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Should I self-host Lokalise?
At $144/mo, Lokalise is one of the widest gaps on the whole scoreboard: Weblate and Tolgee are mature, translation-memory-equipped platforms that agencies and open-source projects run in production every day.
The math (nothing hidden, including your time)
| Lokalise (Explorer) | $144.00/mo |
| VPS share + storage | −$1.00/mo |
| Your maintenance: 40 min/mo at $20/h | −$13.33/mo |
| Net saving | $129.67/mo |
| Setup: 32 min measured (one-time) | $10.67 |
| Break-even | 0.1 months |
| Markup Index (price ÷ real self-host cost) | 10.0× |
Price: source, checked 2026-08-07. Inputs are stored in git; every number above is derived, never hand-written.
What you lose
- Lokalise's design-tool plugins and managed TM cleanup
- Their per-key collaboration niceties
What you're paying Lokalise for
- translation management
- translation memory
- collaboration & review
- format round-trips
Ranked alternatives
Continuous localization that lives in your git repositories: translators work in a browser, Weblate commits the result back.
Translation keys, in-context editing and an API your own app calls, on a hostname you own, with no key quota and no seat count.
Hardware
Runs comfortably on a real VPS (2 GB+).
The tested compose file (our evidence, CI-booted)
# Tolgee — localization platform; standalone image with embedded postgres
services:
tolgee:
image: tolgee/tolgee:latest
container_name: tolgee
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
TOLGEE_AUTHENTICATION_ENABLED: "true"
TOLGEE_AUTHENTICATION_INITIAL_PASSWORD: changeme123
TOLGEE_POSTGRES_AUTOSTART_ENABLED: "true"
ports:
- "8105:8080"
volumes:
- tolgee-data:/data
probe:
image: busybox:stable
network_mode: "service:tolgee"
depends_on:
- tolgee
command: sh -c 'while true; do sleep 30; done'
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "nc -z localhost 8080 || exit 1"]
interval: 5s
timeout: 5s
retries: 60
start_period: 60s
volumes:
tolgee-data:
Want a guided install instead? caniselfhostit.com/lokalise has AI-agent prompts that assume a bare machine — that's their half of the stool, and it's good.
Verification
Protocol v1 · verified by zernonia on 2026-08-10 · setup measured at 32 min · AI assistant: claude-code (allowed & stated)
What broke
- Boot to healthy measured at 87s on the 2GB reference env
Full timed log
# Lokalise — verdict log - **Date:** 2026-08-10 - **Verdict:** YES — worth it - **Protocol:** v1 (2GB reference env, Docker preinstalled, AI assistant: claude-code) ## Setup evidence - Compose: `compose/lokalise-tolgee.yml` - Boot to healthy: **87s** measured this session - Setup time recorded: 32 min (boot + configuration to first working workflow) ## What broke / notes - Boot to healthy measured at 87s on the 2GB reference env ## The call At $144/mo, Lokalise is one of the widest gaps on the whole scoreboard: Weblate and Tolgee are mature, translation-memory-equipped platforms that agencies and open-source projects run in production every day.
Verdict history
- 2026-08-10: unscored → YES — Initial verdict: At $144/mo, Lokalise is one of the widest gaps on the whole scoreboard: Weblate and Tolgee are mature, transla.