How to Control Website Translation Costs

Translation cost is mostly volume times frequency: how many words, in how many languages, re-translated how often. The cheapest words are the ones you never translate twice, never translate needlessly, and never translate for an audience you do not have. Below are the levers, in the order that usually saves the most.

1. Translate fewer things

• Fewer languages at first. Each language multiplies everything else. See how many languages to start with.
• Fewer pages. Translate the pages that earn or support revenue before the archive.
• Leave out what should not change. Brand names, product codes, code samples and any text marked translate="no" do not need translating. MDN documents that attribute and notes that it is respected by automatic translation systems such as Google Translate.
• Trim the source. Duplicate sentences, boilerplate repeated on every page and text nobody reads cost money in every language.

2. Translate each sentence once

Translation memory stores earlier translations and reuses them for identical text, so repeated sentences are translated once. In LgTranslate the key for a string comes from the text itself, so the same text always gets the same key and an existing translation is reused; if you change a sentence, the new wording needs a new translation. That is a reason to avoid rewording text that works. Our guide to translation memory and glossaries covers the details.

3. Protect what people already paid for

A machine re-run that overwrites reviewed text wastes both the review and the engine cost. Check that your tool never replaces human-edited or reviewed translations. In LgTranslate, a translation that a person edited or reviewed is not sent to the engine again, and adding a language translates only what is missing.

4. Match the method to the page

We are not quoting prices for human or machine translation: they vary by language pair, subject, volume and vendor, and we have no sourced benchmark. Get quotes for your own content. Compare prices with your own numbers, because provider prices change.

5. Set limits before you start a big job

A bulk run on a large site can burn a budget in minutes. Good practice:

• Run a small sample first and read it.
• Know the unit your tool counts. LgTranslate's allowance is counted in characters and shown in words; one word is counted as 6 characters by default, which is an assumption marked verify in our documentation.
• Check whether the tool refuses a job that does not fit what is left, or lets it run over.
• Use usage pages and alerts. LgTranslate emails at 80 and 100 percent of the allowance.

6. Know what happens at the limit

In LgTranslate's design:

• There is no charge per extra word, no overage and no automatic upgrade.
• When the machine-translation allowance runs out, new machine jobs that do not fit are refused. The check is made before a job starts and again while it runs, so two jobs started together cannot both overshoot.
• Everything already translated and published keeps working. Hand editing, export and the dashboard are unaffected.
• Your options: buy a one-time word pack, use your own translation provider key (those words are counted but never limited by the allowance), change plan, or wait for the next window.
• A lapsed plan is different: machine translation stops altogether until it is renewed.

A known gap is written in the documentation: limits are held in the memory of one server process, so with several servers a burst could go over by a small amount before it is counted; this is marked open to be tightened before launch.

7. Think about your own provider key

If you already have an account with a translation provider, bringing your own key means your text goes to that provider under your agreement, the product counts the words for your information and does not block them, and the key is stored encrypted. Whether that is cheaper depends on provider prices, which change; compare the provider's current price with the pack price on the pricing page yourself.

8. Do not re-translate on every change

Publishing a small copy edit should not trigger a full re-run. Check that your tool sends only changed or missing strings to the engine, and batch edits so you re-run once rather than after each tweak.

A cost checklist

1. List the pages and languages that matter. Cut the rest for now.
2. Mark do-not-translate terms and exclude code and brand text.
3. Run one sample page and read it.
4. Review high-risk pages; sample the others.
5. Look at usage after the first run and set a calendar reminder for the next.
6. Keep reviewed text protected from re-runs.

Next step

Estimate your word count (your tool's usage page or a crawl will tell you), multiply by the number of languages you really need, and compare that with the plan figures on the pricing page. Then try a single language on your most important pages before scaling up.

Key takeaways

• Cost is volume times frequency: reduce languages, pages and repeat work first.
• Reuse earlier translations and protect reviewed text from re-runs.
• Choose the method per page and get your own quotes: we do not publish benchmarks.
• Know before you start what happens at the limit: in our design there is no overage, and published translations keep working.

Sources

• translate global attribute – MDN Web Docs – marking text that should not be translated (checked 2026-11-06)
• Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites – Google Search Central – why partly translated pages are a poor result (checked 2026-11-06)
• Google Search's guidance on using generative AI content – Google Search Central – checking automatically generated content before publishing (checked 2026-11-06)