What Counts as One Page in Translation Pricing?

One page means up to 250 words of the document you upload. It is a unit of text, not a sheet of paper, so a single sheet carrying 600 words counts as three pages and a two sided certificate carrying 180 words in total counts as one. Every page is charged at the same flat rate for your service level, which is $19.95 for Standard, $24.95 for Certified and $39.95 for Premium.

The 250 word page, defined

The count is taken from the source document, the one you send us, and not from the finished translation. That matters because languages expand and contract. Text translated from English into Spanish typically grows by fifteen to twenty percent, and text moving the other way usually shrinks. If pricing followed the output, the same job would cost different amounts depending on the direction, and you could not be told the total before the work existed. Counting the source keeps the number fixed at the moment you upload.

Total words divided by 250, rounded up to the next whole page, with a minimum of one page. That is the whole rule.

Why word count instead of sheets of paper

A sheet of paper is not a measure of anything. A birth certificate and an academic transcript can both be printed on one side of one sheet, and the transcript can hold five times the text. Charging both as one page would mean either overcharging for the certificate or undercharging for the transcript, and providers who quote per sheet usually solve that with surcharges you discover at the end.

The 250 word page keeps the price proportional to the actual work while staying simple enough to state in advance. It is also the reason we can show you the full total before you enter a card rather than sending an invoice afterwards.

Worked examples from real documents

| Document | Words | Pages charged | Certified total | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Birth certificate | 180 | 1 | $24.95 | | Marriage certificate | 240 | 1 | $24.95 | | Single transcript sheet | 600 | 3 | $74.85 | | Diploma plus transcript | 900 | 4 | $99.80 | | Divorce decree | 2,100 | 9 | $224.55 | | Commercial contract | 6,000 | 24 | $598.80 |

The same counts apply at every service level. That 900 word transcript is four pages whether you order it at Standard for $79.80, Certified for $99.80 or Premium for $159.80.

How partial pages are rounded

Up, to the next whole page. A 251 word document is two pages. A 501 word document is three.

That is worth saying plainly rather than hiding, because it is the one place where per page pricing can surprise someone. It is also exactly why the count and the price are shown on screen before payment. If a document lands a few words over a boundary you see it in advance and can decide what to do, rather than finding out on a receipt.

What gets counted as words

Everything that has to be translated is counted, because everything that appears in the original has to appear in the translation for it to be complete.

• Names, dates, places and reference numbers
• Headings, table labels, column titles and footnotes
• Text inside stamps, seals and official markings
• Handwritten entries, signatures described in place, and marginal notes
• Registry numbers, form codes and printed boilerplate

A certified translation has to be a complete rendering of the source document, including the parts that look like furniture. An official reviewer comparing the translation against the original expects the seal text and the registry number to be there. Leaving them out to save a few words would make the document less useful, not cheaper.

Where the count comes from

It is measured from the PDF you upload, which is why we ask for PDFs rather than photographs or a description of the document. The word count and the resulting page count appear on the order form along with the price for each service level, and that total is what you pay by card. Nothing is re-measured afterwards.

If a scan is too faint for the text to be read with confidence, we come back to you before any work starts rather than guessing at a count. The full sequence is described in what happens after you upload a document.

The per word equivalent, if you are comparing quotes

Divide each rate by 250 and you can line our pricing up against a provider who quotes per word. Standard is just under 8 cents a word. Certified is just under 10 cents. Premium, which is translated ahead of other orders and delivered in one to two business days, is about 16 cents.

When you compare, check whether the other quote includes certification, because a low per word rate with a certification fee bolted on at checkout is often the more expensive of the two. The services and pricing page shows what each of our levels includes, and there is a fuller breakdown in how much a certified translation costs.

The 50 page cap on one order

A single order holds up to 50 pages, which is 12,500 words. At the Certified rate that is $1,247.50. Almost every personal filing, and most business documents, sit well inside it.

If your document is larger, or you have several documents that together run past 50 pages, contact us and we will quote and schedule the work with you. The rate is the same for every pair among the eight languages on the languages page, so a long document does not become more expensive because of the direction it is going.

Upload your PDF at start an order to see your exact page count and price. Nothing is charged until you have seen both.