CaptionKit vs Google Translate
Beyond Google Translate: live translation for the whole church
Google Translate is great one-to-one. For a whole service, CaptionKit listens to your soundboard once and translates for everyone, on phones and screens.
Listen
Options
Theme
Language
One clean feed, not a phone in every pew
Google Translate listens through each phone's microphone. CaptionKit hears your soundboard, so everyone gets the same clear translation.
Your names and terms
Google Translate has no word list your church can manage. CaptionKit learns your pastors' names, places and Bible terms.
On stage and on the stream
Google Translate stays on each person's phone. CaptionKit puts translations in ProPresenter, OBS or vMix.
CaptionKit vs Google Translate
Checked against Google Translate's own website and help pages on 28 October 2026. Where they don't publish something, we say so.
| Feature | CaptionKit | Google Translate |
|---|---|---|
| Made for churches | Yes | No |
| Listeners use their own phone | Yes | Partly: Each phone listens to the room |
| Translations on your screens | Yes: ProPresenter, OBS, vMix and more | No |
| Custom keywords for names and terms | Yes | No |
| Text translation languages | 203 languages | Up to 249 (text); about 70 live |
| Audio translation | Yes: 121 languages, plus limited free in-app audio | Partly: About 70 languages, live mode |
| Languages your pastor can preach in | 90 languages | About 70 (live) |
| Follows language switches mid-service | Yes: Multilingual speech option | Yes: Auto-detects |
| Embed on your website or app | Yes: Simplified embedded view | No |
| Human review before translation | No | No |
| Transcripts after the service | Yes | Partly: Saved per person in Transcribe |
| Setup guides and help docs | Yes: Help centre with step-by-step guides | Yes: Google's help centre |
| Self-serve free trial | Yes: 4 free hours, no credit card | Yes: Free |
| Prices published online | Yes: Build your own plan | Yes: Free |
Not sure? Try CaptionKit free to see if it's right for your church. Get started.
When Google Translate may be the better fit
We'd rather you pick the right tool than the wrong one. Google Translate could suit you better if:
- You're helping one visitor, or having a one-to-one conversation at the welcome desk or in pastoral care.
- The visitor is happy to set it up on their own phone and sits close to a speaker.
- You need to translate signs, printed notes or a quick message, or work offline.
Try CaptionKit this Sunday
Free trial with no lock-in contracts, and your volunteers can run it after one practice.
Plug in your audio
Connect your soundboard to a computer and select your audio input type from the dashboard.
Choose your languages
Add translations to your service and pick from over 200 languages. Try any 3 languages for free during the trial.
Share your session
Give your congregation access through the QR code or the shareable link. They can follow along on their own devices.
Follow the step-by-step setup guides in our help centre, and check your languages in our full language list.
One QR code for the whole room
Each person scans the code, picks their language and follows the sermon on their own phone, in the browser or the free iOS and Android apps. No accounts, nothing to hand out.
About live translationFirst Church
Live now
Listen instead of read
Audio translation reads the sermon aloud in natural voices, so people listen through their own headphones. Tap any sentence to jump the audio there. On every plan, the free app can also read translations aloud in the phone's own voice.
Listen
Options
Theme
Language
Translations on stage and on the stream
Every language gets lower-third and full-screen links for ProPresenter, OBS, vMix, FreeShow or Worship Extreme. Set the font, lines and background to match your stage.
Ustedes son la sal de la tierra, pero si la sal pierde su sabor, ¿cómo recuperará su sabor? Ya no
“We were searching for a way to serve our Deaf and Hard of Hearing community and expand access for those who speak other languages. We chose CaptionKit because of their church-focused approach, excellent customer service, and the affordability that makes this possible for a church.”
Christ Community Church
Questions
Can we just use Google Translate for our services?
For one visitor, often yes. Its live translate mode can follow a speaker and read translations aloud. But each person runs it on their own phone, listening through that phone's microphone, so it's only as good as the room sound where they're sitting, and your church can't set it up for them.
Why does the audio source matter so much?
Speech recognition is only as good as what it hears. A phone in a pew hears echo, music and the people around it. CaptionKit listens once to the clean feed from your soundboard and sends the translation to everyone.
Isn't Google Translate free?
It is, and for occasional one-to-one use that's hard to beat. CaptionKit is a paid tool for translating whole services, from $16 a month, and every church gets 4 free hours to try it.
Can we teach it our names and Bible terms?
In CaptionKit, yes: keywords boost the names, places and words your church uses and block unwanted words. Google Translate doesn't offer a church-managed word list.
Can translations go on our screens or livestream?
Yes. CaptionKit gives every language lower-third and full-screen links for ProPresenter, OBS, vMix, FreeShow or Worship Extreme. Google Translate only shows the translation on each person's phone.
Made for church.
The best way to compare is to try it
4 free hours of live translation, with up to 2 text languages and 1 audio language. No credit card, no sales call.
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Sources
Checked on 28 October 2026. Products change, so if something here is out of date, let us know and we'll fix it.