Google Translation API Pricing Calculator & Cost Guide
Interactive Google Translate API pricing calculator. Compare Basic v2, Advanced v3, custom models, and LLM translation costs. Calculate monthly spend with the free tier.
Pricing TLDR
- • Free tier: 500K characters/month forever (no expiration)
- • Basic v2 & Advanced v3: $20 per million characters
- • Document translation: $0.08/page (Advanced) or $0.25/page (Custom)
- • Custom models: $30-80/M chars (volume tiered) + $45/hr training
Official pricing:
Google CloudGoogle Translate Pricing Calculator
Quick Examples:
Characters per month
0
10M
Total characters to translate per month (including spaces and punctuation)
Target languages
1
15
Number of languages to translate into (Google supports 130+ languages)
Translation type
Estimated Monthly Cost
$20.00
Total characters
1,000,000
Price per million
$20
About Google Cloud Translation
What is Google Cloud Translation?
Google Cloud Translation API is a neural machine translation service that enables developers to translate text between languages programmatically. It powers the same technology behind Google Translate and offers both pre-trained models (Basic and Advanced) and custom model training through AutoML Translation for domain-specific accuracy.
- 130+ Supported Languages: Translate between any supported language pair including all major global languages, with automatic language detection available
- Glossaries & Custom Models: Create glossaries for consistent terminology translation and train custom AutoML models on your domain-specific content
- Document Translation: Translate entire documents (PDF, DOCX, PPTX) while preserving formatting, layout, and embedded images
When to Use Google Cloud Translation
Google Cloud Translation is ideal for applications requiring multilingual content, customer support automation, and content localization. It integrates seamlessly with other Google Cloud services and offers both real-time and batch translation capabilities.
Ideal for
- Real-time chat translation in customer support applications
- Website and mobile app localization to multiple languages
- E-commerce product catalog translation at scale
- Document translation with formatting preservation
- Building multilingual search and content discovery
- Automated subtitle generation for video content
Not ideal for
- Legal or medical documents requiring certified human translation
- Creative content where cultural nuance and tone are critical
- Highly specialized technical content without custom model training
- Real-time speech translation (use Speech-to-Text + Translation)
Google Cloud Translation Pricing Breakdown
Pricing by API Version
API / Feature
Basic v2 - Text
Price
$20/M chars
Free Tier
500K/month
API / Feature
Advanced v3 - NMT
Price
$20/M chars
Free Tier
500K/month
API / Feature
Advanced v3 - Document
Price
$0.08/page
Free Tier
None
API / Feature
Custom Model - Text
Price
$30-80/M chars
Free Tier
500K/month
API / Feature
Custom Model - Document
Price
$0.25/page
Free Tier
None
API / Feature
LLM Translation
Price
$10/M in + $10/M out
Free Tier
None
API / Feature
Adaptive Translation
Price
$25/M in + $25/M out
Free Tier
None
Custom model text pricing is volume-tiered: $80/M (500K-250M), $60/M (250M-2.5B), $40/M (2.5B-4B), $30/M (4B+). First 500K chars/month is free.
Free Tier
Google Cloud Translation offers one of the most generous free tiers among translation APIs. Unlike AWS which limits free tier to 12 months, Google's free tier never expires.
- 500,000 characters per month FREE - no expiration, ongoing monthly credit
- Equivalent to $10/month value for Basic/Advanced NMT translation
- Equivalent to $40/month value for Custom model translation
- Applies to: Basic v2 text, Advanced v3 NMT text, and Custom model text
- Does NOT apply to: Document translation, LLM translation, or Adaptive translation
- Free tier is shared across Basic and Advanced APIs (not additive)
- Automatically applied - no activation required
Custom Model Training Costs
AutoML Translation allows you to train custom models on your domain-specific data. Training costs are separate from inference costs and are charged hourly.
