DeepL is considered one of the best translators available today, competing with GPT, but unfortunately, the price of its API is quite high. In this article, I will share a tip on how to obtain the DeepL API in a more affordable way without character limits for you to attach to your projects.
You have probably heard of RapidAPI, a site where third parties host their own APIs. When you sign up, you can find a great translation option from DeepL that charges 20 USD for 5,000 daily requests.
It is a third-party API, so we may be hesitant to know if the translation is really from DeepL, but from the tests I did, it is indeed the translation from DeepL. However, I cannot confirm if the quality is the same as the paid API, but it probably is.
DeepL API charged per requests
The original DeepL API is also available on RapidAPI, but with its traditional pricing charging per character, which personally doesn't make sense at all. This API that I found charges per request, so you can not only pay a fixed monthly fee, but also translate larger texts without worrying about outrageous charges.
The biggest problem is that you should not exceed the limit of 5,000 daily requests, as the charge for additional requests can be exorbitant. I was shocked when I saw a charge of 70 USD because I miscalculated daily usage and was exceeding 700 requests per day.
Fortunately, RapidAPI along with the API author refunded me 50 USD because I was receiving notifications that the quota was being reached, but I thought the API simply stopped working. Do not make this mistake, there is a huge price difference between paying for additional requests with the daily quota.
Other plans are available for more requests, so feel free to check out the $50 plan for 15,000 daily requests. You can also request a custom plan.
How to limit the daily quota?
I use the API in N8N to integrate with Translatepress, but to avoid exorbitant charges, I configure it to request once every 20 seconds, consuming around 4800 requests daily.
This API cannot be used without a proper time or restriction configuration that can be set up along with JSON showing the number of your daily requests.
I hope you liked this little tip, always look for any API on RapidAPI or a similar site, you'll save a lot more, in addition to simplifying and centralizing the use of APIs.