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Discord translator for Chrome: what to check first

Updated 2026-11-02

Six questions to ask before you add any Discord translator to Chrome, from permissions to where your messages go, and how Subline's add-on answers each one.

Before you click "Add to Chrome"

The Chrome Web Store has many Discord translators, and their names look almost the same. The differences are in the details: what the add-on can see, where your text goes, and whether it translates by itself or waits for a click. A translator reads every message you scroll past, so these details matter more than with most add-ons.

Here are six questions worth asking about any of them. Under each one is the answer for Subline's own add-on, so you can compare.

1. Which sites can it read?

When you add an extension, Chrome lists the sites it can access. A Discord translator needs Discord. Be careful with one that asks to "read and change all your data on all websites": it can then see your bank and your email too.

Subline: two addresses only. Discord's own pages, and Subline's server, which does the translating. Nothing else.

Subline needs one more permission, and it is good to know why. Discord's pages carry a security header that blocks outside code. The add-on includes one fixed rule that removes that header on discord.com, so the translation code can run there. It does not apply on any other site.

2. Where does the text of my messages go?

To translate, a message has to go somewhere. It might go to a public translation website, to an AI company with a key you supply, or to the add-on maker's own server. Look for a privacy page that names the place and says what is kept.

Subline: messages go to Subline's server, which passes them to an AI service and does not store them. The AI service does not see your IP address. The privacy page names the service, the model and every retention period.

3. Does it translate by itself, or one message at a time?

Some add-ons put a translate button on every message. Others translate the chat by themselves as it scrolls. Some do both, with the automatic part reserved for a paid tier. Check what you get on day one.

Subline: by itself, in every server channel. Each new message in a language you do not read gets a translation under it. Direct messages wait until you turn one on with the 🌐 button on a message, so private chats are never sent unless you choose.

4. Does it need my own API key?

A few translators ask you to sign up with an AI or translation company, create an API key and paste it in. That gives you control, but it also means a separate bill and a key stored in your browser.

Subline: no key. You link your Discord account once, and that is the whole setup.

5. Does it touch what I send?

Some translators also rewrite your outgoing messages into another language. If you want that, look for it. If you do not, make sure it is off, so you never send something you did not write.

Subline: it never touches what you send. It only translates what you read.

6. Does it work outside the browser?

This is the one most people find out too late. A Chrome add-on works only on discord.com in Chrome. The Discord app you may have open on your desktop is a separate program and never loads browser add-ons.

Subline: the add-on covers the browser, and the Subline app for Mac and Windows covers the Discord desktop app. Both use one plan, because the plan follows your Discord account. On Linux, where there is no Subline app, the add-on is the way to go: open Discord in Chrome.

Setting up the Subline add-on

1. Add Subline from the Chrome Web Store. The home page links the listing.
2. Open discord.com and sign in as usual.
3. Press Link once. The first time, Discord shows its own Authorize window, which asks only to know who you are. Subline cannot read your password or email and cannot post as you.
4. Pick your reading language: open Discord's settings, then Subline, then Settings.

Translations start in the next channel you open. Messages already in your language are left as they are, so an English reader in a mostly English server sees a translation only where one is needed.

A note on Discord's terms

Every add-on that changes how discord.com looks or behaves is modifying Discord, and Discord's terms do not allow that. Subline is built on Vencord, and the safety page explains plainly what that means and how Subline keeps to reading only.

Desktop app instead?

If you mostly use the Discord app rather than the browser, start with translating in the Discord desktop app. For every option side by side, including bots, see how to translate Discord messages.