Immersive Translate

Browser extension for bilingual side-by-side web page translation. 20+ AI translation engines. Chrome Best Extension 2024. Read foreign-language sources with original and translation visible together.

Writing & notes

Caution

https://immersivetranslate.com · Reviewed 2026-04-03 · Editorial assessment by Mike Schneider — not an independent security audit

What should journalists know about Immersive Translate?

Immersive Translate solves a specific problem better than anything else: reading a foreign-language web page with both the original and translation visible simultaneously. The bilingual display preserves context that copy-paste translation destroys. You see the source text. You see the translation. You catch errors because both are right there. For journalists working with foreign-language sources, this is not a convenience — it is a verification tool. The extension supports 20+ translation engines including Google, DeepL, OpenAI, and Claude. The free tier uses free engines and has no hard usage cap. Pro ($69/year) unlocks premium engines. It translates web pages, PDFs, EPUBs, and video subtitles on YouTube, Netflix, and other platforms. Named Chrome Best Extension of 2024 by Google. Over 20 million Chrome users. The extension was originally open source and the GitHub repository (17,000+ stars) remains public, though the current version includes proprietary components. The company behind it is Funstory.ai Limited, registered in Hong Kong, with data stored primarily in South Korea. This matters. In August 2025, a critical security incident exposed user data through the webpage snapshot feature: translated snapshots were uploaded to Tencent Cloud storage with public access and no authentication. Leaked content included personal data, financial documents, and cryptocurrency keys. The developer's response did not directly address remediation. A separate XSS vulnerability reported on Hacker News in August 2024 showed the extension could execute arbitrary code through malicious content. These are not theoretical risks — they are documented incidents. The translation quality through premium engines (DeepL, GPT-4) is excellent. The bilingual reading experience is unmatched. But the security track record requires caution, especially for journalists handling sensitive foreign-language material.

Best for

Reading foreign-language news articles, government publications, and social media with bilingual context. Monitoring foreign-language websites for investigative reporting. Translating PDF documents and research papers while preserving layout. Language learners who want immersive reading practice. Quick translation of web content where seeing the original matters.

Not for

Translating sensitive or classified source material — the extension sends text to third-party translation APIs. Journalists working with whistleblower documents in foreign languages (use offline tools instead). Anyone who needs translation without any data leaving their device (use Ollama with local models). Publications needing certified or legal-grade translations.

Security & Privacy

Encryption in transit Yes

Data is scrambled while being sent to their servers

Encryption at rest Unknown

Data is scrambled when stored on their servers

Data jurisdiction Hong Kong (company registration) and South Korea (primary data storage). Data processed across multiple jurisdictions including through third-party translation APIs: AWS, Azure, DeepL (Germany), Alibaba Cloud (China), Tencent Cloud (China). PDF processing routed through Mathpix. Google Analytics used for usage tracking.

Where servers are located — affects which governments can request your data

Security rating Caution

Text submitted for translation is sent to whichever translation engine you select — Google, DeepL, OpenAI, or others. Funstory.ai states translated content is not stored permanently and is deleted after service completion. However, the 2025 snapshot incident showed user content was stored on publicly accessible cloud storage without authentication. The extension collects device information, IP addresses, usage frequency, translation statistics, and error logs. Google Analytics tracks aggregated usage. Payment data processed by third-party providers. BabelDoc (PDF translation) uploads files to Funstory.ai servers. Data controller is Funstory.ai Limited (Hong Kong), subject to Hong Kong privacy law.

How to protect yourself:

Never translate sensitive source documents, leaked files, or whistleblower communications through this extension — text is sent to external translation APIs. Disable the webpage snapshot feature entirely. Do not use BabelDoc PDF upload for confidential documents. For sensitive material, copy text manually into DeepL's Pro tier (which deletes after translation) or use a local translation model. Review which translation engine you are using — each has its own data handling policy. Consider using the free tier with Google Translate for routine foreign-language reading and reserving offline tools for sensitive work. Keep the extension updated — security patches have followed reported vulnerabilities.

Two documented security incidents in 2024–2025: an XSS vulnerability and a critical data exposure through the snapshot feature that leaked user documents to publicly accessible cloud storage. Text is sent to third-party translation APIs by design — this is functional, not a flaw, but journalists must understand that every translated page leaves their device. Data controller is Funstory.ai Limited (Hong Kong) with primary storage in South Korea and processing through Chinese cloud providers (Alibaba, Tencent). No disclosed security certifications. No public bug bounty or vulnerability disclosure program. Google Analytics tracks usage. The translation quality is excellent and the bilingual UX is best-in-class, but the security posture requires caution for any use involving sensitive material.

Who Owns This

Owner Funstory.ai Limited (Hong Kong)

Funding Privately funded. No disclosed venture capital rounds. Revenue from Pro subscriptions. Company details are limited — Funstory.ai Limited is registered in Hong Kong with data infrastructure in South Korea and China.

Business model Freemium. Free tier uses free translation engines (Google, Microsoft). Revenue from Pro subscriptions ($69/year) that unlock premium translation engines and advanced features. No advertising in the extension itself.

Known issues

August 2025: Critical data exposure through webpage snapshot feature. Translated page snapshots were uploaded to Tencent Cloud Object Storage with public access URLs and no authentication. Exposed content included personal documents, financial data, and API keys. Developer response did not directly address technical remediation. August 2024: XSS vulnerability reported on Hacker News — the extension could expose users to cross-site scripting attacks through malicious page content, potentially enabling cookie theft. Extension sends all translated text to third-party APIs by design — this is inherent to how it works, not a bug, but it means every page you translate is transmitted externally. BabelDoc PDF feature uploads documents to Funstory.ai servers for processing.

Pricing

Free: web page translation using Google Translate, Microsoft Translate, and other free engines. Unlimited basic usage. Pro: $6.90/month or $69/year — unlocks DeepL Pro, OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini translation engines, plus AI conversation translation, subtitle downloads, EPUB/PDF full-screen translation, OCR for scanned documents, and priority updates.

This is an editorial assessment based on publicly available information as of 2026-04-03, using our published methodology. Independent security review is pending. Security posture can change at any time. This is not a guarantee of safety.

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