Kobold vs Shopify Translate & Adapt

Translate & Adapt is Shopify's own translation app. It launched in 2022 ^[6], installs itself when you add a language to your store ^[5], and is free ^[1]. On the Shopify App Store it has 4.4 out of 5 stars from 1,409 reviews ^[1]. It does three jobs:

• Automatic translation

  “AI translations from Shopify” for products, collections, blog posts, pages and theme content. How many languages you can translate this way depends on where your store is ^[2][5].

• Manual translation

  A side-by-side editor for any language, opened from the app, from a product or page (More actions › Localize) or from the theme editor ^[1][3].

• Adapt per market

  Different text, images, videos or logos for a market in the same language, such as “Sweaters” in one market and “Jumpers” in another ^[3].

Translations are stored natively in Shopify, stay there if you uninstall the app, and show up in other apps that use Shopify's Translations API ^[4].

Kobold (usekobold.com) is a standalone web app for Shopify theme changes and translations. It translates into the languages you've already added in Shopify, published or not, in four areas: theme text (buttons, labels, cart text), theme content (text you typed into sections and theme settings), store content (products, collections, pages, blog posts, menus and image alt text) and the metafield and metaobject fields you choose ^[20]. It writes native Shopify translations too, so they stay if you cancel Kobold ^[20][22]. It connects through a Shopify app with nine permissions:

• read_themes
• write_themes
• read_translations
• write_translations
• read_locales
• read_products
• read_content
• read_metaobjects
• read_metaobject_definitions

The last four are read-only: they tell Kobold when your content changes, for auto-translate, and let it list your metafields and metaobjects so you can choose which to translate. With these permissions Kobold can't create or edit your products, pages or other store content. For translations it only adds translations next to the original ^[22].

Kobold has no language limit of its own. It translates into every language you've added in Shopify, and each language is charged by the word: 12 credits per 1,000 words of your store's original text ^[20][21].

In most countries, no. Shopify's words: “After you add or change content, such as a new product, return to the app and click Auto-translate again for each language.” In the 12 European countries, Auto-sync can do it for you. It runs once a week, is off by default, and is turned on per language, so the first sync can be up to a week away ^[2]. Re-running automatic translation updates machine translations that are out of date and never changes translations you added or edited by hand. For some theme content, such as your theme's default text, it only adds missing translations ^[2].

Kobold's auto-translate keeps a language up to date as you change the store. It's off by default and set per language by an owner, once you've translated that language yourself at least once ^[20].

• When it runs

  30 minutes after a change (later changes join the same batch) or once a day at 03:00 in your store's timezone ^[20].

• Apply automatically or hold for review

  Apply adds each translation once it passes Kobold's checks. Hold keeps the drafts on the Translations page until someone approves them, for up to 14 days ^[20].

• What it covers

  Store content and theme content. Theme text (buttons and labels) is translated when you press Translate missing, never automatically ^[20].

• Big changes wait

  A batch of more than 20,000 words across its languages, after an import for example, is always held for review, and owners are emailed ^[20].

• Limits and undo

  An optional monthly credit limit per store, and Undo for 30 days on everything it added ^[20].

Kobold decides what is copy before anything is translated, and checks every draft after ^[20][23]:

• Never translated

  Metafields you haven't chosen, URL, file, number and reference fields, tags, checkout and email notifications, and payment and delivery names. URL handles only when you ask, and shop policies only when you ask and approve each one.

• Theme settings

  Settings the theme matches on are never translated: swatch and option names, colour names, links and style settings.

• Code hidden

  Script, style, iframe and SVG blocks are hidden from the translator and must come back byte for byte.

• Blocking checks

  A draft can't go live if it changes a placeholder, link, email, phone number or HTML, adds a number, misses a plural form, breaks your glossary or comes back empty.

Metafields and metaobjects are opt-in, field by field. Kobold lists the fields defined in your store, and you tick the ones that hold copy, like care instructions or FAQ answers. App fields start off and are never suggested, so an app's data stays as it is unless you choose it. In a JSON field only the text values are translated, and keys, numbers, links, IDs and colours stay as they are, with the structure unchanged ^[20].

Kobold's checks have limits too. They catch changed links, numbers, code and markup, not meaning: a plain word in a text field that a script matches on can still be translated. A text field you tick is translated as text, so if it holds an ID or a colour name, that can be drafted too, and which JSON values count as text is decided by rules, not by reading your theme; in a translation you start, you see it in the review before it goes live. In Apply automatically, no person reads a draft before it goes live, and Kobold's check of how text fits on the page runs only on translations you start yourself ^[20].

Translate & Adapt's help pages and App Store listing don't mention a glossary, do-not-translate terms or brand-voice settings ^[1][2]. They don't describe an approval step either. Shopify advises: “Before you publish translations to your storefront, review them for accuracy.” You can translate a language before you publish it, then check it in the side-by-side editor, one resource at a time ^[2][3].

• Glossary

  Names Kobold keeps as is (“Oak & Ember”) and words it always translates one way (“cutting board” → “Schneidebrett”). A draft that breaks it can't be approved until it's fixed, and auto-translate follows it too ^[20].

• Brand voice

  Kobold drafts in your store's voice, from your store memory and translations you approved ^[20].

• Sample of 10

  Before translating everything, Kobold translates 10 strings per language. You approve, edit or reject each one, and your choices guide the rest ^[20].

• Review table

  Every string with its original, the current translation and Kobold's draft. Filter, search, edit, approve or reject one by one or all at once ^[20].

• Theme copy first

  In a translation you start, theme text and theme content go on a copy of your theme, so you can preview each language before anything goes live. Auto-translate writes theme content to your live theme, after saving what was there ^[20].

Yes, and this is something Kobold doesn't do. In Translate & Adapt you can change text, images, videos and logos for one market, add market promotions, or set fixed money values through metafields. You can only adapt content in languages added to that market, and URL handles can't be changed per market ^[3][4].

Kobold writes one translation per language for every market. It doesn't ask for access to your markets, so it never sees or changes market-specific content ^[20][22].