Revayo vs Mate Translate
A Mate Translate alternative
that runs on your own AI.
Mate Translate has been on Macs for years. Its translation runs on Mate's own cloud engine, which you can't see or change. Revayo is a Mac translator where you choose the engine: OpenAI, Claude, any model on OpenRouter, or a local one running on your own machine. 112 languages, no account, one-time price.
The honest version
Mate covers more places: a Safari extension, iPhone and Watch apps, and a phrasebook synced across all of them. If you use that ecosystem, it's a reasonable buy. Revayo trades the ecosystem for control over the engine. You pick the model, see the cost of each request, keep keys in the Keychain, and can run a local model to translate offline. $14.99 once.
Side by side.
| Revayo Translate | Mate Translate | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $14.99 once — then only your own API usage | Paid — license terms on gikken.co |
| Languages | 112 | 103 (their count) |
| Translation engine | Your pick — OpenAI, Claude, OpenRouter, Ollama, any compatible endpoint | Mate's own cloud service, fixed |
| Runs fully on your Mac | Yes — via a local Ollama model | No — cloud only |
| Global hotkey | Yes — ⌥⌘T translates the clipboard from anywhere | Yes — configurable shortcuts |
| Browser extensions | No — Services menu works in any app instead | Yes — Safari, Chrome and others |
| Other platforms | macOS only | iOS, watchOS, browser |
| Custom tone & instructions | Editable prompt — formal, casual, keep the slang | No |
| Account required | No | Purchase / license tied to you |
| Cost visibility | Tokens and dollar cost logged per translation | — flat license |
Mate Translate details taken from gikken.co as of July 3, 2026. If we got something wrong, say so: [email protected].
Choosing the engine
Mate translates through its own cloud service, and that's the only option. You don't know what's inside, you can't swap it when something better appears, and you can't run it locally. In Revayo, provider and model are two fields in Settings. Use a frontier model for a careful email, a smaller model for volume, or a local model for text you'd rather keep off the internet. When a new model comes out, you type its name and switch.
One price, visible costs
Mate is a paid app with a fixed engine, so you pay for the bundle. Revayo separates the two: $14.99 once for the app, then translation costs whatever your provider charges, shown per request in tokens and dollars. On cheap models a dollar covers a few thousand short translations. Run Ollama locally and there's no bill. Either way you can see what a translation cost, which a bundled service doesn't show.
Nothing between you and the provider
Revayo has no account system, no analytics, and no servers. Your API keys sit in the macOS Keychain, one per provider, and requests go straight from your Mac to the endpoint you chose. With Mate, your text passes through Gikken's service under their terms. That's normal for a product built that way, but not what everyone wants for work correspondence. The privacy policy covers the rest, briefly.
Where Mate is genuinely better
- The ecosystem. Safari and Chrome extensions, iPhone and Watch apps. Revayo runs on the Mac only.
- Phrasebook and sync. Saved words that follow you across devices, useful for learning a language rather than only translating it.
- Speech. Mate reads translations aloud. Revayo doesn't.
- No API key. Buy it, open it, translate. Revayo needs about two minutes of setup first.
Which one is for you?
Pick Revayo if you…
- want to choose, and change, the AI doing the translating
- want to see what each translation costs
- want a local, offline option via Ollama
- want to know where your text goes
Stay with Mate if you…
- translate mostly inside Safari and want in-page tools
- need iPhone and Watch apps
- use the phrasebook to study languages
Questions people actually ask.
How is Revayo different from Mate Translate?
Mate is a paid app built around a fixed cloud service. Revayo is a one-time $14.99 app that runs on whichever model you configure: OpenAI, Claude, OpenRouter, or local Ollama, with the cost of every request shown.
Does Revayo have browser extensions like Mate?
No. Revayo works through the ⌥⌘T clipboard hotkey and the "Translate with Revayo" entry in the Services menu, which works in any app, browsers included. An in-page experience like Mate's Safari extension is not something Revayo offers.
Is LLM translation better than what Mate uses?
For tone, idioms, and context-heavy text, modern LLMs usually read more naturally than classic machine translation. And if a specific model disappoints you, you swap it for another, which is the point of the design.
Try Revayo
next to Mate Translate.
Native macOS app, version 14 or later. $14.99 once, about two minutes of setup. Bring an API key or a local model and compare them yourself.
Download for macOS