Everything you need to know about Jambo Translate
Credits are used for translations. Text translation costs 1 credit per translation (up to 100 words). For example, translating 50 words costs 1 credit, and translating 150 words costs 2 credits. Document translation costs 10 credits per page (15 credits per page for scanned documents requiring OCR). Image translation costs 5 credits per image. You start with 20 free credits when you sign up!
We offer three paid tiers: Starter ($4.99 for 100 credits), Professional ($12.99 for 350 credits with 50 bonus), and Business ($24.99 for 700 credits with 100 bonus). All tiers remove watermarks and include credits that never expire.
Yes! Text translations are billed per translation, not per word. Translating 1 word, 50 words, or 100 words all cost 1 credit. Only when you exceed 100 words does it cost 2 credits (for 101-200 words), 3 credits (for 201-300 words), and so on. This is rounded up, so 150 words costs 2 credits.
Yes, for free tier users. Free tier credits expire 90 days after account creation. You'll see a countdown on your Credits page showing days remaining. Paid tier credits NEVER expire - purchase any credit package to make all your credits permanent!
When your 90-day period ends, any remaining free credits are automatically removed. You'll receive warnings at 30 days, 7 days, and 1 day before expiration. To keep your credits permanently, purchase any credit package before they expire!
Purchase any credit package (Starter, Professional, or Business) to upgrade to paid tier. When you upgrade, ALL your existing credits (including remaining free credits) are automatically converted to permanent credits that never expire!
If you're a paid user with 0 credits and don't purchase more credits for 60 consecutive days, your account is automatically downgraded to free tier. You can purchase credits anytime to upgrade back to paid tier.
You are ONLY charged for successful translations. Credits are checked before translation, but deducted ONLY after the translation completes successfully and is validated. If a translation fails, PDF generation fails, or the result is blank/corrupted, you will NOT be charged any credits. This ensures you never lose credits due to technical errors.
Purchased credits are non-refundable, as we provide free trial credits (20 credits) before purchase. However, since credits are only deducted for successful translations, you're protected from losing credits due to failed or invalid translations.
Free tier users get PDFs with a small watermark at the bottom: '🌍 Translated by Jambo Translate' along with the date and time. This helps us provide free translation services while encouraging upgrades.
Upgrade to any paid tier (Starter, Professional, or Business) to get watermark-free PDFs permanently. Paid tiers also unlock OCR support for scanned documents.
No! The watermark only appears on translated PDF documents. Text translations are always clean with no watermarks.
Yes! Anonymous users get 10 free text translations (up to 100 words each). After using your 10 free translations, sign up to get 20 free credits instantly! Document translation requires a free account.
New users receive 20 free credits! This gives you 20 text translations (up to 100 words each) OR 2 PDF document pages OR 4 image translations OR mix and match. Try all features and see how Jambo Translate works for you!
We support PDF, DOCX (Microsoft Word), and TXT files. Maximum file size is 10MB and maximum 10 pages per document.
Yes! Scanned documents require OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing, which is available exclusively for paid tier users. Free tier users will be prompted to upgrade when uploading scanned documents. OCR works with both English and Swahili text. Note: OCR processing costs 15 credits per page (vs 10 credits for regular documents) due to the additional processing required.
Image Translation lets you upload photos of documents, signs, menus, or any image containing text. Our OCR system extracts the text from the image and translates it for you. This is perfect for translating photos of government documents, street signs, restaurant menus, or any printed text. Image translation costs 5 credits per image and is available for signed-in users. You can download the results as PDF or Word documents.
The 10 page limit ensures fast, high-quality translations and prevents system abuse. For larger documents, split them into sections and translate separately. Each 10-page section costs 100 credits for regular documents or 150 credits for scanned documents requiring OCR.
Absolutely! We use industry-standard encryption and secure authentication via Clerk. Your documents are processed securely and not stored permanently on our servers.
Yes! Visit the Credits page to see your complete transaction history, including purchases, usage, and bonuses.
Click the 'Buy Credits' button on the Credits page. Choose a package and complete payment via Stripe. Your credits are added instantly!
Free tier accounts with 0 credits and no activity for 90+ days are considered dormant. These accounts may be removed from the system by administrators to maintain database health. If your account is deleted, you can always sign up again and receive another 20 free credits as a new user.
Dormant account deletion is a manual administrative process, not automatic. Only free tier accounts with 0 credits and 90+ days of inactivity are eligible. Paid tier accounts are never deleted. To keep your account active, simply use the service or purchase credits.
We use advanced AI translation models, tuned for English and Swahili, for fast and natural results. They are very accurate for everyday and business text, but we recommend human review for legal, medical or other critical documents.
Yes! Our translator is fully bidirectional. Click the swap button to switch between English → Swahili and Swahili → English.
Yes! We preserve formatting including titles, headers, bullet points, tables, and document structure. Tables are automatically detected and preserved with proper formatting in the translated PDF. Complex multi-column layouts or embedded images may require minor adjustments.
Our OCR system uses advanced image recognition to extract text from scanned PDFs and images. The system processes each page, recognizes both English and Swahili characters, and provides a confidence score. While OCR is highly accurate, we recommend reviewing scanned document translations carefully.
We validate every translation in multiple stages: (1) Text extraction validation, (2) Translation content validation (ensures translation is not empty), and (3) For documents, PDF generation validation (ensures PDF is not blank or corrupted). Credits are deducted ONLY after all validation checks pass. This multi-layer validation ensures you never pay for failed or invalid translations.
Our support team is here to help! Contact us at support@jambotranslate.com
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