Comparing Trados Studio 2019 and memoQ

Which software is better? Here is a rundown of features and reviews to help you make your decision.


Name	Trados Studio 2019	memoQ
Review breakdown	(28 reviews)	(41 reviews)
Most helpful review	From CAT Leader to Playing the Catch-up Game By Pavel Tsvetkov From CAT Leader to Playing the Catch-up Game PROS 1. Trados is still considered by many to be the best CAT tool out there – if not the most advanced or reliable, at least the most comprehensive one. 2. Their support is supposed to be good. (As long as you are ready to pay for it.) 3. It is actively developed and marketing is aggressive, and with clear messages – not the case with Atril's marketing, which I would call unpredictable. 4. If you are looking for a separate term managing solution (and do not mind the glitches and the counter-productive interface logic) MultiTerm is your best choice. 5. On-the-fly spell checking using Microsoft spell checker (Déjà vu X3 and MemoQ still cannot figure that out). 6. Segments are marked clearly depending on the stage the file is in (translation, reviewing, etc.) This used to be a Trados-exclusive feature (and a very useful one, I might add), but now their competitors offer it as well. 7. There is an actively developed platform (SDL OpenExchange) where third-party vendors and enthusiasts publish Trados add-ons, some of which are indeed very helpful. CONS 1. Where do I start? Trados is a behemoth – installation packages are big, installation is slow and sometimes troublesome, until recently activating the software was mission impossible for many. It has happened to me that Windows would have to be reinstalled with no chance of returning the license before that and the amount of trouble that would create when trying to activate the newly installed Trados was often mind-boggling. While working, it creates a multitude of unnecessary files in obscure locations. 2. I have been using – and paying for Trados – since 2007, and it that period there has never been a version that I would call reliable. You either cannot get your file in, or you cannot get your translation out. And in between the software used to crash every hour or so. Version 2011 was the first ‘more stable‘ one. The new version 2015 is much more stable than version 2011 when it first came out (they practically sold a beta, or so many freelancers thought – check the forums on this site), but it will still crash and give the odd error message when least expected. 3. Until recently Trados used to cost an arm and a leg (or both), and every year you would have to pay them more for a ‘new’ version, which more often than not was just the old version with a few bugs fixed – come on, SDL, this is not a nice way to treat paying customers! In recent years, they have been forced to reconsider their price policy by the success of the ‘young lions’ at Kilgray, and the low prices of Atril's Déjà vu X2 and X3. Of the ‘Big 3’ CAT makers Trados is the only one that obstinately sells a separate term solution (Multiterm), instead of incorporating it with the project manager like their competitors at Atril and Kilgray. Why? You guessed it correctly: money-wise it is better to sell two overpriced products than just one. Cost aside, Multiterm and Trados simply do not – and have not over the past 7 years – work/ed together flawlessly, they act more like products made by different vendors, who do not like comparing notes. Example? You can now add terms to your term base with a single click, but if you want to edit a term... No, sorry, you cannot do that from inside the editor, you have to open both Trados Studio and Multiterm as two separate products to be able to edit the term. Warum, SDL?! 4. Things are happening notoriously slow at SDL. New technology finds its way there last. Their aggressively advertised AutoSuggest v1 feature (which they initially tried to sell separately) was hopelessly outdated for years (Déjà vu X3 being the leader in offering revolutionary CAT technology), but they would be the last to admit it. What they still call ‘impossible’ is what their competitors at Atril and Kilgray have been offering for 2 years now. In version 2014 for example the threshold for creating an AutoSuggest dictionary was lowered (as a result of the public outcry), and still it was not low enough to make it convenient for the freelancer. Compare this to the fact that Déjà vu X3 creates ‘autosuggest’ entries on-the-fly even from the last segment you have just confirmed. Now, finally, AutoSuggest 2 has emulated the success of Atril's AutoWrite and is offering on-the-fly suggestions even from the last segment you have just confirmed. 