiv und wir machten bedeutende Fortschritte.”
- Quality: Very good, understandable, slightly different phrasing
Quality Gap Closing
Local AI models improve constantly. Rosetta models are specifically optimized for translation, providing quality that’s excellent for most use cases even if not quite matching DeepL’s polish.
Privacy and Security
DeepL Privacy
How It Works:
- Your text is sent to DeepL’s servers in Germany
- Processed on their infrastructure
- Translation returned to you
- DeepL stores data temporarily for processing
DeepL’s Privacy Commitments:
- GDPR compliant
- ISO 27001 certified
- Data encrypted in transit
- No data used for training (Pro plan)
- Servers in EU
Good For:
- Non-confidential content
- Users comfortable with cloud processing
- Organizations with approved vendor lists
Not Ideal For:
- Highly confidential documents
- Sensitive personal information
- Strict data sovereignty requirements
- Classified information
Local AI Privacy
How It Works:
- Everything happens on your computer
- No internet connection used for translation
- Nothing sent to any server
- Translation model runs locally
Privacy Benefits:
- 100% private - no external access
- Perfect for confidential content
- Complete data sovereignty
- No third-party involvement
- Can work fully offline
Perfect For:
- Confidential business documents
- Medical/legal records
- Personal sensitive information
- GDPR-strict environments
- Classified content
- Any privacy-critical use case
Privacy Champion
If privacy is your primary concern, Local AI is unmatched. Your data never leaves your computer, period. Want to verify this yourself? Check out How to Verify MAITO Doesn’t Send Data - a beginner-friendly guide to monitoring network connections.
Cost Comparison
DeepL Costs
Free Plan:
- Cost: €0/month
- Limit: 500,000 characters/month
- Overage: Access pauses until next month
- Best For: Light users, occasional translations
Pro Plan:
- Base: €4.99/month
- Usage: €0.00002 per character (~€20 per million)
- Limit: Based on budget
- Best For: Heavy users, businesses
Example Costs (Pro Plan):
- 10,000 chars (2-3 pages): €0.20
- 50,000 chars (10-15 pages): €1.00
- 250,000 chars (50-75 pages): €5.00
- 1 million chars (200+ pages): €20.00
Local AI Costs
One-Time Costs:
- Model Download: Free (2-8GB bandwidth)
- Setup Time: 5-10 minutes
Ongoing Costs:
- Per Translation: €0.00
- Monthly Fee: €0.00
- Character Limits: Unlimited (after setup)
Only Cost: Electricity to run your computer (negligible)
Cost Winner
For heavy users, Local AI pays for itself immediately. Translate millions of characters at zero cost after the initial model download.
Performance and Speed
DeepL Performance
Characteristics:
- Consistently fast regardless of your hardware
- Powered by cloud servers
- Typical response: 2-5 seconds for most texts
- No variability based on your system
Dependent On:
- Internet connection speed
- DeepL server load (minimal variation)
Best For:
- Users with older/slower computers
- When consistency is critical
- Quick translations needed
Local AI Performance
Characteristics:
- Highly variable based on YOUR hardware
- Fast on modern systems (10-20 tokens/sec)
- Slower on older systems (2-5 tokens/sec)
- Streaming output (see progress in real-time)
Performance Factors:
- CPU speed and generation
- Available RAM (8GB+ recommended)
- GPU availability (for DML models)
- System load (other apps running)
Typical Speeds:
- High-end desktop (i7/Ryzen 7, 16GB, GPU): 15-25 tokens/sec
- Mid-range laptop (i5/Ryzen 5, 8GB): 8-12 tokens/sec
- Entry-level (i3, 4GB): 2-5 tokens/sec
What's Acceptable?
10+ tokens/sec feels responsive for most users. A 200-word paragraph translates in 20-30 seconds, which is fast enough for everyday use.
Feature Differences
Document Translation
DeepL:
✅ DOCX, PDF, PPTX, HTML, TXT
✅ Preserves formatting and layout
✅ Images and structure maintained
✅ Up to 10MB files
Local AI:
❌ Not currently supported
⚠️ Workaround: Drag-drop to extract text
🔜 Coming in future updates
Winner: DeepL (for now)
Formality Control
DeepL:
✅ Formal, Informal, Default options
✅ Language-specific (German Sie/du, Japanese keigo, etc.)
