How to Price Translation: Per-Word Rates, MTPE and Minimums

Most published translation rate tables give a range like "$0.08 to $0.40 a word" with no date, sample or method, and the language-industry surveys that do have a method are either several years old or members-only. This guide does not reproduce any of them. It shows how to work out the lowest per-word rate that pays you properly, how to check it against what a client offers, and how to turn it into a quote. For invoicing the job once it is done, see how to invoice as a translator; for agency fuzzy-match grids and cross-border VAT, see invoicing for translators.

How do you turn an hourly rate into a per-word rate?

Divide your hourly floor by your real throughput: the source words you complete per hour, counting terminology research, queries and your own final read, not just typing time.

The floor is the lowest hourly figure that covers the pay you want, the benefits and taxes you now pay yourself, and your business costs, spread over the hours you can actually bill. Our freelance rate floor guide works one out step by step and arrives at about $97 an hour for someone replacing a $75,000 salary. This guide uses that figure; replace it with yours.

Worked example: per-word floor at $97 an hour. Throughput figures are assumptions for illustration; measure your own.

Read the table the other way to test an offer. If an agency offers $0.10 a word, you need to finish 970 words an hour ($97 ÷ $0.10) to reach a $97 floor. If you can't, the job pays less than your floor however busy it keeps you.

How to measure throughput. For your next five jobs, log the source word count and every minute spent on the job, from opening the files to sending the delivery email. Divide words by hours for each subject area. Five jobs give you a working number; twenty give you a reliable one. Expect the all-in figure to be lower than your typing speed suggests, because research and checking are slow.

Rounding matters too. Quote per-word rates to two decimal places: $0.2156 becomes $0.22, not $0.215. Invoicing software, including InvoiceQuickly, stores unit prices to the cent, and the translator invoicing guide explains what happens to a three-decimal rate.

How do language pair and subject change the price?

Mostly through throughput and risk, which is why a percentage "premium" taken from someone else's table is a poor guide.

• Subject matter changes how many words you finish per hour. Legal, medical and patent text needs more research and more careful checking, so the same floor produces a higher per-word rate (the table above: $0.22 for general text against $0.28 for a legal contract).
• Risk is the second reason. A mistranslated dosage or contract clause can cost the client far more than your fee. If you carry professional liability insurance for that work, its premium belongs in your business costs, which raises the floor itself.
• Language pair affects supply and demand rather than your cost. In a pair with few qualified translators you can usually price above your floor; in a crowded pair the market rate may sit at or below it. The floor tells you which jobs to accept; the market tells you how far above it you can go.
• Turnaround compresses your schedule. Price a rush as a separate surcharge line on the quote so the base rate stays clean. Agree it before you start.

As wage context only: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median pay of employed interpreters and translators at $28.93 an hour ($60,170 a year) in May 2025, with the lowest 10% earning under $37,070 and the highest 10% over $103,660 a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Interpreters and Translators, page modified August 27, 2026). Those figures exclude self-employed workers, who make up 28% of the occupation, and an employee's wage doesn't include the benefits, unpaid admin and software a freelancer pays for, so it is not a freelance rate.

Worked example: quoting a legal translation line by line

A US law firm asks a freelance translator for a German-to-English translation of a 6,000-word share purchase agreement, with a second linguist revising it, and a glossary of defined terms so later documents stay consistent. Every figure is an assumption for illustration, not a market rate.

Inputs: floor $97 an hour; measured throughput on contracts 350 words an hour, so $0.28 a word; the reviser the translator works with bills them $75 an hour and estimates 5 hours; the glossary of about 60 terms takes 1.5 hours.

What the per-word line actually earns depends on how long the work takes. At the planned 350 words an hour the translation takes 17.1 hours and earns $97 an hour. If the text turns out cleaner and you finish in 15 hours, the same $1,680 earns $112 an hour; if it takes 20 hours, it earns $84. That variance is the trade you make for a price the client can approve in advance. If a job regularly runs slow, update your throughput figure, not just your mood.

The 20% on the reviser's fee pays for briefing them, answering their queries and merging their changes: $75 covers about 46 minutes of your time at $97. If coordination takes longer, raise the percentage or quote it as hours.

Write the assumptions on the quote: the word count and how it was counted, what "revision" includes, how many rounds of client comments are included, and that source text changed after acceptance is quoted again. Those lines prevent the arguments that delay payment.

How should you price machine translation post-editing?

From your own timed sample of the client's MT output, not from a fixed discount off your translation rate.

The time post-editing saves depends on the engine, the language pair and the text, and so does the price you need. Ask for 400 to 500 words of the client's actual MT output, post-edit it to the quality they want, and time it. Then divide your floor by the throughput, as above.

Worked example: a 20,000-word product catalogue, full post-editing, at a $97 floor. Your normal rate for this kind of text is $0.22.

