How much does the Google Translate API cost per million characters?

Google Cloud Translation charges USD 20 per 1,000,000 characters of source text on the standard NMT model. The first 500,000 characters each month are free (applied as a $10 monthly credit). So translating 1,000,000 characters costs about $10 after the free tier — roughly Rs 3,050 at Rs 305/USD.

Is the DeepL API cheaper than Google Translate?

It depends on volume. DeepL API Pro charges a fixed $5.49/month base fee plus $25 per million characters — more per character than Google's $20. DeepL's free API plan gives 500,000 characters/month at no cost (a hard cap, no overage). For high volumes a dedicated pay-as-you-go API like Azure ($10/1M) usually beats both.

Does Amazon Translate have a free tier?

Yes. Amazon Translate's free tier covers 2,000,000 characters per month for the first 12 months from your first translation request. After that, standard text translation is billed at $15 per million characters. This calculator subtracts the 2M free allowance when 'Free tier' is set to applied.

Is translation pricing charged per word or per character?

Per character of source text, including spaces. Google, DeepL, Amazon, and Azure all bill on characters, not words. This tool converts a word count to characters at 6 characters per word (5 letters plus a space) so every provider is compared on the same billing unit.

Is it cheaper to translate with GPT-4o mini or a dedicated translation API?

On raw token price GPT-4o mini ($0.15 input + $0.60 output per million tokens) often looks cheaper than a dedicated API, because ~4 characters map to one token. But that figure is an estimate: LLM translation quality, latency, and formatting consistency vary, and there is no free tier. The tool flags the GPT row as 'Estimate' for that reason.

Which translation API is cheapest for Sinhala or Tamil?

Pricing is the same regardless of target language — all four dedicated APIs charge a flat per-character rate, so Sinhala and Tamil cost the same as French. Azure S1 at $10/million is the lowest list price among the paid tiers. Check each provider actually supports your language pair before committing.

How does the per-language multiplier work?

Each target language is a separate billable translation pass over your full source text. Translating 100,000 characters into 3 languages bills as 300,000 characters. The calculator multiplies your character count by the number of target languages, then by translations-per-month, before applying free tiers once per month.

Are these the final prices I'll pay?

These are public list prices for standard text translation, verified on 2026-06-05. They exclude volume and committed-use discounts, custom/adaptive model surcharges, document-translation fees, and taxes. The USD→LKR figure uses a CBSL indicative rate you can override. Treat the result as a close planning estimate, not an invoice.

AI · Pricing

AI Translation Cost Calculator

Compare what Google, DeepL, Amazon Translate, Azure, and GPT-4o mini would charge to machine-translate your text — in dollars and rupees, with each free tier applied — before you make a single API call. No signup, no keys, sources cited below.

By Induwara Ashinsana— Executive Director, Ryzera TechnologiesUpdated Jun 5, 2026

Translation API cost

List prices verified 2026-06-05

Paste the source text to translate

Counted as 212 characters (Unicode code points — Sinhala, Tamil and emoji count as the APIs bill them).

Quick sizes

Target languages

Each language is a separate pass.

Translations / month

Free tier applies once per month.

USD → LKR rate

CBSL indicative; override freely.

Free tier

Subtract each provider's monthly free allowance.

Cheapest option

Rs 0 — within free tiers

Free on Azure S1, Amazon, Google, DeepL Free at this monthly volume. You pay nothing until you exceed their allowances.

Billable / month

212 chars

212 per run

GPT-4o mini (est.)

Rs 0

$0.00 · token estimate

Provider comparison

Provider	Billable chars	USD	LKR / month
Azure S1Cheapest F0 free tier: 2,000,000 chars/month	0	$0.00	Rs 0
Amazon Free tier: 2,000,000 chars/month (first 12 months)	0	$0.00	Rs 0
Google Free tier: 500,000 chars/month	0	$0.00	Rs 0
DeepL Free 500,000 chars/month — hard cap, no overage	0	$0.00	Rs 0
DeepL Pro No free allowance; $5.49/month base + usage	212	$5.50	Rs 1,676
GPT-4o miniEstimate No free tier; token-based estimate (~4 chars/token)	212	$0.00	Rs 0

List prices only — excludes volume/committed-use discounts, custom-model surcharges, and document-translation fees. GPT-4o mini assumes the translated output roughly mirrors the input length.

