12 Best Localization Service Providers: From Enterprise Giants to Niche Experts

Localization is full of hidden complexities, and sometimes, all you want is a set-it-and-forget-it solution: fast, reliable, and headache-free. This is when you need a localization service provider (LSP) who can manage the entire process for you. And, in this article, I’ll help you pick the right one.

📌 Note: The guide covers providers of end-to-end translation and localization services, not localization platforms. If you’d like to keep the translation costs down and have complete control over your localization project, use a translation management platform like Centus.

Breaking down the 12 best localization service companies

I’ve divided the list into two parts to make the navigation easier.

The first part highlights the world’s largest localization service providers, which are ideal for complex, enterprise-level projects:

1. TransPerfect – The world’s largest LSP
2. RWS Group – A leader in translation tech
3. Lionbridge – Scalable localization for digital-first brands
4. Acolad – #1 LSP in Europe and a leader in life sciences
5. LanguageLine Solutions – A leader in on-demand interpretation

The second part focuses on smaller, specialized localization companies known for their niche expertise:

6. Keyword Studios – Best for gaming
7. Acclaro – Best for global marketing and tech
8. Andovar – Best for multimedia and eLearning
9. TOPPAN Digital Language – Best for high-stakes sectors
10. Welocalize – Best for legal and IP translation
11. e2f – Best for agile translation and AI-driven platforms
12. ZOO Digital – Best for TV, films, and streaming platforms

Part 1. Top enterprise-scale localization service providers

These companies are the world’s largest and most renowned LSPs who could become your perfect partners if you 👇

• work in a highly regulated industry like medical, legal, and finance
• operate globally and need 24/7 localization support
• manage large-scale, complex localization projects across multiple regions
• require strict adherence to privacy, data protection, and compliance standards (like GDPR, ISO, and HIPAA)
• and, of course, have a budget to match because top-tier global coverage doesn’t come with a “free trial.”

📖 Relevant reading: Localization Costs and Rates Overview

1. TransPerfect (USA)

💼 Clients: Pfizer, P&G, BNP Paribas, Cisco, Deloitte, Lufthansa

TransPerfect holds the crown as the world’s largest privately held localization service provider, with 30 years of experience, more than 100 industry awards, and a global team of over 10,000 linguists covering 200+ languages. The company has over 160 offices worldwide and brings expertise across various industries, including legal and compliance translation, life science, gaming, and finance.

🔥 The standout factor: TransPerfect is your choice if you want to work with the industry’s true leader. The company dominates the global market and ranks as the top LSP by revenue, bringing in around 20% more than its closest competitor. Given that the top 100 LSPs account for a fifth of the entire language industry’s revenue (per Nimdzi), TransPerfect’s scale and influence are unmatched.

2. RWS Group (UK)

💼 Clients: DHL, Oracle, SAP, Danone, Panasonic, HP, European Patent Office

While TransPerfect dominates as a privately held giant, RWS stands out as the world’s largest publicly listed localization service provider with over 65 years of expertise. RWS operates in 60+ offices globally and works with a network of 40,000+ linguists. The company specializes in all types of language localization services, including patent, medical, legal and other highly regulated content.

🔥 The standout factor: RWS is a tech powerhouse with 47 AI-related patents and a quarter of its revenue coming from AI services (as per the RWS financial report). RWS also owns Trados Studio, arguably the industry’s most well-known CAT tool. No wonder 83 of the world’s top 100 brands and nearly all major pharma, finance, and law players rely on RWS.

📖 Relevant reading: What Are CAT Tools?

3. Lionbridge (USA)

💼 Clients: BMW, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Tripadvisor

Lionbridge is another world-leading LSP with over 25 years of localization expertise and support for 350+ languages. The company delivers fast, technology-driven translation, generative AI solutions, and AI training data services. Lionbridge also offers in-market testing, UX validation, and global content QA, helping brands ensure conversion and search visibility across markets.

🔥 The standout factor: Lionbridge is all about speed and scale. With an average work assignment time of 15 min – thanks to its staggering network of 500,000 linguists worldwide – it’s the perfect choice for big, fast-moving projects.

4. Acolad (EU)

💼 Clients: NUXE, Hitachi Energy, Sterigenics, Cara Therapeutics

Acolad is ranked as the top LSP in Western Europe and one of the top 10 localization service providers in the world. With a network of over 20,000 linguists and a presence in 25 countries, Acolad offers a comprehensive range of services, including translation, interpreting, transcription, voiceover, and subtitling – combining human expertise with AI technologies.

🔥 The standout factor: Acolad isn’t just the top LSP in Europe – it’s also the global leader in life science localization (according to the 2023 CSA market research). The company even has the Clinical Center of Excellence – a dedicated hub for complex multilingual clinical trials.

