New chapters translate automatically as they're added, so there's usually nothing to do yourself. Every limit on this page is per account, not per novel, and they all reset on a fixed clock rather than a rolling window. To see your own usage right now, go to Limits.
What you get for free#
The first 50 chapters of every novel are AI-translated and free to read, with no account. Every chapter after that is free too, translated with Google Translate on our servers, and the novel's glossary is still applied so names and terms stay consistent with the AI-translated chapters.
Note Chapters 1-50 use the site's AI translation for everyone, whether or not you are signed in.
AI translation past chapter 50#
Past chapter 50, a chapter gets its AI translation one of two ways:
- On demand: a Reader member (or higher) opens the chapter, and it translates live while they watch, streaming in as it goes, typically in 5-10 seconds.
- In the background: a site-wide process is continuously working through every untranslated chapter on the site, whether or not anyone is reading them. There's no set schedule for when it reaches a specific chapter, and no way to ask for one to be prioritized.
Either path leads to the same result: once a chapter has an AI translation, it's there for every member with the Reader membership or higher who opens it afterward. The same background process also gradually re-translates older chapters that were done with a past AI model, so quality keeps improving over time even on chapters nobody has reopened recently.
Reading the AI translation past chapter 50 requires a Reader membership or higher, whichever way the chapter was translated. Free readers and signed-out visitors read every chapter past 50 through Google Translate, even on a chapter whose AI translation already exists: a free account doesn't unlock reading it.
To read with AI translation past chapter 50, link your Patreon account and open any chapter past 50. If it isn't translated yet, it starts translating automatically and streams onto the page; if it's already translated, it just loads.
Google Translate chapters#
Chapters past 50 that you read without a Reader membership are translated with Google Translate on our servers and sent to you ready to read. Before translation, the novel's glossary terms are protected so Google cannot mistranslate or rename them, then restored after translation completes, so names, places, and terms stay consistent with the AI-translated chapters. The next two chapters are prepared in the background while you read.
Note It's Google's machine translation, not ours: the novel's glossary is still applied so names stay consistent, but wording and pronouns come out rougher than the AI translation, and translation feedback votes don't apply to it. Your browser does not contact Google; we translate the chapter and store it. If a chapter is still being prepared you see "Translating with Google Translate…", and if many chapters are being translated at once you may see "Try again shortly" with a Check again button.
This is available to everyone, and does not require an account. Members with the Reader membership or higher always get the AI translation, so they are never offered the Google Translate version.
Tiers#
| Tier | Price | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Chapters 1-50 in AI translation, all later chapters via Google Translate, read aloud with Browser and AI Device voices, 5 name searches and 1 preview a month |
| Reader | $5/mo | Everything in Free, plus on-demand AI translation past chapter 50, novel requests, daily chapter/paragraph retranslation, glossary suggestions and personal translations, rating translations and reporting wikis, AI Cloud voices for read aloud, and offline reading |
| Translator: Base | $12/mo | Everything above, plus wiki generation, and higher request, preview, search and retranslation quotas |
| Translator: Pro | $20/mo | The same features as Translator: Base, with the biggest limits |
Paying yearly on Patreon is 20% off: $48 a year for Reader, $115.20 for Translator: Base and $192 for Translator: Pro.
On the Limits page (account menu → Limits), your account badge shows your exact tier: Free, Reader, Translator: Base, or Translator: Pro.
Limits#
Some limits reset monthly, some daily, and a few are the same for every account regardless of tier.
| Limit | Free | Reader | Translator: Base | Translator: Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapters a day (signed in) | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| Novel requests / month | 0 | 5 | 50 | 100 |
| Previews / month | 1 | 10 | 50 | 100 |
| Name searches / month | 5 | 50 | 250 | 500 |
| Chapter retranslate + rescrape / day | Blocked | 50 | 100 | 200 |
| Paragraph/title retranslate / day | Blocked | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 |
| Glossary suggestions / day | Blocked | 400 | 400 | 400 |
| Wiki generations / month | 0 | 0 | 25 | 200 |
| Wiki reports / day | Blocked | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Read aloud: Browser and AI Device voices | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Read aloud: AI Cloud voices | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Read aloud: AI Cloud characters / day | 0 | 1,200,000 | 1,200,000 | 1,200,000 |
| AI translation past chapter 50 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Offline reading | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API keys and the AI app connector | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Note Already on Translator: Pro at $25 a month? You keep one and a half times the Translator: Pro allowances, such as 300 wiki generations a month, until Patreon moves your pledge to $20.
Monthly limits reset on the first day of each calendar month, at 00:00 UTC. Daily limits reset at 00:00 UTC.
How a novel request is counted#
A novel request is counted by the novel's size when it is added, not always as one:
- A novel with fewer than 200 chapters counts as half a request.
