Updated September 2026 · Versions compared: Bob 1.20.0, Hover Translate 1.3.3
Bob is a mature translation tool for macOS: four ways to translate — selection, screenshot, input and original image — more than 30 translation services to choose from, and years of polish behind it. Hover Translate does the same job. Two judgements set it apart.
First, an action you repeat all day deserves the best experience there is. Looking up a word while reading happens dozens of times a day, so Hover Translate asks for no selection and no screenshot: rest the pointer on a word, tap Option, and it translates — in body text, images, video and games alike. You also never apply for an API key or pick a model; our benchmark picks for you. Bob asks you to select the text or drag a screenshot box first, and to choose and configure the translation service yourself.
Second, understand it in context, learn what you need. When you look up a word, Hover Translate doesn't hand you a list of dictionary senses — it gives the meaning that fits the sentence in front of you, and translates that whole sentence at the same time. The words you look up every day are the words worth remembering, so they go into your vocabulary along with the original sentence and come back on an SRS schedule. Bob translates the text you selected, shows results from several services plus dictionary entries, and keeps what you looked up in favourites and history.
At a glance
| Hover Translate | Bob | |
|---|---|---|
| Looking up one word | Rest the pointer on it, tap Option | Select the text and press ⌥D, or press ⌥S and drag a box |
| Text in images, video, games and app windows | The same hover lookup, no screenshot | Screenshot translation, original-image translation |
| Translating a passage | Selection translation, or hold the shortcut and drag a box | Selection, screenshot, input, original image |
| Two-way translation | Supported | Supported |
| Translation model | Chosen per situation by our internal benchmark, nothing to configure | 30+ services, several at once, extensible with plugins |
| API key | Not needed | Built-in services work as they are; the rest need your own key |
| What a lookup returns | The meaning that fits this sentence | Side-by-side results from several services, plus dictionary entries |
| Sentence translation | Translates the sentence around the word at the same time | Translates only the text you selected |
| Words you looked up | Saved with their original sentence, reviewed on an SRS schedule | Favourites and history, exportable |
An action you repeat all day deserves the best experience
Looking things up is the most repeated action in reading; a single paper can mean dozens of lookups. When you do something dozens of times a day, every step in it is worth removing.
How many steps does one lookup take?
Rest the pointer on the word and tap Option. Nothing to select, nothing to capture. The panel appears right beside the word, never takes focus, and goes away when you are done. What you save is not a fraction of a second — it is the hesitation about whether this particular word is worth stopping for.
Do images, video and games need a screenshot?
No. A label inside a diagram, a line of subtitle, a piece of game dialogue or a menu item — the action is the same as for any word in body text. When you need a whole passage instead, hold the shortcut and drag a box around it.
Do I need my own API key?
No — sign in and start reading. Which model suits which situation is a decision we make with an internal benchmark: cases taken from real reading, part of the set never used for tuning and kept only for checking, and another group whose job is to catch a fix in one situation from breaking another. What reaches you is whichever option measured best for that situation.
Understand it in context, learn what you need
A word's meaning belongs to the sentence it appeared in — and the words you look up every day are the ones worth keeping.
Dictionary senses, or what it means here?
The same word can mean quite different things in different sentences. In Spanish, banco is a bench in one sentence and a bank in the next. Hover Translate gives you the one that fits the sentence in front of you.
Can one lookup explain the whole sentence?
Yes. The sentence the word sits in is translated at the same time and shown in the same panel, so you never have to select the sentence and look it up a second time.
Can I review the words I looked up?
Yes. When you add a word, it is saved together with the sentence you met it in. Review is SRS-based: recall the word first, then reveal the meaning and the original sentence, and answer "Got it" or "Still fuzzy" — that answer decides when it comes back.
When Bob may suit you better
- You want to choose your own translation engine, or compare several at once.
- You want to use your own API key and quota.
- You need offline OCR.
- You rely on PopClip or Raycast integration, or on Bob's plugin ecosystem.
If you read in another language every day, and you want looking up a word to go from "stop and deal with it" to "glance and keep going" — and want those words to still be there afterwards — give Hover Translate a try. Signing up gets you 100 free translations every 30 days; spend them on the article already open in front of you.