If you’re building a bilingual WordPress site in Quebec, you’ll likely choose between WPML (paid) and Polylang (free with paid Pro tier). Both work. They have meaningful differences. Here’s the breakdown.
WPML at a glance
- Cost. $99-$199/year. Subscription, not one-time.
- Plugin compatibility. Best in class — works with virtually every major WordPress plugin including WooCommerce, ACF, Elementor, etc.
- Translation Management. Built-in workflow for managing translations, sending to translators, tracking progress.
- Performance. Heavier on database queries. Slower on large sites without caching.
- Documentation. Extensive, multilingual.
Polylang at a glance
- Cost. Free for basic use. Polylang Pro is $99/year for advanced features.
- Plugin compatibility. Good but not as deep as WPML. WooCommerce requires Polylang for WooCommerce add-on.
- Translation Management. Simpler workflow. Less feature-rich than WPML.
- Performance. Lighter database load. Faster on large sites.
- Documentation. Good but less extensive than WPML.
When to choose WPML
- You use WooCommerce or other complex plugins
- You have a translation team workflow you need to manage
- You want the most complete plugin compatibility
- Budget isn’t constrained
When to choose Polylang
- You’re cost-conscious
- Your site is mostly content (blog, services, locations) without complex plugin requirements
- You translate in-house without a workflow tool
- Performance is a priority and the site is large
Our default recommendation
For most Quebec business sites we build, we default to WPML because of plugin compatibility and Quebec businesses often add WooCommerce or complex form plugins later. The annual cost is worth the headache reduction.
For lean content-only sites where the client is cost-sensitive, Polylang Pro is a totally legitimate choice. Performance is genuinely better; the trade-off is plugin compatibility edge cases.
What both do well
Both plugins handle the core bilingual mechanics correctly:
- Separate URLs per language (with proper hreflang)
- Language switcher in the header/footer
- Per-language menus + widgets
- Translation linking (so Google knows two pages are the same content)
For Bill 96 compliance purposes, both are equally acceptable. Choose based on the other factors above.