- A novel with 200 to 2,000 chapters counts as 1 request.
- A novel with more than 2,000 chapters counts as 1 request plus 1 more for every 2,000 chapters: 2,001 to 3,999 chapters counts as 2, 4,000 to 5,999 as 3, and so on.
For example, with the Translator: Base membership's 50 requests a month, a 150-chapter novel uses half a request, an 800-chapter novel uses 1, and a 4,500-chapter novel uses 3. Turning a preview into the full novel with Upgrade is counted the same way, so a free account, with no novel requests, can't upgrade its preview. A preview uses one preview whatever its size, except that a novel over 2,000 chapters uses extra previews on the same every-2,000 rule. See what a request costs for how the charge is taken and refunded.
What the limits cover#
- Chapters a day is one allowance of 2,000 different chapters per signed-in account, shared by reading on the site, offline downloads and RandomTranslator's own apps. A chapter you already opened today doesn't count again. The API and the AI app connector are for every signed-in account, free ones included; they never return chapter text, so nothing they do spends it.
- Chapter retranslate + rescrape share one daily count. Retranslating a chapter runs the AI translation again, for when a chapter came out wrong; rescraping fetches the chapter again from the source site, for when it came in cut off or wrong.
- Paragraph/title retranslate is a separate daily count that covers retranslating a single paragraph and retranslating a chapter's title.
- Glossary suggestions need the Reader membership or higher. They cover editing a term, adding a new one, bulk renames, and including or excluding general terms for a novel: one shared daily count of 400 on every paid tier, and each one goes to moderator review. Setting your own personal translation of a term needs the Reader membership too. Reading any glossary is free, and removing a personal translation you already set is always possible.
- Rating translations (a chapter's thumbs up or down) needs the Reader membership or higher. Anyone can see the counts.
- Wiki reports (flagging something wrong on a wiki page) need the Reader membership or higher, and are flat at 20 a day on every paid tier.
- Offline reading saves the AI-translated chapters you pick from a novel on your device (the next 25, 50 or 100, or everything translated that today's allowance covers), for as many novels as you like. Every chapter downloaded counts in the daily chapter allowance, and downloads are paced at 60 batches of 25 chapters every 10 minutes. See offline reading.
- Read aloud with Browser voices, or with AI Device voices on a computer, is free for everyone. AI Cloud voices need the Reader membership or higher. They allow up to 1,200,000 characters a day (800,000 in a membership's first week). See Read Aloud.
- Google Translate chapters for free readers count toward the same 2,000-chapter daily allowance.
- A cached search does not use up your monthly search allowance. You are only charged for a search the site actually runs against a source.
Preview novels#
A novel added with the Preview option only has its first 50 chapters fetched and translated. It is marked with a blue Preview strip across the bottom of its cover wherever the cover appears.
To get the rest of the novel:
- Open the novel's page.
- Open its menu and choose Upgrade.
- Confirm the request.
This requires being signed in and the Reader membership or higher, and spends your monthly novel requests by the novel's size (see How a novel request is counted). The conversion cannot be undone. If fetching the rest of the novel fails, it reverts to preview automatically, what you spent is refunded, and you are notified.
Note A short novel (50 chapters or fewer) requested as a preview is added as a full novel automatically. There is nothing left to convert.
How long translation takes#
| Path | Typical time |
|---|---|
| AI translation, on demand | About 5-10 seconds, streaming in as it completes |
| Google Translate | A few seconds per chapter, usually ready ahead of you |
While a chapter is translating, the page shows a placeholder in place of the text and a status line that updates as translation progresses (for example, "Starting translation...", then "Translating content...", ending in "Translation complete!"). You do not need to refresh or wait on a blank page.
Once you finish a chapter that was AI-translated, the next two chapters begin translating in the background, so they are often ready by the time you get to them. If a chapter still shows Chinese text, see Troubleshooting.
Where to see your usage#
Your current usage, remaining quota, and reset countdown for every limit above are on the Limits page, once you are signed in.
Linking Patreon and pledge changes#
- Choose Sign in with Patreon from the sign-in page or sidebar.
- Authorize RandomTranslator on Patreon.
- Confirm you're redirected back and signed in, with your tier applied automatically.
Your tier is read from your currently entitled Patreon pledge; if you hold more than one tier, the highest applies. Signing in re-checks your tier immediately, and Patreon tells the site when your pledge changes, so changes to your pledge apply within a minute or two. If they don't, sign out and back in.
Warning If you cancel or lower your Patreon pledge, your account's quotas and on-demand translation access drop to match within a minute or two, and always by your next sign-in. There is no grace period.
Exact current prices are set on Patreon, not on this page: patreon.com/randomtranslator. For managing your linked account, see Account, Profile and Privacy.