✅ Great for business vs casual content
Local AI:
❌ Neutral tone only
❌ No formality adjustment
Winner: DeepL
Streaming Translation
DeepL:
❌ Returns complete translation at once
❌ No incremental progress
❌ Wait for entire result
Local AI:
✅ Word-by-word streaming
✅ See translation as it’s generated
✅ Progress percentage shown
✅ Can cancel mid-translation
Winner: Local AI (for user experience)
Text Length Handling
DeepL:
- Up to 130,000 characters per request
- Entire books can be translated at once
- Single-request translation
Local AI:
- Unlimited text length
- Intelligent chunking at sentence/paragraph boundaries
- Completely transparent to users (seamless experience)
Winner: Both work well for any text length
Use Case Recommendations
Use DeepL When:
✅ Translating documents (DOCX, PDF, PPTX)
- Only DeepL supports formatted documents currently
- Essential for business/academic documents
✅ Professional/published content
- Highest quality output
- Marketing materials, websites, official docs
✅ Need formality control
- Business communications requiring formal tone
- Language pairs with strong formal/informal distinction
✅ Your computer is slow
- DeepL performance independent of your hardware
- Consistent speed for everyone
✅ Single-request processing
- Processes entire text in one request (no chunking)
- Slightly simpler internal processing
Use Local AI When:
✅ Privacy is critical
- Confidential business information
- Sensitive personal data
- Classified content
- GDPR-strict requirements
✅ Working offline
- On planes, trains, remote locations
- Poor/no internet connectivity
- Want guaranteed availability
✅ Translating frequently
- Zero per-translation cost
- Unlimited usage
- Heavy daily translation needs
✅ Quick personal translations
- Emails, chat messages, social media
- General understanding needed
- Not for publication
✅ Budget constraints
- No monthly fees
- No per-character costs
- Free after model download
Real-World Scenarios
Scenario 1: Business Email from Foreign Client
Situation: Received important email from Japanese client.
Recommendation: Local AI
- Why: Email likely contains business details (privacy matters)
- Quality: More than sufficient to understand content
- Cost: Free
- Speed: Fast enough for email
- Alternative: DeepL if need to quote/reply using exact translation
Scenario 2: Contract Translation
Situation: Need to translate 20-page contract from German to English.
Recommendation: DeepL
- Why: Professional quality critical for legal documents
- Document: PDF with formatting to preserve
- Formality: Formal tone appropriate
- Review: Still needs legal review, but better starting point
Scenario 3: Daily News Reading
Situation: Read foreign news daily for research.
Recommendation: Local AI
- Why: Privacy (don’t share reading habits)
- Cost: Free for unlimited daily reading
- Quality: Sufficient for comprehension
- Speed: Fast enough on mid-range systems
Scenario 4: Marketing Brochure
Situation: Translate company brochure for international clients.
Recommendation: DeepL + Human Review
- Why: Publication quality critical
- Documents: PPTX with formatting
- Formality: Professional tone needed
- Quality: Highest possible, then human polish
Scenario 5: Personal Travel Diary
Situation: Translate personal diary entries while traveling.
Recommendation: Local AI
- Why: Private content
- Offline: Works on plane/train
- Cost: Free for unlimited entries
- Quality: Personal use, not publication
Can I Use Both?
Absolutely! And you should.
Hybrid Strategy
Many MAITO users follow this pattern:
80% of translations: Local AI
- Daily emails
- Quick translations
- Personal content
- Reading comprehension
- Social media
- Chatting
20% of translations: DeepL
- Business documents
- Content for publication
- Client-facing materials
- Official correspondence
- When highest quality needed
Switching is Easy
- Open Settings → Translation tab
- Select desired engine
- Click Apply
- Switch takes effect immediately
Best Practice
Start with Local AI as your default. Switch to DeepL when you need document support or professional quality. This maximizes privacy while ensuring quality when it matters.
What’s Next?
Learn more:
- Verify No Data Is Sent - Prove Local AI privacy yourself
- Configure Local Translation - Set up Local AI
- Get DeepL API Key - Set up DeepL
- Switch Between Engines - Quick switching
- Understanding Costs - DeepL pricing details
- Local Translation Deep Dive - Technical details
Summary
DeepL: Best quality, documents, formality, consistent speed - but costs money and requires internet Local AI: Complete privacy, offline, zero cost, unlimited - but quality slightly lower and speed varies by hardware
The Smart Choice: Configure both, use Local AI by default, switch to DeepL when you need its specific advantages!