TranslateDesk vs Swifteq: Which Intercom Translation App Should You Choose?

Since Intercom doesn't offer native translation, third-party apps fill the gap. Both TranslateDesk and Swifteq translate Intercom help center articles. Both preserve formatting. Both support bulk translation. So which one should you use?

The short answer: If your help center changes frequently, choose TranslateDesk for stale content detection. If you need a quick one-time translation and never plan to update content, Swifteq's larger free tier might work.

The Key Difference: Stale Content Detection

Here's the scenario that separates these tools:

You translate 100 articles into Spanish. Two weeks later, your product team updates 15 articles to reflect a new feature. Now what?

With Swifteq: You manually compare your Spanish versions to the English originals. You identify which 15 articles changed. You re-translate those 15 articles. You hope you didn't miss any.

With TranslateDesk: You open your dashboard and see exactly which articles are stale. One click shows you what changed. You re-translate with a single click. Done.

This might sound minor, but it's the difference between "translation as a one-time project" and "translation as an ongoing process." Most growing help centers are the latter.

Feature Comparison

Feature	TranslateDesk	Swifteq
Stale content detection	✅ Yes	❌ No
Translation engine	DeepL	ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Bulk translation	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Formatting preserved	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Custom glossary	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Partial translation (changes only)	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Draft review before publish	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Free tier	5 articles	20 articles
Languages supported	100+	All modern languages
Intercom App Store	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Translation Quality: DeepL vs ChatGPT

TranslateDesk uses DeepL, the translation engine preferred by over 100,000 businesses. DeepL consistently wins blind quality tests, especially for European languages like German, French, and Spanish.

Swifteq uses OpenAI's ChatGPT API. ChatGPT is excellent at many things, but dedicated translation engines like DeepL are purpose-built for linguistic accuracy.

The practical difference: DeepL translations tend to sound more natural and require fewer manual corrections. ChatGPT translations are good but occasionally produce awkward phrasing that native speakers notice.

For help center content where trust and clarity matter, DeepL is the safer choice.

Pricing Comparison

TranslateDesk

• Free: 5 translations to start
• Pay-as-you-go: Credit packs from $79/100 translations
• No subscriptions required

Swifteq

• Free: 20 article translations
• Pay-as-you-go: Available
• Annual plans: Available

Swifteq's larger free tier (20 vs 5) is attractive for testing. But consider what happens after the free tier:

If you have a 50-article help center in 3 languages, you need 150 translations. Swifteq's 20 free articles covers 13% of that. TranslateDesk's 5 free articles covers 3%. Either way, you're paying for most of it.

The real cost difference is maintenance. With TranslateDesk's stale content detection, you spend minutes keeping translations current. Without it, you spend hours manually tracking changes. Or worse, you let translations go stale.

When to Choose TranslateDesk

Choose TranslateDesk if:

• Your help center changes frequently. Stale content detection saves hours of manual tracking.
• You value translation quality. DeepL produces more natural results.
• You want "set and forget" translation. Once connected, TranslateDesk handles the ongoing maintenance.
• You're scaling to multiple languages. The language coverage dashboard shows gaps at a glance.

When to Choose Swifteq

Consider Swifteq if:

• You need a quick one-time translation. The larger free tier helps for initial setup.
• Your content rarely changes. If articles never update, stale content detection is less valuable.
• You prefer ChatGPT's style. Some users find ChatGPT's output more conversational.

The Bottom Line

Both tools translate Intercom articles. The difference is what happens after day one.

Swifteq treats translation as a project you complete and move on from. TranslateDesk treats translation as an ongoing process that stays in sync with your evolving help center.

For most SaaS teams with active help centers, TranslateDesk's stale content detection is the feature that justifies the choice. You set it up once, and it keeps working. It alerts you when translations need updates, shows you exactly what changed, and keeps your multilingual help center accurate.

Ready to try TranslateDesk? Start with 5 free translations and see the stale content detection difference yourself.