5. You will have to pay for a support package. Sometimes I think they keep Trados in a state of disrepair, just so that they can sell support packages. I am sorry if this hurts someone’s feelings, but until recently, Trados was the sole king of the CAT market, raking in huge profits, and I simply cannot understand why it would be so unreliable, and known problems would not be fixed over a period of 7 years, etc. Why? Anyone? 6. Version 2015 is still far from perfect. The sliding panel for adding new terms can drive you crazy, and you will waste precious time looking for important options buried deep in the re-modeled interface. CONCLUSION This is the most comprehensive tool out there (can open the widest range of formats), but it is usually somewhat outdated, it costs a lot to buy and renew, and it is both complex and sometimes unreliable. Just like with Windows XP, the old versions of Trados are the most widely used ones (outsourcing translation companies still have them), and this is what dictates the market. While the competition at Kilgray and MemoQ has developed immensely over the past 2-3 years, and is offering more reliable and small footprint software with (in certain respects) better advanced features, SDL seems to be losing momentum, and ultimately – clients. They have drastically lowered their prices, but if you check the promotions page on www.proz.com, you will find out that they still sell less than their nearest competitor Kilgray. Although, they seem to finally be on the right track with Studio 2015, precious 3-4 years have been lost and now SDL has surrendered its position of CAT leader and is playing the catch-up game with Kilgray (in terms of new customers) and Atril (in terms of technology). 143 out of 163 found this review helpful. Read more reviews →	memoQ is fantastic, an intuitive tool that solves problems! By two2tango I have been using CAT tools for about 10 years and have used Wordfast, Trados 2007, Studio 2009, SDLX, Mneme, Deja Vu and Across. memoQ surpasses them all, from the installation which is automatic, to updates, to technical support to its webinars and resource center to its great features (LiveDocs!) and ease of use in general. I recommend my colleagues to download a memoQ trial version and I am sure they will fall for it. Haydée Incicco (two2tango) 47 out of 63 found this review helpful. Read more reviews →
Product description	Translate faster and smarter using the world’s #1 computer assisted translation (CAT) tool for translation professionals. Trados Studio 2019 the industry’s most popular CAT tool has evolved to bring you a brand new experience. Designed with user experience at its core, Trados Studio 2019 transforms how new users get up and running, helps experienced users make the most of the powerful features, ensures new levels of productivity for the whole translation team and helps in delivering unrivalled quality in your translations. Used by over 250,000 professionals worldwide, when you choose Studio, you become part of the largest translation community in the world. What’s New in Trados Studio 2019: Get started easily with on-demand tips and tutorial videos: From the moment you open Trados Studio 2019, you are guided through each area with tips, tricks and tutorial videos showing you how to create and manage projects, use the translation editor, and get the most out of your translation assets. Instant access to every feature and setting with 'Tell Me' technology: Did you know Studio 2019 has over 700 commands and 1300 settings, that’s a lot of functionality. Our new ‘Tell Me’ technology helps you access a setting 4x faster. Tell Studio exactly what you need to know: simply type in a word or phrase, and Studio 2019 intelligently suggests commands, options and settings that you might want to access. Effortless project creation and simple project updates: Create projects up to 28% faster with the brand new one step project creation wizard. Adding and updating specific files mid-project is also now a much quicker and pain-free process – up to 82% faster than Studio 2017. Enhanced quality checks: Studio 2019 introduces the option to customize settings for each language, increasing your flexibility and control over quality assurance (QA) checks. When you run a QA check in Studio 2019, the source and target segment are now included in the report, so you can see at a glance exactly where each error occurs. Improved translation memory (TM) management: With Studio 2019, you have more control over the Translation Memories Editor: you can now view up to 1000 translation units per page, navigate to a specific page or directly to the last page of a TM, meaning it’s quicker and easier to sort through your TMs, change and update translations MultiTerm 2019: Don’t forget that MultiTerm is included in your purchase of Trados Studio 2019 - Using correct terminology is crucial to ensuring high quality, consistent translations. MultiTerm 