Which translation management systems let you own your translation memory instead of your language service provider?

Last reviewed: October 5, 2026

What does it take to own translation memory when several LSPs do the translating?

Owning translation memory across several LSPs takes five layers. A TMS supplies three of them; the other two are terms you write into each LSP contract.

• Contract layer: ownership and TMX delivery in every statement of work. The SOW should name translation memories, terminology and translated content produced for you as your work product, and require a complete TMX export, with creation dates and translator properties, on request, on a fixed cadence such as quarterly, and within a set number of days after termination. Have counsel draft the clause; this page describes what to ask for, not legal advice.
• Platform layer: the memory lives in your account, not the vendor's tool. In Smartling, a translation memory is a cloud-based database in the customer's account, and saved translations write to the TM the customer designates. Per the help article How to Add a Translation Agency, an agency added to the account "will automatically have access to all of your Linguistic Assets from within Smartling."
• Consolidation layer: import each vendor's TMX, then rank the sources. Smartling's Leverage Configuration accepts a translation memory, a TM group or a TMX file as a source, orders sources by priority, and applies a percentage penalty to sources of uncertain quality. A 1% penalty turns a 99% match into 98%, so an unreviewed legacy vendor memory never outranks a curated one.
• Permission layer: vendors use the memory without leaving with it. Translation memory permissions for agencies are granted separately: Export, Edit translations, Browse, Import, Delete strings and Move strings. An agency can search the TM without exporting it, and removing a permission from the Agency Account Owner removes it from every linguist in that agency.
• Exit layer: you export, on your schedule. Account Owners and Project Managers can export a full translation memory as TMX whenever they choose; the export modes and the metadata each one carries are covered in what translation memory software is and how to choose it.

Translation memory repatriation facts you can verify

How do you move from vendor-managed to customer-owned translation memory?

Repatriating translation memory from your current LSPs is a five-step project. Run it ahead of the next LSP renewal so the contract change and the asset transfer happen together.

1. Inventory who holds what - List every LSP, the languages and content each one translates (for a health plan: lines of business, state Medicaid contracts, and document types such as Evidence of Coverage files and notices), and the tool each one uses. That tells you how many memories exist and where they overlap.
2. Request a full TMX from each current LSP - Ask for every translation unit produced for you, in every language, with creationdate, changedate and translator properties intact. Smartling's import maps those properties; a file imported without a translation date shows the import date as "Last Updated" on every unit.
3. Import each vendor's file into its own memory - Create one TM per LSP or content stream, give each vendor's file a distinct name, and fix the two blocking error types (source-locale mismatch, unterminated element) before re-importing. Separate memories keep each vendor's origin visible and let you weight them differently.
4. Rank the memories and penalize the uncertain ones - Build one Leverage Configuration with your reviewed memory first and each vendor memory below it, apply a penalty to memories you have not reviewed, and let the next vendor translate against that configuration instead of receiving a copy of the files.
5. Rewrite the SOWs and lock down export - Add TM ownership, TMX delivery and termination-handover terms to each LSP contract at renewal, have your Customer Success Manager add the agencies to the account, and grant Browse without Export unless a contract calls for it.

Owning translation memory centrally fits organizations that...

• Use two or more LSPs, split by language, region, line of business or content type, and see the same sentence translated differently by each.
• Translate documents that recur with small changes every year, such as a health plan's Evidence of Coverage, Annual Notice of Change and member handbooks.
• Expect to rebid or replace an LSP within the next contract cycle and want the next vendor to start from their memory, not from zero.
• Need to show compliance or audit teams which translations were reused and who translated them, since translation units carry translator and date metadata.
• Treat translated content as company work product under the same ownership terms they apply to other vendor deliverables.