Now suppose the client asks for "half your normal rate", $0.11, and the MT turns out weak. At 600 words an hour, 20,000 words take 33.3 hours, and $2,200 for 33.3 hours is $66 an hour, a third below the floor. The sample test costs you about 50 minutes and tells you before you commit whether a discount works.

What minimum fee should a translator charge?

Enough to pay for the fixed time every job takes, however short the text. Quoting, checking files, formatting, delivering and invoicing take roughly the same time for 150 words as for 1,500.

Worked example: if that fixed admin is 45 minutes and you want to be paid for at least a quarter-hour of translation on top, the minimum is one hour at your floor: $97. At $0.22 a word, the per-word price only passes $97 at about 441 words ($97 ÷ $0.22), so jobs below that length are billed at the minimum. On $0.28 legal work the crossover is about 346 words.

Put the minimum in your terms so it isn't a surprise. Invoicing for translators shows how to word the minimum-fee line on the invoice for a short certified document.

When should you quote hourly or a project fee instead?

Quote hourly when there is no stable word count to price against: reviewing another linguist's work, editing, terminology research, client calls and transcreation, where you write new copy rather than translate sentences. Give an estimate of hours and a cap the client must approve before you exceed it.

Quote a fixed project fee when the client wants one number for a bundle, such as a website with translation, glossary, revision and two rounds of comments. Build it from the same parts as the worked legal quote (per-word lines at your rate plus hourly lines at your floor), then round. Showing the parts in the quote makes later changes easy to price.

For long-running clients, prefer a written rate card (per-word rates by subject, hourly rate, minimum fee, rush surcharge) reviewed once a year. Our guide to raising freelance rates covers how to announce the change.

When this pricing method is not the right fit

• Agencies with fixed rate cards. Many language service providers set the rate and the fuzzy-match grid themselves. Your calculation can't change their price; it tells you whether to accept the work.
• Interpreting. Interpreting is sold by the session, half day or day, with travel and cancellation terms, and throughput doesn't apply.
• Regulated or sworn translations. In some countries fees for sworn or court translations are set by local rules or the appointing court. Check them before quoting.
• Literary translation. Book translation is often paid as a fee plus royalties under a publishing contract, which needs a different model.

Pricing and quoting translation work in InvoiceQuickly

InvoiceQuickly does not set or suggest rates. Once you have them, you can type or say the job ("Quote Becker & Lane LLP: DE to EN share purchase agreement, 6,000 words at $0.28, second-linguist revision $450, glossary 1.5 hours at $97, 50% on acceptance") and it drafts an editable document with the client, lines, rates and terms for you to check before saving.

• Every plan: line items (quantity × unit price, to the cent), one tax percentage and one discount percentage per invoice, notes and terms for your assumptions and minimum-fee wording, PDF download, and recording full or partial payments, which is how you record a deposit.
• Currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, INR or PKR per document. There is no automatic exchange-rate conversion, so if you set your floor in one currency and quote in another, convert it yourself with a dated rate.
• Pro ($9/month): estimates your client can accept in a private portal and then convert into an invoice, email delivery, scheduled reminders, payment links through your own Stripe or PayPal account (their fees apply), credit notes and CSV export.
• Not available: no CAT-tool import, word counting or rate calculator (Pro includes timer and manual time entries), and no separate deposit feature. Free covers 5 invoices, 5 clients and 3 AI drafts in total. See pricing.

The translation services invoice template is a downloadable reference layout if you prefer to start from a template, and the international invoicing guide covers currency and payment terms for clients abroad.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge per word for translation?

At least your hourly floor divided by the source words you finish per hour, including research and checking. At a $97 floor that is $0.22 a word at 450 words an hour and $0.28 at 350. Charge above that where demand for your pair and subject allows; never quote below it without knowing you are doing so.

Is it better to charge per word or per hour for translation?

Per word for translation itself, because the client can approve the total before you start and you keep the gain when you work efficiently. Per hour for review, editing, terminology work, calls and transcreation, where the word count doesn't predict the effort.

How do you price machine translation post-editing?

Time yourself post-editing 400 to 500 words of the client's own MT output to the required quality, then divide your hourly floor by that throughput. In this guide's example, strong MT gave $0.10 a word and weak MT $0.16, so a fixed "half rate" would have paid $66 an hour on the weak output.

What is a reasonable minimum fee for a translation job?

One that pays for the fixed admin every job carries plus a little translation time. With 45 minutes of admin and a $97 floor, a one-hour minimum of $97 is reasonable, and it applies to jobs under about 441 words at $0.22.

How many words can a translator translate per hour?

It varies too much by subject, pair, translation memory and MT quality for a single figure to be useful, which is why this guide uses assumed values from 300 to 800 words an hour. Log the words and total minutes on your next five to twenty jobs to find your own.

Should translators charge extra for a second linguist's revision?

Yes. It is extra work by another person, plus your time to brief them and merge their changes. Quote it as its own line: the reviser's fee plus a stated percentage or hours for coordination.

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More on pricing: freelance rate floor, raising your rates and the InvoiceQuickly blog.