5. LanguageLine Solutions (USA)

💼 Clients: 90+ Fortune 100 companies

LanguageLine is one of the industry’s veterans with over 40 years of experience. The company provides translation and localization services across legal, healthcare, education, and other industries. LanguageLine supports 240+ languages with a network of 35,000 linguists worldwide, delivering round-the-clock expert language assistance.

🔥 The standout factor: LanguageLine Solutions specializes in instant, on-demand telephonic and video interpretation, making it a top choice for industries like healthcare, insurance, and telecom that need real-time multilingual support.

Part 2. Specialized providers by industry

Certain industries have unique needs (shocking, I know – like finding out the sky is blue), and while some of the world’s top localization companies shine in legal or finance, they might miss the mark in gaming or entertainment.

Below are the companies that not only speak your language but also speak your industry 👇

6. Keyword Studios (Ireland) – Gaming

💼 Clients: Nintendo, Ubisoft, Square Enix

Keyword Studios runs studios in over 25 countries with a team of 13,000+ people. The company provides professional translation and localization services for the gaming industry, along with cultural adaptation, game QA testing, and even sector-leading art and game development support.

🔥 The standout factor: Keyword Studios dominates the video game localization market, providing services to 24 of the top 25 gaming creators. Despite its narrow specialization, the company ranks as the 5th largest LSP in the world by revenue.

7. Acclaro (USA) – Global marketing

💼 Clients: Meta, Amazon, Coinbase, Visa, IBM, Notion, Workforce, Slack

Acclaro has 20 years of experience, supporting more than 125 languages. They offer full-service localization along with expert support in technology, workflow optimization, content performance, and cultural adaptation.

🔥 The standout factor: Acclaro specializes in strategic localization, making it a top choice for fast-growing companies expanding into new markets. They go beyond standard translation services and offer multilingual content backed by data, insights, and metrics to drive client success.

📖 Relevant reading: Marketing Localization: The Only Guide Worth Your Time

8. Andovar (Singapore) – Multimedia & eLearning

💼 Clients: The British Museum, Artisan E-Learning, Cambridge University Press, Skillsoft

Andovar specializes in complex multimedia localization projects that include text, voiceovers, broadcast media, and high-frequency translation. The company works in 200+ language pairs with a network of over 10,000 translators, offering everything from translation to recording, engineering, and QA – all under one roof.

🔥 The standout factor: Andovar is a go-to choice for eLearning and multimedia projects because it delivers end-to-end localization with its own recording studios and multimedia labs.

9. TOPPAN Digital Language (UK) – High-stakes content

💼 Clients: Bank of Montreal, Wise, OANDA, Klarna Group, and high-end brands like Versace, Jimmy Choo, Tiffany & Co., and Ralph Lauren

TOPPAN Digital Language specializes in high-stakes content translation that’s often too nuanced for large agencies and too sensitive for smaller LSPs. Due to its strong expertise in transcreation, adapting content for regulatory compliance, cultural accuracy, and brand voice, the company is trusted for investor-facing communications, luxury brand marketing, research reports, and fund documentation.

🔥 The standout factor: TOPPAN’s expertise and global reach are backed by TOPPAN Holdings Inc. – one of the world’s largest content distribution companies. TOPPAN also boasts the industry’s largest market research-focused localization team, with more than 70 dedicated experts.

10. Welocalize (USA) – Legal & IP

💼 Clients: Dell, Google, Cisco, Bayer, Disney

With over 25 years of experience, Welocalize operates through 13 offices worldwide and supports more than 200 languages. As one of the world’s top translation and localization companies, Welocalize offers end-to-end services, including translation, transcreation, AI training data, and QA.

🔥 The standout factor: Welocalize’s acquisition of Park IP Translations established a dedicated legal division, making Welocalize a strong choice for legal content. They also offer an AI-based platform dedicated to legal content that, along with translation, can flag compliance risks against global regulatory standards.

11. e2f (USA) – AI-driven platforms

💼 Clients: United Nations, Google, Amazon, Trello, Brave

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the company started as a localization service provider and quickly became a leading expert in AI data services. e2f helps tech companies train and fine-tune their AI and LLM apps, improve MT outcomes, and evaluate MT performance. Their agile approach and deep expertise in AI and ML suit the needs of SCRUM and other continuous delivery models – especially in high-volume multilingual translation.

🔥 The standout factor: e2f gained its expertise in AI data training and localization by working with Silicon Valley tech companies and some of the world’s largest AI & NLP deployments.

12. ZOO Digital (USA) – Entertainment

💼 Clients: Warner Bros., Prime Video, Netflix, HBO, Paramount

ZOO Digital operates in 13 locations across the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, focusing exclusively on entertainment localization for TV, film, and streaming platforms. The company provides end-to-end media globalization and post-to-platform services, including subtitling, captioning, voice dubbing, and media asset management.

