← Translator project quote calculator
How to quote a translation project, not just a word count
Treating every word the same undercharges a project full of new terminology and overcharges one a translation memory already mostly covers. A defensible quote weights the words, adds the work around the words, and checks the result against a floor you have already decided on.
Open the free quote calculator
What a flat per-word rate misses
Fuzzy matches are not free, but they are not full price either. A CAT tool reports a fuzzy-match percentage for a reason — treat it as the fraction of a full word's effort that match actually takes, and weight the word count accordingly rather than billing every word at the new-word rate.
QA, desktop publishing, and rush work are real hours. A quote built only from words-times-rate silently gives away review time, file handling, and any weekend or rush premium.
A minimum only binds sometimes. A flat floor exists for very small jobs. Once the calculated direct cost passes that floor, the floor is not the number to quote.
Worked example
1,800 new words, 1,200 fuzzy-match words weighted at 50%, translation productivity of 400 words an hour, a $45 hourly rate, 2 hours of QA, a $75 desktop-publishing charge, no rush fee, a $250 minimum, and a 25% target margin:
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Weighted words | 2,400 (of 3,000 raw) |
| Translation time | 6.0 hours |
| Labor cost | $270.00 |
| QA + DTP + rush add-ons | $165.00 |
| Direct cost | $435.00 |
| Target-margin price (25%) | $580.00 |
| Quote floor used | $435.00 (direct cost, not the $250 minimum) |
| Recommended quote | $580.00 (the target-margin price, since it is higher than the $435 floor) |
The $250 minimum never applies here because the project's real direct cost, $435, already exceeds it — the floor only changes the quote on jobs smaller than this one. The calculator's own headline number is the recommended quote, not the floor: it takes the larger of the floor and the target-margin price automatically, so a job like this one — big enough to clear its minimum, but still needing its target margin applied on top — never gets under-quoted by stopping at the floor alone.
Common questions
How do translators price fuzzy matches from a CAT tool?
Weight fuzzy words by the percentage of full effort they actually take, then translate the weighted total instead of the raw word count. 1,800 new words plus 1,200 fuzzy-match words at a 50% weight is 2,400 weighted words, not 3,000 — the difference is the effort a translation memory already did for you, and it should not be billed as new translation.
What should a translation quote include besides the per-word rate?
Direct cost is translation labor plus every add-on that takes real time: QA or review hours, desktop publishing or file handling, and any rush fee. Leaving these out of the quote does not make the work free — it just means they get absorbed into your hourly rate without you deciding to.
How do I set a minimum project price for translation work?
Compare a flat floor you choose against the direct cost the project actually works out to, and quote whichever is higher. A $250 minimum only matters when the calculated direct cost is below it — a project whose real cost is $435 should quote $435 or the target-margin price above it, not the $250 floor.