How it works

Every major translation API bills on characters of source text, including spaces — not words and not the translated output. This calculator converts whatever you enter (pasted text, a word count, or a character count) into a character count, then applies each provider's published rate and free allowance. The method is deterministic and runs entirely in your browser; no text is sent anywhere.

Characters. Pasted text is counted by Unicode code points, so Sinhala, Tamil, and emoji count exactly as the APIs bill them. A word count is converted at 6 characters per word (5 letters + 1 space, a standard typography assumption).
Per-language total. Each target language is a separate billable pass, so totalChars = chars × targetLanguages × translationsPerMonth. The free tier is applied once per month, not per run.
Free tier.When applied, each provider's monthly allowance is subtracted first: Google 500,000; Amazon 2,000,000 (first 12 months); Azure F0 2,000,000; DeepL Free 500,000 (a hard cap — above it the Free plan is marked unavailable rather than billed). DeepL Pro has no free allowance.
Cost. Billable characters are divided by 1,000,000 and multiplied by the per-million rate, plus any fixed monthly base fee:
- Google: B ÷ 1,000,000 × $20
- Amazon (Standard): B ÷ 1,000,000 × $15
- Azure S1: B ÷ 1,000,000 × $10
- DeepL Pro: $5.49 base + B ÷ 1,000,000 × $25
- GPT-4o mini (est.): tokens = chars ÷ 4; cost = tokens ÷ 1,000,000 × ($0.15 in + $0.60 out)
Rupees. The USD subtotal is multiplied by the USD→LKR rate (default 305, a Central Bank of Sri Lanka indicative figure you can override). Each cost is then cross-checked against a strict per-character formula (rate ÷ 1,000,000 × characters) so the two paths agree to the cent.

The GPT-4o mini row is the only token-billed entry and is labelled an estimate: it assumes the translated output roughly mirrors the input length, and LLM translation quality and latency differ from a dedicated API. All figures are list prices — volume discounts, custom-model surcharges, and document-translation fees are out of scope.

Worked examples

One-off site localisation

180,000 chars · 1 language · free tier on · Rs 305/USD

Total chars = 180,000 × 1 × 1 = 180,000
Google: max(0, 180,000 − 500,000) = 0 billable → $0.00 (Rs 0)
Azure / Amazon: within free tiers → $0.00 (Rs 0)
DeepL Free: 180,000 ≤ 500,000 cap → $0.00 (Rs 0)
DeepL Pro: $5.49 + 0.18 × $25 = $9.99 → Rs 3,047
GPT-4o mini: 45,000 tokens × ($0.15+$0.60)/1M = $0.034 → Rs 10
Cheapest: free on Google, Azure, Amazon, or DeepL Free.

E-commerce catalogue, 3 languages

5,000,000 chars · 3 languages · free tier off · Rs 305/USD

Total chars = 5,000,000 × 3 = 15,000,000
Google: 15 × $20 = $300.00 → Rs 91,500
Amazon: 15 × $15 = $225.00 → Rs 68,625
Azure S1: 15 × $10 = $150.00 → Rs 45,750
DeepL Pro: $5.49 + 15 × $25 = $380.49 → Rs 116,049
DeepL Free: 15,000,000 > 500,000 → exceeds free cap
GPT-4o mini: 3.75M tokens × $0.75/1M = $2.81 → Rs 858 (estimate)
Cheapest dedicated API: Azure S1 at Rs 45,750.

Edge case — just over Google's free allowance

600,000 chars · 1 language · free tier on · Rs 305/USD

Total chars = 600,000
Google: 600,000 − 500,000 = 100,000 billable → 0.1 × $20 = $2.00 → Rs 610
Amazon / Azure: still within 2,000,000 free → $0.00
DeepL Free: 600,000 > 500,000 → exceeds free cap
DeepL Pro: $5.49 + 0.6 × $25 = $20.49 → Rs 6,249
GPT-4o mini: 150,000 tokens × $0.75/1M = $0.11 → Rs 34 (estimate)
Shows how crossing a free-tier boundary by 100,000 chars costs Rs 610 on Google but stays free on Amazon/Azure.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & references

All provider rates and free allowances were last cross-checked against the official pricing pages on 2026-06-05. Translation-API pricing changes occasionally; if a figure looks off, email me and I'll re-verify within 24 hours.

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Comments & feedback

Spotted a bug or want an improvement? Tell us — our team reviews every comment, and good ideas get built. Comments are public and anonymous.

Found a pricing change, edge case, or want another provider added?

Email me at [email protected] — most fixes ship within 24 hours.