Pricing philosophy
Near cost. Published as rules. One standard of quality.
Our first price menu is being measured on real projects right now, not invented, so this page publishes the philosophy the menu will obey. When the numbers exist, they'll be here.
Three principles
The rules the menu will obey
Mission-first, near cost
SpiritualTranslations exists to multiply translation, not margin. We price near our real cost to serve, so an organization can translate ten or twenty books where it once could afford one. Owned by a ministry, we can afford that honesty. The low price is the point.
Published rules, not quotes
Translation pricing is traditionally a quote-only black box. Ours will be rule-based and public: same book, same rules, same price for everyone, no negotiation skill required.
One standard of quality
Lower tiers don't get a worse translation. Every tier passes the same review and ships with the same Assurance Report. Tiers exist to share cost fairly, never to ration care.
The shape of the menu
Three tiers, one quality
Mission rate
For communities and organizations that could never reach translation before. Priced near our cost to serve.
Standard rate
For funded organizations and publishers. A little above cost, and the surplus sustains the work itself.
Institutional rate
A patron tier: well-funded institutions choose to pay more than cost and underwrite mission-rate translations for communities that can't pay. Same book, same quality, same report, plus the knowledge that your budget translated someone else's book too.
Same review, same report, same care. The only thing a tier changes is who carries the cost.
Who decides, and why
The why, in plain terms: the review costs what it costs, and the quality is the same for everyone, so the only honest variable is who carries the cost. Three prices exist so the same careful work can be carried by different shoulders.
Who decides: you do, against criteria we publish. The standard rate is the default. The mission rate is claimed in good faith. Tell us who you are and why the standard rate would stop the work. That's the entire application, and we take you at your word unless we're given reason not to.
The institutional rate is never assigned by us. It's a choice, patronage by buyers who want their budget to translate someone else's book too. We'll invite. We won't impose.
Why no numbers yet?
Because we'd be guessing, and guessed numbers get revised later, which isn't how we intend to behave. We're measuring the true cost to serve (expert hours, setup, compute) on our first real projects now. The menu gets published when it's built on measurements. Talk to us and you'll see it first.
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