Center of Portugal
Five languages
Asked for: An easier way to run their website, in several languages.
2,000+ articles in five languages, designed and built as one system, run by the client's own team.
5languages, one system
Two languages or five
A website in several languages is a content problem before it's a translation problem.
Most multilingual sites fail quietly: one language falls behind, a page exists in English but not in German, the menu is translated and the PDFs aren't, and the team stops trusting the site. The fix isn't more translation. It's a structure that makes it hard to fall behind.
Who you'll be working with.
I'm Frederico Leonardo, a senior web designer and developer in Lisbon, Portugal. I've designed and built sites in five languages with 2,000+ articles, two-language institutional sites, and moved multilingual sites between platforms. I work in English and Portuguese, which helps: I've been the editor on the other side of the CMS.
More about meHow a multilingual site gets built
01
Which content is really multilingual.
Not everything needs every language. We decide what is translated, what is shared and what stays in one language, before building.
02
A content model that carries languages.
In Craft CMS: sites and propagation rules, so a new article exists in every language it should, with the right fallbacks. In Webflow: Localization, when the site is small enough for it.
03
An editorial workflow.
Who translates, how missing translations are flagged, what visitors see while a translation is pending.
04
URLs, hreflang and search.
One URL per language, correct alternates, sitemaps per language, so each market finds its own version.
05
Design that survives translation.
German is a third longer than English. Portuguese wraps differently. The layouts are tested with real translated content, not with lorem ipsum.
Craft or Webflow for several languages?
| Craft CMS | Webflow | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | 3+ languages, lots of content, editors who translate every week | 2 to 3 languages, marketing site, simple content model |
| Cost | Licence, no per-language pricing | Localization is priced per language and grows with CMS items |
| Workflow | Propagation, fallbacks, per-field translation | Per-locale overrides in the Designer |
| Watch out for | Needs a developer to set up properly | Cost at scale, thinner editorial workflow |
Craft CMS
- Best for
- 3+ languages, lots of content, editors who translate every week
- Cost
- Licence, no per-language pricing
- Workflow
- Propagation, fallbacks, per-field translation
- Watch out for
- Needs a developer to set up properly
Webflow
- Best for
- 2 to 3 languages, marketing site, simple content model
- Cost
- Localization is priced per language and grows with CMS items
- Workflow
- Per-locale overrides in the Designer
- Watch out for
- Cost at scale, thinner editorial workflow
Proof
Multilingual projects
NCREP
With Major
Asked for: Major's designs, built as designed.
Two sites from one Craft platform, two languages on the international site.
2sites from one platform
Verakis Food Academy
Out of Webflow
Asked for: Lower running costs for their Webflow site.
A multilingual site moved from Webflow Localization to Craft CMS with an Astro front-end.
~50%lower monthly costs
I've worked with Frederico for several years on multiple projects and he's consistently one of the best developers I've collaborated with. His technical skills are exceptional, but what really sets him apart is his professionalism: meticulous, reliable, pragmatic, great communicator, and always delivers quality work even under pressure. Highly recommended.
Price
What it costs
€8k+
multilingual builds start at
1
content model and set of templates, shared by every language
Multilingual builds start at €8k, and editorial platforms in several languages are usually €12k–€40k or more. Existing sites that need a smaller language extension are quoted for that work alone. Larger platforms and migrations can be more.
Languages can share the same content model and templates. The quote still accounts for translated content, URL structure, editorial workflows, migration and testing in each language.
Translation is separate. Your team can provide it, or we can agree another workflow with human review.
Agency or freelance designer?
If you're an agency or designer with a web project and no developer, I can build it white-label or alongside you. If you don't have a web designer either, I design it too, or recommend someone. Everything stays in your client's accounts.
How I work with agenciesFAQ
Answers before you get in touch.
Can we add a language later?
Yes, if the site was built for it. That's the point of doing the content model first.
Do you translate?
No. The translations come from your team, or we use AI and your team reviews it. I set up the structure and the workflow so either way works inside the CMS.
What about right-to-left languages?
Craft handles them. The design has to be planned for it. Tell me early.
Will each language rank in its own market?
That's what hreflang, per-language URLs and sitemaps are for. It's part of every multilingual build.
Can you migrate our multilingual site to a new CMS?
Yes. See CMS migration.
Next step
Tell me which languages, and how much content.
Send the context and I'll reply, usually within one working day, with a few questions.