2019: Don’t forget that MultiTerm is included in your purchase of Trados Studio 2019 - Using correct terminology is crucial to ensuring high quality, consistent translations. Additional file types supported: Brand new support for the Microsoft Visio file type is available with Studio 2019, and other file formats have been updated to match the latest third-party (e.g. Microsoft) releases. Discover the new features in more detail	memoQ translator pro: created by translators for translators! memoQ translator pro is a computer-assisted translation tool which runs on Microsoft Windows and on Mac using Parallels or VMWareFusion. It was envisioned more than 12 years ago by a group of enthusiastic linguists who aimed to develop innovative translation software which increases translator's productivity while being easy to learn and use. Translation memory memoQ features a state of the art translation memory which stores your translations and helps you reuse them. The translation memory boosts productivity and consistency throughout your project. With a translation memory in place you will never need to translate the same thing twice. Term base memoQ posses an advanced term base for handling terminology. With it, you can extract terms from files and translation memories, import your existing glossaries, combine bilingual glossaries into multilingual ones, or easily add new terminology as you translate. The Muse Muses offer automatic suggestions for target terms as you type. Muses are “trained” by analyzing content that is available from your translation memories and LiveDocs corpora. The more content available, the more precise and personalized the suggestions will be. LiveDocs LiveDocs is the best example of features in memoQ that speed up work. It is an alternative to translation memories which keeps your translation content structured and organized. It allows for the reuse of previous material based on the entire corpus rather than segments. This is the technology that makes memoQ, the CAT tool of choice for thousands of translators around the world. Popular features HTML Live preview Customizable filters Customizable shortcuts Global Find and Replace Filtering and sorting Real-time spell-checking Automatic saving Multiple-level undo and redo AutoCorrect Supported languages and file formats & compatibility with other tools memoQ translator pro supports a wide range of languages and file formats (HTML, Adobe FrameMaker™, Adobe InDesign™, XLIFF, XML, SVG, Typo3, Multilingual Excel files, software localization formats like PO, YAML, JSON, RESX) and is compatible with most other translation tools (SDL Trados, STAR Transit, SDL Worldserver and Wordfast). With memoQ you can easily import and export file formats from other CAT tools. 24 HS support Kilgray Translation Technologies offers online support nonstop Mondays through Fridays. Support is also available on Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Central European time) and even on Sundays for critical cases. Integration with Language Terminal Language Terminal is a free project management tool freelance translators can use to manage their translation work. Learning resources Free webinars Free Online training memoQ help memoQ knowledge base You can download memoQ here
Price	Trados Studio 2019 Freelance - Ideal for freelance translators (€695/$845/£595/¥100,000)	€ 620 / USD 770
File formats	Work with any file format and any project. View list.	All possible file formats you could run into (80+), please see the full list.
License type	Perpetual	Perpetual
Operating system	Windows	Windows
System requirements	As a minimum requirement, we recommend an Intel or compatible CPU-based computer with 8 GB RAM and a screen resolution of 1024x768.For optimum performance, we recommend a 64-bit operating system, 16 G	See detailed system requirements here.
Compatibility	Open standard file formats XLIFF, TMX, TBX & OLIF, interoperability with other CAT tools and an app store making it possible to integrate with any workflow.	Supports open standard file formats XLIFF, TMX, TBX & OLIF and interoperability with Transit, Wordfast and SDL Trados
Support and upgrades offered/included	Paid support available for unlimited specialist support and free upgrades, Free installation and licensing support, Free online community help from RWS employees	Installation support, 1 year of free support and upgrades
Support and tutorial links	Support available here.	[email protected]
Free trial	Download a 30-day free fully functional trial of SDL Trados Studio 2019	You can download a free 45-day trial of memoQ translator pro here
Languages supported	Virtually any language combination that is also supported by Microsoft Windows. View list.	Practically all languages, user interface in 10 languages - Please see the full list