DeepL Pro is NOT Enough: The Hidden Data Retention Policy They Don't Advertise

I keep hearing the same thing from teams evaluating translation tools: "we use DeepL Pro, so we're fine."

and look, I get it. DeepL makes great translations. the quality is genuinely impressive. that's not what this post is about.

this post is about the assumption that paying for Pro automatically solves the data handling problem. because when I actually read DeepL's privacy policy and their enterprise security page, the picture is... more nuanced than the marketing suggests.

What people mean by 'DeepL is secure' (and what they forget to ask)

when someone says "DeepL is secure," they usually mean one of these things:

• "it's a European company, so GDPR applies"
• "Pro means they don't train on my data"
• "it's better than Google Translate"

the first one is true. the second one is mostly true (with caveats). the third one... depends on what you mean by "better."

here's the thing: security isn't a binary. "more secure than Google Translate" doesn't mean "secure enough for your M&A documents." and most teams skip the second question entirely because the first one feels like enough.

DeepL Free vs Pro: what actually changes

let me break this down, because the differences matter and they're not always obvious.

Training on your data

Free tier: DeepL's terms state that free translations may be used to improve their service. this includes using your text for model training. so yes—that contract clause you pasted in? it might end up as training data.

Pro tier: DeepL Pro users get a commitment that their translations won't be used for training. this is a real improvement and the main reason teams upgrade.

but here's what people miss: not training and not retaining are different things.

Data retention

Free tier: translations may be stored. the retention period is... let's say "not prominently advertised." if you dig into the privacy policy, it's there, but it's not the headline.

Pro tier: DeepL states that Pro translations are deleted after the translation is complete. but "deleted" can mean different things. is it immediately purged from all systems? from backups? from logs? from the API cache?

I'm not saying DeepL is being deceptive. I'm saying that if you're handling genuinely sensitive documents—client data, medical records, legal files—"we delete it" needs to be specific enough for your compliance team to sign off on.

API vs web interface

another thing that catches people: the DeepL Free vs Pro policies are different depending on whether you use the web interface or the API.

the web translator and the API have different terms. the API generally has stronger data handling commitments. but most employees in your company aren't using the API—they're pasting text into the web interface.

so when your IT team says "we have DeepL Pro," make sure they mean "everyone is using the API with enforced policies," not "we have a Pro license and people use whatever they want."

The decision matrix: what to check

here's how I'd frame the comparison. not DeepL vs noll specifically, but the categories of tool and what each one gets you.

Factor	Free tier (DeepL/Google)	Paid tier (DeepL Pro)	Stateless/zero-retention (noll)
Training on data	Yes (likely)	No	No
Retention period	Indefinite/unclear	Short (unspecified)	30 minutes (hard delete)
Content logging	Yes	Reduced	None
EU data residency	Partial	Available	Default
DPA available	No	Yes	Yes
Account required	Depends	Yes	No
Translation history	Yes	Yes	None (by design)
Format preservation	Basic	Better	Full (PDF, DOCX)

the key insight: Pro removes training from the equation, which is huge. but it doesn't necessarily give you the retention and residency guarantees that regulated industries need.

Cost models compared

this is the part nobody talks about, so let me just lay it out.

DeepL Pro pricing:

• subscription-based, per-seat
• starts at ~$9/month for individuals
• team plans scale with users
• API pricing is per-character

noll pricing:

• usage-based (credits per page)
• free tier for light usage
• no per-seat costs
• no subscription lock-in

the practical difference: if you have a team of 20 people who each translate a few documents per month, DeepL Pro gets expensive because you're paying per seat regardless of usage. a usage-based model means you pay for what you actually translate.

but if you have power users doing hundreds of translations daily, a subscription model might be cheaper. it depends on your pattern.

the point isn't which is cheaper—it's which pricing model matches how your team actually works.

When DeepL Pro is enough

I want to be honest about this, because not every team needs zero-retention.

DeepL Pro is probably fine when:

• you're translating internal communications that aren't confidential
• your compliance requirements don't specify retention windows
• you trust their stated deletion practices for your risk level
• you need the glossary and formality features that DeepL does well
• your team is small enough that per-seat pricing makes sense

you need stateless/zero-retention when:

• you're handling client-confidential or legally privileged documents
• your industry has specific retention requirements (legal, healthcare, finance)
• your DPO or compliance team wants verifiable deletion timeframes
• you can't risk content appearing in translation history or dashboards
• you need to demonstrate "privacy by design" to your clients or regulators

it's not about which tool is "better." it's about matching the tool to the risk profile of what you're translating.

Questions to ask procurement

if you're the person who has to make this decision for your team, here's what I'd ask:

1. What exactly are we translating? if it's marketing copy, use whatever's convenient. if it's contracts and employee data, the requirements change.

2. What does our DPO need to see? ask them directly. they'll tell you whether "we use DeepL Pro" is sufficient documentation or whether they need retention guarantees.

3. Are we using the API or the web interface? this determines which set of terms actually applies to your usage.

4. What's our acceptable retention window? if your answer is "as short as possible," then 30 minutes beats "we delete it at some point."

5. Do we need a vendor checklist? for any tool handling sensitive data, run it through the same evaluation you'd use for any data processor.

Takeaways

• DeepL Pro is a real improvement over the free tier—no training on your data is meaningful
• but "no training" and "no retention" are different things
• the web interface and API have different data handling terms
• per-seat pricing doesn't fit every team's usage pattern
• match the tool to the risk level of what you're translating
• if you need verifiable, time-bound deletion, a stateless architecture gives you that

DeepL makes an excellent product. I'm not here to trash it. I'm here to make sure that "we upgraded to Pro" isn't the end of the conversation when it should be the beginning.

Further reading

• Why not Google or DeepL?
• Which translation services should I use for sensitive documents?
• How your data is handled
• We don't want your data