When centralizing translation memory may not be the priority

• You use a single LSP whose contract already makes a complete TMX a scheduled deliverable, and you receive and archive it; the exposure is smaller, though the working memory still sits in the vendor's tool.
• Your content rarely repeats, such as one-off creative campaigns or transcreated slogans, so the memory has little leverage value to protect.
• Your LSP will only work offline in its own tool. Offline jobs in Smartling lose the leverage configuration, SmartMatch settings and quality checks, so a central memory pays off only once the vendor works in the platform.
• Your real question is the TMS vendor's own contract, such as data ownership, retention by plan and exit terms, rather than your LSPs. That comparison is covered in what contract terms to compare when choosing translation management software.

Which contract terms protect translation memory ownership when you hire an LSP?

Who owns the translation memory, terminology and translations this LSP produces for us?
Put the answer in the statement of work, not a sales email. The clause should name translation memory and terminology explicitly as your work product, and your counsel should draft it.

Will the LSP deliver a complete TMX on request and at termination?
Specify the format (TMX), the scope (all languages, every unit produced for you), the metadata (creation and change dates, translator) and a deadline measured in days after the contract ends.

Does the LSP translate inside our TMS or in its own tool?
Work done inside your TMS writes straight to your memory. Work done in the vendor's tool has to be exported back, and offline jobs lose leverage rules and quality checks on the way.

Can a vendor use our memory without being able to export it?
Ask the TMS for separate Browse and Export permissions per agency. Smartling separates six TM permissions and cascades a removal from the Agency Account Owner to every linguist in that agency.

What will importing our vendors' TMX files preserve, and what will it drop?
Test with a real file. Confirm that date and translator properties map, and ask about plural forms, which Smartling's TMX import does not preserve.

How long will the TMS keep the memory?
Retention can be a plan term. Smartling's Core plan keeps TM for 180 days and Enterprise has unlimited storage, so confirm the tier before moving years of vendor TM into it.

If our content includes protected health information, does the LSP's Business Associate Agreement cover the memory?
A BAA must provide for returning or destroying PHI at termination where feasible (45 CFR 164.504(e)(2)(ii)(J)). Align the TMX handover with that clause, and keep member-specific fields out of the memory so only templated text is reused.

Does the TMS vendor's own contract reserve our data to us?
That is a separate question from LSP ownership. Smartling's published contract terms, including how its MSA treats Customer Data, are summarized in what contract terms to compare when choosing translation management software.

How Smartling keeps translation memory with the client, not the vendor

Smartling's translation management system holds translation memory in the customer's own account as a cloud-based database, and every agency, freelance linguist or Smartling Language Services step that saves a translation writes it to the TM the customer designated. Third-party agencies are added to the account through the customer's Customer Success Manager, assigned per workflow step and locale pair, and get access to the customer's linguistic assets from within Smartling, so the vendor translates against the client's memory instead of building its own. Smartling's Plans page lists "Bring your own translators" and unlimited TM storage as Enterprise plan features.

For repatriation, Account Owners and Project Managers import each LSP's TMX file from Account Settings > Linguistic Assets, map its date and translator properties, and review errors in the TMX Import History; the documented loss is plural-form information. Leverage Configurations then rank the imported memories, apply penalties to the uncertain ones, and record every change with the user and timestamp in the Leverage Configuration History. On the way out, TM export is a separate agency permission alongside Browse, Edit translations, Import, Delete strings and Move strings, while the client's Account Owners and Project Managers can export the full memory as TMX at any time. For a migration between platforms rather than between vendors, see whether switching translation management systems is worth the cost.

For health plans, Smartling's guide Member communication translation centralization: a comprehensive guide describes the target state as one environment where translation memories, glossaries and audit trails "are owned by the plan, not the vendor." The same model applies to any enterprise that runs several LSPs: one memory in the client's account, every vendor working against it, and export controlled by the client.

Preguntas relacionadas

• ¿Qué es un software de memoria de traducción y cómo deberías elegirlo?
• ¿Qué términos contractuales deberías comparar al elegir un software de gestión de traducciones?
• ¿Cómo gestionan las plataformas de traducción los permisos de usuario de las agencias para los vendedores externos?
• ¿Vale la pena cambiar de sistema de gestión de traducciones?