🔥 The standout factor: ZOO Digital has some of the world’s most renowned dubbing actors on its team. The company also shapes industry standards by partnering with universities and other educators to support and train future audiovisual translation professionals.

How to choose the right localization company

When choosing content localization companies, set your goals, performance metrics, limitations, and priorities first. Otherwise, even the best translation vendor can leave you feeling like you’ve gone grocery shopping on an empty stomach and without a list – expensive, confusing, and rarely satisfying.

Once you’ve set your objectives, you can dive into the search. And sure, we all know the basic rules on how to do it, but a quick refresh never hurts:

• Prepare a shortlist of LSPs that align with your project’s goals (such as budget, industry expertise, language pairs, or all of the above).
• Request client references. Ideally, you need clients in the same industry, facing similar project objectives and challenges as yours.
• Think long-term. If you’re looking for a lasting partnership, choose a translation and localization company that can scale as your needs grow.
• Consider availability. If you have tight deadlines or need 24/7 localization support, focus on companies with offices in your time zone for faster communication.
• Explore the technologies stack. Depending on your project, you might need specific integrations (like direct integration with WordPress to localize your website) or advanced AI and MT tools to reduce costs on high-volume projects.

📖 Relevant reading: Website Localization Guide for 2025

Basics covered. Now, let’s dive into less obvious and more nuanced recommendations. Use some (or better yet, all) of them next time you search for an LSP.

1. Verify their certificates

The more regulated your industry is, the more critical it is that your vendor complies with international and industry standards on translation quality and data security. But even if you're in a less regulated space, working with a certified, standards-compliant LSP is still your safest bet.

So, what to look for?

• ISO certifications, including:

  • ISO 17100 for translation service quality
  • ISO 9001 to minimize errors and risks in the management process
  • ISO 18587 for machine translation post-editing quality
  • ISO 27001 for information security

• Industry- or region-specific standards and policies like ISO 13485, specific to medical devices and life science, HIPAA (for those working with the protected health information in the USA), and GDPR for those working with EU citizens’ data.

• Membership in translation associations like the American Translators Association (ATA), International Federation of Translators, and Translators Association of China.

2. Put their expertise to the test

Request a test if you don’t want to risk your reputation with someone who translates fashion ads and financial audits with the same glossary. I advise asking for a small text sample packed with industry-specific terms and language-specific nuances – those linguistic landmines where one slip can take your brand from clever to canceled.

You can go further and make a tighter deadline, request a multilanguage translation, or even mix your tech documentation with a few marketing slogans to test if their workflow can handle the chaos your real projects bring.

3. Examine their QA process

A reliable LSP should be able to walk you through their QA process with real examples. Ask for QA reports, review cycles, in-context feedback, and even machine translation post-editing scores. Bonus points if they can show you actual samples.

Your goal here isn’t to tick boxes – make sure that multidimensional quality measurement is built into every step of the translation process.

4. Dig into their talent pool

Look for vendors who rely on native-speaking linguists with a graduate degree in translation, linguistics, or a relevant field (like pharma and engineering) and at least 3 years of translation experience – especially in regulated industries or high-stakes content projects.

You can ask for proof of qualifications to ensure the translators are certified and have subject-matter expertise in your field. But remember, a skilled translator is only step one.

Top localization companies manage and support their linguists over time, investing in:

• Ongoing performance monitoring
• Regular training, including new technologies (translation tech tools, MT/AI workflows), process improvements, and regulatory updates (such as changes in medical device labeling).
• Continuous evaluation of linguistic quality, delivery reliability, communication, and responsiveness.

Ask your candidates how they choose and manage linguists to understand their standards for quality and consistency.

5. Prepare tough questions

In most cases, an LSP isn’t just a vendor – they are your long-term strategic partner. So, it’s important to understand how transparent, reliable, and success-oriented they really are.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions like:

• What won’t you do?
• What types of content do you typically avoid?
• How do you handle last-minute updates during product launches or crises?
• How do you handle urgent requests outside business hours?

A professional localization service provider knows their limits and can openly say so. They’ll flag unrealistic deadlines, explain in what content types they may lack expertise, and push back if you submit unreviewed or high-risk material.

At the same time, a true partner understands that sometimes things go wrong and will have a plan for force majeure scenarios, last-minute pivots, and unexpected pressure.

Don’t let great work get stuck

You’ve chosen a top-tier localization service provider – great! But without a centralized platform, even the best work gets bottlenecked in endless email threads and version chaos. You might expect the vendor to handle everything, but that comes with drawbacks:

1. High cost.
2. Risk of handing over control over your project to a third party.

That’s why you need a localization platform like Centus: to keep your localization running smoothly from request to rollout while staying in control of the workflow and management. Try Centus now for free!

Want to learn more about localization platforms and how they can streamline your translation workflows? Check this review of the best localization platforms and tools in 2025.

Happy localizing!