- A flat rate suits certificates and booklets, per word suits long text; always ask how the unit is defined.
- A page is one side with content; blank sides are not counted.
- Price differences usually come from counting rules, bundled certificates and add-ons, not from the translation itself.
- Certification is part of a certified translation, not an extra line.
- Rush, notarization, apostille and paper copies are real extras and should be quoted before you pay.
Translation prices look simple until you have two quotes for the same birth certificate that differ by a factor of three. The difference is rarely the translation itself. It is how the page is counted, what is bundled, and what is added at the end. Here is the logic behind certified translation pricing, so you can read any quote and know what you are paying for.
Per word or flat rate
There are two pricing models. Per word suits documents made of running text: contracts, court decisions, medical reports, letters. The price grows with the length, and a word count is easy to verify on a typed document. A flat rate per document suits standard documents: certificates, passports, diplomas, IDs, booklets. Those have few words but many fields, stamps, seals and handwritten entries, and the work is in reproducing the layout and every element accurately, not in the word count.
Some services use both, with a flat rate for certificates and a per-word rate for long text, and some define a billable unit as a fixed number of words, often around 250, and count a dense document as several units. That definition is what to look for first. A unit of 250 words can turn a two-page diploma supplement into six billable units.
- Per word: fair for long text, hard to estimate from a photo before the work starts
- Flat rate: predictable for certificates and booklets, but only with a clear definition of the unit
- Page defined as a word count: read the definition before comparing quotes
What counts as a page
In our pricing a page is one side of your document with something on it. A birth certificate is one page, or two if the back carries stamps or an apostille. A passport is the data page plus each page with a visa, a stamp or a note. A work record book is counted by the spreads that have entries. Blank sides are not counted at all; they are listed in the translation as blank so the file is complete.
Density is not charged separately. A diploma supplement page with sixty course lines is one page at the same rate as a certificate page with ten fields. That is a deliberate choice: you can count your own pages from the photos on your phone and know the price before you upload anything.
Why the same document is priced differently
Take one Russian birth certificate with a stamp on the back. It might be priced as one page, as two pages, as two pages plus a stamp surcharge, or by word count with a minimum order fee. Certification might be included or added as a separate line. Delivery might be included, or the PDF might be free while a digital certified copy costs extra. None of these approaches is wrong in itself; they are different ways of arriving at a total, and the total is the only number that matters.
Other things that move the price without changing the translation:
- Minimum order fees that make a one-page document cost the same as three
- Separate charges for the certificate of accuracy or for a signed and dated statement
- Surcharges for handwriting, stamps, seals or poor scans
- Formatting fees for reproducing tables and layouts
- Language-pair pricing, where Russian and Ukrainian are priced differently
- Rush delivery applied by default when the standard date is not shown
The way to compare is to ask for the total for your exact document, with the certificate and delivery included, at the standard turnaround. Then you are comparing the same thing.
What is included, and what should be
A certified translation for USCIS is the full translation plus a signed statement from the translator that they are competent in both languages and that the translation is complete and accurate. That statement is not an optional extra. Without it the translation is not certified, and a quote that lists it separately is quoting an incomplete product. Ask whether the certificate is included in the price you are given.
What our price, from $23.70 per document, covers: the translation of every element of the document, the signed and dated certificate of accuracy, the check of names and dates against your passport spelling and the original, and delivery as one PDF in your account containing the translation, the certificate and a copy of the original. Corrections of a name, date or number in our translation are free, and so is a change the receiving office asks for.
- Included: translation, certificate, name check, one PDF, corrections
- Not charged: uploading, phone photos instead of scans, the copy of the original in the PDF
- Same price with or without the certificate; uncheck it if you only need the text for yourself
Extras that are real: rush, notarization, apostille, paper
Some add-ons reflect real extra work or third-party costs. Rush delivery moves your order ahead of the queue and is priced at 1.5 times the standard price, with the rush date shown before you pay. Notarization means a notary witnesses the translator's signature on a paper copy; it involves a notary fee and mailing, and USCIS does not require it, so most clients skip it. An apostille on a translation is a separate government procedure with its own fee and timeline. A mailed hard copy has postage.
Each of these should be a choice you make, quoted before payment, not a line that appears after. If an office asked you for a notarized translation, tell us when you order and the amount is shown with the quote. If it did not, a certified PDF is what it expects.
How to get a fixed quote before you pay
- 1Photograph or scan every page, including backs with stamps and any apostille.
- 2Upload them and tell us the document type, the language and who the translation is for.
- 3Read the page count, the price and the delivery date on the screen.
- 4If the document is unusual, long or faint, it is marked for a manual quote and the price comes by email; you pay by link only after you accept it.
- 5Pay by card. The amount on the quote is the amount charged.
If, after opening the files, your translator finds that the page count or the legibility differs materially from what you declared, you receive a revised quote before any work starts, and it works both ways: fewer pages than declared means a lower price. Nothing beyond the accepted quote is charged without your approval, and the delivery date on the quote is the date kept.
The short version
Know what a page is. Make sure the certificate is included. Ask for the total at the standard date, with delivery. And do not pay until you see that total in writing, because a quote you can hold someone to is the only kind worth comparing.
FAQ
Is the certificate of accuracy included in the price?
Yes. Every order includes the signed and dated certificate at no extra charge. The price is the same if you uncheck it.
What if the quote turns out to be wrong after you see the files?
You receive a revised quote before any work starts, and you can accept or decline it. A lower page count than declared means a lower price.
Do I need notarization for USCIS?
No. USCIS asks for a certified translation. Notarization is quoted separately for offices that require it, such as some courts and consulates.
If you need your documents translated, always work with a certified translator.
POVO translates Russian and Ukrainian documents into English, with a signed certificate of accuracy. Upload the document, see the price and the date, pay when you are ready.
