Professional Website Translation Cost Per Word

Professional website translation costs $0.08-$0.30 per word in 2026 depending on tier. We pulled live quotes from 50 agencies across the US, UK, and EU between January and April 2026. Pure machine output sits at $0.04-$0.08, AI-edited at $0.09-$0.14, human review at $0.15-$0.22, and specialist legal/medical translation runs $0.23-$0.30+. The price gap reflects review depth, not raw translation skill — and that gap is what determines whether your translated pages convert or quietly bleed traffic.

How we ran this benchmark

We requested per-word quotes from 50 translation suppliers — 18 boutique agencies, 22 LSPs (language service providers) listed in the Slator Language Industry Index, and 10 freelancer aggregators — for the same standardised brief: a 12,000-word ecommerce site, English source, German + French + Italian + Spanish targets, no urgency premium.

The brief asked specifically about workflow (machine-only / post-edited / full human / specialist), turnaround, and what review steps were included at each tier. We logged the quoted figure per word in USD, normalised any per-page or per-language flat fees, then cross-referenced against CSA Research's 2025 LSP pricing data to filter out outliers.

The 50 quotes produced 200 individual per-word data points across four tiers. We are publishing the median range per tier rather than means, because the distribution is heavily right-skewed by specialist legal and pharma vendors that rarely apply to ecommerce.

The four tiers and what each one buys you

Per-word pricing maps cleanly to four service tiers. Each tier reflects how many human eyes review each segment, not how good the underlying translation engine is.

Tier	Per-word range	Workflow	Best for
Pure AI / MT	$0.04-$0.08	Raw machine output, no review	Internal ops, bulk catalogue text
AI-edited / MTPE light	$0.09-$0.14	Machine + light human edit	Long-tail product descriptions
Human review / Premium MTPE	$0.15-$0.22	Native reviewer per segment	Brand site, conversion pages
Specialist	$0.23-$0.30+	Domain expert (legal, medical, finance)	Compliance docs, regulated copy

A 5,000-word brand site translated into four languages = 20,000 words of output. At Pure AI you pay $800-$1,600. At Human Review you pay $3,000-$4,400. The €2,600 gap is what buys you the difference between "technically translated" and "actually converts." At Eldris, our done-for-you website translation tier sits in the Human Review band by default.

Why per-word pricing distorts the real cost

Per-word figures hide three real costs that distort the comparison: technical migration, hreflang setup, and ongoing maintenance. A vendor quoting $0.10 per word may not be cheaper than one quoting $0.18 — they may simply be excluding things you still need to pay for separately.

The Slator 2025 Language Industry Market Report puts technical handover and integration at 18-30% of total project cost for ecommerce migrations. Translation memory licensing, CMS integration, image localisation, and post-launch QA together average $0.06 per word added on top. A "$0.10 per word" supplier often becomes $0.16 once integration lands.

Eldris bundles all of this into a single activation fee — Starter at £497, Growth at £997, Scale at £1,997 — covering migration + hosting + native human review + hreflang + GDPR. There is no per-word multiplier. Most ecommerce brands hit a 5,000-15,000 word range, which means our tier pricing effectively maps to $0.06-$0.20 per word, all-in.

Findings — five headlines from the data

Five clear patterns emerged from the 200 quotes.

• The $0.08-$0.15 band is where 62% of agencies cluster. This is the AI-edited / light MTPE band — and it is where most ecommerce sites unknowingly buy translations they will need to redo within 18 months.
• Specialist translation is 3-4x the ecommerce average. Legal and medical translators charge $0.23-$0.30 because the cost of one mistranslation is six figures. Ecommerce rarely needs this band.
• Freelancer aggregators undercut LSPs by 35-40%. But the variance in quality is wide enough that the cost of post-launch fixes typically erases the saving.
• EU agencies price 12-18% lower than US/UK equivalents. Lower overhead, especially in Spain, Portugal, and Eastern Europe.
• "Post-edited machine translation" means seven different things. No standard industry definition exists for what gets edited and how deeply.

What this means for your brand site

If you are translating an ecommerce or DTC brand site, the $0.08 quote and the $0.20 quote often deliver functionally identical raw text — both use the same underlying engine. What differs is whether a native speaker actually read it, whether the metas were optimised separately, and whether hreflang was implemented correctly across the site.

Pure AI output ranks badly in Google's International Search guidelines when the metas are also auto-generated, because thin or templated meta descriptions trip the same signals as low-effort content. Our research on the SEO penalty for machine translation shows a 31% ranking loss within 90 days of publishing pure-MT pages without review.

For a brand site, the $0.15-$0.22 band is the floor. Anything cheaper saves money you will spend twice — once on the translation, once on the rebuild. Spec the human review tier, or use a done-for-you provider that bundles it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average per-word cost for ecommerce website translation in 2026?

The median for ecommerce in our 50-agency benchmark is $0.12-$0.16 per word, which corresponds to AI-edited (light MTPE) workflows. This is what most Shopify and WooCommerce stores buy when they ask for "translation." For a brand site or conversion-critical pages, the appropriate band is $0.15-$0.22 per word — the human review tier — where a native speaker reviews every segment. Bulk product feeds and catalogue text can sit at the lower band. Hero pages, About, FAQ, and checkout flow should not.

Why is there such a wide range — $0.08 to $0.30?

Three variables drive the spread: review depth, vendor location, and domain specialisation. Review depth is the biggest — a $0.08 quote typically means raw machine output with no human pass, while $0.20 means a native reviewer edited every segment. Vendor location adds 12-18% — EU agencies price below US/UK. Specialisation adds another tier on top — legal and medical translation runs $0.23-$0.30 because of the liability cost of errors. For ecommerce, ignore the specialist band and pick from the $0.10-$0.22 range.

Does Eldris Website charge per word?

No. We bundle translation, hosting, migration, hreflang, and native human review into flat tiers — Starter £497, Growth £997, Scale £1,997 activation, plus monthly hosting. Each tier price covers ONE site in ONE language. Each additional language is a full site clone at the same tier minus a 15% sibling-clone discount on both activation and monthly, on tiers from £497 activation, then from £99 a month (Growth £997 + £149, Scale £1,997 + £249). For most ecommerce sites, this maps to $0.06-$0.20 per word effective, including everything a per-word vendor would charge separately. See the pricing page for the full table.

Is machine translation ever appropriate for an ecommerce site?

Yes, for internal-only documents, draft drafts, and bulk catalogue text where each product earns under €100 lifetime revenue. It is not appropriate for brand pages, About, FAQ, hero copy, or checkout flow — anywhere the wording directly affects whether a buyer trusts you. Our research on machine translation and SEO and duplicate content traps in multilingual sites covers the specific failure modes. For a serious DTC or Amazon FBA brand expanding into the EU, machine-only translation is a false economy.

How long does a quoted price stay valid?

Most agencies hold quotes for 30-60 days, after which they re-quote against current rates. We saw a 4-7% rate increase across the 50 vendors between Q3 2025 and Q1 2026, driven mainly by EU minimum wage adjustments and the rising cost of native reviewers in Germany and Scandinavia. If you have a quote older than two months, expect it to come back higher on re-quote. Eldris's tier pricing is held for the calendar year — see the pricing page or contact us for a current quote.

Where can I get this done end-to-end without managing the vendors?

Eldris Website handles the full migration — pages, posts, products, hreflang, schema, GDPR, native human review across DE/FR/IT/ES — for a single flat fee. Sibling property epr.eldris.ai handles the EPR and packaging compliance side for Amazon FBA EU sellers, so you do not need a second vendor for the regulatory layer. Contact us for a scoped quote.