Compare git8n
This page compares git8n with four tools that also translate the locale files of an application: Fink, Tolgee, Crowdin and Weblate. Each of them does more than git8n in some areas. The table says where.
Checked on 2026-11-03. The facts about the other tools come from their own documentation, linked under the table. A tool changes: read its page before you decide.
The short answer
- git8n edits the JSON locale files of a GitHub repository. Translators propose, reviewers publish, and each publication is a commit or a pull request. A translator can sign in with a link by email, with no GitHub account. Agents work through an MCP server and a CLI. You host it.
- Fink is also an editor for the files of a GitHub repository, in the browser, with nothing to host. Everyone who saves needs a GitHub account, and rights are the rights of GitHub.
- Tolgee keeps the texts in a Tolgee project. A CLI or the API moves them to and from the repository. It edits texts inside the running application.
- Crowdin is a full localization platform for professional translators, with translation memory and machine translation. It keeps the texts in a Crowdin project, and sends them back as pull requests.
- Weblate is an open source platform that treats the repository as the place of the texts, with a working copy and a database of its own, and many formats and hosts.
The table
| git8n | Fink | Tolgee | Crowdin | Weblate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where the texts live | The repository only. The database holds accounts and rights, not texts | The repository only | A Tolgee project, pushed to or pulled from the repository by its CLI | A Crowdin project, synced with the repository | The repository, with a working copy and a database of Weblate |
| Git hosts | GitHub | GitHub | Not checked | GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and more | Any git host, and Mercurial and Subversion |
| Who needs a GitHub account | The admin who installs the GitHub App. Translators can sign in by email | Everyone who saves a change | Nobody: a Tolgee account | Nobody: a Crowdin account | Nobody: a Weblate account |
| Review | A proposal is a commit on i18n/<language>. A reviewer publishes it | A commit on a branch, or a pull request from a fork | Not checked | Pull requests from a service branch (l10n_… by default) | Commits pushed to the repository, or pull requests |
| Rights | A role and a list of languages for each member, in each repository | The rights of GitHub: no accounts, invitations or roles of its own | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked |
| MCP server | Yes, over stdio (npx -y @git8n/cli mcp) | Not checked | Yes, remote, with sign-in or an API key | Yes | Not in its documentation |
| CLI | Yes (@git8n/cli), with check, a linter that needs no server | Not checked | Yes | Yes | Yes (wlc) |
| Self-hosting | Yes, and required: there is no hosted service | No: hosted at fink.inlang.com | Yes, or Tolgee Cloud | No: a cloud service | Yes, or Hosted Weblate |
| Formats | JSON files of nested objects, read with the dotted keys of i18next | i18next JSON, next-intl, the inlang message format | Many, i18next JSON included | Dozens, i18next JSON included | Many, i18next JSON included |
| Translation memory, MT | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0-only | MIT | Apache-2.0, with enterprise features under another licence | Proprietary | GPL-3.0 |
« Not checked » means that this page did not find the fact in the documentation of the tool. It does not mean « no ».
Sources
- Fink: Fink llms.txt (formats, GitHub only, no translation memory or machine translation), Translators and non-developers (accounts and rights), inlang-fink on GitHub (licence).
- Tolgee: MCP server setup, Push and pull strings, Supported formats, Self-hosting, LICENSE. Translation memory and machine translation: Fink vs Tolgee, a page of a competitor.
- Crowdin: GitHub integration (service branch
l10n_), Crowdin MCP Server, crowdin-cli, Crowdin docs for LLMs (no self-hosted edition is described). Hosts, formats, translation memory and machine translation: Fink vs Crowdin, a page of a competitor. - Weblate: Version control integration, Code hosting, Formats, Translation memory and installation (the index has no MCP page), Weblate Client, WeblateOrg/weblate on GitHub (licence).
What git8n does not do
- No translation memory and no glossary. Each key is translated on its own.
- No machine translation on the server.
git8n prompt translatewrites a prompt for a model that you run, and an agent proposes through the MCP server. Both go through a review, as a person's proposal does. - JSON only. No YAML,
.po, XLIFF, ARB or mobile string files. A repository and its files gives the layout. - GitHub only. The editor reads and writes through a GitHub App. GitLab, Bitbucket and other hosts are not supported.
- No hosted service. You deploy the editor yourself: Deploy.
- No in-context editing and no screenshots. A translator sees the key, the source text and the keys near it, not the screen of the application.
When to pick another tool
- Fink, if you want nothing to host and everybody already has a GitHub account with the rights they need.
- Tolgee, if people must edit the texts inside the running application.
- Crowdin, if an agency or professional translators work in the tool every day, with translation memory and machine translation.
- Weblate, if your code is not on GitHub, or your files are not JSON.
Coming from Crowdin? Migrate from Crowdin.