How Much Can You Expect to Pay for Professional Translation Services?

If you’ve ever tried to compare translation quotes, you’ll know the experience can be daunting. Some providers charge per word, others per hour or per page. Some include everything, others itemise each step separately. You end up with five different prices for what looks like the same job, and no clear way to tell which one’s the best value.

This happens because translation pricing isn’t standardised across the industry. There’s no universal rate card. What you pay depends on who’s doing the work, what tools they’re using, how fast you need it, and whether you’re paying for a translator or a translation system that includes project management, QA, formatting, and long-term consistency.

Before you ask for a quote, get clear on three things

Most pricing confusion starts before you even contact a provider. If you’re not sure what you’re asking for, the quote you get back won’t match what you actually need.

Before you reach out, answer these:

• Is this content customer-facing, legal, or internal? A legal contract needs different handling than an internal memo.
• What matters most: quality, speed, or budget? You can optimise for two of these, but rarely all three at once.
• Is this a one-off or part of a longer-term plan? If you’re translating 50,000 words this month and another 50,000 next month, that changes the approach and the pricing.

Getting clear on these up front means the quote you receive will actually reflect what you need.

What drives translation costs

Most translation projects break down into three main cost drivers.

1. Volume

Most providers price by word count. More words means higher cost. But if you’re sending large volumes regularly, many providers offer bulk discounts or set up retainer agreements that bring the per-word rate down.

2. Complexity

A technical manual requires specialist translators who understand the subject matter. A medical document might need regulatory review. A marketing campaign might need transcreation rather than straight translation. Complexity adds expertise, and expertise costs more.

Formatting also plays a role. If your file is a locked PDF or a heavily formatted InDesign document, extracting the text, translating it, and putting it back together takes longer than working with a clean Word file.

3. Turnaround time

Standard turnaround times are cheaper. If you need something translated in 24 hours instead of five days, you’re paying for the provider to shuffle their schedule, bring in extra resources, or work outside normal hours. Rush fees exist for a reason.

How to keep costs down without cutting corners

You don’t need to compromise quality to stay within budget. Here are practical ways to reduce costs:

• Send clean, editable files. Word and Excel files are easier to work with than scanned PDFs or locked documents.
• Provide reference materials. Previous translations, glossaries, style guides. The more context you give, the less back-and-forth you’ll need.
• Batch your requests. Sending 10 small jobs separately costs more than sending one larger job. Consolidate where possible.
• Avoid tight deadlines unless necessary. Standard turnarounds are always cheaper than rush jobs.

The easier you make it for your provider to do the work, the less you’ll pay. And if you’re working with a provider that uses translation memory, repeated content gets cheaper over time because you’re not paying full price for text that’s already been translated.

What a professional provider should actually give you

A good translation provider isn’t just converting words from one language to another. They’re solving an operational problem. That means they should be:

• Asking questions about your goals and audience before quoting, not after.
• Assigning the right people to the job. Subject-matter specialists for technical content, native speakers for website copy, legal experts for contracts.
• Using technology that saves you time and money. Translation memory, QA tools, automated workflows.
• Being transparent about what’s included. Is proofreading part of the quote? What about formatting? What happens if you need revisions?
• Making your life easier, not harder. A provider that creates admin work instead of reducing it isn’t worth the discount.

If a quote looks suspiciously cheap, ask what’s not included. Cutting corners on process usually means you end up paying later in revisions, delays, or inconsistent output.

How to compare quotes without losing your mind

When you’re looking at multiple quotes, here’s what to check:

• What’s included in the rate? Translation only? Or translation plus editing, proofreading, formatting, and QA?
• Do they understand what you’re trying to achieve? Or are they just counting words and sending a number?
• What tools are they using? Providers that use translation management systems can reduce costs and improve consistency over time.
• How easy are they to work with? If getting a simple question answered takes three emails and two days, that’s a cost too.

The goal isn’t just to buy a translation. It’s to set up a process that works every time without requiring constant oversight.

