Shopify Native Translation

Your Translations Live in Shopify — Not on Someone Else's Server

Polaris uses Shopify's native translationsRegister API to write translations directly to your store. No proxy layer, no third-party hosting, no vendor lock-in. Your translations are yours — forever.

2,000 free words
No proxy layer
Automatic hreflang SEO

Native Translation vs. Proxy — What's the Difference?

Proxy-based apps serve translations from their own servers. Native apps write them directly to Shopify. Here's why it matters.

Feature
Native (Polaris)
Proxy (Weglot, etc.)
Where translations live
Stored in your Shopify store via the API
Hosted on the app provider's server
URL structure
Native /fr/, /de/ subfolders served by Shopify
Subdomain or proxy-routed paths
Hreflang tags
Automatically generated by Shopify
Injected by the proxy — can break or lag
Sitemap inclusion
Translated URLs in Shopify's native sitemap
Separate sitemap or missing entirely
Page speed impact
Zero overhead — served from Shopify CDN
Extra network hop adds latency
Canonical tags
Correct self-referencing canonicals per locale
Can produce duplicate or conflicting canonicals
After uninstalling the app
Translations stay in your Shopify store
Translations disappear immediately

SEO That Works Because Shopify Powers It

When translations live natively in Shopify, search engines see exactly what they expect — no workarounds, no injection scripts.

Automatic Hreflang Tags

Shopify generates hreflang tags automatically for every published locale. Search engines see the correct language version without any custom scripts or injection.

Native Sitemap Inclusion

Translated URLs appear in Shopify's official sitemap automatically. No separate sitemap generation, no missed pages, no manual configuration.

Native Subfolder URLs

Translations are served at clean subfolder paths like /fr/products/... and /de/products/... — the structure Google recommends for international SEO.

Correct Canonical Tags

Each locale gets its own self-referencing canonical tag. No duplicate content issues, no confusion between language versions — exactly what search engines need.

Own Your Translations — No Lock-In, No Surprises

With proxy-based tools, your translations live on someone else's server. Cancel the subscription and they vanish. With Polaris, translations are written directly to Shopify using the official API — they're part of your store.

  • Translations stored in Shopify via the translationsRegister API
  • Uninstall Polaris and your translations stay in your store
  • No dependency on a proxy server to serve your content
  • Export or edit translations anytime — they're your data
  • Switch apps without losing any translated content

After uninstalling a proxy app

Product translationsGone
SEO metadataGone
Hreflang tagsGone

After uninstalling Polaris

Product translationsStill in Shopify
SEO metadataStill in Shopify
Hreflang tagsStill in Shopify

Proxy-based translation

Visitor
Proxy Server
Shopify CDN
Visitor

Extra hop adds 100-300ms latency per request

Native Shopify translation

Visitor
Shopify CDN
Visitor

Direct path — zero translation overhead

Zero Performance Overhead

Proxy-based tools add an extra network hop between your customer and your store. That means slower page loads, worse Core Web Vitals, and lower Google rankings.

With Polaris, translated content is served directly from Shopify's CDN — exactly like your source-language pages. No middleware, no extra server, no latency.

  • No proxy server between visitors and your store
  • Translated pages served from Shopify's global CDN
  • Core Web Vitals unaffected by translations
  • Same TTFB for translated and source-language pages

Start Translating Natively — Own Every Word

Try Polaris free — your translations go directly into Shopify, not onto someone else's server.

2,000 free words
No credit card
Cancel anytime