Translation Pricing: Per Word, Page, Rush

Translation price is driven by volume, service level, language pair, and deadline. Running text is billed per source word; official documents often use pages of roughly 250 words. Specialist work costs 30–60% more than standard, rush rates are ×1.25 under 48 hours or ×1.5 under 24 hours, and the minimum is €25.

Translation quotes can look arbitrary from the outside: one agency quotes €40, another €95, for the same document. In reality, almost every serious quote is built from the same four variables.

1. Volume: words or pages

Running text is priced per source word — the word count of the document you send, so the price is fixed before work starts. Official documents (certificates, diplomas, licences) are priced per page instead, because a 180-word birth certificate takes as much specialist work as a 300-word one. The industry convention is 1 page = 250 words.

2. Service level

A general business email and a clinical trial protocol are different products:

• Standard — qualified native translator plus proofreading
• Technical / legal / medical — specialists with domain training, terminology management
• Certified / sworn / notarized — official stamps, signatures and legal formalities
• Marketing / transcreation — adaptation, not just translation

Specialist tiers cost 30–60% more than standard; that premium pays for subject-matter expertise and the liability that comes with it.

3. Language pair

Supply and demand set the baseline. English↔Spanish has an enormous translator pool; Norwegian↔Japanese does not. Rare pairs cost more and sometimes route through a pivot language.

4. Deadline

Rush work compresses a translator's schedule and bumps your job to the front of the queue. Typical multipliers: ×1.25 under 48 hours, ×1.5 under 24 hours. If a deadline is flexible, say so — standard turnaround is the best value.

Why minimum fees exist

Below a certain size, administration outweighs translation: file handling, project setup, quality review, invoicing. That's why nearly every provider has a minimum order fee (ours is €25). For a two-line document, that fee is the price.

What a fair quote looks like

A trustworthy quote states the exact price, the deadline, and what's included (revision policy, certification, delivery format) — before you pay, with no per-project surprises afterwards. That's how we quote every order: instant estimate online, human-confirmed fixed price within two hours, payment only after you approve.