How Much Does It Cost to Translate a Website into English?

Professional human translation is usually quoted per word, and TheWordPoint's 2026 US guide puts it at $0.10 to $0.30 per word. Machine translation with human post-editing costs less, at $0.05 to $0.12 per word in Centus's localization table. The total depends on the words on the site, the number of languages and the method you choose.

Key takeaways

• Estimate the cost as words × languages × method, and ask every provider to quote in the same unit.
• Human translation of a 20,000-word site runs about $2,000 to $3,200 per language in ConveyThis's estimate, before any updates.
• Post-editing machine translation costs $0.05 to $0.12 per word in Centus's table, but raw machine output needs review on live pages.
• Subscriptions priced per language scale with the number of languages, so ask what happens to the monthly bill when you add one.

How is the price of translating a website built?

ConveyThis describes the total as words multiplied by languages multiplied by method. You can run that formula yourself before asking for quotes: count the words on your pages, list the target languages and pick a method. Each quote then becomes a comparison of one variable.

Translation into English does not get its own rate in at least one price list. TheWordPoint says Spanish-to-English follows the same per-word rate structure as English-to-Spanish, so its table gives no separate into-English rate. If your source language is not English, ask each provider for the rate of your own language pair.

The pricing unit also changes the total. Most suppliers price per word, but some charge per hour or per project, with a minimum charge. A per-hour or per-project quote is hard to compare with a per-word one unless you convert it.

Check whether the quote counts source words or target words. Freelancenation advises confirming which count is used, because the two can differ by 20 percent or more depending on the language. The same price per word can produce different totals under each count.

What does the per-word range for human translation mean?

TheWordPoint's guide gives $0.10 to $0.30 per word for professional human translation. The sources disagree on the band. Centus's 2025 guide gives $0.08 to $0.30 per word, and ConveyThis quotes about USD 0.10 to 0.16 per word for general content. Treat any single figure as a starting point and compare it against real quotes.

At a real size, ConveyThis estimates that human translation of a 20,000-word site costs roughly $2,000 to $3,200 per language for general content, before any updates. Multiply that by each language you add.

The language pair moves the price. According to TheWordPoint, common pairs such as English–Spanish sit at the low end of the range, while Japanese, Korean, Arabic and the Nordic languages sit at the high end.

Specialized content costs more than marketing copy. Talo reports that legal, medical and technical translations can run from $0.20 to $0.60 or more per word. If your site includes terms of service, medical claims or technical documentation, price those pages separately.

How do machine translation and post-editing compare?

Three levels exist. Raw machine output is, according to Centus, often free or priced between $0.01 and $0.05 per word. The second level is machine translation with human post-editing (MTPE). The third is full human translation.

Raw output has a cost the price does not show. Centus says post-editing time or cost should be counted if accuracy matters. Myjuno adds that raw machine translation may not be suitable for public-facing or high-stakes content, which covers checkout pages, legal notices and product claims.

MTPE overlaps with the low end of human translation. Centus puts it at $0.05 to $0.12 per word, and Alconost's dataset of more than 3,200 projects gives $0.06 to $0.12 per word. Applied to 20,000 words, the Centus band would come to roughly $1,000 to $2,400 per language.

The savings from MTPE are disputed. Centus says MTPE is 2 to 5 times cheaper and faster than regular human translation, while Alconost reports it is 15–30% cheaper, a much smaller gap. Ask each provider for a machine-translated sample of your most important page before you decide.

How do monthly subscriptions compare with per-word quotes?

Some tools charge a monthly fee instead of a per-word price. Weglot says AI translation is included in every plan, while professional human translation is billed separately, starting from around €0.13 per word. The subscription and the human rate therefore sit in different parts of your budget.

Subscription tiers can step up quickly. A third-party pricing calculator lists Weglot's plans from €15 per month for 10,000 words and one language to €299 per month for 1,000,000 words and 10 languages. Adding languages can move a site into a much higher tier.

Raw machine translation through an API is another route. Google Cloud Translation lists $20 per million characters after the first 500,000 characters. One converter estimates that at roughly $0.12 per 1,000 English words, depending on the characters-per-word assumption. As with any raw machine output, review matters on public pages.

