Google Meet Translated Captions vs Clozo: An Honest Comparison

How each one works

Google Meet translated captions

This is a feature inside Google Meet. Google's help page says it lets you “translate to and from specific languages” in meeting captions. It is built on Meet's own captions: you first set the meeting's spoken language, and the feature then translates those captions into the language you choose (Google Meet Help, checked 2026-10-20).

On a computer, you open Settings > Captions in the meeting, select “Language of the meeting”, turn on Translated captions and pick the language to translate into (same source).

Clozo

Clozo is a Chrome extension. It doesn't listen to audio. Google Meet can show live captions for everyone, and Clozo reads these captions in the browser and has the text translated by AI (Gemini on Google Cloud Vertex AI, in the EU). Original and translation appear one under the other, with the speaker's name, about a second after each sentence ends.

The setup is similar in spirit: Meet's caption language must match what people actually speak. Clozo detects the spoken language from the caption text, and you only pick the language to translate into. By default it uses your browser's language. Both tools translate text captions, not voices.

Who can use it: accounts and “translated captions not available”

This is the biggest practical difference.

Google's help page lists the editions that currently get translated captions: Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Google AI Pro for Education. Enterprise Starter was listed as available until June 30, 2025 (Google Meet Help, Android page, checked 2026-10-20). A free personal Google account is not on that list (Google Meet Help, checked 2026-10-20).

The same page marks the feature as “gradually rolling out” and says it “may not be available yet”. So even on an eligible edition, you may not see the option right away.

There is one useful point for guests. A December 2022 Google Workspace Updates post says participants can use live translated captions if the meeting is organized by a user with an eligible Workspace edition (Google Workspace Updates, checked 2026-10-20). The organizer's edition matters, not only yours.

Clozo works with a free Google account. Neither you nor the host needs Google Workspace or a paid Google plan, and it works in your own meetings and as a guest in other people's. No bot joins the call, and only you see the translation.

Side by side: Google Meet live translation vs Clozo

Google column: sources linked in the other sections, checked 2026-10-20.

Languages, display and transcripts

Google's help page lists about 70 languages for translating to or from, from Afrikaans to Zulu (Google Meet Help, checked 2026-10-20). We counted roughly 70 and did not verify the exact total. Clozo offers 76 target languages and works with every language Meet can caption. Check that both your spoken and target language are covered by whichever you choose.

On display, Google lets you customize font, font size, font color and background color, and the settings save automatically. Clozo's menu in the call (the yellow pill) lets you show both original and translation or the translation only, pick one of four text sizes, and put captions at the bottom, at the top, or anywhere you drag them.

For catching up, Google lets you scroll back through earlier translated captions, but only for the parts where you were in the meeting with captions on. If you record a meeting, you can select “Record captions” to embed the captions in the recording. We found no official transcript or export feature specific to translated captions.

Clozo keeps a live transcript in Chrome's side panel, with speaker, time, original and translation for each entry. You can search and copy it. Exporting as TXT or PDF is part of Pro. The transcript lives only in the browser's memory and is gone when Chrome closes. Clozo doesn't record calls.

Is there a free Google Meet translation option?

It depends on your account. Google's help pages we checked don't mention a separate price or a free plan for translated captions; the feature comes with the eligible Workspace editions listed above. Google also says customers on Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus can keep using translated captions through their existing subscriptions (Google Meet Help, checked 2026-10-20). If your organization pays for one of those, the feature is part of what you already have.

Clozo's free plan gives you 15 minutes of translation every day, in all languages, with the live transcript. Minutes renew at midnight UTC, and only minutes in which something is translated count. When they run out, translation stops mid-call and Meet's captions stay visible in the original language. A short call fits the free plan; regular long meetings usually need Pro. See the pricing for details.

Privacy and limits to know about

We found no privacy or data-handling statement for translated captions on the official Google pages we checked, so we say nothing about it. Read Google's own documentation or ask your admin if this matters to you.

For Clozo, nothing leaves the browser until you agree in the call (“Agree and translate”). Only the caption text is sent, with the previous sentence or two as context: no audio, video, participant names or meeting links. Clozo keeps no recordings, captions or translations on any server, and the text isn't used to train AI. More in privacy in short. Clozo asks you to tell other participants that you use translated captions, and not to use it in confidential meetings.

Clozo's limits are real. It only works with Google Meet in Chrome on a computer, not Zoom, Teams, Webex or Meet's mobile apps. It translates only what Meet captions, so accents, crosstalk, noise and jargon affect results, and translations can contain mistakes. Meet captions one spoken language at a time, so in a meeting that switches languages you have to change Meet's caption language. The translation appears about a second after a sentence ends, not word by word. It doesn't translate Meet's chat.

Which one should you choose?

Google Meet translated captions may be the better choice if:

• your organization has an eligible Workspace edition and the feature is available to you;
• you need translated captions on an Android phone or tablet;
• you want a built-in option with no extension to install;
• you join meetings organized by someone with an eligible edition, since participants can use the feature then.

Clozo may be the better choice if:

• you only have a free Google account, or your plan isn't on Google's list;
• you see that translated captions are not available for your account or meeting;
• you join other companies' meetings, classes or interviews as a guest and the organizer's edition doesn't include the feature;
• you want a searchable live transcript beside the call, with TXT or PDF export on Pro.

You can also try both: if Google's option is available, use it; if not, Clozo covers the gap. To try Clozo, add it from the Chrome Web Store and join a call. See how Clozo works for the steps.

Questions and answers