Cheap translation memory tool for freelancers: what a year costs

A cheap translation memory tool for freelancers can mean free, a low yearly price, or free until your memory grows. We looked at what six tools cost a freelancer over a year, from their makers’ pages on 16 October 2026, and at the costs a price list doesn’t show.

We make Lexora Studio, a CAT tool that competes with the paid tools below. Read this with that in mind. Every price comes from the maker’s own page, checked on 16 October 2026. We haven’t tested the other tools ourselves, so what we say about them is what their pages say.

What a year costs

Tool	A year	Runs on
OmegaT	Free, open source	Windows, macOS, Linux
Matecat	Free	Browser
CafeTran	Free until your memories and glossaries reach a certain size, then a licence	Windows, macOS, Linux
Lexora Pro	€384 paid yearly, or €39 a month; VAT included for the EU and UK	Windows
memoQ pro	€396 paid yearly; VAT on top for EU residents without a VAT ID	Windows
Trados Go	£288 paid yearly, excluding VAT; 1 million target words a year	Browser
Trados	£408 paid yearly for Trados Freelance, excluding VAT	Windows, and the browser

Sources: OmegaT, Matecat, CafeTran Espresso, which doesn’t give its licence price on that page, Lexora pricing, memoQ pricing (translator pro, under Productivity for individuals) and Trados pricing for freelance translators, which showed us prices in pounds. Prices change, so check them before you buy.

Costs a price list doesn’t show

The files your clients send. A free tool that can’t open an agency’s Trados or memoQ package costs you the job, or the time to work around it. Before you choose, list the formats your last ten jobs came in and check the tool against them.
Where your memory lives. OmegaT and Lexora are programs you install, and Lexora keeps your memory on your computer. Matecat runs in the browser and keeps your data in its cloud, its page says. Some clients’ contracts say where their texts may go, so read yours.
Getting your memory out again. TMX is the format most CAT tools read and write. A tool that exports your memory as TMX lets you leave without losing years of work. OmegaT’s page names TMX, and Lexora reads and writes it; ask the same of any tool you try.
Machine translation and AI. Matecat includes machine translation by ModernMT for free, its page says. Trados sells Language Weaver Pro as an add-on. Lexora includes 400,000 AI credits a month in Pro, and your memory fills what it can first, for free.
Time to learn it. Every switch costs some hours. We think a tool that lets you keep the keyboard shortcuts you already know costs fewer.

What the free tools do better

OmegaT costs nothing, its source code is open, and it runs on macOS and Linux as well as Windows; Lexora runs only on Windows. Matecat costs nothing and works on any computer with a browser, with nothing to install. CafeTran also runs on macOS and Linux, and its page says it supports Trados and memoQ bilingual files and Trados packages. If price is what decides, these are where to start.

How we would choose

This is our opinion. If you mostly translate Word files sent directly by clients, we think a free tool can be enough, and OmegaT is the one to try first. If agencies send you Trados and memoQ packages, the tool has to write the return package they expect, and that is worth paying for. If you work in the browser on several computers, Matecat or Trados Go fit better than a desktop tool.

We built Lexora for the freelancer in the middle: Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, Trados and memoQ packages, and a translation memory for each client on your own computer. What it leaves out is on the Trados alternative and memoQ alternative pages.

What a year costs

Costs a price list doesn’t show

What the free tools do better

How we would choose

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