About this plugin
Iris Translate provides flexible website translation with two distinct methods to suit your needs:
Automatic Mode (Free) – Uses Google Translate’s client-side widget for instant translation with no setup required.
Google Cloud API Mode – Server-side translation with SEO-friendly translated URLs, hreflang tags, and full search engine indexability. Free for most websites (see below).
Key Features
Translation Methods
- Automatic Translation – Free client-side translation using Google Translate widget, no API key needed
- Google Cloud API Translation – Server-side translation for SEO-friendly, indexable translated content
- Configurable fade-in delay to hide flash of untranslated content (Automatic mode)
SEO & URL Translation
- SEO-friendly translated URLs (e.g., /fr/a-propos/ instead of /about/ )
- Automatic hreflang tag generation for proper search engine indexing
- Translated URL management interface with bulk translation tools
- Individual URL path customization per language
Custom Translation Overrides
- Override any automatic translation with your own custom text
- Frontend translation editor for logged-in administrators
- Edit translations directly on the page while browsing your translated site
- Manage all custom translations from the admin dashboard
Language Selector Widgets
- Multiple widget styles: Dropdown, Dropdown with flags, List, List with flags
- Floating language selector with configurable position (corners of the screen)
- Widget support for sidebars
- Shortcode support: [iris_translate]
- PHP function support for theme integration
- Display language names in their native script (e.g., “日本語” instead of “Japanese”)
Supported Languages
Over 25 languages supported including: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Arabic, Hindi, Turkish, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Czech, Romanian, Hungarian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian.
External Services
This plugin connects to Google services to provide translation functionality. By using this plugin, you agree to Google’s terms of service.
Automatic Translation Mode
When using Automatic Translation mode, this plugin loads the Google Translate Widget from Google’s servers.
What this service does: Provides client-side (in-browser) translation of your website content.
When data is sent: When a visitor selects a language to translate to, their browser communicates directly with Google Translate servers to fetch translations.
What data is sent:
* The text content of the webpage being translated
* The visitor’s IP address (sent by their browser to Google)
* Browser cookies set by Google (including the googtrans cookie to remember language preference)
Service provider: Google LLC
Links:
* Google Translate
* Google Privacy Policy
* Google Terms of Service
Google Cloud API Translation Mode
When using Google Cloud API mode, this plugin sends content to the Google Cloud Translation API for server-side translation.
What this service does: Provides server-side translation of your website content, enabling SEO-friendly translated URLs.
When data is sent:
, /fr/your-page/ ), the page content is sent to Google for translation
* When an administrator uses the “Translate All URLs” feature to bulk-translate URL slugs
* Translations are cached locally to minimize API calls
What data is sent:
* The text content of pages and posts being translated
* URL slugs when using the URL translation feature
* Your Google Cloud API key (for authentication)
What data is NOT sent:
* Visitor IP addresses (translation happens on your server, not in the visitor’s browser)
* Personal visitor information
* User account data
Service provider: Google Cloud (Google LLC)
Links:
* Google Cloud Translation API
* Google Cloud Privacy Policy
* Google Cloud Terms of Service
* Google Cloud Translation API Pricing (includes free tier)
Cookies
This plugin sets the following cookie:
- googtrans – Stores the visitor’s selected language preference. This is a session cookie used by Google Translate to remember which language the visitor chose. No personal data is stored in this cookie.
Data Privacy
- In Automatic mode, translation processing occurs on Google’s servers via the visitor’s browser
- In Google Cloud API mode, translation processing occurs on Google’s servers but is initiated by your WordPress server, not the visitor’s browser
- Translated content is cached in your WordPress database to improve performance and reduce external API calls
- No visitor personal data is collected or stored by this plugin
- No visitor tracking is performed by this plugin beyond the language preference cookie