Fairly priced Shopify AI translation: $0.01 per unit, or your own model

The catalog has to go into German. The app is $10 plus “usage”. At checkout, usage is a second margin on tokens. Fairly priced Shopify AI translation is the other deal: the model at translation cost, or the API you already pay. No hidden AI bundle on Free.

OO - Ultimate AI Translations prints it on the listing: *fairly priced*, App AI *billed at the translation cost*, $0.01 per unit. Or connect your own A.I. We already covered the free plan with your own model and scheduled jobs. This piece is the meter: what $0.01 is, what Free does not include, and how you switch between App AI and your own API.

Still 0 reviews. Launched 14 October 2026. Do not invent stars.

Usage without a unit price is not a price

Shopify languages and markets make the storefront multilingual. They do not bill AI. The translation app does, as soon as someone else runs the model.

Two honest paths:

1. You pay the provider. OpenAI-compatible base URL, key, model. The app charges $0 for AI. That is Free — and it stays available on Professional/Plus (“Or use your own AI”).

2. The app runs the model. Then the listing has to show a rate. Here: $0.01 per unit, billed at the translation cost. Pitch: no markup on the AI; pass-through of the translation cost. Do not invent an internal wholesale token price. The listing shows $0.01.

What is not fair: a flat “AI pack” with an unknown field count, or usage with no unit price on the card.

What shops do until billing surprises them

A ChatGPT tab, “we already pay OpenAI”. Fine for twelve products. At 400 SKUs plus theme strings you have no locks, no glossary on the request, no job history. Brand names drift. Size codes S/M/L get translated — jobs in this app skip size codes, handles, URLs, IDs, SKUs, JSON, empty source, and locked fields.

Expecting App AI on Free. Listing Free: connect your own AI, unlimited languages/markets/translations, language switcher. App AI not included. No backups. No scheduled translation jobs. App AI without your own key is Professional or Plus.

Taking Professional “for the AI” and forgetting the key you already have. You can still use your own API on the $10 plan. App AI is optional. Connect AI: Settings → AI connection, three fields, a small test translation. Brand voice and glossary ride along on the request.

Two meters, one editor

What is OO Translations?: side-by-side editor, jobs for missing/outdated, locks on manual saves, glossary, brand voice, backups, language switcher, metaobjects. AI is only the engine.

Live listing:

| Plan | App | AI | | --- | --- | --- | | Free $0 | Switcher, unlimited languages/markets/translations | Your API only. No App AI, no schedule, no backups | | Professional $10/month + usage | + glossary, 1+1 backup, monthly schedule | App AI at $0.01/unit, or your API | | Plus $20/month + usage | + 5+5 backups, daily schedule | Same App AI rate, or your API |

USD, through Shopify, every 30 days. Weekly sits in the same job family (daily / weekly / monthly) on the listing.

Confirm App AI on the Home setup guide, or leave Settings on the default app connection. Own API: base URL, key, model, Save, small run. An AI error in Jobs is key, model name, or credits at the provider — not “the unit price broke”.

Locks do not care which model you picked. A German sentence you edited and saved is not overwritten by the next job. Glossary terms (brand name per language) and brand voice (tone, formality, prefer/avoid) go with the request, so $0.01 units do not turn your brand into a calque.

Jobs cover products, pages, theme, metaobjects, draft themes. Start on Outdated once the first missing fields are done — that was the schedule article. Missing + Outdated in one blast spikes usage, or your OpenAI bill.

800 products, German, no second AI invoice

The shop already has an OpenAI key. Catalog is NL, DE market is ready, locale still unpublished — it can still go in a job (manage languages).

Week 1, Free. Connect AI, one language, small content type (quick start). Jobs: translated / skipped / failed. SKUs and handles in skipped: good.

Week 2. Glossary: brand name, product line. Hand-edit two titles, confirm the lock. Place the language switcher (Free).

Week 3, Professional. Not because Free ran out of translations — those were already unlimited. Because you want a monthly schedule and one backup, or a colleague without an OpenAI key needs App AI. Unit price $0.01. Or: Settings stays on your API; the $10 is then schedule + backup + glossary only.

Plus later: daily, five backups. Same $0.01. Moving Professional → Plus does not raise the AI meter.

Start without a hidden meter

1. Install OO - Ultimate AI Translations.

2. Free: connect your API, small job, read the skipped list.

3. Need App AI (no key of your own): Professional or Plus. Check $0.01 on the live listing, not a cached blog.

4. Glossary + brand voice before a large run. Locks on copy you wrote.

5. Schedule only once Outdated is the default. Free has no clock.

6. Backup on Professional/Plus before the first large job.

Wrap-up

Fairly priced Shopify AI translation is $0.01 per unit when the app runs the model, or $0 extra AI when you already have the key. Free does not include App AI. Professional and Plus keep both routes. Locks, glossary, and skipped technical fields keep the meter — and the brand — in line.

Set that choice in OO - Ultimate AI Translations. After that, usage is a unit price, not a surprise on the Shopify bill.