Libris Translate

Libris Translate is self-hosted AI book translation software: it runs on your own Linux server and turns EPUBs or webnovel chapters into a translated draft with the language model you choose. It reads each book first and carries a memory of names and terms from volume to volume, which is the main reason a series author would pick it over a chatbot.

This is not a website you log into. You (or someone you hire) install it with Docker on a Linux machine, then connect it to a language model: a paid API key from OpenAI or Anthropic, or a model you run yourself. If you have never used a command line, budget for help with setup.

What You Get#

• Book Bible and Series Bible: Each volume records its characters, places and terms; a series shares one glossary, and a volume only learns from earlier volumes, so later twists don't leak.
• Locked glossary terms: Fix how an invented name is translated; change a term later and Libris finds where the old word still appears and offers to replace it without calling a model.
• Autopilot: Analysis, translation and review run without step-by-step approval, with retries and provider fallback.
• Passage quality scores: Each passage is scored 0–100, weakest first for review; the autopilot never rewrites a passage you corrected.
• Formats: Input is EPUB 2/3 or chapters as TXT, Markdown, HTML or DOCX. Output is an EPUB checked with EPUBCheck, a bilingual EPUB for proofreaders, or a Word file showing your corrections as tracked changes.
• Any model: Any OpenAI-compatible server (local or hosted), the OpenAI and Anthropic APIs, or a ChatGPT-subscription bridge, with a cost estimate before each paid step.

Who It's For#

• Indie series authors: Long series full of invented names, needing a consistent draft for a human proofreader.
• Small presses and translators: Studio gives three accounts, shared books, review links for proofreaders, a REST API and an MCP server.
• Self-hosters who care about privacy: If you run a local model, the manuscript never leaves your network.

Pricing: Prices are in EUR and include VAT. Personal is €50 once, for non-commercial use only (you can't sell or publish for money what you translate with it), with 200,000 words a month on up to 3 machines and twelve months of new versions. Studio is €29 a month or €290 a year: commercial use, 3,000,000 words a month, 5 machines and 3 accounts. Pro is quoted. Launch offers run until 31 December 2026: Personal at €35, and 30% off Studio's first year for the first 20 customers. The free 30-day trial gives 100,000 words a month and needs no card. Model costs are separate and paid to your provider. The vendor measured about $107 of model cost per 100,000 words, using OpenAI's GPT-6 models at the API list prices it read on 30 September 2026.

Strengths#

• Built for series consistency: The Series Bible and shared glossaries tackle a problem most per-chapter AI tools ignore.
• Unusually candid vendor: The showcase publishes raw results on two Alice books, weak spots included, and the vendor's comparison page calls the output "a first draft for human review, not a publishable translation."
• No lock-in on output: If a licence lapses, your translations, glossaries and reports stay readable and exportable.

Limitations#

• Self-hosting required: You need a Linux (amd64) server with Docker Compose, plus your own model or API keys. The vendor says a hosted version is planned but not yet available.
• Selling translations needs Studio: Personal excludes translations that are sold, published for money or made for a client, so a commercial author pays €29/month or €290/year on top of model costs.
• Draft quality varies: In the vendor's own English-to-French showcase, the two books averaged 61.2 and 58.8 out of 100. The autopilot stopped with passages still open, verse often came out as prose, and some locked glossary terms weren't followed.
• Very new, one-person business: Version 0.1.0 shipped on 13 September 2026. The publisher is a French sole proprietor registered on 25 September 2026, and we found no independent reviews yet.
• No PDF or fixed-layout: Fixed-layout EPUBs are refused at import, DRM-protected EPUBs aren't supported, and there's no PDF input.

Alternatives#

ScribeShadow is a hosted, author-focused AI translator with nothing to install, at the cost of less control over the model and where your text goes. BookTranslator.ai is a cheap pay-per-book EPUB option with no series memory.