Lantis is a per-language example. It translates websites built with Framer, Webflow, Shopify, WordPress or any other platform using AI (Gemini by default, with Claude, DeepL or DeepSeek also available), with a URL per language, hreflang and automatic sitemaps. It installs by pasting one line of code. Lantis charges only for active languages, with no limit on websites or visitors, and includes 500,000 words per language. Prices are 3 € per month for one language, 2,50 € per language per month for 2 to 9 languages, and 2 € per language per month for 10 or more. The Agency plan costs 49 € per month for up to 20 websites with up to 5 languages each, and extra words cost 1 € one-off per 500,000. Because Lantis is also AI translation, the same caution applies as for any raw machine output: key public pages should be reviewed. Lantis has a visual editor for corrections, but pages that need certified or specialist wording should still be priced as human translation. For how Lantis compares with other tools on Framer and Webflow, see Linguana vs Lantis.

Which costs does a one-time quote leave out?

Website localization pricing usually covers more than translation. Smartling lists translation, review, project management, technology fees, integrations and quality assurance. A quote that shows only the per-word rate may leave out several of these items.

Full localization also costs more per word. Transphere lists $0.17 per word or more for full website localization covering translation, engineering and testing, plus separate engineering and QA fees. When engineering is included, the per-word rate looks higher, so compare totals.

ConveyThis notes that some agencies add minimum fees, rush fees, or charges for file preparation and formatting on top of the per-word price. These rarely appear in the headline rate, so ask about them in writing.

Updates are the last cost. A one-time quote covers only the pages that existed when it was written, so ask whether later edits are included and at what rate.

What would a 20,000-word site cost on each path?

The MTPE path, at the Centus band, comes to roughly $1,000 to $2,400 per language. The subscription path depends on the number of languages.

A per-language subscription scales in a straight line. Weglot's tiers, by contrast, rise with word count and languages, so the bill can jump.

A one-time human quote can be cheaper for a single page that rarely changes. A subscription can be cheaper for a site with several languages that changes often. Run the same word count through each path before you choose.

Ask every provider the same questions:

• Unit: Is the price per source word or per target word?
• Inclusions: Does it cover review, QA, hreflang, sitemaps and per-language URLs?
• Fees: What are the minimum, rush and file-preparation charges?
• Growth: What happens to the price when you add a language or a large batch of pages?

Next steps

• Count the words on each page you want translated and list the languages you need.
• Request quotes from at least two providers in the same unit (source or target words), with inclusions and fees written out.
• Ask for a machine-translated sample of your most important page and have someone who reads the target language review it.
• Price legal, medical or technical pages separately from marketing copy.
• If you run a Shopify store and want to compare built-in options with a per-language subscription, Lantis lays out the differences in its guide to alternatives to Shopify Translate & Adapt.

Frequently asked questions

Is machine translation good enough for a Shopify or Webflow site?

For public-facing pages, raw output is risky. Myjuno cautions that raw machine translation may not be suitable for public-facing or high-stakes content. Human review of key pages, such as checkout and legal notices, reduces that risk.

Is it cheaper to pay per word or per month for website translation?

It depends on size and how often the site changes. A one-time per-word quote suits a small, stable site, while a subscription suits several languages with frequent updates. Compare both using the same word count.

Should I count source words or target words when getting a translation quote?

Confirm which one the provider uses. Freelancenation notes that the two counts can differ by 20 percent or more depending on the language.

What extra costs should I expect when translating a website?

Smartling lists review, project management, technology fees, integrations and quality assurance. Agencies may also add minimum, rush or file-preparation fees, and updates are usually priced separately.

Sources

• Website Translation Costs in 2025 (Centus)
• Translation Prices 2026 (TheWordPoint)
• Website Translation Cost in 2026: Real Prices and Examples (ConveyThis)
• Website Translation Costs in 2026 (Transphere)
• How Much Do Translation Services Cost? (Talo)
• Translation Rates 2026: Average Cost per Word in the US (TheWordPoint)
• What Does Professional Translation Cost in 2026? (Adhoc Translations)
• How much does translation cost in 2026? (Myjuno)
• How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Translator in 2026? (Freelancenation)
• Website Localization Cost (Smartling)
• Localization Costs and Rates Overview (Centus)
• How Much Does Translation and Localization Cost in 2026? (Alconost)
• Cloud Translation (Google)
• Google Translate API Pricing in 2026 (Langbly)
• Weglot Pricing Calculator (Multilingualizer)
• Weglot pricing in 2026 (Glopal)