What goes wrong when you pick the cheapest option

It’s tempting to go with the lowest price, but cheap quotes often come with hidden costs that add up fast. Watch out for:

• Vague inclusions. Does the price include editing? Formatting? What about revisions if something’s wrong?
• No onboarding or context. If the provider doesn’t understand your brand voice, your terminology, or your priorities, the output won’t match what you need.
• Poor communication. Long email threads, unclear timelines, files that get lost or delivered to the wrong person.
• Low-quality work that needs fixing. Either internally by your team or by hiring someone else to redo it.

Your time has value. A provider that makes your job harder isn’t saving you money.

What do translation services actually cost?

Here are some current pricing benchmarks to give you a sense of what’s typical. These are illustrative only. Actual pricing depends on language pair, subject matter, file format, and turnaround time.

⚠️ Disclaimer: The rates below are for illustrative purposes only. Pricing may vary depending on provider, language pair, subject matter, delivery format, and turnaround expectations.

Standard translation (general business content)

From USD 0.10 per word

This covers most website content, marketing materials, internal documents. Standard turnaround, one round of proofreading included.

Certified translation (legal documents, birth certificates, diplomas)

From USD 40 per page

Includes official stamps, formatting, and verification. Required for legal documents that need to be submitted to government bodies or courts.

Specialised translation (medical, legal, technical)

From USD 0.15 per word

Higher rates reflect the need for subject-matter expertise, additional QA steps, and liability risk. Medical translation and technical translation both fall into this category.

Transcreation (creative adaptation)

From USD 45 per hour or project-based

Used for campaigns, taglines, branding copy. Transcreation isn’t word-for-word translation. It’s rewriting the concept in a way that works culturally and emotionally in the target market.

Machine translation with post-editing (MTPE)

From USD 0.05 per word

Useful for high-volume, lower-stakes content like product listings or internal documentation. Machine translation handles the first pass, then a human translator edits for accuracy and readability.

How we calculate costs at AdHoc

At AdHoc, we use SmartDesk to manage translation projects. SmartDesk includes translation memory and automated matching, which means you don’t pay full price for content we’ve already translated.

How translation memory works

Every time we translate something for you, SmartDesk saves it. When you send new content, the system scans it and compares it against everything we’ve done before. If a sentence is identical to something from a previous project, you pay a reduced rate. If it’s a partial match, the discount scales based on how similar it is.

This applies to:

• 100% matches: Identical sentences from previous translations
• Fuzzy matches: Sentences that are 75-99% similar
• Repetitions: Content that appears multiple times in the same document

The more you work with us, the more efficient the process becomes. And the more you save.

What SmartDesk gives you

• Lower costs for repeated or previously translated content
• Faster turnarounds because familiar content takes less time to process
• Better consistency across all your documents and languages
• Clear reporting showing how each segment was categorised and priced

Whether you’re managing one project or scaling across dozens of markets, SmartDesk helps you translate more efficiently and more economically.

Getting your internal team on board

Rolling out translation processes across departments can be messy if localisation isn’t part of your usual workflow. Content teams, product owners, legal reviewers, and customer support all need to understand their role in the process.

That might mean:

• Creating simple workflows that everyone can follow
• Onboarding reviewers so they know what to look for
• Making space for shared terminology and feedback loops
• Setting clear expectations about turnaround times and approval processes

It doesn’t need to be perfect from day one. It just needs to be consistent and understood.

The smart way to think about translation costs

Professional translation services should make your life easier, not harder. A good price isn’t always the lowest price. It’s the one that delivers reliable quality, clear expectations, and fewer operational headaches.

By understanding what drives costs and what efficiency looks like in practice, you’ll be better equipped to choose the right provider and get the best return on your spend.

At AdHoc, we help businesses streamline their translation workflows by combining expert linguists with smart processes and clear communication. If you’re ready to make translation feel less like guesswork and more like a growth tool, get in touch.