Training Rate
$45 per hour of training time, with a maximum of $300 per training job regardless of duration
Small Datasets (<10K pairs)
Training typically completes in 2-3 hours, costing $90-135 per model
Medium Datasets (10K-100K pairs)
Training takes 4-8 hours, costing $180-300 per model (capped at $300)
Large Datasets (100K+ pairs)
Training takes 8-12+ hours but is capped at $300 maximum per job
Character Counting Rules
Understanding how Google counts characters is essential for accurate cost estimation. All text elements count toward billing.
What Counts
All UTF-8 characters including letters, spaces, punctuation, HTML tags (unless using 'text' format), and empty queries (minimum charge applies)
Document Pages
Each page is limited to 4,000 characters OR 500 words, whichever comes first. Page breaks and presentation slides count as page boundaries.
HTML/XML Handling
Tags are counted by default. Use format='text' parameter for plain text to exclude markup from billing.
Empty Requests
Empty translation requests still incur charges. Implement client-side validation to avoid unnecessary API calls.
Real-World Google Translate Pricing Examples
Mobile App Localization
$0/month
• ~300K characters/month
• Within free tier
• Basic v2 API
Translate 200 UI strings to 10 languages monthly
E-commerce Product Catalog
$180/month
• 10M characters monthly
• Advanced v3 with glossary
• Free tier applied
Translate 5,000 product descriptions to 5 languages
Legal Document Translation
$240/month
• 3,000 pages total
• Document API at $0.08/page
• Formatting preserved
Translate 1,000 contracts to 3 languages
Enterprise Custom Model
$4,800/month
• 100M characters/month
• Custom model at $48/M (tiered)
• One-time $300 training
Domain-specific translation at high volume
8 Google Cloud Translation Cost Optimization Tips
Maximize the Free Tier
Google's 500K characters/month free tier never expires - unlike Amazon Translate's 12-month limit. For small applications, you may never pay anything. A typical mobile app with 200 localized strings across 10 languages easily fits within the free tier.
Choose Basic v2 for Simple Use Cases
Basic v2 and Advanced v3 cost the same ($20/M chars), but v2 has lower latency and simpler integration. Only use Advanced v3 when you need glossaries, document translation, or custom models. Don't pay the complexity overhead for features you won't use.
Use Glossaries Instead of Custom Models
Glossaries are FREE and ensure consistent translation of brand names, product terms, and domain terminology. Custom models cost 3-4x more ($60-80/M vs $20/M chars) plus training fees. Only upgrade to custom models when glossaries don't provide sufficient accuracy improvement.
Batch Requests to Reduce Overhead
Google charges per character, but there's overhead per API call. Batch multiple strings into single requests (up to 2,048 strings per call) to reduce latency and avoid minimum charge per empty request issues.
Cache Translation Results
Implement a translation cache for frequently requested content like UI strings, error messages, and common phrases. A simple Redis cache can reduce API calls by 50-80% for applications with repetitive content.
Preprocess HTML to Reduce Characters
By default, HTML/XML tags count toward billing. Use the 'text' format parameter for plain text content, or strip unnecessary tags before translation. For content-heavy HTML, this can reduce costs by 20-40%.
Leverage Volume Tiers for Custom Models
Custom model pricing drops significantly at volume: from $80/M at low volume to $30/M at 4B+ characters. If you're considering custom models, analyze whether batching translations quarterly could push you into a lower tier.
Monitor with Cloud Billing Alerts
Set up budget alerts in Google Cloud Console to catch unexpected translation spikes. A runaway translation loop can burn through thousands of dollars in hours. For unified monitoring across Google Cloud and other providers, CostGoat can track your translation spending alongside AWS and other cloud costs in one dashboard.
Track Your Google AI Costs in Real-Time
Whether you're using APIs or subscriptions, CostGoat monitors your actual usage and costs as they happen. Privacy-first desktop app with local credential storage. 7-day free trial, then $9/month.
Start Free TrialGoogle Translate API Pricing FAQ
Common questions about Google Cloud Translation costs, API versions, and free tier
