You ask for a quote to translate the website into English and they will give it to you per page. Then you start counting pages, crossing out the ones that are "not necessary", and you end up with half a website in English and half in Spanish. Which is the worst of the possible options.
It's not that the budget is poorly done. The thing is that the unit—the page—does not fit with how a growing website works.
To the point: Putting a 20-page website in two languages costs 600 a 1.200 € with a professional translator, plus what you publish afterwards; a fee every year with a cloud service; or a one-time payment (from €89 with WP-Translate) plus your time to review what's important. After three years, the difference is in what you publish later, not in the first invoice.
An example with numbers: a 20-page website
A normal company website has about 20 pages of about 500 words: 10,000 words in total, without counting menus, forms or emails. This is how it works to convert it to a second language with each model:
| Model | First year | three years | What you post next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional translator (€0.06–0.12 per word) | 600–1.200 € | the same + each new page | It is budgeted and paid separately |
| Cloud translation service | an annual fee | three installments, and they go up with the words | enter while you pay |
| One-time payment plugin (WP-Translate) | 89 € | 89 € | enter without paying more |
The rate per word is indicative: it varies with the language, the specialty of the text and the urgency. And it doesn't include what's on the list below, which is just what's usually missing.
The three models that you are going to find
1. By word or by page
It is the classic model of an agency and professional translator. It has a real advantage: a person translates it, and for brand, legal or technical texts that is noticeable.
The problem is not the price, it is the form: you pay for a closed volume. When you publish the next blog entry, the next product sheet or change the text on the home page, request a quote again. And since asking for a quote is lazy, the untranslated pages accumulate until the new language is left halfway.
2. Monthly subscription
It is the model for most cloud web translation services. You pay per month, usually by number of words translated or by active languages.
It works well while you pay. The day you stop paying, in many of these services translations stop working, because they are not on your website: they are on their server and arrive through a proxy or JavaScript. Before hiring one, the question to ask is literally this: If I cancel, what happens to the translated pages?
3. Single payment, within your WordPress
It is the model of a licensed plugin. You pay once, the plugin lives on your installation and translations are saved in your database. You translate the pages you want, as many times as you want, and the new ones come in the same.
The honest thing is to also say where it is weak: the translation is done by an AI. For most of the website it is enough, but the legal texts and messages where you stake the brand should be reviewed, not published blindly.
What is almost never in the budget
Here is the fine print that throws the calculation off. When someone budgets for “the website,” they are usually counting the content of the pages. But a website is much more:
- The menu and buttons. The first thing the visitor sees and the last thing that is translated.
- The forms. Labels, placeholders, the button text and the “thank you, we have received your message”.
- Google metadata. The meta title and meta description live in Yoast or Rank Math, not in the content. They are the only thing that is read by whoever decides whether to click.
- Los slugs. If the URL is still in Spanish, the translated version starts out lame for the search engine.
- The emails. In a store, the order confirmation, shipping notice and invoice.
- Theme chains. “Read more”, “Search”, “Next page”, breadcrumbs.
If the quote they gave you doesn't mention any of this, it's not because it's cheap: it's just saying something else.
How to really compare
Put the three models three years ahead, not the first invoice, and answer four questions:
- What about what I publish next year? Should I come in or pay again?
- Whose translations are they? Are they in my database or on someone else's server?
- Does it include menus, forms, metadata and emails?
- Can I correct a sentence myself?, today, without asking anyone?
Those four answers separate the budgets more than the bottom figure altogether.
Is it cheaper to make the website in two languages from the beginning?
Yes. If the website is born with two languages, the URLs, the menu, the forms and the emails are thought of once. If the language comes later, you have to go over all of that by hand, and that's where the time (and money) that no one budgeted for goes.
Where is WP Translate
WP Translate is the third model: one-time payment, no subscription, within your WordPress. It translates the content with AI and lets you review it from the visual editor; menus, forms, metadata, slugs and emails come in according to the plan. And if one day you stop updating, what was translated remains in your database, because it was never anywhere else.
There is also a free version at WordPress.org to test how it behaves on your website before paying anything. The plans are in the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to translate a website into English?
With a professional translator, between €0.06 and €0.12 per word as a reference: a 10,000-word website costs €600–1,200. With an automatic translation plugin, whatever the license costs, plus the time to review the pages they sell.
Does Google penalize automatic translation?
Not because it is automatic. What Google doesn't want is content that doesn't help anyone. Review what you sell (prices, tokens, legal texts) and let the AI do the rest.
What happens to the translations if I stop paying?
It depends on where they live. With a cloud service, in many cases they stop seeing each other. With a plugin that saves them in your database, they are still there.