How much does live translation cost per hour?
Here, A$1.05 per hour per language for captions; spoken translation A$0.040 per minute of audio on top. An interpreter is quoted per day; a captioner per hour with a minimum.
Pricing
What live translation costs per hour — every way of doing it.
Most answers to “what does live translation cost” are a quote form. This page is the answer: what interpreters, captioners and receiver equipment cost from published figures, what this costs from the rate card, and three worked events so you can see the difference on your own kind of room.
The short answer
Here, captions are A$1.05 per hour, per language, and spoken translation A$0.040 per minute of audio produced, on top and only where you switch it on. No monthly fee, no per-person charge, no minimum booking; credit is bought in advance and does not expire. A conference interpreter is quoted per day, in pairs. A human captioner is quoted per hour with a minimum. Receiver equipment is bought outright or hired per receiver per day. The table has the figures.
What each way costs
Comparison figures are examples from published US price lists, in US dollars. Our rate is shown in Australian dollars; US$0.70 per hour or €0.60 per hour for accounts billed in those currencies.
| Published example cost | Minimum | What it covers | Also needs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference interpreter, human, simultaneous | US$600–1,200 per interpreter per day; two per language | Half or full day | Spoken interpretation, one language pair per team | Booth or whisper set, receivers, often a technician |
| Realtime captioner (CART), human | US$125–300 per hour | Often two hours | Same-language captions with speaker identification and sound description | A display or stream; travel if on site |
| Receiver system, bought | About US$200 per receiver with earphones in a brand-name 20-pack; transmitter extra | — | Carries one audio channel per transmitter | Someone to produce the audio; charging, hand-out, collection |
| Receiver system, hired | Quoted per receiver per day, plus delivery and often a technician | Usually a day | Same | Same |
| SpanVoice, captions | A$1.05 per hour, per language | None | Captions, any of sixty languages at once, on screen, phones and stream | A microphone feed, a computer, the phones in the room, your internet |
| SpanVoice, spoken translation | A$0.040 per minute of audio produced, on top | None | A voice in the languages that have one, through earphones or a headphone system | As above |
Three events, worked out
The same arithmetic the calculator does, next to what the alternative would cost.
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A ninety-minute service, two languages
Captions: A$3.15. With spoken translation in both languages for the whole service, add A$7.20. A human interpreter for one of those languages would be a half-day minimum before equipment.
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A one-day conference, eight hours, four languages
Captions: A$33.60. Four human interpreting teams at the published day rate are eight people, US$4,800–9,600 in fees alone, before the booth, receivers, technician and travel.
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A two-hour staff meeting, monthly, three languages
Captions: A$6.30 per meeting, A$75.60 for a year of them. No charge in a month you do not run it.
Put your own hours and languages in: the calculator uses the same rate card as this page.
What is not in the price
Nothing is charged per person, per venue or per month. Spoken audio is optional and charged only on the minutes actually produced; time offline is not billed. For organisations in Australia the prices shown include GST; organisations elsewhere are not charged tax. What you provide yourselves: the microphone feed, a computer at the desk, your internet connection, any screen or headphone system you choose to use, and a qualified human interpreter where you need one — the accuracy notice says where that is.
Why it is this cheap
Because nothing is booked and nobody travels. The translation is produced by machine from a microphone feed, and the audience brings the receivers. The rate is set once a month, published on the pricing page in three currencies, and the same for everyone.
Interpreter and captioner figures: a professional body’s published guidance, a published US rate guide and one provider’s price list; receiver figure: a US retailer’s published price for one 20-receiver pack. All checked October 2026, in US dollars. They are examples, not averages; get a quote for your own event.
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No lock-in contract
Nothing recurring, and nothing to cancel. Buy the time you need, when you need it.
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No minimum
Run nothing this month and you pay nothing this month. There is no floor to clear.
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Credit never expires
Top up once and use it this month or next year. There is no billing period for it to lapse at the end of.
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Compare us on price
Price your event wherever you like, then work the same event out here. We are very comfortable being compared.
Before your event
A few good questions.
Want a second pair of eyes on the numbers for an unusual event? Ask us.
Talk to usHow much does an interpreter cost per hour?
Professional bodies publish day rates of roughly US$600–1,200 per interpreter, and simultaneous work needs two, so an hour is rarely sold on its own.
How much does live captioning cost?
Human realtime captioning is US$125–300 an hour in published US examples, usually with a two-hour minimum. Machine captions here are A$1.05 an hour per language.
How much does an AI translator cost for an event?
Hours × languages × the hourly rate, for captions. A full day in four languages is A$33.60.
What does “no minimum” mean?
No minimum booking length and no minimum hourly charge: a seventy-minute event is seventy minutes. Credit is bought in advance in the amounts shown on the pricing page.
Is there a monthly fee or a contract?
No. Credit never expires.
What currency is this in?
The rate card is published in Australian dollars, US dollars and euros, and the page shows the one matched to where you are. The comparison figures on this page are US dollars from published lists.
Do rates change?
At most once a month, dated the first, and shown on the pricing page. An event already run is never re-priced.
Work out your own event.
The calculator uses the same rate card as this page. A$10 of free credit to run the real thing, no card.
A$10 of free credit when you sign up, no credit card needed. Credit never expires — use it this week or next year.